Latest / 1-800-1800 / 1-800-1840: Everything you never wanted to know about queen victoria's wedding
Transcript
- 0:00ring ring oh my god hello you were just gonna start i could
- 0:07tell you're gonna start
- 0:08without me doing no i was like kind of trying to remember again
- 0:11who did it do it
- 0:14proper volume okay ring ring hello is this 1840 this is she are
- 0:23those wedding bells
- 0:24SPEAKER_01: i hear in the background
- 0:25I want to figure out how to play our theme song and merge it
- 0:29with wedding bells.
- 0:34SPEAKER_00: Hello.
- 0:55SPEAKER_00: So welcome to 1-800-1800 or I should say 1-800-1840 today.
- 1:01SPEAKER_00: The podcast brought to you by Mandy Lyon Press.
- 1:06A press that specializes in 19th century novels written by
- 1:10women and weirdos for today's
- 1:12world my name is force for today's readers my name is Mabel my
- 1:18name is Madeline and
- 1:20we started Mandy Lion Press and we're the hosts of 1-800-1800
- 1:22and today is about to
- 1:24be the best day of your life I can't wait I can't wait either
- 1:28it's already the best
- 1:28day of my life I had 10 apricots and four slices of pizza
- 1:32already today it's not
- 1:33even noon I've had like eight danishes seven pieces of pizza a
- 1:37banana and two
- 1:38SPEAKER_00: apricots it's awesome one and a half apricots
- 1:42SPEAKER_00: Madeline, did you learn anything this week?
- 1:44SPEAKER_01: I did.
- 1:45SPEAKER_01: Tell me.
- 1:46SPEAKER_01: Okay,
- 1:47SPEAKER_01: so as listeners may or may not know,
- 1:49SPEAKER_01: Mabel has a Thomas Gainsborough reproduction kind of in her house.
- 1:54So I learned something fun about Thomas Gainsborough that I
- 1:57thought might interest
- 1:58SPEAKER_01: you this week.
- 1:58SPEAKER_01: I can't wait.
- 2:00SPEAKER_01: Thomas Gainsborough is a famous landscape painter.
- 2:02SPEAKER_01: But as some of you may or may not know,
- 2:05plein air painting where you paint actually outside of a
- 2:08landscape was not
- 2:10SPEAKER_01: popularized until maybe 60 years after Gainsborough stopped painting.
- 2:14SPEAKER_01: So how did he paint his scenes?
- 2:16SPEAKER_01: Did he go outside?
- 2:17SPEAKER_01: Well,
- 2:18SPEAKER_01: he went outside,
- 2:19but then he would go back inside to his studio and recreate the
- 2:23landscape on a
- 2:24SPEAKER_01: tabletop model using like sand.
- 2:27And he would use mirrors for the water and the sky and like
- 2:31moss as the hills.
- 2:33SPEAKER_01: And he would build miniatures of the landscape he wanted to paint.
- 2:37SPEAKER_01: And that's how he painted his landscapes.
- 2:38SPEAKER_01: That seems so crazy.
- 2:43SPEAKER_01: Did you not know that?
- 2:44SPEAKER_01: No.
- 2:44And Maisonnier,
- 2:45who's like a French landscape and history painter,
- 2:49would do a similar thing.
- 2:50And he would build like life-size models with like he painted
- 2:53like Napoleonic expeditions.
- 2:55And he would use his own horses and like tie them in weird ways
- 2:58so that they would
- 2:59SPEAKER_01: stay in position.
- 3:00SPEAKER_01: And he would put like salt all over the ground to replicate snow.
- 3:04SPEAKER_01: What did Turner do?
- 3:08i don't know no turner turner painted it from life that was
- 3:13like one of the things
- 3:13that was his revolutionary turner yeah and that's why he his
- 3:17paintings are so much
- 3:18more like atmospheric wow that's very interesting it just seems
- 3:23um like a waste of
- 3:25time to rebuild the landscape when you could just bring your
- 3:28paints outside but but
- 3:29SPEAKER_00: do you want to know something else interesting
- 3:31SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is related.
- 3:32SPEAKER_01: I wasn't planning on telling you this,
- 3:34but it was really hard to bring your paints outside because
- 3:37metal tubes for paints
- 3:38SPEAKER_01: weren't invented until like the 1840s.
- 3:40SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 3:41SPEAKER_01: So before that, artists kept their paints in pig's bladders.
- 3:45SPEAKER_00: No.
- 3:46SPEAKER_01: And those don't travel that well.
- 3:47SPEAKER_00: No, they could burst it at any moment.
- 3:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 3:50SPEAKER_00: Oh my God.
- 3:51I feel like I've heard about the metal tube thing being kind of
- 3:55elite invention.
- 3:56SPEAKER_00: I think it was huge.
- 3:57SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 3:58SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 3:58SPEAKER_00: I guess paint was just also like portable easels,
- 4:01SPEAKER_01: like didn't get invented until the 19th century.
- 4:04SPEAKER_00: Like a piece of wood.
- 4:06SPEAKER_01: No, it's not.
- 4:07It's hard to get,
- 4:08especially think about the scale of a Gainsborough painting.
- 4:10SPEAKER_01: It's really hard to like, how would you set that up outside?
- 4:13SPEAKER_01: Well,
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: actually,
- 4:14SPEAKER_00: do you know that my copy of the Mr.
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: and Mrs.
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: Andrews is like way,
- 4:19SPEAKER_00: way,
- 4:19SPEAKER_00: way bigger than the original.
- 4:20SPEAKER_00: We've seen the original.
- 4:21SPEAKER_00: It's like actually like one foot by two feet.
- 4:24I think he could have carried it,
- 4:25but maybe it wasn't stretched or whatever.
- 4:26SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 4:28SPEAKER_00: But fascinating.
- 4:29SPEAKER_00: That's my fact.
- 4:30SPEAKER_01: Whatever.
- 4:30SPEAKER_01: You can call it into question.
- 4:31SPEAKER_01: You can say it's stupid, but that's my fact.
- 4:35SPEAKER_00: And she's sticking with it.
- 4:37SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 4:45on the clock that was about 20 seconds it took madeline to
- 4:48remember to ask me i
- 4:49learned two little things and i'm going to tell you two little
- 4:52things okay one you
- 4:54already know i didn't know until like 10 minutes ago because it
- 4:56just happened to
- 4:57both of us madeline and i both just met a dog named mabel oh
- 5:01yeah and that's always
- 5:03weird that happens to me all the time i'll hear someone go
- 5:05mabel mabel and then i'm
- 5:06like what and they're talking to a dog which probably doesn't
- 5:09happen to you that
- 5:09SPEAKER_00: often i guess
- 5:12SPEAKER_01: That people are calling a dog named Mabel?
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: No.
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: Does anyone ever go, Madeline, Madeline?
- 5:16SPEAKER_01: And they're talking to a dog?
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: No, that's never happened to me once in my life.
- 5:20SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
- 5:20SPEAKER_01: Madeline's not really a dog's name.
- 5:22SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
- 5:22SPEAKER_00: But Mabel really is a dog's name.
- 5:24SPEAKER_00: It's too many syllables.
- 5:25SPEAKER_00: Madeline.
- 5:25SPEAKER_00: They run up on each other.
- 5:27SPEAKER_00: Run up on each other.
- 5:29SPEAKER_00: Mabel is a dog's name.
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: We just met a dog named Mabel.
- 5:33SPEAKER_00: Mabel, I wasn't like totally enthused with.
- 5:35SPEAKER_01: She was sweet.
- 5:36SPEAKER_01: She was skittish.
- 5:37SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 5:37SPEAKER_00: And she was like kind of a sort of maybe lab, white lab mix or something.
- 5:41SPEAKER_00: What's a white lab?
- 5:42SPEAKER_00: A white lab is a black lab that's white.
- 5:45SPEAKER_00: That doesn't exist.
- 5:46SPEAKER_00: There is total... Oh, yellow lab?
- 5:48SPEAKER_00: Is that what it's called?
- 5:48SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 5:48SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 5:49yellow lab you're right white lab is what i like to call it um
- 5:55okay so she's a
- 5:55yellow lab ish looking dog 12 years old wasn't totally like
- 5:59connecting with her and
- 6:01then this other dog comes over i think that you're afraid to
- 6:04look into your own
- 6:04future you don't like her because she's old and white i'm young
- 6:10and okay address
- 6:11SPEAKER_01: the fact that one day you too will be an old white maple
- 6:14SPEAKER_00: What is 12 in dog years?
- 6:16SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's human years, 12.
- 6:17SPEAKER_00: So what is she?
- 6:19SPEAKER_00: She's really old.
- 6:21SPEAKER_00: I hope I look as good as her.
- 6:23SPEAKER_00: I hope so, too.
- 6:24SPEAKER_00: Then this other dog comes over to Mabel.
- 6:27SPEAKER_00: A Vizsla.
- 6:27SPEAKER_00: A beautiful Vizsla.
- 6:30SPEAKER_00: Who happened to have a pair of... Balls.
- 6:33SPEAKER_00: Testicles.
- 6:34SPEAKER_00: And then Mabel's owner goes, oh my God, Mabel loves intact dogs.
- 6:39SPEAKER_00: I mean, she's spayed and all, but she loves intact dogs.
- 6:42SPEAKER_00: I say to Madeline, what the hell is an intact dog?
- 6:45SPEAKER_00: I explained it.
- 6:46SPEAKER_00: And I'm horrified to have learned this.
- 6:48SPEAKER_01: Really?
- 6:49SPEAKER_00: I never knew you called that.
- 6:51SPEAKER_00: I just thought you called that like a dog that wasn't neutered.
- 6:53that's a mouthful yeah intact no pun intended okay so that's
- 6:58one thing i learned um
- 7:00and then the other thing i learned because i was talking to
- 7:03someone who's a lawyer
- 7:04did you know that the way that judges are picked for a case at
- 7:09least in manhattan
- 7:10is that there's like a huge wheel and all their names are in it
- 7:13and they pick out
- 7:14SPEAKER_00: the name of not possible i swear
- 7:16SPEAKER_01: This is how I wanted us to pick the years.
- 7:19SPEAKER_01: I know this podcast.
- 7:20SPEAKER_00: That's a judge wheel.
- 7:22So it's like a,
- 7:23basically a bingo ball machine,
- 7:25but inside is like all the names of the judges.
- 7:27SPEAKER_00: And then someone pulls it out to pick.
- 7:29SPEAKER_00: So like the judge thinks that that's rife for corruption.
- 7:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 7:32SPEAKER_00: No, I feel like it's kind of more fair.
- 7:35SPEAKER_00: I trust that more than like an automatic generator or whatever.
- 7:37SPEAKER_01: So we should get a bingo ball machine to do the episodes.
- 7:41SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 7:41SPEAKER_00: I know.
- 7:42SPEAKER_00: But on that topic, do you want to know how we chose the year 1840?
- 7:44SPEAKER_00: So to explain to people,
- 7:47SPEAKER_00: usually we choose a year because we'll just ask Siri,
- 7:50SPEAKER_00: like choose a number between zero and 100.
- 7:53or like if Madeline or I really wants to do a year we'll do a
- 7:55year but mostly it's
- 7:56random and but this time we were on a zoom call with our friend
- 8:01Emily who also is
- 8:02SPEAKER_00: the designer of our books and we said Emily because Emily's a huge fan of
- 8:081-800-1800 she's one of our listeners she's one of our biggest
- 8:11listeners and shout
- 8:12out Emily this episode goes out to her because she said 40 yeah
- 8:16we asked her to
- 8:16SPEAKER_01: pick a random number and she said 40
- 8:18SPEAKER_00: And so I said, OK, I'll do 1840.
- 8:20SPEAKER_00: I googled 1840.
- 8:21SPEAKER_00: And guess what happened in 1840?
- 8:22SPEAKER_00: The royal wedding.
- 8:26SPEAKER_00: That was hard to understand.
- 8:27SPEAKER_00: The royal wedding.
- 8:34of queen victoria to prince albert and the funny beautiful
- 8:38adorable little thing is
- 8:39that emily is getting married uh in a couple weeks which will
- 8:43probably be before
- 8:44this podcast comes out she's marrying our friend heddo who made
- 8:48the theme song of
- 8:50our podcast we play it again yeah entirety right now go i have
- 8:54a burning question
- 8:56SPEAKER_00: 1-800
- 9:01SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we just played it again.
- 9:03And it's just,
- 9:05you know,
- 9:05Emily and Hedo are in the room with us right now.
- 9:07SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait for them to hear this.
- 9:09SPEAKER_00: It doesn't really go any further into discussing them.
- 9:12But,
- 9:13you know,
- 9:13it's a wedding themed episode as a present for their wedding.
- 9:17yeah i'm of course not invited we're gonna have to cut that out
- 9:21but madeline will
- 9:22be there i'll be all about it i'll get them a real present too
- 9:25but this could be
- 9:26mabel's present since she wasn't invited yeah i don't really
- 9:29have to like go the
- 9:29SPEAKER_00: extra mile okay so that's the why of why we're doing this
- 9:35SPEAKER_00: And basically,
- 9:36I was so excited to talk about weddings that I did not look up
- 9:39anything else that
- 9:40SPEAKER_00: happened in 1840.
