WEBVTT - All Germany Talking of It

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minkie. Listener discretion is advised.

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<v Speaker 1>In January of eighteen ninety one, a group of fifteen

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<v Speaker 1>prominent nobles and Prussian court elites left for Lynn by

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<v Speaker 1>sleigh ride for a weekend jaunt to Gruenwald castle in

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<v Speaker 1>the woods to the west of the city. They were

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<v Speaker 1>invited there by the Kaiser's sister, Princess Charlotte, and the

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<v Speaker 1>idea was that they would all go and have an

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<v Speaker 1>ice skating party before treating to the lodge for warm

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<v Speaker 1>drinks and general merriment. The party was a triumph, and

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<v Speaker 1>when the skating was over, the group congregated before the

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<v Speaker 1>fireplace at Gruenwald. Red nosed and frost bitten. They removed

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<v Speaker 1>their wet clothing and left them out to dry, and

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<v Speaker 1>then the attendants of the skating party found that they

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<v Speaker 1>could come up with a few fun ways of getting warm.

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<v Speaker 1>The day after they all arrived back at their homes,

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<v Speaker 1>every attendee of the skating trip to Gruenwald received a

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<v Speaker 1>letter in the mail. It had no return address and

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<v Speaker 1>no signature. The handwriting was strange. Someone writing in all

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<v Speaker 1>block letters to disguise their script or to make it

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<v Speaker 1>appear as though someone else was writing it. Each letter

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<v Speaker 1>contained terrible accusations about the person's conduct that evening at Gruenwald,

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<v Speaker 1>lurid sexual accusations, complete with detailed illustrations and pasted pornographic photographs.

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<v Speaker 1>The letters contained specific details and nicknames that only inner

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<v Speaker 1>members of the Kaiser circle could possibly know, and, to

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<v Speaker 1>make matters worse, the accusations were all true. It had

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<v Speaker 1>to have been someone who attended that scape party at Gruenwald,

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<v Speaker 1>but nobody knew who the letters were from. So began

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<v Speaker 1>a scandal that spanned four years, arrests but no finite answers.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a scandal that proves that pettiness and anonymous gossip

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<v Speaker 1>have been along far longer than tabloids and social media.

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<v Speaker 1>The story, which came to be known as the Kudzay

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<v Speaker 1>Affair after the man who was eventually arrested for the letters,

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<v Speaker 1>is a real life version, albeit an x rated one

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<v Speaker 1>of a Mrs Whistledown from Bridgton or the eponymous blog

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<v Speaker 1>from gossip Girl. These letters are our one and only

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<v Speaker 1>source into the lives of the Prussian elite, but the

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<v Speaker 1>consequences leveled in the letters and around the letters themselves

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<v Speaker 1>would eventually be deadly. I'm Danis Schwartz and this is

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<v Speaker 1>Noble Blood. As with any mystery, the first step is

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<v Speaker 1>to introduce the characters involved, or, depending on how you

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<v Speaker 1>look at it, at the suspects. There were fifteen people,

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<v Speaker 1>nine men and six women, who participated in by what

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<v Speaker 1>most accounts referred to as an orgy in which multiple

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<v Speaker 1>people were involved in a number of both hetero and

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<v Speaker 1>homosexual entanglements. But we'll get to those details a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit later. For now, let's just start with one of

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<v Speaker 1>the evening's attendees, Duke Ernst Gunther of Schleswig Holstein. Duke

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<v Speaker 1>Ernest Gunther had a bit of a reputation, to say

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<v Speaker 1>the least. He was nicknamed the Ram for his sexual

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<v Speaker 1>appetite like a ram in spring, and there's even a

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<v Speaker 1>story about the Duke losing one of his elite military medals,

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<v Speaker 1>the one that designated him as a Knight of the

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<v Speaker 1>Black Eagle, in the bed of a Berlin prostitute, who,

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<v Speaker 1>to her credit, took it to the police. Duke Ernst's sister, Augusta,

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<v Speaker 1>was married to Kaiser Wilhelm the Second, which made him

