1 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: A crisp winter's night in the grounds of Varana Palace 2 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: mid nineteen fifties, two burly men in thick overcoats trudged 3 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: through the long grass. Their breath creates huge clouds of 4 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:39,879 Speaker 1: vapor in the sharp cold air. Their flashlights pick out 5 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: a small stone building hidden among the trees. Varana's a 6 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: wild place now. The beautiful tree lined avenues planted by 7 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: the king are straggly and overgrown, the flower beds choked 8 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: with weeds and garbage. The men take spades from the 9 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: tool shed and start to dig. There's a large stone 10 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:18,119 Speaker 1: slab set in the grass. They lever it up and 11 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: with some difficulty, they haul it to one side. The 12 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: light from their flashlights flickers, but you can just about 13 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: make out the inscription chiseled into the weathered stone. It 14 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: reads King Boris the Third. This is the grave of 15 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: the last crowned King of Bulgaria, a victim of poisoning. 16 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: And these men, they're grave robbers. They work for the 17 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: new residents of Rana Palace, the new rules of Bulgaria, 18 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:10,079 Speaker 1: the communists under Russian Soviet control. Grave robbers usually look 19 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: for gold or jewels. Not these grave robbers, though, thereafter 20 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:27,119 Speaker 1: something much more precious the body. Why steal a corpse 21 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: unless you're afraid it's got something to hide? Did the 22 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: Soviets fear they were about to be exposed for the 23 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: murder of King Boris from Blanchard House? And exactly right? Media, 24 00:02:49,280 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: this is the butterfly King. I'm Becky Milligan, Chapter five, 25 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: caught red handed. Oh yes, what do you want? 26 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 2: Do you want? Well? 27 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 3: I think we finally discovered a nice biscuit. 28 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, the eagle has landed. 29 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 4: Here we are. 30 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 5: I'll take one. 31 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 6: You haven't pretty good? 32 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 4: That's okay. 33 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: Oh, just all. 34 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 5: These type of poison. 35 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 6: I'm afraid I need. 36 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: To take my own biscuit. So we're back in Sofia, 37 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: Bulgaria's capital, in my producer EJ's hotel room, and we're 38 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: taking stock of our day over tea and biscuits. It's 39 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: a British custom, of course, though not necessarily one. The 40 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: Bulgarians have mastered. 41 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 4: These biscuits taste of air. 42 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: It's like, oh, sorry, it's like flower it's my carpet. 43 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:26,799 Speaker 1: Well they're tasting. 44 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 6: They are a bit flowering. I'll give you that, a bit. 45 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: Oh my god, they're just coating the inside of my 46 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: rout as well as the biscuits. We're also trying to 47 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: chew over what we know about the case so far. 48 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: You can sort of cross countries off as you're going along. 49 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: You know, I was convinced that it was Nazis without 50 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: adult you know, on the plane with oxygen mask or 51 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: a bit of poison or you know, snake venom. And 52 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: as we've gone along, we've just crossed off each theory. 53 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: And then there's been another twist and another twist. But 54 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: now we have a fresh lead on who may have 55 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: killed the king thanks to a top secret decoded telegram 56 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: we unearthed in the archives. It points the finger of 57 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:18,160 Speaker 1: blame fairly and squarely at Stalin's Soviet Union, the Communists 58 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 1: who occupied Bulgaria in nineteen forty four, a year after 59 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: Boris's death, and promptly turned the country red. So I 60 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: think it narrows it. 61 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:33,919 Speaker 4: Do you know where the Communist embassy was? Russian? 62 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:42,799 Speaker 1: Don't tell me? Next to the palace spot on. Yeah, 63 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: so you could have dug a tunnel under. 64 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:47,360 Speaker 4: Well, you just popped in. 65 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, there'll be more twists, more twists, and turns to 66 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,480 Speaker 1: car So was it the Soviets who killed Boris, and 67 00:05:55,560 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: if so, why to help investigate this case. We have 68 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 1: the best witnesses you could hope for King Boris's children, 69 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: Her Royal Highness Maria Louisa aged ninety, and his Majesty 70 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:17,719 Speaker 1: King Simeon now eighty six. I mean, I don't say 71 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: this lightly, but it does feel quite a privilege to 72 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: have actually sat down with them. They agreed to do it, 73 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: and to talk so candidly about how the hell their 74 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,479 Speaker 1: father died? I agree, I mean, and was he murdered? 75 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: And you know, it's obviously they've been consumed with it 76 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: for years and years and years. Both of them think 77 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: it wasn't normal. He didn't die a natural death. You 78 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,720 Speaker 1: can just tell their faces tell you that. And they 79 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: want to know what happened, and they're so with it, 80 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,799 Speaker 1: I mean, more with it than I was actually. But anyway, 81 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: well it's not so much have another best king. But anyway, 82 00:06:53,760 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: it's all very intriguing. Okay, So let's talk about the 83 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:09,479 Speaker 1: Soviet Union and the tyrannical Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin 84 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: dreamt of spreading communism across Eastern Europe and of creating 85 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: a buffer of territory there to protect the Motherland, the 86 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: Soviet Union. Little Bulgaria was right at that crossroads between 87 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 1: East and West Sandwich, between Romania and Greece, a vital 88 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: foothold for anyone trying to consolidate their power in the region. 89 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: So Stalin really wanted to control it. The only problem 90 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: was that there was a king in the way, a 91 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: very popular king. 92 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 7: That's why Boris has been killed. 