WEBVTT - The Queen of Romance 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:05.080 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:36.920 and Mild from Aaron Mankie Listener discretion advised. The year 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:42.519 eighteen o eight, the setting Regency, England. There we meet 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:47.479 a man called Sir Giles Staverlely, a gambling addict who 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.680 attempted to win back all he had by betting his 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:57.280 daughter Serena's hand in marriage and betting her eighty thousand 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:02.880 pound trust fund, but he lost once again, and unable 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:07.240 to face his daughter, he instigated and lost a duel 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:13.520 on purpose, ultimately killing himself. This left Serena's fate in 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.919 the hands of the man her father lost to, Lord 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:23.080 Justin Vulcan, who she'd been told was simply the worst 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.959 sort of rake. She swore she could never fall in 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:30.280 love with a man like Lord Vulcan, but after he 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.759 invited her to come live at his estate, Man Drake, 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.520 the two come to form an unlikely bond, but they 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:44.640 also had to contend with Justin's scheming mother, highwaymen, gamblers, 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:49.120 and smugglers before the two of them could admit their feelings. 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:54.240 In case you haven't realized, that is, of course all 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:59.000 a work of fiction, a historical romance written long before 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:04.280 any of the Bridgeton's stepped into their semi anachronistic shoes. 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:09.920 Published in nineteen forty nine, A Hazard of Hearts was 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:15.239 just one of over seven hundred works published by Dame 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:21.240 Barbara Cartland, otherwise known as the Queen of Romance. Her 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.760 work earned her many fans of all ages, including a 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:30.840 young Diana Spencer, who would eventually become both the Princess 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:37.480 of Wales and Barbara's own step granddaughter. Despite not being 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.760 born with a title, Barbara would run in noble circles 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:46.320 her entire life, including her connections to her dearest friend, 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:51.520 Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Prince Philip's uncle, and other men 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:55.680 of high birth that she would allege were the potential 0:02:55.960 --> 0:03:01.160 true fathers of her daughter. To this day, Barbara continues 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:06.680 to hold her spot as the fifth most translated author worldwide, 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:11.240 thanks to the success of novels like A Hazard of Hearts, 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:15.360 as well as The Cruel Count, The Angel and the Rake, 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:20.440 and my personal favorite title, The Marquise Who Hated Women, 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:25.760 all featuring fantastically illustrated covers that are, as best as 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:30.560 I can describe them, buttoned up bodice rippers. More on 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:34.680 the purity later, though some of those novels were even 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.960 adapted into films. A Hazard of Hearts was made for 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:44.080 television in nineteen eighty seven, featuring a fresh faced Helena 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.680 Bonham Carter in one of her first major roles as 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:52.560 the unlucky Angenoux Serena. A print ad for the film 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.880 read quote, he captured her body with force, he freed 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:01.480 her soul with passion. That is more often and not 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:07.000 a general theme in Barbara's novels. An innocent girl is 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:11.160 caught up in a dastardly scheme, but she ultimately makes 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:14.600 a good man out of a not so good one. 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:19.080 Barbara certainly did not invent the tropes of the romance novel, 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.840 but it's not a stretch to say she defined them 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:27.400 for an era. Still, we can't say her extensive collection 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:33.160 is exclusively one note. Heroiness also include a professional figure skater, 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:38.839 a quote lovely young gang leader, and a Scottish spy 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.440 in the French court watching over a young Mary Stuart, 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.400 which should delight any of our listeners over on Patreon 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.719 who have been listening to our recap of the television 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.240 show Rain. As time went. 