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Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim

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Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie Listener discretion advised. The year

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Speaker 1: eighteen o eight, the setting Regency, England. There we meet

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Speaker 1: a man called Sir Giles Staverlely, a gambling addict who

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Speaker 1: attempted to win back all he had by betting his

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Speaker 1: daughter Serena's hand in marriage and betting her eighty thousand

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Speaker 1: pound trust fund, but he lost once again, and unable

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Speaker 1: to face his daughter, he instigated and lost a duel

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Speaker 1: on purpose, ultimately killing himself. This left Serena's fate in

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Speaker 1: the hands of the man her father lost to, Lord

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Speaker 1: Justin Vulcan, who she'd been told was simply the worst

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Speaker 1: sort of rake. She swore she could never fall in

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Speaker 1: love with a man like Lord Vulcan, but after he

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Speaker 1: invited her to come live at his estate, Man Drake,

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Speaker 1: the two come to form an unlikely bond, but they

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Speaker 1: also had to contend with Justin's scheming mother, highwaymen, gamblers,

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Speaker 1: and smugglers before the two of them could admit their feelings.

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Speaker 1: In case you haven't realized, that is, of course all

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Speaker 1: a work of fiction, a historical romance written long before

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Speaker 1: any of the Bridgeton's stepped into their semi anachronistic shoes.

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Speaker 1: Published in nineteen forty nine, A Hazard of Hearts was

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Speaker 1: just one of over seven hundred works published by Dame

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Speaker 1: Barbara Cartland, otherwise known as the Queen of Romance. Her

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Speaker 1: work earned her many fans of all ages, including a

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Speaker 1: young Diana Spencer, who would eventually become both the Princess

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Speaker 1: of Wales and Barbara's own step granddaughter. Despite not being

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Speaker 1: born with a title, Barbara would run in noble circles

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Speaker 1: her entire life, including her connections to her dearest friend,

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Speaker 1: Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Prince Philip's uncle, and other men

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Speaker 1: of high birth that she would allege were the potential

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Speaker 1: true fathers of her daughter. To this day, Barbara continues

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Speaker 1: to hold her spot as the fifth most translated author worldwide,

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Speaker 1: thanks to the success of novels like A Hazard of Hearts,

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Speaker 1: as well as The Cruel Count, The Angel and the Rake,

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Speaker 1: and my personal favorite title, The Marquise Who Hated Women,

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Speaker 1: all featuring fantastically illustrated covers that are, as best as

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Speaker 1: I can describe them, buttoned up bodice rippers. More on

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Speaker 1: the purity later, though some of those novels were even

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Speaker 1: adapted into films. A Hazard of Hearts was made for

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Speaker 1: television in nineteen eighty seven, featuring a fresh faced Helena

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Speaker 1: Bonham Carter in one of her first major roles as

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Speaker 1: the unlucky Angenoux Serena. A print ad for the film

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Speaker 1: read quote, he captured her body with force, he freed

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Speaker 1: her soul with passion. That is more often and not

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Speaker 1: a general theme in Barbara's novels. An innocent girl is

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Speaker 1: caught up in a dastardly scheme, but she ultimately makes

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Speaker 1: a good man out of a not so good one.

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Speaker 1: Barbara certainly did not invent the tropes of the romance novel,

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Speaker 1: but it's not a stretch to say she defined them

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Speaker 1: for an era. Still, we can't say her extensive collection

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Speaker 1: is exclusively one note. Heroiness also include a professional figure skater,

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Speaker 1: a quote lovely young gang leader, and a Scottish spy

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Speaker 1: in the French court watching over a young Mary Stuart,

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Speaker 1: which should delight any of our listeners over on Patreon

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Speaker 1: who have been listening to our recap of the television

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Speaker 1: show Rain. As time went.

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Speaker 2: On and Barbara continued to produce more and more books

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Speaker 2: every year. She became a British culture figure, frequently showing

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Speaker 2: up in print and on television to discuss her thoughts

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Speaker 2: on love and morality in an extensive and iconic pink wardrobe.

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Speaker 2: Barbara may have been the Queen of Romance, but as

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Speaker 2: we will learn from her once fan Diana, fairytale stories,

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Speaker 2: especially when they involve nobles, don't always follow a simple

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Speaker 2: plot structure. I'm Dana Schwartz and this is noble blood.

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Speaker 2: Gwenn Robbins authorized biography of Barbara Cartland begins by making

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Speaker 2: something very clear. Quote. Firstly, she is a direct descendant

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Speaker 2: of the oldest Saxon family in existence. End quote. Barbara's

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Speaker 2: mother's ancestor was apparently Thomas de Scovenhol, the High sh

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Speaker 2: Sheriff of Devonshire thirty two years before the Norman conquest.

