WEBVTT - Typope 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.440 Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:09.320 iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.840 Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.280 is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.720 right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:37.240 Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. What would you consider 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.440 to be a good legacy for all of human history? 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:43.440 People have wondered this. Is it an estate to leave 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.559 to your children, grandchildren and so on? Is it a 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:48.080 name that your descendants can. 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:51.080 Be proud of? Is it a statue or a monument? 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.120 You don't have to be a king or a head 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.240 of state to have this kind of thought. Death is certain, 0:00:57.360 --> 0:00:59.520 so we all hope that some part of us can 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.400 live on, if not through our family or our work, 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:05.040 then through the ways in which we are remembered by 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:08.720 our communities. Or to quote the great Bruce Lee, the 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.759 key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering. 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.880 But when you achieve a position of great influence, this 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.559 question is practically decided for you. Whether you do good 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.760 or great evil, you will always appear on some list 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:26.280 of royalty or prime minister or generals. A title for 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:28.840 better or worse is a guarantee that you are an 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.640 exceptional person. If you go to Rome and you visit 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.720 the papal Basilica of Saint Paul, outside of the walls, 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.360 you will see a ring of mosaic portraits lining the walls. 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.600 Each of these shows, in order, the line of popes 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:44.640 leading back to the early four hundreds. It's an impressive 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:47.000 piece of work, but I would draw your attention to 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.680 one of these portraits. The pope between Benedict the sixth 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.760 and Benedict the seventh. He's known as Pope Donnis the Second, 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.400 and he reigned sometime in the nine seventies. And this was, 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:02.320 to put it mildly, a pretty chaotic time for papal history. 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.760 All throughout the Middle Ages, conflict within the Christian Faith 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.320 led to several so called anti popes, people who claimed 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:12.200 to be the true pontiff in defiance of the Roman 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.400 Catholic Church. And it appears that the reign of Pope 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:18.240 Donnis the Second was during the brief reign of the 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:21.680 anti Pope Bonifice the seventh, who claimed to be pope 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:25.520 for approximately a month in nine seventy four. Now, the 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.240 funny thing about antipopes is that while none of them 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.760 were seen as legitimate, men like Bonifice the seventh, would 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:35.079 have a ripple effect on papal history. The next pope 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:37.680 who wanted to choose the name Boniface would go for 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.480 Bonifice the eighth rather than share a name with a 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:44.839 former anti pope. Pope Donnis the Second, however, was no antipope, 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.640 even if his reign was similarly brief. According to some records, 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.960 it lasted for only three months between August and October 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:55.680 of nine seventy four. He is remembered in papal histories 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.280 as an honorable man of great integrity. And if that 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:03.400 sounds like a generic, if maybe complementary, description of a pope, 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.920 well there's a reason for that. It was common knowledge 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.480 that the roster of popes was flawed, but it wasn't 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.560 until nineteen forty seven that they finally conducted an audit 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.919 of the official papal list. It turned up several bizarre 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:20.160 errors and contradictions. For instance, Pope Anaclidus was listed as 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.000 two different people, a number of popes were absent from 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.360 the official count. And then there's Pope Donnis the Second, 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:31.480 Monsignor Angelo Murcadi, the Vatican Archivist, determined that Donnis the 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:36.400 Second never actually existed. Now, there was a Pope Donas 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.680 who held the title in the six seventies, but the 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:41.680 successor for the name appears to have been a clerical error. 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:44.800 His predecessor, Pope Benedict the sixth, was listed with the 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.720 title Dominus d Sutrie after his name in the year 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:52.320 nine seventy four. Early record keepers appeared to have mistaken 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.280 Dominus for another pope rather than an honorific title. The 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.200 mural at Saint Paul's was created in the eighteenth century, 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.800 long after the hopes of the Middle Ages were deceased, 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.840 and thus it was perfectly normal for the artists to 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.400 imagine what someone looked like based on the existing records, 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:12.880 and yet the artwork outside of Saint Paul's remains. The 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:17.440 portrait of Pope Donnis the Second, entirely fictionalized, stands alongside 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.359 real men who lived at the same time. Due to 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:24.080 an honest mistake, an imaginary man was memorialized in his 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:27.719 own place of honor, like giving a tombstone to a typo. 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:30.920 And it really does beg the question for us if 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.600 someone who never existed can have such a robust legacy, 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.360 who's to say that ordinary people like you and I 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:40.760 can't and honestly, past a certain point of record keeping, 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:44.159 That's all history is stories we've agreed to tell each 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:48.119 other for so many centuries that they've practically become true, 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:52.760 or at least until someone who's curious enough bothers to 0:04:52.880 --> 0:05:09.599 check your sources. Despite being a royal, Alexandra did not 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.800 have a glamorous upbringing. She came from modest beginnings but 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:18.360 would become a true storybook. Princess Alexander was born into 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:22.120 the Danish royal family in eighteen forty four. Her family 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.600 didn't have a last name in the modern sense that 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:26.840 you and I would recognize. They were known as the 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:31.360 House of Slushwig Holstein Sunderberg Glucksburg, but a traditional last 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.720 name definitely would have made recording this episode easier. Her 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.800 parents were fairly low in the royal line of succession. 