- 9:41SPEAKER_00: I have no idea what happened.
- 9:42I spent most of this research prep just learning more about
- 9:46Queen Victoria.
- 9:47SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 9:47SPEAKER_00: Because I feel like you can just never learn enough about her.
- 9:51SPEAKER_00: She's a multifaceted woman.
- 9:53SPEAKER_00: She lived for a really long time and she did a lot of stuff.
- 9:55SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 9:55SPEAKER_00: So before I get into the wedding,
- 9:57SPEAKER_00: which happened on February 10th,
- 9:58SPEAKER_00: 1840,
- 9:58SPEAKER_00: I want to go back to the beginning.
- 10:02SPEAKER_00: And this is, you know, a story that defined a century.
- 10:08SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 10:09SPEAKER_00: And I want to start by,
- 10:10I'm going to show you a lot of images and we'll show them to
- 10:12our friends on the pod
- 10:13SPEAKER_00: via video soon.
- 10:14SPEAKER_00: So just tell the story of Queen Victoria's life.
- 10:18I want to start by showing you this painting of her by Steven
- 10:21Pince Denning.
- 10:22SPEAKER_00: For those who are listening and can't see,
- 10:26SPEAKER_00: imagine the tiniest and yet largest little girl you've ever seen.
- 10:30SPEAKER_00: She looks like an ostrich egg.
- 10:31SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's wearing, she's covered in ostrich feathers, basically.
- 10:36So Queen Victoria was basically in mourning before she was even
- 10:39born because her
- 10:41SPEAKER_00: father died when she was an infant,
- 10:44SPEAKER_00: when she was one years old.
- 10:45SPEAKER_00: And so she grew up wearing all black,
- 10:47which is kind of interesting because she later was famed for
- 10:51mourning her husband
- 10:52SPEAKER_00: for 40 years.
- 10:52SPEAKER_00: Like she wore black for 40 years.
- 10:55but she also was a baby wearing black and in this portrait
- 10:58she's like kind of looks
- 11:00like if you made a baby huge and then the baby was like
- 11:03stomping across the earth
- 11:05because kind of the entire landscape speaking of landscape
- 11:07painting is like in
- 11:08minieta yeah it's like dwarfed behind her she's wearing a
- 11:11beautiful little black
- 11:13silky coat with fur cuffs and fur sort of stole you just kind
- 11:18of want to take a
- 11:18bite out of her yeah she looks adorable she's wearing one black
- 11:23glove and holding
- 11:23the other and there's a rose that's on the ground that she's
- 11:26like dropped in grief
- 11:27and you know what else is kind of interesting about it is like
- 11:30very often when you
- 11:31see royal portraits of children they're not cute i think she
- 11:35looks pretty cute here
- 11:36don't you yeah i feel like there's something cooking with
- 11:38cuteness in this yeah
- 11:40SPEAKER_01: like
- 11:41SPEAKER_00: This is her at the age of four.
- 11:43SPEAKER_00: I forgot to say that.
- 11:44SPEAKER_01: She looks sad and adorable.
- 11:46SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 11:46SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of like the context.
- 11:49SPEAKER_00: That's what happens.
- 11:50SPEAKER_00: But she's born on May 24th, 1819.
- 11:52SPEAKER_00: She's the daughter of Prince Edward,
- 11:54the Duke of Kent and Stratham and Princess Victoire of
- 11:58Saxe-Coburg-Salfeld.
- 12:00SPEAKER_00: She's a German gal.
- 12:03SPEAKER_00: She's a German gal.
- 12:04um victoria's father obviously died when she was one but she's
- 12:08the granddaughter of
- 12:09king george the third um was he still the king yeah when she
- 12:13was born because her
- 12:14dad was like the fourth son oh i see um and so how i'll get
- 12:19there you'll get there
- 12:20i'm gonna explain it's very i mean most of this episode's about
- 12:23like how queen
- 12:23victoria became queen victoria yeah but before i talk about
- 12:27sort of the succession
- 12:28SPEAKER_00: of the royal family i want to tell you a fun fact which is disgusting
- 12:33SPEAKER_00: Which is disgusting.
- 12:36Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were born a couple weeks apart
- 12:40and their births
- 12:41SPEAKER_00: were assisted by the same midwife.
- 12:44SPEAKER_00: That's not gross to me.
- 12:45SPEAKER_00: I think that's sort of cute.
- 12:47SPEAKER_01: But they're also first cousins.
- 12:48that's more gross so it's like not only are they first cousins
- 12:51it would be crazy if
- 12:52that's how you had told me they like had the same mom like
- 12:55their births were done
- 12:56by the same woman yeah the same woman labored but i think
- 12:59that's sweet like if you
- 13:00were married to someone who's born in the same hospital that's
- 13:02adorable yeah so but
- 13:04it's actually interesting the woman who was the midwife was
- 13:07named charlotte von
- 13:08siebold and she was the a german physician who was who's kind
- 13:12of regarded as the
- 13:13SPEAKER_00: first female gynecologist in germany
- 13:16slash first gynecologist period but follow-up question yep
- 13:20midwives what about him
- 13:23like historically wasn't oh yeah but i think she like also went
- 13:27to medical school
- 13:28like she kind of became a more professional doctor in some way
- 13:31okay okay so
- 13:34victoria's grandfather george is known as the mad king mad king
- 13:38george oh mad king
- 13:39SPEAKER_00: george yeah that's her grandpa george the third oh
- 13:43SPEAKER_00: And so basically he was like a normal guy.
- 13:46SPEAKER_00: He had like syphilis, right?
- 13:48SPEAKER_00: They think he either had syphilis or bipolar or peripheria.
- 13:51SPEAKER_00: What's that?
- 13:52SPEAKER_00: Which is a disease where the porphyrins in your body build up.
- 13:56SPEAKER_00: Yes, the porphyrins.
- 13:57SPEAKER_00: I don't really know.
- 13:58SPEAKER_00: And they start attacking your body.
- 14:00SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 14:00SPEAKER_00: Where are your porphyrins?
- 14:04SPEAKER_00: It's like a...
- 14:06little thing okay it's a tiny tiny little thing um and it can
- 14:11make you mad and i
- 14:12just was laughing because i was googling king george iii and
- 14:17his disease and
- 14:18whatever and you know like google has like ai recommended
- 14:21questions that you should
- 14:22ask with the ai generated answers it was like one of them was
- 14:26does prince william
- 14:27SPEAKER_00: have peripheria
- 14:28And the AI overview answer is no,
- 14:30the current Prince William does not have peripheria.
- 14:32SPEAKER_00: The Prince William who had peripheria,
- 14:34SPEAKER_00: I'm like not saying that right,
- 14:35SPEAKER_00: was Prince William of Gloucester,
- 14:37SPEAKER_00: a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
- 14:39SPEAKER_00: It's just like you create and then and that guy died in a plane crash.
- 14:44SPEAKER_00: So it's just kind of driving the plane, driving the plane.
- 14:48SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what you say?
- 14:49SPEAKER_00: Flying it?
- 14:49SPEAKER_00: Oh, he was flying the plane.
- 14:51SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 14:52SPEAKER_00: I just thought that was kind of funny.
- 14:55SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe his porphyry is clogged up so much that he crashed his plane.
- 15:00SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
- 15:01SPEAKER_01: You don't know.
- 15:02SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
- 15:03SPEAKER_01: You can't know what one's porphyries do.
- 15:05SPEAKER_00: I have no idea what they do for me.
- 15:07um it's impossible to say and so i guess we don't we don't
- 15:11really know why george
- 15:12the third was mad but he was mad so he was like kind of manic
- 15:16depressive and he his
- 15:17mania was like really intense and he would i think i've said
- 15:20this on the podcast
- 15:21before because i've like read about this before but he was so
- 15:25manic that he would
- 15:26like stop not stop talking like he would just talk endlessly
- 15:30and so he would talk
- 15:30so much that he would start foaming from the mouth and i'm
- 15:33surprised that's never
- 15:34SPEAKER_00: happened to us
- 15:35that like has happened to me yeah um he did you watch six feet
- 15:40under no move on
- 15:42okay so he also would write really long sentences because he
- 15:47was still writing
- 15:47letters when he was manic and so researchers have been able to
- 15:50compare letters he
- 15:51wrote in periods of mania versus periods when he was down and
- 15:55like when he was
- 15:56SPEAKER_00: manic his sentences were um about like 400 words long um
- 16:00that's also how i write you and george the third have a lot in
- 16:04common yeah um and
- 16:06so when he was getting crazier and crazier they basically
- 16:12created a regency so one
- 16:14of his sons i think was made regent it wasn't or charlotte was
- 16:19mean charlotte yeah
- 16:20SPEAKER_01: i mean basically that what bridgerton is about yeah
- 16:24like but is that real it is real okay because i think queen
- 16:28charlotte had unusual
- 16:29power i was kind of confused about this but it says in 1810
- 16:33when he relapsed like
- 16:34yet again into mental illness his eldest son was named prince
- 16:37regent okay um but i
- 16:39do think queen charlotte like didn't have a husband effectively
- 16:42but they had so
- 16:43many kids they had 15 kids well people with bipolar sort of
- 16:47famously good in bed
- 16:50no bad at using any sort of restraint um but his reign was
- 16:57marked by his brain it's
- 17:01SPEAKER_01: a famously sexy disease
- 17:03kind of it it is that's why i was gonna ask about six feet
- 17:05under billy is one of
- 17:07the characters has bipolar and is really hot oh he's played by
- 17:12the kind of like bad
- 17:13dude from clueless the bad dude from clueless yeah which guy
- 17:18the guy who's mean to
- 17:20SPEAKER_01: tie
- 17:21can't picture him he's the one who like dangles her over the
- 17:24balcony he's like
- 17:25curly hair yeah it's coming back to me yeah um george's reign
- 17:30was marked not only
- 17:31by his mental illness but also by like many military conflicts
- 17:34like he's the one
- 17:35who lost the 13 north american colonies he did that yeah that
- 17:39was the king who they
- 17:40SPEAKER_00: were all revolting against
- 17:42SPEAKER_01: Wait, what?
- 17:43SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 17:45SPEAKER_00: Am I stupid?
- 17:47SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
- 17:48SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 17:49SPEAKER_01: King George.
- 17:50SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 17:51SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 17:51SPEAKER_00: Isn't that so interesting?
- 17:53SPEAKER_01: Like in Hamilton.
- 17:54SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
- 17:55SPEAKER_00: He was crazy King George.
- 17:57SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 17:58SPEAKER_00: And then like later once he was a regent.
- 18:00SPEAKER_01: I feel stupid right now.
- 18:02SPEAKER_01: I don't think you're stupid.
- 18:03SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 18:04SPEAKER_00: Like also like Waterloo happened under King George.
- 18:08SPEAKER_00: Waterloo, of course.
- 18:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 18:10SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 18:11so where was waterloo in belgium yeah yeah um so i knew that
- 18:17because i read vanity
- 18:18fair by thackeray oh yeah yeah i knew it because i went to
- 18:21belgium and i was like
- 18:22SPEAKER_01: what why do you guys have all this napoleon stuff everywhere it's weird
- 18:28um so victoria's life was sort of defined by the fact that her
- 18:32grandfather george
- 18:33the third had 15 children all of whom were like philandering
- 18:37sluts drug addicts so
- 18:40drug yeah charlotte and george had all these kids and none of
- 18:44them like got married
- 18:45at the right time or to the right people they all like all the
- 18:48sons had like 15
- 18:49SPEAKER_00: illegitimate children so
- 18:51SPEAKER_00: Even though there were all these grandchildren,
- 18:53there was a like succession crisis hitting the royal family
- 18:57because only one person
- 18:59SPEAKER_00: was,
- 18:59SPEAKER_00: there was only one legitimate grandchild,
- 19:01SPEAKER_00: a girl named princess Charlotte.
- 19:03SPEAKER_00: But,
- 19:04and Charlotte was like the one hope of the royal family because
- 19:08she was like sweet
- 19:10SPEAKER_00: and beautiful and pretty and she was legitimate.
- 19:12SPEAKER_00: And then she died tragically of childbirth in 1817 at the age of 21.
- 19:16SPEAKER_00: This is why women shouldn't be in the line of succession.
- 19:20SPEAKER_00: Totally.
- 19:20SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 19:21um so then george iii is left with no heirs um he dies in 18
- 19:29sorry he dies in 1820
- 19:32which is also the same year that queen victoria's dad died okay
- 19:37um his son one of
- 19:38SPEAKER_00: his many children um so then her uncle becomes king george the fourth and
- 19:45SPEAKER_00: And he was not insane,
- 19:47SPEAKER_00: but he was really,
- 19:49SPEAKER_00: really extravagant,
- 19:51SPEAKER_00: spent tons and tons of money,
- 19:52SPEAKER_00: and he hated his wife.
- 19:54SPEAKER_00: So they didn't have any kids, I think.
- 19:56SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 19:57SPEAKER_00: And so it's like becoming clearer and clearer.
- 19:59SPEAKER_00: Being the king must be so fun.
