Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion advised. In January
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty one, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia went to the theater.
Speaker 1: But he wouldn't merely be a member of the audience.
Speaker 1: He would actually be performing in a production based on
Speaker 1: a poem by Thomas Moore, staged in honor of the
Speaker 1: Grand Princess Alexandra Fedorovna, in front of an audience of
Speaker 1: three thousand at the Whitehall of the Royal Castle. Prince
Speaker 1: Wilhelm and a number of other aristocrats were acting in
Speaker 1: a romance about the fictional daughter of a seventeenth century
Speaker 1: Mughal emperor falling in love with another man instead of
Speaker 1: the king she was arranged to marry. Little did Prince
Speaker 1: Wilhelm know that life would imitate art, he too, would
Speaker 1: fall for a forbidden partner that very night. Her name
Speaker 1: was Princess Elisa van Radswell or Ragevue, a Polish noble
Speaker 1: woman who happened to be playing a goddess heavenly desire
Speaker 1: in the production. Wilhelm was enamored with her performance, noting
Speaker 1: that it had overcome the audience. He wrote in his
Speaker 1: diary quote magical, idealistic, an ethereal touch hung over the whole,
Speaker 1: unforgettable Elisa forever. When Alisa and Wilhelm showed up together
Speaker 1: at her parents' silver wedding, shortly thereafter, people began to
Speaker 1: suspect that the two were an item. One minister sought
Speaker 1: out more information about Elisa and discovered that her family
Speaker 1: was of relatively low rank within the Polish aristocratic hierarchy.
Speaker 1: Even though Elisa's mother was a Prussian princess, she married
Speaker 1: into a lower rank, meaning that Eliza was ineligible for
Speaker 1: the throne. The minister put together his findings in a
Speaker 1: report titled a Memorandum on the Legally Inappropriate Status of
Speaker 1: the Marriage of a Royal Prince of Prussia to Princess Radswell,
Speaker 1: which speaks to the disastrous results of the investigation, with
Speaker 1: the disapproval of Wilhelm's family codified in writing. A union
Speaker 1: between Prince Wilhelm and Elisa seemed less of a heavenly
Speaker 1: romance and more like a tragedy. But that wouldn't be
Speaker 1: the end of Elisa and Wilhelm's love story. The two
Speaker 1: would do everything in their power to overcome the odds
Speaker 1: and stay together, much to the chagrin of Wilhelm's royal family.
Speaker 1: I'm Dana Schwartz and this is noble blood. Visa and
Speaker 1: Wilhelm had actually first met as children, although under less
Speaker 1: than ideal circumstances. It was during a politically tumultuous time,
Speaker 1: as Napoleon was advancing into Germany and Prussia, culminating in
Speaker 1: a battle at jennen ousterstad And October eighteen o six.
Speaker 1: Wilhelm's father, King Friedrich Wilhelm the third, was leading the
Speaker 1: Prussian forces, but he suffered a crushing defeat, with Napoleon
Speaker 1: and his troops occupying Berlin. This sent the king's family
Speaker 1: into a three year exile in Koenigsburg, which was a
Speaker 1: center of resistance to Napoleon, where they met up with
Speaker 1: the Radswills, who were also in exile at that time.
Speaker 1: Eliza was three years old and print Wilhelm was six.
Speaker 1: While the adults were fretting about their potential return to Germany,
Speaker 1: the children were enjoying their new found freedom. Contempt Lip
Speaker 1: Praiary recalled quote. They spent the summer on the Amber
Speaker 1: coast of the Baltic sea, the winter, tobogganing together, and
Speaker 1: there were places to play in front of the steined
Speaker 1: Amerateur and in the old castle. Eliza could not only
Speaker 1: play with her siblings Wilhelm, Ferdinand and Louise, but also
Speaker 1: with Prince Wilhelm, his brother, the Crown Prince, who was
Speaker 1: two years older than he was, and his favorite sister
Speaker 1: Charlotte end Quote. In eighteen o nine, King Friedrich Wilhelm
Speaker 1: the third agreed to Napoleon's repatriation claims, so the royal
Speaker 1: family and the Radswells could end their exile and return
Speaker 1: to Berlin. But the families would grow even more intertwined
Speaker 1: after Wilhelm's mother, Queen Louise, died at the age of
Speaker 1: thirty four. Eliza's mother became something of a mother figure
Speaker 1: two Wilhelm, who was only twelve at the time of
Speaker 1: his mother's death. The Radswells moved from Poland to Berlin
Speaker 1: depending on the season, and when they moved more permanently
Speaker 1: to Berlin, the love affair between Alisa and Wilhelm began
Speaker 1: to flourish. Wilhelm was twenty at the time and began
Speaker 1: cavorting with the seventeen year old Eliza at the palace
Speaker 1: where Wilhelm's sisters lived.