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Speaker 2: From him, you can trace the family lineage directly to

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Speaker 2: Mary Hamilton Scobel aka Polly, Barbara's mother. The family faced

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Speaker 2: major upheaval shortly after Barbara was born in nineteen oh one.

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Speaker 2: Her paternal grandparents, the Cartlands, had been suddenly bankrupted when

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Speaker 2: their bank surprise called in immediate payment on a twenty

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Speaker 2: five thousand pound loan that Barbara's grandfather, James, had taken out.

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Speaker 2: That very weekend, Barbara's parents left young Barbara to go

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Speaker 2: visit the distraught grandparents, inviting them to come stay with

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Speaker 2: the young family. The elder Cartlands refused to leave their home,

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Speaker 2: and James told his daughter in law that he would

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Speaker 2: see her on Monday. On Sunday morning, James Cartland shot himself.

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Speaker 2: His death left his debt to his son, Barbara's father, Bertie.

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Speaker 2: Polly and Bertie's home, Bobrooke, had been verbally given to

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Speaker 2: them by James, but as the title deeds were not

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Speaker 2: in their name, the bank said the house was to

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Speaker 2: be surrendered to pay the overdue loan. The house was

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Speaker 2: put up for sale, along with nearly all of the

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Speaker 2: belongings in it. Poor I may be, but common I

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Speaker 2: am not, Barbara's mother, Polly declared. While her husband and

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Speaker 2: his mother were said to be incapacitated by the circumstances,

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Speaker 2: Polly found a new home for the family to rent

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Speaker 2: on their three hundred pounds a year income. Bertie, a

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Speaker 2: former officer of the British Army, naturally did not work

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Speaker 2: as would be completely unbefitting of a gentleman of the age,

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Speaker 2: and so that money came from allowances from their respective families.

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Speaker 2: For forty pounds a year, they moved into a country

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Speaker 2: home in Worcestershire, fit with six bedrooms, a tennis court, stables,

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Speaker 2: and four acres of overgrown gardens. That was where Barbara

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Speaker 2: grew up, and those gardens were where she first invented

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Speaker 2: new worlds. Quote. I never drive through Worcestershire in the

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Speaker 2: spring without the memory of our garden like a pink

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Speaker 2: and white fairyland, she would reflect as an adult. She

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Speaker 2: recalls listening to the trees and hearing the fairies moving

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Speaker 2: about inside, and she was sure that she saw wings

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Speaker 2: among the flowers. Her first experience with literature was with

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Speaker 2: the novels she could find in her father's study, mainly Dickens,

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Speaker 2: and her mother then began to nurture Barbara's love of

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Speaker 2: stories by reading her fantasy books. Upon her mother's death

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Speaker 2: years later, Barbara would find amongst the piles of paper

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Speaker 2: her mother had kept the very first short story she

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Speaker 2: had ever written at five and a half years old.

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Speaker 2: But sudden bankruptcy wouldn't be the only upheaval in young

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Speaker 2: Barbara's life. When it became obvious in nineteen fourteen that

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Speaker 2: the country was to go to war with Germany, Bertie

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Speaker 2: was called up to serve. As he was stationed in

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Speaker 2: different parts of England, the family moved around to stay

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Speaker 2: with friends near him. In nineteen seventeen, Bertie was killed

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Speaker 2: in action. Polly was now a widow and a single

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Speaker 2: mother to three children, Barbara and her two younger brothers.

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Speaker 2: Barbara recalls that her mother adopted a stricter sense of

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Speaker 2: discipline during that time, but it was always clear that

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Speaker 2: she did everything out of love. Polly had also been

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Speaker 2: something of a surrogate mother to her husband, who needed

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Speaker 2: motivation and guidance throughout his lia adult life, and she

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Speaker 2: was determined that her own children would be self sufficient.

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Speaker 2: Barbara would later reflect quote, Mummy lit a flame in

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Speaker 2: all three of us that was to burn brighter year

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Speaker 2: by year. She made us believe in ourselves and our capabilities.

