WEBVTT - Secret Princess: Helga de la Brache 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:03.400 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:07.760 Zaren Yes, Oh ellsbit done. What are you doing girl, I'm. 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:11.119 Just hanging out here. Listen. You know what's ridiculous? 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:13.480 Oh my god? Do I So? I was talking to 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:15.280 the entrance before you got here, and I was like 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:17.759 looking at different headlines looking for something. I was just like, 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:19.599 I couldn't remember what I was looking for. I was 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:21.759 going through old tabs and I didn't have time to 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:24.720 read the stories. But they were laughing about my tabs. Anyway. 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.880 One of the tabs, this was a headline elephant killed 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.840 a woman, then attended her funeral and smashed her corpse. 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.080 I was like, why did you want to see that one? 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.680 Then another one I had was Catholic bishop resigns after 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:41.600 falling in love with satanic erotic fiction novelist. I couldn't 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:44.000 explain myself to these people, so I just was like, 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:45.559 I just threw my hands up and walked away. I 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.320 was like, where's my yogurt and walked away. There you go, 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:49.159 that's ridiculous. 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:50.480 Tabs are ridiculous. 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:51.360 I love that. 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:53.040 I like that elephant story. 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:54.600 Yeah, I knew we couldn't do it because you know, 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:57.480 there's the murder. But other than that, it's hilarious. 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.720 Absolutely amazing. Do you want to know what else is ridiculous? 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:02.080 I'm here for it. I love it. 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:27.520 Go for it, Secret Princesses. Oh no, this is ridiculous 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:32.240 Crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists and cons. 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.920 It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:37.360 percent ridiculous. 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:42.120 You damn right? Who had to run from the stairs? Good? 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:42.679 You're fat? 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.720 I made it anything from the basement. No, okay, let's do. 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:50.160 This smells so bad down there? Oh? Yeah, hello Sweden? 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:51.440 Oh that they here? 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:56.360 Yeah, I'm Elizabeth Thutton and I'm here to lovingly butcher 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:58.320 the pronunciations of your beautiful language. 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:00.280 Ah yes, leave it to me. I'll get in too. 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:00.480 Well. 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:04.640 Here's okay, here's what I know of Sweden beyond Ikea, 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:11.799 H and M, Volvo, puppet chefs, and gummy fish. Also ps, 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:14.959 did you know that Spotify is a Swedish company? Shout 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:15.720 out to anyone? 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:17.960 I did not know that. Yeah, I thought it was 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.120 Danish or Dutch Swedish. 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.639 And did you know the Swedes invented the three point seatbelt? 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.840 I did know that because of Volvo yeah, most of it. 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.440 And also I think headlights, the running daytime running headlights 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.320 and all that. I imagine, Well, they're all safety. Yeah, 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.640 you know, you can flip a Volvo and it'll hold 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:35.440 the weight of the car on its roof because of 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:37.360 the snowy roads. So that's part of their design of 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.520 the car. And you can flip it and I love. 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:41.000 That's why I got one. I was like, I need 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.919 one of these car and flipping it anyway, go on. 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.560 Most of what I know about Sweden comes from like 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.000 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and television. 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:50.919 Yes, actually, I have to admit I liked to those books. 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:52.240 Yeah, the books are amazing. 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.040 I read them on the beach in Florida. Perfect place 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:55.520 to read those kind of books. 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.080 And like, now that I've come out as a television 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:02.519 watch I can tell you I really love PBS. 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.559 Yes, actually I love local. 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.320 PBS like k q D here in the Bay area 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.519 and their local show check please. 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.000 By area area. You do talk about that. 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:18.160 I'm a donor to k q D. I have PBS 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.720 passport that lets me watch all the cool shows. 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:22.360 Yeah. 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.800 And then when broad Church at the end. 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.360 Of any masterpiece show, they give a shout out to 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:32.440 Darlene Shyley and donors to PBS stations, Viewers like you, Viewers. 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.800 Like us, Yeah, talking about Darling me, Yeah, you not me. 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.680 Yeah. A lot of Masterpiece mystery shows, which are my favorite, 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:39.560 are British. 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:41.720 Production and sponsored by you and sponsored. 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.800 By me, viewers like me. There's a lot of BBC 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.720 stuff on there. There are so many that I love 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.680 and I'm not going to start listing them off that 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:55.480 teas Grandchester Unforgotten Murders. You know there's a new Magpie 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:56.840 Murders coming out in September. 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:58.520 I didn't know there was an old Magpie murder. 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:00.920 Grace yourself. It's it's called something else. 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:03.080 Okay, what is it? 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.120 I don't remember, but it's something something like with a 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.680 bird in It's okay. But one thing about. 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.880 These betis pitch persons so good. 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:12.160 Yeah. 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:14.680 One thing about these British productions is that they sometimes 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:18.320 set them in other countries, like everyone's suspiciously British. 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.960 Yes, no, I've watched The Three Musketeers, The Musketeers right, yeah, 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.320 and everybody's British and you're like, it's French. I bet 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.320 the French hate this. I love it. 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.440 I tried watching this one show, Hotel port Afino. It's 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.160 like a period drama about life and a resort hotel 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:38.680 in nineteen twenties Italy. It's so me and like, I 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:40.520 think the hotel in the show is owned by some 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.680 English people, so whatever, but even the locals are so 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.880 English that its just I couldn't do it. I watched 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:48.800 like maybe like the first ten minutes, and then I 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.800 dipped out. And I don't think anyone gets killed. So 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.720 that's the other thing. There's also Wallander as they pronounce it, 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.600 and that's set in Sweden and stars Kenneth Brenno. Oh, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.760 it's a great show. It's really good. But I found 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.920 out that it's a remake of an actual Swedish show 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:08.680 where Vallander is pronounced correctly. 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.960 Okay, and then that one's better is that woman? 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:12.320 No? 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.280 No, what's the Swedish woman detective? Everyone was watching like 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.640 a little while ago. I don't know anyway, there apparently 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:18.240 it was a big hit. 