1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,840
Speaker 1: A note before we start. This episode deals with the

2
00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:14,120
Speaker 1: topic of suicide. Please listen with caution. The Western Balkan

3
00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:21,400
Speaker 1: Mountains April nineteen twenty five, and the Royal car navigates

4
00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:28,480
Speaker 1: the narrow, winding road that snakes through the valley. Rabbits

5
00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,920
Speaker 1: and rockfall litter the route. On one side of the pass,

6
00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,040
Speaker 1: there's a sheer drop of one hundred feet.

7
00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:38,160
Speaker 2: The chauffeur needs.

8
00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:42,080
Speaker 1: His wits about him to keep the tires from flirting.

9
00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,800
Speaker 2: With the edge.

10
00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,720
Speaker 1: On the backseat of the car are two men, King Boris,

11
00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,880
Speaker 1: the third of Bulgaria, and his friend, a fellow insect enthusiast.

12
00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,560
Speaker 1: Each time the car swerves, the King rolls into him.

13
00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:01,920
Speaker 1: They're giddy with excitement. They've been out walking and have

14
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:07,600
Speaker 1: found some rare flowers and an exquisite new species of butterfly.

15
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,920
Speaker 1: They've high hopes for today's hike. The King's gamekeeper is

16
00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:17,360
Speaker 1: up front. He's swapped places with the King so Boris

17
00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:23,040
Speaker 1: can chat with his friend. An old bus laboring and

18
00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:27,319
Speaker 1: puffing up the steep pass forces the chauffeur to slow

19
00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:32,320
Speaker 1: his speed. The King glances out of the window, squinting

20
00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:37,240
Speaker 1: into the early morning sun. He sees something glinting in

21
00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:48,480
Speaker 1: the undergrowth. Then a flash, and he instinctively ducks. It's

22
00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:54,280
Speaker 1: an ambush. The first bullet is aimed at the front seat,

23
00:01:54,800 --> 00:02:00,440
Speaker 1: the King's usual seat. It kills the gamekeeper instantly. The

24
00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:04,760
Speaker 1: next one kills the King's friend, and the chauffeur, blinded

25
00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:09,760
Speaker 1: by his shattered windscreen, loses control of the car. It

26
00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,680
Speaker 1: starts veering towards the cliff edge. As the bullets keep coming.

27
00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,760
Speaker 1: Boris seizes the steering wheel and yanks the car back

28
00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:25,760
Speaker 1: from the edge just in time. Under a shower of gunfire,

29
00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:30,639
Speaker 1: King Boris leaps from the car and races towards the bus.

30
00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:35,760
Speaker 1: He jumps in, pushes the driver aside, and screeches off

31
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:40,360
Speaker 1: in the direction of a military garrison. A few minutes

32
00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,240
Speaker 1: later and the King is back, with the bus, now

33
00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:51,360
Speaker 1: full of armed soldiers. The soldiers chase the assailants deep

34
00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:56,720
Speaker 1: into the mountains. It's clear these aren't ordinary robbers. They're

35
00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:03,880
Speaker 1: far too skilled. These men organized terrorists with one very

36
00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:10,800
Speaker 1: specific and very royal target. Tomorrow's newspaper headlines will rave

37
00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:15,560
Speaker 1: about the King's cool head, about his gallantry, his lucky

38
00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:20,440
Speaker 1: escape from the murderous plot of communist revolutionaries. He'll be

39
00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:26,640
Speaker 1: hailed across the world as a hero. But kneeling beside

40
00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:31,480
Speaker 1: his friend's dead bodies, King Boris doesn't feel heroic. The

41
00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,960
Speaker 1: attempt on his life might have failed this time, but

42
00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,160
Speaker 1: the King knows they'll get him in the end, because

43
00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:43,560
Speaker 1: this is only the very beginning of the plot to

44
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:53,080
Speaker 1: kill him from Blanchard House and exactly right, media, this

45
00:03:53,560 --> 00:04:37,520
Speaker 1: is the Butterfly King. I'm Becky Milligan h Chapter six,

46
00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:49,960
Speaker 1: an inside job. What I really like is the the

47
00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:51,800
Speaker 1: really old a gramophone.

48
00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:55,080
Speaker 2: Gramophone. Yes, it's a wind up one, isn't it.

49
00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:00,359
Speaker 1: I'm back at Rana Palace. Not in the plush drawing

50
00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,400
Speaker 1: room where I usually meet King Simeon and Princess Maria Louisa.

51
00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,560
Speaker 1: I'm in the building next door, where one of Simeon's

52
00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,640
Speaker 1: aides is proudly showing me around what was once the

53
00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 1: Palace powerhouse. King Boris's office, complete with gramophone.

54
00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:19,560
Speaker 2: Can we play it?

55
00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,760
Speaker 3: Yes, let's play Bulgarian Royal national anthem.

56
00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:31,640
Speaker 2: Oh I thought it was a bit of chah.

57
00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:42,920
Speaker 1: Okay, here we go. You can imagine Boris sitting at

58
00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,120
Speaker 1: the big desk in his office, listening to his gramophone

59
00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,040
Speaker 1: head in hands, the weight of the world on his shoulders.

60
00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,839
Speaker 1: It wasn't an easy job being Bulgaria's king. It's a

61
00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:55,240
Speaker 1: beautiful desk, isn't it?

62
00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:59,640
Speaker 2: And are these all his uniforms here? Absolutely military uniforms,

63
00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:00,360
Speaker 2: aren't they industry?

