When Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, 2022, her reign was in its 71st year. That alone makes her a woman we would love to cover! Alas, we don’t spotlight subjects who are still with us, and, even then, we like to give them a respectful mourning period after they pass away. This allows time for her legacy to become established–that’s when we like to dive into her life.
However, we were able to discuss the early life of Queen Elizabeth II in our coverage of Netflix’s series, The Crown, Season 2 on our sister podcast, The Recappery. We’re playing one of those episodes today, Season 2, Episode 1: Misadventure.
You can find the rest of that season’s episodes at this link or wherever you get your podcasts:
The Recappery is currently on hiatus, but you can find all the episodes that we have produced wherever you get podcasts because things never go away on the internet, do they?
We do have two episodes on the remarkable life of Queen Elizabeth I, which you can find HERE, PART ONE and HERE, PART TWO (and that took 411 years after her death, which puts our QEII deadline for some time in 2433.)
Elizabeth Van Lew and Belle Boyd were both born in Virginia, both died in 1900, and both were spies during the American Civil War…for opposing sides of the conflict!
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Elizabeth R. Varon, birth to death biography
Middle-Grade biography by Heidi Schoof
Compilation biography that reads like a novel by Karen Abbott
Historical Fiction by Rosemary Agonito
Richard Snow
Charles River Editors
Historical Fiction Claire J Griffin (I didn’t read it, but appreciated the information on her website so it’s a half recommendation)
My deepest apologies, I thought I read this online, but I had purchased the ebook. Autobiography by Belle, Intro by Drew Gilpin Faust and Forward by Sharon Kennedy-Nolle
Don’t visit Bellvue School (unless you have a kid that can or does go there) but their website has the history of the Van Lew property and some women that lived there.
Belle Boyd’s childhood home is still standing and is now the home of the Berkely County Historical Society in Martinsburg, West Virginia. If you go, report back on the ability for a horse to go through any of the exterior doors. Thanks!
Author Claire J. Griffin’s website, she wrote a historical fiction, A Rebellious Woman, based on Belle’s life and undertook a lot of research beforehand. She has a nice collection of documents on her site.
Whether she’s styled as Lady Elizabeth Chudleigh or Countess of Bristol or Duchess of Kingston, she should be remembered as a woman who, right or wrong, made her own choices in her world during a time when women had very few options. She dealt with all that life threw her way by being witty and charming and aware of the social norms of the day. Her story is a lesson in dealing with the consequences of one fateful decision.
Elizabeth’s trial!
**************UNDER CONSTRUCTION, COME BACK A LITTLE LATER FOR ALL THE MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS! ************
Want to learn more about the Royal Hospital at Chelsea (or visit if Covid ever goes away)? It’s where the Chelsea Flower Show is held each year! Royal Hospital
Kingston House, formerly Chudleigh House, pretty swanky love nest!
Moving Pictures!
Ahhhh! This is a wide-open field and there are several story arcs in here to play with, Dear Movie Producer!
Of course, we had to pose in front of Highclere Castle! (Yes, that’s “Downton Abbey.”)
Once upon a time a couple of chicks and a group tour expert thought it would be fun to plan a tour around our former subjects… finally, three years, four reschedules, 56 people went on that eight-day trip. These are their stories. (And historical trivia, travel and book recommendations, societal observations, and even a lesson in gas exchange…there’s a lot to learn in this one.)
Our Poundland haul!
Some finds at Blenheim Palace:
Gladys Deacon sphynx at Blenheim Palace
Winston Churchill’s curls from his first big boy haircut
Nobody puts Wallis in the corner!
TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS TRAVELERS
The Superbloom at Tower of London was a favorite for A LOT of us
The history pub tour that Beckett and her dad took was through Liquid History Tours; the Jack the Ripper tour Susan took was through RipperVision, her guide was Richard (although some Seagulls took the tour with a different guide from the same company and loved it just as much.)
Susan and our Jack The Ripper Tour guide, Richard! (He said he was going to look scary for this, he was a perfectly charming gentleman!)
Starr: The book that Starr nerded out to and gave her visit to Jane’s world added depth:
By Helena Kelly
Susie: The public art installation of giant corgis are dotted throughout Westminster (where we were staying so it was hard NOT to see one.) Here is a map of them, and the one that she referenced, Susan, represents Queen Elizabeth’s first corgi and the grandma of many of the ones she called for walkies in the Queen’s life. Funny story: this piece was created by the class of one of our Traveler’s daughters!
One of the many corgis! This one is named Susan who was Queen Elizabeth’s original corgi and the matriarch of the many corgis she’s had over the years.
Find yourself near Victoria Station on a Sunday evening and fancy a game of Trivia? Our Trivia Teams really enjoyed the Sunday evening game with Johnny the Fox at The Warwick!
The Superbloom music that Diana referenced was this, Music For Growing Flowers, by Erland Cooper.
If you’re excited to join us on another Field Trip, we would love to have you join us on our October Boston and Newport adventure! Click on over to Like Minds Travel for information, or if you are going to be in Boston and would like to join that trip’s Local’s Meet Up, find out more here!
Life gets in the way of the best intentions, doesn’t it? Covid has derailed us this week so instead of talking about our visit to the land of Henry VIII we thought we would get in the Way Back Machine to our 2012 series on the wives of Henry VIII! We’ve remastered and edited them into one really short audiobook (or long podcast, however you want to think of it.) Beckett is still recovering but hopefully, we’ll be together in two weeks!
Today we want to introduce you to a show we both really enjoy: The Gilded Gentleman! It’s produced by our friends Tom Meyers and Greg Young, The Bowery Boys, and is hosted by social and culinary historian Carl Raymond. Carl’s episodes are often a delightful companion to the stories of our subjects and this doubleheader is no exception. (more…)
This month Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee, but she’s still alive so we can’t cover her* so we thought this would be an excellent time to get into the Way Back Machine to our 2017 conversation about Queen Lili’oukalani, the Kingdom of Hawaii’s last monarch (who was at Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1887!)
The image most have of Elizabeth Taylor, dazzling movie star…but is that really what she was?
Unlike most actors, Elizabeth never left the public view and her entire life played out on magazine covers, scandal sheets, punch lines, and news stories with tales of fact and fiction. But, in this final chapter of her life, she uses that very visible platform to bring money and awareness as a vocal ally for those stricken by a then mysterious and deadly illness, AIDS–going so far as to form her own foundation to fight the disease and support its victims. (And, just because she could, she also became the first celebrity to launch her own perfume line and company.) (more…)
We begin with the marriage of Elizabeth to Mike Todd. Here she is with her children, Mike, and a honkin’ big diamond in 1957. Library of Congress
From the tragic death of husband number three, Mike Todd, through her two marriages to Richard Burton, and Elizabeth’s first stay at the Betty Ford Center, we look at Elizbeth’s life of wild ups, crazy downs, and a whole lot of living in between. (more…)
