Speaker 1: Welcome to Part Time Genius, the production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: I Guess what Will? What's that? So? I was looking
Speaker 1: up facts about the Queen this week, and one of
Speaker 1: the things I always forget is how fussy royals can
Speaker 1: be about titles. So if the Queen were properly introduced
Speaker 1: to you, her title would actually read Elizabeth the Second,
Speaker 1: by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom, of
Speaker 1: Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of her other realms
Speaker 1: and territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's kind of a mouthful, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a little clunky for a business card. And it's
Speaker 1: funny because in all of that word salad, you'll notice
Speaker 1: she doesn't actually use her last name. And that's partially
Speaker 1: because the family has changed names over the years and
Speaker 1: sort of picked up windsor because of the castle they own,
Speaker 1: But you know, it could also be Mount Badden, because
Speaker 1: that's Prince Philip's last name. It's a whole thing anyway. Now,
Speaker 1: she's kind of like Madonna or Prince and she doesn't
Speaker 1: need a last name to get by. But the other
Speaker 1: thing I noticed is that even though she has quite
Speaker 1: a lot of titles there. It's actually a much more
Speaker 1: tasteful version compared to some other rulers. How do you mean?
Speaker 1: So for comparison, I pulled the dictator idia means title
Speaker 1: and you know dictators are not known for their subtlety,
Speaker 1: and uh, this is how he insisted on being addressed.
Speaker 1: It goes His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal all
Speaker 1: Hajji dr DA mean data V C D s O
Speaker 1: M c cb E, Lord of all the Beasts of
Speaker 1: the Earth and Fishes of the Seas, and conqueror of
Speaker 1: the British Empire in Africa in general and Uganda in particular.
Speaker 1: It's it's just a little more ostentatious. Plus the Queen,
Speaker 1: you know, actually technically owns all the swans and fish
Speaker 1: and dolphins off the coast of her lands, but she's
Speaker 1: left that off her title. She totally should have kept
Speaker 1: that one in there. I don't know I would have
Speaker 1: included that if I owns. That is why you're not
Speaker 1: queen anyway. Speaking of titles, today's show is all about
Speaker 1: nine regal facts about British royals. It includes from the
Speaker 1: weird ways they eat dessert to the unusual religions they've
Speaker 1: inspired to the long lost American cousins who are trying
Speaker 1: to get a piece of that throne. Why don't we
Speaker 1: dive in hei their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius.
Speaker 1: I'm Will Pearson and it's always I'm joined by my
Speaker 1: good friend man Guesto Ticketer and on the other side
Speaker 1: of my computer screen wearing a lovely velvet hat. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I go, I feel like this would look right at
Speaker 1: home in the Queen's collection. I mean it, it is
Speaker 1: really really fancy. But that's our friend, the producer Lowell.
Speaker 1: This is it is quite the half. You know. Actually,
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this, what clar pastel? Would you say?
Speaker 1: That is? Maga? Do you think it's like Robin's egg
Speaker 1: blue or what? What? What would be your guest Robin's
Speaker 1: egg That's what I've been thinking. Robin zag blue, maybe
Speaker 1: a c foam. I I don't know. You're clearly better
Speaker 1: at colors. Yeah, it's definitely robin zeg blue. But it
Speaker 1: looks great whatever the exact color is. And of course
Speaker 1: we've got our buddy Gabe in the third seed here
Speaker 1: hatless unfortunately, but we're excited to have him back in
Speaker 1: studio or whatever this is. Well, I'm thrilled to be here, guys,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me back. I missed the memo on
Speaker 1: the hats, but still good to be there. Always good
Speaker 1: to see if so today we're talking about British royals,
Speaker 1: and partially because Mango and I were talking a few
Speaker 1: weeks back about how long the Queen has rained. Now
Speaker 1: apparently it was Her Majesty's ninety four birthday at the
Speaker 1: start of COVID, but she was just twenty six years
Speaker 1: old when she ascended the throne. So she's been on
Speaker 1: the throne for sixty eight years, which is just insane
Speaker 1: and in fact, most British people straight up weren't a
Speaker 1: lot when Elizabeth the Second ascended the throne. The UK's
Speaker 1: Office of Statistics did a report on this back in
Speaker 1: I think it was two thousand seventeen, and according to
Speaker 1: the data of current citizens have never known a monarch
Speaker 1: besides the current Queen, which is just wild to think about.