64
00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:04,920
Speaker 3: In films with his decorations and medals, you can see

65
00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:10,800
Speaker 3: the White Cross, the Bravery for Bravery Cross. Yes, he

66
00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,320
Speaker 3: was awarded by King Thirtinane during the First World War

67
00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:20,240
Speaker 3: with this medal and was maybe the most precious In

68
00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,039
Speaker 3: some way.

69
00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:29,680
Speaker 1: Boris's courage was legendary, but it was also very necessary.

70
00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,360
Speaker 1: In the interwar period when Boris was on the throne,

71
00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:41,279
Speaker 1: Bulgaria was a brutal place. Political assassinations and targeted killings

72
00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:47,039
Speaker 1: were commonplace. Rival factions fought and murdered each other in

73
00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:51,680
Speaker 1: the race for power. Ruling over such a viper's nest

74
00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:53,160
Speaker 1: was no picnic.

75
00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:56,080
Speaker 2: The king's governments were.

76
00:06:55,920 --> 00:07:01,360
Speaker 1: More or less democratically elected, but few politicians really respected

77
00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:05,400
Speaker 1: the wishes of the ballot box. Rival parties often tried

78
00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,520
Speaker 1: their luck by force. They weren't trying to ousk Boris,

79
00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,960
Speaker 1: they just wanted to unseat his cabinet. Poor Boris had

80
00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,880
Speaker 1: only been in the job five years before the first

81
00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:24,400
Speaker 1: Coupdetta happened that one, backed by the military, toppled his

82
00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,400
Speaker 1: leftist government and brought a block of bourgeois right wingers

83
00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,160
Speaker 1: to power. And to make it absolutely clear that they

84
00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:37,520
Speaker 1: meant business, they chopped the fingers off the ex prime minister,

85
00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,080
Speaker 1: then allegedly sent his head in a biscuit tin to

86
00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:46,400
Speaker 1: the palace. I did tell you those Bulgarians were brutal.

87
00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:51,640
Speaker 1: So Boris knew all too well that there was a

88
00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:56,760
Speaker 1: biscuit tin somewhere out there with his name on it too.

89
00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:58,800
Speaker 1: It was just a matter of time.

90
00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:01,760
Speaker 4: Don't forget, Kings were always being murdered.

91
00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:06,120
Speaker 1: Boris didn't care for his new right wing government, but

92
00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,600
Speaker 1: he just had to suck it up. His job was

93
00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:15,360
Speaker 1: to try to keep everyone sweet. Historian Tessa Dunlop, he is.

94
00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:19,120
Speaker 4: A man who begins feeling anxious at the beginning of rain.

95
00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:24,800
Speaker 4: He's got partisans, murderers, discontent, army leaders, communists, is all

96
00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:25,880
Speaker 4: kicking off in the.

97
00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,600
Speaker 2: Witches cauldron that is the Balkans.

98
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,600
Speaker 4: Bulgaria the bad boy of the Balkans, and there were

99
00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:33,199
Speaker 4: quite a lot of bad boys, to be honest with you,

100
00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:34,079
Speaker 4: in the Balkans.

101
00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,760
Speaker 1: A few months after the right wing coup, the Bulgarian

102
00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:43,439
Speaker 1: Bolsheviks the Communists had to go at seizing power themselves,

103
00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,960
Speaker 1: but their attempt at a power grab failed dismally. It

104
00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:55,080
Speaker 1: was brutally repressed by Boris's right wing government. Pushed underground,

105
00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:58,080
Speaker 1: the Bolsheviks and Communists became bitter.

106
00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:00,800
Speaker 2: If a Red Revolution.

107
00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,840
Speaker 1: Was to succeed in Bulgaria, they realized they needed a

108
00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,160
Speaker 1: major change of strategy, so they came up with a

109
00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:12,120
Speaker 1: new plan of action, a targeted campaign of terror, and

110
00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:13,840
Speaker 1: their bullseye.

111
00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:14,640
Speaker 2: Was King Boris.

112
00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:19,000
Speaker 1: Boris would have known the Communists had marked him out,

113
00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,320
Speaker 1: and he must have felt so alone in that knowledge.

114
00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:26,000
Speaker 1: In the early years of his reign, he was still unmarried,

115
00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,080
Speaker 1: plus his brother and his sisters were in exile in

116
00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:33,600
Speaker 1: Germany with their father, Foxy Ferdinand. Did the king fear

117
00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,200
Speaker 1: his life was unraveling before it had really begun.

118
00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,640
Speaker 4: He's pretty fearful. His hands tremble quite a lot to

119
00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,520
Speaker 4: begin with, but he he grows a bit of a

120
00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:44,320
Speaker 4: second skin.

121
00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,640
Speaker 1: Tessa means he had to toughen up, and that would

122
00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:54,760
Speaker 1: prove invaluable. But what he really needed was nine lives,

123
00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:59,480
Speaker 1: because the next assassination attempt was already brewing.

124
00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,559
Speaker 2: The podcast studio is here. Oh wow, with a candle,

125
00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:10,479
Speaker 2: call Ah brilliant.

126
00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,280
Speaker 1: My producer Eja and I have come to Sofia to

127
00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:18,959
Speaker 1: see Anna Blagover. You'll remember she co hosts the Bulgarian

128
00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,880
Speaker 1: podcast The Urban Detective. We were talking to her in

129
00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,479
Speaker 1: the last episode about how the Soviets and the Communists

130
00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:31,600
Speaker 1: erased large parts of Bulgaria's history when they invaded Sofia.

131
00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,160
Speaker 1: That was in nineteen forty four, just a year after

132
00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:39,200
Speaker 1: King Boris was poisoned. And it's that which makes the

133
00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:44,400
Speaker 1: royal family, particularly Maria Louisa, deeply suspicious that the Soviets

134
00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,719
Speaker 1: were behind her father's murder. But right now we want

135
00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,160
Speaker 1: to talk to Anna about her dad.

