{"podcast":{"title":"Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things","slug":"queens-kings-and-dastardly-things-6677838","podcast_index_feed_id":6677838,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6846a16db5ac093b0ca993ec","website_url":"https://dailymail.lnk.to/qkdt","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6846a16db5ac093b0ca993ec/1759237102013-c5ec1829-6398-47a5-a0e7-6288742d5348.jpeg","author":"Daily Mail","episode_count":107,"summary":"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 in…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-12T08:18:17.582091+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/queens-kings-and-dastardly-things-6677838"},"episode":{"title":"The Royal X-Files","slug":"the-royal-x-files","published_at":"2026-06-21T23:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/queens-kings-and-dastardly-things-6677838/the-royal-x-files","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/queens-kings-and-dastardly-things-6677838","url":"https://shows.acast.com/queens-kings-and-dastardly-things/episodes/the-royal-x-files","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6846a16db5ac093b0ca993ec/e/6a355cfbf1612f1c69c5cb2f/media.mp3","summary":"A wonderfully strange-but-true episode of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things with Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams. From a mysterious sighting over Lord Mountbatten's estate at Broadlands to Prince Philip's fascination with UFO reports, the story takes in royal astronomers, Victorian visions of life on other worlds, Cromwell-era plans for a gunpowder-powered \"space chariot\", and the curious tale of an alleged extraterrestrial named Janus who reportedly wanted an audience with the Duke of Edinburgh. Along the way, discover how George III became one of Britain's most enthusiastic royal stargazers, why Queen Elizabeth II left a message on the Moon, and how the modern monarchy found itself connected to everything from the Space Race to concerns about space junk. Part history, part science, part mystery and just a little bit Mulder and Scully, this is a journey through the royal family's surprisingly close encounters with the final frontier. The truth may be out there. 🚀👽🌙 Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams Series Producer: Ben Devlin Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini  Content Editor: Joseph Palmer Executive Producer: Bella Soames A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular. Sign up to Palace Confidential, the FREE royals newsletter from the Mail's top experts. Delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday, it's the smartest way to stay in the royal inner circle. Just head to dailymail.co.uk/palaceconfidential to sign up today.    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"A wonderfully strange-but-true episode of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things with Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams. From a mysterious sighting o…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1838,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/queens-kings-and-dastardly-things-6677838/episodes/the-royal-x-files/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/queens-kings-and-dastardly-things-6677838/the-royal-x-files.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}