Speaker 2: The two were spotted at parties, salons, and receptions, even
Speaker 2: at times taking trips to the country together. Wilhelm noted
Speaker 2: in his diary, Alisa has really grown up and become
Speaker 2: somewhat stronger and more to the point charming. By eighteen twenty,
Speaker 2: Wilhelm began to visit the Radswells more frequently, which drew
Speaker 2: even more attention because in March of that year, Elisa
Speaker 2: was confirmed by the court chaplain and the dean of
Speaker 2: the cathedral in the Chapel of the Royal Castle, which
Speaker 2: made Elisa eligible for marriage, putting her relationship with Wilhelm
Speaker 2: under scrutiny. Some even suspected that King Friedrich Wilhelm had
Speaker 2: engineered the confirmation so Eliza could become his daughter in law.
Speaker 2: Wilhelm announced that he was in love with Eliza at
Speaker 2: the Prussian King's summer residence in June eighteen twenty. When
Speaker 2: the two returned to Berlin, Wilhelm was seen coming out
Speaker 2: of the Radswell Palace almost every day. Little did Wilhelm
Speaker 2: know that the minister was drawing up a dossier against
Speaker 2: the Union and that many of his friends and family
Speaker 2: members were working together to try to tear the two
Speaker 2: of them apart. In late eighteen twenty, Wilhelm saw Eliza
Speaker 2: while she was on holiday at the Summer Palace, but
Speaker 2: rather than greeting her warmly as he had so many
Speaker 2: times before, he ignored her. When Alisa left, he burst
Speaker 2: into tears. Wilhelm's strange behavior was a result of threats
Speaker 2: to his relationship with Elisa. From behind the scenes. Wilhelm's
Speaker 2: family had been discouraging him from pursuing her. His sisters
Speaker 2: suggested he marry a different princess instead, while his adjunct
Speaker 2: and took a stronger approach, mandating that it would be
Speaker 2: impossible for him to marry Elisa without his father's approval. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: the king had heard these rumors that his son was
Speaker 2: involved with Elisa, and he started meeting with his advisers.
Speaker 2: Some were actually supportive of the union. The King's brother
Speaker 2: in law, for instance, fought for the two to be together.
Speaker 2: He argued that there is actually a precedent for the
Speaker 2: two to be together. Elisa's father, Prince Radswell, had aristocratic
Speaker 2: ties to the Holy Roman Empire from fifteen fifteen. Moreover,
Speaker 2: there had been marriages between the princes of Brandenburg and
Speaker 2: the Radswells for two hundred years. That suggested that the
Speaker 2: Radswells were high status enough to marry in to the family,
Speaker 2: as Wilhelm's father was the Elector of Brandenburg in the
Speaker 2: Holy Roman Empire before it was dissolved in eighteen o six.
Speaker 2: But some technicalities complicated what seemed like Eliza's blue blood bonafides.