136
00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:55,080
Speaker 5: My father was an investigative journalist, and in fact, he

137
00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,840
Speaker 5: wrote a book about famous Kuda Dat's and political assassinations

138
00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:08,079
Speaker 5: in history. He attempted to rank the political assassinations based

139
00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:09,200
Speaker 5: on their influence.

140
00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:14,040
Speaker 1: Now, Anna's dad was particularly interested in all the murders

141
00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,559
Speaker 1: and acts of terrorism that took place during King Boris's reign,

142
00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,920
Speaker 1: primarily because there were so many of them, but also

143
00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,520
Speaker 1: because King Boris was so often the target.

144
00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,400
Speaker 5: One of the Greatestterrist acts. And actually the one that

145
00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,560
Speaker 5: my father ranked number one was the Saint Nidelia Church

146
00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,520
Speaker 5: very close to where we are in the center of Sofia.

147
00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,319
Speaker 1: Let's look at the number one assassination on Anna's dad's list.

148
00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,400
Speaker 1: Bear with me, because at first glance it sounds rather obscure.

149
00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:48,040
Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty five, just hours after Boris had been

150
00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:53,880
Speaker 1: ambushed on that mountain pass, a retired high ranking RB

151
00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:59,440
Speaker 1: general was suddenly gunned down in Sofia. Quite why no

152
00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,920
Speaker 1: one really knew. But this general was also a member

153
00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:11,880
Speaker 1: of parliament and a political big shot, so as befits

154
00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:12,680
Speaker 1: a dignitary.

155
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:14,679
Speaker 2: His funeral was an.

156
00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:18,000
Speaker 1: All bells and whistles affair. It was held at the

157
00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:22,880
Speaker 1: sent Nadalia Cathedral and it was attended by Bulgaria's great

158
00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:29,280
Speaker 1: and good. The priest opened the Gospel and began reading

159
00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:36,679
Speaker 1: from Saint John, He that heareth my word hath everlasting life,

160
00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:48,280
Speaker 1: And at that exact moment the bomb was so powerful

161
00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:53,760
Speaker 1: it blew off the roof of the nave. Dismembered bodies

162
00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:59,840
Speaker 1: and corpses littered the church. Two hundred and thirteen men,

163
00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:04,160
Speaker 1: women and children were murdered in that attack over four

164
00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:07,400
Speaker 1: hundred others were wounded, but none of them were the

165
00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:13,160
Speaker 1: intended target. They were just terrible collateral damage. The real

166
00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:18,439
Speaker 1: target of that bombing escaped without a scratch. I imagine you

167
00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,880
Speaker 1: can guess who the real target was. Yes, King Boris,

168
00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:29,959
Speaker 1: but he survived unharmed because he wasn't there. He'd been

169
00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:32,880
Speaker 1: attending the funerals of his friends who died in that

170
00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,960
Speaker 1: ambush in the mountains and was running late. And who

171
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:37,680
Speaker 1: were the bombers?

172
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,760
Speaker 2: Yes, the Reds again.

173
00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:44,840
Speaker 5: The Communists said. The time O wing of the Communists

174
00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:49,520
Speaker 5: party bombed the church in the hopes to kill Boris.

175
00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,920
Speaker 5: It was one of the bloodiest theorist acts in our history,

176
00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:58,640
Speaker 5: and it actually precipitated a response of persecution of those

177
00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:01,880
Speaker 5: Communists as a blood bug after a blood buf.

178
00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:07,280
Speaker 1: But the Communists were foiled again and again. They were

179
00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:12,559
Speaker 1: brutally punished by Boris's government, but the Communists were determined.

180
00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:20,800
Speaker 1: They kept trying and trying. A couple of years later,

181
00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,920
Speaker 1: a communist activist broke into the palace at first light

182
00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,920
Speaker 1: with a pistol, ready to kill the king as he

183
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:36,680
Speaker 1: slept in his bedchamber. Foiled again. The king was already

184
00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,600
Speaker 1: up and about Boris was an early riser. He was

185
00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:48,240
Speaker 1: probably out catching butterflies, and these assassination attempts just keep coming.

186
00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,680
Speaker 1: In the winter of nineteen thirty four, the king was

187
00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:58,400
Speaker 1: on a train to the Bulgarian coast when a bomb

188
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:03,680
Speaker 1: went off in the engine. Boris was again unhurt. In fact,

189
00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,680
Speaker 1: he even dressed the engine driver's burns before leaping into

190
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:14,840
Speaker 1: his seat and driving the burning train to safety. Nothing

191
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:19,200
Speaker 1: was proved, but that assassination attempt had all the markings

192
00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:20,960
Speaker 1: of a Communist attack.

193
00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:26,280
Speaker 4: He survived ambush. He was the original James Bond of

194
00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,640
Speaker 4: Bulgaria in many respects, but he just didn't have the dashing,

195
00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:31,400
Speaker 4: good looks in the charisma to go with it.

196
00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,160
Speaker 2: I think he was quite dashing, actually.

197
00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,680
Speaker 1: So. Bulgaria's own communists had been trying for years to

198
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:45,560
Speaker 1: get Boris out of the picture. They were seriously persistent,

199
00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:51,280
Speaker 1: but in the end someone succeeded, as we know, after

200
00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,920
Speaker 1: all those attempts on his life, the king finally died

201
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:59,200
Speaker 1: on the twenty eighth of August nineteen forty three. Was

202
00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:04,240
Speaker 1: it the Communist did they finally pull it off? The

203
00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:09,360
Speaker 1: Communists certainly had a motive. They were politically weakened and

204
00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:14,360
Speaker 1: brutally repressed under King Boris, And what about the means?