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Speaker 2: She made us see that anything was possible if we

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Speaker 2: really wanted it and worked hard enough. Shortly after her

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Speaker 2: father's death, Barbara turned eighteen and left school. During her

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Speaker 2: school years, her love of storytelling only grew. She discovered

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Speaker 2: the romance novels of ethel M. Dell, BERTA. Ruck, and

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Speaker 2: Eleanor Glynn, who was notably quite the scandalous writer of

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Speaker 2: her time. It was actually Dell's influence in particular that

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Speaker 2: would have the greatest impact on Barbara's career. Barbara's biographer writes,

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Speaker 2: Barbara really believed all heroes should be tall, silent men,

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Speaker 2: seething with burning passions, but passions so controlled that one

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Speaker 2: was not aware of them until they broke down under

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Speaker 2: an overwhelming love. Her leading ladies, on the other hand,

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Speaker 2: should be quote soft, sweet, easily frightened, yet longing to

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Speaker 2: be dominated by a strong and masculine man. Barbara was

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Speaker 2: a so called plain child, so much so that apparently

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Speaker 2: other mothers pitied Polly, but by this time she had

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Speaker 2: blossomed into something of a classic leading lady herself. Barbara

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Speaker 2: received her first proposal this summer after school, on holiday

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Speaker 2: with her family on the Isle of Wight. He was

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Speaker 2: a colonel over forty years old with a red handlebar mustache.

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Speaker 2: Barbara wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, rushing to

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Speaker 2: her mother to ask for help. Polly told her daughter,

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Speaker 2: you must learn to look after yourself. It's harsh advice,

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Speaker 2: but falls in line with Polly's desay desire to instill

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Speaker 2: self sufficiency and tenacity within her daughter. Still, when another

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Speaker 2: elderly married this time man, tried to make advances on

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Speaker 2: Barbara that same summer, he was met with Polly's fury.

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Speaker 2: This clown, in turn asked out Polly instead. When asked

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Speaker 2: if any of her suitors that summer attempted to kiss her,

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Speaker 2: Barbara responded, certainly not. We were not mauled in those days.

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Speaker 2: Our innocence protected us. I was quite determined that the

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Speaker 2: only man who would ever be allowed to kiss me

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Speaker 2: on the lips was the one I would marry. Barbara

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Speaker 2: would have plenty more marriage candidates to consider when she

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Speaker 2: moved to London with the family after that summer break.

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Speaker 2: She had a small budget for clothes provided by her mother,

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Speaker 2: and she began to experiment with fashionable makeup and hair

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Speaker 2: of the time, all in service of her coming out

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Speaker 2: in society, and Barbara was a hit. Courting in nineteen

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Speaker 2: twenty's London mainly consisted of dinner and dancing, but it

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Speaker 2: was improper for a man and woman to dine alone together,

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Speaker 2: so the woman would have dinner at home while the

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Speaker 2: man dined at his social club before picking up his

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Speaker 2: date later. Once the dancing was done, a taxi would

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Speaker 2: be called. The driver would stop for a coffee at

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Speaker 2: the green painted stand at the corner of Hyde Park

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Speaker 2: while the young couple sat in the back seat. This

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Speaker 2: was all a dance of its own. The cab drivers

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Speaker 2: would all sit together and chat and play cards while

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Speaker 2: the couples in their back seats scored some convenient alone time.

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Speaker 2: Barbara often sat in these back seats, remembering the quote

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Speaker 2: delicious feeling of anticipation, but mind out of the gutter.

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Speaker 2: Which she was anticipating was a potential proposal, or just

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Speaker 2: to see if her date would attempt a kiss in

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Speaker 2: the backseat of one of those cabs. Barbara did accept

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Speaker 2: a proposal from a gentleman named Dick Usher, a young

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Speaker 2: officer Polly. Her mother had advised her to wait a

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Speaker 2: month to announce the engagement in the Times, and it

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Speaker 2: was a good thing she did, because Barbara had a

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Speaker 2: question for her mother, How does one have a baby?

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Speaker 1: She asked.

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Speaker 2: It had been nagging at her and it was never

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Speaker 2: taught at the girls' schools she attended. Barbara had thought

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Speaker 2: it had something to do with a man kissing a

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Speaker 2: woman's neck, because one of the novels she read contained

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Speaker 2: the line quote he kissed her neck passionately, and she

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Speaker 2: knew what he meant. When Barbara's mother told her how

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Speaker 2: things actually worked, Barbara was so horrified that she broke

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Speaker 2: off the engagement. Barbara would go on to say that

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Speaker 2: throughout her life she never enjoyed being touched or kissed

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Speaker 2: unless it was by someone she really loved. Two nights

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Speaker 2: after she broke the news to Dick, they ran into

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Speaker 2: each other at a party, and, feeling sorry for him,

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Speaker 2: Barbara agreed to talk. They took a taxi to the

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Speaker 2: stall at Hyde Park, where Dick proceeded to take out

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Speaker 2: a revolver and he declared, unless you marry me, I

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Speaker 2: will shoot myself. This was, believe it or not, Barbara's

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Speaker 2: second incident with a loaded gun in her young life,

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Speaker 2: after another army officer had attempted to flirt with her

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Speaker 2: by showing off his weapon and nearly shooting her after

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Speaker 2: incorrectly believing the gun had no bullets left. And to

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Speaker 2: be clear, I promise these are not innu windows. Barbara

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Speaker 2: was able to talk Dick down far enough that he

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Speaker 2: got tired and agreed to take Barbara home, where she

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Speaker 2: rushed through the front door and up to her mother's bedroom.