Speaker 2: The Radswill family had no property within the former boundary
Speaker 2: of the Holy Roman Empire, meaning that they were not
Speaker 2: members of the reich Council of Princes, which was an
Speaker 2: important factor in determining aristocratic rank. Moreover, those previous marriages
Speaker 2: between the Brandenburgs and the Radswell's occurred when the Princes
Speaker 2: of Brandenburg had no regal office, making the two families
Speaker 2: more similar in status back then. By the eighteen twenties,
Speaker 2: Friedrich the Third was the King of Prussia, which elevated
Speaker 2: the family into a much higher echelon. The law emphasized
Speaker 2: that prince were only eligible to marry the daughters of
Speaker 2: ruling princely houses or sovereigns recognized by the Reich, making
Speaker 2: a union between Wilhelm and Elisa actually illegal. Moreover, if
Speaker 2: Wilhelm's older brother, the crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, died, Wilhelm
Speaker 2: would succeed to the throne, which meant there was even
Speaker 2: more pressure on his marriage. The king's closest adviser compiled
Speaker 2: a list of daughters of twenty nine reigning European royal
Speaker 2: houses who were not yet married to make it easy
Speaker 2: for Wilhelm to choose a different wife instead. In February
Speaker 2: eighteen twenty two, the king sat down with Wilhelm and
Speaker 2: formally dissuaded his son from pursuing Elisa, arguing that it
Speaker 2: was against the law. After so many reports and dossiers
Speaker 2: and interventions from family members, Wilhelm seemed to heed his
Speaker 2: father's warnings. It's finished. The precious, loving, angelic being is
Speaker 2: lost to me, he wrote at the time. But in
Speaker 2: spite of his family's disapproval, he and Elisa continued to
Speaker 2: meet up at balls and go on secret dates. Whatever
Speaker 2: was to come, they swore to be friends forever. Wilhelm
Speaker 2: and Elisa parted, with Wilhelm fleeing to the Rhineland and
Speaker 2: the Netherlands to escape his romantic woes. He spent his
Speaker 2: twenty fifth birthday, the day he had once wanted to
Speaker 2: marry Elisa away from her in Holland. She wrote him
Speaker 2: a benign, formal birthday message, and if Wilhelm wanted to
Speaker 2: write her back, he had to send his message to
Speaker 2: her mother. His sister Charlotte sent him a little portrait
Speaker 2: of Elisa as a birthday present, which he kept on
Speaker 2: his desk. After reflecting on his love for Elisa while
Speaker 2: he was away, Wilhelm returned to Berlin with renewed fervor
Speaker 2: to stand up to his father and marry the woman
Speaker 2: he loved once and for all. Wilhelm and Elisa continued
Speaker 2: to go to the theater together, they took long strolls
Speaker 2: in the gardens of the palace, and they had long
Speaker 2: talks at the Raswell's house in Berlin. Wilhelm recorded these
Speaker 2: conversations in his diary at Length, where he wrote quote
Speaker 2: no one else in the world but her, and that
Speaker 2: she was the joy of his life. To win over
Speaker 2: the rest of his family and the royal officials, Wilhelm
Speaker 2: commissioned a counter study from two legal experts that affirmed
Speaker 2: his right to marry Elisa, but that study did not
Speaker 2: sway the Union's detractors. A collection of ministers and the
Speaker 2: director of Police rejected it. Another counselor clapped back with
Speaker 2: not one, but three further dossiers that called a potential
Speaker 2: marriage between Alisa and Wilhelm a mismarriage that would destroy
Speaker 2: the hierarchy of the royal family. The Prussian Foreign Minister
Speaker 2: was asked to make the final judgment on the case,
Speaker 2: but he declined, arguing that he didn't have enough information
Speaker 2: to assess the Polish aristocracy that the Radswells belonged to.
Speaker 2: He suggested that the king be the one to make
Speaker 2: the final decision, leaving Elisa and Wilhelm's fate in Wilhelm's
Speaker 2: father's hands. Tensions in the royal household reached a fever
Speaker 2: pitch as the king hemmed and hawed about his decision.
Speaker 2: The Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm sided with his brother, tearing
Speaker 2: apart the various official reports written by government officials who
Speaker 2: he called court toadies. He even got into a violent
Speaker 2: spat with his uncle, who had put together a dossier
Speaker 2: of his own to try to separate Wilhelm and Elisa.