- 20:02SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you just get to do whatever you want.
- 20:04But then it's also like,
- 20:05I always feel this way when I'm watching any historic period
- 20:08drama.
- 20:09SPEAKER_00: It's like,
- 20:09SPEAKER_00: you actually have one job,
- 20:11SPEAKER_00: which is to have a legitimate child,
- 20:12SPEAKER_00: and you can't have sex with your wife one time.
- 20:15well i was just watching wolf the new like the most recent wolf
- 20:19hall and when anna
- 20:20cleves comes and henry the eighth is like she has saggy boobs
- 20:24and i won't touch her
- 20:26send her away and then like mary's um and boleyn's 12 year old
- 20:29cousin i bet she
- 20:32SPEAKER_00: didn't have saggy boobs about that because she didn't have boobs yeah
- 20:37So it's becoming more and more apparent that Victoria is kind
- 20:40of the heir apparent
- 20:42because everybody else is just like not crushing it on the
- 20:46having legitimate
- 20:46SPEAKER_00: children front.
- 20:47So there becomes increasing pressure on Victoria to become the
- 20:53queen in the future.
- 20:54SPEAKER_00: And her mother,
- 20:56SPEAKER_00: whose name is Victoire,
- 20:57SPEAKER_00: but spelled Victoria,
- 20:59SPEAKER_00: the Duchess of Kent,
- 21:01SPEAKER_00: raises her in what is called the Kensington system.
- 21:04so um duchess of kent is like in cahoots with this guy sir john
- 21:10conroy who is her
- 21:12victoria's mom's attendant and he was like a scheming evil guy
- 21:17like looking for
- 21:17power and they're raising victoria in this incredibly
- 21:21protective way ostensibly to
- 21:23SPEAKER_00: like make sure she doesn't die but also because they are like hoping that
- 21:28one of victoria's uncles will die victoria will become like
- 21:31princess region and
- 21:32they can pull the strings and make her their puppet queen okay
- 21:36um so there's all
- 21:37these rules like she had no ask a question yeah like okay this
- 21:41guy wants her to be
- 21:42the puppet queen for him does he have like a vision or he just
- 21:45wants that power
- 21:47i think he has a vision i think of like how he wants england to
- 21:50be well apparently
- 21:52john conroy thought his wife was the rightful queen like i
- 21:55think i mean i don't
- 21:56know what he was mad king john it sounds like basically his
- 22:00wife the rightful queen
- 22:01because of these like crazy like british nobility situations i
- 22:06mean i think also
- 22:07that they were all wigs if that gives you any information but
- 22:13that means they don't
- 22:13SPEAKER_00: want a king
- 22:14SPEAKER_00: I know it's kind of confusing.
- 22:16SPEAKER_00: I get it.
- 22:16SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 22:18SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 22:18SPEAKER_00: What were the rules for the Kensington system?
- 22:21SPEAKER_00: So she's not allowed to go up or downstairs by herself.
- 22:25okay um her mom read her diary she's only allowed to have two
- 22:31prolific diarist yeah
- 22:33like mom must have been busy yeah i think it was a full-time
- 22:35job um she's also not
- 22:38allowed to have any friends she has like one or two friends
- 22:42that are chosen by her
- 22:43SPEAKER_00: mom and john conroy that's sad and one of them i think she ends up really
- 22:48sabotaging queen victoria before she got married was like kind
- 22:51of a bratty queen
- 22:53SPEAKER_01: Well, it sounds like she didn't have a lot of choice given.
- 22:57SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she was she hated her mother.
- 22:58So that's the thing is that she's in this like horrific
- 23:01basically like stewardship.
- 23:03SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's like in prison.
- 23:04SPEAKER_00: She's in a gilded cage.
- 23:06SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you like hate your friends who are collaborating with that?
- 23:11yeah my friends my mom your friends your mom and the girl you
- 23:15were mean to yeah um
- 23:17so this is going on victoria's life is incredibly limited
- 23:21apparently she wasn't
- 23:21very smart um she was kind of a ditz but she liked music cute
- 23:28so george the fourth
- 23:29one of victoria's uncle dies in 1830 and is succeeded by
- 23:33william another uncle
- 23:35SPEAKER_00: william the fourth
- 23:36who has 10 children but all of them by an actress you know so
- 23:41they're basically
- 23:42they're useless garbage yeah he was also a huge slut and i
- 23:45think he was addicted to
- 23:46opium was he married to this actress no okay um i think he had
- 23:51a wife but he also
- 23:52would not touch her yeah and actually in a one of the sequels
- 23:56to bridgerton which
- 23:57SPEAKER_00: is about queen charlotte they there's like a lot of plot
- 24:01sort of that happens around her children who are portrayed as
- 24:04like the worst people
- 24:05ever and like they have to marry these horrible german cousins
- 24:08and they hate them
- 24:08and it's just bad news okay um and so william the fourth dies
- 24:14in 1837 and queen
- 24:17victoria becomes britain's 18 year old queen wow she's five
- 24:22feet tall amazing and
- 24:24SPEAKER_00: she's about to take over the world amazing um
- 24:28um and her first do you want to know what her first order of
- 24:31business was can i
- 24:33guess yeah making her bedroom pink kind of similar it has to do
- 24:40with her bedroom
- 24:41SPEAKER_00: yeah it's moving her mother's bed out of her room
- 24:45it's giving um that Jeanette McCurdy yeah it's exactly like I'm
- 24:51glad my mom died
- 24:52yeah yeah it's that though apparently later once Queen Victoria
- 24:56started to have her
- 24:57own children she started like kind of rekindled things with her
- 24:59mother but so that
- 25:00does happen yeah I think she started to understand why her mom
- 25:04did what she did but
- 25:06yeah so she moves her mom's bed out of her room and then her
- 25:08second order of
- 25:09SPEAKER_00: business is that she asked to have a half hour to herself every day
- 25:14SPEAKER_00: No, just like one time, first time ever.
- 25:17SPEAKER_00: Like she's an 18 year old girl who's never been alone for half an hour.
- 25:20SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 25:21SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 25:21SPEAKER_00: What do you think she did?
- 25:22SPEAKER_00: Masturbate?
- 25:23SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
- 25:26SPEAKER_00: And then she also moves her mom's bed out of the room,
- 25:30SPEAKER_00: but then sends it to the far other end of Buckingham Palace.
- 25:33SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 25:34SPEAKER_00: So she's,
- 25:34SPEAKER_00: and they,
- 25:35she refuses her mom's request to see her and they communicate
- 25:38only by letter.
- 25:39SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 25:40SPEAKER_00: She hated her mom.
- 25:43SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I get it.
- 25:46SPEAKER_00: But I mean, her mom just wanted her to be powerful.
- 25:52SPEAKER_00: So as we've said, Queen Victoria was a prolific diarist.
- 25:57SPEAKER_00: This is what she wrote the day that she learned she would be queen.
- 26:00SPEAKER_00: I was awoke at six o'clock by Mama,
- 26:02who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Corningham
- 26:06were here and wished
- 26:07SPEAKER_00: to see me.
- 26:07SPEAKER_00: I got out of bed and went into my sitting room,
- 26:10SPEAKER_00: only in my dressing gown,
- 26:12SPEAKER_00: and alone,
- 26:13SPEAKER_00: and saw them.
- 26:14SPEAKER_00: Lord Corningham then acquainted me that my poor uncle,
- 26:17SPEAKER_00: the king,
- 26:18SPEAKER_00: was no more,
- 26:19SPEAKER_00: and had expired at twelve minutes past two this morning,
- 26:22SPEAKER_00: and consequently that I am queen.
- 26:25SPEAKER_00: Cool, right?
- 26:26SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's cool.
- 26:28SPEAKER_00: But I wanted to show you another painting.
- 26:30SPEAKER_01: She was expecting it, I guess, though, right?
- 26:31SPEAKER_00: Yeah, her whole life was about this moment.
- 26:34SPEAKER_00: But there's this painting by Henry Tanworth Wells,
- 26:37SPEAKER_00: painted in the 1880s,
- 26:39SPEAKER_00: where she's learning that she's become queen.
- 26:41SPEAKER_00: And it's like,
- 26:42SPEAKER_00: doesn't it look,
- 26:43I just wanted to show you how it looks exactly like a painting
- 26:46of the Annunciation.
- 26:47SPEAKER_00: There's like,
- 26:48SPEAKER_00: instead of the Angel Gabriel,
- 26:49there's like these guys telling her that she's queen and
- 26:51there's light pouring in
- 26:52SPEAKER_00: through the window.
- 26:53SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
- 26:54SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 26:55People don't talk about,
- 26:56like,
- 26:56the God aspect of the monarchy quite as much anymore,
- 26:59I think.
- 27:00SPEAKER_00: I know.
- 27:01SPEAKER_00: Well, like, Charles III was definitely not chosen by God in my mind.
- 27:05SPEAKER_01: Why do you say that?
- 27:07SPEAKER_00: Because he's so uncharismatic.
- 27:09Have you watched the video of him recently getting shot at in,
- 27:13like,
- 27:13the 80s or 90s?
- 27:16SPEAKER_01: No.
- 27:16SPEAKER_01: He demonstrates an admirable sang-froid.
- 27:19SPEAKER_01: What does he do?
- 27:21SPEAKER_01: He's like, it's an assassination attempt, and he just goes...
- 27:26He just like people are like diving around him trying to like
- 27:29catch the assailant.
- 27:30SPEAKER_01: He just like glances.
- 27:32SPEAKER_01: Oh, maybe I have seen this.
- 27:36SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I feel like he doesn't have all his marbles or something.
- 27:40SPEAKER_00: But this was a long time ago.
- 27:41SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 27:41But he also like we should do an episode about how he hates
- 27:44modern architecture.
- 27:46SPEAKER_00: Does he?
- 27:47He has like he like before Trump started like an official
- 27:51commission to end modernism.
- 27:53SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
- 27:53SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 27:55SPEAKER_00: And like when there was the extension built to the national gallery by,
- 27:59SPEAKER_00: um,
- 28:00SPEAKER_00: the Las Vegas people.
- 28:01SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
- 28:02SPEAKER_00: Uh,
- 28:04venturi robert venturi and denise scott brown but it was the
- 28:06venturi is yeah
- 28:08venturi did the addition it's not denise scott brown like
- 28:11charles was like he
- 28:12called it the basically like the pimple on the beautiful face
- 28:16of england yeah that
- 28:17SPEAKER_00: makes sense so disgusted by it um okay
- 28:23So that's kind of how Queen Victoria gets to the point where
- 28:27she's an 18 year old
- 28:28SPEAKER_00: queen and she's just sort of awesome.
- 28:32SPEAKER_00: But like these things happen where,
- 28:35so there's one of the few people she was ever allowed to play
- 28:38with was this girl,
- 28:39SPEAKER_00: Flora Hastings,
- 28:41SPEAKER_00: who is like in cahoots with Sir John Conroy.
- 28:44She's unmarried and there's rumors swirling in the palace that
- 28:48Flora had taken a
- 28:50SPEAKER_00: carriage ride alone with Sir John Conroy.
- 28:53just not good and then flora starts her belly swells and
- 28:59everyone is like is she
- 29:01pregnant and victoria is like stoking the rumors like being
- 29:07like yeah i bet it's
- 29:08sir john conroy's baby i heard they took a carriage ride i
- 29:11heard they took a
- 29:11SPEAKER_00: carriage ride to hell
- 29:13And then she orders that Flora gets this like really brutal
- 29:18medical examination,
- 29:19SPEAKER_00: like pelvic exam,
- 29:21SPEAKER_00: which determines that she's not pregnant.
- 29:23SPEAKER_00: She has liver cancer,
- 29:24has a huge tumor that's growing like so large that her whole
- 29:28body is swelling.
- 29:29SPEAKER_00: And then she dies.
- 29:30And like,
- 29:31but the public hears about this and everyone is like,
- 29:33Queen Victoria is evil.
- 29:35SPEAKER_00: She should not have all this power.
- 29:37SPEAKER_00: She's like spiteful and mean.
- 29:39SPEAKER_00: It's like a very interesting...
- 29:42I don't know,
- 29:42referendum on the body and like what it means to be a woman.
- 29:45Is that like a normal to get that,
- 29:47to have that kind of exam ordered upon you?
- 29:50SPEAKER_00: I think maybe not in the 1830s.
- 29:51SPEAKER_01: Like I'm like, that seems late for that.
- 29:53SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 29:54SPEAKER_01: Like Joan of Arc, like virginity test.
- 29:57SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 29:59agree um so yeah victoria was kind of wild um and then she's
- 30:08also even though she's
- 30:09queen she's still feeling burdened by her mother and she asks
- 30:13her very trusted
- 30:14advisor like what do i do lord melbourne what do i do and he's
- 30:17like you could get
- 30:18married because if you're married you don't have to live with
- 30:20your mother then you
- 30:21SPEAKER_00: have a husband who's your boss exactly
- 30:23SPEAKER_00: And she apparently wrote in her journal that marriage was a,
- 30:27SPEAKER_00: quote,
- 30:27SPEAKER_00: shocking alternative that she had not considered.