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<v Speaker 1>the Emperor's brother in law. Duke Ernst was married himself

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<v Speaker 1>to a highly connected princess, but that didn't stop the

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<v Speaker 1>Duke from his philandering ways. In fact, his high marriage

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<v Speaker 1>and the even higher marriage of his sister made the

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<v Speaker 1>Duke feel almost bulletproof. There seemed to be no act

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<v Speaker 1>of misbehavior that his money and power couldn't get him

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<v Speaker 1>out of. And a brief aside here for some noble

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<v Speaker 1>blood family tree connectivity. Duke Ernst Gunther's wife, Princess Dorothea,

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<v Speaker 1>was the daughter of Prince Philip of Saxe, Coburg and Gotha,

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<v Speaker 1>who had been one of the close friends of the

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<v Speaker 1>crown Prince Rudolph among the group who discovered his body

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<v Speaker 1>at Marylan and Princess Dorothea was also the granddaughter of

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<v Speaker 1>Leopold the second of Belgium, when we spoke about in

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<v Speaker 1>connection with his bloody genocidal practices in the Congo. But

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<v Speaker 1>back to the actual attendees of this notorious ice skating party,

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<v Speaker 1>there were of course present the Count and Countess von Hohen.

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<v Speaker 1>How the Count Friedrich von Hohen now was notorious for

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<v Speaker 1>his same sex dalliances but if anything, his wife was

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<v Speaker 1>even more notorious in Prussian society. The Countess, nicknamed Lutka,

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<v Speaker 1>was taller than her husband by at least ahead. She

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<v Speaker 1>was also his senior by four years, and in addition

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<v Speaker 1>to being taller than her husband, she was also sportier,

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<v Speaker 1>better at riding horses, and better at finding male lovers.

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<v Speaker 1>The Countess would count among her paramours the future Reich's Chancellor,

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<v Speaker 1>Max von Baden and Herbert von Bis, a social secretary

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<v Speaker 1>in the Foreign Ministry and one of the Countess's former lovers,

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<v Speaker 1>was also in attendance at the skating party. Friedrich Carl

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<v Speaker 1>von Hessen, whose affair with the Countess Hahn now ended

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<v Speaker 1>when he married the Emperor's younger sister, Marguerite, which made

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<v Speaker 1>Friedrich Carl von Hessen another of the Kaiser's brothers in law,

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<v Speaker 1>but the opposite way, which there should be a different

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<v Speaker 1>word for him being married to one of the Kaiser's sisters,

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<v Speaker 1>and not because the Kaiser was married to one of his.

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<v Speaker 1>All of this is to say it was an incredibly intimate,

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<v Speaker 1>connected and intertwined group of nobles who were at Grunwald.

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<v Speaker 1>But it wasn't just nobles at the party. There were

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<v Speaker 1>also a handful of prominent court bureaucrats, including lebre von Kotze,

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<v Speaker 1>the Chamberlain and Master of Ceremonies for the German Imperial Court.

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<v Speaker 1>His name Quotz, has the unfortunate distinction of translating into

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<v Speaker 1>the adjective form of the word puke in English, which

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<v Speaker 1>means that, if you, like me, are unable to speak

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<v Speaker 1>German and are forced to rely on Google Translate for

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<v Speaker 1>a number of primary sources, you will find that his

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<v Speaker 1>name liberal pon Kotze translates in English to write from vomit.

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<v Speaker 1>In the years prior to the notorious get together at

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<v Speaker 1>Gruenwald quotes his life was improving rapidly. He had married

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<v Speaker 1>a woman from an old Brandenburg noble family, and he

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<v Speaker 1>continued to excel in his position as Master of Ceremonies.