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.600 Now what I've learned from television is that I think 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.480 I would really like to visit the Nordic countries. Oh, 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.160 I can see that Denmark, Norway, Sweden. Norway is who 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.480 gave us the Beforeigners, which is probably one of the 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:32.839 best television shows ever. 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:34.000 That I do love that show. 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.000 If you haven't seen Beforeigners. 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.279 So crazyly good. It's so surprising, as like a time 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:40.120 travel show. You don't even see it coming. 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:40.880 But that's Nordic. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.159 Let's talk Sweden, please, let's talk Sweden. 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:46.200 The more people, the more I read and learn about Sweden, 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:47.640 the more I would love to go. 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:49.640 And there, welcome to my country. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.600 The caater affinity I have for the people. And I'm 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:54.760 not saying this to butter up any Swedes who may 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.240 be listening to us talking today. I know I'm going 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.720 to disappoint them no matter what I do. And you, 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.120 you and I have talked about this. We practice saying 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.640 names and words that are like unfamiliar to us, over 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.200 and over and over yes, and then you get in 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:08.480 front of the mic, and at least. 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:09.520 For me, it negates at all. 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.440 Oh my mouth drops like fifty IQ points and suffers 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:14.480 from a palsy. I can't it's a crying shame. 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:16.400 Yeah, I suffer the exact same affliction. 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.400 And there are also words that I know well and 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.320 I usually say without incident, and then I'm recorded and 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:24.000 suddenly I'm new to this language. 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:26.039 There's English words. I mess up all the time. 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:27.599 Yeah, why does this happen? 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:29.240 How did you mispronounce is? 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.960 I don't know. Let's let's talk. Sweden said, this is your. 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:35.320 People, Yes, my people, Elizabeth. You know that I have 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.280 Swedish relatives, like like way back, not like they married 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.640 into the family. I'm talking like ancestors. I got like 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:43.200 Swedish blood. So like back when I be playing like 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:45.600 hockey games, I'm like, let me play Team Sweden. Like 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.120 if I'm playing like World Hoick games, like I get people, 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:50.159 I'm like, let me play Team Sweden. These are my people. 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:51.320 Just to mess with people. 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.479 You love Vikings, but take in a white supremacist way. 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:56.480 But like he's like, you mean like the show or 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:58.320 the idea of Vikings everything. 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.800 Via shows you love the the actual Viking, the. 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.600 Historic grouping and also the verb to go Viking. I 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.760 just love that. I'm going to go raid. Lindis farness 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:09.760 amazing big. 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.480 That's for Sweden. Stockholm's the capital city. 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.120 Oh yeah, hey, they have a great stock great. 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:19.600 Quality life, great education, healthcare, civil liberties, gender equality. 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:21.680 Great fast drivers. I watched their videos on YouTube and 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:23.120 they drive around really fast at Night. 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:25.680 They basically prove it can be done, all of it. 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:27.600 Yeah, gender equality and fast Driver. 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.720 We lay down a little history. I can go way 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:32.840 back with Sweden, but let's take it to the beginning 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:33.880 of the nineteenth century. 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:34.240 Okay. 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.680 That's and this is going to be important in understanding 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:37.760 the story that I'm going to tell you. 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.040 Is this involved upsala. There's no oa. 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:45.880 This is all comes together. There's a reason for this. 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:46.400 I'm here. 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.800 So Gustav the fourth was king of Sweden from seventeen 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.720 ninety two until he was deposed in a coup in 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:53.720 eighteen oh nine. 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:54.640 Rough stuff. 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:54.880 Yeah. 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.320 He was also the last Swedish monarch to be the 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:58.400 ruler of Finland. 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:02.440 Was he deposed for supporting Napoleon eighteen oh nine? Seems 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:03.800 like that might be going in anyway. 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:05.920 Go on, Yeah, So yeah, this the coup is when 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.920 the Russians occupied Sweden, Aha, and they tossed him out. 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.400 They tossed Gustav out, he abdicated, and then they had 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.320 this new instrument of government that was like that seriously 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:17.880 limited the powers of the monarchy. 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:19.360 Okay, okay, And so that was. 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:22.680 Adopted June sixth, eighteen oh nine. And that's now National 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:23.480 Day of Sweden. 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:24.200 Oh interesting. 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:28.000 Gustav's uncle, Charles the thirteenth he took possession of the 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.560 title of King of Sweden, and Gustav he'd wanted it 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.280 to go to his son upon abdication, but the Russians 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.480 were like, no, way, bo, that's not happening. Yeah, we 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.920 don't want your line in here entered Charles. Gustav and 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.920 his family. They get exiled to Germany, which isn't so bad. 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:45.760 And then he and his I mean, it's not like 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:47.480 sit on this gross island. 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.240 Oh yeah, totally. It wasn't like bird go to Devil's Island. 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:51.920 Yeah, no, this is like go to Germany. He's like, 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:53.760 all right, I can do that. But then he and 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:55.480 his wife divorced in eighteen twelve. 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:56.439 She's like, I can't do it. 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:00.040 Was their own private War of eighteen twelve. Oh so, 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.719 a while in exile, like Gustov, he tried on a 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:07.280 bunch of titles like Count Gothorp and Duke of Holstein Euten. 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:07.960 Okay, yeah. 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.599 Then he settled on count, calling himself Colonel Gustafson, and 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:14.559 he went to live in Switzerland and he lived in 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:17.040 this small hotel. Who's penniless. He was lonely. 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:21.520 Oh man. Yeah, so he's got a big name. 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.880 Yeah, he's a big name, small guy. So while Gustov 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:28.000 was in exile in eighteen ten, this French Marshal Jean 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:32.360 Baptiste Benedette, he was chosen as the heir presumptive to 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:33.760 Charles the thirteenth. 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:35.520 He had no kids of his own, and. 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.160 Then he eventually this guy, Jean Baptiste. He's like, guess 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.920 what look at me, Charles the fourteenth. Hey. So in 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:46.439 eighteen thirteen Sweden they joined up with sar Alexander the 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:50.800 First and Company to whoop on Napoleon as you brought up. 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.480 So like, Sweden is one of the big dogs after. 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.320 That total war. We got you and the They were 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:58.839 big into European politics at that time nineteenth century. 