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Speaker 2: Dick later wrote a letter to Polly describing his agony.

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Speaker 2: If only I weren't cursed with such a big, big love,

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Speaker 2: it might be easier. But you know that I just

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Speaker 2: worship Barbara with my whole heart and soul and body.

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Speaker 2: That to lose her is worse than a million times.

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Speaker 2: The torture of the damned life was certainly providing Barbara

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00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:39,080
Speaker 2: with plenty of material for her future career. In nineteen twenty,

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Speaker 2: Barbara declared to her family one morning over breakfast that

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Speaker 2: she was going to write a novel. They laughed, You'll

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Speaker 2: never finish it, they said. She started right away. Once

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Speaker 2: she had a few chapters completed, she showed them to

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Speaker 2: her mother, Polly, who offered both criticism and compliments. Polly

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Speaker 2: asked a writer friend over for lunch, where she in

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Speaker 2: turn asked Barbara to read her draft out loud, A

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Speaker 2: personal nightmare for many writers, especially a writer just starting out,

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Speaker 2: but it was apparently a breeze for Barbara. It's very good,

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Speaker 2: the writer told her. Finish it. Barbara spent three months

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Speaker 2: doing just that. Where many writers also struggle to find

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Speaker 2: their voice, Barbara had internalized her beloved romance novels and

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Speaker 2: knew exactly what she wanted to say and how to

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Speaker 2: say it. Their eyes met reads one of the closing

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Speaker 2: lines of that first novel. Each was conscious of the

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Speaker 2: flame of love and desire within the other explanations words

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Speaker 2: were unnecessary. Barbara called the book Jigsaw and dedicated it

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Speaker 2: to Polly. It cost seven shillings and sixpence and it

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Speaker 2: became a minor sensation almost immediately. Jigsaw tells the story

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Speaker 2: of the innocent but enchanting Mona, who ends up in

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Speaker 2: a love triangle with a sensible, strong willed duke and

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Speaker 2: a dark and handsome stranger. Mona ultimately chooses the duke

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Speaker 2: as goodness prevails over temptation. This is a good moment

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Speaker 2: to talk about the tropes of Barbara's writing. In her

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Speaker 2: own words quote, there are two means. One is the impatient,

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Speaker 2: rather aggressive crusader, sometimes overpowersing with a tendency to fight

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Speaker 2: violently for what I believe is right. And the other

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Speaker 2: image I have of myself is sweet, soft, gentle, understanding,

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Speaker 2: perceptive and very feminine. Longing to be protected by a

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Speaker 2: strong masculine man. It is a kind of idealistic, mental

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Speaker 2: and spiritual virginity which I have given my heroines, and

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Speaker 2: which I have always had myself. End quote Mona Or

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Speaker 2: Barbara has an angel and a devil, so to speak

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Speaker 2: on her shoulder in Jigsaw, the strong but silent Duke

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Speaker 2: Peter and the exciting but dangerous Alec. It brings to

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Speaker 2: mind the Madonna horror complex, which sees women as either

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Speaker 2: saintly or degenerate, never in between. Barbara's heroines are always

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Speaker 2: pure madonnas who seek stability with Peters, and they must

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Speaker 2: reject their inner whore who is driving them toward an

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Speaker 2: alec or. Sometimes the heroine is so saintly that the

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Speaker 2: leading man will overcome his degeneracy in order to devote

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Speaker 2: himself to her. This episode isn't a book report, but

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Speaker 2: these themes, especially with regards to the way she frames

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Speaker 2: and portrays women and female desire, I think is important

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Speaker 2: when we think about how much Barbara has stated that

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Speaker 2: her heroines represent herself and her morals. Back to Jigsaw's success.

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Speaker 2: Now a minor celebrity, Barbara was becoming even more popular

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Speaker 2: in the London social scene than she had already been.

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Speaker 2: Her dance card was always full, and she was always

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Speaker 2: present in the gossip columns of magazines like Tattler and

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Speaker 2: other newspapers. At the same time, Barbara had already been

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Speaker 2: secretly writing four gossip columns, gathering tips from her society circles,

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00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:43,800
Speaker 2: and she would continue that secret career four years. Can

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Speaker 2: someone say, Lady Whistle down? These social circles contained various

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Speaker 2: lords and ladies, earls and countesses, and a young Winston Churchill,

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Speaker 2: who Barbara struck up a friendship with. Barbara would get

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Speaker 2: further inspiration for her leading men when she met the

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Speaker 2: Duke of Sutherland. He, like most men Barbara encountered, also

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Speaker 2: fell in love with her, but there was the issue

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Speaker 2: of his already having a wife, and his advances were rejected.