- 30:30And she's kind of resistant to getting married because she is
- 30:32so young and she
- 30:33SPEAKER_00: doesn't want to start having kids yet.
- 30:36I'm basically being told,
- 30:38like,
- 30:38oh,
- 30:38you can go from your overbearing mother to a husband.
- 30:40It's kind of like,
- 30:41well,
- 30:41that doesn't make a husband sound very good,
- 30:43does it?
- 30:43SPEAKER_00: Especially when you're queen.
- 30:45SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 30:46Like,
- 30:46you have all the power in the world except you can't even kick
- 30:49your mom out of the house.
- 30:50SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 30:51SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can send her to, like, a really far wing, but...
- 30:53SPEAKER_01: I was just, I guess like Queen Elizabeth never married.
- 30:57SPEAKER_00: Oh, the first.
- 30:57SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's why.
- 30:58SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 30:59SPEAKER_00: But I don't think she had a mom because her mom was in Berlin.
- 31:02SPEAKER_00: Oh, right.
- 31:03SPEAKER_00: Her mom was dead.
- 31:04SPEAKER_00: Her mom was dead.
- 31:05SPEAKER_00: The Virgin Queen.
- 31:06SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 31:08So,
- 31:09you know,
- 31:10it's,
- 31:10we're talking about the late 1830s when Queen Victoria is king.
- 31:14SPEAKER_00: I mean, queen.
- 31:15SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 31:18but a few years earlier on her 17th birthday before she was
- 31:21queen in 1836 16 going
- 31:23on 17 literally 16 going on 17 and then she falls in love with
- 31:27a german boy it is
- 31:29the sound of music cute um so albert and his brother ernst and
- 31:36his dad ernst the
- 31:37SPEAKER_00: duke of sax coburg um they come to visit
- 31:42SPEAKER_00: And basically like Albert was always supposed to be Victoria's husband.
- 31:46SPEAKER_00: It was basically an arranged marriage.
- 31:48SPEAKER_00: So at first Victoria actually doesn't like him.
- 31:52SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 31:52SPEAKER_00: So she writes in her journal at, should I do my accent again?
- 31:56SPEAKER_00: Well,
- 31:56SPEAKER_01: who is,
- 31:57SPEAKER_01: well,
- 31:57SPEAKER_01: you just describe who Albert is to me quickly,
- 31:59SPEAKER_01: like why he's supposed to be her husband.
- 32:02so he's a i think they're all hanoverians so like basically
- 32:08victoria and albert are
- 32:09completely entangled in the same complex royal bloodline okay
- 32:15and so there are this
- 32:17it's this huge network of princes and princesses and dukes and
- 32:21whatever all of whom
- 32:22SPEAKER_00: are related and like the hanoverian family had gotten control of england
- 32:28SPEAKER_00: But then the rest of them stayed on the continent and had all these,
- 32:31SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 32:31SPEAKER_00: because like Germany wasn't Germany.
- 32:33SPEAKER_00: It was like made up of all these little kingdoms, basically.
- 32:36SPEAKER_00: And the Saxe-Coburgs were like one branch.
- 32:38And was that like an important alliance or why was Albert the
- 32:42one that was chosen
- 32:42SPEAKER_01: of all the cousins?
- 32:43SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 32:44SPEAKER_00: Well,
- 32:44I think it was an important alliance like just to keep it in
- 32:46the bloodline,
- 32:47SPEAKER_00: like keep the Hanoverians like on top.
- 32:51And so like at one point she had a crush on the son of the Tsar
- 32:55of Russia.
- 32:56But everyone's like,
- 32:56hell no,
- 32:57she's not like I don't think Russia wanted her to marry him.
- 33:00SPEAKER_00: And like all of her advisors didn't want an alliance with Russia.
- 33:03World history would have been completely different if she had
- 33:06married him.
- 33:07yeah i actually really do that's interesting yeah well i think
- 33:12like germany i don't
- 33:13know what like queen victoria's reign would did differently for
- 33:16germany i mean
- 33:17think about when she stopped raining in like the 1890s world
- 33:23war ii happens like 15
- 33:24SPEAKER_01: years later
- 33:26yeah and germany and england are at war but like do you think
- 33:30germany would have
- 33:31been any less rife with these kind of like fiefdom issues i
- 33:35don't think she like
- 33:36made that she just was but i think that the way that germany
- 33:39goaded england into
- 33:41that war maybe would have been different i don't know yeah i
- 33:43mean that i guess
- 33:44SPEAKER_00: those were like cousins on either side of the channel
- 33:50SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting question.
- 33:51SPEAKER_00: So is that enough context?
- 33:53SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 33:53SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 33:54SPEAKER_01: So you can do your Queen Victoria voice again if you want.
- 33:58SPEAKER_00: Do you like it?
- 33:59SPEAKER_00: I love it.
- 33:59SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 34:20SPEAKER_00: He has the most kind,
- 34:21SPEAKER_00: honest,
- 34:22SPEAKER_00: and intelligent expression in his countenance,
- 34:24SPEAKER_00: and he has a very good figure.
- 34:26SPEAKER_00: Albert, who is just as tall as Ernst, but stouter, is extremely handsome.
- 34:31SPEAKER_00: His hair is about the same color as mine.
- 34:33His eyes are large and blue,
- 34:35and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine
- 34:38teeth.
- 34:39But the charm of his countenance is his expression,
- 34:43which is most delightful.
- 34:45SPEAKER_00: And then she says, C'est à la fois.
- 34:48SPEAKER_00: Full of goodness and sweetness and very clever and intelligent.
- 34:53SPEAKER_00: So she is charmed by him.
- 34:55SPEAKER_00: She thinks he's cute.
- 34:56SPEAKER_01: He looks just like her.
- 34:58SPEAKER_00: I know.
- 34:58SPEAKER_00: Isn't that so disgusting?
- 35:02SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing.
- 35:03SPEAKER_00: Even though she thinks he's kind of hot, he's really, really shy.
- 35:07SPEAKER_00: Because basically,
- 35:08SPEAKER_00: for whatever reason,
- 35:09SPEAKER_00: his branch of the Saxe-Coburg family,
- 35:11SPEAKER_00: there was no women.
- 35:12SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't think he'd ever met a girl before.
- 35:14SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 35:15SPEAKER_00: Before he visited her.
- 35:17And get this,
- 35:18the entire German delegation from Saxe-Coburg had the worst
- 35:22diarrhea.
- 35:23SPEAKER_00: Bad, bad, bad on their visit to England.
- 35:26SPEAKER_01: Wow.
- 35:26SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 35:27SPEAKER_00: So he was like not doing well.
- 35:29so he wasn't shy he was just sick yeah he was like just a mess
- 35:33and yet his
- 35:34countenance was full of goodness and sweetness yeah isn't that
- 35:37kind of sweet it's
- 35:37cute yeah but then like lucy worsley historian says in this
- 35:42documentary i watched
- 35:43about the queen victoria and prince albert love affair
- 35:45basically victoria dedicates
- 35:46ultimately more words in her diary at this point to the parrot
- 35:50that her uncle ernst
- 35:51SPEAKER_00: gave her than she does to albert
- 35:53SPEAKER_01: That's funny because every time you say Arab parent, I hear Arab parrot.
- 36:00SPEAKER_01: Oh, man.
- 36:01SPEAKER_01: And so I've been thinking about parrots a lot, too.
- 36:04SPEAKER_00: Do you want to hear what she said?
- 36:06SPEAKER_00: So did you know that a lorry is a type of parrot?
- 36:09SPEAKER_01: No, I didn't know that.
- 36:10SPEAKER_01: I thought a lorry was like a police wagon.
- 36:12SPEAKER_01: A lorry is a truck.
- 36:14SPEAKER_01: A lorry is a truck.
- 36:15Yeah.
- 36:16SPEAKER_00: Dear Uncle Ernest,
- 36:17SPEAKER_00: may it be the present of a most delightful lorry,
- 36:20SPEAKER_00: which is so tame that it remains on your hand,
- 36:22and you may put your finger into its beak or do anything with
- 36:26it without it ever
- 36:27SPEAKER_00: attempting to bite.
- 36:29SPEAKER_00: It is larger than Mama's gray parrot and has the most beautiful plumage.
- 36:33SPEAKER_00: It is scarlet, blue, brown, yellow, and purple.
- 36:36SPEAKER_00: And she goes on and on.
- 36:38SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 36:40SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of like a symbol to parrots.
- 36:44SPEAKER_00: Um, I do feel like we have something in us that's bird friendly.
- 36:49SPEAKER_01: I'm attracted to the idea of having attracted to parrots.
- 36:55SPEAKER_00: What I thought you were going to say.
- 36:57in a way yes that is what i see i met this guy once at a
- 36:59wedding speaking of who
- 37:03was someone who like had had his loft in soho from the 70s and
- 37:06paid like 14 a month
- 37:08to live in this like huge loft right on canal street and he
- 37:14shared it with his like
- 37:15SPEAKER_01: 14 parents whoa i know i loved the concept
- 37:20SPEAKER_00: There was a car,
- 37:22SPEAKER_00: I think,
- 37:22in San Francisco that I used to see when I was growing up that
- 37:25was just full of
- 37:26SPEAKER_00: parrots.
- 37:26SPEAKER_00: That sounds dangerous.
- 37:28SPEAKER_01: The parrot car.
- 37:30SPEAKER_01: I guess it's not that hot in San Francisco.
- 37:31SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 37:32SPEAKER_01: And parrots are tropical birds, naturally.
- 37:34SPEAKER_00: Well,
- 37:34did I tell you about the insane New York Post article about the
- 37:37pigeon woman who
- 37:39SPEAKER_00: feeds the pigeons outside the museum?
- 37:41no and there's a new expose where neighbors on the upper east
- 37:44side have caught her
- 37:45putting sick pigeons into her car like she if she thinks they
- 37:49don't look well she
- 37:50throws them in the car and she says she's like protecting them
- 37:53and then releases
- 37:53them but sometimes she's like she apparently was quoted in the
- 37:56york post being like
- 37:57yeah sometimes i have 14 15 pigeons in my car what's the big
- 38:00deal but everyone was
- 38:02like honestly what's the big deal let her live i know whose
- 38:05side you're on i'm
- 38:07SPEAKER_00: always on the pigeon lady's side
- 38:09um okay so that was their 1836 encounter but again he had
- 38:13diarrhea and she was not
- 38:15that into it but then she sees him again in 1839 and she writes
- 38:21it was with some
- 38:22emotion that i beheld albert who is beautiful and so she's just
- 38:28enchanted and
- 38:29SPEAKER_00: basically four days later she proposes to him
- 38:33that's cool yeah she's not allowed to be proposed to because
- 38:35she's the queen yeah
- 38:37queens can't be proposed to is that true at the time now it's
- 38:41not true i mean i'm
- 38:42trying to think like in the crown does elizabeth proposed i
- 38:45don't think well she
- 38:45was married before she became queen yeah to that creep because
- 38:51the whole episode is
- 38:52SPEAKER_01: her dad coughing up blood
- 38:55SPEAKER_01: So sad.
- 38:56SPEAKER_01: I've never seen that show after that episode.
- 38:58SPEAKER_01: It's so annoying.
- 38:59SPEAKER_00: I think it goes downhill.
- 39:01SPEAKER_00: Um, okay.
- 39:02SPEAKER_00: Stuttering and coughing up blood.
- 39:04Um,
- 39:06and she also writes in her journal how lucky she is to be loved
- 39:09by an angel as Albert.
- 39:10SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 39:11that's weird and she said i feel the happiest of human beings
- 39:16she's so lucky she
- 39:17was in love with him yeah um so that's october 15th 1839 cut to
- 39:24february 10th 1840
- 39:26SPEAKER_00: the wedding bells ring what do wedding bells sound like
- 39:35SPEAKER_00: Okay, so they get married.
- 39:38SPEAKER_00: But there's more to the story, of course.
- 39:40SPEAKER_00: Of course.
- 39:41Because as I was saying before,
- 39:44the monarchy was kind of in crisis before Victoria became
- 39:47queen.
- 39:48And then her initial sort of petulant bratty motions as queen
- 39:52did not gain her much
- 39:54SPEAKER_00: favor with the British public.
- 39:55so lord melbourne who is a father figure to queen victoria and
- 40:00also some historians
- 40:02think he was totally in love with her but it wasn't like sexual
- 40:04he was like an old
- 40:05guy he is like we got is he lecherous i don't think so people
- 40:10don't think it was
- 40:10sexual okay but he loved her yeah um he was like we need to
- 40:16turn this ship around
- 40:17SPEAKER_00: like there's going to be a revolution and that's actually
- 40:20SPEAKER_00: On our last episode,
- 40:21SPEAKER_00: we were talking about 1865,
- 40:24SPEAKER_00: and we ended up,
- 40:25SPEAKER_00: even though this didn't happen in 1865,
- 40:26SPEAKER_00: I feel like we were talking a lot about,
- 40:28SPEAKER_00: like,
- 40:28SPEAKER_00: revolutions.
- 40:29SPEAKER_01: The 48 revolutions,
- 40:31SPEAKER_01: I think,
- 40:31SPEAKER_01: like,
- 40:31SPEAKER_01: played into what happened in America in the Civil War and also...