93 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:49,679 Speaker 1: Hang on, let's hear that again. 94 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 7: That's why Boris has been killed. 95 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 1: Okay, deep breath. Before we unpick this bombshell, let me 96 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: remind you that George Bosdiganov Bulgaria's leading historian. You might remember. 97 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: He's the academic who sometimes gets a little frustrated with 98 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: me when I can't keep up with the minutii of 99 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: Bulkan politics. But you heard him as well as I did. 100 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: He believes the Soviets needed King Boris out of the 101 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: way to fulfill an age old Russian dream of empire expansion, 102 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: and Boris was the annoying sort of obstacle who was 103 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:31,840 Speaker 1: blocking the route. 104 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 7: So ah, listen, listen to me a little bit. 105 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,439 Speaker 1: Sorry, I'll let mister Bosdagaranov tell you himself. 106 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:47,479 Speaker 7: King Boris the only one buffer to study his ambitions 107 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 7: to take Bulgaria. That's very old to Russian ambitious, from 108 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 7: the time of Catherine the Great in Russia to centuries 109 00:08:57,880 --> 00:08:58,560 Speaker 7: before studying. 110 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,559 Speaker 1: I need this bailed out clearly. Who do you think 111 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: murdered King Boris? 112 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 7: My personal opinion is that the Russian's special services killed 113 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:15,959 Speaker 7: King Boris. Russian special services, Starling's special services killed him. 114 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,479 Speaker 1: So if we believe mister Bosdigaranov, the power hungry Soviets 115 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,440 Speaker 1: decided to get the king out of the way, and 116 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:29,320 Speaker 1: guess what happens. A year after Boris Is murdered, on 117 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 1: the fifth of September nineteen forty four, the Soviet Union 118 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 1: declares war on Bulgaria. Five days later, Stalin's Red Army 119 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: rolls into Sofia. They meet with no resistance. Many Bulgarians 120 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: welcome the Soviets as liberators. Don't forget Nazi troops have 121 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: been stationed in Bulgaria because King Boris had made an 122 00:09:55,480 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 1: alliance with Hitler. The Soviets team up with Communist dissidents 123 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: in Bulgaria. The new Red regime wastes no time in 124 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:13,559 Speaker 1: securing power, and they sweep away their opponents ruthlessly. Thousands 125 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 1: are sentenced to death, not just those who supported the Nazis, 126 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 1: but basically anyone who didn't support them, like the royals, 127 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: the remaining royals. That is, now, after Boris dies, little 128 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:34,800 Speaker 1: Simeon is on the throne. But it goes without saying 129 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: a child can't really run a country. So there are 130 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:43,239 Speaker 1: three regents who rule for him. One of the regents 131 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 1: is Boris's prime minister, another is a high ranking general 132 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: in the Bulgarian army, and the third is King Boris's brother, 133 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: Prince Kirol. 134 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 4: You get rid of him because he's going to be 135 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 4: a thorn in your side. 136 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: Are historian tell Sir Dunlop could see it coming, because 137 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: a few months after occupying Bulgaria, the Communists rounded up 138 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: the regents, then took them to a bomb crater in 139 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: Sophia Cemetery and shot them all dead, ruthless. And if 140 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 1: the Soviets could shoot a king's brother in cold blood, 141 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,079 Speaker 1: doesn't it stand to reason that they could murder a 142 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:36,720 Speaker 1: king too. But despite their successful power grab, something was 143 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 1: making the reds uneasy or should I say someone, because 144 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 1: the Soviets felt haunted by a ghost from the past, 145 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,959 Speaker 1: a ghost who continued to make his presence felt from 146 00:11:50,960 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: beyond the grave. We're at the place where King Boris 147 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 1: was buried. After a memorial service in Sofia, the railwaymen 148 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: carried his coffin to the station. His body was then 149 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: taken by train here to the beautiful Realer monastery high 150 00:12:15,679 --> 00:12:20,439 Speaker 1: up in the Bulgarian mountains. The sound of the single 151 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:26,319 Speaker 1: bell is plain and modest, but the building is extraordinarily ornate. 152 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: It's shaped in a sort of polygon, with black and 153 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: white archways striped like candy, and inside it's just amazing, 154 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: don't you think, Oh, blameyway. 155 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:39,079 Speaker 5: I mean, it's just it's. 156 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:43,079 Speaker 1: Really difficult to convey just how remarkable it is, how ornate. 157 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 1: Every single bit of it is covered with frescoes, which 158 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:53,479 Speaker 1: are sort of a dirty pink and blue and fox blood. Yeah, beautiful. 159 00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 1: That noise you can hear is the monastery being cleaned 160 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: and polished. The huge gold chandelier gleamed so brightly it 161 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: actually makes you squint. It's like looking into the sun. 162 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: RelA is a fitting resting place for a king, but 163 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: the Soviets didn't see it that way. They wanted to 164 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: erase Boris from the collective memory because even after the 165 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: Soviet occupation, thousands of people still came to pray at 166 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: Boris's tomb as if it were a shrine. He was 167 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:36,560 Speaker 1: a hero to so many Bulgarians, and that didn't please 168 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: the Communists. They wanted Bulgaria's regal past dead and buried 169 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 1: once and for all, So in nineteen forty six they 170 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: exumed King Boris and told his widow, Queen Giovanna, to 171 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: rebury him somewhere else, somewhere private. Maria Luisa was thirteen 172 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: years old and sime and nine when their father's body 173 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: was returned again to Varana Palace. It was deeply traumatic. 174 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 6: Hideous, hideous. It was Holy Thursday, and my mother was 175 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 6: told they'll bring him back tomorrow morning. So mother called 176 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 6: some of the gardeners, found a little spot and had 177 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 6: a hole dug in the garden, and at dawn a 178 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 6: van arrived with the coffin. 