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Speaker 2: When Barbara did decide to marry, it was proposal number fifty.

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Speaker 2: Alexander George mccorkadale was not one of Barbara's brooding dukes. Rather,

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Speaker 2: he was a British Army officer from Scotland and heir

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Speaker 2: to a printing fortune. He was, however, said to have

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Speaker 2: looked the part of a Cartland hero, dark haired, strong,

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Speaker 2: and yes, of course brooding. The couple were married on

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Speaker 2: April twenty third, nineteen twenty seven. For the wedding, Barbara

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00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:55,240
Speaker 2: wore the first tool dress that society had seen since

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Speaker 2: World War One, made by the English designer extraordinary Norman Hartnell,

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00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:08,240
Speaker 2: but designed by Barbara herself. Years later, Barbara would write

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Speaker 2: an article on honeymoons for The Evening News, and although

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Speaker 2: she describes a fictitious young bride in the article, there

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00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 2: was truth to her own experience quote. She the fictional

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00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 2: bride dreamed of a strong, silent cave man, a man

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Speaker 2: of deeds but a few words, a man who, underneath

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00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:34,399
Speaker 2: a deep reserve, was passionate, commanding, conquering. Finally, she thought

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Speaker 2: she had found that in her husband. She mistook inertia

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00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:44,160
Speaker 2: for reserve, lack of interest for silent strength, and inexperience

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Speaker 2: for hidden passion. She was miserably disappointed. Barbara's marriage would

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Speaker 2: last only five years, but it brought the couple a baby, girl,

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Speaker 2: Rain mccorkidale. In September of nineteen twenty nine, Barbara's mother

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Speaker 2: in law implored her to give up her career and

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Speaker 2: stop writing her quote immoral novels, but she had no

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Speaker 2: intention of doing that. Not only did Barbara continue her

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00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:16,879
Speaker 2: literary career as a mother, but she took on new ventures,

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00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 2: including advocating for better public health awareness. After her daughter

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00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:27,159
Speaker 2: reign inexplicably fell nearly fatally ill, and Barbara also became

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Speaker 2: interested in aviation advancements. Particularly, she was interested in recent

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Speaker 2: innovations in gliding, and she worked with two inventors to

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00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:42,720
Speaker 2: deliver the first air mail cross country via glider. When

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Speaker 2: the project was complete, it was of course christened the

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00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:51,679
Speaker 2: Barbara Cartland Glider. Her experiment proved to be essential to

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00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,840
Speaker 2: further designs and had an impact on the air mail

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00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 2: system during the Second World War, so much so that

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00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:02,920
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty four she was awarded the US Bishop

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00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 2: Wrights Air Industry Award. While Barbara continued to explore her

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00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:14,679
Speaker 2: new career ventures and interests, she faced difficulties at home.

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00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,199
Speaker 2: In the early nineteen thirties, while her husband was away,

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00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 2: Barbara came across a series of love letters in another

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Speaker 2: woman's handwriting. Instead of confronting her husband directly the next morning,

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00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:33,080
Speaker 2: she took her findings straight to his parents. Upon returning

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00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 2: from his trip, her husband went straight to their home

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Speaker 2: and refused all requests to see or speak to his wife.

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Speaker 2: The social circles Barbara had once been the darling of

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Speaker 2: were now beginning to shun her as a divorcee. The

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00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:53,680
Speaker 2: Matrimonial Causes Act that allowed for either spouse to petition

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Speaker 2: for divorce on the basis of adultery had only just

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00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:01,040
Speaker 2: been adopted in nineteen twenty three, a decade earlier, and

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00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,960
Speaker 2: the upper echelons of British society were never the ones

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00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:10,800
Speaker 2: to quickly adopt progressive mindsets. The Countess of Pembroke forbade

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Speaker 2: Barbara from helping her arrange a charity ball, which was

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00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:19,159
Speaker 2: ironic considering the Earl of Pembroke had just run away

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Speaker 2: with another woman and was at the moment begging his

333
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:26,800
Speaker 2: wife for a divorce. It should also be noted though

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00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:31,439
Speaker 2: Barbara may not have been entirely faithful during the marriage either.