- 40:36SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 40:36SPEAKER_01: Some of the other stuff we were talking about.
- 40:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 40:38SPEAKER_00: And like the way that France changed and all these things.
- 40:41SPEAKER_00: And like, I mean, England doesn't really have.
- 40:46SPEAKER_00: England's weird on this topic.
- 40:48SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 40:49SPEAKER_00: Like the continuity in England is very interesting.
- 40:52SPEAKER_00: Like they've had the same constitution since the middle ages.
- 40:54Well,
- 40:55and there's this idea of like the bloodless revolution,
- 40:57which isn't really true.
- 40:59SPEAKER_01: Like there were wars.
- 41:01SPEAKER_01: They happened earlier.
- 41:02SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 41:02yeah well they had like Oliver Cromwell many a long time before
- 41:06Queen Victoria so
- 41:07they kind of like I feel like they got it out of their system
- 41:10but then obviously
- 41:11like also Marx was like in England you know like yeah there's
- 41:16all these weird ways
- 41:17that they like revolted and didn't yeah and but I think that if
- 41:21Queen Victoria
- 41:22hadn't become queen like there I do think the monarchy would
- 41:26have ended like do you
- 41:28SPEAKER_01: think we would have been better off
- 41:30SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm so curious what would have happened to England.
- 41:33SPEAKER_01: I mean, the monarchy at this point is so rotten.
- 41:36SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 41:37SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think that like, well, it's so interesting.
- 41:39SPEAKER_00: Like my grandma is British and she was born in 1934.
- 41:43SPEAKER_00: And I think she was born before Queen Elizabeth became queen.
- 41:48But like the fact that my grandma only experienced like has
- 41:52only experienced three,
- 41:53I think.
- 41:54monarchs like i think that now it's over i think we're seeing
- 41:57the next moment of
- 41:58the end of the british monarchy i don't think it will survive
- 42:01very well like it
- 42:03won't survive megan markle's cooking show yeah like i actually
- 42:06don't think it will
- 42:07survive that or all the cancer like yeah and that's like so
- 42:10fascinating to me that
- 42:11SPEAKER_00: the breakdown cancer
- 42:13charles the third has cancer kate middleton just had cancer
- 42:16yeah they're all really
- 42:17sick and isn't that so 21st century that it the breakdown is
- 42:20coming from social
- 42:21media via megan markle inside the house it's like yeah the call
- 42:23is coming from
- 42:24inside the house because like they it's like so of this moment
- 42:28that it's both like
- 42:29freaky disease happening way too early and also social media
- 42:34and like hollywood
- 42:35SPEAKER_00: fame seeking in harry and megan yeah
- 42:39like but yeah so i think it makes sense to me that george the
- 42:43third and then george
- 42:44the fourth and william the fourth like those were real dirt
- 42:47bags and well also like
- 42:50sick yeah they were sick in the head yeah and it's so
- 42:53interesting that like i mean
- 42:55i think victoria probably was more inbred than they were yeah
- 43:00there's like a who
- 43:03there's a hapsburg who's like out kicking about right now
- 43:06somewhere how does he
- 43:07SPEAKER_01: look
- 43:08or she he he um i'm trying to remember what i was listening to
- 43:15where he was like a
- 43:16guest on a podcast i was listening to and talking about like
- 43:18catholic values and
- 43:20like how he still like promotes catholic like hapsburg values
- 43:25and i was just like
- 43:26SPEAKER_01: you're rotten
- 43:27SPEAKER_00: You're rotten.
- 43:28SPEAKER_00: You're rotten.
- 43:29It's like when you sent me,
- 43:30we were sending back and forth clips of Megan on a podcast.
- 43:34And it was just like,
- 43:34I don't really think if you're royal,
- 43:36you should be on a podcast.
- 43:37SPEAKER_00: It's her podcast.
- 43:38SPEAKER_00: No, no.
- 43:38The other podcast where she's being interviewed and the woman
- 43:41looks like she hates her so much.
- 43:43SPEAKER_00: I think that's her podcast.
- 43:45SPEAKER_00: No, no.
- 43:46SPEAKER_00: I know she has a podcast.
- 43:47SPEAKER_00: It's called Confessions of a Female Founder.
- 43:49SPEAKER_01: And she's always like, yeah.
- 43:54SPEAKER_00: So it's hard to be a female founder.
- 43:57SPEAKER_01: You and I know it more than anyone else.
- 44:00SPEAKER_01: I actually have a lot of empathy with the female founder.
- 44:02SPEAKER_01: We're girl boss.
- 44:03SPEAKER_00: It's like us and the girl who founded Bumble.
- 44:07SPEAKER_00: So Lord Melbourne is going to use the royal wedding as a PR stunt.
- 44:13And it's really the first time that someone's ever thought that
- 44:15let's use a royal
- 44:16SPEAKER_00: wedding to turn our reputation around.
- 44:19SPEAKER_00: It's like a PR stunt.
- 44:22SPEAKER_00: Lucy Worsley,
- 44:22SPEAKER_00: again,
- 44:23SPEAKER_00: called it the,
- 44:23SPEAKER_00: quote,
- 44:24SPEAKER_00: birth of a brand,
- 44:25SPEAKER_00: which I didn't really like that interpretation.
- 44:27SPEAKER_01: I don't like that, but I get what she's saying.
- 44:29SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 44:30SPEAKER_01: I clock.
- 44:32SPEAKER_01: I'm clocking.
- 44:33SPEAKER_01: She's standing on business.
- 44:35SPEAKER_01: What did Justin Bieber say?
- 44:37SPEAKER_00: She's standing.
- 44:37SPEAKER_00: It's clocking right now.
- 44:42SPEAKER_01: So for sure.
- 44:43SPEAKER_00: So for sure.
- 44:43So Melbourne comes up with some ideas of how to use the wedding
- 44:50more effectively to
- 44:51SPEAKER_00: kind of gain popular support.
- 44:53So one thing he does is he decides that the wedding will happen
- 44:56during the day
- 44:57SPEAKER_00: instead of very late at night.
- 44:58SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 45:00which is a typical for a royal family okay why was that because
- 45:03they're busy all
- 45:04day they're busy all day and they're like partying all night
- 45:06you know like it's
- 45:07like extravagant it's like what her family would have done yeah
- 45:10before her um those
- 45:12opium addict exactly like they were asleep all day eloping in
- 45:16the middle of the
- 45:17SPEAKER_01: night vegas style
- 45:18SPEAKER_00: He also decides that the wedding should take place at this.
- 45:23SPEAKER_00: It's the Royal Chapel of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
- 45:27SPEAKER_01: I love the Royal Chapel of blah, blah, blah.
- 45:30SPEAKER_00: The Chapel Royal of St.
- 45:31SPEAKER_00: James Place, which is actually very small and humble.
- 45:35SPEAKER_00: And he just thinks that's kind of the right fit.
- 45:38SPEAKER_00: She's very small.
- 45:39SPEAKER_00: She's so tiny.
- 45:40SPEAKER_00: She can fit into any chapel.
- 45:41SPEAKER_01: Sort of like the koi fish effect.
- 45:46SPEAKER_01: You know how koi fish only grow to the size of the pond?
- 45:48SPEAKER_01: The way you were just looking at me.
- 45:53SPEAKER_00: Well, because I also told you that other story about the koi.
- 45:56SPEAKER_01: No, no, not that.
- 45:57SPEAKER_00: Cut.
- 45:58SPEAKER_00: Cut.
- 45:59SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 46:00SPEAKER_00: So he decides it should happen in the day.
- 46:02It should happen at this small royal chapel and they do like a
- 46:05big parade.
- 46:07SPEAKER_00: So kind of similarly to like Diana or Kate,
- 46:10like she goes through the city to get to the wedding and
- 46:13everybody gets to
- 46:14SPEAKER_00: participate in it.
- 46:15I don't...
- 46:16I mean,
- 46:16I know you know this,
- 46:17but I'll say it for the listeners.
- 46:18That's,
- 46:19like,
- 46:19not something I've ever really been engaged with or interested
- 46:23in.
- 46:23SPEAKER_01: A parade?
- 46:25SPEAKER_01: Like, the royal wedding.
- 46:26SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love... Like, royalty in general.
- 46:29So I don't really know what you're talking about,
- 46:31but I guess I can picture it.
- 46:32SPEAKER_00: You can picture it.
- 46:33It's,
- 46:33like,
- 46:33imagine...
- 46:34Like,
- 46:34I don't even remember when Kate Middleton's wedding was.
- 46:37SPEAKER_00: 20... I was in middle school.
- 46:39SPEAKER_01: Like, I definitely didn't look at pictures...
- 46:42SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding?
- 46:42SPEAKER_00: I'm so serious.
- 46:43SPEAKER_00: It was like on the cover of the New York Times.
- 46:46SPEAKER_00: When have I ever looked at the New York Times?
- 46:49SPEAKER_00: I remember it so well.
- 46:52SPEAKER_00: My mom and I, I think, woke up really early to watch it.
- 46:55I like vaguely have a childhood memory of Princess Diana dying,
- 46:58but like not even.
- 46:59SPEAKER_01: Wow.
- 47:01SPEAKER_01: I don't think I was alive yet.
- 47:04SPEAKER_00: When did she die?
- 47:05SPEAKER_01: I think she died in 97.
- 47:06SPEAKER_01: You might not have been aware.
- 47:07SPEAKER_00: I was born in 96.
- 47:10SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she died in 97.
- 47:11SPEAKER_00: I was just one years old.
- 47:12SPEAKER_01: I was just one years old.
- 47:13SPEAKER_01: I remember the beanie baby.
- 47:14SPEAKER_01: There was a beanie baby.
- 47:15SPEAKER_01: It was purple.
- 47:16SPEAKER_00: I've seen that.
- 47:17SPEAKER_00: You had it?
- 47:17SPEAKER_00: It was on its chest.
- 47:18SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 47:19SPEAKER_00: Oh, my God.
- 47:20SPEAKER_00: That's so cool.
- 47:23SPEAKER_00: So it's like a humble affair, but it's also extravagant.
- 47:28SPEAKER_00: in a lot of ways.
- 47:29SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 47:29and also the other thing is not only as like the monarchy on
- 47:32the brink of collapse,
- 47:33but also the British public is like not super thrilled about
- 47:35her marrying Albert
- 47:37SPEAKER_00: because they're like these,
- 47:38there's actually these really funny cartoons of Albert
- 47:41portrayed as a German
- 47:42SPEAKER_00: sausage person.
- 47:44store proprietor closing up shop because he's like bagged the
- 47:48princess and he was
- 47:50very poor he was poor she was rich he was german she was
- 47:53british he was a boy she
- 47:55SPEAKER_00: was a girl i was 16 going on 17.
- 47:59um and so she tries to kind of like up his reputation and she
- 48:05names him a um what
- 48:08do you call that a field marshal of the british army which is
- 48:10like one of the
- 48:11highest honors that you can have but that's also interesting
- 48:13because victoria is
- 48:15SPEAKER_01: kind of criticized for being like a sort of bourgeois queen
- 48:20and why and they're calling albert like a shopkeeper basically
- 48:24yeah well i also
- 48:26think it's interesting with like i think albert pretty
- 48:28successfully like sheds his
- 48:30SPEAKER_01: german roots like yeah i didn't realize he was german
- 48:33SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
- 48:34like the way that he is associated with so many like parts of
- 48:38like English cultural
- 48:39SPEAKER_00: history and like Victorian Albert Museum,
- 48:42SPEAKER_00: his participation in the Great Exhibition.
- 48:44SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 48:45Like I think he actually started to really advocate for like
- 48:48British cultural specificity.
- 48:50SPEAKER_00: Well,
- 48:50so like a little BTS is that Mabel was watching a reenactment
- 48:53of the wedding and I
- 48:54watched like five minutes of it with her and there's like a
- 48:56scene where he's
- 48:56SPEAKER_01: writing a letter and he's writing in German and I was so surprised.
- 48:59SPEAKER_01: It said,
- 49:04the grand mutter exactly it was like the most not real german
- 49:09well i wonder if he
- 49:11if they ever spoke german together i don't really know did she
- 49:14speak german i
- 49:15assume she did because she was also the other thing is victoria
- 49:18was almost born in
- 49:19germany like her parents were she had been born in germany she
- 49:23couldn't have been
- 49:23SPEAKER_00: queen i think it would have been more difficult
- 49:25And basically her parents also were really had no money because
- 49:29they were like the
- 49:29SPEAKER_00: fourth son and the wife.
- 49:31And so they were living in Germany because they were like a
- 49:33little bit richer there.
- 49:34SPEAKER_00: And then her father exchange rate.
- 49:36SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because the euro was really down.
- 49:39And then her father was like,
- 49:41when the wife was pregnant,
- 49:42was like,
- 49:42we're going back.