Speaker 1: But more than that, look at who she's outlasted. Fourteen
Speaker 1: British Prime ministers have come and gone in that time,
Speaker 1: and thirteen different US presidents. I mean, that is insane
Speaker 1: and and maybe she'll see fourteen, depending on how our
Speaker 1: November election goes, which you know, it feels like so
Speaker 1: many lifetimes, I mean her her reign. I looked this
Speaker 1: up actually starts with Truman in office. But uh uh,
Speaker 1: maybe we'll let Gabe lead off. Today gave what is
Speaker 1: the most important fact you have about the queen? So
Speaker 1: I don't know if this qualifies as important per se,
Speaker 1: but it is one of my favorites, and it's the
Speaker 1: fact that Queen Elizabeth the Second was once the proud
Speaker 1: owner of no fewer than six big mouth billy bass.
Speaker 1: Can you guys believe it? I love I I really
Speaker 1: love that. That's where you're starting. And I actually knew
Speaker 1: that she had one billy bass, but I don't think
Speaker 1: I realized she had six. But maybe remind the listeners
Speaker 1: out there what a billy basses? Yeah? Sure, I mean
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous for starters, and I guess for those of
Speaker 1: you who somehow don't remember, the big mouth Billy bass
Speaker 1: was a novelty wall mounted fish and uh you you
Speaker 1: put it on your wall like a trophy, and it
Speaker 1: had some sort of you know, light sensor in or
Speaker 1: motion sensor, so when you walked by. It would turn
Speaker 1: its head off the mountain and face you, and then
Speaker 1: it would start singing in a really ridiculous, soulful voice.
Speaker 1: I love that you just explained what this was for,
Speaker 1: but I don't know how you could take me to
Speaker 1: the river and it was one of those things. I
Speaker 1: think it was the quickest thing that went from funny
Speaker 1: to so unfunny by the second time that you saw it.
Speaker 1: I mean it that novelty war then pretty quickly. But
Speaker 1: did Billy Beast sing any other songs? I was actually
Speaker 1: trying to remember. Yeah, just one other, which was don't
Speaker 1: worry be Happy. That's right, I remember this actually now
Speaker 1: that you say that, that's really funny. So so tell
Speaker 1: us how did this end up in like her Majesty's hand, Like,
Speaker 1: how did she fall in love with it? Yeah? Good questions. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess the Princess Royal is the one
Speaker 1: to blame for this. She uh introduced them to the
Speaker 1: Queen back into thousand and uh. It was reported to
Speaker 1: the Queen Elizabeth fell in love with her big mouth
Speaker 1: Billy Bass immediately, and soon after she had six of
Speaker 1: her own installed at Balmoral Castle, including one that she
Speaker 1: actually had mounted on top of the grand piano. And
Speaker 1: I mean we also know, thankfully that the Queen was
Speaker 1: given a Rocky the Singing Lobster for her birthday that
Speaker 1: year too, so quite a menagerie. What is Rocky the
Speaker 1: Singing Lobster. Rocky was like Billie's crustacean cousin, I guess
Speaker 1: you could say, so basically same deal, singing lobster. His
Speaker 1: repertoire included rock the boat and uh that do a
Speaker 1: did He song, which I know you guys. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: the best part is the Queen apparently loved to sting
Speaker 1: along with them. I know we've talked about how annoying
Speaker 1: this thing was, but for some weird reason, this actually
Speaker 1: makes me like her more. I mean, it's just such
Speaker 1: a great fact. I also kind of like to imagine
Speaker 1: that she sets them all off at once, like Rocky
Speaker 1: the Lobster, all six billies, and then she just basking
Speaker 1: all this chaos, Like it's just so fun to imagine.