335
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 2: This claim must be taken with a grain of salt,

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00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 2: as it was reported in The Daily Mail posthumously as

337
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 2: a conversation that happened off the record, but she allegedly

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00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,720
Speaker 2: told a journalist that she had a number of lovers

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00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:51,800
Speaker 2: who could even potentially have been Rayne's real father, including

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00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 2: her prototypical hero, the Duke of Sutherland and Prince George,

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00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,879
Speaker 2: the Duke of Kent. Barbara would go on to have

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00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:05,720
Speaker 2: two more children, both sons, with a second husband, her

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00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:10,800
Speaker 2: ex's cousin, Hugh mccorkydale. They had been friends and he

344
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 2: became something of a rock for Barbara during the years

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00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 2: following the divorce. Darling, I am getting older, reads a

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00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,320
Speaker 2: letter from Hugh to his future wife. Yet you, the

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00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,199
Speaker 2: loveliest creature God ever made, loves me and wants to

348
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Speaker 2: marry me. It's so wonderful, I can't believe it's true.

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00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:34,640
Speaker 2: The couple would have twenty seven years together before Hugh

350
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 2: passed due to a heart condition, but he would be

351
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:42,680
Speaker 2: the great love of Barbara's life. The couple were married

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00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:47,200
Speaker 2: in nineteen thirty six, by which point Barbara had begun

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Speaker 2: to publish around two novels a year. Throughout all of

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00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,320
Speaker 2: those events I discussed, and all of the events I

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00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,159
Speaker 2: will discuss, it is safe to say that Barbara was

356
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Speaker 2: writing through them. Barbara would continue to publish throughout the

357
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,680
Speaker 2: nineteen forties, but once again she was forced to live

358
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,359
Speaker 2: through a World war, and once again she would lose

359
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 2: family in the fighting. This time, both of her brothers

360
00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:23,560
Speaker 2: died in Dunkirk. As daily life in London got more perilous,

361
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 2: Barbara and her children left for Canada at the invitation

362
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,000
Speaker 2: of a friend, but Barbara soon decided she had made

363
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 2: a mistake and that she and her family should return

364
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,800
Speaker 2: to England, where her husband, Hugh had remained. She wanted

365
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,520
Speaker 2: to help however they could. She would become the chief

366
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:45,960
Speaker 2: Lady Welfare Officer to the Services in Bedfordshire, which often

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00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 2: meant improving the lives of local women. Some of her

368
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 2: aid came in the form of getting the service women

369
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 2: better material for their clothing, helping them feel more beautiful,

370
00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:59,400
Speaker 2: and some of it came in the form of helping

371
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:04,600
Speaker 2: local pregnant women or women going through divorces. As the

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00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 2: only female welfare officer, she was in a unique position

373
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 2: to understand problems that were often overlooked by men. By

374
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,159
Speaker 2: all accounts, she was excellent at her job, but it

375
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,920
Speaker 2: seems like an odd fit when you consider that Barbara

376
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 2: publicly stated numerous times that she did not care for

377
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,840
Speaker 2: women in general and had very few women friends in

378
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:35,560
Speaker 2: her life. As the war ended, Barbara became even more

379
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 2: devoted to her writing, finishing her thirtieth novel and resuming

380
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:44,719
Speaker 2: her journalistic career. In nineteen forty eight, inspired by her

381
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 2: daughter's first extravagant wedding, Barbara responded to a request from

382
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 2: a woman's magazine that implored her to write a historical romance.

383
00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 2: That book would be Hazard of Hearts, and it would

384
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,239
Speaker 2: change the course of Barbara's career. Until that point, her

385
00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 2: stories had been modern, but the more she researched, the

386
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 2: more she discovered her love of history. It also didn't

387
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,720
Speaker 2: hurt that one of Barbara's primary values, a woman being

388
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,760
Speaker 2: a virgin, had been even more valuable in the days

389
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:23,560
Speaker 2: of yore. In nineteen fifty, Barbara and her family moved

390
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 2: to Camfield Place, a country estate built by Edmund Potter,

391
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:33,120
Speaker 2: grandfather of Beatrix Potter. Its gardens actually gave birth to

392
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:37,440
Speaker 2: Peter Rabbit, just as the gardens of Barbara's childhood home

393
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:42,280
Speaker 2: had been the original source of her imagination. That same year,

394
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:47,880
Speaker 2: Barbara faced a plagiarism allegation from one of her original inspirations,

395
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 2: Georgette Hayre Hayer, alleged that Hazard of Hearts replicated character

396
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:57,480
Speaker 2: names and plot points from a number of her novels,

397
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,000
Speaker 2: but the case never went to court, so we'll never

398
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:06,560
Speaker 2: know exactly what went down. Over the next decade, Barbara

399
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 2: would continue to produce an astonishing number of novels, and

400
00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 2: by the sixties there was a devoted market of British

401
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:20,440
Speaker 2: women eagerly awaiting every publication. By the early seventies, Barbara

402
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 2: had sold fifty million books. As the decade went on,