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.800 Her dad was the king's second cousin and her mom 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.919 was his niece, making them I guess double second cousins. 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.800 Today that might get some sideways glances, but that was 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:52.120 actually pretty mild incest. By nineteenth century royal family standards, 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.520 everything changed though, in eighteen forty eight, when the king 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.680 died and his son took the throne, the son had 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.080 no male heirs, and so a council was held to 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.400 determine the line of succession, and ultimately it was decided 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.599 that none other than Alexandra's father would become the new 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.440 Prince of Denmark. Now, surprisingly, this didn't come with much 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:14.560 in the way of wealth. Alexandra, her parents, and her 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.840 siblings all lived in a town home in Copenhagen. It 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.159 was a decent place to live by most standards, but 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:23.840 far from a palace. Heck, Alexandra lived in the attic 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.840 with her sister Dagmar, and both of the girls waited 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.360 tables at a local restaurant, which wasn't actually very easy 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.480 for Alexandra. She was partially deaf in one ear, which 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:36.520 made it difficult to hear the customer's orders. She also 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.000 had a scar on her neck from a childhood accident, 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.479 which she had to cover with a choker necklace. Now, 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.040 even though they were working class people, they did receive 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.359 some perks as royals. The children had a tutor, a 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:50.800 kind man who would tell them stories and taught them 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.080 to read and write in English. This was important as 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:58.159 England dominated European politics at the time, with Queen Victoria 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:02.080 ruling since before Alexandra was born, and then in eighteen 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:06.360 sixty three the king died and Alexandra's father took the throne. 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:10.440 Alexandra and Dagmar suddenly became prime targets for marriages to 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:14.760 other royal families. That same year, Alexandra's royal ties and 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.760 strong education brought her to the attention of none other 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:21.160 than Queen Victoria herself. She was looking for a bride 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.080 for her son, Prince Edward. The two were married that 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.960 same year. Alexandra was officially a Princess of Wales, the 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.360 traditional title given to the wife of the heir to 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.040 the English throne. A few years later, in eighteen sixty six, 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.240 Dagmar married the Prince of Russia. They also had a 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.040 brother who became the King of Greece. Their family had 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.880 truly moved up in the world. Once in England, Alexandra 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.480 encountered a decadent society, far removed from her life as 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:50.840 a waitress. Edward and his friends loved to party, and 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.679 Edward had many affairs. Alexandra took all this in stride. 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:58.160 She focused on her home and soon their children. She 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:00.760 had six of them between eighteen six sixty four in 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:05.120 eighteen seventy one, almost one per year. This was incredibly 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:07.560 taxing on her body, and it led her to catching 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.080 a fever, which in turn resulted in her having a 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.400 permanent stiffness in her right leg. She limped from there 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.200 on out. With her limp, her next scar and partial deafness, 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:20.720 she became very self conscious. She continued to wear choker 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.680 necklaces and tried to have her dresses tailored to hide 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.680 the limp. She smoked cigarettes to deal with the stress 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.680 of being a princess, and this was uncommon for women 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.280 at the time, but she used a cigarette holder to 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:36.560 look more elegant. Before Alexandra realized what was happening, the 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.440 young women in England began to take up the same habit. 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:42.680 They also wore choker necklaces, and some of them even 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.120 wore mismatt shoes and used a cane to imitate her limp, 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:48.480 and at first she may have thought that they were 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.719 mocking her. Her husband wasn't that popular. Actually, he was 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.480 seen as a lazy playboy, so it would figure that 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.199 the public would come after Alexandra too. But in actuality. 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:02.120 When interviewed, many of the young women imitating Alexander's style 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.160 and limp admired her. She seemed like a kind and 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.120 down to earth leader compared to her husband. It was 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.640 a rare case of a disability giving rise to a 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:16.000 fashion trend. Edward became king after Victoria's death in nineteen 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.800 oh one. His rule is generally overshadowed by his mother's 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.760 as well as by his sons. George the Fifth took 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.959 the throne in nineteen ten after Edward's death, and his 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.960 mother was always close by his side. Alexander herself is 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.080 often overshadowed by the more famous members of her family, 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.320 but her childhood tutor remained proud of the little girl 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.920 he helped crow into a real life princess. He recognized 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:43.440 the power of her story and her personal growth, and 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:45.800 he would know because he made his own mark on 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.120 history as a lover of classic tales. The man who 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:57.000 gave Us The Little Mermaid Hans Christian Anderson. I hope 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.920 you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curios. 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.080 This show was created by me Aaron Manke in partnership 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:07.079 with iHeart Podcasts. Researched and written by the Grim and 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:10.600 Mild team and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.839 the show and the people who make it over at 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.120 Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.640 to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:24.320 bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.000 if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.960 our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.480 interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and sign 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.920 up over at patreon dot com slash Grimandmild, and until 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.079 next time, stay curious.