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00:00I'm Susanna Lipscomb. I'm a historian, and I'm fascinated by the history of the royal family.
00:09I'm not just interested in the pomp and circumstance, but in the less respectable side of the story.
00:17I mean, this is just shocking. This is shocking.
00:21From medieval to modern times, our monarchs have been at the center of scandals throughout history.
00:28I want to understand what makes a scandal.
00:32The public would be absolutely astonished at the level of involvement that the royal family have.
00:39And what role the press, parliament and the public played in generating outrage and rumor.
00:46Who do you think did it?
00:49I'll be investigating some stories you might know, and some you might never have heard of.
00:54He feels like the key suspect.
00:56Absolutely.
00:56But at the time, they were the talk of the town.
01:01There's very few people that could survive in a 19th century asylum.
01:05It's all right.
01:05It's awful.
01:07From marriages to infidelity, opulence to suspicious deaths, I want to discover how bad judgment, bad behavior, or even bad luck, led to some of history's biggest royal scandals.
01:22Even the royals can't avoid conspiracy theories and wild accusations that swirl around suspicious deaths.
01:44Outlandish theories have abounded, that a royal was Jack the Ripper, or claims made around the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
01:52But there are cases where a lot of evidence survives, and it's those cases where there's this great weight of information that I want to investigate.
02:02It may sound far-fetched for the royal family to actually be involved in a potential murder, but look back far enough, and history throws up many unsolved incidents of mysterious deaths worthy of Agatha Christie.
02:17And some of them really do seem to implicate British royalty, and their closest favorites.
02:25In this episode, I'll be turning detective, reopening history's cold cases, to try and work out who done it.
02:33Nearly all these royal murder mysteries have a tortured romance at their heart.
02:45My first investigation involves the 16th century love triangle between a dashing courtier, his teenage sweetheart, and Britain's famous Virgin Queen.
02:55Like all 16th century women, when Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558, she was expected to marry.
03:07Indeed, her chief counsellor, Sir William Cecil, urged her to find a suitable husband as quickly as possible, so she could bear sons.
03:17But one man stood in the way.
03:19He was the handsome, dark-eyed Robert Dudley, of whom Elizabeth was inordinately and scandalously affectionate.
03:30Dudley was the son of a traitor which might have demeaned the crown, but the real problem was that he was already married.
03:38When, two years after Elizabeth came to the throne, his wife, Amy Robsart, was found dead in suspicious circumstances, rumours began to spread.
03:51And Robert was the number one suspect.
03:55Dr Joanne Paul is going to explain to me why the scandal surrounding the couple set the Elizabethan court alight.
04:02Dr Joanne, tell us about Robert and Amy. How do they get together?
04:09They probably meet when they're about 17.
04:13There seems to be an immediate attraction.
04:16William Cecil, who becomes Elizabeth I, Secretary of State, talks about their marriage as a carnal marriage.
04:23And so we can imagine that there is some young love, maybe a little bit of young lust.
04:28And so ten months after, when we think they meet, they get married.
04:31But the course of young love didn't run smooth for Robert and Amy.
04:36When Robert's father, John Dudley, was accused of trying to prevent Mary I's bid for the throne, he was executed.
04:44And all of his sons, Robert included, were imprisoned in the Tower of London for treason.
04:52But when Elizabeth I came to power in 1558, his fortunes were to change dramatically.
04:58Because Robert and Elizabeth seemed to have had a rather long-standing friendship.
05:05It's possible they'd known each other since they were children.
05:08When she becomes queen, she sends out letters inviting people to join her court to take up various positions for her.
05:15And one of those letters goes to Robert Dudley, and he becomes her master of the horse.
05:21Really, the advantage for anyone holding the position is this proximity to the monarch.
05:26They ride behind them, beside them, when they're hunting or going on procession.
05:32They're often housed very close to them as well.
05:35So it gives them this very intimate relationship with the queen.
05:39People are concerned that something untoward is taking place between Elizabeth and her master of the horse.
05:47That there might be a physical relationship going on, as well as the close personal relationship that they so obviously have.
05:54The imperial ambassador, for instance, even sends spies in amongst Elizabeth's women to try to find out from them whether someone else might be sleeping in her bedchamber as well.
06:07What was at stake here? Why did it matter?
06:10It mattered hugely.
06:11Who the queen was intimate with was not only a question of who she might marry and therefore who would be king, but also who had her ear, who had political influence.
06:25And so for the ambassadors, they wanted to make sure that it was someone that they backed who had that sort of power, not Robert Dudley, who was not only a wild card, but was the grandson, son and brother of convicted traitors.
06:41All eyes in the Elizabethan court were on Robert Dudley, who, despite having a wife back home, did seem to have his own eyes set on the queen.
06:52And the records suggest that he didn't care who knew it.