179 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: The royal children remember shivering in the half light, partly 180 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:39,320 Speaker 1: from the cold, but partly from sheer terror. They were 181 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 1: still living in Varana, but the Soviets had put them 182 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: under house arrest, cut off from the outside world. 183 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 6: Obviously, Communists did things all us in the dark. That's 184 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,920 Speaker 6: part of their system, you know, so that people don't 185 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 6: see it. So they brought the coffin, and the coffin was, 186 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:01,400 Speaker 6: of course with a little glass window, so we children 187 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 6: saw our papa three years after he had died. You know, 188 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 6: it wasn't easy. And then they buried him there and 189 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 6: Mamaden asked little chapels to be built on top of it. 190 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: Of course, it would have been easy for Stalin to 191 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: order the assassination of the remaining royals. He'd done away 192 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: with Boris's brother, and quite possibly with Boris himself too, 193 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: But the Soviets knew how popular the royals were. Murdering 194 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 1: the royal children was just too risky, so they played 195 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:39,960 Speaker 1: it softly, softly. 196 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 4: When you're occupying force, you want to take the hearts 197 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 4: and minds with you. To an extent, there's got to 198 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 4: be a sort of air of respectability. 199 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: Our historian Tessa Dunlop, I. 200 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 4: Mean, how much oppositions you get from a six year old? 201 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 4: I get quite a lot of opposition from mine, actually, 202 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 4: But you know, in real political terms, Boris was a 203 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 4: big hero, so why would you butcher his son, his 204 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 4: little delicate piece of progeny. Why wouldn't you just keep 205 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 4: that politically emasculated as a fig leaf of respectability to 206 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 4: smooth over your accession to power or takeover of power, 207 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 4: which is what the Communists did. 208 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 1: So once their takeover of power is secure, the Soviets 209 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: find a better way of getting rid of Simeon and 210 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: his mother and sister. They send them into exile in Egypt, 211 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,120 Speaker 1: and as soon as the royal family move out of 212 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: Rana Pallas, communist leaders move in. It'll be fifty years 213 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 1: before Simeon and Maria Luisa see their home again. But 214 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: even with the royal family now thousands of miles away, 215 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: the Communists can't let their beef with royalty rest there. 216 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 1: In fact, they can't let Boris rest at all. Let's 217 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: knit back to Varana Palace for a second. The King's 218 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:13,199 Speaker 1: charming age. Jarfl has something to show us, a crime scene. 219 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: But on the way, a little digression. Are you getting chili? 220 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:24,120 Speaker 1: It is a bit chilly, only my head? Yeah, how 221 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 1: far is the cemetery? 222 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 2: Is here? Oh? 223 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 6: Perfect? 224 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,360 Speaker 1: Jarvar is taking us to a little clearing in the woodland, 225 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: and in the long grass there's a small collection of 226 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:38,920 Speaker 1: flagstone graves, the resting place of some other short lived 227 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 1: members of the royal household, four legged ones. 228 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 4: He is born in May ninety twenty three and to 229 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 4: die in May nineteen twenty six. 230 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,560 Speaker 8: This is quite common, isn't it to have a dog 231 00:17:57,080 --> 00:18:01,680 Speaker 8: cemetery in royal palaces? Actually, I think the Queen definitely 232 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:04,480 Speaker 8: did have one, and now King Charles. 233 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 4: This is also in Bulgarian, but this is in Latin, right, 234 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 4: Booby Booby. 235 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:14,479 Speaker 1: I like the name Booby. The Communists clearly didn't have 236 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:18,439 Speaker 1: a problem with royal pets lovely, so therefore here on. 237 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:21,880 Speaker 8: Five and the big one. 238 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:23,440 Speaker 2: The big one is interesting. 239 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,600 Speaker 9: It's not a dog, right, Yeah, it's a horse of 240 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:28,320 Speaker 9: King Boris. 241 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,400 Speaker 1: King Boris's horse, Oh, how lovely? 242 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,200 Speaker 2: And King Signon have one cat, had one cat. 243 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:40,119 Speaker 3: It's the tradition continues, yes it does. 244 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: Moving on from the pet cemetery, we arrive at the 245 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: crime scene. I mentioned King Boris's grave, and while all 246 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,800 Speaker 1: the pets have headstones, there's nothing now at Varana to 247 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: mark the grave of King Boris the third because the 248 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 1: graves empty. In the nineteen fifties, a few years after 249 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: they'd ordered the king's body to be reburied from the 250 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:25,800 Speaker 1: real monastery to Frana, the Communists did something extraordinary, They 251 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:33,400 Speaker 1: decided to exhume the king again. Remember where we started 252 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:38,120 Speaker 1: this episode. Sometime in the nineteen fifties, in the dead 253 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: of night, the Communists dug up Boris's body. They removed 254 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: it from its resting place in the gardens of Vrana 255 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:53,200 Speaker 1: Palace and took it away. Where to is anyone's guess. Now. 256 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: By the nineteen fifties, Stalin's Red Army had long since 257 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:01,720 Speaker 1: left Bulgaria. They might back home in nineteen forty seven, 258 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 1: but the new Communist leadership that was established in Sofia 259 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,640 Speaker 1: wasn't just loyal to Moscow. It was basically a satellite 260 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:15,239 Speaker 1: of the Soviet Union. When Stalin said jump, Bulgaria just 261 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:21,399 Speaker 1: asked how high. So did Stalin order the second exhumation 262 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: because he was afraid the Soviet Union might be found 263 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: out for the murder of the king? Was he trying 264 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:32,199 Speaker 1: to destroy the evidence by stealing the king's corpse and 265 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:37,440 Speaker 1: disposing of it? And remember that little chapel. Maria Louisa 266 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: told us it had been built over the grave to 267 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 1: mark her father's tomb. At first, the Communist used it 268 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: as a. 269 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:48,760 Speaker 3: Tool shed and then a little blown up. 270 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: Over the years. Maria Luisa and Simeon have tried desperately 271 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: to find out what happened to their beloved father's remains, 272 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,159 Speaker 1: even managed to trace the Bulgarian soldiers who dug up 273 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:04,679 Speaker 1: the grave. 