Speaker 1: I I want to go back for a second, because
Speaker 1: I think you said she was once the proud owner
Speaker 1: of six billies, Like, does that mean she's ditched her
Speaker 1: collection over the years or what what's happened to them? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess we can't say for sure, right, but it
Speaker 1: has been twenty years, so I'm thinking the odds are that,
Speaker 1: you know, her big mouth Billy's eventually wound up in
Speaker 1: the trash with you know, everybody else's. There is a
Speaker 1: chance the fish and Rocky are still with her, though,
Speaker 1: why is that? Well, there are a lot of rules
Speaker 1: about giving gifts to the Royal family, and one of
Speaker 1: them is that they don't actually own the gifts you
Speaker 1: give them. They can wear them or use them, but
Speaker 1: the actual items are considered part of the royal collection.
Speaker 1: So since Rocky the Lobster was a birthday present, the
Speaker 1: Queen was technically holding him in trust, so getting rid
Speaker 1: of him wouldn't really be her call. To make I
Speaker 1: feel like this fact just keeps getting better, Like I
Speaker 1: love the Queen may be forced to own a singing
Speaker 1: lobster and perpetuity this is it's just too good game. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, from what I read, she has a great
Speaker 1: sense of humor, which makes sense with the story, and
Speaker 1: apparently she's pretty good at impressions too, so one of
Speaker 1: her former chaplains told the Associated Press that quote the
Speaker 1: Queen imitating the landing of a concord jet is one
Speaker 1: of the funniest things you could ever see. Sounds right
Speaker 1: to me, right, and it doesn't sound dated at all.
Speaker 1: I honestly loved the idea of the queen doing comedy
Speaker 1: side and it's like completely relatable jokes from the eighties
Speaker 1: about riding the concord and like what happens when your
Speaker 1: butler brings that you're the wrong type of caviar or something. Um. So,
Speaker 1: speaking of things that would be fun to watch, here's
Speaker 1: something I just learned. The Royal family has an elaborate
Speaker 1: protocol for when they eat fruit at formal events. So
Speaker 1: this is according to a chef who worked at Buckingham
Speaker 1: Palace for years, no food served at a royal banquet
Speaker 1: should ever be eaten by hand, including apples, bananas, and grapes.
Speaker 1: Actually this is weird, but it was just recently. I
Speaker 1: was thinking about that episode of Seinfeld where George starts
Speaker 1: eating candy bars with cutlery and then people start eating
Speaker 1: Eminem's with a spoon. Do you remember this episode? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I totally do. I Mean the weird thing is there's
Speaker 1: a particular way every fruit should be cut and eaten
Speaker 1: according to the Royals, like um with a pair. The
Speaker 1: Royal ways to slice off the top and then use
Speaker 1: a teaspoon to eat it like a boiled egg, which
Speaker 1: is ridiculous. Or for bananas, you cut off both ends
Speaker 1: of the banana and then you slice the peel down
Speaker 1: the middle, from end to end, and then you spread
Speaker 1: the peel apart with your utensils and like slice the
Speaker 1: fruit into tiny circles you can fork into your mouth.
Speaker 1: It is really really easy, guys. I don't know why
Speaker 1: we're not all eating fruit like that. No, no, that
Speaker 1: that's that's actually how how I mind bananas. I don't
Speaker 1: even understand how you'd eat them any other way? Is
Speaker 1: there another way? So I have to tell you, guys
Speaker 1: about this weird tradition that I was reading about. Every year,
Speaker 1: the Royal family gathers for a big Christmas dinner at
Speaker 1: their estate in Norfolk, and if a family member wants
Speaker 1: to eat that night, they have to indulge the Queen
Speaker 1: in this odd activity first. And it's gonna sound weird,
Speaker 1: but the Queen asked each guest to weigh themselves twice
Speaker 1: during the evening, both before and after the dinner. But
Speaker 1: it's like, you're right, that does sound weird, and I mean,
Speaker 1: what are they like using like super fragile Victorian dining
Speaker 1: chairs or something like why aren't they weighing themselves? Actually,
Speaker 1: I think the chairs are pretty sturdy. I'm just guessing
Speaker 1: that they are. But according to Cosmo, the tradition goes
Speaker 1: all the way back to King Edward the Seven. So
Speaker 1: in the early nineteen hundreds there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: famine and as a result, the king was concerned about
Speaker 1: the health of his guests and whether or not they
Speaker 1: were getting enough to eat on Christmas. So every year
Speaker 1: he would drag out a pair of antique scales and
Speaker 1: have each guest weighed before and after dinner, just to
Speaker 1: make sure they've been fed well. And obviously food shortages
Speaker 1: haven't been you know, much of an issue during the
Speaker 1: Queen's reign. But she apparently loves this weird tradition. I mean,
Speaker 1: she just gets weirder and weirder, which is great, but
Speaker 1: she still insists that her family step on those same
Speaker 1: old scales each Christmas, which I guess is a small
Speaker 1: price to pay for what's probably an amazing spread. That's
Speaker 1: a good point, and honestly, you know, whatever's on the menu,
Speaker 1: it goes without saying that most people need an invite
Speaker 1: if you want to dine at the royal table. But
Speaker 1: there's actually one person for whom that rule does not apply,
Speaker 1: or at least that's what he thought. Because back in
Speaker 1: two there was a British painter named Michael Fagan and
Speaker 1: he successfully broke into Buckingham Palace not once, but twice.