06:57File appearances, Robert is courting the queen, which is crazy to think about, not only because he is far below her in social rank, but he is, of course, married.
07:08And Amy never really comes to court, and that really allows Robert to take Elizabeth on picnics, St. James Park, dinners at Chelsea, and they dance together quite a bit.
07:25They dance what was called the Volta, which is a very intimate sort of dance, because it involves the man lifting up the woman, not from the hips, but from essentially her thigh.
07:38And so Robert is touching the queen in a very, very physical, even sexual way, in front of the entire court.
07:48Wow, I mean, you can see why people were scandalized.
07:50Absolutely.
07:51But one question was on everyone's minds.
07:56While Robert was showing off his risque moves on the dance floor with Elizabeth, where was his wife?
08:03There's a lot of speculation about why Amy doesn't join her husband at court.
08:09One of the implications is that she's not well.
08:12This leads to all sorts of other suggestions that the reason that she's ill is because she's being slowly poisoned.
08:21And towards November of 1559, the rumour mill really kicks into overdrive, and everyone is talking about the fact that she will be poisoned,
08:30so that Robert can do away with her and marry Elizabeth instead.
08:37The vicious rumour mill at court may have been turned by courtier Sir William Sissel, chief advisor to the queen, who thought Dudley a hugely inappropriate suitor.
08:49Courtiers in Elizabethan times, mostly nobles and gentry, were the advisors and companions closest to the monarch.
08:56The courtiers today are really the people within the palace who are working for the members of the royal family.
09:15So they are equerries, they're private secretaries.
09:19The press have a very close relationship with a lot of the courtiers.
09:24They have constant leads of people tipping them off.
09:27So nowadays it's incredibly easy for the press to get hold of a royal scandal.
09:33Courtier is a rather all-embracing old-fashioned term, but actually they have tremendous power still today and have always had tremendous power.
09:42There's a really brilliant James Pope Hennessy quote which says,
09:46it is the courtiers who make royalty frightened and frightening.
09:53While Elizabeth I's courtiers watched her relationship with Robert grow,
09:57as he travelled the country with the court, Amy stayed mostly with friends close by,
10:02making occasional visits to her husband.
10:04And on the fateful day of her death, she was staying with a client of the Dudley family at Cumnor Place in Oxfordshire.
10:13Cumnor Place has since been demolished, but parts of it were reused in the nearby Whiteham Church.
10:19Some of these windows are from the very chambers in which Amy Robsart Dudley was staying.
10:26They were perhaps one of the last things she saw before the terrible events of the 8th of September 1560,
10:34the final day of Amy's life.
10:37The day started fairly normally, the household awoke,
10:41and many of the servants were planning on going to Abingdon Fair just down the road.
10:45And Amy apparently insisted that all of the servants go.
10:50This was really unusual, and many of them said,
10:53no, we'll stay here with you, we're not going to leave you alone in the house.
10:57And she apparently got very angry, was what they said,
11:00and insisted that all of them leave her alone.
11:04The servants agreed to Amy's strange request and spent the day at the fair.
11:09But when they returned, they met a horrific sight.
11:13Their young mistress was lying dead on the stone floor.
11:19Amy's body was found at the bottom of a flight of stairs.
11:22She appeared to have fallen and broken her neck.
11:25But of course, there were no witnesses.
11:28Amy had insisted she was left alone.
11:32Something didn't feel right.
11:34So the local coroner immediately initiated a formal inquest into the strange incident.
11:39There are essentially three possibilities.
11:44One, that she tumbled down the stairs, that it was an accident, that she tripped.
11:49Second, that she was murdered, that someone entered the house and did away with her.
11:54Or third, that it was suicide.
11:57Next, the forensic evidence in Amy's case raises some questions.
12:05She had two wounds.
12:08One a quarter of an inch and one two inches.
12:12And things don't look good for Robert and his relationship with the Queen.
12:17Anything could happen to him and it's right that he's terrified.
12:21When Amy Dudley, wife of Queen Elizabeth's favourite courtier, was found dead in 1560,
12:36the royal court was full of rumour and speculation.
12:40Could it really be a coincidence that Amy had been alone at the time,
12:45when she herself had insisted that the entire staff left the house for the day?
12:49This would be just one of many questions surrounding Amy's mysterious demise.
12:56Let's think about what happened after her death.
13:00What evidence did they consider?
13:03What sort of documentation did they amass?
13:06They interviewed the servants and they talked to other people in the town.
13:10It's important to remember that justice in the 16th century wasn't as it is today.
13:16It didn't run that sort of straight course from deed, evidence, sentence.
13:23It was a bit more meandering.
13:25And in particular, it considered public opinion very, very heavily.
13:29So even people who weren't there, who weren't associated with it,
13:34what they were saying about the events,
13:36what they were saying about the people involved,
13:38all of that had a bearing on the decision that they would make about what had happened.
