Tasteful History

Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France's family was dethroned and executed during the French Revolution, and how did the teenage Marie react? She just kept going forward, no matter how many times her family got kicked off the French throne.

Queen Joan I of Navarre was totally normal. She became a country's first queen-regnant at the old age of one, then ran away to France with her mother, and made an actually happy political marriage somehow. Here is the story of the first queen-regnant of Navarre.

Blanche II of Navarre was just supposed to be another royal bride who went on to have a million kids. But then, her mother and brother died, and she found herself murdered. This is a really good story I wish we had more information about.

Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was one of the very few women of her time to become an English noble in her own right. She could've just been an insignificant noble, but once her father, brother, and son all decided to become traitors, Margaret was obviously going to be talked about. From a little girl during the Wars of the Roses to a trusted governess of Henry VIII's daughter, Margaret certainly had a crazy life.

Marie de Guise was a Queen of Scots who did everything. We mostly remember her for being Mary, Queen of Scots's mother, but she did a lot more than just give birth to Mary. Marie loved France, hated Scotland and was about six feet tall.

Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex and Leicster, was definitely related to Queen Elizabeth I through Anne Boleyn, and possibly related to Elizabeth through Henry VIII. But then, Lettice fell in love with someone who just happened to be the person Elizabeth was in love with, which made the next thirty years horrible. The poor woman could never catch a break.

Welcome to Season 2! Juana la Loca was the Queen of Castile who went mad. But did she really? Turns out, it was because of a couple of horrible dudes who didn't like having her around. Get some tissues and get ready to hear the really sad story of Queen Juana the Mad.

Happy Halloween! To celebrate my second-favorite holiday, here's an episode about Elizabeth Báthory AKA Lady Dracula, who's also known as the Blood Countess. She's in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the "most prolific female serial killer", but we can't be sure if any of this even happened. Get ready to hear a story with a lot of murder.

Jeanne de la Motte was a French con-woman whose husband had a totally made-up title. She made sure history remembered her when she stole an ugly diamond necklace, and then jumped out a second-floor window. This story is so interesting that it's so hard to follow.

In the 3rd century, Rome wasn't doing so well, and there was one person who happened to know just how to exploit that. This woman literally changed history by having a strong hatred for one of history's greatest empires.

Marie-Adélaïde was the first Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, which proved to be more bad than good for Marie-Adélaïde, since she reigned during World War I. That barely helped.

Mafalda of Savoy's story is more tragic than anything you'll ever find. She was the daughter of the King of Italy and the wife of a German prince. She also met a very untimely death. There's two world wars, a concentration camp, and Mafalda's criminally short Wikipedia page.

Henrietta Maria was just another French princess who married the King of England. Unlike other French princesses/English queens, though, she was unpopular from the beginning, and so was her husband. The story has a sorta-kinda happy ending, depending on how you interpret it. There's two assassinations, a beheading, and a ton of civil war.

In the episode, I forgot to mention that Henrietta loved how in France, the King's eldest daughter got the title "Madame Royale", and the King's eldest son was the "Dauphin". England already had the whole eldest son = Prince of Wales thing, but Henrietta wanted her eldest daughter, Mary, to have a cool title too. So, Mary got the title "Princess Royal".

Jacquetta of Luxembourg was the woman who gave birth to Elizabeth Woodville. But there's absolutely nothing else we remember her for. Her life was very interesting, perhaps even more intriguing than her daughter's. I did my best to explain the 100 Years War and the Wars of The Roses as briefly as I could, so there was a lot of information I excluded. My mic was pretty bad in this, so I apologize if it hurts your ears.

Caroline of Brunswick was the Queen of England who had the most tragic story I've encountered. Her parents locked her up in a room and didn't let her go near the windows, while her husband loathed her and accused her of adultery on multiple occasions. She wasn't even let into her own husband's coronation when she should've been being crowned Queen in that same ceremony.

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands brought her people through two world wars, and when she wasn't doing that, she was too busy becoming a billionaire. Once all that was over, she abdicated and rode her bike through the country alone. Seriously, she's amazing.

This episode is about Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the grand duchess who ran away from Russia on multiple occasions. I stumbled upon Juliane on accident, but I'm so glad I did - she's a very, very fascinating woman.