205
00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,160
Speaker 1: The Soviet Union would surely have been happy to help

206
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,680
Speaker 1: out their Bulgarian comrades by handing over a file of

207
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:28,120
Speaker 1: their very best poison, anything for another Red Revolution. And

208
00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:33,480
Speaker 1: the Communists had form too. They bombed trains, cathedrals and

209
00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:38,280
Speaker 1: mountain passes. They made sure they were never short of opportunity.

210
00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:45,720
Speaker 1: But let's not jump to conclusions, because there is another possibility.

211
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:49,960
Speaker 1: I want to take you somewhere quite different. I want

212
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:58,600
Speaker 1: to try and take you inside King Boris's head. Boris

213
00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:03,000
Speaker 1: often sought solace in mountains, looking for rare plant species

214
00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,240
Speaker 1: or just hiking. It was a passion he shared with

215
00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:11,000
Speaker 1: his uncle, King Albert of Belgium. But in nineteen thirty four,

216
00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:15,959
Speaker 1: King Albert died in a mountaineering accident. He leant against

217
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,480
Speaker 1: a boulder which had given way under his weight. That

218
00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:24,000
Speaker 1: was the official story, anyway, But in his excellent book

219
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:28,440
Speaker 1: Crown of Thorns, the author Stephen Gruef tells us that

220
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:34,240
Speaker 1: Boris wasn't convinced by that story. Boris believed his uncle

221
00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:39,400
Speaker 1: had deliberately leapt to his death. And what's more, according

222
00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,119
Speaker 1: to Gruef. The king told many friends that his uncle

223
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,360
Speaker 1: had the right idea, that he somehow envied him.

224
00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:51,600
Speaker 6: Sar Boris was really on a big pressure, really big pressure.

225
00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,000
Speaker 6: This pressure pressure for Boris.

226
00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:56,440
Speaker 2: Was not easy.

227
00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:03,080
Speaker 1: Our Bulgarian historians, Vladimir's Taski and George bos Duganov put

228
00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:08,639
Speaker 1: it delicately because this is a very sensitive subject. But

229
00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,760
Speaker 1: I do think we have to examine whether King Boris

230
00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:17,360
Speaker 1: may have wanted to take his own life. The pressure

231
00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:21,040
Speaker 1: he was under during the Second World War was phenomenal,

232
00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:24,679
Speaker 1: and on a number of occasions the king mentioned to

233
00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,520
Speaker 1: his staff that he wished someone would just shoot him dead,

234
00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,040
Speaker 1: or that he felt like shooting himself.

235
00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:36,200
Speaker 6: Could you imagine what kind of pressure during a war,

236
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:41,280
Speaker 6: with everything and you are alone on the top of

237
00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:43,840
Speaker 6: the power pyramid.

238
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,800
Speaker 1: In fact, on the way back from that dreadful meeting

239
00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,800
Speaker 1: with Hitler at the Wolf's Lair in nineteen forty three,

240
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,080
Speaker 1: he reportedly told his aid he wished.

241
00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:56,120
Speaker 2: The plane would crash.

242
00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:00,880
Speaker 1: He was constantly saying he'd had enough of being king,

243
00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,760
Speaker 1: that it would be better if he were dead. After

244
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,440
Speaker 1: he flew back to Bulgaria from the Wolf's Lair, Boris

245
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,720
Speaker 1: went hiking in the mountains with his brother Kirol and

246
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:16,840
Speaker 1: some close aids, and at a certain point he broke

247
00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:21,679
Speaker 1: away from the rest of the party and disappeared. He

248
00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,280
Speaker 1: was eventually spotted by his secretary. He was standing very

249
00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:31,560
Speaker 1: still on the precipice of a huge rock, just staring

250
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,240
Speaker 1: into the abyss Ah.

251
00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:39,280
Speaker 7: Yes, that's what the secretary said that he saw him.

252
00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:42,840
Speaker 2: Yes, so the rumor was what was the rumor from that.

253
00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:50,200
Speaker 7: Whether he had suicidal thoughts because of this last meeting,

254
00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,600
Speaker 7: which was so dramatic and with no way out.

255
00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,800
Speaker 1: But Simeon doesn't believe his father was planning to jump

256
00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:59,480
Speaker 1: all for that matter, to poison himself with pills and

257
00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:04,359
Speaker 1: toxins for one very simple reason. King Boris was an

258
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:06,359
Speaker 1: extremely religious man.

259
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,960
Speaker 7: My father was found to believing I think to have

260
00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:12,600
Speaker 7: considered suicide.

261
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:13,200
Speaker 2: Do you think so?

262
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,840
Speaker 7: And not only I think, I'm sorry to say it's nonsense.

263
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,919
Speaker 7: I think that this is part of the moment's mood

264
00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:25,480
Speaker 7: and people see things like that, But to me, it's

265
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:30,400
Speaker 7: really part of not very serious thinking.

266
00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:32,160
Speaker 2: Really, it's ridiculous.

267
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,720
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so Boris was indeed a man pushed to

268
00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:41,359
Speaker 1: his limits, but his children are absolutely certain he wasn't

269
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:48,480
Speaker 1: serious about taking his own life. He was very serious

270
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:52,880
Speaker 1: about his faith. Though Boris believed in the power of prayer.