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:57.000 On and Barbara continued to produce more and more books 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:02.279 every year. She became a British culture figure, frequently showing 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.120 up in print and on television to discuss her thoughts 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:12.480 on love and morality in an extensive and iconic pink wardrobe. 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:17.039 Barbara may have been the Queen of Romance, but as 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:22.240 we will learn from her once fan Diana, fairytale stories, 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:27.640 especially when they involve nobles, don't always follow a simple 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:37.120 plot structure. I'm Dana Schwartz and this is noble blood. 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:44.920 Gwenn Robbins authorized biography of Barbara Cartland begins by making 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:49.680 something very clear. Quote. Firstly, she is a direct descendant 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:55.039 of the oldest Saxon family in existence. End quote. Barbara's 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:59.880 mother's ancestor was apparently Thomas de Scovenhol, the High sh 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:05.159 Sheriff of Devonshire thirty two years before the Norman conquest. 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.120 From him, you can trace the family lineage directly to 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:16.600 Mary Hamilton Scobel aka Polly, Barbara's mother. The family faced 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:21.760 major upheaval shortly after Barbara was born in nineteen oh one. 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:26.599 Her paternal grandparents, the Cartlands, had been suddenly bankrupted when 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:31.159 their bank surprise called in immediate payment on a twenty 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:36.640 five thousand pound loan that Barbara's grandfather, James, had taken out. 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.240 That very weekend, Barbara's parents left young Barbara to go 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:46.080 visit the distraught grandparents, inviting them to come stay with 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:50.400 the young family. The elder Cartlands refused to leave their home, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.720 and James told his daughter in law that he would 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:59.359 see her on Monday. On Sunday morning, James Cartland shot himself. 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:05.320 His death left his debt to his son, Barbara's father, Bertie. 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:10.280 Polly and Bertie's home, Bobrooke, had been verbally given to 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:13.640 them by James, but as the title deeds were not 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.840 in their name, the bank said the house was to 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:21.120 be surrendered to pay the overdue loan. The house was 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.640 put up for sale, along with nearly all of the 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:29.120 belongings in it. Poor I may be, but common I 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:33.440 am not, Barbara's mother, Polly declared. While her husband and 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:37.880 his mother were said to be incapacitated by the circumstances, 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.280 Polly found a new home for the family to rent 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:45.920 on their three hundred pounds a year income. Bertie, a 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:50.040 former officer of the British Army, naturally did not work 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.920 as would be completely unbefitting of a gentleman of the age, 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:58.600 and so that money came from allowances from their respective families. 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.520 For forty pounds a year, they moved into a country 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:07.760 home in Worcestershire, fit with six bedrooms, a tennis court, stables, 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:12.760 and four acres of overgrown gardens. That was where Barbara 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.800 grew up, and those gardens were where she first invented 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:21.160 new worlds. Quote. I never drive through Worcestershire in the 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.480 spring without the memory of our garden like a pink 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:28.720 and white fairyland, she would reflect as an adult. She 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.600 recalls listening to the trees and hearing the fairies moving 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:36.000 about inside, and she was sure that she saw wings 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:41.080 among the flowers. Her first experience with literature was with 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:45.600 the novels she could find in her father's study, mainly Dickens, 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.320 and her mother then began to nurture Barbara's love of 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:54.320 stories by reading her fantasy books. Upon her mother's death 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:59.280 years later, Barbara would find amongst the piles of paper 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.640 her mother had kept the very first short story she 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.679 had ever written at five and a half years old. 