Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey listener discretion advised,
Speaker 1: Hey guys, this is Danish Swartz, the host of Noble Blood. One.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. But second, this is
Speaker 1: a very annoying announcement. But I wrote this book called Anatomy,
Speaker 1: a Love Story, which is about a young woman who
Speaker 1: wants to be a surgeon in eighteen hundred Scotland. And
Speaker 1: I wrote a sequel that is coming out in February.
Speaker 1: It's called Immortality, a Love Story. And I think if
Speaker 1: you like Noble Blood, you will really like both of
Speaker 1: these books. Really, my publishers are telling me that pre
Speaker 1: orders are like the most important thing when it comes
Speaker 1: to book publishing. So if you are intrigued or interested
Speaker 1: at all, it would mean so much to me if
Speaker 1: you took a look and possibly pre ordered Immortality. But
Speaker 1: you know, just thank you so much for listening to
Speaker 1: the show, and sorry to be making a plug back
Speaker 1: to our podcast. In eighteen fifty five, a regal woman
Speaker 1: summoned her closest adviser to a secret meeting. She was
Speaker 1: in her mid sixties, once a self styled countess, in Paris,
Speaker 1: but now a real royal of a country in peril.
Speaker 1: Her adviser was a French lawyer, and she needed him
Speaker 1: to do something for her, make the journey north to
Speaker 1: hesse Homberg, a small but sovereign state along the Rhine River,
Speaker 1: bring her news of its casino. She was Princess Maria
Speaker 1: Caroline of Monaco, usually known as Princess Caroline, not to
Speaker 1: be confused with Monaco's current princess of the same name.
Speaker 1: It was eighteen fifty five and her tiny country was
Speaker 1: not the paradise of millionaires that we know it as today.
Speaker 1: In fact, Monico's finances were in dire straits. The casino
Speaker 1: at Monte Carlo had not yet even been imagined. The
Speaker 1: citrus trade that had kept the Monte Carlo economy propped
Speaker 1: up was gone. Princess Caroline's husband, Floriston, had no interest
Speaker 1: in running a country. Caroline's son Charles found her pushy
Speaker 1: and overbearing, a presumptuous woman meddling in men's affairs. Less
Speaker 1: than a hundred years prior Monico had been absorbed by
Speaker 1: the neighboring French. There was always a feeling of threat
Speaker 1: from the neighboring Sardinians. Monico's future as an independent state
Speaker 1: was uncertain, and there in the north of Europe was
Speaker 1: bad Home board, a casino making what Princess Caroline assumed
Speaker 1: was an immense amount of cash for the state. Her
Speaker 1: adviser returned from his reconnaissance mission with gleaming eyes. The
Speaker 1: Grand Duke von Hesse Homburg was earning three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty thousand francs per year from his casino. Hundreds of
Speaker 1: thousands of tourists flocked to the spa town flanking the
Speaker 1: gambling halls. Princess Caroline's mind started spinning. At this time,
Speaker 1: there was no home for gambling in all of southern Europe,
Speaker 1: no casinos anywhere along the French Riviera. Francois Blanc, the
Speaker 1: visionary who operated bad Omberg, could likely be convinced to
Speaker 1: venture south. But gambling is a messy business, maybe not
Speaker 1: suited for a woman, maybe not suited for a country.
Speaker 1: Someday there would be lists of Monte Carlo suicides published
Speaker 1: in the papers, reports of people pushed to financial and
Speaker 1: moral ruin. There would also be gatherings of the wealthiest
Speaker 1: people in the world in their white sun hats and
Speaker 1: designer bikinis sunbathing on the Azure coastline. If you think
Speaker 1: of Monaco today, maybe you think of that coastline. Maybe
Speaker 1: you picture the beautiful American actress Grace Kelly, who became
Speaker 1: the principality's most famous princess in nineteen fifty six. Maybe
Speaker 1: you envisioned the race car zooming past the docked yachts
Speaker 1: at the Monaco Grand Prix. Maybe you know that Monaco
Speaker 1: is the second smallest sovereign state on Earth, after Vatican City.
Speaker 1: At point eight one square miles, it is a little
Speaker 1: more than half the size of New York City's Central Park.