13:43In other words, they thought that rumour was a powerful indicator of truth.
13:48It was not only an indicator of truth, it could determine what had happened.
13:53If people thought badly of the people involved,
13:56well, then it was more likely they were murderers.
13:58Do we know how Robert felt when he heard the news?
14:02He very clearly was panicked.
14:05He talks about, in his letters, feeling like he's in bondage,
14:09and as if he's in a dream, by which he probably means a nightmare.
14:14And he is. It is a nightmare scenario for him.
14:17Following Amy's death, Robert retired to his house in queue to mourn,
14:22leaving Elizabeth behind.
14:24But the court remained awash with rumours
14:27that he had ordered the murder of his wife.
14:29It's devastating.
14:32He could end up in exile from the court forever.
14:36Of course, he could end up convicted of murder and being hanged.
14:39It's all in the air at the moment.
14:42Anything could happen to him.
14:44And it's right that he's terrified.
14:47The coroner's report, which determined Robert's fate,
14:51was rediscovered in 2008 at the National Archives.
14:55And I'm lucky enough to be able to see it firsthand,
14:58to find out if it can shed any light on what happened to Amy.
15:04It tells us who was making the decision.
15:06We've got the coroner, John Pudsey,
15:08and then we've got a list of local men who are the jury.
15:12They have to decide what happened.
15:14They don't have any particular expertise.
15:15They don't have fingerprints to go on.
15:17They've just looked at the body and they've been told what happened.
15:20And this is their conclusion.
15:21And this, of course, is all in Latin because this is an important legal document.
15:26They say,
15:26But then it goes on to include some rather strange things.
15:43It says that on her head she had two wounds,
15:48one a quarter of an inch and one two inches in depth,
15:53and that because she fell down the stairs she broke her neck.
15:59And the conclusion they reach is that this is infortunae ad mortem,
16:06that she, by misfortune, came to her death.
16:09But I'm not sure it all adds up.
16:14The case of Amy Robsart's death seems to be getting murkier and murkier.
16:20I'm hoping that Joanne might have some explanation
16:23for the mysterious head injuries that supposedly resulted from Amy's fall.
16:29So, Jo, I've seen the coroner's report,
16:33and it is really hard to explain what happened.
16:38What do you make of it?
16:40It's really difficult to determine.
16:42It is possible, of course, that she hit her head
16:44while falling down the stairs.
16:46There might have been some ornamentation, some spikes sticking out,
16:49and she might have hurt her head that way.
16:51Or, of course, it would be consistent with a weapon.
16:55In other words, somebody hit her on the head
16:57and then she fell down the stairs.
16:59Yeah, to make it look like an accident.
17:01But who had the motive to carry out such an attack?
17:08As far as the Elizabethan court was concerned,
17:11Amy's husband, Robert Dudley, was the obvious suspect,
17:14as Amy had been the major obstacle
17:16to his seeking Queen Elizabeth I's hand in marriage.
17:20If we thought that there was a lot of rumour
17:23around Robert and Elizabeth before this happened,
17:26I mean, now it just explodes.
17:29Nicholas Throckmorton, who is the ambassador in France,
17:32talks about his glowing ears because he hears it all the time.
17:37France is all abuzz with the rumour
17:40that Elizabeth is going to marry someone who murdered his wife.
17:43My goodness, so even the French are gossiping about...
17:47Especially the French.
17:50The tenacity of the rumours surrounding Amy's death
17:53was devastating for Robert and the Queen.
17:57Elizabeth's affection for Robert
17:59seems to have been undiminished by the scandal,
18:02but for the sake of her reputation,
18:04she was forced to distance herself from him.
18:08Under no circumstances could she marry a man
18:11suspected of murdering his wife.
18:14So this is a copy of what's called Leicester's Commonwealth.
18:19This was a pamphlet that was circulated very secretly
18:23in the English court in the 1580s.
18:26So we're talking 20, 25 years
18:28after the death of Amy Robsart Dudley.
18:32OK, so what does it say?
18:33So it says,
18:35when his lordship was in full hope
18:37to marry Her Majesty the Queen
18:39and his own wife stood in his way,
18:42he did but send her aside to the house of his servant,
18:46where shortly after she had the chance to fall
18:48from a pair of stairs, a flight of stairs,
18:51and so to break her neck,
18:53but yet without hurting of her hood
18:55that stood upon her head.
18:57So it suggests that if you fell down the stairs,
19:00what you were wearing on your head would fall off.
19:03So she was positioned at the bottom of the stairs.
19:06Ah.
19:07So, in other words,
19:08he's very clear that this is not an accident.
19:11Not an accident,
19:12and that it's Robert Dudley who killed his wife.
19:14The dark gossip that plagued Robert Dudley
19:19played right into the hands of his political rivals
19:22and ensured that he could never marry the Queen.