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:13.000 But sudden bankruptcy wouldn't be the only upheaval in young 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:17.760 Barbara's life. When it became obvious in nineteen fourteen that 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.600 the country was to go to war with Germany, Bertie 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.280 was called up to serve. As he was stationed in 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:29.240 different parts of England, the family moved around to stay 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:34.319 with friends near him. In nineteen seventeen, Bertie was killed 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:38.280 in action. Polly was now a widow and a single 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:42.760 mother to three children, Barbara and her two younger brothers. 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.760 Barbara recalls that her mother adopted a stricter sense of 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.760 discipline during that time, but it was always clear that 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.400 she did everything out of love. Polly had also been 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:57.520 something of a surrogate mother to her husband, who needed 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.360 motivation and guidance throughout his lia adult life, and she 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.959 was determined that her own children would be self sufficient. 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.480 Barbara would later reflect quote, Mummy lit a flame in 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.200 all three of us that was to burn brighter year 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:16.320 by year. She made us believe in ourselves and our capabilities. 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.200 She made us see that anything was possible if we 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:23.280 really wanted it and worked hard enough. Shortly after her 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:27.840 father's death, Barbara turned eighteen and left school. During her 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:32.439 school years, her love of storytelling only grew. She discovered 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:36.240 the romance novels of ethel M. Dell, BERTA. Ruck, and 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:40.560 Eleanor Glynn, who was notably quite the scandalous writer of 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:45.120 her time. It was actually Dell's influence in particular that 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:50.160 would have the greatest impact on Barbara's career. Barbara's biographer writes, 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:55.160 Barbara really believed all heroes should be tall, silent men, 0:10:55.600 --> 0:11:00.360 seething with burning passions, but passions so controlled that one 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.320 was not aware of them until they broke down under 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.400 an overwhelming love. Her leading ladies, on the other hand, 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:12.280 should be quote soft, sweet, easily frightened, yet longing to 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:17.880 be dominated by a strong and masculine man. Barbara was 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:22.480 a so called plain child, so much so that apparently 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:26.839 other mothers pitied Polly, but by this time she had 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:32.280 blossomed into something of a classic leading lady herself. Barbara 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:37.320 received her first proposal this summer after school, on holiday 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:40.240 with her family on the Isle of Wight. He was 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:45.760 a colonel over forty years old with a red handlebar mustache. 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:50.440 Barbara wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, rushing to 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.880 her mother to ask for help. Polly told her daughter, 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.960 you must learn to look after yourself. It's harsh advice, 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.000 but falls in line with Polly's desay desire to instill 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:06.920 self sufficiency and tenacity within her daughter. Still, when another 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:11.600 elderly married this time man, tried to make advances on 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:15.960 Barbara that same summer, he was met with Polly's fury. 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:22.000 This clown, in turn asked out Polly instead. When asked 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.560 if any of her suitors that summer attempted to kiss her, 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:30.720 Barbara responded, certainly not. We were not mauled in those days. 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:34.679 Our innocence protected us. I was quite determined that the 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.240 only man who would ever be allowed to kiss me 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:41.400 on the lips was the one I would marry. Barbara 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:45.400 would have plenty more marriage candidates to consider when she 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.840 moved to London with the family after that summer break. 