Speaker 1: At a little over thirty nine thousand residents, it has
Speaker 1: the population of West Fargo, North Dakota, not Fargo, which
Speaker 1: is bigger. Certainly you think of the casino Monte Carlo,
Speaker 1: arguably the most famous casino in the world. It sits
Speaker 1: in a resort town nestled along the French Riviera, surrounded
Speaker 1: by France and near the border with Italy. Income from
Speaker 1: the casino has made the place a tax haven for millionaires, who,
Speaker 1: along with the rest of the Monaco population, pay no
Speaker 1: income taxes. Nearly one out of three residents of Monaco
Speaker 1: is a millionaire. The thirty three percent, we might say
Speaker 1: that means Monaco has over twelve thousand millionaires in less
Speaker 1: than one square mile. The poverty rate is zero percent.
Speaker 1: Of its thirty nine thousand and change residents, only about
Speaker 1: nine thousand are Monogusque, people who are native to Monaco.
Speaker 1: In an economy built on gambling, the monogusque are subject
Speaker 1: to a strange rule. They are not allowed to enter
Speaker 1: the casino at Monte Carlo unless they are an employee.
Speaker 1: It is an unusual rule that is part of the
Speaker 1: unlikely story of how tiny, vulnerable Monico has managed to
Speaker 1: survive as an independent nation century after century. The name
Speaker 1: Monte Carlo means Mount Charles, named for the Princess Caroline's son,
Speaker 1: but the brains behind the operation were hers, because back
Speaker 1: in eighteen Monico was approaching the kind of financial misfortune
Speaker 1: that could only mean the risk of losing independence, and
Speaker 1: one woman who would have to hide her actions behind
Speaker 1: the name of a man, looked into her advisor's eyes
Speaker 1: and thought of the desperation of the gambler at the table,
Speaker 1: the roulette wheel flashing before him there and thrown on
Speaker 1: the table, The despair and alcohol in the open, empty wallets,
Speaker 1: and she saw the path to saving her country. I'm
Speaker 1: Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood. In January, a
Speaker 1: man dressed in the brown, humble robe and hood of
Speaker 1: a Franciscan monk arrived at the entrance of the Castle
Speaker 1: of the Gibeline, a group of genuine who held the
Speaker 1: fortress at Monaco. The monk's hands were hidden under his robes,
Speaker 1: surely devoutly clasped. The time of year was around the
Speaker 1: Christmas season, a welcoming religious spirit was in the air.
Speaker 1: The monk was granted admittance, but the was no monk.
Speaker 1: The man in the brown robes was Francesco Grimaldi, known
Speaker 1: as ill Malitzia mal as in bad, cunning, spiteful also,
Speaker 1: it turns out violent. No sooner did these seemingly innocent
Speaker 1: monk enter the castle than he revealed that in his
Speaker 1: clasped hands was held a dagger. Joined by followers he
Speaker 1: had planted in advance, he stabbed his way through the
Speaker 1: fortress until he had claimed Monaco for himself, with occasional breaks.
Speaker 1: The Grimaldi's have held the country ever since. And this
Speaker 1: is a tip for anyone playing trivial pursuit. The Grimaldi's
Speaker 1: are the longest reigning royal family centuries later. It was
Speaker 1: this line that would produce Honor A the fourth, crowned
Speaker 1: Prince of Monaco in eighteen fourteen, who fathered two sons,
Speaker 1: first another Honore, and then seven years later Floriston. Both
Speaker 1: boys were born in France. Honore the fourth died at
Speaker 1: age sixty, officially by drowning in the Seine, but as
Speaker 1: he was at least partially paralyzed at the time of
Speaker 1: his death, a casual swim in the river seemed unlikely.
Speaker 1: Rumors swirled that it was a suicide. His eldest son,
Speaker 1: Honore five, took over as prince, while the new prince's
Speaker 1: younger brother, Floriston, continued to live in Paris, where he'd
Speaker 1: gone to become an actor and wound up marrying a
Speaker 1: well off frenchwoman named Maria Caroline Gilbert. Every source I
Speaker 1: could find it takes a certain, let's say, tone in
Speaker 1: its description of this woman, Maria Caroline, usually known as
Speaker 1: Caroline the Kindest source. A contemporary one calls her quote
Speaker 1: a striking Mediterranean beauty with a strong personality unquote. The
Speaker 1: descriptions at the time were slightly less circumspect about their
Speaker 1: views of the gender politics between husband and wife. One
Speaker 1: history from eighteen sixty seven writes that quote weak and vacillating,
Speaker 1: Floriston allowed himself to fall at once under the dominion
Speaker 1: of his wife unquote. Other sources portray her as pushy
Speaker 1: and domineering, an over ambitious woman meddling in a man's world.