271
00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,720
Speaker 1: He prayed constantly for guidance and for protection, which is

272
00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,399
Speaker 1: probably why he became so interesting in a Christian group

273
00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:06,840
Speaker 1: called the White Brotherhood. Now, despite the name, this is

274
00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:11,480
Speaker 1: not a white supremacist group. Far from it. The White

275
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:16,479
Speaker 1: Brotherhood was all about finding universal kinship in a fracturing world.

276
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:22,640
Speaker 1: Think meditation, music, and the white in their name referred

277
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 1: only to the ceremonial robes they wore. They just wanted

278
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,439
Speaker 1: a better future for everyone, and Boris certainly feared what

279
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,719
Speaker 1: the future held in store for him, and that's ultimately

280
00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:38,320
Speaker 1: what drew him to the White Brotherhood. They claimed they

281
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:45,440
Speaker 1: knew the answers. The White Brotherhood is still going strong today.

282
00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:48,560
Speaker 1: In fact, eight members of the group are putting on

283
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:52,720
Speaker 1: a concert for us in Sofia. They believe that respect

284
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,480
Speaker 1: for music and for nature bring peace and harmony to

285
00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,480
Speaker 1: the world. You can't blame a stressed out king for

286
00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:03,840
Speaker 1: liking the found at that. Now, just to be clear,

287
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,119
Speaker 1: I'm not lining up the White Brotherhood as a suspect

288
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,800
Speaker 1: in Boris's murder. I think they genuinely wanted to help him.

289
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,960
Speaker 1: But I want to tell you about them because well,

290
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,679
Speaker 1: they kind of guessed what was coming to Boris and

291
00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,879
Speaker 1: they wanted to try to stop it. It's all a

292
00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:22,680
Speaker 1: bit freaky.

293
00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:23,320
Speaker 2: Actually.

294
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,000
Speaker 1: The White Brotherhood was founded at the turn of the

295
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:32,000
Speaker 1: last century by a Bulgarian man called Peter Danov, better

296
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:37,159
Speaker 1: known as the Master. He was a masterful musician. The

297
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 1: pieces you're listening to were actually written by him. As

298
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 1: I've said, it's a Christian movement, but members often dressed

299
00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:50,919
Speaker 1: like druids in white flowing robes. They danced barefoot in

300
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:56,760
Speaker 1: the mountains. Rumors circulated around Bulgaria that the King had

301
00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 1: joined the White Brotherhood, that he'd become a disciple, which.

302
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 7: Is not the case. That's part of one of the

303
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:06,880
Speaker 7: very sweet mythologies.

304
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 1: Okay, so King Boris may not have been a fully

305
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,320
Speaker 1: signed up member of the White Brotherhood, but Simeon does

306
00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,360
Speaker 1: admit that his father was a big fan of their

307
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 1: ecological ideas and ideals, as is Simeon himself. It's true

308
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,960
Speaker 1: they were pretty revolutionary for the nineteen twenties.

309
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:36,440
Speaker 7: It was a mixture of Christianity of Eastern but everything

310
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 7: very I would say peace, loving, nature, loving God fearing

311
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 7: what have you? Actually very advanced on their time.

312
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,119
Speaker 2: They're a very prayerful group.

313
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:56,159
Speaker 6: Of jinsh going the imito.

314
00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:00,280
Speaker 1: But it wasn't just the Master's prayers which attracted Boris.

315
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:06,239
Speaker 1: It was the Master's predictions. Because it was claimed that

316
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 1: Peter Denov was a prophet.

317
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,640
Speaker 8: He was like a man who can see in the future.

318
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,840
Speaker 8: He was knowing what is going to happen.

319
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:21,199
Speaker 1: That's mom chill Karamitev. He's a Bulgarian filmmaker and a

320
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 1: member of the White Brotherhood. Now the White Brotherhood. They

321
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,879
Speaker 1: love their prophecies. Remember when the king was ambushed on

322
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:34,159
Speaker 1: that road high up in the mountains in nineteen twenty five. Well,

323
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,199
Speaker 1: a couple of days before, a disciple who worked in

324
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: the palace predicted that the King's life was in danger

325
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:47,400
Speaker 1: somewhere in the highest peaks. The White Brotherhood called it,

326
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 1: but the prophecies didn't end there. Fast forward to World

327
00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:56,600
Speaker 1: War II. The Master warned King Boris to stay safe.

328
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,680
Speaker 1: He'd need to stay out of the war. He would

329
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:01,960
Speaker 1: need Bulgaria to stay neutral.

330
00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:06,720
Speaker 8: The Master said to King Boris, don't go to Germany

331
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:11,760
Speaker 8: because he was invited by Hitler to go there, and

332
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:16,880
Speaker 8: he didn't follow this advice, and he met Hitler, and

333
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,640
Speaker 8: very soon after his return in Bulgaria he was dead.

334
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 1: But the king did change the date of his last

335
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 1: meeting with Hitler because the original date Hitler had summoned

336
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 1: him to the Wolf's Lair it was August the thirteenth,

337
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: which in nineteen forty three happened to fall on a Friday.

338
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 1: Boris had a very bad feeling about the whole Friday

339
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:42,360
Speaker 1: the thirteenth thing.

340
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,680
Speaker 7: The fact that he was summoned on the thirteenth of

341
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:51,160
Speaker 7: August by Hitler. He delayed it by a day, which

342
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,080
Speaker 7: upset the other men. Obviously because of fearing the thirteenth.

343
00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:00,199
Speaker 7: He was a superstitious man. There was something irrational in

344
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 7: my father's behavior.

345
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,440
Speaker 1: The White Brotherhood believed the king should have paid more

346
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:10,880
Speaker 1: attention to the Master's prophecies. If King Boris had followed

347
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 1: the advice the stories told to him, he would have survived.