Speaker 2: In response to all of this commotion, the Radswell family
Speaker 2: had fled Berlin. The King's hesitation to approve the marriage
Speaker 2: was deeply insulting to the rads Wills, especially since Eliza's
Speaker 2: mother and the king were related. The family began to
Speaker 2: suspect that the king had ulterior political motives for tearing
Speaker 2: the two apart. In seventeen ninety five, Poland was split
Speaker 2: between Prussia, the Habsburg Monarchy, and Russia. Elisa's father had
Speaker 2: wanted to reunify the country and petitioned both the Congress
Speaker 2: of Vienna and Wilhelm's father to help. Perhaps to unite
Speaker 2: the country under the leadership of Prussia. Maybe the rejection
Speaker 2: of the marriage between Elisa and Wilhelm was a signal
Speaker 2: of the rejection of Polish unification and independence. Elisa and
Speaker 2: Wilhelm continued corresponding, sending each other flowers, leaves, jewelry, and
Speaker 2: locks of hair. On Elisa's nineteenth birthday, Wilhelm wrote to
Speaker 2: her parents quote, Elisa is indispensable for the happiness in
Speaker 2: my life. Meanwhile, the crown Prince, Wilhelm's older brother wrote
Speaker 2: a written statement of his own to counter all of
Speaker 2: the dossiers that were being drawn up to spite his
Speaker 2: younger brother's relationship. After all, it turned out that the
Speaker 2: King's new daughter in law from the Crown Prince's marriage
Speaker 2: to the Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria, was actually descended from
Speaker 2: a Radswell, but that did little to sway the royal officials,
Speaker 2: who maintained that Elisa did not come from a high
Speaker 2: status enough royal family. Wilhelm wrote a letter of his
Speaker 2: own asking the King for a decision, pleading with him
Speaker 2: to let him marry Elisa, but he conceded in the
Speaker 2: letter that he would agree to whatever decision the King made.
Speaker 2: Elisa also wrote the King a letter that complained of
Speaker 2: the public humiliation she was enduring as a result of
Speaker 2: the King's waffling, imploring him to officially condone the marriage. Finally,
Speaker 2: the King called a family meeting in the Hirshburg Valley,
Speaker 2: where the royal family and the Radswells met together for
Speaker 2: the first time since they all were in exile in
Speaker 2: eighteen o six. The meeting didn't have Wilhelm present, but
Speaker 2: Elisa made a positive impression on the King, who noted
Speaker 2: her beauty and friendliness. After years of mounting dossier's and
Speaker 2: counter dossiers, the King decided to let the couple marry.
Speaker 2: The plan would be to have Elisa be adopted by
Speaker 2: a ruling royal house so that the marriage would be
Speaker 2: legally permitted. The king asked the Russian Czar to adopt Eliza,
Speaker 2: but he declined. The Habsburgs also declined. That left Prince
Speaker 2: August of Prussia the infantry general and the wealthiest landowner
Speaker 2: in Russia. This whole ordeal humiliated the Radswills, since it
Speaker 2: rhified that their family was so low status that they
Speaker 2: had to literally let their daughter be adopted out to
Speaker 2: another family. To add insult to injury, Prince August of
Speaker 2: Prussia was a known for landerer who had over twelve
Speaker 2: illegitimate children, which made him an embarrassing choice as an
Speaker 2: adopted father for Eliza. Still, the couple was elated. Wilhelm
Speaker 2: hadn't seen Eliza in three years, but he traveled to
Speaker 2: Poland in February eighteen twenty five, where the two officially
Speaker 2: got engaged. But the marriage hit yet another snag before
Speaker 2: it could get off the ground. Crown Prince Friedrich had
Speaker 2: been unable to produce an air he and his wife
Speaker 2: had only daughters. This left Wilhelm responsible for the royal
Speaker 2: succession putting increased pressure on his potential marriage to Elisa,
Speaker 2: the royal ministers implored him to call off the marriage.
Speaker 2: Elisa was forced to wait away from Wilhelm, celebrating her
Speaker 2: twenty second birthday alone in her family's hunting lodge. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: Wilhelm traveled with his younger brother Karl to w Weimar
Speaker 2: to visit the princesses Marie and Augusta von saken Weimar Eisenach.
Speaker 2: Marie and Augusta had yet to get engaged, and Karl
Speaker 2: hit it off with Marie instantly, but the princess's mother,
Speaker 2: sister of the Czar, would only agree to let Karl
Speaker 2: and Marie get married if Wilhelm did not marry Elisa.