403
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 2: she would produce on average two books a month. Her

404
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 2: afternoons consisted of dictating her writing to her secretaries. She

405
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 2: could average seven thousand words in accession, which usually lasted

406
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 2: a few hours. Her secretaries were not permitted to sneeze

407
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:48,360
Speaker 2: or cough while Barbara dictated from the couch with a

408
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,560
Speaker 2: hot water bottle at her feet and her dog cuddled

409
00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 2: next to her. This would be her routine for the

410
00:30:54,920 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 2: rest of her life. In nineteen seventy six, Barbara's daughter

411
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:07,520
Speaker 2: Rain married Earl Spencer, the father of Diana. However, when

412
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,440
Speaker 2: Rain fell for the Earl, she was already married with

413
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:15,680
Speaker 2: four children. It's like one of your books, she apparently

414
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 2: told her mother. I am wildly in love and there's

415
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:22,880
Speaker 2: nothing anyone can do about it. Sixteen year old Diana

416
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 2: had grown up a fan of her new step grandmother's novels,

417
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 2: and one of the princess's biographies claims that Cartland used

418
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 2: to send her advanced copies even before they became family.

419
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,600
Speaker 2: There's a really great picture of a young Diana reading

420
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 2: one Cartland novel while two other books sit on her lap,

421
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,840
Speaker 2: and we can only imagine she's dreaming about her own

422
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:52,000
Speaker 2: romance one day with a duke, or an earl, or

423
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 2: even a prince. Rain, as Princess Diana scholars might know,

424
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,560
Speaker 2: was hated by Diana and often referred to by Diana

425
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:08,120
Speaker 2: and her siblings as Acid Rain. Their relationship was incredibly

426
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:11,880
Speaker 2: strained for most of her life, although they would mend

427
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 2: things shortly before Diana's tragic death. Even before Diana became family,

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00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:23,720
Speaker 2: Barbara had another royal connection, a long intimate friendship with

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00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 2: Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Prince Philip's uncle, who even helped

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00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 2: her write one of her romances, Love at the Helm,

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00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:37,000
Speaker 2: by providing her information from his naval background. Barbara did

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00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:41,640
Speaker 2: not attend the eventual royal wedding between Diana and Charles,

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00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,960
Speaker 2: but she insists it was not a snub that she

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00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 2: instead gave up her seat so that her son Ian

435
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:52,959
Speaker 2: could go instead. Still, Barbara would only gain more tabloid

436
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 2: attention from her association with the princess at a time

437
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:01,040
Speaker 2: when her books were already becoming more popular than ever.

438
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,200
Speaker 2: After all, what was Diana but a Cartland character come

439
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 2: to life, a young woman swept away by a romance

440
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 2: with a prince. The nineteen sixties saw censorships being lifted

441
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 2: that allowed for racier material to now be published, but

442
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:26,240
Speaker 2: a boom of pornography meant that for many the pendulum

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00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,720
Speaker 2: of taste would swing the other way, and publishers saw

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00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:36,760
Speaker 2: a major market for Barbara's virginal heroines. The debate between

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00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 2: erotica and romance was best exemplified in a nineteen eighty

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00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 2: seven TV appearance from Barbara, where she appeared alongside the

447
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:52,400
Speaker 2: novelist Jackie Collins, whose hit book The stud exemplified for Cartland.

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00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 2: Everything wrong with romance? It's evil, really, Barbara began, what

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00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:02,360
Speaker 2: Collins asks, the book books you write quite frankly. Collins

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00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:06,080
Speaker 2: replies that she doesn't believe there's anything evil about writing

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00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:10,520
Speaker 2: about sex, something so natural. But Barbara is having none

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00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:14,640
Speaker 2: of it. Don't you think it has helped perverts? She asks,

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00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 2: and worries about the book's influence on children. The YouTuber

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00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:26,000
Speaker 2: Contrapoint in her video on Twilight actually discusses that debate,

455
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:31,400
Speaker 2: describing it as quote surreal to watch a quote eighty

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00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:35,840
Speaker 2: year old woman in clown drag lecture an audience about

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00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:40,960
Speaker 2: sexual purity. Since this is an audio medium, I leave

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00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,719
Speaker 2: it to you to watch the debate for yourself and

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00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:48,680
Speaker 2: decide if that description is apt. Barbara's crusades in her

460
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:52,359
Speaker 2: older age didn't just stop at bashing what she saw

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00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:58,560
Speaker 2: as immoral erotica. She campaigned for purity for women, promoting

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00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,640
Speaker 2: religious morality, as well as writing an article where she

463
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:07,120
Speaker 2: expressed her worries that books published by gay man's press

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00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:12,640
Speaker 2: could quote easily pollute children's minds. In response, The Gay

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00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:17,040
Speaker 2: Times wrote, quote, given the garbage that Cartland turns out,

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00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:20,920
Speaker 2: I would think that GMP are quite happy to be

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00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:27,400
Speaker 2: in a different league, youch There's a quote from Cartland

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00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 2: that's in Robin's biography that reveals a sad truth. Cartland

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00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:37,520
Speaker 2: says marriage is the best investment that was ever invented

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00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:41,960
Speaker 2: for women. It's a security against their old age, against

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00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:46,960
Speaker 2: them being deserted after losing their looks and becoming unattractive.