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.880 And that victory made it possible for Sweden to force 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.680 Denmark Norway, which was an ally of France at the time, 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.560 to cede Norway to the King of Sweden in exchange 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:11.479 for the northern German provinces. 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.400 I'mteresting, and a bet family is still uner Russian Empire. 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.520 Rules was born. Yeah, in Sweden and Norway they went 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:18.720 at it, and this is eighteen fourteen. This is actually 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.160 the last time Sweden was at war and they settled 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.319 it with a treaty. Yeah, they're like, well, and so 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.800 around this time eighteen seventeen, a girl was born. 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:29.920 Okay, this girl special. 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:35.079 Yeah, are you distracting me again, closet, We're going to 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:43.679 watch the birth Aurora. Breathe, Aurora Florentina Magnuson. 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:45.400 Okay, Florentina Magnison. 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.880 And when she when she was asked about her parents, 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:50.520 she would demurur later in life and say that her 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.439 father was Count Carl de Gear and that her mother 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:57.000 was a Fornham Froken, unmarried noble woman. 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:57.320 Ah. 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.760 And you know, as you can guess, that was not true. 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:01.120 Ah. 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:03.800 Yes, her dad was a caretaker who died when she 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.719 was young. She was raised in poverty by a single mom. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:10.080 But she knew in her heart, Zarin, that she was fancy. 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:10.640 She felt it. 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:14.000 Oh yeah, she knew that she had noble blood. That's 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:15.640 a shout out to your buddy, Danas Swartz. 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:16.040 There you go. 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.600 When she was about twenty, Aurora got a job from 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:24.160 a fellow named Henrik Aspagan, and she was hired to 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.520 help his daughters sew and prep these dresses for an 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:31.480 upcoming ball, and as she looked around at this lavish, 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.280 opulent life that they lived, she knew in her bones 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.560 that this is where she belonged. Yes, she's not like, look, 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.040 I'm not going to I shouldn't be a seamstress assisting 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:41.360 these gals with their glad. 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:42.720 I'm in the wrong place. 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.080 Yeah, I need to be wearing this finery. I need 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.400 this drip, as the kids say, because. 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:48.880 These girls should be working for me. 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:49.360 Yeah. 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:52.240 And then this very like Cinderella type of vibe going on. 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:53.240 I love it go on. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.240 The night that the Aspergrands were about to leave for 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:00.840 the ball, they hear Aurora crying and the little delicate 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:05.280 noble tears. They asked her, like, what's wrong. You know, 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.600 we gotta go, but like, why are you crying? She's like, you, guys, 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:12.320 I'm homeless. I have no where to go nor to sleep. 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:15.079 They're like, oh, that sucks. But they're like the Aspergans 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.760 are really lovely people, okay, And so they're like, you 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.439 can you can live here in the bar. Yeah, you 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.520 stay here. We're going to the ball, but you know, 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.240 help yourself. There's there's you know, sunny day in the 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:28.120 fridge and like it was a good choice though, Like 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.199 she blended right into the family and so she never 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.880 came right out and told them about her royal lineage, 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:37.199 but she managed to like inadvertently drop hints in just 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.559 her everyday conversation, and so it was like undeniable. 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:41.920 Everyone could have guessed. 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:46.520 Yeah, one of the daughters, Henrika, doated on Aurora something fierce. 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.960 She's like, this is my new doll. She bought her 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.240 fashionable clothes, she took her around to like posh events, 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.520 and she was able to kind of piece together Aurora's lineage, 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:01.559 and she became dedicated to follow this noble woman, this 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.239 young girl who outranks her and is so charming and unassuming. 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.240 M So, in eighteen forty four, the two women they 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:11.240 picked up stakes and moved to Finland together. 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:13.840 Bye, so Henrika out. 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.160 Yeah she Henrika totally ditches the family for Aurora. 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:17.800 That's bold. 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.520 Yeah. It's during this move that Aurora changed her name 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:24.240 on her passport. Okay, she had the new passport read 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:30.400 de la broch Comma Anna Florentina Comma miss Comma, formerly 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:34.200 known by the name Aurora Magnuson. So she's now miss 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:38.440 Anna Florentina de la broch Okay, and the next move 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:40.760 was to get her name changed on her birth certificate 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:45.120 from Aurora to Helga. Why Helga? Why not? 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:46.959 Why not Elizabeth? 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.760 So then she waited and she reported Aurora as drowned. 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:56.280 So she doesn't exist anymore. She's just Anna Akalla, eighty 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.760 six year old lie completely. So Helga and Henrika they 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.640 moved all around Sweden and Finland. Henrika got teaching gigs 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:06.440 to support the two of them. In eighteen forty six, 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:08.320 they were living in Turku, Finland. 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:10.000 Do we think that they're like romantic? 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.880 You know, I don't know. I'm gonna guess, like based 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.080 on the time and the fact that it's I would 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:20.000 guess where they were, but it's never even. 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.320 Because it could be like a Spengali and creation. 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.680 I think that, I mean, honestly, I think I'm gonna 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:29.640 be honest. There's very little information about like their day 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.640 to day and so I wonder if they were like, 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:37.560 you know, romancing guys. Who knows anyway, Honestly, it's just 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:41.640 sort of like a blank slate. So they're living in Turku, Finland, 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.479 and they managed a girls school there called dilabrach. 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:46.880 Okay, okay. 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.000 When the parents asked questions of Helga that she didn't 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.560 care to answer, she would faint. 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.520 It's like she she got so rock. 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.320 She got so good at it that she taught the 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:06.000 students themselves how to fake fainting in order to avoid 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:07.880 quote unpleasant questions. 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.360 Oh my gosh, which is my new thing? Aren't you? 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.840 Oh yeah, just like eyes roll back in, kind of wobbly. 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.160 So there was a cholera epidemic in eighteen forty eight, 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:23.000 so they had to close the school. Okay, So they 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.680 returned to Stockholm, and there they managed to connect up 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.040 with Chancellor of Justice Nils von Coach. 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:30.480 Neils von Coach. 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:33.040 It was like a friend of a friend's situation. 