19:26But despite public opinion,
19:28no-one has ever been able to prove
19:30what really happened to Amy,
19:32and her death has puzzled historians for centuries.
19:36Cards on the table, Jo.
19:38What do you think happened?
19:40They say follow the money.
19:42In the 16th century,
19:44I think it's follow the power, right?
19:46Who gets political power,
19:48political advantage from this?
19:49We know who doesn't benefit from her death,
19:52and that's her husband, Robert Dudley.
19:54So despite the rumours
19:56that he may have had something to do with it,
19:58it's almost certain that he didn't.
20:00Political enemy number one for Robert at this time
20:03is William Cecil,
20:04Secretary of State.
20:06He's the one stirring up
20:07some of these rumours right before her death
20:09saying that someone is going to kill
20:12Amy Robsart Dudley.
20:14And so I think there's every chance
20:15that he might have sent someone to kill her
20:18if she was murdered.
20:21But, I mean, given that she insists
20:24that all of her servants leave her that day,
20:27I think she may have been in a position
20:29where she was ailing,
20:31she was distanced from her husband,
20:33she knew these rumours at court,
20:35she may have made the decision to take her own life.
20:39What about you?
20:40What do you think happened?
20:42I think that the two cases you've outlined
20:45are both plausible.
20:47I agree that an accident seems unlikely.
20:50That head wound, though,
20:52I don't know how you would sustain that
20:55falling down stairs.
20:56It does seem to me that it's likely,
21:01and I hate to say it,
21:02but it seems to me that it's likely
21:04to have been William Cecil,
21:07the man himself.
21:08Why?
21:09Why would he have done that?
21:11Because William Cecil didn't want Robert
21:13and all his hot-headedness
21:14ruling in the Queen.
21:16He thought that he had the wisdom that she needed.
21:19If it was murder,
21:21I think you need to look to Cecil, I'm afraid.
21:23So Amy becomes a casualty of politics?
21:28I think it's very likely that's the case.
21:37Clearly, things have changed
21:39since the days when public rumour
21:40was used as evidence in the justice system.
21:44But when it comes to the royals,
21:46rumour still seems to feature
21:47in the court of public opinion.
21:50Conspiracy theories still gather
21:52around the modern monarchy like vultures.
21:55When Princess Diana died so tragically in 1997,
22:00the media frenzy that followed
22:01rehearsed and repeated unfounded theories
22:04of murder for years,
22:06so much so that an inquest was set up
22:08to explore each one.
22:11Former royal correspondent Stephen Bates
22:13reported on the event firsthand.
22:16I was the Guardian's European editor
22:19at the time in Brussels,
22:21and I was turfed out of bed
22:22in the early hours of that fatal Sunday
22:24and sent straight down to Paris
22:26to help the paper's coverage of her death.
22:28And I got on the fast train
22:30to the Guardianor within a few hours
22:33of her death.
22:35And the taxi driver said to me,
22:37even at that moment,
22:38only a fool drives into that tunnel
22:42at that sort of speed.
22:44And essentially,
22:46ten years later,
22:47that's what happened at the inquest.
22:49It was a decision that the driver
22:52of the limousine
22:54had essentially driven recklessly.
22:57And that inquest,
23:00that investigation,
23:02was something that the papers
23:03covered in great detail.
23:06Do you think there was a sense
23:08that they were wedded
23:12to conspiracy theories,
23:13or do you think that they were doing
23:15a fair investigation of what happened?
23:17Well, it depended on the newspaper.
23:20The inquest was very specifically designed
23:22and went on for, I think,
23:24about eight or nine months
23:25to go into every allegation,
23:28every rumour,
23:29every conspiracy.
23:31And one by one,
23:32they were knocked down
23:33and shown to be absolutely rootless.
23:37Whether it's trial by media
23:39or by gossip,
23:41when a royal is rumoured
23:42to be involved in a suspicious death,
23:44you can guarantee
23:45it will fascinate the public.
23:49That's exactly what happened
23:50when Queen Victoria's villainous uncle
23:52was involved in a violent attack
23:55and a suspicious suicide
23:57all in the same fateful night.
24:01Next, I'll be exploring
24:02the baffling evidence.
24:05No man,
24:06after cutting his head nearly off,
24:08could possibly throw a razor
24:10two yards from his bed.
24:11The thing about scandalous royal rumours
24:23is that they depend
24:24on the public's willingness
24:25to believe them.
24:27And when a member of the royal family
24:29is particularly unpopular,
24:31it makes them seem
24:31all the more plausible.
24:36Prince Ernest Augustus,
24:38the Duke of Cumberland,
24:39was the uncle of Queen Victoria.
24:42He lived here
24:43at St James's Palace.
24:45And until Victoria married
24:46and had an heir,
24:48he was next in line
24:49to the British throne,
24:51which was very bad news.
24:53The Duke of Cumberland
24:55had an unsavoury reputation.