Speaker 1: Who knows how we would view her in the twenty
Speaker 1: one century. The image of the overbearing, nagging wife certainly
Speaker 1: still persists today. Probably she was rather pushy. Certainly she
Speaker 1: was ambitious, But likely she was also a sharp businesswoman
Speaker 1: with a somewhat duller husband, and well, somebody had to
Speaker 1: figure out how to handle their personal finances. She took
Speaker 1: over the logistics of Floriston's life. He had no complaints
Speaker 1: about it. They had two children, a son, Charles, followed
Speaker 1: by a daughter. They bought a mansion in France, called
Speaker 1: themselves the Comte and Comtesse de Grimaldi, and rented a
Speaker 1: wing of the house, the spare one you know, with
Speaker 1: the ballroom, to a local poet and politician who helped
Speaker 1: found the Second Republic of France. In the meantime, back
Speaker 1: in Monaco, forever bachelor Honor A five was struggling to
Speaker 1: come up with a way to improve Monico's fortunes, anyway
Speaker 1: to improve Monico's fortunes. Historian Mark Brede lists Honore's desperate
Speaker 1: attempts to lift up the economy of his impoverished country
Speaker 1: with a quote lace making factory, a perfumery, a distillery,
Speaker 1: a hat making workshop, and a plant for making false
Speaker 1: teeth end quote. His failure is at them all came
Speaker 1: to an unhappy end on October second, eighteen forty one,
Speaker 1: when he died the death of the single person that
Speaker 1: Liz lemon feared on thirty Rock. While eating alone, he
Speaker 1: choked to death, so his younger brother, Floriston, inherited the
Speaker 1: throne of Monaco, having never actually lived in Monaco. Maria
Speaker 1: Carolina arranged a golden carriage to bring the family to
Speaker 1: their new home so the people could adore them in
Speaker 1: the streets. The people, for their part, seemed not to
Speaker 1: know what to do with them. Maybe the Grimaldi's weren't
Speaker 1: great at ruling. Monico was in serious financial trouble, but
Speaker 1: also Monica was still independent, and perhaps this brother would
Speaker 1: get his act together On behalf of the state. He didn't.
Speaker 1: The eighteen sixty seven History of Monaco describes Floriston as
Speaker 1: quote a man utterly unsuited for the task before him.
Speaker 1: From education and temperament, he was incapable of governing. He
Speaker 1: had resided in Paris, where he lived in complete obscurity
Speaker 1: and heedless of the future, till his brother's death called
Speaker 1: him to Monaco and placed him in a position necessitating
Speaker 1: a life little compatible with his tastes end quote. He
Speaker 1: inspired a satirical book published in eighteen seventy four titled
Speaker 1: quote the Fall of Prince Floriston of Monaco by himself
Speaker 1: end quote the fall of me by me essentially, not
Speaker 1: a guy who was taken particularly seriously so behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: Princess Caroline took the reins of ruling, and her son
Speaker 1: Charles immediately tried to wrest them from her. He wanted
Speaker 1: to take over from his father. He took this desire
Speaker 1: so far so publicly that in eighteen forty two, Princess
Speaker 1: Caroline wrote her son the following letter, I was chosen
Speaker 1: by your father to enter one of the highest placed families.
Speaker 1: In spite of my sex. I became head of a
Speaker 1: family and had to fulfill the obligations attached. You can
Speaker 1: imagine that in a very small place where people have
Speaker 1: been used to the strong will of one person, they
Speaker 1: must have been greatly astonished to see a prince letting
Speaker 1: himself be maneuvered, the wife poking her finger into everything,
Speaker 1: and a son apparently going his own particular way, and
Speaker 1: often lacking in respect and even consideration where they are due.
Speaker 1: End quote. The letter continues, warning her son that if
Speaker 1: he was in fact saying that he should rule instead
Speaker 1: of his father, quote, what you would be saying, in effect,
Speaker 1: is I love and respect my mother enough to leave
Speaker 1: her some of the authority she seems to like so much,
Speaker 1: but only on condition that she leaves me the rest.