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<v Speaker 1>He had the close personal confidence of the Kaiser, and

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<v Speaker 1>even though he wasn't a born noble himself, he inadvertently

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<v Speaker 1>found himself closer to the inner circle of the court

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<v Speaker 1>than many men with more prominent births, including another of

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<v Speaker 1>Chamberlain and Master of Ceremony who also was attending the party,

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<v Speaker 1>a man named Carl von Schrader. Schrader, who had attended

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<v Speaker 1>with his wife, wasn't alone in his jealousy of Kotze,

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<v Speaker 1>but there was very little he could do other than

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<v Speaker 1>wait and hope that eventually quotes might fall out of

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<v Speaker 1>the Kaiser's favor. And then we round out our cast

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<v Speaker 1>of characters with the party's host, Princess Charlotte of Prussia,

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<v Speaker 1>the Kaiser's sister. By the end of the nineteenth century,

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<v Speaker 1>you probably would have been right if you guessed out

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<v Speaker 1>of thin air that any random European prince or princess

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<v Speaker 1>chosen at random was a descendant of Queen Victoria. Princess

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<v Speaker 1>Charlotte of Prussia was the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria's

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<v Speaker 1>oldest daughter, known as Vicky. From the time of the

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<v Speaker 1>Charlotte was born, she was a troublesome child, labeled over

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<v Speaker 1>and over as difficult. She was underweight, with a troublesome digestion,

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<v Speaker 1>and prone to screaming fits. Her mother, Vicki, wrote in

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<v Speaker 1>her diary that Charlotte's quote little mind seems almost too

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<v Speaker 1>active for her body. She is so nervous and sensitive

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<v Speaker 1>and so quick. Her sleep is not so sound as

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<v Speaker 1>it should be, and she is so very thin. Charlotte

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<v Speaker 1>also frequently tantrummed and bit her fingers. A letter to

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<v Speaker 1>Vicky from Queen Victoria read quote tell Charlotte, I was

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<v Speaker 1>appalled to hear of her biting things. Grandmama does not

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<v Speaker 1>like naughty little girls. Vicky did not go easy on

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<v Speaker 1>her daughter. Being difficult is one of the cardinal sins

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<v Speaker 1>of being a princess, and Charlotte suffered from another sin.

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<v Speaker 1>She was plain. Her thinness was just one of a

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<v Speaker 1>number of health is she she suffered from, including headaches

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<v Speaker 1>and insomnia. Charlotte was a mediocre student, without the ability

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<v Speaker 1>to focus on tasks for any extended period of time,

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<v Speaker 1>and by the time she was a teenager, her mother

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<v Speaker 1>just seemed to have had no idea of what to

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<v Speaker 1>do with her. What was there to do with this moody,

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<v Speaker 1>sullen daughter whose behavior would cycle wildly between depression and extraversion.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not a new phenomenon a distant relationship between a

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<v Speaker 1>teenage daughter and her mother, but it's not an easy

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<v Speaker 1>one either, and the two simply didn't get along. When

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<v Speaker 1>Charlotte socialized, she was flirtatious and a notorious gossip, causing trouble.

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<v Speaker 1>Just to see what she could get away with her mother.

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<v Speaker 1>Vickie wrote that Charlotte was quote a wheedling little kitten

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<v Speaker 1>who can be so loving whenever she wants something. As

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<v Speaker 1>soon as Charlee It turned sixteen, she became engaged to

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<v Speaker 1>the air of the Duchy of sax Mine Engine. The

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<v Speaker 1>quickness of the marriage reveals just how eager Charlotte was

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<v Speaker 1>to get out of her family's shadow, to be independent

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<v Speaker 1>and to play grown up, and most importantly, to escape

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<v Speaker 1>the constant needling of her critical mother. In adulthood, her

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<v Speaker 1>more salacious gossipy ways calmed down, but Charlotte was still

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<v Speaker 1>a bon vivant, a drinker and heavy smoker who seemed

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<v Speaker 1>to devote more attention to our parties than to her

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<v Speaker 1>only daughter. She was the perfect person to host a

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<v Speaker 1>simple winter weekend in the country that would inevitably lead

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<v Speaker 1>to debauchery. After the orgy at Grunwald, the letters started

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<v Speaker 1>to arrive. The letters were sent to everyone, addressing everyone

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<v Speaker 1>who had attended at the party in the cruelest and

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<v Speaker 1>most pornographic terms. Allied von Schrader, the wife of one

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<v Speaker 1>of the masters of ceremony. They said that she enjoyed

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<v Speaker 1>lesbian affairs and Prince Albert von Humpt He was a sodomite.