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.640 She had a small budget for clothes provided by her mother, 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:57.040 and she began to experiment with fashionable makeup and hair 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:01.040 of the time, all in service of her coming out 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:06.439 in society, and Barbara was a hit. Courting in nineteen 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:11.400 twenty's London mainly consisted of dinner and dancing, but it 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:15.160 was improper for a man and woman to dine alone together, 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.720 so the woman would have dinner at home while the 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.280 man dined at his social club before picking up his 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:26.320 date later. Once the dancing was done, a taxi would 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.960 be called. The driver would stop for a coffee at 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.439 the green painted stand at the corner of Hyde Park 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.560 while the young couple sat in the back seat. This 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.120 was all a dance of its own. The cab drivers 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:44.959 would all sit together and chat and play cards while 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:49.679 the couples in their back seats scored some convenient alone time. 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:54.800 Barbara often sat in these back seats, remembering the quote 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:59.320 delicious feeling of anticipation, but mind out of the gutter. 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:03.760 Which she was anticipating was a potential proposal, or just 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.600 to see if her date would attempt a kiss in 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:11.400 the backseat of one of those cabs. Barbara did accept 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:16.120 a proposal from a gentleman named Dick Usher, a young 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.960 officer Polly. Her mother had advised her to wait a 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:24.000 month to announce the engagement in the Times, and it 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.360 was a good thing she did, because Barbara had a 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.280 question for her mother, How does one have a baby? 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:32.440 She asked. 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.760 It had been nagging at her and it was never 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.720 taught at the girls' schools she attended. Barbara had thought 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:43.240 it had something to do with a man kissing a 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:47.640 woman's neck, because one of the novels she read contained 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.640 the line quote he kissed her neck passionately, and she 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:55.880 knew what he meant. When Barbara's mother told her how 0:14:56.000 --> 0:15:00.760 things actually worked, Barbara was so horrified that she broke 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.680 off the engagement. Barbara would go on to say that 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:09.080 throughout her life she never enjoyed being touched or kissed 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:15.400 unless it was by someone she really loved. Two nights 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.280 after she broke the news to Dick, they ran into 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.480 each other at a party, and, feeling sorry for him, 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:25.440 Barbara agreed to talk. They took a taxi to the 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.400 stall at Hyde Park, where Dick proceeded to take out 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.320 a revolver and he declared, unless you marry me, I 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:38.360 will shoot myself. This was, believe it or not, Barbara's 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:42.000 second incident with a loaded gun in her young life, 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:46.280 after another army officer had attempted to flirt with her 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:50.160 by showing off his weapon and nearly shooting her after 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:54.240 incorrectly believing the gun had no bullets left. And to 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:58.200 be clear, I promise these are not innu windows. Barbara 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.320 was able to talk Dick down far enough that he 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:05.640 got tired and agreed to take Barbara home, where she 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.479 rushed through the front door and up to her mother's bedroom. 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:14.240 Dick later wrote a letter to Polly describing his agony. 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:18.680 If only I weren't cursed with such a big, big love, 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.520 it might be easier. But you know that I just 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:25.520 worship Barbara with my whole heart and soul and body. 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:28.360 That to lose her is worse than a million times. 