24:58Victoria's father had called him
24:59the black sheep of the family.
25:01I'm meeting Professor Matthew McCormack
25:05to find out more
25:06about the despised Duke.
25:09He was not a popular figure at all.
25:11He was known to have
25:12a very frightful visage
25:14because he'd been
25:15kind of injured in battle.
25:16And there were lots of rumours
25:18swirling around about affairs.
25:21Over the course of his life,
25:23the Duke was at the centre
25:24of scandal after scandal.
25:26He was supposedly thrown out
25:28of an aristocrat's house
25:29after assaulting his wife.
25:32And rumours suggested
25:32he had fathered a child
25:34by his own sister
25:35and that his wife
25:37had poisoned her first husband
25:39in order to marry him.
25:42The fact that a man
25:43of such a reputation
25:44was only one step away
25:45from the crown
25:46did nothing to help
25:48Cumberland's popularity.
25:50But one occasion,
25:52right here at St James's Palace,
25:54shocked the public
25:55more than any other.
25:5831st of May, 1810,
26:00here at St James's Palace,
26:02the household is awoken
26:03at two or three in the morning
26:05by screams from the Duke.
26:07He's been attacked
26:08with a sabre.
26:11He's got multiple cuts
26:12to his head.
26:13He's bleeding everywhere
26:14and he's calling
26:15for the assistance
26:16of his servant, Neil.
26:18The Duke had been asleep
26:20when he'd been attacked,
26:21so couldn't identify
26:22his assailant,
26:23but the household
26:24soon realised
26:25that the Duke's valet,
26:26Joseph Sellis,
26:28was missing,
26:29raising suspicions
26:30he might have been involved.
26:31The Duke's chambers
26:32were on the first floor
26:33of this street,
26:34those kind of last
26:35three windows there.
26:36That's where
26:37the attempted murder
26:38on the Duke took place
26:40and if we look a bit
26:41further down
26:41in this direction,
26:43that is Sellis's chambers.
26:45Right.
26:48But the details
26:49of this crime
26:50are far more complicated
26:51than it first appears.
26:54The London Library
26:55holds valuable information
26:57about what happened next
26:59on that fateful night
27:00when the household
27:01went looking
27:02for Joseph Sellis.
27:03They went to his bedroom
27:05and the door was locked.
27:08Apparently,
27:09they could hear gurgling
27:10from within,
27:11which is fairly gory.
27:12So they forced the door
27:14and when they managed
27:15to make their way
27:15into the room,
27:16they could see that
27:17Sellis was dead.
27:18He'd apparently taken
27:19his own life
27:20by slitting his throat
27:21with a razor.
27:24Sellis's death
27:24appeared to be suicide
27:26and the initial theory
27:28was that he had attempted
27:29to murder the Duke,
27:30then killed himself.
27:33So, allegedly,
27:35Sellis concealed himself
27:37within a closet
27:39and we can see
27:40his route here
27:41going through several rooms
27:43where apparently
27:44he then kind of
27:45locked himself
27:46in his own room there.
27:50OK, so this feels
27:51fairly straightforward.
27:52He tried to attack
27:53his master.
27:54It didn't work
27:55and he commits suicide.
27:58But why run all that way
27:59in order to commit suicide
28:01in his own room?
28:03It did seem fairly strange
28:05that he would do that.
28:06I mean, perhaps
28:06he then realised
28:08that his plan
28:08had been dashed
28:10and then he took
28:11that decision.
28:13But there was some
28:13controversy around this.
28:15Joseph's role
28:16as a valet
28:17meant that he would
28:18have had intimate access
28:19to the Duke
28:20as his personal servant.
28:22An ideal position
28:24from which to plan
28:24and carry out an attack.
28:27But there seemed
28:28to be no obvious motive
28:29as to why
28:30he would do such a thing.
28:32Tell me what we know
28:33about Joseph Sellis.
28:35He had come from America
28:36where he'd had
28:38a fairly spectacular
28:38falling out
28:39with his master there too.
28:41Apparently,
28:42he was an anti-monarchist
28:43and was a supporter
28:45of American independence.
28:47So it's slightly strange
28:48that he should then
28:49have come to Britain
28:50and become a valet
28:52at the residence
28:53of the Duke of Cumberland.
28:56Sellis' apparent suicide
28:58was so violent
28:59and the details of
29:00and motive behind
29:01the Duke's attack
29:02so unclear
29:03that a public inquiry
29:04began the following morning.
29:06And it threw up
29:07even more questions.
29:08There were some issues
29:11with the evidence.
29:12For example,
29:13the razor blade
29:14that had supposedly
29:15been used by Sellis
29:17to cut his own throat
29:18was quite a long way
29:20from the bed.