274 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:10,320 Speaker 6: I was told that there were some soldiers that had 275 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:14,479 Speaker 6: taken out the body from the tomb here in the garden. 276 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 6: And I definitely didn't ask to see these poor riches 277 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 6: because they are not the ones who did it. You know, 278 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 6: they were ordered, and God knows what could have happened 279 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:28,439 Speaker 6: to their families if I ever confronted them, you know, 280 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 6: don't forget that BULGEO. Until a few years there were 281 00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 6: still some of the old people around, some of the 282 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 6: old communists, you know, and I would never have anybody 283 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 6: disappear or get punished them. And it is a total 284 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 6: mystery what they did with my father's body. 285 00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:53,840 Speaker 1: So, but the story didn't end there. Many years later, 286 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: it took an even more sinister turn. In nineteen ninety one, 287 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:03,159 Speaker 1: after the fall of immunism, a dirty glass jar was 288 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: found in a medical institute in Sofia. Inside it was 289 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: a human heart, preserved a royal human heart. 290 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 6: It survived because it was checked and it is Papa's heart. 291 00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 3: I mean is not doubt about it. 292 00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 6: So when it was found, of course some people had 293 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 6: to parade it hearth of the king, and my poor 294 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:30,480 Speaker 6: mother saw it on the newspaper, which totally unnecessary. 295 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: Why did the Soviets preserve the king's heart as a trophy, 296 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: a souvenir of their heenous crime. It's not altogether unknown 297 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,439 Speaker 1: for a monarch to have his mortal remains divided. Louis 298 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,120 Speaker 1: the fourteenth of France had his body buried in one 299 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:51,639 Speaker 1: Parisian church, while his heart was interred at Notre Dame Cathedral. 300 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: But Queen Giovanna certainly didn't ask for this to happen 301 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:59,359 Speaker 1: to her husband, King Boris, so who removed his heart? 302 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:04,239 Speaker 1: And why then hide that heart unless you fear it 303 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:11,679 Speaker 1: contains proof of a poisonous secret. Now, when I began 304 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,679 Speaker 1: this investigation, everyone I spoke to told me to listen 305 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:20,120 Speaker 1: closely to Maria Louisa, because while King Simeon has to 306 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: toe the line of diplomacy, she can speak her mind 307 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:28,119 Speaker 1: more freely about who she believes killed her father. So 308 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: I'm going to test that theory now and put Maria 309 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: Louisa on the spot. Do you have any gut feeling 310 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: of who it was. 311 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,360 Speaker 6: I think I can leave that to you by deduction 312 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:49,920 Speaker 6: who had the greatest advantage so gets rid of him. 313 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:54,639 Speaker 1: It's a nail biting moment. I desperately want Maria Louisa 314 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,720 Speaker 1: to tell me who she thinks murdered her father. So 315 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:04,880 Speaker 1: I say nothing and wait, and then. 316 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 6: In my soul I see the only people who had 317 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 6: it really an advantage were getting rid of him because 318 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 6: they were there yet letter the Soviet Union. 319 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 1: There we have it. Maria Luisa is convinced the Soviets 320 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: killed her father, and not only that, she's sure they 321 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:33,640 Speaker 1: spent the next fifty years rewriting history and covering up 322 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: the evidence. 323 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 6: Don't forget that when they occupied us, they took the 324 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:43,440 Speaker 6: whole entire Bulgarian archives, stayed archives, and they're still in Moscow. 325 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,360 Speaker 6: They were never returned. Bulgaria has asked for them, they 326 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:49,080 Speaker 6: never give back. 327 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:54,680 Speaker 1: Could the proof lie in Moscow in the archives of 328 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: the Russian Secret Services the KGB? Nobody can get to 329 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,440 Speaker 1: those because that could be quite interesting. 330 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 6: Yes, I can't ride anything. 331 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,920 Speaker 1: I think we've now established the Soviets had a very 332 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:19,680 Speaker 1: clear motive for killing Boris. As for their means, well, 333 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 1: Russian assassins have long had a love affair with poison. 334 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,640 Speaker 2: They have no morals or scruples, They have no limits. 335 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: Colonel Hamish de Breton Gordon is our chemical weapons expert. 336 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:36,640 Speaker 1: He told us about the nerve agents that the Nazis 337 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,679 Speaker 1: were developing in the war. But it turns out that 338 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,960 Speaker 1: the Germans were novices compared to the Soviets. 339 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 2: You know, most of the poisons that we're talking about. 340 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 2: The most knowledge we have about assassination is again coming 341 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,399 Speaker 2: from the Russians, the Russian secret Service. 342 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:57,400 Speaker 1: In the last few decades, there've been several high profile 343 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:02,919 Speaker 1: poisoning cases involving the Russians secret services. Russian dissidents have 344 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 1: been attacked with deadly nerve agents and chemical weapons like ricin, 345 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: polonium and novichok, and with chilling success. And unlike snake venom, 346 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 1: which has to be injected to kill someone, nerve agents 347 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: can work their way through the skin. Some are so 348 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:28,120 Speaker 1: powerful you just need to brush against them to suffer 349 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:33,680 Speaker 1: serious consequences, as the Russian opposition leader Alexi Navalni found 350 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 1: out in twenty twenty. 