The Warring Queens | History’s Messiest Royal Rivalry | 4
British Scandal
Audible
4.4 • 7.2K Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Summary
Historian Kate Williams joins Alice and Matt to make the case for Mary, Queen of Scots - and why history's been getting her all wrong.
Professor Williams unpicks centuries of blame placed on Mary for her own downfall, and reveals how looking at her life through a modern lens changes everything.
And what about Elizabeth I? Kate says their rivalry wasn't just politics - it was personal, petty, and shaped by the impossible position of being two women trying to rule in a world that just didn't want them to.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Matt Ford. |
| 0:03.5 | And I'm Alice Levine. |
| 0:05.1 | And this is British Scandal and Audible Original. |
| 0:19.6 | Alice, we have had some incredible royal scandals in recent years, |
| 0:23.6 | but do you think that this scandal could be the worst in British history? |
| 0:27.6 | Well, it was definitely a very dramatic royal scandal. |
| 0:29.6 | I don't know if it was the worst, but it was definitely the most tragic. |
| 0:32.8 | A cousin killing another cousin. |
| 0:35.6 | Yeah, it's up there. |
| 0:36.5 | But whose side were you on? |
| 0:37.4 | Are you team Mary or are you team Liz? It's sort of funny to be taking Instagram feud sides this many years later. It's hard to support the one that signs the death warrant. But she was in a tricky sitch to just completely trivialise the whole situation. Yeah, I mean, she wasn't exactly keen to kill off her cousin, but, you know, she's a |
| 0:54.7 | queen. She's got to act like a queen. Queen's daughter, queen. Yeah, I think it's fair to say it's complicated. So to get a real understanding of what the situation was like in Tudor Britain and what these rival queens were faced with, we're speaking to a real pro. She's the author of the book, Rival Queens, the betrayal of Mary Queen of Scott. |
| 1:11.9 | Her latest book, Regina, is about a history of women |
| 1:14.7 | and power, and let's face it, you've almost |
| 1:16.8 | definitely seen her on TV. We've got Professor |
| 1:19.7 | Kate Williams in the studio after this. |
| 1:24.2 | Alice and Matt here from British Scandal. Matt's |
| 1:26.7 | some news for you. British Scandal is going to |
| 1:29.2 | Broadway. What? Sorry, not literally. I just mean we're taking it to the stage. Is this your |
| 1:34.6 | festival crossed wires? Where all the UK's biggest podcast do live shows across iconic venues in |
| 1:39.1 | Sheffield between the 2nd and 5th of July. That was a beautiful read. Matt and I cordially |
| 1:43.9 | invite you to our British Scandal live show on Sunday, July the 5th. |
... |
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