Speaker 1: And during his first break in, Fagan managed to evade
Speaker 1: security and he climbed up a drain pipe and went
Speaker 1: into the palace through an unlocked window. He then proceeded
Speaker 1: to make himself at home for the next half hour.
Speaker 1: So he helped himself to some cheddar cheese and crackers.
Speaker 1: He admired a few portraits. He even sat on the
Speaker 1: Queen's throne and like down to half a bottle of wine. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and at some point he just decided, you know, it's
Speaker 1: time to leave, and he did and so he just
Speaker 1: like got away with us. Yeah, that's right. It. The
Speaker 1: success made Fagan a little cocky because a few months
Speaker 1: later he couldn't help but return for a second visit.
Speaker 1: So once again he scaled the fourteen foot high wall
Speaker 1: outside the palace and then he climbed up a drain
Speaker 1: pipe and right in through the window. And it was
Speaker 1: early morning this time, and by seven fifteen Fagan had
Speaker 1: found his way to the queen's own bedroom, and so
Speaker 1: he later described the scene saying, quote, I walked past
Speaker 1: her bed and it looks too small to be the queen,
Speaker 1: so I go over and draw the curtain back just
Speaker 1: to make sure. Suddenly and suddenly she sat up and said,
Speaker 1: what are you doing here? And at that point, Fagan says,
Speaker 1: the queen jumped out of bed, bolted out of the room.
Speaker 1: Quote her little bear feet running across the floor, which
Speaker 1: sounds terrifying for the queen, but also like cute, like
Speaker 1: she seems really fast. From that description, I can't believe
Speaker 1: the poler security is so lax though, Like I'm guessing
Speaker 1: we know the story because because he eventually got caught. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right, he got caught that time. But the capture
Speaker 1: probably didn't go as you'd expect. According to Fagan, a
Speaker 1: footman came to the queen's bedroom and escorted him to
Speaker 1: a pantry, where he was given some whiskey and told
Speaker 1: to wait for the police to arrive. But here's the
Speaker 1: weirdest part. Fagin's trespassing was considered a civil wrong rather
Speaker 1: than a criminal offense. And that's because in England, for
Speaker 1: breaking and entering to be a crime, you have to
Speaker 1: prove that the perpetrator did so with the intent to
Speaker 1: do something else illegal, like you broke in to kill
Speaker 1: someone or to steal something. But in this case, there
Speaker 1: was no evidence that Fagan had entered the palace with
Speaker 1: the intention of harming or stealing anything, so technically he
Speaker 1: hadn't committed a crime. We actually, you said he stole cheese,
Speaker 1: And why if somebody breaks in my house and steals
Speaker 1: cheese for have some, You can't steal my cheese. Then
Speaker 1: you say he stole it. Yeah right, yeah, And and
Speaker 1: Fagan actually was charged with theft because of that, But
Speaker 1: he didn't break into Buckingham Palace with the goal of
Speaker 1: stealing wine and cheese. That was a spur the moment
Speaker 1: kind of thing, so it couldn't like retroactively make his
Speaker 1: trespassing a crime. So in the end, the theft charges
Speaker 1: were dropped and instead of jail time, Fagan was ordered
Speaker 1: to undergo psychiatric evaluation, which I'm fair enough, and uh,
Speaker 1: I should note that even though it took another twenty
Speaker 1: five years. The law was eventually changed in two thousand seven.