348
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 2: He wouldn't have been killed. I say, maybe I think

349
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 2: it does everyone sort of agree with that.

350
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,199
Speaker 1: I mean that, you know, if he'd just taken that advice,

351
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 1: if he just listened to the person you call the Master,

352
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:40,760
Speaker 1: he would have survived. Probably make of that what you will,

353
00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:47,760
Speaker 1: but that's not all. Here's the really spooky bit. He

354
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: may not have taken their advice about Hitler, but according

355
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 1: to the historian Stephan Grueth in his book Crown of Thorns,

356
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 1: it sounds like Boris had also been warned of the

357
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:04,720
Speaker 1: exact date of his his own demise. Remember how the

358
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,199
Speaker 1: king lay dying in his chamber in the late summer

359
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 1: of nineteen forty three, covered in those strange spots, with

360
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:19,160
Speaker 1: all his organs failing. He was barely conscious, yet very suddenly,

361
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,159
Speaker 1: the day before his death, he opened his eyes and

362
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:27,320
Speaker 1: demanded to know the time. When he was told it

363
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 1: was twenty past four, he shook his head tomorrow at

364
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:38,440
Speaker 1: the same time, he said tomorrow at the same time.

365
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,480
Speaker 1: The next day, on the twenty eighth of August, at

366
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:58,520
Speaker 1: precisely twenty two minutes past four, the king was pronounced dead. Now,

367
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,800
Speaker 1: as this podcast is about the murder of King Boris,

368
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:05,960
Speaker 1: inevitably we focus a lot on the sad stuff, on

369
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 1: the times when things for Boris were fraught and difficult,

370
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 1: when he was stressed and scared and felt torn in

371
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:17,920
Speaker 1: every direction. But there were happier times too, did the

372
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,359
Speaker 1: White Brotherhood predict the lonely king would one day find

373
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:25,480
Speaker 1: a soulmate. We don't know, but we do know he

374
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:38,280
Speaker 1: did fall in love. We haven't really touched on the

375
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 1: romantic side of Boris's personal story yet, and I think

376
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 1: we need to because some people think that's where we'll

377
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:47,840
Speaker 1: find Boris's killer.

378
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 4: Well, he did take a while to get married. I

379
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 4: think he was like properly old.

380
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:58,760
Speaker 1: Boris didn't stay a lonely bachelor forever. In October nineteen thirty,

381
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:05,160
Speaker 1: aged thirty, Boris finally got lucky, so to speak. He

382
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:09,560
Speaker 1: married Princess Giovanna, the daughter of King Victor Emmanuel the

383
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,840
Speaker 1: third and Queen Eleanor of Italy.

384
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 2: Our historian Tessa Dunlop.

385
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 4: I think Boris, you know, had his interests in pulling

386
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 4: levers and pinning butterflies onto boards, not in lots and

387
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 4: lots and lots of sex. But back then Boris's marriage

388
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 4: had huge political significance.

389
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 1: It certainly did, and by the time Boris died in

390
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,720
Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, when the war was raging, the marriage

391
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,560
Speaker 1: was a political hot potato, which is why quite a

392
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 1: few rumors circulated that his murder was an Italian job.

393
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,239
Speaker 1: By August nineteen forty three, Mussolini had been deposed and

394
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: Italy was just about to switch sides to join the

395
00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:59,200
Speaker 1: Allies the British and Americans. Now that would have put

396
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 1: Italy on the opposite side to Bulgaria, made them enemies.

397
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:08,240
Speaker 1: And it was Giovanna's father, the King of Italy, who

398
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,160
Speaker 1: had been doing all the negotiating with the Americans, because

399
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:16,600
Speaker 1: he knew if Germany invaded Italy that would mean bye

400
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 1: bye to the Italian royal family. So could the Italian

401
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 1: royals have thrown Boris under the bus to try to

402
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 1: secure their own dynasty. I mean, they certainly had a motive.

403
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:31,640
Speaker 1: Their son in law, Boris was an ally of Hitler.

404
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,880
Speaker 1: And there's another thing that really got up the nose

405
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 1: of the Italian royal family Boris's baptism. Oh King Boris

406
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:49,080
Speaker 1: was born to Catholic parents, so his father, Foxy Ferdinand

407
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:55,640
Speaker 1: didn't hesitate to baptize Boris a Roman Catholic too. But

408
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:59,920
Speaker 1: Bulgaria is an Eastern Orthodox country, and as a bug

409
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,040
Speaker 1: you'd kind of expect the heir to the throne to

410
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 1: share the national faith. Ferdinand clocked his mistake pretty quickly.

411
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,840
Speaker 4: You've married an Italian girl, a fervent Catholic. You've signed

412
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:16,480
Speaker 4: up and changed the constitution so that your firstborn will

413
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 4: be a Catholic, and then you think, oh, no, I

414
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:20,080
Speaker 4: better reverse that decision.

415
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:25,960
Speaker 1: Foxy Ferdinand booked Boris another baptism ceremony pronto.

416
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 4: So Boris, having been christened a Catholic, is then re

417
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 4: christened or baptized into the Orthodox Church.

418
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:38,320
Speaker 2: Hallelujah.

419
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:42,240
Speaker 4: You know, he's certainly like covered both stumps as Boris.

420
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 1: Covered both stumps is one of those quaint British sayings.

421
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,960
Speaker 1: It refers to cricket but translated into baseball, and it

422
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,120
Speaker 1: would be like saying he was covering all the bases. Anyway,

423
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 1: Fox's defensive play was enough to satisfy the Bulgarian people,

424
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 1: but it didn't go down quite so well in Rome.