Speaker 1: Oh no, my young friend, I shall not agree to
Speaker 1: a deal like that, Having no rights myself. I'm under
Speaker 1: the cover of your father. End quote. Charles left to
Speaker 1: go to Turinn, where he failed to gain support to
Speaker 1: take over Monaco. In the meantime, whether under Caroline's direction
Speaker 1: or Floristin's, the country's fortunes were spiraling downward. In eighteen
Speaker 1: forty eight, a secessionist movement succeeded in areas called mentone
Speaker 1: and Roccobruna, and Monaco lost four fifths of its territories,
Speaker 1: as well as one of its key industries, the citrus trade.
Speaker 1: The Palace's income slowed to a trickle. France and Sardinia
Speaker 1: seemed to be growing more threatening every day. Quote. I
Speaker 1: am an unfortunate little sovereign, said Floristin, crushed between two
Speaker 1: big neighbors who only hesitate as to the saw us
Speaker 1: with which they will devour me end quote. Monico was small,
Speaker 1: now growing ever smaller and vulnerable. And how do you
Speaker 1: get out of a position of vulnerability. Well, Princess Caroline
Speaker 1: had spent a lot of time controlling the family's finances,
Speaker 1: and she had an idea money. Princess Caroline had already
Speaker 1: visited hess Hamburg, a spa town near present day Frankfurt.
Speaker 1: She had already noted the similarities between that small sovereign
Speaker 1: state and her own. She must have passed bob Omberg
Speaker 1: the casino. Maybe she heard the joyful shouts of the
Speaker 1: winners or the moaning laments of the losers. Surely she
Speaker 1: knew one thing. The house always wins, and the house
Speaker 1: had to answer to its nobility. If the casino house
Speaker 1: could win, in Monaco. She thought, then, so too could
Speaker 1: the house grow albi. She dispatched her lawyer and waited
Speaker 1: anxiously for his return. Maybe she looked at her son
Speaker 1: Charles with a wary eye. Maybe she comforted her husband
Speaker 1: with the promise of fine clothes and visits to the
Speaker 1: theater once they increased their fortune. Maybe she worried her
Speaker 1: lawyer would get caught up in a round of whist himself,
Speaker 1: though probably not. He had been loyal to her since
Speaker 1: her days running the mansion back in France. The news
Speaker 1: he brought back to Monico was what she had expected.
Speaker 1: The casino at bad Amberg supported the Grand Duke. The
Speaker 1: Grand Duke supported the casino. It was the solution Monico needed,
Speaker 1: but it wouldn't be easy or without risk. At the time,
Speaker 1: a few casinos could be found in Switzerland, Belgium, Northern Spain,
Speaker 1: and a few German speaking territories, but there were none
Speaker 1: in other in Europe. In Monico's neighbor Sardinia, games of
Speaker 1: chance were illegal. Even if she took her lawyer's advice,
Speaker 1: which was to play up the spa town angle and
Speaker 1: played down the gambling angle, Floriston could easily be seen
Speaker 1: as provoking his more powerful neighbors if he allowed a
Speaker 1: casino to open in Monaco. But Floriston was not the
Speaker 1: one in charge of such decisions, not really. Princess Caroline
Speaker 1: wanted a casino, Floriston signed on. One year later, in
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six, Floriston was dead. His son inherited the
Speaker 1: throne he had always believed he deserved more than his father.
Speaker 1: In the local tongue, Charles has another name Carlo. Before
Speaker 1: Floriston died, he made one last terrible decision that almost
Speaker 1: arrailed the future Monte Carlo. He offered the rights for
Speaker 1: the spa and casino development to two men, Albert Albert
Speaker 1: and Napoleon Lingua, who wound up being con artists. The
Speaker 1: two had no money, they had never built or run
Speaker 1: a casino, but they were the two who had been
Speaker 1: willing to take a risky bet on Monaco. The brains
Speaker 1: behind bad Amberg, Francois Blanc had wanted nothing to do
Speaker 1: with it. What if Sardinia or France decided to crack down.
Speaker 1: No not worth the gamble, So Charles inherited an exclusive
Speaker 1: deal with two grifters who promised to build the casino
Speaker 1: that was supposed to save the country from an economic quagmire.
Speaker 1: Princess Caroline insisted that the gambling hall be far from
Speaker 1: her family's palace, so the two broke ground in a
Speaker 1: largely abandoned area and opened Monico's first casino on November
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six. The casino was called Vila Bellevue. It
Speaker 1: was not arousing success. Villa Bellevue had so little money
Speaker 1: that if a patron placed a high bet and one big,
Speaker 1: he could have won more money than the house could pay.