Speaker 1: So so now it is a crime to break into
Speaker 1: Buckingham Palace, guys. So okay, that's a good it's a
Speaker 1: good service note for our our listeners out there. All right,
Speaker 1: we've got four facts left to go. Let's take a
Speaker 1: quick break and then we'll get right back to it.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're sharing some
Speaker 1: of our favorite facts about British royalty. And uh will
Speaker 1: I I think maybe you're up next. I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm so distracted this whole episode by the all the
Speaker 1: billy bass facts like I feel like Gay actually used
Speaker 1: like three or four facts in one, which I think
Speaker 1: is cheating, but either way, it was jealous good stuff.
Speaker 1: So all right, Well, I thought we'd give the Queen
Speaker 1: a break for a minute and and talk instead about
Speaker 1: her husband, Prince Philip. And as we all know, members
Speaker 1: of the royal family draw a lot of attention from
Speaker 1: the public, and some people can be a little I
Speaker 1: don't know, you might say intense about their admiration for
Speaker 1: the royals. You've probably noticed this before, but as far
Speaker 1: as I know, Prince Philip is the only royal who's
Speaker 1: inspired an actual cult devoted to their worship. So it's pretty, uh,
Speaker 1: pretty interesting. But I think we talked a little bit
Speaker 1: about cargo colts on the show before, so I won't
Speaker 1: get too deep into those. But basically, a cargo cult
Speaker 1: is a tribal society that becomes fixated on the material
Speaker 1: goods or cargo of another culture. So, for instance, during
Speaker 1: World War Two, hundreds of thousands of American and Japanese
Speaker 1: soldiers visited islands in the Pacific, and they left behind
Speaker 1: all kinds of mass produced goods, like everything from radios
Speaker 1: to can openers to candy and coca cola, and the
Speaker 1: islanders had no concept of how these items were made
Speaker 1: or how they functioned, so they started to believe that
Speaker 1: this stuff must have been divinely made, like gifts from
Speaker 1: the gods or something. So pretty soon entire religions sprang
Speaker 1: up around these centered on this idea that if you
Speaker 1: worship the leader of these other societies, then your community
Speaker 1: would be rewarded with more of these divine gifts. And
Speaker 1: so how did Prince Philip get mixed up in that,
Speaker 1: Like one of the tribes just started worship again one day, yeah,
Speaker 1: and believe it or not. They still do. So most
Speaker 1: cargo cults lost faith during the post war years when
Speaker 1: these frequent cargo shipments started to dry up. But the
Speaker 1: so called Prince Philip movement is actually still going strong
Speaker 1: today in the South Pacific island of Tanna. So members
Speaker 1: of this island's cast On tribe became convinced of Prince
Speaker 1: Philip's divinity after seeing his portrait in the nineteen sixties. So,
Speaker 1: according to them, the Prince was the fulfillment of an
Speaker 1: ancient prophecy that the son of a mountain spirit would
Speaker 1: take the form of a pale skinned man who would
Speaker 1: marry a powerful woman and one day visit the Tanna Island.
Speaker 1: So you look at Prince Philip and it's like chack, chack, chack,
Speaker 1: he's all of these he's pale skin and he's married
Speaker 1: to the queen. And in nineteen seventy four, his royal
Speaker 1: yacht actually visited the island, and so that cemented Prince
Speaker 1: Philip's status as the cults one true messiah. And they
Speaker 1: have been worshiping this guy ever since. And because I
Speaker 1: know you're wondering, yes, Prince Philip is aware of all
Speaker 1: of this, and the tribe has corresponded with Buckingham Palace
Speaker 1: over the years, and even sent Prince Philip a traditional
Speaker 1: pig hunting club as a token of their esteem. And
Speaker 1: it's not a one way street either, So according to
Speaker 1: the Telegraph, Prince Philip returned the gesture by sending the
Speaker 1: tribe a portrait of himself holding the pig club. I mean,
Speaker 1: I suppose he's just being nice, but also what a
Speaker 1: weird gift, especially when he could actually do things for
Speaker 1: them that would actually help them out. So my next
Speaker 1: fact is about shampoo. Prior to the late eighteenth century,
Speaker 1: the Western world used to be pretty bad at hair washing.