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<v Speaker 1>Even Prussian nobles who hadn't attended the gathering started to

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<v Speaker 1>get mentioned in the letters. Prince Alexander of Prussia seventy

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<v Speaker 1>four years old was accused of quote the most disgraceful

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<v Speaker 1>practices which are said to be the result of a

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<v Speaker 1>weak and perverted mind. The letters included detailed drawings of

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<v Speaker 1>genitalia and pornographic photos, which were pasted over with pictures

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<v Speaker 1>of nobles heads on the bodies of the actors. Princess

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<v Speaker 1>Charlotte was accused of numerous indiscretions, but by far the

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<v Speaker 1>letters harshest target was the Countess Lute and how The

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<v Speaker 1>descriptors of her were owen right nasty, the stuff of

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<v Speaker 1>schoolyard taunts. Everyone got the letters, but for her they

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<v Speaker 1>seemed personal. The letters said that the Countess how and

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<v Speaker 1>now quote feels a tickle that cannot be controlled when

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<v Speaker 1>it is a matter of stealing a young wife's newlywed husband,

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<v Speaker 1>and that she was quote known citywide for the fact

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<v Speaker 1>that she throws herself on the neck of every prince

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<v Speaker 1>and lifts up her skirt without being asked. These letters

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<v Speaker 1>continued tormenting and taunting the elites of Prussian society for

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<v Speaker 1>four years. Over four hundred anonymous letters were written, and

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<v Speaker 1>they probably would have continued as a bafflement, a peculiarity,

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<v Speaker 1>and embarrassment had they not eventually invoked the Emperor. The

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<v Speaker 1>letters never mentioned the Kaiser explicitly, but they began to

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<v Speaker 1>dance around him as a figure obliquely, with certain letters

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<v Speaker 1>writing that he was tempted by the Countess Vonhaven, how

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<v Speaker 1>and that the count had forced his wife to act

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<v Speaker 1>coldly towards the Emperor as to not encourage his affections.

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<v Speaker 1>The Emperor could not believe how presumptuous the Count would

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<v Speaker 1>have been to tell his wife to act differently towards him.

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<v Speaker 1>At a military review, he transferred the Count to hanover

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<v Speaker 1>all but exiling him and the coquettish countess from court.

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<v Speaker 1>At this point, the Emperor decided that these letters had

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<v Speaker 1>gone on long enough. It was an embarrassing scandal that

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<v Speaker 1>he wanted to keep under wraps, but more than that,

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<v Speaker 1>he wanted it to end. Investigators were posted all over Berlin,

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<v Speaker 1>monitoring post boxes and waiting to see who would be

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<v Speaker 1>depositing tell tale letters and then in June, the police

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<v Speaker 1>made a shocking arrest the Emperor's own personal chamberlain, the

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<v Speaker 1>Master of Ceremonies, Liebritt von Kotze. Sure he had been

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<v Speaker 1>on the receiving end of some of the letters, but

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<v Speaker 1>so had every single suspect. Baron Schrader, the rival chamberlain,

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<v Speaker 1>was the one who assisted authorities with the evidence against Kotze.

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<v Speaker 1>This was the smoking gun. At a fashionable club where

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<v Speaker 1>officers suspected that the anonymous letters were being written, they

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<v Speaker 1>found that the pattern on the ink bladder was similar

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<v Speaker 1>to the traces on the ink bladder in Kotze's Master

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<v Speaker 1>of Ceremonies office. It was flimsy evidence, but it was evidence.