29:21So we can see this
29:23in this book here
29:24where Sergeant Creighton
29:26of the Coldstream
29:27Regiment of Foot Guards,
29:28who was one of the first
29:29people on the scene,
29:31he testified
29:32that no man,
29:34after cutting his head
29:35nearly off,
29:36could possibly throw a razor
29:37two yards from his bed.
29:39So some people
29:40were questioning
29:41had that evidence
29:42been tampered with
29:43or was it impossible
29:44that he could possibly
29:45have slit his throat
29:46and then put the razor blade
29:48at the other side
29:49of the room?
29:49Also, it feels like
29:51a very botched attempt
29:52at murder of the Duke.
29:54He did make a bit
29:54of a mess of it
29:55by the sounds of it
29:56because the inquest
29:57suggested that he'd
29:58used the flat of the blade
30:00rather than the razor
30:01sharp edge of it.
30:02So therefore,
30:03he didn't cause
30:04as much damage
30:05as you might have expected
30:06with a saber.
30:07This gets murkier
30:08and murkier.
30:10The razor placement,
30:12the hugely gruesome nature
30:13of Sellis' supposed suicide,
30:16the fact that he fled
30:17through five rooms
30:18just to slit his throat,
30:21it all created
30:21more questions
30:22than answers.
30:23If this were
30:24a premeditated
30:25murder attempt,
30:26why was it carried out
30:27so hack-handedly?
30:29And what could Sellis'
30:31motive possibly have been?
30:32All of these dubious details
30:36in the public inquiry
30:37caused widely circulating
30:39speculation
30:40that there must have been
30:41a fight between Sellis
30:42and the Duke
30:43and that it may have been
30:44the Duke who was responsible
30:45for his valet's death.
30:49There were plenty
30:50of sensational theories
30:51for what could have caused
30:53such a disagreement.
30:54One of them was
30:56that Sellis' wife
30:58was having an affair
30:58with the Duke,
30:59so had he perhaps stepped in
31:01in order to prevent
31:03something happening there?
31:04There were other suggestions
31:05that Sellis and the Duke
31:07had had a relationship.
31:09Of course, at the time,
31:10sodomy was a capital crime.
31:12You could get into
31:13a great deal of trouble for it.
31:15So maybe the Duke
31:17was trying to kind of suppress
31:19this news getting out.
31:21The relationship between Sellis
31:23and the other valet,
31:24Cornelius Neal,
31:25was often seen as being
31:27quite problematic too.
31:28Sellis clearly had
31:29some kind of vendetta
31:31against Neal,
31:32so was there a suggestion
31:33that he was trying
31:34to frame him
31:35for the Duke's murder
31:36and then when his plan
31:37went to Rye,
31:38he took his own life?
31:41The British public
31:43couldn't get enough
31:44of the mysterious
31:44and grisly debacle.
31:46They could even come
31:47to the palace themselves,
31:49where, astonishingly,
31:50they were allowed in
31:51to see Sellis'
31:52blood-splattered room.
31:55Eventually, the jury
31:56found the Duke
31:57innocent of any wrongdoing,
31:59deciding Sellis
31:59had indeed been the assailant
32:01and having failed
32:02to carry out the murder,
32:03took his own life.
32:06But there has never been
32:07conclusive evidence
32:08of what really happened
32:10that night.
32:11I can't figure it out
32:13in my own head.
32:14Could Sellis have been murdered?
32:16Was it possible
32:17behind a locked door?
32:18Why was the Duke
32:20so incompetently attacked?
32:24What does the other valet
32:26have to do with it?
32:27It feels really hard
32:28to unpick
32:29what happened here.
32:30It's a very, very complicated case
32:32and there's lots of potential
32:34explanations for it,
32:36but it's very, very difficult
32:37to say what actually happened.
32:38The Duke was dogged
32:44by whispers
32:44about his valet's
32:45suspicious death
32:46for the rest of his life
32:48and forever cemented
32:49in history
32:50as the villain
32:51of the royal family
32:52and a potential murderer.
32:55Twenty years later,
32:56the Sellis affair
32:57raised its ugly head
32:58once again
32:59when another member
33:01of the royal household
33:02was found
33:02with his throat slit
33:04after the Duke
33:05was discovered
33:05to have had an affair
33:06with his wife,
33:08drawing an eerie parallel
33:10to the events
33:10at St James's Palace
33:11in 1810.
33:14The fact that,
33:15after Victoria,
33:17Ernest Augustus
33:18was next in line
33:19to the British throne
33:20appalled the public.
33:22There were even rumours,
33:24never substantiated,
33:25that he was plotting
33:26to have her killed.
33:28On Victoria's accession,
33:30Prince Ernest Augustus
33:31moved from Britain
33:32to Hanover
33:33and within four years,
33:35Victoria's first son
33:36had been born,
33:37pushing the Duke of Cumberland
33:39down to second
33:40in line to the throne.