Speaker 2: Grand Duke Karl august von saken Weimar Eisenach doubled down,
Speaker 2: sending an ultimatum to the king that Karl and Marie
Speaker 2: could only be wed if the royal family had no
Speaker 2: links with the Radswells, who the second Vaimar eisenachs considered
Speaker 2: to be too low status. With that ultimatum in mind,
Speaker 2: in June eighteen twenty six, King Friedrich Wilhelm the third
Speaker 2: wrote a letter to his son that prohibited him from
Speaker 2: marrying Elisa once in for all. Wilhelm, with no choice,
Speaker 2: reluctantly accepted the decision. He wrote to the Radswells, the
Speaker 2: bond of love between Elisa and me has been dissolved.
Speaker 2: May her friendship with me remain until death. Karl and
Speaker 2: Marie married in May eighteen twenty eight, and one year
Speaker 2: later Wilhelm proposed to her sister Augusta. Those two were
Speaker 2: married in June eighteen twenty nine. Meanwhile, the House of
Speaker 2: Radswell was suffering setbacks and deaths. In response to an
Speaker 2: uprising in the Russian heart of Poland led by Elisa's uncle,
Speaker 2: the Prussian King revoked Elisa's father's role in the Prussian state.
Speaker 2: Eliza's two brothers, sister in law, father, and godchild all
Speaker 2: died within a few years. Elisa herself fell ill after
Speaker 2: caring for her late brother Vadislov, and she died shortly after,
Speaker 2: on September twenty seventh, eighteen thirty four. Wilhelm would go
Speaker 2: on to become the King of Prussia in eighteen sixty
Speaker 2: one after his brother's death. Even after all of those
Speaker 2: years apart and a marriage to another woman, he still
Speaker 2: longed for Elisa he kept Elisea's portrait, the one his
Speaker 2: sister had sent him, on his desk, until his death
Speaker 2: in eighteen eighty eight, more than fifty years after his
Speaker 2: love had died. That's the story of Wilhelm and Alisa,
Speaker 2: but stick around to hear about the band film based
Speaker 2: on their love story. In nineteen thirty eight, the Forbidden
Speaker 2: love story between Alisa and Wilhelm was made into a
Speaker 2: movie titled A Prussian Love Story. The film takes some
Speaker 2: liberties with the story setting their fateful meeting at Frihenwald,
Speaker 2: where they spent the day falling in love, before meeting
Speaker 2: again by chance in Berlin, where Wilhelm listens to Elisa's singing.
Speaker 2: The rest of the movie follows the King's attempts to
Speaker 2: break the two apart, albeit in a more dramatic form
Speaker 2: than a series of dossiers written by various royal officials.
Speaker 2: The film starred Lyda Barrova, a check actress, as Elisa.
Speaker 2: At the time she was shooting the film, Barrova had
Speaker 2: been having an affair with Joseph Gebels, the chief propagandist
Speaker 2: for the Nazi Party. When Gebels and Barrava began to
Speaker 2: make their affair public, Gerbel's wife asked Hitler himself for
Speaker 2: permission to divorce her husband. Hitler rebuked Gebels, forcing him
Speaker 2: to end his affair with Barrava in August nineteen thirty eight.
Speaker 2: A Prussian Love Story was set to come out later
Speaker 2: that year, but the Nazis banned the film because of
Speaker 2: the purported similarities between Eliza's forbidden love affair with Wilhelm
Speaker 2: and the actresses with Gerbels. At screenings of her other movies,
Speaker 2: Paid Shills yelled out get out Minister's Whore when her
Speaker 2: character appeared on screen. She fled back to Prague that winter.
Speaker 2: The film wouldn't come out until nineteen fifty, when it
Speaker 2: was renamed Story of Love. Noble Blood is a production
Speaker 2: of iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey.
Speaker 2: Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional
Speaker 2: writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy
Speaker 2: hit and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced
Speaker 2: by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il Kaali and
Speaker 2: executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For
Speaker 2: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.