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:33.600 The torture of the damned life was certainly providing Barbara 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:39.080 with plenty of material for her future career. In nineteen twenty, 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:43.080 Barbara declared to her family one morning over breakfast that 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:47.040 she was going to write a novel. They laughed, You'll 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:51.440 never finish it, they said. She started right away. Once 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.080 she had a few chapters completed, she showed them to 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:59.440 her mother, Polly, who offered both criticism and compliments. Polly 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:03.120 asked a writer friend over for lunch, where she in 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:07.159 turn asked Barbara to read her draft out loud, A 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:12.160 personal nightmare for many writers, especially a writer just starting out, 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:16.520 but it was apparently a breeze for Barbara. It's very good, 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:21.080 the writer told her. Finish it. Barbara spent three months 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:25.400 doing just that. Where many writers also struggle to find 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:30.320 their voice, Barbara had internalized her beloved romance novels and 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.439 knew exactly what she wanted to say and how to 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:37.400 say it. Their eyes met reads one of the closing 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.199 lines of that first novel. Each was conscious of the 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:45.680 flame of love and desire within the other explanations words 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:51.840 were unnecessary. Barbara called the book Jigsaw and dedicated it 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:56.359 to Polly. It cost seven shillings and sixpence and it 0:17:56.440 --> 0:18:02.280 became a minor sensation almost immediately. Jigsaw tells the story 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.840 of the innocent but enchanting Mona, who ends up in 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:10.439 a love triangle with a sensible, strong willed duke and 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:15.320 a dark and handsome stranger. Mona ultimately chooses the duke 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:23.679 as goodness prevails over temptation. This is a good moment 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.360 to talk about the tropes of Barbara's writing. In her 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:32.600 own words quote, there are two means. One is the impatient, 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:38.200 rather aggressive crusader, sometimes overpowersing with a tendency to fight 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.240 violently for what I believe is right. And the other 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:46.240 image I have of myself is sweet, soft, gentle, understanding, 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:51.199 perceptive and very feminine. Longing to be protected by a 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:56.480 strong masculine man. It is a kind of idealistic, mental 0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:01.480 and spiritual virginity which I have given my heroines, and 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:07.280 which I have always had myself. End quote Mona Or 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:11.560 Barbara has an angel and a devil, so to speak 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:15.440 on her shoulder in Jigsaw, the strong but silent Duke 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:20.639 Peter and the exciting but dangerous Alec. It brings to 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:25.800 mind the Madonna horror complex, which sees women as either 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:31.840 saintly or degenerate, never in between. Barbara's heroines are always 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:37.000 pure madonnas who seek stability with Peters, and they must 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:41.520 reject their inner whore who is driving them toward an 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:46.080 alec or. Sometimes the heroine is so saintly that the 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:50.360 leading man will overcome his degeneracy in order to devote 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:54.000 himself to her. This episode isn't a book report, but 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.560 these themes, especially with regards to the way she frames 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:02.000 and portrays women and female desire, I think is important 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:05.439 when we think about how much Barbara has stated that 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:11.520 her heroines represent herself and her morals. Back to Jigsaw's success. 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:17.080 Now a minor celebrity, Barbara was becoming even more popular 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.320 in the London social scene than she had already been. 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.720 Her dance card was always full, and she was always 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:27.480 present in the gossip columns of magazines like Tattler and 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:32.440 other newspapers. At the same time, Barbara had already been 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:38.520 secretly writing four gossip columns, gathering tips from her society circles, 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:43.800 and she would continue that secret career four years. Can 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:50.160 someone say, Lady Whistle down? These social circles contained various 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:55.560 lords and ladies, earls and countesses, and a young Winston Churchill, 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.920 who Barbara struck up a friendship with. Barbara would get 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:02.679 further inspiration for her leading men when she met the 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:08.320 Duke of Sutherland. He, like most men Barbara encountered, also 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:10.959 fell in love with her, but there was the issue 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.639 of his already having a wife, and his advances were rejected. 