351 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 2: With Nabalni, there's a view actually that the nerve agent 352 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 2: was put in his parents it's hunderpants and that's how 353 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 2: it got into him. 354 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:51,920 Speaker 1: Now, King Boris was a canny politician. So despite Bulgaria 355 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:56,560 Speaker 1: officially being an enemy of the Soviet Union, remember Bulgaria 356 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,959 Speaker 1: was allied with Germany, Boris had managed to keep up 357 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: diplomatic relations with Stalin and that meant the Russian embassy 358 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,199 Speaker 1: stayed open throughout the war, right next door to the 359 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: Royal Palace. It wouldn't have been difficult for the Russians 360 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:16,280 Speaker 1: to sneak in poison on a door handle, perhaps in food, 361 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,919 Speaker 1: maybe even in documents or letters. And before you remind 362 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:24,920 Speaker 1: me that nerve agents like Novechok weren't invented until much later, 363 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: believe me, their predecessors were equally terrifying. How do we 364 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: know that, Well, the Soviets might have hidden all of 365 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: Bulgaria's archives, but some of their own intelligence surfaced in 366 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 1: the nineteen nineties, basically after the fall of communism, top 367 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 1: secret documents from Russia were very briefly declassified, and in 368 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:54,919 Speaker 1: those papers the proof that by nineteen forty three, the 369 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: year of King Boris's death, two poison laboratories were up 370 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: and running in the Soviet Union, and guests who saw 371 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,600 Speaker 1: those papers about the poison factories. 372 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 7: I saw them in the nineties. 373 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 1: Our very own favorite Bulgarian historian, George Bostergaranoff. And there's 374 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,960 Speaker 1: something I haven't told you yet about George Bostergaranoff, something 375 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,040 Speaker 1: that will make you really pay attention to what he's 376 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:30,400 Speaker 1: saying here, because apart from being an eminent historian, mister 377 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: Bosdegaranoff's also a doctor, a medical doctor. 378 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 10: That is. 379 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 7: From ninety thirty eight to nineteen fifty three, the Anchovid 380 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 7: that's Rusian Special Service maintained two laboratories for the production 381 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 7: of deadly poisonous toxicological one and bacteriological one. 382 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 1: And these laboratories had a specific brief, not just to 383 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: silence Stalin's enemies, but. 384 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 7: To do it without leaving any traces. 385 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: In other words, to get away with it, and to 386 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 1: make sure they did. The Soviets practiced on real people, 387 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:16,480 Speaker 1: on prisoners, and this is where it all starts to 388 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 1: sound like some sort of gruesome parlor game. Once the 389 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:26,480 Speaker 1: prisoner died, external pathologists were brought in to play guests 390 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 1: the cause of death. 391 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 7: Two hundred to fifty people were cute during these experiments. 392 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 7: The Corps of the persons cute are taken to the 393 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 7: marks of medical institutes or unsuspecting doctors perform autopsy. 394 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: So you're telling me that they were developing poisons, toxins 395 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: that could be used to kill people, and they tested 396 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: them on prisoners, mostly didn't they And yet no doctor 397 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:59,760 Speaker 1: could ever tell that poison had been used. 398 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 7: The diagnosis is usually unequivocal acute heart failure, heart attack. 399 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:12,960 Speaker 1: Acute heart failure heart attack, precisely the official cause of 400 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:18,160 Speaker 1: death given for King Boris, the third of Bulgaria. So 401 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: is that how the Soviets got away with murder? Bulgaria's 402 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:34,040 Speaker 1: national archives never resurfaced, but we know the Communists did 403 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: mysteriously unearth Boris's heart, preserved in a jar, from that 404 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: medical institute in Sofia, and when the royal family was 405 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 1: made aware that Boris's heart had been found, they asked 406 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:50,240 Speaker 1: for it to be reburied again at the realer monastery, 407 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:55,800 Speaker 1: where it remains today. So will you show us where 408 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: the remains of King Boris? 409 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 5: On the right side? What do we see here is 410 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:05,959 Speaker 5: the grave of King Boris aut let Us gone inside. 411 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: This is amazing because we've heard so much about it. 412 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:11,720 Speaker 4: Every mad just amazing and to be let into the 413 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 4: private bit. 414 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: This is where where his son Simeon comes to pay 415 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: his respects every year. Listen to Michael, the official tour 416 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: guide at RelA talk about the king and you really 417 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: get why the Soviets needed Boris out of the way. 418 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 5: King Boris A thirty is the most prominent, respected and 419 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:37,440 Speaker 5: loved Bulgarian ruler from the modern Bulgarian history. He was 420 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 5: famous for his deep concern for the life of the 421 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:47,280 Speaker 5: common people, his great care towards the poor and the Sikh. 422 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: The Soviets could never have marched in and occupied Bulgaria 423 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,760 Speaker 1: if the adored king had still been on the throne. 424 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 1: The Bulgarian people just wouldn't have stood for it. 425 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,000 Speaker 5: People still venerated King Boris through it as a saint, 426 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 5: did they as a saint? Yes, they venervated him with kritlov. 427 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 1: As for the communists sacrilegious treatment to the King's body 428 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: after his death, well they nearly didn't get away with it. 429 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 1: Remember the first time the Communists decided to dig up 430 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,120 Speaker 1: the king at RelA and to dump him at Frana. 