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:39.000 So Neils, he's German. I'm taking it. Ko h there, 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.320 it's Neil whatever whatever. 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:44.920 Neils he's just a he's a citizen of the earth. 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:46.760 He bounces around. Who knows where he's from. 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:51.240 Helda tells him, guess what, I'm nobility? 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:53.200 Did you know that secret? 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:55.240 And actually I'm more than that. He's like, oh what, 0:15:55.560 --> 0:16:00.760 She's like, I'm royalty. No, come on now, He's like, actually, 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.120 I'll tell you. I am the daughter of exiled King 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:04.880 Gustav the. 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:06.520 Fourth straight claim on the crown. 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.400 Yes. So she goes from like I'm from some random 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.440 note like no, I'm the daughter of the last daughter 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:13.760 of the Big Dog, and he totally believes her. 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:14.200 Of course. 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.040 He's like, I can neither confirm or deny this claim. 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.720 This is not something I can prove or disprove. But 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.040 Helga's like, you know, I'm telling you this because I 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.840 want something. He's like, oh, that's a surprise. This isn't 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.600 just like a fun fact. She's like, I want a 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.200 pension for being the secret legitimate daughter of Gustav the 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:35.040 fourth of Sweden. 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:36.640 Oh, back my play for the rest of my life 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:37.520 and I'll stay quiet. 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.840 Yeah. So he goes on to convince a member of 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.160 Parliament of this story, and then he gets the Royal 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:49.120 Court Chaplain Carl Norby on board. Helga Mania is spreading. 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:50.600 Record. 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:52.120 It seems I could be pretty easy to be able 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:52.640 to confirm. 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:56.560 So she's this lost princess. It's crazy and it's ridiculous. 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:00.480 So Prime Minister Louis de gear and four and Minister 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.080 Ludwig Manderstrom, they didn't buy it. 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:04.800 Okay, I'm with Louis. 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.840 But the Queen Mother Josephina, she's intrigued. She's like, hmmm, 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:09.919 was this her granddaughter? 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:12.920 Oh, she's like maybe I got ken. I don't know 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:14.720 about the queen before me. 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:16.359 Let me look at her as She's like, let's give 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:20.119 her an allowance and see how this plays. So she 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.840 mainly like and the king, King Charles the fifteenth, now. 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.040 Oh wow, he just wants the hub of to Yeah, 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.000 money is distracted from him. 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.280 This isn't the best story to be circulating, you know. 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.240 So Parliament asks him about her claims of being the 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:36.359 lost princess, and the King said he'd met with her 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.800 and quote by she's just as sane as you or me, which, like, 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:44.000 that's maybe not a ringing endorsement, depending on everyone's self 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:44.920 image exactly. 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.160 So it's also a very low bar declaring this question 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.200 of like did you father this child? Yeah, I'm telling you, 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:52.760 she's talking. I'm telling you. 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:56.120 So the King he grants the pension quote without being 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.760 able to prove the claims of miss de Labroch to 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.840 be truthful or merely claimed as a consequence of a 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:02.919 confused imagination. 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:04.560 So it's either I could have done it or she 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:06.520 could have made it up that then the door. 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.159 Opened like she could be a fraud, But hey, this 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:09.879 is fun, why not? Why ruin it? 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:11.760 You know the parlor games. 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:14.760 Remember how Gustav was exiled to Germany and then divorced 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:15.160 his wife. 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:16.080 Yes, I do remember that. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.600 So the story that Helga told the king was that 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:23.560 Gustav the fourth and Frederica of Baden remarried in secret 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:25.920 in a convent in Germany. 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:27.080 Best place to get married and see. 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.560 And then Helga gets born in eighteen twenty, after which 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.639 she was sent in secret, of course, to Sweden to 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.360 be raised by her aunt, Princess Sophia Albertine of Sweden. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.280 All of this secrecy was to keep her from being 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:44.920 named heir to the throne, and apparently Alexander the First 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.400 of Russia, who was Helda's uncle, had to pay money 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:50.920 from the estate of his mother to the children of 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:56.119 Gustav the fourth, So Alexander deposited three million reeks dollar 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:00.840 to cover the cost of raising and educating Helga. Really now, 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.760 a Russian naval squadron did show up in Stockholm's harbor 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:08.160 in eighteen thirty eight, and some say Alexander was on board. 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.800 In disguise to bring another three million weeks dollar for Helga. 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:14.520 Let's pause, let's gather our thoughts. 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:16.720 I'm so on the edge of my Helga, and when we. 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:42.439 Return, we'll hear more of Helga's story. Zaren Elizabeth Helga 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:47.080 de la Brosh Yes, yeah, aka Aurora Magduson. They're both 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:47.880 fantastic names. 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:48.000 Oh. 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.800 I love her name, especially the Magnuson one Magdison. 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:52.119 Yeah, yeah, that's like tough. 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:52.879 I like it. 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.400 She said she was the secret legitimate child of King 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.600 Gustav the fourth of Sweden, and that she'd been raised 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.600 by her aunt, Princess Sophia Albertine of Sweden. We know 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.840 this wasn't true, and others at the time suspected it 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:08.000 wasn't true, but a lot of people believed her story. 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:09.359 They want to. It's a fun story. 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.040 So what about Princess Sophia, That's what I'm going to 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.520 could they ask her? Yeah, well, the princess she passed 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.480 away in eighteen twenty nine, and we're in eighteen sixty 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:21.960 when this is all going down. Oh, Hellga's in her forties, so. 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:24.040 It's not even like a lady in waiting or a 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:27.040 nurse maid who could likely be drawn out all deed. Yea. 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.720 So Helga said that when Princess Sophia died that she 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:34.920 she Helga was taken to an insane asylum and a child. 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:37.359 Well yeah, because she would have been pretty young. 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.040 Right nine years old, and then if she tried to 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:42.320 tell people who she really was, they just say she 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:44.280 was crazyow so that. 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:46.000 She was like the woman in the Iron Mask, but 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:47.840 the Iron Mask was in insane asylum. 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.399 So she's like fourteen, eighteen thirty four, She's like, I 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:52.719 got out of the asylum. But then they sent her 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.440 to Baden to live under house arrest with her family there. 