How to Start a Monarchy from Scratch (Part 1)

At the dawn of La Belle Epoch in Paris, a trans woman who became known as "The Countess" would journey from ballrooms to prison and back, a key figure in queer history who wrote her own autobiography to tell readers exactly how strange and dazzling the experiences of her life wer ...  Show more

In 1847, James Young Simpson successfully used chloroform for the first time to help in childbirth. But the anesthetic was still controversial and dangerous, which made it all the more risky when Simpson was faced with a royal patient: Queen Victoria. Support Noble Blood:—ORDER ' ...  Show more

Where was Mary Queen of Scots - Elizabeth I’s most famous rival - born, and who were her parents? What was the nature of the turbulent politically and religiously divided world she was born into? How did she become a queen at only one week old, and betrothed to a French Prince at ...  Show more

Ever since the 1870s, rumours have swirled around Queen Victoria and her Highland servant John Brown. Were the pair in love? Could they have got married? And might they even have had a secret child? Historian Fern Riddell investigates these claims in her book Victoria's Secret, a ...  Show more

Following the death of her husband, the King of France, was the glamorous Mary welcomed back to Scotland, her kingdom since infancy, with open arms or deep suspicion? Did she handle the precarious situation in which she found herself well, or recklessly? Did the majority of Scott ...  Show more

Margaret talks with Ed Zitron about the origins of one of her all-time favorite games.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.