33:41As Victoria and Albert's
33:43progeny grew
33:43ever more numerous,
33:45the threat
33:45of a Cumberland reign
33:46faded.
33:48But the shadow
33:49over his name
33:49did not.
33:51Whatever really happened
33:52to Joseph Sellis
33:53in the minds
33:54of the public,
33:55Prince Ernest Augustus
33:57remained one of the century's
33:58most notorious
34:00royal villains.
34:03Next,
34:05I investigate
34:06the disappearance
34:07of a flirtatious
34:08Swedish count
34:09and a potential
34:11royal cover-up.
34:13So you're saying
34:13it looks like
34:14someone has excised
34:15this incident
34:16from our knowledge.
34:18Absolutely.
34:18This information's
34:19been redacted.
34:20As far as
34:33suspicious deaths
34:34around the monarchy
34:34are concerned,
34:35conclusive evidence
34:36is often hard
34:37to come by.
34:40Such was the case
34:41at the end
34:41of the 17th century
34:43when the still
34:44to this day
34:44unexplained disappearance
34:46of a Swedish count
34:47was linked to the man
34:48who would become
34:49Britain's first
34:50Georgian king.
34:54George Ludwig
34:55was born in what is now
34:57modern-day Germany
34:58where he was the heir
34:59to the powerful state
35:00of Hanover.
35:02However,
35:03he was also
35:04the closest living
35:05Protestant relative
35:06of Queen Anne
35:07and therefore
35:08in line
35:09to the British throne.
35:10When he became
35:13King George I
35:14in 1714
35:15and moved
35:15to Hampton Court Palace,
35:17he was very unpopular
35:18among the British public.
35:21In part because
35:22of a scandalous incident
35:23involving George's wife,
35:25Sophia Dorothea,
35:26that had taken place
35:2720 years earlier
35:28when the couple
35:29were living in Hanover.
35:33I've come to meet
35:34Dr Anna Senkiu,
35:35who's going to tell me
35:36more about that incident.
35:37Sophia Dorothea
35:40was the daughter
35:41of the Duke of Sel,
35:42which sounds like
35:43it's quite high status,
35:44but actually her mother
35:45wasn't from high nobility,
35:47so she was born
35:48with quite low expectations
35:50in marriage.
35:51She was not bred
35:52to be a princess.
35:54By all accounts,
35:55she was fun,
35:56she was engaging,
35:57she wrote lots of letters,
35:58so vibrant personality,
36:00which contrasts a bit
36:01with her husband-to-be.
36:03He was a much more
36:04focused, narrower person.
36:06He was quieter
36:08than she was,
36:09and they didn't have
36:10a lot of fun together.
36:12Despite their differences,
36:14George and Sophia's fathers
36:15colluded to arrange
36:17the marriage
36:17to help settle
36:18a territorial dispute,
36:20and because George
36:21stood to benefit
36:22from Sophia's large dowry.
36:25What is your sense
36:26of how the marriage transpired?
36:30Did they get on?
36:31Not for long.
36:32They knew it wasn't
36:33a love match,
36:33but it quickly descends
36:35into a really
36:36antagonistic relationship,
36:38and they spend
36:38great time apart.
36:39There's a gossip
36:40of rouse,
36:41furious rouse,
36:42and that living separately.
36:43They have two children,
36:44but then he takes
36:45a mistress quite publicly,
36:47and he's quite happy
36:49in that relationship
36:50and not with her.
36:52She was lonely,
36:53separated from him,
36:54separated from court.
36:55His mistress
36:55was at court.
36:56It's so lonely
36:57and humiliated.
36:58Absolutely.
37:01George and Sophia's marriage
37:02was clearly not a love match,
37:04but historically,
37:06it was not unusual
37:06for aristocratic alliances
37:08to be forged
37:09for reasons
37:10other than romantic attraction.
37:14I think all throughout history,
37:17everyone has known
37:18that when royals marry,
37:21they don't marry
37:22just because they fancy each other.
37:24They don't.
37:25Everyone knows
37:26that this is about
37:27political alignment.
37:29It's about bringing in
37:31more revenue
37:32to the country.
37:33It's about securing
37:35allegiances and alliances
37:36with other political
37:37and royal forces
37:39across the world.
37:40So, the idea
37:42that you would
37:42have affairs on the side,
37:44if you're a man,
37:45by the way,
37:45not so much
37:46if you're a woman,
37:47but you're a man
37:48who could have affairs
37:49on the side,
37:49that was expected
37:50because you might not
37:52fancy your wife.
37:55George and Sophia's
37:56marriage, however,
37:57seems to have been
37:58more acrimonious
37:59than most.
38:01Isolated and miserable,
38:03Sophia Dorothea
38:04sought comfort
38:05in a friend,
38:06the Swedish Count
38:07Philipp von Königsmark.
38:09But this was
38:10no innocent friendship.