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:58.840 And then in eighteen thirty seven she read about the 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.119 death of her father the hang in the paper and 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:04.119 she lost it. This is her story, Yeah, this is 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.560 her story. She's just overcome with grief. She's so torn 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:09.080 up about it that she gets tossed in an insane 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:12.640 asylum again. Yeah. And then this is, of course, according 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:15.320 to her, a way to keep her identity secret. Everyone's like, oh, 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:17.600 she's going to talk. Put her in the insane asylum. 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:19.160 Who's under our course? 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:20.280 And who's they in this? 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:22.679 I don't know, Shadowliabeth. 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:24.840 It was well, I mean she's saying, it's like the 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.399 family in Baden, like, I guess her mom's folks who 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:28.400 want this all hush. 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:30.800 Hush, but whatever, the powers that be will say yeah, exactly. 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:33.879 So she said she was able to escape from the 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:37.600 asylum and she was on her own, surviving on the 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:40.920 kindness of others, those who believed her story. Her grandma's 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:44.280 family in Germany gave her a yearly pension, according to her, 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:46.119 but that all stopped in eighteen fifty. 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:49.040 Huh did they run out of money? Someone die, I'm 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:51.880 not carrying an She's like, the stop. 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:56.160 Cashing exactly, and then there she was. She owed people 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:58.520 all this money that they'd fronted her over the years, 0:21:58.680 --> 0:22:00.680 and she was forced to live like a pauper, which 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:01.399 is just gross. 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:03.720 I mean, have you seen the food. 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.200 Yeah, So she's begging the government for a pension and like, 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:09.240 but she's like, I really need a pension, but it 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:12.640 can't be smaller than five thousand or six thousand Swedish 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:13.600 Rick Stoller. 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.159 I've become accustomed to a start and oh completely, anything 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:17.200 else would be insulting. 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:21.879 So people throughout Sweden and Finland believed her story and 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:25.720 people gave her money aside from any government assistance. They're like, oh, here, 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:26.320 please take. 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:28.879 Just Swedish kickstarter. Yeah, okay, and so. 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:32.000 Plus her best pal, Henrika. She was from a rich 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:36.560 family and she's well educated, and so that gave her credibility. Yeah, 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:37.880 so she's like, oh she's hanging around. 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:40.920 Yeah, she's got a good friend. Of course they would 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:42.920 know each other exactly, private school or whatever. 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:43.320 Yeah. 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:46.840 So Helga, she's a great actress. She's all wide eyed 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:50.840 and like blink, blank eyes, I'm new here, disarming. Yeah, 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:54.600 she's just telling her simple story. She came across as 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:58.080 really pure naive. People didn't think she had it in 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:01.560 her to tell this sort of wap, and she didn't 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:03.920 seem insane, something like it had to be true. Yeah, 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:07.600 but like, why couldn't this just be verified with Gustav. 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:09.760 That's what I'm saying. Well, there's anyone in the family close. 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:12.600 Anyone in the family. Okay, so Gustav's dead, but all 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:17.440 contact with the deposed former dynasty in Excite was forbidden 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:19.240 after the coup of eighteen oh nine. 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:20.399 Talk to him. 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:22.360 There was no way the pres could get in touch 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:25.480 and ask the right questions. They'd be breaking the lawn. Apparently, 0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:28.119 no one wanted to do that. In March of eighteen 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:31.320 sixty one, the king awarded Helga an annual pension of 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:33.720 twenty four hundred Swedish ricks dollar per year. 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:35.960 Wow, I have no Ideama lowballing her. 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:38.440 Remember she wanted five to six k, but they're like, 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:41.040 we'll give you twenty four hundred. But they also gave 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:44.639 her a house and like furnishings befitting a princess. Well, 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:47.320 then come on, now, I imagine like a very nineteen 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:51.240 eighties four poster bed with like frilly lace canopy and 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:55.800 a dresser with like super cheap gold ornate detailing and 0:23:55.920 --> 0:24:00.159 a Garfield pillow, and then like a Pikachu squish. 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:02.439 In a day bet on the sidewall, and a poster of. 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:05.960 A Korean boy band, whichever was the most popular in 0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:10.199 the eighteen sixties for a forty year old woman. Eighteen 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:15.280 sixty eight, the author Auguste Blanche and then Captain Julius Mancow. 0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:18.200 For whatever reason, these two got together and they petitioned 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:21.800 for her pension to be increased. What yeah, and it was, 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:25.919 why is she like? I don't know, They're like, she's awesome, 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:26.640 give her more money? 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:29.040 They come on, she deserves better than this. Was she 0:24:29.320 --> 0:24:29.960 like working them? 0:24:30.080 --> 0:24:31.960 Well, she was really good at spending money. 0:24:32.080 --> 0:24:32.720 I bet you won. 0:24:32.840 --> 0:24:35.360 So the pension was raised the next year in order 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:37.800 to bail out some of her money troubles. She's like, you, guys, 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:40.600 I just don't there's not I really wish that spending 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:42.960 habits were what dictated your salary. 0:24:43.720 --> 0:24:46.840 How would that work? And that's what's going on with her. Yes, 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:48.280 but it will not work, I know. 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:50.679 But like, let's just say, wouldn't that be amazing. 0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:53.280 That's kind of incentivizing people to spend as much as 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:55.280 they can, right? You just know, you just let them 0:24:55.320 --> 0:24:57.719 live like on their like just so you see how 0:24:57.800 --> 0:24:58.639 they want to live. 0:24:58.880 --> 0:25:00.800 Live like you want for a and then we'll give 0:25:00.800 --> 0:25:02.520 you whatever salary accommodates that. 0:25:02.760 --> 0:25:04.280 I will say that you're onto something there because we 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:06.840 found a lot of people need a lot less to 0:25:06.920 --> 0:25:08.800 be happy, and there is a certain amount or whatever. 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:10.320 It's always moving around, but it's like you get to 0:25:10.320 --> 0:25:11.879 a certain amount and you really don't need any more 0:25:11.920 --> 0:25:14.359 money and you're happy because of all the conditions that 0:25:14.960 --> 0:25:15.840 allow you to be out. 0:25:15.920 --> 0:25:19.040 I think that's a good way. I think spend like 0:25:19.440 --> 0:25:21.600 you can and then we'll see how much that is. 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:23.760 I do believe in a universal basic income. I don't 0:25:23.760 --> 0:25:25.560 know if a universal basic credit card. 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:29.320 Will work, but I do like you're the shot, so 0:25:29.720 --> 0:25:32.159 hell go. Well her story couldn't be verified for a 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:35.240 time by anyone, it was still a really great story. 0:25:35.840 --> 0:25:36.320 I'm loving it. 0:25:36.440 --> 0:25:40.240 People loved it, especially other like nobility and rich folks. 0:25:40.240 --> 0:25:41.600 Oh yeah, it makes them all sound more interesting. 0:25:41.640 --> 0:25:44.000 And they saw her pension is like proof of her story. 0:25:44.200 --> 0:25:47.240 So she's she's in the government wouldn't give her money 0:25:47.320 --> 0:25:50.240 for being royal if she wasn't a royal right there? 0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:52.520 And then so the swells they kicked her down a 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:55.000 lot of cash too. It was like this ongoing gofund 0:25:55.080 --> 0:25:57.639 me where she's just like, I just you guys, have 0:25:57.760 --> 0:26:00.560 you given the mon I'm a princess, Like, oh, here's 0:26:00.560 --> 0:26:03.040 you're right, you're right here. So remember Charles the thirteenth, 0:26:03.040 --> 0:26:05.119 the one who came after Gustav. 