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<v Speaker 1>Kotze had traveled to Berlin on Saturday morning from his

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<v Speaker 1>home in Schreitzbershaw in order to be at the ceremony

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<v Speaker 1>for the laying of the corner stone at a new

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<v Speaker 1>cathedral at Lustgarten the next day, but could say never

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<v Speaker 1>made it to the ceremony. As soon as he arrived

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<v Speaker 1>in Berlin, he was taken into custody. It was also

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<v Speaker 1>sudden and so secret that even the prison officials didn't

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<v Speaker 1>know they would be hosting such an exalted guest until

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<v Speaker 1>a royal carriage arrived at the prison door of linden Strauss.

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<v Speaker 1>The New York Times wrote at the time, even if

0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:31.320
<v Speaker 1>the government were inclined to let the scandal drop, the

0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:35.760
<v Speaker 1>time for such action is passed. The documents produced by

0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.760
<v Speaker 1>the witnesses so far contain a great mass of disgusting

0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:44.480
<v Speaker 1>and libeliss letters, which certainly suggests the insanity of the writer.

0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.880
<v Speaker 1>Coultzy must be tried and must be acquitted as mentally

0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:52.600
<v Speaker 1>unsound or innocent of the charges, or he must be

0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:58.560
<v Speaker 1>punished as the foulest of slanderers. The arrest sent shock

0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:02.800
<v Speaker 1>waves throughout Prussian court and the world. It was written

0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.320
<v Speaker 1>about not only in the New York Times, but newspapers

0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:10.840
<v Speaker 1>across Europe. Coats his wife desperately tried to intercede on

0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:15.760
<v Speaker 1>her husband's behalf by appealing unsuccessfully directly to the Kaiser.

0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.760
<v Speaker 1>Coatsy's friends argued that he didn't have the drawing skills

0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.280
<v Speaker 1>that would have been necessary to produce the fairly impressive

0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:27.560
<v Speaker 1>pornographic doodles on the letters. Some of Coatsi's friends said

0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.679
<v Speaker 1>that maybe he was insane. Coats himself maintained that he

0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.680
<v Speaker 1>was innocent. The New York Times covered the scandal at

0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:40.400
<v Speaker 1>every step. In one article, under the headline all Germany

0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:44.560
<v Speaker 1>is talking of it, the Times wrote, quote many think

0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.560
<v Speaker 1>that Kotze is merely a crank. They based their judgment

0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.240
<v Speaker 1>of him on the fact that a few of his

0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:55.520
<v Speaker 1>ancestors have gone crazy and that he often behaved eccentrically

0:17:55.720 --> 0:18:03.199
<v Speaker 1>in his younger days. But fairly quickly after Coates's arrest,

0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.879
<v Speaker 1>most people came to the realization that he wasn't the

0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:11.280
<v Speaker 1>anonymous writer. One cabinet member visited him in prison and

0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.080
<v Speaker 1>said speaking with Coatzi made him more doubtful than ever

0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:19.960
<v Speaker 1>of Kotz's guilt. The ink water evidence was thin at best,

0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.240
<v Speaker 1>and most of the letters didn't even look like they

0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:27.240
<v Speaker 1>could have come from Kotz's hand. In prison, Kotze was

0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:31.040
<v Speaker 1>hosted in the best rooms of linden Strauss, and the

0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:35.000
<v Speaker 1>general who had arrested him had special orders for high

0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:39.600
<v Speaker 1>quality meals to be delivered specially to him daily. And

0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:44.239
<v Speaker 1>then came the ultimate evidence of Kotz's innocence. While he

0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:49.320
<v Speaker 1>was in prison, the letters continued. The New York Times wrote,

0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:54.080
<v Speaker 1>since his arrest, several foul missives have been delivered to

0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:59.359
<v Speaker 1>the Emperor's circle. They charged wives with unfaithfulness and husbands

0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:03.560
<v Speaker 1>with deb auchery. As a quick aside, the letters being

0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:08.280
<v Speaker 1>explicit and well just gossipy mean that most historians and

0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:12.679
<v Speaker 1>no newspapers at the time actually published their contents. The

0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:17.919
<v Speaker 1>letters are mostly just described in euphemistic terms. The first

0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.120
<v Speaker 1>and only source that I could find that was brave

0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.280
<v Speaker 1>enough to actually share some of the dirty details was

0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:30.400
<v Speaker 1>a German book written only by Wolfgang Whipperman, which, if

0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.159
<v Speaker 1>you care to read, was at least for me, a

0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:39.199
<v Speaker 1>fun adventure in pornographic auto translate. The case against Cosa

0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:43.960
<v Speaker 1>was collapsing. A handwriting expert was brought in, who determined

0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.119
<v Speaker 1>that Coacha was not in fact the author, and that

0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:49.679
<v Speaker 1>the letters may even have been written by a woman.

