Expert history with a wicked twist: Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things is the podcast that goes behind palace doors and beyond the balcony smiles, to uncover the stories that the history books have politely skipped. Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things reveals the schemers, lovers, plotters and even the pets who’ve made the British monarchy the world’s longest-running reality show. Hosts, Royal biographers Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams trace how power, passion and paranoia have shaped every crown. There are queens who ruled better than their husbands, and princes who partied harder than their people. We meet saints, sinners and those hovering somewhere in between – from the man formerly known as Prince Andrew to the less-vilified Richard III. Sometimes we get reflective: how monarchy survives scandal, how image-making began long before Instagram, and why royal women have always been the best crisis managers in the room. Other times we’re just here for the gossip: who wore what, who slept where, and who accidentally started a war over breakfast. Think of it as history with its crown slightly askew. If you like your royal stories with equal parts grandeur and chaos, step into the world of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things because behind every coronation lies a cover-up, behind every portrait a scandal, and behind every great monarch… a very patient servant wondering how to get the blood out of the carpet. New episodes out every MONDAY, wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest episodes

Victoria in Love

October 5, 2026 · 27 min

A passionate marriage. Nine children. Assassination attempts, and the monarchy is threatened with a scandal. In the second part of our deep dive into Queen Victoria, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams explore Victoria as wife…
Victoria: The Girl Who Became Queen

September 24, 2026 · 28 min

Queen Victoria would give her name to an age, but she was never really supposed to be Queen at all. Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams go back to the chaotic royal family of George III and the unexpected death that triggered a…
The Countess at Nuremberg

September 21, 2026 · 33 min

An unusual Royal connection to the Nuremberg Trials that prosecuted members of the Nazi leadership. Eighty years after the trials, we know the names of the Nazi leaders in the dock and the MEN who prosecuted them. But what about the…
Grace Kelly: Hollywood Princess

September 7, 2026 · 33 min

Grace Kelly had it all: beauty, an Oscar, Hollywood stardom and a glittering career ahead of her. Then she married a prince. Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams revisit one of the great celebrity fairy tales of the 20th century: the…
The Bayeux Mysteries!

August 31, 2026 · 28 min

The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most famous works of art in the world: nearly 70 metres of kings, battles, betrayals and bloodshed. But how much of the story it tells can we actually believe? Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams…
The Aragon Girls

August 23, 2026 · 25 min

We’ve had the Boleyn girls. Now meet the Aragon girls: two sisters born into perhaps the most powerful royal family in Europe, whose lives would take very different but equally extraordinary turns. Robert Hardman and Professor Kate…
Tudor Season: The Bloody End

August 17, 2026 · 33 min

Wives, bloodshed, war: the end is approaching for Henry VIII, but England’s most notorious king is not going quietly. In the final part of our epic journey through Henry’s life, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams meet his doomed…
Tudor Season: Monstrous Henry

August 9, 2026 · 28 min

Henry VIII finally has his longed-for son. So why isn't he happy? Continuing our Tudor season, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams explore one of the most dramatic chapters of Henry's reign. Within days of Anne Boleyn's execution…