0:26:04.680 --> 0:26:06.400 The fourth, yes, two before the fifteenth. 0:26:06.600 --> 0:26:11.000 After him was Charles the fourteenth, and Charles the fourteenth 0:26:11.080 --> 0:26:13.920 reign from eighteen eighteen to eighteen forty four. 0:26:14.119 --> 0:26:14.840 Wow, good rain. 0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:18.639 And then after him, not Charles the sixteenth, Oscar the. 0:26:18.680 --> 0:26:20.640 First imagining a short reign. 0:26:20.760 --> 0:26:23.720 Yeah. So he was king from eighteen forty four to 0:26:23.760 --> 0:26:25.440 eighteen fifty nine, and then he died. 0:26:25.520 --> 0:26:28.200 But then I thought he died, that's what happens for kings. 0:26:28.359 --> 0:26:31.280 So then Charles the fifteenth took the throne and he 0:26:31.520 --> 0:26:33.520 was king when all of this is going down. 0:26:33.680 --> 0:26:34.880 Okay, he's the king on the scene. 0:26:35.000 --> 0:26:37.520 Yeah, but then there's Oscar the First's wife. 0:26:38.560 --> 0:26:39.680 She's just still in the scene, Okay. 0:26:39.960 --> 0:26:43.520 Josephine of Luxemburg, she was still alive, and that made 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:48.000 her the Queen Dowager. Okay, So Josephine. She became one 0:26:48.040 --> 0:26:52.120 of Helga's benefactors, and Josephine sent money, like a lot 0:26:52.720 --> 0:26:53.679 of money to Helga. 0:26:54.080 --> 0:26:56.000 Was she like an agent of chaos where she can 0:26:56.160 --> 0:26:58.000 kind of knew and she's wanted to her keep it going? 0:26:58.119 --> 0:26:59.200 Or do you think she actually liked her? No, I 0:26:59.240 --> 0:26:59.960 think she really liked it. 0:27:00.240 --> 0:27:02.480 She's like, she's one of us here, how's a marcash? 0:27:03.400 --> 0:27:05.680 And so she sent it via this agent of hers, 0:27:06.160 --> 0:27:11.119 mister Norby, tens of thousands given to Helga, and Norby 0:27:11.280 --> 0:27:13.920 did what Josephine asked, but he was like starting to 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:17.520 doubt Helga's stories and he wanted the truth. He didn't 0:27:17.560 --> 0:27:21.320 hire a private eye. He became one. Oh yes, Saren, 0:27:21.760 --> 0:27:27.760 closed eyes. I want you to picture it. You are 0:27:27.840 --> 0:27:31.560 a maid at the home of Henrika Aspriggan's sister Sissy, 0:27:32.280 --> 0:27:35.600 in Turku, Finland. She's a lovely woman and a great boss. 0:27:35.640 --> 0:27:38.080 Super chill. The other day she got a letter from 0:27:38.119 --> 0:27:40.040 a guy in Stockholm who said he was an agent 0:27:40.119 --> 0:27:42.719 of the Queen Dowager of Sweden. He said he had 0:27:42.760 --> 0:27:44.879 a delicate matter to discuss and wanted to pay her 0:27:44.880 --> 0:27:47.320 a visit. She sent back word that she'd loved to 0:27:47.359 --> 0:27:48.879 meet with him, but she had no idea what he 0:27:48.960 --> 0:27:51.760 must want. It was the early afternoon when the butler 0:27:51.880 --> 0:27:54.639 let the gentleman into the house. The weather is delightful. 0:27:55.200 --> 0:27:58.360 It's sunny and unseasonably warm. You have the windows open 0:27:58.440 --> 0:28:00.240 and you can hear the old lady next door playing 0:28:00.280 --> 0:28:03.640 the piano. Sissy looks at you with raised eyebrows when 0:28:03.640 --> 0:28:05.600 he enters the room. You put a plate of ham 0:28:05.720 --> 0:28:08.720 and cucumber sandwiches on the sideboard, wink at Sissy and 0:28:08.760 --> 0:28:10.639 adjust the lush tea setting. On your way out of 0:28:10.680 --> 0:28:13.080 the room, you go around the corner to the hallway 0:28:13.119 --> 0:28:15.359 to the kitchen. You'd take a seat leaning toward the 0:28:15.400 --> 0:28:17.480 parlor to try and get a listen to the conversation. 0:28:18.400 --> 0:28:21.000 The man introduces himself and says he has some questions 0:28:21.000 --> 0:28:25.719 about Henrika. Ah, Henrika, you've heard all the stories about her. 0:28:25.800 --> 0:28:27.960 This is going to be good. What does an agent 0:28:28.040 --> 0:28:31.600 of the Dowager Queen want with her? He asks Sissy 0:28:31.680 --> 0:28:35.920 if she knows anything about Henrika's companion Helga. You mean Aurora, 0:28:36.440 --> 0:28:39.960 asks Cissy. The man's eyes widen. A cuckoo clock on 0:28:40.040 --> 0:28:43.600 the wall chimes two. Sissy proceeds to tell him all 0:28:43.640 --> 0:28:47.200 about Aurora and that she expected that one day she'd 0:28:47.320 --> 0:28:50.360 have to tell this story. Rora was born poor and 0:28:50.440 --> 0:28:53.000 always tried to say she was royalty. Sissy saw right 0:28:53.080 --> 0:28:56.720 through her. Her sister Henrika did not. She fell for 0:28:56.840 --> 0:29:00.000 the story. The man takes copious notes as Cissy gets 0:29:00.160 --> 0:29:02.920 them all the details. No, she hasn't really followed the 0:29:02.960 --> 0:29:07.000 stories about Helga and ney Aurora. It just seemed too silly. No, 0:29:07.240 --> 0:29:10.360 she hadn't talked to Henrika in ages. The man stands 0:29:10.440 --> 0:29:12.720 to see himself out and thanks Sissy for her time. 0:29:13.240 --> 0:29:15.160 His knee catches the corner of the tea tray and 0:29:15.240 --> 0:29:18.360 sends it crashed into the ground. No worries, says sissy. 0:29:18.680 --> 0:29:20.480 She shows him out and then comes around the corner 0:29:20.560 --> 0:29:22.320 to ask if you caught it all and dish about 0:29:22.320 --> 0:29:24.840 how wild this all is. You laugh and go get 0:29:24.880 --> 0:29:27.280 some rags him up up the tea and fragments of China. 0:29:27.440 --> 0:29:33.040 What a day. So, with this interview of Henrika's sister 0:29:33.160 --> 0:29:36.760 out of the way, Norby went even closer to the source. 0:29:37.360 --> 0:29:41.000 He made contact with Prince Vasa of Germany. This is 0:29:41.080 --> 0:29:42.600 Gustav the fourth son. 0:29:43.320 --> 0:29:43.560 Ah. 0:29:44.000 --> 0:29:46.440 Yeah, so I don't know if this is legal or 0:29:46.520 --> 0:29:47.440 not for him to reach. 0:29:47.360 --> 0:29:48.720 Out to the guys, and it would make it his 0:29:48.840 --> 0:29:49.960 sister if it was legit. 0:29:50.120 --> 0:29:51.960 Yeah, okay, so he did, he reaches out. 0:29:52.000 --> 0:29:55.320 I don't know, I don't care. Yeah, I want the truth. 0:29:55.520 --> 0:29:58.440 So the Prince says, there's absolutely no chance that this 0:29:58.640 --> 0:30:01.600 is his sister, or his half sister or anything else. 0:30:01.920 --> 0:30:05.360 His parents never reunited and his dad died alone. 0:30:05.320 --> 0:30:07.480 And he knows that for a thund knows he got weird. 0:30:07.920 --> 0:30:09.840 Trust me, no one wanted to be around that guy. 0:30:10.160 --> 0:30:14.600 I was like, so Norby, he's like very interesting and 0:30:14.720 --> 0:30:17.560 adds it to his little dossier. Then he scours the 0:30:17.720 --> 0:30:20.720 church records with all these new leads until he's able 0:30:20.760 --> 0:30:23.880 to complete a full dossier on how Helga is a 0:30:24.040 --> 0:30:24.720 big phony. 0:30:24.880 --> 0:30:26.720 I love the church records gallery. 0:30:26.560 --> 0:30:29.560 Yeah, everything. So then he takes his little manifesto to 0:30:29.680 --> 0:30:33.040 the government and an investigation is open. I mean, like 0:30:33.320 --> 0:30:35.920 Norby did all the heavy lifting, but whatever. They're like, oh, 0:30:35.960 --> 0:30:39.640 an investigation. Here, we have this report. February seventh, eighteen 0:30:39.800 --> 0:30:43.640 seventy the results of the investigation were published and Helga 0:30:44.160 --> 0:30:48.200 was publicly exposed as a fraud. Six weeks later, the 0:30:48.280 --> 0:30:49.719 government stopped her pension. 0:30:50.120 --> 0:30:51.680 Six weeks that. 0:30:54.080 --> 0:30:57.400 They noted that quote all uncertainty regarding the birth of 0:30:57.520 --> 0:31:01.080 the so called Helga dela Broch is now raced, and 0:31:01.480 --> 0:31:04.760 Helga de la Broch officially declared to be identical to 0:31:04.920 --> 0:31:06.080 Aurora Florentina. 0:31:06.200 --> 0:31:09.880 Magnuson, Oh, Helga, boom, all went up in her face. 0:31:10.040 --> 0:31:12.360 Let's take a break. When we come back, we're gonna 0:31:12.400 --> 0:31:13.520 see how this all shakes. 0:31:13.280 --> 0:31:35.760 Out totally, Zarenbarren. 0:31:36.120 --> 0:31:38.520 All right, So we have Helga de la Brosch. 0:31:38.440 --> 0:31:40.760 Yes, Helga Helga, who. 0:31:40.960 --> 0:31:45.520 Has now been exposed as Aurora Florentina Magnuson, a very 0:31:45.640 --> 0:31:48.800 much non royal person, but a great name, great name. 0:31:49.200 --> 0:31:52.520 Helga was not charged with fraud for the whole pension thing. Really, 0:31:52.600 --> 0:31:53.440 they just cut her off. 0:31:53.920 --> 0:31:58.720 They wanted the newspaper no more, no more embarrassing the crown. 0:31:58.920 --> 0:32:02.400 After she's she goes to the Foreign Office and at 0:32:02.440 --> 0:32:04.760 one point she said, quote you think then that I 0:32:04.880 --> 0:32:08.880 am an impostor, And the general at the Foreign Office said, quote, 0:32:09.000 --> 0:32:10.440 I don't think so, I'm sure of it. 0:32:11.560 --> 0:32:13.520 I'm imagining all this outing like the Swedish chef. 0:32:13.720 --> 0:32:16.000 And then they said that she left quote looking more 0:32:16.120 --> 0:32:19.480 like a bad tempered woman found out than an offended princess. 0:32:19.640 --> 0:32:22.520 So the dewey eyed girl is now suddenly hard as feelia. 0:32:22.760 --> 0:32:24.080 Yeah, she's like, what would give. 0:32:23.960 --> 0:32:25.600 Me my money? And where's my money? Money? 0:32:26.320 --> 0:32:26.840 I got you? 0:32:27.560 --> 0:32:31.240 So I'm not sure what happened between eighteen seventy and 0:32:31.360 --> 0:32:32.560 eighteen seventy six. 0:32:32.800 --> 0:32:33.120 Uh huh. 0:32:34.080 --> 0:32:36.480 Here's my speculation. I think that the pension was cut 0:32:36.640 --> 0:32:39.600 quietly in order to save face for a lot of people. Sure, 0:32:40.080 --> 0:32:42.560 and like she stayed mum about it. How she was living, 0:32:42.600 --> 0:32:46.240 who knows. But in eighteen seventy six, six years after 0:32:46.320 --> 0:32:49.560 the government learned who she was and stopped paying her 0:32:49.640 --> 0:32:53.920 for being nobility, like the public at large found out 0:32:53.960 --> 0:32:54.280 about it. 0:32:54.760 --> 0:32:57.160 Wait, so it didn't hit the newspapers at first, No, no, no, 0:32:57.480 --> 0:33:00.760 I was comically exposed, but it was like the y 0:33:01.000 --> 0:33:03.560 in the royal courts, but not in the newspaper. 0:33:03.720 --> 0:33:07.280 Years. Then the public really finds out whoa and they 0:33:07.400 --> 0:33:10.800 go nuts and so how the call on that way? 0:33:10.920 --> 0:33:13.960 She gets arrested and she gets charged not with defrauding 0:33:14.000 --> 0:33:15.080 the government of all that money? 0:33:15.120 --> 0:33:18.240 Do you think she doubled in the secrety like shadowy 0:33:18.320 --> 0:33:20.600 area of the royal courts, Like she's still hanging around 0:33:20.680 --> 0:33:23.720 somehow trying to and then she messes up the wrong person. 0:33:23.800 --> 0:33:25.760 They're like, oh, you know, I know someone at the paper. Yeah, 0:33:25.760 --> 0:33:26.760 we're getting rid of this for good. 0:33:26.840 --> 0:33:27.440 I totally think. 0:33:27.520 --> 0:33:27.560 So. 0:33:27.800 --> 0:33:28.440 Oh interesting. 0:33:28.560 --> 0:33:31.120 So she gets arrested and charged with Like they didn't 0:33:31.160 --> 0:33:32.360 charge her with defrauding the government. 