431 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 1: When the Habbit of Reela got wind of the plan, 432 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 1: he refused the grave Digger's access. He reminded them that 433 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:31,120 Speaker 1: Reela was a holy place. But the Communists had no 434 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:35,200 Speaker 1: truck with either monarchs or monks. Plus they had a 435 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,719 Speaker 1: visit from a Soviet big wig pending, and they couldn't 436 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 1: have fought for that Soviet big wig to think the 437 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 1: Bulgarians were still pining for their royals. So that night 438 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 1: they came with their spades. 439 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 5: The monks were locked inside their rooms and they were 440 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 5: warrant that if anyone goes out, they would be killed immediately. 441 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:01,120 Speaker 1: Yes, the Communists knew how to get their own way, 442 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:05,080 Speaker 1: and they knew that dead or alive, Boris still posed 443 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: a threat to their regime. So they did what our 444 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: historian Tessa Dunlop says is standard Communist practice. There raised 445 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 1: him from history. 446 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,160 Speaker 4: After the Iron curtain comes down, and even before you 447 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:23,720 Speaker 4: want to eradicate the memory of the individual monarch who 448 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:29,120 Speaker 4: gives the nation something nostalgic, romantic and a world or 449 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 4: a vision other than the Communist vision. And it's one 450 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,640 Speaker 4: of the reasons why we haven't heard of some of 451 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 4: these great personalities like Ferdinand, like Boris of Bulgaria, because 452 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 4: the Communist did a really good job of burying their legacy, 453 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:43,520 Speaker 4: their history. 454 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:48,320 Speaker 1: So we know the Soviet specialty was rewriting history, but 455 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: they could hardly write a new national story with an 456 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:55,440 Speaker 1: old protagonist in the starring role. So they needed to 457 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:59,440 Speaker 1: write King Boris clean out of the script, and once 458 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 1: he was off, they were free to write a brand 459 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,440 Speaker 1: new chapter of their own, one in which the Communists 460 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:07,480 Speaker 1: were the heroes. 461 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:17,040 Speaker 9: Devati is on a grad Detective. 462 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: Anna Blagova and Gianna Punkiner host a Bulgarian podcast called 463 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 1: The Urban Detective. Their show explores all kinds of different 464 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:31,000 Speaker 1: cultural and social topics, but they've never dared tackle the 465 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:36,239 Speaker 1: death of King Boris because despite the fact they're highly educated, 466 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,480 Speaker 1: Anna admits their own history is a bit of a 467 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:45,400 Speaker 1: mystery to them. Under the Communists, any debate about Bulgaria's 468 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:48,359 Speaker 1: past was completely squashed. 469 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 9: One of the reasons I guess we don't know much 470 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:54,880 Speaker 9: about it is that Bulgearian history is still very contested. 471 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,840 Speaker 9: It was very contested when we were in school, and 472 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:02,120 Speaker 9: to be honest, I only study twentieth century Bulgarian history 473 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:06,400 Speaker 9: in sixth grade, so this period has kind of I 474 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:08,880 Speaker 9: feel faded from memory. 475 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,760 Speaker 1: Both women were born around the time the Communist regime 476 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:18,240 Speaker 1: collapsed in Bulgaria. That's almost fifty years after King Boris's death, 477 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,640 Speaker 1: but Anna says there's still a huge divide in her 478 00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:26,160 Speaker 1: country between those who are royalists and those who are 479 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:27,880 Speaker 1: Communist sympathizers. 480 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 9: We're very polarized and there is a clash between those 481 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,799 Speaker 9: two kinds of nostalgia, which is preventing any sort of 482 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,359 Speaker 9: normal discussion and truth to come out. 483 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:43,320 Speaker 1: In fact, Yanna wonders if the truth about who killed 484 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 1: King Boris maybe needs to stay buried because it's still 485 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:49,520 Speaker 1: such a poisonous subject. 486 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:51,880 Speaker 3: I don't know if it would be good to know, 487 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,840 Speaker 3: even maybe it would have a bad effect on people. 488 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 1: It's just interesting when you say it might be bad 489 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:03,320 Speaker 1: for people to know the truth. Why would it be bad? 490 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,239 Speaker 3: Because I think that there is this thing about Bulgaria. 491 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,200 Speaker 3: You know that Bulgaria is such a small country that 492 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,520 Speaker 3: everything that could be a political question is not really 493 00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:16,920 Speaker 3: political questions of family question Like everybody is everybody's relative. 494 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:20,920 Speaker 3: Everybody knows someone who knows someone who knows someone, or 495 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:27,279 Speaker 3: who has seen something, and every political change or thurpulence 496 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:32,400 Speaker 3: or argument in the country is somehow happening inside the families. 497 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,759 Speaker 3: It's very different from a like a big country with 498 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:40,880 Speaker 3: the century long history of democracy, because here everybody is related. 499 00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 1: Both Anna and Yanna have seen fierce clashes within their 500 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:50,799 Speaker 1: own families over the interpretation of Bulgarian history. There are 501 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:55,080 Speaker 1: two conflicting narratives, those who believe the Soviets murdered the 502 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:59,040 Speaker 1: king so they could invade and occupy Bulgaria, and those 503 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:03,680 Speaker 1: who believe the Communists heroically liberated their country from fascism 504 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:06,120 Speaker 1: from Boris's alliance with Hitler. 505 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:09,480 Speaker 9: I don't know where to stand on this, and now 506 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:14,200 Speaker 9: it's very hard to come to an independent conclusion by yourself. 507 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:20,240 Speaker 3: We're still learning what was going on during the communist regime. Yeah, 508 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:21,520 Speaker 3: we don't know everything. 509 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: Anna Anyana both feel uncomfortable about this disputed history, particularly because, 510 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:35,960 Speaker 1: through Bulgaria's past alliance with Nazi Germany, they feel their 511 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:40,960 Speaker 1: country was implicated in the deportation of those eleven thousand 512 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: Jews from Thrace and Macedonia. 