Speaker 1: The casino's cafe was more planned than reality. It had
Speaker 1: a fifteen piece orchestra that quickly ate the budget and
Speaker 1: played for virtually no one. They had a telescope so
Speaker 1: that dealers could see if anyone was actually coming that day,
Speaker 1: at which point they would snuff their cigarettes out and
Speaker 1: run back to the roulette wheel or their table and
Speaker 1: cross their fingers that no one would win enough to
Speaker 1: break the bank. The word casino comes from the Italian casa,
Speaker 1: meaning house. A casino is a little house, but Villa
Speaker 1: Bellevue was more like a stanza Italian for or stopping place,
Speaker 1: more a little room to stop into than a lovely
Speaker 1: home to spend a lavish weekend with little poetry or
Speaker 1: beauty to be found. The casino changed hands twice quickly,
Speaker 1: but no one seemed able to help it. It's not
Speaker 1: hard to imagine Princess Caroline's embarrassment and disappointment at the
Speaker 1: lackluster little house that was supposed to be her grand
Speaker 1: idea to save her country. Luckily for her, bad Omberg
Speaker 1: was starting to feel to Francois Blanc like a bad bet.
Speaker 1: By the early eighteen sixties, hess Omberg was looking likely
Speaker 1: to be absorbed into a unified Germany, which might change
Speaker 1: its opinion about the legality and morality of gambling. Blanc
Speaker 1: met Caroline's lawyer and the latest owner of the Monico
Speaker 1: casino in Paris in a arming little anecdote during which
Speaker 1: Blanc claimed he had to stand while the other sat
Speaker 1: because he had a boil in an unmentionable location. Weird
Speaker 1: power play, but all right. The truth was Blanc couldn't lose.
Speaker 1: He'd been the guy Princess Caroline and her lawyer wanted
Speaker 1: from the start, and Charles was already on board. Blanc
Speaker 1: won the contract in eighteen sixty three, a fifty year
Speaker 1: exclusive deal to build up the spa and casino to
Speaker 1: support the monogusque with utilities to convey tourists between Niece
Speaker 1: and Monico, and to pay Charles and his descendants a
Speaker 1: royal kickback for the rest of time. Blanc opened a
Speaker 1: new casino and immediately set about making it opulent, grand,
Speaker 1: a true luxury resort. On July one, eighteen sixty six,
Speaker 1: the final piece of this story was put in place.
Speaker 1: Charles re christened the area Courtier de Monte Carlo, Mount
Speaker 1: Charles named for himself. Princess Caroline's name was nowhere to
Speaker 1: be found in the title of the new casino, but
Speaker 1: she had achieved her vision under the name of her
Speaker 1: obstinate son, just as she used to work behind her husband,
Speaker 1: and so Monte Carlo, the second Charles and Princess Caroline's
Speaker 1: life was officially born. Monte Carlo flourished, and with it
Speaker 1: the country. Blanc built to train station to connect Monico
Speaker 1: to the world and to invite the world's wealth in houses, shops,
Speaker 1: and hotels were built and opened faster than anyone could
Speaker 1: keep track of them. Potential gamblers had to be dressed
Speaker 1: well or they would be turned away at the door.
Speaker 1: It was like a thrilling. Exclusive club writers described the
Speaker 1: beauty of the casino in glowing herms. Books were published
Speaker 1: with titles like Monaco, the Beauty Spot of the Riviera
Speaker 1: in two tract that contains descriptions like quote, the splendor
Speaker 1: of the concert room too many persons may seem exaggerated
Speaker 1: for the abundance of ornamentation, the glare and glitter of
Speaker 1: the gold and bronze, The rich reflections of the ruby
Speaker 1: velvet hangings are perhaps too dazzling. End quote. The plight
Speaker 1: of a once financially imperiled Monaco seemed lifetimes away. The
Speaker 1: country was now making money hand over fist. On February eighth,
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine, Charles abolished income taxes for all citizens
Speaker 1: of Monaco. It all seemed like an economic coop, but
Speaker 1: the Palace was not insensitive to the potential dark sides
Speaker 1: of gambling, the addiction, the ruin, the risk. Charles decreed
Speaker 1: that it would be the foreigners who risked their moral
Speaker 1: lives in the casino. The Montegusque would be forbidden to
Speaker 1: enter the gambling halls except to work there. At first blush,
Speaker 1: this seems unfair, It is unfair, but see it another
Speaker 1: way too. Here in the United States, we often see
Speaker 1: ballot measures in which cities in economic distress want to
Speaker 1: open casinos as a way to get revenue. It rarely works.