- 49:43yeah because you don't want to get you don't want to give up
- 49:45that opportunity yeah
- 49:47um so we actually we know a fair amount about victoria and
- 49:51albert's wedding because
- 49:52it was very well documented and it was like this huge public
- 49:55spectacle and you know
- 49:57melbourne like all the papers were writing about it there was
- 49:59posters everywhere
- 50:01and there was a pretty accurate painting um by george hater
- 50:05which we were just
- 50:06SPEAKER_00: talking about hater hater
- 50:08um and george hater the painter was at the wedding and he
- 50:12painted it like started
- 50:14sketching right after um he was at the wedding yeah that's
- 50:19interesting he do you
- 50:21SPEAKER_01: know if like like
- 50:23David was at Napoleon's coronation actually I think that's a
- 50:28famous painting of the
- 50:29coronation which this kind of looks like of Napoleon was like
- 50:32pretty fictionalized
- 50:33that's interesting I don't know that he was even actually there
- 50:37I feel like it's
- 50:37kind of unusual that the painter was there yeah well and I
- 50:40think like the painter
- 50:41was there because they did want to record it they wanted it to
- 50:44be like widely
- 50:47dispersed amongst the public I mean not that a painting
- 50:50necessarily would do that
- 50:52um but there was something funny I was reading oh I guess this
- 50:58is actually for a
- 50:58different painting Hayter also painted um a portrait of the
- 51:03christening of one of
- 51:04Victorian Albert's children and then um when he went oh
- 51:11actually I think it's
- 51:13SPEAKER_00: actually this painting
- 51:14basically hater went to go to windsor castle to visit because
- 51:19he was painting a
- 51:20picture of the son's christening and he saw that they had hung
- 51:23the painting of the
- 51:24wedding between two windows so it was backlit and he was very
- 51:28upset just thought
- 51:29that was interesting did he have them move it i don't think he
- 51:32had the power
- 51:34SPEAKER_01: Do you think she decided where it was hung?
- 51:36SPEAKER_01: No.
- 51:37SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 51:38SPEAKER_00: Maybe she didn't really like it.
- 51:40SPEAKER_00: Why?
- 51:40SPEAKER_00: She looks gorgeous.
- 51:41SPEAKER_00: She looks so tiny and gorgeous.
- 51:43SPEAKER_01: Minuscule.
- 51:45SPEAKER_00: So as I said, Albert and Victoria loved music.
- 51:50And so at the chapel,
- 51:51there was a couple of choral songs by Handel that were played.
- 51:57SPEAKER_00: Of course.
- 51:57SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 51:58in case you were wondering because they're german they're
- 52:00german um after the
- 52:03wedding there was a very lavish wedding breakfast where a
- 52:06hundred yum dishes were
- 52:08prepared what were they there was all 100 okay there was lamb
- 52:13cutlets yummy fried
- 52:15SPEAKER_00: bird which is i think just chicken but they cried
- 52:19bird it might have been like pigeon or something it's
- 52:22disgusting either way um a
- 52:24timbalo of macaroni do you know what that is no it's like i've
- 52:28do you remember in
- 52:28the leopard you've read the leopard right yeah i don't remember
- 52:32any timbalos of
- 52:33SPEAKER_01: macaroni
- 52:34there it's like these amazing descriptions of I think these
- 52:37like Sicilian dishes in
- 52:39the leopard which were just like I think like a lot of things
- 52:42were more in the
- 52:43family of lasagna in the 19th century like these huge casserole
- 52:47yeah like and
- 52:47they're I wanted to show you so I had looked through the
- 52:51cookbook from 1846 of
- 52:54SPEAKER_00: Queen Victoria's chef William Ball and like the photos of photos
- 52:59SPEAKER_00: The illustrations.
- 53:01SPEAKER_00: For the record.
- 53:02SPEAKER_00: You're right, you're right.
- 53:03SPEAKER_00: The illustrations of the dishes are just like so theatrical and crazy.
- 53:08SPEAKER_00: They look like dresses.
- 53:10SPEAKER_00: They look like castles.
- 53:12One has to wonder if that's what it actually looked like or if
- 53:15that was embellished
- 53:16SPEAKER_01: in the illustration.
- 53:17SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 53:17one time madeline and i went to a potluck where the theme was
- 53:21bring a dish based on
- 53:24a recipe that is like older than 1950 or something yeah and so
- 53:30madeline was like oh
- 53:31we'll use my grandma's great grandma's cookbook yeah and you
- 53:35made a what was
- 53:36SPEAKER_00: supposed to be like a corn pudding
- 53:39SPEAKER_00: But I think the oven wasn't working and the oven wasn't working.
- 53:42The recipe called for like eight gallons of milk,
- 53:45four sticks of butter and cheese and corn.
- 53:49SPEAKER_01: And I should remake this as a redemption.
- 53:52SPEAKER_01: Like once the oven works again.
- 53:53SPEAKER_01: Well, it works again now.
- 53:55SPEAKER_00: Now that the oven works again.
- 53:56SPEAKER_00: And we were really late,
- 53:59SPEAKER_00: I feel like,
- 53:59SPEAKER_00: to the party because it's supposed to be like an end custard,
- 54:02SPEAKER_01: basically.
- 54:03SPEAKER_00: But it wouldn't set.
- 54:04SPEAKER_00: And then we were like, let's put it in the microwave.
- 54:06SPEAKER_00: And then finally, we just were like, OK, let's just go to the party.
- 54:10SPEAKER_00: And you left it on the stove.
- 54:12SPEAKER_00: And the next day, we were like, what do we do with this?
- 54:14SPEAKER_00: I had to dump it in the yard.
- 54:16SPEAKER_00: And then we were like, we still, I know exactly where you dumped it.
- 54:20SPEAKER_00: I know.
- 54:20SPEAKER_00: I still think about it.
- 54:21i think about it every time i go to your house i like see the
- 54:23tree where it's under
- 54:24and i'm like where i laid it to rest it's like a toxic
- 54:27wasteland yeah do you
- 54:29remember what i brought instead butter a gigantic roll of amish
- 54:33butter yum that was
- 54:35SPEAKER_01: awesome like the size of a tire
- 54:37SPEAKER_00: So cool.
- 54:38But what you should have brought was something like was cooked
- 54:41for Queen Victoria's wedding.
- 54:43SPEAKER_00: Like this.
- 54:43SPEAKER_00: How do you say this?
- 54:44SPEAKER_00: This pate showed?
- 54:45SPEAKER_00: Pate show.
- 54:47Pate show of young rabbits,
- 54:48which basically looks like a beautiful top hat.
- 54:51SPEAKER_00: Here's the recipe.
- 54:52SPEAKER_00: Cut up two young rabbits.
- 54:53into small members you place these in a deep saute pan it's not
- 54:59saute pan oh saute
- 55:00pan with two ounces of butter a handful of chopped mushrooms
- 55:04some parsley and two
- 55:04shallots chopped also seasoned with pepper and salt a little
- 55:08grated nutmeg and a
- 55:09garnished faggot this is kind of what's a garnished faggot i
- 55:14thought a faggot was a
- 55:16so it's a garnished bunch of sticks yeah these recipes read
- 55:20like when you watch
- 55:21somebody cook something on tiktok and you're like i'll make
- 55:24that and then you go
- 55:24back and watch the video and you're like you skip that's not a
- 55:27recipe like i don't
- 55:29know how to cut up two young rabbits into members like i feel
- 55:32like often on tiktok
- 55:32it's like first i put in like sage and it's like well how much
- 55:36when like did you
- 55:38SPEAKER_01: prepare it first how did you cut it
- 55:41well this is when you start to realize like julia child's
- 55:43contributions to the
- 55:44world yeah because to and even a julia child recipe if you look
- 55:48at it now is i find
- 55:49like pretty comprehensible my grandma's recipe book is a lot
- 55:53like like well a lot
- 55:55SPEAKER_01: of it's like buy white bread at the store
- 56:00but then it's like then it is like put a handful of mushrooms
- 56:03in a pot and cook and
- 56:07you're like what does cook mean well also these illustrations
- 56:12of these dishes like
- 56:13this salmon a la regions reminds me of there was that
- 56:17exhibition that barred about
- 56:19the table like the table of the renaissance and yeah like
- 56:23really elaborate napkin
- 56:24SPEAKER_00: folding practices that were happening during the renaissance where
- 56:28SPEAKER_01: There's like one guy who does the napkins now, right?
- 56:30SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 56:30SPEAKER_00: And it's like these amazing traditions where you like,
- 56:33SPEAKER_00: you take,
- 56:33SPEAKER_00: it's not like putting a towel into a swan.
- 56:35SPEAKER_00: It's like taking a napkin and being like,
- 56:37SPEAKER_00: this is Windsor castle on fire on the night of February 10th,
- 56:40SPEAKER_00: 1840.
- 56:40SPEAKER_00: It's so crazy.
- 56:42SPEAKER_00: It's really cool.
- 56:43SPEAKER_00: I wish we had taken a class about how to do that.
- 56:46SPEAKER_00: Um, they didn't teach it.
- 56:47SPEAKER_00: That wasn't on offer.
- 56:49SPEAKER_00: I wish I had learned something in grad school.
- 56:51SPEAKER_01: I wish I had learned something useful, like elaborate napkin folding.
- 56:55SPEAKER_01: There's the number of times I can't even make a corn custard.
- 56:58i know i starved that night and i have more degrees than you
- 57:03have a lot of degrees
- 57:04you have like four now okay so the wedding cake was a sort of
- 57:10path breaking
- 57:13SPEAKER_00: tradition starting cake it was a huge huge huge huge nine feet diameter
- 57:18SPEAKER_00: Nine feet is like taller than you, Madeline.
- 57:21SPEAKER_00: Really big cake.
- 57:23SPEAKER_00: And it was 300 pounds.
- 57:25SPEAKER_01: And it was basically like taller than me, but not lighter than me.
- 57:30SPEAKER_00: It was like 800 gallons of brandy and fruit.
- 57:33SPEAKER_00: And it was a fruitcake.
- 57:35SPEAKER_00: It was a fruitcake,
- 57:36SPEAKER_00: which apparently started a tradition where almost every royal,
- 57:39SPEAKER_00: I think every royal wedding cake since then has been a fruitcake until,
- 57:44SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 57:44SPEAKER_00: who broke the tradition.
- 57:45megan yeah what did she have like a chocolate ganache lemon and
- 57:49elderflower like
- 57:51pinterest she had one of those like ugly pinterest ass cakes
- 57:55that had like sticks
- 57:56falling off of it like like no whipped cream or like no
- 57:59frosting on the sides kind
- 58:01of yeah so you can see all the layers um or she worse would
- 58:04have like a cupcake
- 58:06SPEAKER_00: tower no
- 58:08um and sometimes i'm i can totally channel megan hate i think
- 58:13because i have a
- 58:13british grandma my grandma thinks that megan's like the worst
- 58:15thing that's happened
- 58:16to the world since like the atom bomb um and when i hear about
- 58:21her breaking
- 58:22tradition with this wedding cake i'm kind of like why couldn't
- 58:24you just have the
- 58:25fruit cake it's like who fucking cares no one eats their own
- 58:28wedding cake anyway i
- 58:29SPEAKER_00: think
- 58:30or it's like you have the traditional wedding cake yeah have
- 58:32your other cake later
- 58:34yeah have your have your cake and eat it too yeah have your
- 58:37cake in private do you
- 58:38want your pinterest cake in private do you want to know
- 58:41something crazy which you
- 58:42may know because you saw my notes what did you know that in
- 58:462016 someone auctioned
- 58:47off at christie's yeah i keep you keep like scrolling past this
- 58:50picture it's
- 58:50SPEAKER_01: disgusting explain it
- 58:52someone i guess in 1840 saved a piece of wedding cake from
- 58:57queen victoria's wedding
- 58:58kept it in a napkin for a hundred plus years more than that
- 59:03like 180 years and sold
- 59:04it for only well they didn't do it themselves it was sold for
- 59:07two thousand dollars
- 59:08in 2016 i can't even believe that somebody paid two thousand
- 59:13dollars for that
- 59:13in a I think also what's like the provenance I don't know I
- 59:17think it like came with
- 59:18the invitation or something but do you know what else was
- 59:21auctioned off in 2016 can
- 59:22you move the picture away it's so gross okay I'm going now to
- 59:26this picture of show
- 59:27SPEAKER_01: me the salmon olive regence
- 59:30also in 2016 someone auctioned off a pair of Queen Victoria's
- 59:34knickers which sold
- 59:34for like $16,000 which again is like not that much yeah but
- 59:38what pervert what rich
- 59:41SPEAKER_01: pervert could pay more than $16,000 for that
- 59:44i'm also like this underwear is you know it's like if someone
- 59:48buys a pair of
- 59:48underpants used now they're like they're touching your body but
- 59:53like the thing
- 59:53about queen victoria's underwear is they're like huge bloomers
- 59:56so they're like
- 59:56eight feet away from anything that might like what do you mean
- 59:59when someone like if
- 1:00:00SPEAKER_01: somebody like orders our panties on the internet maybe linepress.com shop
- 1:00:07that is a good idea no just like i understand on some level why
- 1:00:15people buy
- 1:00:16underwear now because it's like touching the human body yeah
- 1:00:19whereas queen victoria
- 1:00:20was like not wearing tight fitting underwear they didn't have
- 1:00:23elastic do you think
- 1:00:23SPEAKER_00: whoever bought it gave it a whiff probably wouldn't you
- 1:00:28SPEAKER_00: I would definitely never buy that.