513 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:50,319 Speaker 9: I feel some sort of guilt as a descendant, some 514 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:55,560 Speaker 9: sort of generational guilt. And even though, of course Bulgarian 515 00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:59,239 Speaker 9: civil society, in one of its greatest acts, managed to 516 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:02,880 Speaker 9: prevent the Jewish people on the territory of Bulgaria from 517 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 9: being sent off to concentration camps. The ones from our 518 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:14,360 Speaker 9: presumed old territories were deported. So I think it's impossible 519 00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:18,120 Speaker 9: not to feel this sort of sort of guilt. So 520 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:20,560 Speaker 9: it doesn't make me feel angry, it makes me feel sad. 521 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,799 Speaker 3: Of course, I don't think that I feel guilt. I 522 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:28,120 Speaker 3: definitely feel shamed, because, yeah, we were on the wrong 523 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:31,600 Speaker 3: side of history. King Boris was probably he was also 524 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:35,440 Speaker 3: against deportation. But I think King Boris was probably in 525 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:39,400 Speaker 3: an extremely delicate position during the Second World War, and 526 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:44,680 Speaker 3: I think he was working on a very thin tightrope. 527 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 1: And someone couldn't wait for Boris to fall off that tightrope, 528 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:55,400 Speaker 1: so someone gave him a shove. I want you to 529 00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:58,600 Speaker 1: hear just one more bit of evidence about the Soviets 530 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,960 Speaker 1: and the deep hatred of royalty. 531 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:04,640 Speaker 10: I will tell you something. 532 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:12,560 Speaker 1: Maybe haven't mentioned, but listen closely, because Simeon rarely bears 533 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,680 Speaker 1: his soul, and this story tells us a lot about 534 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:19,320 Speaker 1: the callousness of the Soviets, about what they were capable 535 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,160 Speaker 1: of and what they were prepared to do to make 536 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,960 Speaker 1: sure history went their way. You'll remember that just a 537 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:30,080 Speaker 1: few months after the Red Army marched into Sofia, Boris's brother, 538 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:33,440 Speaker 1: Prince Kirol and the other regents were rounded up to 539 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:38,400 Speaker 1: be executed. Queen Giovanna was distraught, and she was terrified 540 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:42,480 Speaker 1: for her children's safety. What if they were next? So 541 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:47,400 Speaker 1: she wrote a letter, a begging letter, pleading for help. 542 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 1: It was smuggled out of the palace and addressed to 543 00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:56,320 Speaker 1: King Boris's English cousins, to the Windsors, to King George 544 00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:58,120 Speaker 1: the sixth of Great Britain. 545 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,799 Speaker 10: And she don't say, desperate letter to his Majesty to 546 00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:07,719 Speaker 10: say if something could be done, And there was never 547 00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:09,839 Speaker 10: an answer or anything like it. 548 00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 1: Whole Queen Giovanna went to her grave believing King Boris's 549 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:20,520 Speaker 1: British family had turned their backs on their Bulgarian relatives. 550 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:25,239 Speaker 1: But Simeon felt sure something was a miss. So one 551 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,239 Speaker 1: day in the nineteen eighties, he was hanging out with 552 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:33,320 Speaker 1: Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret at Balmoral, the royal estate 553 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:38,359 Speaker 1: in Scotland, as one does, and perhaps emboldened by some 554 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:43,280 Speaker 1: good Scotch whiskey. Okay, admittedly that's just how I imagine 555 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:47,960 Speaker 1: the scene, he dared to ask them the question why 556 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:52,240 Speaker 1: did your father ignore our plea for help? 557 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:57,920 Speaker 10: I was also looking if that letter had ever arrived. 558 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:03,360 Speaker 10: It didn't. They had never received it, so it was 559 00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 10: intercepted from here where my mother gave it to somebody, 560 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:10,160 Speaker 10: who gave it to somebody else who should have passed 561 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:14,040 Speaker 10: it on, although we were already occupied by the Soviets. 562 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:19,400 Speaker 1: Exactly, Bulgaria was already occupied by the Soviets, who certainly 563 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,160 Speaker 1: didn't want the royal family a family they were intent 564 00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:25,359 Speaker 1: on wiping out being aided in any way at all. 565 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,640 Speaker 1: So if we suspect it was the Soviets who intercepted 566 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:32,880 Speaker 1: that letter, can we also now conclude that it was 567 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:38,560 Speaker 1: also very probably the Soviets who murdered King Boris. They 568 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:42,480 Speaker 1: had their motive, they had the means, and they had 569 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:43,360 Speaker 1: the opportunity. 570 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:46,960 Speaker 4: I'm not saying it wasn't possible. I'm not saying it 571 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:47,760 Speaker 4: didn't happen. 572 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,399 Speaker 1: But that's the one problem with historian Tessa Dunlop. There's 573 00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:54,000 Speaker 1: always a butt sure. 574 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:57,960 Speaker 4: I am not refuting the capacity of the Soviet Union 575 00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:02,000 Speaker 4: to murder. Most foul had many ingenious ways of bopping 576 00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:07,440 Speaker 4: people off, and would go on and hone those faculties 577 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:11,959 Speaker 4: for many decades to come. Nor am I denying that 578 00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:17,919 Speaker 4: Boris wasn't a potential target. I just think that it's unlikely. 579 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,440 Speaker 1: But even Maria Luisa has stuck her neck out to 580 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:22,720 Speaker 1: blame the Soviets. 581 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,000 Speaker 4: That's certainly what the family would want you to think 582 00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:28,280 Speaker 4: that the Royal family, because they lost their entire livelihood 583 00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:32,200 Speaker 4: and their country to the Communists who took away Simian's kingdom. 584 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,680 Speaker 4: Who rubbed out the royal family in Bulgaria was the Russians? 585 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:40,200 Speaker 4: Wasn't it so convenient in terms of that narrative if 586 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:42,480 Speaker 4: you're a monarchist in Bulgaria to blame the Russians? 587 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:47,480 Speaker 1: Well, okay, yes, I can see that. Obviously, Simeon and 588 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:51,319 Speaker 1: Maria Luisa are going to be resentful of the Soviets. 