0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.840
<v Speaker 1>By now, word of the scandal was occupying every single

0:19:54.960 --> 0:20:00.920
<v Speaker 1>club and living room. On April tenth, The New York

0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:05.200
<v Speaker 1>Times reported that the Emperor confirmed the exoneration of Kotze

0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:09.359
<v Speaker 1>after he was acquitted by court martial, but the real

0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:13.760
<v Speaker 1>guilty party still wasn't found, and KOTZEI it was furious

0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:17.919
<v Speaker 1>at those who had destroyed his reputation with their slander.

0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:28.360
<v Speaker 1>For Kotze the scandal was not over. As soon as

0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.199
<v Speaker 1>he was free, Kotze challenged the hof Marshal von Reichtak

0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.240
<v Speaker 1>to a duel at dawn near the Hallandsea train station.

0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.200
<v Speaker 1>The terms of the duel had each man shoot as

0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:45.199
<v Speaker 1>many times as necessary. It took eight gunshots, but eventually

0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:49.880
<v Speaker 1>von Reichschach hit Kotze with a bullet in the thigh.

0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.440
<v Speaker 1>Emperor Wilhelm the second sent an ornate Easter egg to

0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:57.280
<v Speaker 1>Kotza's sick bed while he recovered. For him, that was

0:20:57.320 --> 0:20:59.639
<v Speaker 1>the end of this, but it wasn't the end for

0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.679
<v Speaker 1>pa On the advice of his lawyer, Coates, A sued

0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.520
<v Speaker 1>Baron Schrader for libel for what he believed was the

0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:11.439
<v Speaker 1>fabrication of evidence that led to his arrest. But the

0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:16.120
<v Speaker 1>case was dismissed from court, and coat Say demanded satisfaction,

0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:20.359
<v Speaker 1>even though he had already been shot in the thigh.

0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:26.000
<v Speaker 1>Coutes demanded another duel, this time with Baron Schrader. They

0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:30.000
<v Speaker 1>would stand ten paces apart and keep shooting approaching the

0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:35.480
<v Speaker 1>other until one of them was disabled. On Good Friday, Kotze,

0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.840
<v Speaker 1>who had already been found innocent of the letter writing scandal,

0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:45.600
<v Speaker 1>shot Trader in the abdomen and killed him. Only months

0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:49.880
<v Speaker 1>released from his first imprisonment, Cotes was sentenced to another

0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.840
<v Speaker 1>two years in prison for the death of Baron Schrader.

0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:57.480
<v Speaker 1>The German government passed a harsh law against dueling, but

0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:00.960
<v Speaker 1>three months later the Emperor pardoned le Brick phone coach.

0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:09.160
<v Speaker 1>We still don't know who wrote the anonymous letters. It's

0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:12.959
<v Speaker 1>possible that if they were given a more comprehensive examination today,

0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:16.919
<v Speaker 1>a scientific analysis could give us the answer. But the

0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.000
<v Speaker 1>Kaiser and his family had tried for decades to keep

0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:25.600
<v Speaker 1>the scandal as secret as possible. Alleging debaucheries was one thing,

0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.159
<v Speaker 1>it was a far worse thing if common people realized

0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:34.400
<v Speaker 1>that nobles were actually committing them. Kotsai challenging his accusers

0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:39.159
<v Speaker 1>to duels was tragic, but maybe for the Kaiser secretly

0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:44.080
<v Speaker 1>a blessing. High society became so absorbed in the scandal

0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:48.240
<v Speaker 1>of the duels that they forgot the scandal that preceded it.