425
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 1: The Pope excommunicated him, poor old Foxy. Anyway, fast forward again,

426
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 1: and here's now Orthodox Boris on his wedding day, marrying

427
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:22,800
Speaker 1: an Italian Catholic princess in the Catholic cathedral in Assisi.

428
00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:27,320
Speaker 1: They also had a blessing in an Orthodox church. Now

429
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,960
Speaker 1: by all accounts, Boris really loved Giovanna, but he also

430
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,400
Speaker 1: had a royal duty to marry. To provide an heir

431
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:35,440
Speaker 1: to the throne.

432
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,400
Speaker 4: You need progeny. First of all, he had to acquire

433
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,040
Speaker 4: a womb that he considered suitable.

434
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 1: The problem was the royal womb Boris had found belonged

435
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,000
Speaker 1: to a Catholic, and a Catholic is supposed to bring

436
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:53,760
Speaker 1: up her children as Catholics. Now that put Boris, the

437
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 1: king of an Orthodox country, in a tricky situation. But

438
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,440
Speaker 1: he didn't want to annoy his new ina or the Pope,

439
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:06,080
Speaker 1: so he promised his firstborn child would be baptized a Catholic.

440
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:11,560
Speaker 1: But when his daughter was born, Boris renewed on his promise.

441
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,920
Speaker 1: Maria Louisa was baptized into the Orthodox faith, and the

442
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: church was so relieved it even bent the rules.

443
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 9: Well, I'm called Maria Louisa, and that's it, because in

444
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,120
Speaker 9: the Orthodox Church you don't have more than one.

445
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 2: Name, except she does.

446
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 9: Of course, because it's a double burialed name. They had

447
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 9: to have a special permission with the church and they

448
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 9: make it like one name. But Maria Aluisa, after my

449
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:39,080
Speaker 9: paternal grandmother.

450
00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 1: But when Simeon was born four years later, he was

451
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 1: also baptized into the Orthodox faith. Queen Giovanna accepted this,

452
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 1: but what about her family? Were the Italian King and

453
00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 1: Queen horrified that their grandchildren were not Catholics? I mean,

454
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,000
Speaker 1: they quite liked their son in law Boris, but he'd

455
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:05,440
Speaker 1: basically just hoodwinked them. Is this what they wanted for

456
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 1: their daughter? And here's another thing. Remember Joseph Gebels, the

457
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 1: Nazi propaganda minister who kept a diary. He wrote that

458
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:20,279
Speaker 1: King Boris had been poisoned with snake venom. But when

459
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:23,680
Speaker 1: we ran that theory past our snake expert mark O'Shea,

460
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:25,840
Speaker 1: he pretty much rubbished.

461
00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:26,800
Speaker 2: It.

462
00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,799
Speaker 1: Turns out it's pretty impossible to get a snake to

463
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:34,080
Speaker 1: bite someone if it doesn't feel like it. Plus the

464
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,879
Speaker 1: snake has to bite in the right place with the

465
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 1: right amount of venom. So admittedly Gebels was a bit

466
00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 1: off the mark with the whole snake venom idea. But

467
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 1: a few days after he penned that, Gerbels wrote one

468
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:56,560
Speaker 1: more entry about the murder, and this time he pointed

469
00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:01,279
Speaker 1: the finger of blame fairly and squarely at someone specific

470
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,400
Speaker 1: in the Italian royal family.

471
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:14,440
Speaker 7: Goebbels claims that it was my mother's sister Princess Mafalda

472
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:16,640
Speaker 7: that she had poisoned him.

473
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 1: Now, Princess Mafalda was married to the German Prince Philip

474
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:24,799
Speaker 1: of Hesse, who was disillusioned with the Nazi Party and

475
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 1: everything hit the stood for and Mafalda was absolutely on

476
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 1: the same page as her husband and her parents. She

477
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:35,920
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been impressed that her brother in law Boris

478
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:41,000
Speaker 1: was in league with the Fura. So, according to Goebels,

479
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 1: Mafalder paid a little visit to Bulgaria, to the palace

480
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,920
Speaker 1: with a bottle of poison in her bag. Four weeks

481
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:55,239
Speaker 1: after her departure, the king was dead. Could Mafalda be

482
00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 1: the royal assassin?

483
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,360
Speaker 7: This is nonsense, because I was at the station to

484
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:05,719
Speaker 7: receive my aunt after my father was dead, because she

485
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:06,760
Speaker 7: came to the funeral.

486
00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 1: Let's not forget that Simeon was an eye witness, and

487
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:17,680
Speaker 1: neither he nor Maria Louisa can recall Aunt Mafalda paying

488
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:22,600
Speaker 1: a visit before Boris' death. In fact, no one can

489
00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:25,759
Speaker 1: remember Mafalda coming to visit her sister and brother in

490
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:30,280
Speaker 1: law before the funeral for one simple reason.

491
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 7: She didn't come, So there was no way that she

492
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:36,360
Speaker 7: could have poisoned him.

493
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:39,319
Speaker 2: So you know that for a fact, awaitnessed.

494
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:44,560
Speaker 9: Yes, definitely not Italian, because why you know it, Italians

495
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:46,160
Speaker 9: had no advantage whatsoever.

496
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:50,879
Speaker 7: Gebel was blaming the Italian court because the Nazis were

497
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,759
Speaker 7: very upset when Italy changed sides before my father's death.

498
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,839
Speaker 7: But that's why I say that sometimes documents which are

499
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:02,480
Speaker 7: supposed to be what you call it official, can also

500
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:03,319
Speaker 7: be misleading.