Speaker 1: More often than not, the casino will take money from
Speaker 1: their state's own residents, often the poorest, instead of earning
Speaker 1: money from outside state borders that they could then keep inside.
Speaker 1: Via Charles Decree, Monaco avoided this problem. They would make
Speaker 1: money from tourists only the country prospered. All the while,
Speaker 1: of course, the question of moral vice lingered. The press
Speaker 1: talked in outrage terms about the men and women who
Speaker 1: lingered together in the gambling halls. Rumors circulated about old
Speaker 1: women having lost it all given fair for a one
Speaker 1: way train ride home. Describing this period from the advantage
Speaker 1: of the historian Ethel Colburn Maine wrote, quote, I now
Speaker 1: enter a region of such wild invective, such unbridled scandal,
Speaker 1: that the very ink turns pale to no one is
Speaker 1: left a shred of character past present or to come
Speaker 1: end quote, perhaps a little dramatic. In eighteen seventy six,
Speaker 1: a pamphlet and niece listed Monte Carlo's losers at the
Speaker 1: gambling tables who became Monte Carlo's suicides, A pistol bullet
Speaker 1: in his heart, a head severed from the trunk by
Speaker 1: the train between two tunnels at Monaco. A book in
Speaker 1: the pocket of a corpse, inscribed, Monico will be the
Speaker 1: destruction of many others end quote. Were these vicious violent
Speaker 1: rumors drew? Were they exaggerated by moralists? Probably a little
Speaker 1: bit of both. None of the moral problems hampered the
Speaker 1: casino's growth and reputation on the world stage. Carl Marks
Speaker 1: visited Monte Carlo in eight two. Edward Monk painted it
Speaker 1: in two. F Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda were
Speaker 1: frequent visitors. In the nineteen twenties. American actress Grace Kelly
Speaker 1: became its most famous princess when she married Princess Carolines
Speaker 1: great great great grandson were near the third in nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty six. The brains of the operation were gone long
Speaker 1: before that. France Sua Blanc died a multi millionaire on
Speaker 1: July seventy seven. Princess Caroline outlived him by two years,
Speaker 1: dying in eighteen seventy nine, assured that she had done
Speaker 1: all she could to set her country and family on
Speaker 1: a safe path. For the future. Monico's current coat of
Speaker 1: arms is a suit of red diamonds on white, flanked
Speaker 1: by two men dressed in friar's robes brandishing swords. The
Speaker 1: virtuous with an edge, all a gamble, all a cunning play.
Speaker 1: If you squint, the coat of arms looks like a
Speaker 1: playing card. As for hess Homburg, the home of bad
Speaker 1: Omburg casino, the bet Francois Blanc was willing to take first,
Speaker 1: it was absorbed into Germany. Monico remains an independent state.
Speaker 1: That's the story of how Princess Maria Caroline of Monaco
Speaker 1: had the idea for a casino to save her country,
Speaker 1: but stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear
Speaker 1: a little bit more about the legacy of the Blanc
Speaker 1: family fortune. Francois Blanc, designer of the modern Monte Carlo,
Speaker 1: died with the equivalent of eighty eight million francs to
Speaker 1: leave his family. Though the money diminished over time, there
Speaker 1: was still a substantial sum left for his granddaughter, Marie Bonaparte,
Speaker 1: yes related to that Bonaparte. In nine seven she married
Speaker 1: Prince George of Greece and Denmark and became Princess, But
Speaker 1: the marriage had a problem. Prince George was almost certainly gay.
Speaker 1: Almost two decades into the marriage. Having lived apart from
Speaker 1: her husband for the majority of it, Blanc's granddaughter sought
Speaker 1: help for her own black luster sexual experiences in the
Speaker 1: form of a brand new field psycho analysis. She wound
Speaker 1: up on the couch of a very famous Jewish psychoanalyst,
Speaker 1: one who would ultimately need a ransom page to the
Speaker 1: Nazis in order to escape. Maria Bonaparte used some of
Speaker 1: the fortune that she had inherited from the founding of
Speaker 1: Monte Carlo to pay that ransom and save the life
Speaker 1: of her psychoanalyst, Siegmund Freud. Noble Blood is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Wartz. Additional writing
Speaker 1: and researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mirra Hayward,
Speaker 1: Courtney Sunder, and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by
Speaker 1: rema Il Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thaine and executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart radio, app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.