Speaker 1: Most people use soap to do the job, if they
Speaker 1: used anything at all, But that started to change when
Speaker 1: an Indian man named shake Dean Mohammed introduced London's high
Speaker 1: society to this old cultural practice from India. For centuries,
Speaker 1: Indians used to have these cleansing scout massages using special
Speaker 1: oils called chumpy. In fact, in India, when you get
Speaker 1: a haircut off in the barbera will massage your head
Speaker 1: at the end of the haircut as as just a
Speaker 1: part of the haircut. So when Mohammed started offering this
Speaker 1: treatment at his luxury spa in Brighton. It actually didn't
Speaker 1: take that long for Londoners to see the appeals. Soon
Speaker 1: the classiest folks in town were lining up at Mohammed's
Speaker 1: spa to treat themselves to this head massage and the
Speaker 1: name got ankle sized from chumpy to shampoo. But here's
Speaker 1: the interesting part. So Mohammed started building his shampoos as
Speaker 1: a cure all like he claimed to cancure anything from
Speaker 1: gout to the sprained ankle, And then it started picking
Speaker 1: up even more steam. But the truth is, all of
Speaker 1: this probably would have been just another passing fad if
Speaker 1: it hadn't been for the royal family. As these medical
Speaker 1: shampoo's got more and more popular, King George the Fourth
Speaker 1: wanted to see what the hubbub was about and invited
Speaker 1: Mohammed to the palace to massage his royal head and
Speaker 1: the treatment was such a hit with his majesty that
Speaker 1: he actually appointed Mohammed to be the official shampooing surgeon
Speaker 1: to the king. And when George the Fourth was succeeded
Speaker 1: by his brother, King William the Fourth, Mohammed became his
Speaker 1: shampoo surgeon too. And from they're all people from like
Speaker 1: all sorts of social classes started following the King's lead
Speaker 1: and scrubbing up with shampoo, and it quickly became the
Speaker 1: world's go to way to clean your hair. All right, well,
Speaker 1: my next spect is about a British king who was
Speaker 1: less concerned with keeping himself clean than he was in
Speaker 1: just keeping himself alive. And uh, that's Henry the Eighth,
Speaker 1: who is mostly remembered today for, you know, being a
Speaker 1: bully who executed his enemies, not to mention two of
Speaker 1: his six wives. And you know something that's less widely
Speaker 1: known about him, though, is that he was also a
Speaker 1: major hypochondriac. He had his royal physicians examine him almost daily,
Speaker 1: and any hint of illness at his court would reportedly
Speaker 1: send him into a panic. But the king wasn't only
Speaker 1: worried about getting sick. He was also deathly afraid of
Speaker 1: being poisoned. And we've all heard about how kings have
Speaker 1: food tasters to test their meals for them to make
Speaker 1: sure it hasn't been tampered with. Well, Henry the Eighth
Speaker 1: took this precaution and extended it to his bedroom too.