589 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:55,080 Speaker 1: They did abolish the monarchy after all, and went on 590 00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:58,960 Speaker 1: to steal all their palaces. But what about the Soviet 591 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:03,359 Speaker 1: embassy in Sofia. Now, for me, the proximity of that 592 00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:07,799 Speaker 1: embassy to the Royal Palace provided the Soviets with the 593 00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:14,760 Speaker 1: perfect opportunity to kill the king. Why but not for Tessa? 594 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:19,040 Speaker 4: Sure that the Soviets had much better intelligence going on 595 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:23,600 Speaker 4: in Bulgaria. It's Laughter's laugh, But Bulgaria hadn't declared war 596 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,400 Speaker 4: on the Soviets. They've never put boots on the ground 597 00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:31,640 Speaker 4: in Russia. And given that he's revered in Bulgaria, he 598 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,600 Speaker 4: has the hearts and minds of the people, why would 599 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:38,160 Speaker 4: you pick him of all people to poison to practice 600 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:41,040 Speaker 4: your poisoning on Why? 601 00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:44,719 Speaker 1: I suppose Tessa has a point there. I mean King 602 00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:49,400 Speaker 1: Boris repeatedly refused Hitler's demands to send Bulgarian troops to 603 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:53,760 Speaker 1: fight the Russians on the Eastern Front. He also deliberately 604 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:58,360 Speaker 1: left Russia out of his symbolic declaration of war against 605 00:43:58,440 --> 00:43:59,120 Speaker 1: the Allies. 606 00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:02,640 Speaker 4: Is a man who held the door open. He said himself, 607 00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:07,640 Speaker 4: my people are pro Russian, I am pro Bulgaria. 608 00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:11,000 Speaker 1: But this still doesn't quite add up for me. I'm 609 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:16,239 Speaker 1: afraid because the fact is we know King Boris hated Communism. 610 00:44:16,719 --> 00:44:20,839 Speaker 1: He feared correctly as it turned out, that Bulgaria would 611 00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:24,600 Speaker 1: be swallowed up by the Soviet Union. And we also 612 00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:27,920 Speaker 1: know that loathing was mutual. 613 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:34,560 Speaker 4: The Communists had beef with the king, certainly they're not 614 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:38,440 Speaker 4: easy bedfellows. But if he was murdered at the command 615 00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:41,520 Speaker 4: of a Communist, then it would have been done by 616 00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:44,480 Speaker 4: I think a Bulgarian communist, someone with the nohow, with 617 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,840 Speaker 4: the wherewith all and with the contacts. Sorry, but we 618 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:49,720 Speaker 4: never looked for the most obvious. 619 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:55,440 Speaker 1: Right, Let's just unpick that for a second. So Tessa 620 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:59,239 Speaker 1: is not saying I'm wrong to blame communist assassins for 621 00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:03,680 Speaker 1: the King's much. She's just saying I should perhaps focus 622 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:09,319 Speaker 1: on homegrown communist assassins rather than the Soviets themselves on 623 00:45:09,719 --> 00:45:12,080 Speaker 1: Bulgarian communists. 624 00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:15,120 Speaker 4: I'm not saying that any of these individual parties weren't 625 00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:17,319 Speaker 4: capable of it. And this was the Second World War, 626 00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:19,640 Speaker 4: it was the biggest period of mass murder known to 627 00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:23,840 Speaker 4: humankind ever, I'm just saying, don't rule out the Communist 628 00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:24,440 Speaker 4: on the ground. 629 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:29,160 Speaker 1: Now, that's interesting because I happen to know that the 630 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:34,439 Speaker 1: Bulgarian Communist Party had a really rocky relationship with the king. 631 00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:39,040 Speaker 1: In fact, Boris banned the Communist Party altogether in the 632 00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:44,760 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties, so the Bulgarian Communists had a major grudge 633 00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:48,680 Speaker 1: against him. Does this mean the killer was one of 634 00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:53,760 Speaker 1: the King's own subjects. It's certainly a theory that chimes 635 00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:57,560 Speaker 1: with podcaster Jana Punkinner, Even if it is rather difficult 636 00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:03,120 Speaker 1: to admit out loud. Could have painer Bulgariads an inside job. 637 00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:09,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, because we don't like each other very much. I 638 00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:16,040 Speaker 3: don't think that there were political life is so civilized 639 00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:18,720 Speaker 3: as to you know, spare prison. 640 00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:24,640 Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing. Political life during Boris's reign was 641 00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:30,120 Speaker 1: anything but civilized. Whoever hated the king certainly got him 642 00:46:30,120 --> 00:46:34,120 Speaker 1: in the end, But the fatal poisoning wasn't a one 643 00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:38,320 Speaker 1: off attempt. Boris was a marked man from the minute 644 00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:43,080 Speaker 1: he took the throne. The king had already dodged several 645 00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:49,160 Speaker 1: serious assassination attempts, and all of them on his own soil. 646 00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:57,400 Speaker 1: Was the murder of the Bulgarian king an inside job. 647 00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:04,080 Speaker 1: Up in the Butterfly King, the stress of war catches 648 00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:05,160 Speaker 1: up with Boris. 649 00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:10,000 Speaker 10: He had a suicidal thoughts because of the dramatic meeting 650 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:12,600 Speaker 10: with Hitler with no issue. 651 00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:15,440 Speaker 1: Way out, and we learn how the leader of a 652 00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:22,040 Speaker 1: Christian sect prophesied the king's impending death. If King Boris 653 00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:28,520 Speaker 1: had followed the advice, if he just listened to the 654 00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:34,520 Speaker 1: person you call the master, he would have survived. Probably 655 00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:35,960 Speaker 1: he wouldn't have been killed. 656 00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:40,040 Speaker 4: I say maybe, I think. 657 00:47:56,360 --> 00:48:00,359 Speaker 1: The Butterfly King is a production of Blanchard House and 658 00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:06,240 Speaker 1: Exactly Right Media, hosted by me Becky Milligan. It's written 659 00:48:06,280 --> 00:48:10,799 Speaker 1: and produced by Emma Jane Kirby. Original music is by 660 00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:16,480 Speaker 1: Daniel Lloyd Evans, Louis nank Manell and Toby Mattimoon. Sound 661 00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:21,040 Speaker 1: design and engineering by Toby Mattamong and Daniel Lloyd Evans. 662 00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:27,160 Speaker 1: Artwork by Vanessa Lilac. The Managing producer is a Meeka 663 00:48:27,239 --> 00:48:33,000 Speaker 1: Schortino Nolan. The creative director of Blanchard House is Rosie Pye. 664 00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:36,640 Speaker 1: The executive producer and head of Content at Blanchard House 665 00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:42,160 Speaker 1: is Lawrence Grisell. For Exactly Right Media, the executive producers 666 00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:48,759 Speaker 1: are Karen Kilgareth Georgia Hardstark and Daniel Kramer, with consulting 667 00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:54,560 Speaker 1: producer Kyle Ryan. The Butterfly King is inspired by the 668 00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:59,200 Speaker 1: book Hitler and the King by John Haul Spencer.