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00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:49,920
Speaker 2: To throw away all that when you are young and

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00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:55,880
Speaker 2: foolish is very reckless end quote. Even as the Sexual

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00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:00,120
Speaker 2: Revolution and the Equal Rights Amendment began to gain traction,

475
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:05,360
Speaker 2: Barbara held onto the security of tradition and shamed the

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00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 2: women who did not. It's incredible in a way that

477
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 2: a woman who would sell millions of copies of books

478
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:17,759
Speaker 2: with a sizeable income would still see the greatest security

479
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:22,279
Speaker 2: in her old age as still being wanted or tolerated

480
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 2: by a man. While the world was progressing in a

481
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:30,640
Speaker 2: way that frankly horrified her, Barbara could always write about

482
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:35,720
Speaker 2: a past she believed was exemplary. In the nineties, Barbara

483
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:40,239
Speaker 2: published her five hundred and sixty fifth book, breaking the

484
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,399
Speaker 2: record for the greatest number of books ever written by

485
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 2: British authors. By then, in her nineties, Barbara was still

486
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:54,080
Speaker 2: churning out novels, and in nineteen ninety one, apparently after

487
00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:58,400
Speaker 2: years of complaining that she never received even a quote

488
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:02,680
Speaker 2: measly mbe, she was made a Dame for her contribution

489
00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:06,120
Speaker 2: to literature and for her work in the community and

490
00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:10,439
Speaker 2: with charities. In two thousand, at the age of ninety eight,

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00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:14,120
Speaker 2: Barbara died in her sleep, in her home. Her official

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00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:18,200
Speaker 2: website states that over her career, she wrote seven hundred

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00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:22,200
Speaker 2: and twenty three novels. She also left behind a series

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00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:26,680
Speaker 2: of one hundred and sixty unpublished novels, which were later

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00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:31,080
Speaker 2: published by her son Ian as the Barbara Cartland Pink Collection.

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00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:37,520
Speaker 2: Barbara believed in reincarnation and was not afraid of death. Quote.

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00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:40,800
Speaker 2: I've had a wonderful life with ups and downs, tears

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00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:44,840
Speaker 2: and laughter, but so much kindness, so much happiness, so

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00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,399
Speaker 2: much love, she told her biographer. How could all that

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00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:52,440
Speaker 2: be lost? How could the effort, the striving, the sacrifices

501
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 2: be wasted. I believe my faith will make it all

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00:37:56,239 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 2: come true tomorrow. It's a very romantic thought. That's the

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00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 2: story of the particular British icon Dame Barbara Cartland. But

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00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:19,360
Speaker 2: keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear one

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00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:24,320
Speaker 2: important story I believe about one of her most important hobbies.

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00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,560
Speaker 2: I could not end this episode without telling you about

507
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:39,240
Speaker 2: Album of Love Songs, Barbara's record with the Royal Philharmonic.

508
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:44,800
Speaker 2: Her singing is, let's say, interesting, but the real gems

509
00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:48,600
Speaker 2: of the album are the spoken word tracks, where she

510
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:53,160
Speaker 2: waxes poetic about all things love. It is really the

511
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:55,640
Speaker 2: kind of thing you just have to go listen to

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00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:58,839
Speaker 2: on your own. I could give you my thoughts or

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00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,320
Speaker 2: I could read you. A YouTube comment from noted critic

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00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:07,880
Speaker 2: Lizzie Allen twenty two eighty four quote, OMG, it doesn't

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00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 2: get any camper than this. Could not have said it

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00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:18,520
Speaker 2: better myself. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and

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00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 2: Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted

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00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:27,200
Speaker 2: by me Danish Forts, with additional writing and researching by

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00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:33,320
Speaker 2: Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zewick, Courtney Sender, Julia Milani, and Armand Cassam.

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00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:37,440
Speaker 2: The show is edited and produced by Noemy Griffin and

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00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:43,400
Speaker 2: rima Il Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive

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00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,839
Speaker 2: producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. Four more

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00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 2: podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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00:39:53,840 --> 00:40:27,640
Speaker 2: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Ossssssssssssssss