History Tea Time

The Romanov Imperial House ruled Russia with an iron fist for 300 years. In that time they made plenty of enemies. From a grief-stricken mother who foretold the demise of the dynasty, to a scorned Tsaritsa who cursed St. Petersburg to calamity. From a hermit monk who claimed to know the hour of Catherine the Great’s death, to another monk, Rasputin, who cursed Tsar Nikolai’s ...

For millennia, royals have claimed that their right to rule over the unwashed masses was granted to them by God. But a few have been associated with powers originating far south of heaven. Tonight I’ll share with you the spooky and salacious tales of the demon countess who spawned the bloodthirsty Plantagenet dynasty, an unholy canine who ferociously defended his master on th...

From sex-crazed libertines, to noble courtesans, to innocent Empresses; syphilis was a devastating disease which ravaged many, and sometimes changed the course of history. Let’s meet 10 royal and noble victims of this sexually transmitted infection. Lorenzo de’Medici, Duke of Urbino 1492 – 1519 Maria Salviati de’ Medici 1499 – 1543 Abbas II of Persia, Shah of Iran 1632 – 166...

In 1700 the Stuart Dynasty was out of heirs, save one, Princess Anne. Parliament studied the royal family tree to determine who was next in line. The problem was they were all catholic. The succession skipped over 41 closer relations until they got to the nearest living Protestant, Sophia, Electress of Hanover. The Act of Settlement of 1701 declared that all future British mo...

Queen Anne was the younger sister of Mary II, half of England’s only joint monarchy, William and Mary. When they died, Anne had no interest in sharing the throne with her husband. She was the first married Queen of England to rule on her own. Anne was a strong political player and oversaw the creation of the new nation of Great Britain. She had a long term, possibly romantic ...