501
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:08,840
Speaker 1: Point taken, it's all propaganda. That's the very last time

502
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:14,160
Speaker 1: I cite the diary of Joseph Goebel's promise. I suppose

503
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:19,239
Speaker 1: there's something else I may have overlooked. Families and particularly sisters,

504
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,880
Speaker 1: tend to talk. Mafalda would have known King Boris was

505
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 1: unhappy with Hitler and that he was also in secret

506
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:33,520
Speaker 1: talks about switching sides. She'd have respected him, she wouldn't

507
00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:39,880
Speaker 1: have wanted him dead. There's a PostScript to Mifalda's story.

508
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 1: It's not a happy ending. The Nazis found out that

509
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,240
Speaker 1: she and her husband had been helping Jews get to safety,

510
00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:52,759
Speaker 1: and while Mafalda was in Bulgaria supporting her sister at

511
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,880
Speaker 1: Boris's funeral, her husband was arrested. And sent to a

512
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:04,000
Speaker 1: concentration camp. When Mafalda returned to Italy, the Nazis tricked

513
00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:08,000
Speaker 1: her into visiting the German embassy in Rome, claiming they

514
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:11,839
Speaker 1: had a message for her from her husband, But when

515
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:18,920
Speaker 1: she arrived, she was immediately arrested for subversive activities and

516
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:27,000
Speaker 1: sent to a concentration camp called Buchenwald. Mefalder grew very

517
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:32,360
Speaker 1: sick and thin at the camp, and then the Allies

518
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:36,240
Speaker 1: started to bomb. You see, there was a munitions factory

519
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:40,839
Speaker 1: right next door, a prime target, and during one raid,

520
00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:46,440
Speaker 1: Princess Mafalda was badly wounded. The ESSs doctors made a

521
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:50,520
Speaker 1: half hearted attempt to operate, but she died of her

522
00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:55,640
Speaker 1: injuries in the summer of nineteen forty four, exactly a

523
00:38:55,760 --> 00:39:02,279
Speaker 1: year after her brother in law Boris. So where does

524
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:07,160
Speaker 1: that leave us? Suicide is off the list. Simeon's adamant

525
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:12,000
Speaker 1: about that, And despite their differences in faith and in politics,

526
00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:16,520
Speaker 1: it can't have been the Italians. They were too fond

527
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:21,760
Speaker 1: of Boris. But I cannot dismiss the Communists. They tried

528
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 1: to kill the king again and again, but I still

529
00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:30,480
Speaker 1: don't have concrete proof. I don't even have a name

530
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:33,640
Speaker 1: for the poison that was used to kill the king.

531
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:40,239
Speaker 1: You know, at a certain point in every investigation I've

532
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:46,000
Speaker 1: ever done, something unexpected always turns up, And in my experience,

533
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,879
Speaker 1: it most often comes at that exact moment I think

534
00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:54,040
Speaker 1: I'm done, Just as I'm about to take stock of

535
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:58,000
Speaker 1: what I know and draw up my final conclusions, I

536
00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:05,239
Speaker 1: receive an intriguing voicemail. It's very cryptic. It suggests we

537
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,120
Speaker 1: meet up in Sofia to talk about the death of

538
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,800
Speaker 1: King Boris the Third And who's the message from. Well,

539
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:18,440
Speaker 1: when he says his name, I'm honestly speechless because this

540
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:23,600
Speaker 1: voicemails from someone who has a microscopic knowledge of King Boris,

541
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:28,720
Speaker 1: a man who claims he knows exactly how the king died.

542
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:34,080
Speaker 1: He almost never gives interviews, but now he's offering to

543
00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:34,800
Speaker 1: tell us.

544
00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:35,720
Speaker 2: All he knows.

545
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:41,640
Speaker 1: He says, it's time the world knows the whole truth

546
00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:50,520
Speaker 1: about what killed the Butterfly King. That's next time coming

547
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:52,160
Speaker 1: up on the Butterfly King.

548
00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:57,000
Speaker 7: I I simply regret, and now that you bring it up,

549
00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:02,960
Speaker 7: I think of it again. It's this one has to

550
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:04,960
Speaker 7: make one's piece with these things.

551
00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 1: Painful revelations for the Royal Children and We're Delta brand

552
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,759
Speaker 1: new line of inquiry.

553
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:16,520
Speaker 3: Cocaine can cause the arteries to your heart to spasm

554
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:17,640
Speaker 3: to close down.

555
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:20,960
Speaker 1: Are you saying King Boris may have been on cocaine?

556
00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:31,319
Speaker 1: The Butterfly King is a production of Blanchard House and

557
00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 1: Exactly Right Media, hosted by me Becky Milligan. It's written

558
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:41,759
Speaker 1: and produced by Emma Jane Kirby. Original music is by

559
00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:47,840
Speaker 1: Daniel Lloyd Evans, Louis Nankmanow and Toby Matamoon. Sound design

560
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 1: and engineering by Toby Mattamoon and Daniel Lloyd Evans, artwork

561
00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:59,200
Speaker 1: by Vanessa Lilac. The Managing producer is a Mika Schortino Nolan.

562
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:04,160
Speaker 1: The creative director of Blanchard House is Rosie Pye. The

563
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:08,239
Speaker 1: executive producer and head of Content at Blanchard House is

564
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:13,799
Speaker 1: Lawrence Grizzell. For Exactly Right Media, the executive producers are

565
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:20,360
Speaker 1: Karen Kilgareth Georgia Hardstark and Daniel Kramer, with consulting producer

566
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:25,880
Speaker 1: Kyle Ryan. The Butterfly King is inspired by the book

567
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:30,160
Speaker 1: Hitler and the King by John Hall Spencer