- 1:00:29SPEAKER_00: Do you know,
- 1:00:30SPEAKER_00: and call me by your name when he,
- 1:00:31SPEAKER_00: um,
- 1:00:31SPEAKER_00: Timothy Jalamet puts,
- 1:00:33SPEAKER_00: um,
- 1:00:33SPEAKER_00: army hammers underwear on his head.
- 1:00:35SPEAKER_00: They probably did that.
- 1:00:36SPEAKER_00: That's so cute.
- 1:00:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:00:39SPEAKER_00: Oh, Timmy.
- 1:00:40SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 1:00:40SPEAKER_00: Do you want to hear about the most important part of the wedding?
- 1:00:44no okay then the podcast is over and no one will ever know what
- 1:00:48she wore yeah of
- 1:00:49course what is it okay well let me rewind to a recent evening
- 1:00:54that i spent um
- 1:00:55SPEAKER_00: chatting casually with an old friend okay and like i'd run into her
- 1:00:59and she was telling me how she went to a trivia night and she
- 1:01:03was telling me what
- 1:01:04some of the questions were she was saying it was a really hard
- 1:01:06trivia night and
- 1:01:07like some of them i was like how could anyone ever do that like
- 1:01:09what like this
- 1:01:11trivia night involved this insane thing where it was basically
- 1:01:14a map of the new
- 1:01:15york city subway system and then for a handful of stops on the
- 1:01:20subway like 1 10th
- 1:01:22SPEAKER_00: There would be a key.
- 1:01:23SPEAKER_00: It would be like one 10th is associated with letter A.
- 1:01:26SPEAKER_00: And then you go down to this other page,
- 1:01:28SPEAKER_00: which is a bunch of headshots.
- 1:01:30SPEAKER_00: And it would be like A is a photo of a woman.
- 1:01:33And it would be like you had to figure out why she was
- 1:01:36associated with 110.
- 1:01:37It was because she was like the 110th woman in space or
- 1:01:40something like that.
- 1:01:42SPEAKER_00: It's like, who could ever do that?
- 1:01:44SPEAKER_01: I don't get playing trivia for this reason.
- 1:01:46SPEAKER_00: So that I was like, obviously I would never be able to do.
- 1:01:49SPEAKER_00: The other question was like a real softball directly to me.
- 1:01:52SPEAKER_00: It was who popularized the white wedding dress?
- 1:01:56SPEAKER_00: And I was at Queen Victoria.
- 1:01:58SPEAKER_00: And she was like, oh my God.
- 1:01:59SPEAKER_00: And I felt so good.
- 1:02:00SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:02:00SPEAKER_00: It was such a layup for me.
- 1:02:02SPEAKER_00: I felt amazing.
- 1:02:02SPEAKER_00: Slumdog millionaire.
- 1:02:03SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
- 1:02:06And it was a little too easy because I literally that morning
- 1:02:09been watching this
- 1:02:09SPEAKER_00: documentary about Queen Victoria's wedding.
- 1:02:12But yes,
- 1:02:12did you know that brides did not wear white until Queen
- 1:02:15Victoria?
- 1:02:15SPEAKER_00: What color did they wear?
- 1:02:17SPEAKER_00: Well,
- 1:02:17SPEAKER_00: I don't know what like an average person was wearing,
- 1:02:19SPEAKER_00: but queens and princesses were wearing like heavily metallic,
- 1:02:25SPEAKER_00: like embellished,
- 1:02:27SPEAKER_00: red,
- 1:02:27SPEAKER_00: gold,
- 1:02:28SPEAKER_00: encrusted with gems.
- 1:02:30SPEAKER_00: Oh, my.
- 1:02:30yeah and so there's a lot of things like that so not only did
- 1:02:33she wear white but
- 1:02:34she also didn't wear fur she didn't wear a crown like she
- 1:02:38because she came to him a
- 1:02:39humble virgin exactly and like i think that's romantic i think
- 1:02:42also but like having
- 1:02:43white clothes was like a real like status symbol in the 19th
- 1:02:47century because if you
- 1:02:48SPEAKER_00: were wearing something white you also had to be able to clean it yeah
- 1:02:52But a big part of the choice to wear white was because Victoria
- 1:02:58was apparently an
- 1:02:59SPEAKER_00: absolute fanatic for lace.
- 1:03:01She spent over the course of her reign one million pounds in
- 1:03:04today's pounds.
- 1:03:05SPEAKER_00: One million pounds in today's Dallas.
- 1:03:10SPEAKER_00: That's almost two million dollars.
- 1:03:13SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of money on lace.
- 1:03:15SPEAKER_00: Even for me.
- 1:03:17my lace budget is enormous i think your lace budget might be
- 1:03:22higher than most
- 1:03:22people in the 21st century i know i had got that one piece of
- 1:03:27lace recently but
- 1:03:28that wasn't even very expensive yeah i don't think i've spent
- 1:03:31very much on lace i
- 1:03:32think you'd be surprised i am surprised so at the time you
- 1:03:37really would go like you
- 1:03:39SPEAKER_00: you would go to italy for lace or belgium
- 1:03:42to get a piece of Burana lace which is what I got um but she
- 1:03:46decided that her lace
- 1:03:49would be British made homegrown homespun lace I do have this
- 1:03:55image in my head of
- 1:03:56like Irish girls with this beautiful long red hair like making
- 1:04:00lace with their
- 1:04:01SPEAKER_00: fingers turning bloody oh god but then how would the lace stay white
- 1:04:06SPEAKER_00: No, this is just an image I have in my head.
- 1:04:08SPEAKER_00: It's based on nothing.
- 1:04:10SPEAKER_00: You should write a story with that image in mind.
- 1:04:13So she decides to go to the local lacemakers in the town of
- 1:04:17Beer in Devon.
- 1:04:19SPEAKER_00: And over 200 lacemakers are employed to make the lace for her wedding.
- 1:04:23SPEAKER_00: It's like a huge order.
- 1:04:26SPEAKER_00: And her veil is laced.
- 1:04:27SPEAKER_00: The flounce on her dress is laced.
- 1:04:29And she decides to do white in part because she wants the
- 1:04:32designs to really pop.
- 1:04:36SPEAKER_00: And she also orders that the patterns for the lace be burned after.
- 1:04:40SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
- 1:04:41SPEAKER_00: So no one could ever have it again.
- 1:04:43SPEAKER_01: They broke the mold with that one.
- 1:04:44SPEAKER_00: Literally.
- 1:04:46So the dress is also made of cream satin,
- 1:04:49which was woven in,
- 1:04:50how do you say this?
- 1:04:51SPEAKER_00: Spittlefields?
- 1:04:52SPEAKER_00: Battlefields?
- 1:04:53SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 1:04:54SPEAKER_00: I think Spittlefields sounds right.
- 1:04:55SPEAKER_01: I don't really know what that is.
- 1:04:56SPEAKER_00: It's the historic silk center of London.
- 1:04:59SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, of course.
- 1:05:00SPEAKER_01: I don't really think of London itself as much of a historic silk center.
- 1:05:05sort of you think of what freelance belgium exactly that's why
- 1:05:09it's so radical that
- 1:05:10she wore british stuff yeah um but of course what's so what i
- 1:05:15love about the sort
- 1:05:16of historic story of her decision to wear lace is that now i
- 1:05:22think the idea in
- 1:05:23popular culture is that women wear white to get married because
- 1:05:26it's purity and
- 1:05:27represented in their clothing and like oftentimes there's kind
- 1:05:31of these like false
- 1:05:32stories told about why women wear white that are like it's
- 1:05:37actually because queen
- 1:05:38victoria was like making a pr stunt to try to like seem like a
- 1:05:41new new page in the
- 1:05:43book of british monarchy and also because she wanted to wear
- 1:05:45white lace and now
- 1:05:47it's been like remade as something actually quite sexist and
- 1:05:51demeaning which is a
- 1:05:52SPEAKER_00: meaning it actually didn't have in the 19th century
- 1:05:55um and i thought that was really a famous feminist of course
- 1:06:00yeah um so there's
- 1:06:02other aspects of her bridal garb um the she didn't wear a crown
- 1:06:10and did she wear a
- 1:06:11veil she wore a veil the lace veil and the dress had an 18 foot
- 1:06:14long train
- 1:06:15naturally um 18 feet pretty long she liked multiples of nine
- 1:06:20what else a nine foot
- 1:06:22SPEAKER_01: diameter cake
- 1:06:23SPEAKER_00: oh yeah huh interesting that's about i don't know we should study that
- 1:06:28numerologically i'm intrigued yeah um so she wears a wreath on
- 1:06:32her head of orange
- 1:06:33blossoms and myrtle and that orange blossoms are a symbol of
- 1:06:37fertility and now
- 1:06:39every bride since her has also in the royal family has always
- 1:06:42had orange blossom
- 1:06:43SPEAKER_01: symbolism do they wear tiaras or no
- 1:06:46SPEAKER_00: Everyone else I think has worn tiaras.
- 1:06:47SPEAKER_00: Did Megan.
- 1:06:48SPEAKER_00: Megan wore a tiara.
- 1:06:49SPEAKER_00: Kate.
- 1:06:50SPEAKER_00: Well, Kate.
- 1:06:51So the thing about Kate Middleton's wedding dress is it
- 1:06:53actually does kind of look
- 1:06:54SPEAKER_00: like Queen Victoria's.
- 1:06:55SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:06:56So that was a big deal when she got married as people comparing
- 1:06:58it to Queen Victoria.
- 1:06:59SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
- 1:07:00SPEAKER_00: But she's so much thinner.
- 1:07:02SPEAKER_00: So much thinner.
- 1:07:02SPEAKER_00: Though apparently Queen Victoria had huge boobs.
- 1:07:05SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah.
- 1:07:06SPEAKER_01: She was like.
- 1:07:07SPEAKER_00: She was a pretty round dump truck.
- 1:07:12SPEAKER_00: Don't call my queens, queens, queens, grandma.
- 1:07:16SPEAKER_00: So she wore diamonds, though.
- 1:07:18SPEAKER_00: She wore these huge Turkish diamond rings and earrings,
- 1:07:22SPEAKER_00: I think,
- 1:07:23SPEAKER_00: that were given to her by the Turkish sultan.
- 1:07:25SPEAKER_00: She wore a sapphire brooch that was given to her by Prince Albert.
- 1:07:29SPEAKER_00: And she wore flat white satin slippers.
- 1:07:31SPEAKER_00: Cute.
- 1:07:33SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting is that she rewore this wedding wardrobe a lot.
- 1:07:37SPEAKER_00: Which I know you're... It's a bit gauche.
- 1:07:40SPEAKER_00: Well, it's kind of hilarious to me.
- 1:07:41So she wore her lace flounce and veil for every one of her
- 1:07:45children's christenings.
- 1:07:46She also wore it to her children's weddings,
- 1:07:48which I think is kind of...
- 1:07:50That's gauche.
- 1:07:50SPEAKER_00: That's gauche.
- 1:07:52SPEAKER_01: And then... You can't wear your wedding dress to someone else's wedding.
- 1:07:56SPEAKER_00: It's a psychopath.
- 1:07:57thing to do and i were actually having a conversation about
- 1:08:00this well cleo's
- 1:08:01wedding dress wasn't white well yeah but even still she was
- 1:08:04like i would never wear
- 1:08:04it to someone else's wedding it's it would be crazy it'd be
- 1:08:07crazy it's also crazy
- 1:08:08to wear it to someone's wedding who attended your wedding you
- 1:08:11know um well did you
- 1:08:14see the speculation when this comes out this past summer about
- 1:08:18kylie jenner's gray
- 1:08:19SPEAKER_00: dress that she wore to lauren sanchez's wedding what was the speculation
- 1:08:24SPEAKER_00: Sorry, not speculation.
- 1:08:25SPEAKER_00: Scandal.
- 1:08:28SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 1:08:28SPEAKER_00: That she wore white, basically.
- 1:08:30SPEAKER_00: It was like a creamy gray.
- 1:08:32SPEAKER_01: But did Lauren Sanchez wear white?
- 1:08:34SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:08:34Which I know this is like probably my most retrograde and
- 1:08:37offensive opinion,
- 1:08:38but I really do not think that divorcees or mothers should wear
- 1:08:42white to their
- 1:08:42SPEAKER_00: weddings.
- 1:08:42SPEAKER_00: This is my biggest pet peeve.
- 1:08:44SPEAKER_00: Really?
- 1:08:44SPEAKER_00: If it's a second marriage, you should not wear white.
- 1:08:46SPEAKER_00: What color should you wear?
- 1:08:47SPEAKER_00: Cream, maybe, but probably like yellow or pink.
- 1:08:51SPEAKER_00: Yellow or pink.
- 1:08:52SPEAKER_00: I think it's so trashy.
- 1:08:54SPEAKER_00: I know that's so bad.
- 1:08:55SPEAKER_00: And,
- 1:08:55SPEAKER_00: but actually what's interesting is like,
- 1:08:57that's me accepting the like fantasy version of what it means
- 1:09:01to wear white,
- 1:09:02SPEAKER_00: you know?