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:21.720 When Barbara did decide to marry, it was proposal number fifty. 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:28.359 Alexander George mccorkadale was not one of Barbara's brooding dukes. Rather, 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:32.240 he was a British Army officer from Scotland and heir 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:36.480 to a printing fortune. He was, however, said to have 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.960 looked the part of a Cartland hero, dark haired, strong, 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:45.080 and yes, of course brooding. The couple were married on 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:50.280 April twenty third, nineteen twenty seven. For the wedding, Barbara 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:55.240 wore the first tool dress that society had seen since 0:21:55.280 --> 0:22:00.960 World War One, made by the English designer extraordinary Norman Hartnell, 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:08.240 but designed by Barbara herself. Years later, Barbara would write 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:13.040 an article on honeymoons for The Evening News, and although 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:17.240 she describes a fictitious young bride in the article, there 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:21.520 was truth to her own experience quote. She the fictional 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:26.040 bride dreamed of a strong, silent cave man, a man 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:29.400 of deeds but a few words, a man who, underneath 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:34.399 a deep reserve, was passionate, commanding, conquering. Finally, she thought 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:38.320 she had found that in her husband. She mistook inertia 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:44.160 for reserve, lack of interest for silent strength, and inexperience 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:50.920 for hidden passion. She was miserably disappointed. Barbara's marriage would 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:55.439 last only five years, but it brought the couple a baby, girl, 0:22:55.920 --> 0:23:01.080 Rain mccorkidale. In September of nineteen twenty nine, Barbara's mother 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:04.239 in law implored her to give up her career and 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:08.400 stop writing her quote immoral novels, but she had no 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:12.520 intention of doing that. Not only did Barbara continue her 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:16.879 literary career as a mother, but she took on new ventures, 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:21.520 including advocating for better public health awareness. After her daughter 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:27.159 reign inexplicably fell nearly fatally ill, and Barbara also became 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:33.040 interested in aviation advancements. Particularly, she was interested in recent 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:37.800 innovations in gliding, and she worked with two inventors to 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:42.720 deliver the first air mail cross country via glider. When 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:46.159 the project was complete, it was of course christened the 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:51.679 Barbara Cartland Glider. Her experiment proved to be essential to 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:54.840 further designs and had an impact on the air mail 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:58.520 system during the Second World War, so much so that 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:02.920 in nineteen eighty four she was awarded the US Bishop 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:09.760 Wrights Air Industry Award. While Barbara continued to explore her 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:14.679 new career ventures and interests, she faced difficulties at home. 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:18.199 In the early nineteen thirties, while her husband was away, 0:24:18.720 --> 0:24:22.560 Barbara came across a series of love letters in another 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:28.240 woman's handwriting. Instead of confronting her husband directly the next morning, 0:24:28.400 --> 0:24:33.080 she took her findings straight to his parents. Upon returning 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:36.200 from his trip, her husband went straight to their home 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:40.480 and refused all requests to see or speak to his wife. 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:44.159 The social circles Barbara had once been the darling of 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:48.919 were now beginning to shun her as a divorcee. The 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:53.680 Matrimonial Causes Act that allowed for either spouse to petition 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:57.199 for divorce on the basis of adultery had only just 0:24:57.320 --> 0:25:01.040 been adopted in nineteen twenty three, a decade earlier, and 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:04.960 the upper echelons of British society were never the ones 0:25:05.040 --> 0:25:10.800 to quickly adopt progressive mindsets. The Countess of Pembroke forbade 0:25:10.920 --> 0:25:14.560 Barbara from helping her arrange a charity ball, which was 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:19.159 ironic considering the Earl of Pembroke had just run away 0:25:19.200 --> 0:25:22.520 with another woman and was at the moment begging his 0:25:22.560 --> 0:25:26.800 wife for a divorce. It should also be noted though 0:25:26.920 --> 0:25:31.439 Barbara may not have been entirely faithful during the marriage either. 