Speaker 1: He had this idea that one of his servants might
Speaker 1: coat his bed sheets with some kind of toxin while
Speaker 1: making his bed each morning. So to prove that they
Speaker 1: hadn't done that, the king made them kiss every part
Speaker 1: of the sheets, pillows, and blankets that they touched. That
Speaker 1: that was just part of his daily morning routine, like
Speaker 1: watch the servants make out with the bedding, and also
Speaker 1: just seems like really time consuming and I'm curious that
Speaker 1: why why stop at the Lenen's. I mean, couldn't somebody
Speaker 1: just as easily smear poison on his clothes or something? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he thought of that too. According to historians, the
Speaker 1: king was also very concerned that his enemies might try
Speaker 1: to poison his clothes or even those of his son,
Speaker 1: so he had his servants test every item of clothing
Speaker 1: before he put it on. So the servants would rub
Speaker 1: their skin against every part of each piece of fabric,
Speaker 1: and for his son, Prince Edward, they would just put
Speaker 1: the clothes on a boy of Edward's size and wait
Speaker 1: to see if anything happened to him. So kind of
Speaker 1: a jerk move. But the paranoia didn't stop there either,
Speaker 1: because even the cushion on Edward's chamber pot was reportedly
Speaker 1: tested before he used it each time, so I'm almost
Speaker 1: a little afraid to ask, how did how did he
Speaker 1: test it? Yeah, I mean, mercifully, we don't know, Like
Speaker 1: his history doesn't record that one. But you know, hopefully
Speaker 1: they weren't kissing it like they were the sheets. But
Speaker 1: I mean, you can't really rule anything out with this guy. Yeah, alright, Well,
Speaker 1: speaking of scandals, I'm hoping my third fact isn't too
Speaker 1: controversial because it isn't about a British royal per se.
Speaker 1: But it does feature a guy who claims to be
Speaker 1: British Royalty. In fact, he claims to be the rightful
Speaker 1: King of England. His name is Alan Evans, and he's
Speaker 1: a resident of wheat Ridge, Colorado. He lives in Colorado. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you got that right. The story didn't say in the
Speaker 1: news for that long, but back in two thousand and seventeen,
Speaker 1: Evans took out a huge ad in the Times of
Speaker 1: London claiming to be a descendant of royal Welsh line
Speaker 1: from the third century. And that adds too wordy here
Speaker 1: to to read the whole thing, but I do want
Speaker 1: to share my favorite part. It says, take heed and
Speaker 1: rejoice all citizens of this great nation called Great Britain,
Speaker 1: for the legend was not a myth, but was indeed
Speaker 1: true and more than a mere Tolkien story, that the
Speaker 1: men of the West are now returning and now is
Speaker 1: the time of the return of the king. So I
Speaker 1: like this already, but I'm a little confused. What did
Speaker 1: this guy think was gonna happen? Like the queen is
Speaker 1: just going to hand over the keys to sucking Palace
Speaker 1: and like let her eat his cheese, and like, what's
Speaker 1: going on? I mean, if it's convincing enough, I guess.
Speaker 1: But according to the ad, he was giving legal notice
Speaker 1: of his plan to claim his quote royal historic estate
Speaker 1: in thirty days, along with all the land, assets and
Speaker 1: titles due to him. However, he did not intend to
Speaker 1: claim the throne right away due to his you know,
Speaker 1: deepest respect for the queen, and so I guess he
Speaker 1: wants to postpone his reign until after she's passed away,
Speaker 1: which I say, that's kind of a classy move. So
Speaker 1: what happened after he gave her this notice? You're gonna
Speaker 1: be shocked. But but nothing happened, and so Buckingham Palace
Speaker 1: never responded and Evans had to settle for being self
Speaker 1: appointed King of wheat Ridge. It's almost as good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's almost as good. Um, but we did a guy's
Speaker 1: nine pretty good royal facts and and I I think
Speaker 1: it's time to crown a winner. So for my part,
Speaker 1: I like that Will managed to sneak a little America
Speaker 1: undo our episode. But you know, gives big mouth Billy
Speaker 1: bassa run there, really take it over. Yeah, you good
Speaker 1: with giving him the trophy? No, I'm definitely good with that.
Speaker 1: I don't think there was any question. I think there
Speaker 1: would have been a revolt among our listeners if we've
Speaker 1: given it to anybody else this week. All right, well,
Speaker 1: thanks guys. I couldn't have done it, of course without
Speaker 1: Prince Philip praised be his name. All right, well that's
Speaker 1: gonna do it for today's Part Time Genius from Mangush,
Speaker 1: Gabe Lowell and myself. Thanks so much for listening, and
Speaker 1: please stay safe and if you need to pick me
Speaker 1: up this week, remember it's always tiera clock somewhere definitely
Speaker 1: m M. Part Time Genius is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. H