0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:54.080
<v Speaker 1>The problem with a kingdom trying to maintain nobility emerges

0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:57.040
<v Speaker 1>when it becomes apparent that those people who were born

0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:01.000
<v Speaker 1>into privilege are no fundamentally better than the rest of us.

0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:04.640
<v Speaker 1>Why do some people get to be dukes and duchesses,

0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:07.960
<v Speaker 1>princes and kaisers, and how do they get to hold

0:23:08.000 --> 0:23:11.280
<v Speaker 1>onto that power after the people below them find out

0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:14.240
<v Speaker 1>that the nobles are just spending their time indulging in

0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:19.200
<v Speaker 1>their basest human impulses. The power of a monarchy exists

0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:22.080
<v Speaker 1>only as long as people buy into the belief that

0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:25.679
<v Speaker 1>either the king and his family were chosen by God, or,

0:23:25.800 --> 0:23:29.360
<v Speaker 1>if it's not that overt that they embody certain noble

0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:33.359
<v Speaker 1>ideals that make them worthy of leadership, that may be

0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:37.040
<v Speaker 1>because they have access to education and money and pedigree.

0:23:37.520 --> 0:23:40.520
<v Speaker 1>They're somehow finer than the rest of us in ways

0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:44.160
<v Speaker 1>that are maybe even too subtle to articulate. But then

0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:47.920
<v Speaker 1>fifteen of them get drunk and get naked, and then

0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:50.880
<v Speaker 1>one of them spend the next four years taunting all

0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:55.200
<v Speaker 1>of them with petty adolescent gossip, and one realizes that

0:23:55.880 --> 0:24:00.960
<v Speaker 1>maybe the wealthy and elite are just board common people,

0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:04.320
<v Speaker 1>trapped in a gilded cage with their own making, Devoid

0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:07.480
<v Speaker 1>of purpose and devoid of the satisfaction that can only

0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:10.800
<v Speaker 1>be gleaned from a hard day's work. The nobles are

0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:14.359
<v Speaker 1>forced to invent these petty rivalries to fight duels in

0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:17.960
<v Speaker 1>order to convince themselves that their lives serve the purpose

0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:32.240
<v Speaker 1>of honor and well dignity. That's the story of the

0:24:32.320 --> 0:24:35.480
<v Speaker 1>Codes affair. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break

0:24:35.560 --> 0:24:39.080
<v Speaker 1>to hear a bit about the modern theories about who

0:24:39.160 --> 0:24:53.159
<v Speaker 1>was behind the anonymous letters. So who wasn't Who was

0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:56.119
<v Speaker 1>the one who wrote those scandalous letters to the depressional

0:24:56.119 --> 0:25:00.439
<v Speaker 1>elite accusing them of all sorts of terrible things. The

0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:03.439
<v Speaker 1>most prominent theory is that it was Duke Ernst Gunther,

0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:07.119
<v Speaker 1>the scandalous brother in law of Wilhelm the Second. He

0:25:07.320 --> 0:25:10.400
<v Speaker 1>was the type of person who was almost entirely capable

0:25:10.440 --> 0:25:13.280
<v Speaker 1>of stirring up trouble, and he and the Kaiser did

0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:16.000
<v Speaker 1>have a falling out that eventually led him to being

0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:20.240
<v Speaker 1>banned from the palaces in Berlin and Potsdam. The ostensible

0:25:20.280 --> 0:25:23.840
<v Speaker 1>reason was losing that black eagle metal in the bed

0:25:23.920 --> 0:25:27.040
<v Speaker 1>of a prostitute, But who knows. He could have been

0:25:27.080 --> 0:25:32.800
<v Speaker 1>guilty of, or at least suspected of other crimes. There's

0:25:32.840 --> 0:25:36.800
<v Speaker 1>another dark horse theory about the anonymous letter writer, but

0:25:36.880 --> 0:25:41.560
<v Speaker 1>it seems very unlikely. It is I will say so

0:25:41.680 --> 0:25:45.639
<v Speaker 1>fundamentally appealing that I'm inclined to believe it, even without

0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:50.240
<v Speaker 1>actual evidence. It's that the man behind these letters wasn't

0:25:50.240 --> 0:25:54.880
<v Speaker 1>a man at all, but the Kaiser's sister, Princess Charlotte.