0:33:32.440 --> 0:33:32.600 Huh. 0:33:33.400 --> 0:33:37.120 She's charged with registering herself under a false name and 0:33:37.280 --> 0:33:40.200 year of birth and charged with not paying taxes in 0:33:40.280 --> 0:33:40.760 her real. 0:33:40.800 --> 0:33:42.120 Oh the compone style. 0:33:42.760 --> 0:33:45.680 The trial is a corker. Yes, it came out that 0:33:45.840 --> 0:33:47.920 Helga had taken on the name of a girl about 0:33:47.960 --> 0:33:50.360 her age, who had died or was otherwise like missing. 0:33:50.480 --> 0:33:52.040 She did the classic I doesn't. 0:33:51.840 --> 0:33:56.000 Say, classic move, Wow, classic move. According to a testimony 0:33:56.040 --> 0:33:59.360 in eighteen seventy seven by a member of parliament av Ure, 0:34:00.240 --> 0:34:03.640 Helga's two actual sisters told him that their sister had 0:34:03.720 --> 0:34:07.160 drowned on purpose, and they'd written to their mother asking 0:34:07.200 --> 0:34:10.279 her not to tell anyone how their sister died. And 0:34:10.440 --> 0:34:13.319 they believed this, and they said it happened on June ninth, 0:34:13.440 --> 0:34:16.800 eighteen forty two, when the body of an unknown woman 0:34:17.239 --> 0:34:20.440 was taken to the local mortuary having drowned, and Helga 0:34:20.520 --> 0:34:23.680 made it seem like it was her, and she fooled 0:34:23.680 --> 0:34:26.960 her sisters and her mom into thinking the very same. Now, 0:34:27.120 --> 0:34:29.279 Norby went and interviewed one of the sisters and she 0:34:29.520 --> 0:34:30.759 was like, well, let me tell you the whole story. 0:34:30.960 --> 0:34:32.040 We didn't quite fully believe it. 0:34:32.200 --> 0:34:34.560 So, but that was not one of Helga's sisters. That 0:34:34.680 --> 0:34:36.240 was one of Henrika's sisters. 0:34:36.520 --> 0:34:38.279 Oh, okay, keep that in mind. 0:34:39.040 --> 0:34:43.480 So her, but Helga's family thinks she's taken her own 0:34:43.480 --> 0:34:46.680 this gone. Yeah, And so the problem is that here's 0:34:46.719 --> 0:34:49.400 the problem. So she makes it look like she drowned 0:34:50.280 --> 0:34:52.920 and with an insinuation that she did it to herself. 0:34:53.440 --> 0:34:57.440 The problem is that Aurora Florentine and Magnuson wrote a 0:34:57.600 --> 0:35:00.680 church book note on September twenty second, eighteen ten forty four, 0:35:00.760 --> 0:35:02.920 when she was supposed to have died June ninth, eighteen 0:35:03.040 --> 0:35:06.120 forty two. So she writes in there and then remember 0:35:06.440 --> 0:35:09.120 eighteen forty four, that's when she applied for the passport 0:35:09.160 --> 0:35:11.000 in her new name. But it's said that she used 0:35:11.000 --> 0:35:11.520 to be a roar. 0:35:11.640 --> 0:35:13.960 Yeah, so she waited to way too long, way too long, 0:35:14.480 --> 0:35:17.480 so she got the order backwards that you get the passport. 0:35:17.080 --> 0:35:20.040 Then you go and yeah, so Helga, well, I mean, 0:35:20.080 --> 0:35:21.520 why do you even have to say what you're I mean, 0:35:21.560 --> 0:35:23.880 I guess you have to say that you changed some paperwork. 0:35:24.000 --> 0:35:27.759 I don't know. Helga had this like convoluted explanation for 0:35:27.840 --> 0:35:31.319 this in court, that the church book note was falsified 0:35:31.520 --> 0:35:34.520 and there was like some intrigue about a priest protecting. 0:35:34.160 --> 0:35:38.160 The king, oh good, and always throwing dir covering things up. 0:35:38.200 --> 0:35:40.040 But oh, I love this. 0:35:40.480 --> 0:35:42.600 I don't understand what she was talking about. And I'm 0:35:42.600 --> 0:35:44.680 not even going to give you the quote because the 0:35:44.840 --> 0:35:47.080 quote is like, you know, you think that your brain 0:35:47.200 --> 0:35:51.399 starts circuiting. On March second, eighteen seventy seven, Helda gets 0:35:51.440 --> 0:35:54.920 found guilty of registering herself under a false name, a 0:35:55.000 --> 0:35:58.080 false year of birth, and for not tax registering herself 0:35:58.120 --> 0:36:01.640 for the year of eighteen seventy seven year. They gave 0:36:01.680 --> 0:36:03.520 her a fine, but she didn't have to do anything, okay. 0:36:03.960 --> 0:36:06.439 So she and Henrika they lived together in this little 0:36:06.440 --> 0:36:09.239 apartment that some supporter was paying for. So she still 0:36:09.280 --> 0:36:12.040 had people who believed in her, and they kept to themselves. 0:36:12.080 --> 0:36:13.759 They didn't go out much. They had a very sort 0:36:13.800 --> 0:36:17.000 of proto COVID lockdown thing going, okay, Like when they 0:36:17.120 --> 0:36:19.200 left the apartment it was to go for a walk 0:36:19.239 --> 0:36:21.680 in a big park. They had all their food delivered 0:36:21.719 --> 0:36:24.840 in huh. So then on November twenty did just to. 0:36:24.840 --> 0:36:26.640 Avoid the public as anyone recognized her. 0:36:26.760 --> 0:36:30.879 Yeah. Yeah, And November twentieth, eighteen seventy eight, Helga brought 0:36:30.920 --> 0:36:35.400 an action against the Fiscal Office and King Oscar. She 0:36:35.520 --> 0:36:36.800 said that they owed her money. 0:36:37.280 --> 0:36:38.080 Where's my check? 0:36:38.200 --> 0:36:41.160 Yeah, In fact, they owed her all the money she 0:36:41.200 --> 0:36:43.640 should have gotten since eighteen seventy when they cut her off. 0:36:43.840 --> 0:36:44.880 Okay, of course, why not? 0:36:45.000 --> 0:36:48.360 Yeah, eight years worth of pension all of my background, 0:36:48.360 --> 0:36:51.239 and her lawyers asked the court to order that the 0:36:51.280 --> 0:36:54.799 Fiscal Office and then King King Oscar, under pain of execution, 0:36:55.960 --> 0:36:56.959 pay Helga. 0:36:57.040 --> 0:37:00.239 Under pain of execution. Terrence Howard trying to get honey 0:37:00.239 --> 0:37:02.680 he's owed by his old agency. You only one hundred 0:37:02.680 --> 0:37:04.360 and thirty million dollars I cut a made. You're like, 0:37:04.400 --> 0:37:04.840 what do you do? 0:37:04.960 --> 0:37:06.480 You understand how she wants the whole thing. 0:37:06.520 --> 0:37:08.360 I'm going to kill the king. I don't get my money. 0:37:08.160 --> 0:37:11.400 Twenty twenty seven thousand, and I don't know if they 0:37:11.480 --> 0:37:15.000 put interest on that or it's just interest. Obviously, the 0:37:15.080 --> 0:37:17.720 Crown and the government told him to kick Rocks because 0:37:17.719 --> 0:37:20.120 it was proven that Hellgo wasn't who she said she. 0:37:20.200 --> 0:37:21.160 Was, and no one had forgotten. 0:37:21.320 --> 0:37:24.640 Case gets thrown out eighteen eighty four. King Oscar the 0:37:24.719 --> 0:37:28.080 Second saw Helga and Henrika. He's like looks out the 0:37:28.120 --> 0:37:31.040 window and he sees him walking in the gardens of 0:37:31.320 --> 0:37:32.600 Drotting Home palace. 0:37:32.760 --> 0:37:34.239 So there's like walking back and forth inro front of 0:37:34.320 --> 0:37:34.640 his window. 0:37:34.760 --> 0:37:37.239 They're like walking around like do to do as if 0:37:37.280 --> 0:37:38.040 they own the place. 0:37:38.280 --> 0:37:40.640 Oh like that, uh huh oh, it's not even like 0:37:40.719 --> 0:37:41.480 public garden. 0:37:41.600 --> 0:37:43.840 No, no, no, this is the palace garden. Yeah, he 0:37:43.920 --> 0:37:45.480 looks at his bedroom windows. 0:37:45.600 --> 0:37:47.400 They are in his garden basically. 0:37:47.400 --> 0:37:49.799 Sniffing flowers and cutting them, and oh isn't this lovely? 0:37:49.840 --> 0:37:52.640 And he's like, oh, hell no, uh, set them girls 0:37:52.680 --> 0:37:53.360 away from my roses. 0:37:53.480 --> 0:37:55.520 He's like, she's not going to pull this again and 0:37:55.640 --> 0:37:58.400 go for like squatters rights or something. That he's getting nervous, 0:37:59.000 --> 0:38:01.360 so he has the guards like rush out there and 0:38:01.520 --> 0:38:04.120 escort them out. And like this brush with authorities really 0:38:04.200 --> 0:38:07.120 spooked the ladies. So they moved to a new apartment 0:38:07.200 --> 0:38:08.920 and tried to lay low again. It was like they 0:38:08.960 --> 0:38:10.200 got a little too much confidence. 0:38:10.200 --> 0:38:11.160 Do you think they got ruffed up? 0:38:11.760 --> 0:38:15.360 I think so, yeah. I think they were, like, you know, 0:38:15.840 --> 0:38:18.239 they raised a fist at them. So the thing is like, 0:38:18.800 --> 0:38:22.640 at this point, Helga believes her story. She doesn't even 0:38:22.680 --> 0:38:26.040 think she's conning anymore at this point. Yeah, And so 0:38:26.320 --> 0:38:29.359 in fact, I'm not really sure when it became her 0:38:29.440 --> 0:38:32.239 reality and not a con but at this point she 0:38:32.400 --> 0:38:35.600 believes the story one hundred percent. She's like positive that 0:38:35.719 --> 0:38:38.880 she's the king's daughter. She carried herself like a princess, 0:38:39.120 --> 0:38:41.560 like one who had to face in dignities and soldier on. 0:38:42.640 --> 0:38:44.240 It could put upon princess. 0:38:43.960 --> 0:38:46.200 Totally, and she was sad. There was like this paul 0:38:46.280 --> 0:38:48.840 about her. But she held her head up and she 0:38:48.920 --> 0:38:51.520 didn't waver in her belief about her identity. 0:38:51.360 --> 0:38:52.439 The quiet dignity of the world. 0:38:52.640 --> 0:38:54.360 She carried that on all the way until the end 0:38:54.360 --> 0:38:56.800 of her life eighteen eighty five. She died at the 0:38:56.880 --> 0:39:01.400 age of sixty seven. So fourteen years. 0:39:01.200 --> 0:39:03.640 Later, I'm not done, Zarin, Are you kidding? 0:39:03.680 --> 0:39:06.840 Not done? Fourteen years later, on the cuspand of a 0:39:06.880 --> 0:39:10.480 New Century July ninth, eighteen ninety nine, the run socker 0:39:10.600 --> 0:39:16.400 end I said that wrong, political weekly published in Uppsala. 0:39:16.640 --> 0:39:21.480 Oh yeah, there, I told you, I told you it said. Quote. 0:39:21.960 --> 0:39:25.200 Gustaf the fourth Adolph, the last King of Sweden of 0:39:25.280 --> 0:39:29.040 the House of Wassa Vasa, who was dethroned May tenth, 0:39:29.160 --> 0:39:32.279 eighteen oh nine, was married October thirty first, seventeen ninety 0:39:32.360 --> 0:39:36.759 seven to Princess Fredrika of Baden. Three children resulted from 0:39:36.800 --> 0:39:39.920 the wedlock, Prince Gustav, who died as Field Marshal of 0:39:39.960 --> 0:39:44.080 the Austrian Army, Sophie Wilhelmina, Grand Duchess of Baden, who 0:39:44.160 --> 0:39:47.600 died July seventh, eighteen sixty five, and Cecilia, Grand Duchess 0:39:47.640 --> 0:39:51.279 of Oldenburg, who died January twenty seventh, eighteen forty four. 0:39:51.840 --> 0:39:55.120 The dethroned king was divorced from Frederica in eighteen twelve, 0:39:55.239 --> 0:39:58.680 and here begins what is either a romance or a 0:39:58.800 --> 0:39:59.960 dangerous state seeker? 0:40:00.040 --> 0:40:03.280 Great, this is official, this is in the paper. 0:40:03.480 --> 0:40:05.960 Yeah, and so then the article goes on to say 0:40:06.040 --> 0:40:10.640 that the then Swedish Crown Prince, who became Oscar the 0:40:10.719 --> 0:40:14.880 First told this guy named Professor Tornos to free Helga 0:40:15.560 --> 0:40:18.520 quote and the latter remained since then and until the 0:40:18.640 --> 0:40:22.120 death of her protector July eighth, eighteen fifty nine, unmolested 0:40:22.200 --> 0:40:24.680 in Stockholm and part of the time in Finland. So 0:40:24.800 --> 0:40:27.759 they're making this canon. They're like, this is this state 0:40:27.880 --> 0:40:30.640 secret and everyone covered it up, and here's the truth 0:40:30.800 --> 0:40:35.040 why they said that. Charles the fifteenth, Yeah, a successor 0:40:35.360 --> 0:40:39.760 you know of Charles the fourteenth, also paid Helga's pension 0:40:39.840 --> 0:40:42.560 until he got sick in eighteen seventy and that's why 0:40:42.640 --> 0:40:46.160 the payments ceased. So they're like, none of this thing 0:40:46.320 --> 0:40:49.160 with the research and the dossier. They wait, you know, no, 0:40:49.320 --> 0:40:49.960 that's all and. 0:40:50.000 --> 0:40:52.640 The investigation and then the courts and all that's out. 0:40:52.800 --> 0:40:55.919 Yeah, and they said that Swedish politicians made it look 0:40:56.040 --> 0:40:59.520 like Helga was a swindler who was under Russian protection. 