It’s the second part of our 2-part miniseries looking at the lives of the monarchs and their “special friends”. We started off mainly with the Habsburg dynasty, but now we are going to focus on the Bourbons. In this image we have Queen Isabel II, faithfully fulfilling the Bourbon reputation for being faithless to their spouses while she enjoys the attention of several suitors. In Isabel’s case, some of her actions may have been justified by the fact her husband, Francisco de Asís, was almost assuredly homosexual. Learn about her situation and that of the rest of the dynasty all the way up to modern times. Enjoy!
It’s the second part of our 2-part miniseries looking at the lives of the monarchs and their “special friends”. We started off mainly with the Habsburg dynasty, but now we are going to focus on the Bourbons. In this image we have Isabel II, faithfully fulfilling the Bourbon reputation for being faithless to their spouses while she enjoys the attention of several suitors. In Isabel’s case, some of her actions may have been justified by the fact her husband, Francisco de Asís, was almost assuredly homosexual. Learn about her situation and that of the rest of the dynasty all the way up to modern times. Enjoy!
Charles I of Spain doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself very much in this picture as he listens to the German singer Barbara Blomberg perform. It looks more like his gout is acting up. Nevertheless, the two would have an affair and a son, John of Austria, one of the most charismatic figures of the 16th Century. Barbara wasn’t his only lover, nor was Charles the only king to have one. In fact, the world of monarchs and mistresses seemed commonplace in most courts over the centuries, even to this day. In today’s podcast we look at how much of that was true, starting with the Ferdinand and Isabella all the way to the last Habsburg king, Charles II.