- 1:09:02SPEAKER_00: Like the idea that it's purity.
- 1:09:04SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 1:09:04SPEAKER_01: But I think that you can say like,
- 1:09:06because obviously that purity is not like every person I know
- 1:09:09who's worn white to
- 1:09:10SPEAKER_01: their wedding was not a virgin.
- 1:09:11SPEAKER_00: What?
- 1:09:12SPEAKER_00: Everyone you know who's gotten married has had sex.
- 1:09:15SPEAKER_00: Has had sex already.
- 1:09:16SPEAKER_00: That is disgusting.
- 1:09:18SPEAKER_01: It's disgusting.
- 1:09:18But I think there's still something nice about being like,
- 1:09:21I'm coming to you today.
- 1:09:23SPEAKER_01: Brand new.
- 1:09:24yeah and I think you can have that sentiment in a second
- 1:09:28marriage as well instead
- 1:09:29of trying to like you know advance the cottage industry of lace
- 1:09:33making in your
- 1:09:33country I used to work for this photographer who was like
- 1:09:36modern orthodox and he
- 1:09:38SPEAKER_01: when he decided he was going to marry his wife who's
- 1:09:42yeah i was like i know exactly who you're talking about i know
- 1:09:45but i feel like i
- 1:09:45shouldn't say that on the podcast either he burned all of his
- 1:09:50clothes that he had
- 1:09:51owned before they were ever together and went to like the
- 1:09:55hasidic tailor and got
- 1:09:56like three suits made and told her that he didn't want to ever
- 1:09:58wear anything that
- 1:09:59SPEAKER_01: he had made before they were together that's really cute it's really cute
- 1:10:03yeah i mean i get it yeah well so albert wore military dress
- 1:10:10like he wore a british
- 1:10:11red coat and i think tory tory the british are coming down the
- 1:10:16aisle the german guy
- 1:10:18pretending to be british is going down the aisle um and he what
- 1:10:22a role playing
- 1:10:23well what's interesting is like the duke of wellington speaking
- 1:10:25of waterloo was at
- 1:10:26the wedding and so i think albert who is like a 20 year old
- 1:10:29dweeb from germany
- 1:10:30who's not in the military wearing this outfit was like the duke
- 1:10:33of wellington was
- 1:10:34like throwing stones at him yeah i mean i think it was like
- 1:10:36pretty audacious yeah
- 1:10:38there was also some controversy where like parliament enacted a
- 1:10:42salary for albert
- 1:10:43but it was like only 30 000 pounds a year which i think is a
- 1:10:46lot at the time but
- 1:10:47SPEAKER_00: still victoria thought it was like not enough
- 1:10:49yeah because of course we i won't talk about this in this
- 1:10:52episode but we'll surely
- 1:10:53talk about it in later episodes they enacted like very
- 1:10:56traditional gender roles in
- 1:10:57their home in their palace so she couldn't have like had more
- 1:11:01income than him it
- 1:11:02would have been bad yeah though her income was like every
- 1:11:05colony in the world yeah
- 1:11:06and he was like making thirty thousand dollars a year like
- 1:11:09under he had the income
- 1:11:11SPEAKER_01: of like a gamestop employee yeah
- 1:11:13britain doubled in size um under queen victoria like she more
- 1:11:18people were british
- 1:11:19on earth than not british you know like i think i said last or
- 1:11:23like a couple
- 1:11:24episodes ago i think i said the land surface like it was like
- 1:11:27three quarters of the
- 1:11:28earth's land surface or something insane was the british empire
- 1:11:31yeah so it's not
- 1:11:32like that only that queen victoria was richer than him but that
- 1:11:35every economy in
- 1:11:35SPEAKER_00: the world was her economy
- 1:11:38um but anyway she still was thrifty even though she spent a
- 1:11:41million pounds on lace
- 1:11:42she always rewore her wedding lace yeah here is a photograph of
- 1:11:46victorian albert in
- 1:11:471854 is really giving or sorry victoria's really looks like
- 1:11:52queen elizabeth in that
- 1:11:52photo yeah i mean the profile but isn't this also so weird to
- 1:11:58they put their
- 1:11:58SPEAKER_00: wedding outfits back on for this portrait
- 1:12:01no that's cute yeah they were like we have cameras now let's do
- 1:12:04it again isn't that
- 1:12:06and that's also I think like that it's so interesting to me
- 1:12:09about how like she it's
- 1:12:10SPEAKER_01: like haunting how much she looks like Elizabeth
- 1:12:13yeah do you not find that to be true i mean that profile i mean
- 1:12:17i think what you
- 1:12:18see in the current generation of royal children is how no
- 1:12:22matter how pretty a woman
- 1:12:23you marry you cannot get that face out of the blood pool like
- 1:12:27yeah the little kids
- 1:12:29look exactly like this like they all look so intense but what i
- 1:12:33was going to say
- 1:12:34SPEAKER_00: generations of inbreeding yeah i don't think you can get that out no
- 1:12:38but wait did i tell you when i was at the genetic counselor for
- 1:12:41private reasons um
- 1:12:42they were like is there any chance that your parents are
- 1:12:44related like third or
- 1:12:45fourth cousins and i was like well they do look an awful lot
- 1:12:48alike what did they
- 1:12:49SPEAKER_00: say they're like um we're not gonna write that down
- 1:12:54But I also just think like the idea of Victoria and Albert
- 1:12:56putting back on their
- 1:12:57wedding clothes once photography was more popularized and
- 1:13:00easier to access also
- 1:13:02SPEAKER_00: fits into the story of like the wedding as a PR stunt.
- 1:13:05SPEAKER_00: So it's like she had this famous painting made by Hayter,
- 1:13:08SPEAKER_00: but then she also like needed to record it further.
- 1:13:10SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:13:11SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:13:12so here are is here's another photo of her wearing her flounce
- 1:13:16and her veil at her
- 1:13:17diamond jubilee seen this photo that's in 1897 so a good the
- 1:13:21lace is gorgeous it's
- 1:13:22really beautiful it's actually like kind of broad i like like
- 1:13:25it's not too delicate
- 1:13:27um and then here's her wearing it she always wore it to the
- 1:13:29christenings of her
- 1:13:30children and this is her wearing it at the christening of her
- 1:13:33great grandson is it
- 1:13:34SPEAKER_01: like shrinking or is she getting bigger
- 1:13:37i think she well as i famously said on the first episode of
- 1:13:39this podcast when queen
- 1:13:41victoria died her casket was apparently as wide as it was tall
- 1:13:47but like i love this
- 1:13:48photo because it's so late like i think she's almost dead here
- 1:13:52she looks near dead
- 1:13:53but like her i think it's her daughter and her granddaughter in
- 1:13:56the background they
- 1:13:58look like sergeant painting women like they look like women in
- 1:14:01a sergeant painting
- 1:14:02SPEAKER_00: they're yeah they look like edith wharton characters
- 1:14:04yeah there's so much more contemporary and yet here is Queen
- 1:14:08Elizabeth like 50
- 1:14:09years later still wearing her flounce yeah I think it's like
- 1:14:13really moving that is
- 1:14:14moving and then she was also buried in her wedding veil so we
- 1:14:18don't know what her
- 1:14:19veil looked like now because it's in the ground with her but
- 1:14:22here is this amazing
- 1:14:23they'll dig it up at some point don't you think I mean I feel
- 1:14:26like it's probably
- 1:14:27SPEAKER_00: disintegrated I don't know oh that's true
- 1:14:29SPEAKER_00: I don't really know what happens.
- 1:14:31SPEAKER_01: Were they doing embalming at that?
- 1:14:32SPEAKER_01: I guess it doesn't matter.
- 1:14:33SPEAKER_00: What do you mean it doesn't matter?
- 1:14:35SPEAKER_00: Because like also nothing we're doing matters.
- 1:14:39No,
- 1:14:39I mean it wouldn't affect if the veil disintegrated or not if
- 1:14:42she was embalmed.
- 1:14:44Well I think if she decomposed it would release gases that
- 1:14:49might help disintegrate the veil.
- 1:14:51I was talking about a dress what was that maybe like one of the
- 1:14:55Medici's or
- 1:14:55something had a dress that she was painted in and they exhumed
- 1:14:59her to like because
- 1:15:00the long-standing rumor was that she had been buried in this
- 1:15:03very famous dress and
- 1:15:04they exhumed her and thought that they had found it and then it
- 1:15:07turned out not to
- 1:15:08SPEAKER_01: be because the pat whatever it
- 1:15:10but they like anyway here's a photo from the late 1890s of just
- 1:15:15the veil and i love
- 1:15:17a sort of it's like as if her figure was sort of like removed
- 1:15:22from the photo it's
- 1:15:23just like the veil on the chair it's kind of like speaking of
- 1:15:27death like the really
- 1:15:28SPEAKER_00: haunting death photos of babies where it's like
- 1:15:31or just like photos of babies in general in the 19th century
- 1:15:34where they like put a
- 1:15:35rug on the woman's head while she's holding the baby so it's
- 1:15:37just like a portrait
- 1:15:38of the baby but it's like basically like someone zapped queen
- 1:15:41victoria out of the
- 1:15:42photo and it's just the veil hanging there but again really
- 1:15:45beautiful really
- 1:15:46beautiful and i would love to like someday put this in one of
- 1:15:48our visual glossaries
- 1:15:49okay to talk about at least um so do you want to hear what
- 1:15:55queen victoria wrote
- 1:15:56SPEAKER_00: about her wedding night mm-hmm
- 1:15:59SPEAKER_01: Her daughter caught all the horny bits out of her diary, right?
- 1:16:02SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's all been, like, wiped, unfortunately.
- 1:16:06SPEAKER_00: Her daughter, who was nicknamed Pussy.
- 1:16:10SPEAKER_00: Ironically.
- 1:16:11SPEAKER_00: Ironically.
- 1:16:13SPEAKER_00: Quote, I have never, never spent such an evening.
- 1:16:16SPEAKER_00: My dearest,
- 1:16:17SPEAKER_00: dear Albert sat on a footstool by my side,
- 1:16:20and his excessive love and affection gave me feelings of
- 1:16:23heavenly love and
- 1:16:24SPEAKER_00: happiness I never could have hoped to have before.
- 1:16:27he clasped me in his arms and we kissed each other again and
- 1:16:31again his beauty his
- 1:16:33sweetness and gentleness really how can i ever be thankful
- 1:16:36enough to have such a
- 1:16:37husband oh this was the happiest day of my life that's so cute
- 1:16:42do you think your
- 1:16:42friends after they get married write stuff like this in their
- 1:16:44journals they're like
- 1:16:47SPEAKER_00: i'm blackout drunk right now maybe um i'll probably journal at my wedding
- 1:16:54SPEAKER_00: At your wedding?
- 1:16:57SPEAKER_00: I'll be like, Madeline, cover for me.
- 1:17:00SPEAKER_01: During my speech, you'll journal.
- 1:17:02SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:17:03SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you're going to give such a riveting presentation.
- 1:17:06SPEAKER_00: They won't even notice that I've slipped out of the room.
- 1:17:08SPEAKER_00: No, I would definitely stay in the room for your speech.
- 1:17:10SPEAKER_00: That's a nice kind of you to say.
- 1:17:12SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of the end of the story for me on what happened in 1840.
- 1:17:18SPEAKER_00: But I have one last quote to finish this off.
- 1:17:20SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 1:17:21SPEAKER_00: It's from Charles Dickens.
- 1:17:23SPEAKER_00: So he wrote society.
- 1:17:25SPEAKER_00: This is like on the occasion of the wedding.
- 1:17:26SPEAKER_00: He wrote to a friend a letter.
- 1:17:28SPEAKER_00: Society is unhinged here by her majesty's marriage.
- 1:17:32And I am sorry to add that I have fallen hopelessly in love
- 1:17:35with the queen.
- 1:17:35SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 1:17:37SPEAKER_00: And so to our friend Emily,
- 1:17:39SPEAKER_00: I hope that even Charles Dickens is in love with you on your wedding day.
- 1:17:43SPEAKER_00: I'm honestly in love with the queen.
- 1:17:46SPEAKER_00: Is that not awesome?
- 1:17:47SPEAKER_00: That's so cute.
- 1:17:48SPEAKER_00: So I think let's say this is a royal wedding that worked.
- 1:17:51SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for giving me this vision of a happy marriage.
- 1:17:55SPEAKER_00: Of course.
- 1:17:56SPEAKER_00: I hope that we too have a successful marriage.
- 1:17:58SPEAKER_00: I mean, you and I. Will you marry me?
- 1:18:03SPEAKER_00: No.
- 1:18:03SPEAKER_01: You're the queen.
- 1:18:04SPEAKER_01: I can't propose to you.
- 1:18:05SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 1:18:05SPEAKER_01: You have to ask me.
- 1:18:06There are a couple of people who are going to step in your way
- 1:18:08and say that's not allowed.
- 1:18:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:18:10SPEAKER_00: Well, I hope you guys liked this.
- 1:18:13SPEAKER_00: Bye, everyone.
- 1:18:14SPEAKER_00: Bye.