0:41:00.000 --> 0:41:00.760 They blame the Russians. 0:41:00.760 --> 0:41:03.560 They blamed the Russian and then so they in the 0:41:03.640 --> 0:41:06.120 paper they're claiming that the Russians were asking for their 0:41:06.239 --> 0:41:09.560 money back and wanted payment for damages for the insults 0:41:09.600 --> 0:41:12.719 against Helga for not taking her at her word. What 0:41:13.200 --> 0:41:16.000 And they said that it was Sweden who caught her 0:41:16.080 --> 0:41:18.400 up in this web of espionage, not them, Like this 0:41:18.560 --> 0:41:20.279 is all coming out of left field. 0:41:20.200 --> 0:41:23.279 Is I'm assuming this is tied to imperial politics of 0:41:23.320 --> 0:41:23.640 the area. 0:41:23.719 --> 0:41:27.839 Yes, yes, okay, and so like this has not been 0:41:27.920 --> 0:41:31.200 brought up during her life exactly. So in nineteen oh nine, 0:41:31.880 --> 0:41:36.319 this politician, Pere August Johansen, he tries to clear Helga's name. 0:41:36.360 --> 0:41:39.320 He like wants the whole thing settled. No one does anything. 0:41:40.000 --> 0:41:42.239 So then the next year, the next year he comes 0:41:42.280 --> 0:41:44.400 out and he's like, Okay, the reason I want to 0:41:44.480 --> 0:41:47.000 do this, I'm Helga's grandson. 0:41:47.400 --> 0:41:48.840 No, we have another grifter. 0:41:49.040 --> 0:41:51.000 Well, and that's pretty amazing since it looks like she 0:41:51.200 --> 0:41:51.880 never had children. 0:41:51.960 --> 0:41:52.920 Yes, I don't remember anything. 0:41:52.960 --> 0:41:55.440 There are okay, there are some documents in Swedish. There 0:41:55.520 --> 0:41:58.080 was one document that I found that mentioned a pregnancy 0:41:58.200 --> 0:42:01.440 in her early years, but the context in the translation 0:42:01.680 --> 0:42:04.040 led me to believe that it meant her birth, not 0:42:04.160 --> 0:42:06.520 the birth of a child. Ah and like, because you 0:42:06.600 --> 0:42:09.160 know how translation goes gets at times. Yeah, and this 0:42:09.320 --> 0:42:11.160 is the only time I saw anything with like a 0:42:11.280 --> 0:42:12.560 close mention of it. 0:42:13.239 --> 0:42:13.399 Yeah. 0:42:13.440 --> 0:42:15.480 There were no men in her life, you know, So 0:42:15.600 --> 0:42:18.040 I think this is just a fellow grifter. And so 0:42:18.239 --> 0:42:22.520 Johansen said he wanted one point two five million krona 0:42:22.920 --> 0:42:24.360 from the Swedish royal family. 0:42:24.560 --> 0:42:25.879 He's going big, don't we all? 0:42:27.280 --> 0:42:29.600 He said, The royal family also had to fork over 0:42:29.800 --> 0:42:32.840 four letters that Helga gave the royal family in eighteen 0:42:32.920 --> 0:42:33.359 forty two. 0:42:33.440 --> 0:42:34.239 How did you know about that? 0:42:34.800 --> 0:42:39.239 Well, it's his grandmother. So what's with the one point 0:42:39.320 --> 0:42:44.840 twenty five Yeah, Johansen said, Helga never got the millions 0:42:44.920 --> 0:42:48.680 of reeks doaller that Czar Alexander the first brought for her. 0:42:49.480 --> 0:42:54.000 And apparently the letters, those four letters proved Johansen's title 0:42:54.120 --> 0:42:54.920 to the money. 0:42:54.760 --> 0:42:57.319 Okay, and that was the Russian money part. And maybe 0:42:57.400 --> 0:42:58.000 showedown my. 0:42:58.080 --> 0:43:00.719 Grandson and someday he's going to come out the woodwork 0:43:00.760 --> 0:43:01.600 and ask for this money. 0:43:01.680 --> 0:43:03.719 Give him his money, run him his check. 0:43:04.320 --> 0:43:07.320 Jo Hansen said the Russians paid the money to the 0:43:07.360 --> 0:43:10.319 Swedish royal family and that's where the pension money came 0:43:10.360 --> 0:43:13.120 from up until eighteen seventy and we want interest, but 0:43:13.280 --> 0:43:15.520 we have the whole other investigation that proved this sort 0:43:15.560 --> 0:43:18.840 of thing fault exactly. So there's this guy, Count von Rosen. 0:43:19.000 --> 0:43:22.000 He testified at the trial that he believed Helga to 0:43:22.080 --> 0:43:25.279 be sincere, stating, quote, if she did deceive, it was 0:43:25.320 --> 0:43:28.239 because she herself had been deceived. She had from her 0:43:28.280 --> 0:43:31.319 earliest childhood heard statements from which sprang the conviction till 0:43:31.360 --> 0:43:33.759 her dying hour that she was, in truth, the daughter 0:43:33.840 --> 0:43:36.120 of the king. So he's making it out like there 0:43:36.160 --> 0:43:39.840 were outside forces. Yeah, that she's part and she's not 0:43:40.120 --> 0:43:43.320 just from other like cons but like she's told this story, 0:43:45.160 --> 0:43:47.840 King Ostricar the second and others didn't believe there were 0:43:47.880 --> 0:43:50.400 any letters ever. They're just like, get out of here. 0:43:50.880 --> 0:43:55.279 Helga's landlady Maria Charlotte Nyberg said that during the last 0:43:55.400 --> 0:43:58.360 years of her life, Helga often talked about all the 0:43:58.480 --> 0:44:02.040 drama around her royal life, and that she once told 0:44:02.120 --> 0:44:04.839 Nyberg that of a meeting that she had with her 0:44:04.960 --> 0:44:08.880 father with Gustas around eighteen thirty on the island of 0:44:09.040 --> 0:44:12.440 Then in the Sound, during which she received from him 0:44:12.520 --> 0:44:15.920 letters regarding that one point twenty five million that was 0:44:16.040 --> 0:44:19.560 deposited in her interest with the Swedish royal family by 0:44:19.719 --> 0:44:24.920 the Russians. So whether the Landlady Nyberg was talking to Johansen, 0:44:24.960 --> 0:44:28.800 who's say so. The officials, they all continued to reject 0:44:28.840 --> 0:44:32.280 the claims of royal lineage. They brushed off Johansen. However, 0:44:32.440 --> 0:44:36.319 one member of the government testified that in nineteen oh 0:44:36.440 --> 0:44:40.440 one he spent three months in Stockholm interviewing high officials 0:44:40.480 --> 0:44:44.479 and members of parliament, including the Premier, Baron von Auter. 0:44:45.360 --> 0:44:48.400 Everyone he talked to assured him that Helga was who 0:44:48.520 --> 0:44:51.640 she claimed to be. The guy found out that Helga 0:44:51.880 --> 0:44:54.240 had been to the Royal Palace a bunch of times 0:44:54.760 --> 0:44:57.839 and that while she was there she was privately acknowledged 0:44:57.880 --> 0:45:00.920 to be of royal blood, and that oh the Russians 0:45:00.960 --> 0:45:03.279 also had given the royal family money and then it 0:45:03.320 --> 0:45:06.239 had been deposited and that was used to pay the pension. Sure. 0:45:06.320 --> 0:45:06.520 Yeah. 0:45:06.800 --> 0:45:11.080 So then in nineteen twenty four, Professor Karl Hollendorf he 0:45:11.239 --> 0:45:13.759 published a study where he said the whole thing had 0:45:13.760 --> 0:45:17.880 to be put in historical context. Apparently there were similar 0:45:18.040 --> 0:45:20.960 nineteenth century claims to royalty, and he said they were 0:45:21.000 --> 0:45:25.160 a product mainly of quote adventurous over excited imagination, which 0:45:25.160 --> 0:45:26.920 has hardened around a fixed idea. 0:45:27.360 --> 0:45:28.920 Oh interesting, I know there's a lot of stuff with 0:45:29.000 --> 0:45:30.839 the French and the Germans, where like all those little 0:45:30.880 --> 0:45:35.360 German baronies, and then obviously the French Revolution claim buddy 0:45:35.520 --> 0:45:37.239 and lost and faked, and then they're like, oh I 0:45:37.280 --> 0:45:38.920 found the paperwork and the right Wait a. 0:45:38.960 --> 0:45:41.480 Minute, exactly. So I mean humans do love royalty? 0:45:41.680 --> 0:45:43.160 Oh god do we some reasons? 0:45:43.239 --> 0:45:45.480 And you know we love a good story. Yeah, so, 0:45:45.840 --> 0:45:47.520 Zaren was your ridiculous takeaway. 0:45:47.880 --> 0:45:51.080 I don't love royalty, so all this stuff. I'm just like, 0:45:51.160 --> 0:45:53.480 I've never my sister, she's a royal watcher. She loves 0:45:53.520 --> 0:45:56.279 the stuff. A shout out mags. But you know, I know, 0:45:56.640 --> 0:45:58.680 not me. I don't even like it, like in my stories, 0:45:58.719 --> 0:46:00.520 Like if I'm watching a movie, I'm like, oh no, 0:46:00.680 --> 0:46:02.560 down with the king. I don't know why what about me? 0:46:02.680 --> 0:46:05.680 But I'm so much a proletariat of the people, like 0:46:06.080 --> 0:46:08.920 I just want them to I don't so all these 0:46:08.960 --> 0:46:11.160 stories I root for them, like any of these con 0:46:11.280 --> 0:46:13.560 artists to try to weasel their way in. I'm like, yeah, 0:46:13.640 --> 0:46:17.719 go on, Aurora, bilk them. I don't care, you know, 0:46:17.800 --> 0:46:19.520 Like I'm a little weird about how I root for 0:46:19.560 --> 0:46:22.040 these con artists. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It 0:46:22.120 --> 0:46:24.640 all comes down to really who their targets are and 0:46:24.719 --> 0:46:26.960 these people they're getting their entertainment. It seems like a 0:46:27.000 --> 0:46:29.200 fair exchange. They want to feel exciting and they want 0:46:29.200 --> 0:46:31.720 to feel like, oh people want to be in our circle. Boom, 0:46:31.760 --> 0:46:33.400 everyone's happy. I don't see a victim. 0:46:33.480 --> 0:46:33.960 I agree. 0:46:34.360 --> 0:46:37.120 Weezom girl, I agree. I'm with thers, Elizabeth. 0:46:39.120 --> 0:46:41.359 That's my takeaway. I say, you know, when it comes 0:46:41.440 --> 0:46:44.040 to like the royal families, they didn't they didn't earn 0:46:44.080 --> 0:46:44.520 that money. 0:46:44.719 --> 0:46:49.040 No, there's always there's always a great crime story totally. 0:46:49.920 --> 0:46:51.399 So you know what I do need? 0:46:51.520 --> 0:46:51.680 Though? 0:46:51.920 --> 0:46:53.480 What do you need? Elizabeth? Can I can I get it? 0:46:53.520 --> 0:47:00.560 Can I lift it? I need a talk bag's? Oh 0:47:00.719 --> 0:47:05.560 my god, I love. 0:47:05.520 --> 0:47:11.279 You, Hey, guys, just another rude dude here, just wanted 0:47:11.320 --> 0:47:13.360 to let you know that Horsey sauce is a mayonnaise 0:47:13.480 --> 0:47:16.600 based horse radish sauce. Not that good kind of spicy 0:47:16.640 --> 0:47:17.640 if you're into that kind of thing. 0:47:18.520 --> 0:47:19.960 How is that that's the. 0:47:22.400 --> 0:47:25.400 Oh it's a hmm okay, a horse radish. 0:47:25.760 --> 0:47:27.680 Yeah, I got that horse and then the mayonnaise. I 0:47:27.680 --> 0:47:30.000 guess it's just the bas sauce in this case. I 0:47:30.200 --> 0:47:31.319 like that I can get you to. 0:47:33.120 --> 0:47:33.640 Thank you for that. 0:47:34.400 --> 0:47:35.279 Thank you very much. 0:47:35.719 --> 0:47:38.279 That's it for today. You can find us online at 0:47:38.400 --> 0:47:42.000 ridiculous Crime dot com and we're also at Ridiculous Crime 0:47:42.080 --> 0:47:45.279 on Twitter and Instagram. Email. Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot 0:47:45.400 --> 0:47:49.960 com started off Dear Dave and then most importantly a 0:47:50.160 --> 0:47:53.759 number one download the iHeart app. Leave us a talk back, 0:47:53.960 --> 0:48:02.680 please reach out. 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