0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.840
<v Speaker 1>Some even suggest that she only invited the fifteen nobles

0:26:00.000 --> 0:26:03.320
<v Speaker 1>to the ice skating party come orgy as a trap.

0:26:04.240 --> 0:26:08.359
<v Speaker 1>She was famously prickly, a lifelong chain smoker and lover

0:26:08.520 --> 0:26:13.040
<v Speaker 1>of scandal. The personality seems to fit, but there is

0:26:13.119 --> 0:26:16.800
<v Speaker 1>also some evidence to the contrary. Charlotte was a dear

0:26:16.880 --> 0:26:19.920
<v Speaker 1>friend of Coats's wife, Elizabeth, and after Coats it was

0:26:19.960 --> 0:26:23.320
<v Speaker 1>wounded in his first duel, Charlotte wrote in a letter,

0:26:23.800 --> 0:26:27.840
<v Speaker 1>Coats at last pronounced free, but since yesterday badly wounded,

0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:32.000
<v Speaker 1>his wife is so courageous and behaves admirably. The long

0:26:32.160 --> 0:26:36.360
<v Speaker 1>ten months train must soon tell on her nerves, dear thing,

0:26:36.400 --> 0:26:39.760
<v Speaker 1>how I longed to help and comfort her. Now. It's

0:26:39.800 --> 0:26:42.680
<v Speaker 1>not a letter that Charlotte would have ever imagined would

0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:45.440
<v Speaker 1>go on to the public record, so it doesn't read

0:26:45.520 --> 0:26:47.720
<v Speaker 1>like she's trying to throw us off the scent. But

0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:52.439
<v Speaker 1>who knows. Maybe it was guilt speaking, or maybe the

0:26:52.560 --> 0:26:55.600
<v Speaker 1>letters were written in fits of mania, and when she

0:26:55.760 --> 0:26:58.920
<v Speaker 1>calmed down, she was filled with contrition for the man

0:26:59.080 --> 0:27:03.000
<v Speaker 1>who stepped in to take all of the literal and

0:27:03.200 --> 0:27:08.560
<v Speaker 1>metaphorical fire. Princess Charlotte spent the twilight years of her

0:27:08.600 --> 0:27:12.159
<v Speaker 1>life in treatment for psychosis in the spot town of

0:27:12.280 --> 0:27:15.879
<v Speaker 1>baden Baden. Though as you know, I am remissed to

0:27:15.920 --> 0:27:20.880
<v Speaker 1>diagnose anyone with anything posthumously, historians do believe that her

0:27:20.920 --> 0:27:26.879
<v Speaker 1>symptoms resembled porphyria, the same disorder suffered by her great

0:27:27.000 --> 0:27:38.119
<v Speaker 1>great grandfather, the Mad King George the Third. Noble Blood

0:27:38.200 --> 0:27:40.439
<v Speaker 1>is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and

0:27:40.480 --> 0:27:43.639
<v Speaker 1>Mild from Aaron Minky. The show was written and hosted

0:27:43.640 --> 0:27:47.160
<v Speaker 1>by Danis Schwartz and produced by Aaron Manky, Matt Frederick,

0:27:47.400 --> 0:27:51.359
<v Speaker 1>Alex Williams, and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social

0:27:51.359 --> 0:27:54.160
<v Speaker 1>media at Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more

0:27:54.160 --> 0:27:57.080
<v Speaker 1>about the show over at Noble blood Tales dot com.

0:27:57.119 --> 0:27:59.720
<v Speaker 1>For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I

0:27:59.840 --> 0:28:03.040
<v Speaker 1>Heart a Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows. H