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:34.560 This claim must be taken with a grain of salt, 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:38.440 as it was reported in The Daily Mail posthumously as 0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:43.040 a conversation that happened off the record, but she allegedly 0:25:43.600 --> 0:25:46.720 told a journalist that she had a number of lovers 0:25:46.960 --> 0:25:51.800 who could even potentially have been Rayne's real father, including 0:25:51.840 --> 0:25:56.600 her prototypical hero, the Duke of Sutherland and Prince George, 0:25:56.680 --> 0:25:59.879 the Duke of Kent. Barbara would go on to have 0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:05.720 two more children, both sons, with a second husband, her 0:26:05.760 --> 0:26:10.800 ex's cousin, Hugh mccorkydale. They had been friends and he 0:26:10.920 --> 0:26:13.760 became something of a rock for Barbara during the years 0:26:14.000 --> 0:26:18.560 following the divorce. Darling, I am getting older, reads a 0:26:18.640 --> 0:26:22.320 letter from Hugh to his future wife. Yet you, the 0:26:22.440 --> 0:26:26.199 loveliest creature God ever made, loves me and wants to 0:26:26.280 --> 0:26:30.359 marry me. It's so wonderful, I can't believe it's true. 0:26:30.480 --> 0:26:34.640 The couple would have twenty seven years together before Hugh 0:26:34.880 --> 0:26:38.399 passed due to a heart condition, but he would be 0:26:38.440 --> 0:26:42.680 the great love of Barbara's life. The couple were married 0:26:43.080 --> 0:26:47.200 in nineteen thirty six, by which point Barbara had begun 0:26:47.240 --> 0:26:51.280 to publish around two novels a year. Throughout all of 0:26:51.320 --> 0:26:54.320 those events I discussed, and all of the events I 0:26:54.400 --> 0:26:58.159 will discuss, it is safe to say that Barbara was 0:26:58.240 --> 0:27:07.080 writing through them. Barbara would continue to publish throughout the 0:27:07.200 --> 0:27:10.680 nineteen forties, but once again she was forced to live 0:27:10.720 --> 0:27:14.359 through a World war, and once again she would lose 0:27:14.520 --> 0:27:18.320 family in the fighting. This time, both of her brothers 0:27:18.760 --> 0:27:23.560 died in Dunkirk. As daily life in London got more perilous, 0:27:23.880 --> 0:27:27.600 Barbara and her children left for Canada at the invitation 0:27:27.760 --> 0:27:31.000 of a friend, but Barbara soon decided she had made 0:27:31.000 --> 0:27:34.040 a mistake and that she and her family should return 0:27:34.080 --> 0:27:37.800 to England, where her husband, Hugh had remained. She wanted 0:27:37.840 --> 0:27:41.520 to help however they could. She would become the chief 0:27:41.640 --> 0:27:45.960 Lady Welfare Officer to the Services in Bedfordshire, which often 0:27:46.000 --> 0:27:49.760 meant improving the lives of local women. Some of her 0:27:49.800 --> 0:27:52.520 aid came in the form of getting the service women 0:27:52.680 --> 0:27:56.800 better material for their clothing, helping them feel more beautiful, 0:27:57.160 --> 0:27:59.400 and some of it came in the form of helping 0:27:59.520 --> 0:28:04.600 local pregnant women or women going through divorces. As the 0:28:04.680 --> 0:28:08.960 only female welfare officer, she was in a unique position 0:28:09.080 --> 0:28:14.600 to understand problems that were often overlooked by men. By 0:28:14.640 --> 0:28:18.159 all accounts, she was excellent at her job, but it 0:28:18.280 --> 0:28:21.920 seems like an odd fit when you consider that Barbara 0:28:22.160 --> 0:28:26.760 publicly stated numerous times that she did not care for 0:28:26.880 --> 0:28:30.840 women in general and had very few women friends in 0:28:30.880 --> 0:28:35.560 her life. As the war ended, Barbara became even more 0:28:35.600 --> 0:28:40.040 devoted to her writing, finishing her thirtieth novel and resuming 0:28:40.080 --> 0:28:44.719 her journalistic career. In nineteen forty eight, inspired by her 0:28:44.800 --> 0:28:50.320 daughter's first extravagant wedding, Barbara responded to a request from 0:28:50.400 --> 0:28:55.200 a woman's magazine that implored her to write a historical romance. 0:28:55.800 --> 0:28:59.360 That book would be Hazard of Hearts, and it would 0:28:59.480 --> 0:29:03.239 change the course of Barbara's career. Until that point, her 0:29:03.280 --> 0:29:07.000 stories had been modern, but the more she researched, the 0:29:07.000 --> 0:29:10.920 more she discovered her love of history. It also didn't 0:29:10.960 --> 0:29:14.720 hurt that one of Barbara's primary values, a woman being 0:29:14.800 --> 0:29:18.760 a virgin, had been even more valuable in the days 0:29:18.800 --> 0:29:23.560 of yore. In nineteen fifty, Barbara and her family moved 0:29:23.680 --> 0:29:28.360 to Camfield Place, a country estate built by Edmund Potter, 0:29:28.720 --> 0:29:33.120 grandfather of Beatrix Potter. Its gardens actually gave birth to 0:29:33.240 --> 0:29:37.440 Peter Rabbit, just as the gardens of Barbara's childhood home 0:29:37.720 --> 0:29:42.280 had been the original source of her imagination. That same year, 0:29:42.480 --> 0:29:47.880 Barbara faced a plagiarism allegation from one of her original inspirations, 0:29:48.200 --> 0:29:54.120 Georgette Hayre Hayer, alleged that Hazard of Hearts replicated character 0:29:54.240 --> 0:29:57.480 names and plot points from a number of her novels, 0:29:57.880 --> 0:30:01.000 but the case never went to court, so we'll never 0:30:01.080 --> 0:30:06.560 know exactly what went down. Over the next decade, Barbara 0:30:06.600 --> 0:30:11.320 would continue to produce an astonishing number of novels, and 0:30:11.440 --> 0:30:14.760 by the sixties there was a devoted market of British 0:30:14.760 --> 0:30:20.440