38:12It was a relationship
38:13that would scandalize
38:14the court
38:15and have disastrous
38:16consequences for all.
38:18Now, who was
38:20Count von Königsmark?
38:22The Count was
38:23a Swedish aristocrat
38:25who'd served
38:25in her father's army.
38:28He was much more
38:29attractive and engaging
38:30and interested
38:31than George,
38:32and so he far more
38:33suited her personality.
38:35And he would write
38:36these affectionate letters
38:37to Sophia Dorothea.
38:40These letters,
38:41passed down
38:42through the Count's family,
38:43were only published
38:44in 1900,
38:45and they appeared
38:47quite incriminating
38:48for Philip and Sophia.
38:50Tell me about
38:51these letters
38:52and what evidence
38:53we have there
38:54of the nature
38:55of their relationship.
38:56Was it an affair?
38:57She denied to her death
38:59that she had had
38:59an affair with him.
39:01But the letters,
39:03which once they were
39:03published,
39:04were quite scandalous.
39:06They certainly show
39:07that there was
39:08a very loving,
39:09affectionate,
39:10attached relationship
39:11between the two.
39:13It was no secret
39:14to the Hanoverian court
39:15that Sophia
39:16and the Count
39:16were close.
39:17Some thought too close.
39:20And their relationship
39:21quickly caused a scandal.
39:23The King was allowed
39:24a mistress,
39:25but it was not appropriate
39:26for her to take a lover.
39:28And it was on display.
39:30You know,
39:30she didn't hide
39:31this relationship,
39:32although the letters
39:33were more secret.
39:34But certainly,
39:35their closeness
39:36was the discussion
39:37of the court.
39:38It was even rumored
39:39that he was going
39:40to help her
39:41try to escape the marriage,
39:42not just be her lover,
39:43but for her to leave
39:45the marriage entirely.
39:46And I suppose
39:47that rumour
39:48was the one
39:49that made him
39:49seem really dangerous.
39:51He is dangerous.
39:52This is the point
39:52where action
39:53has to be taken.
39:55For George,
39:56this wasn't about
39:57love or fidelity.
39:58It was about
39:59power and reputation.
40:01Living in a loveless marriage
40:02was one thing,
40:04but taking another man's wife
40:05was quite another.
40:07And Königsmarck
40:07was about to pay
40:09the ultimate price
40:10for his indiscretion.
40:13So,
40:14now that
40:15Königsmarck
40:17is public enemy
40:18number one,
40:19what happens?
40:21Well,
40:21this is where
40:22it all gets
40:22a little bit mysterious.
40:24What we do know
40:24is that on the
40:252nd of July,
40:261694,
40:28he's seen around
40:29Leinenschloss Castle
40:30and he is never
40:31seen again.
40:33There are rumours
40:34that he is killed
40:36there by four men,
40:37though we don't know
40:38who they are
40:39or who might have
40:40ordered him to be killed.
40:41And there's no more
40:42evidence than that?
40:43There's just a disappearance?
40:44There's just a disappearance.
40:46We have no evidence,
40:47no bones,
40:48no remains,
40:49nothing to say
40:50where he might be.
40:52It was believed
40:53that the count's body
40:54may have been dropped
40:55in the Leiner River
40:56in Hanover.
40:57But when it came
40:58to the culprit,
40:59there were a number
41:00of suspects.
41:02One was the count's
41:03spurned lover,
41:04Clara Elizabeth von Platten,
41:05a key player
41:06in exposing the count's
41:07close relationship
41:08with Sophia.
41:11Another theory
41:12was that Philip
41:12was a French spy
41:14whose allegiance
41:15had been discovered.
41:16The finger was even
41:18pointed at George's parents,
41:19the rulers of Hanover,
41:21who had been affronted
41:22by the rumours
41:22about Sophia
41:23and the count.
41:25But one figure
41:26has always been
41:27the prime suspect,
41:29Sophia's furious husband.
41:31What do you think
41:33happened?
41:33I think that
41:35there is a lot
41:36of uncertainty
41:37and silence around it,
41:39that that has to be
41:40somebody who's got
41:41quite a lot of power.
41:43We have to think
41:44about George I's role
41:45in this man's disappearance.
41:47He wasn't there.
41:49There's no evidence
41:50that he gave
41:51a particular order,
41:52but there's a kind
41:53of absence of evidence
41:54and silence
41:55that makes him
41:56quite suspicious.
41:57And is that
41:58uncharacteristic?
42:00Do you feel
42:00that there really
42:01ought to be something
42:02where we have a space?
42:04Absolutely.
42:05The renowned
42:05Hanoverian archives
42:06meticulously kept,
42:08lots of records.
42:10There's nothing
42:10around this time
42:12about this.
42:13There's a lot
42:13of strange gaps
42:15that we really
42:16need to think about.
42:17So you're saying
42:18it looks like
42:19someone has excised
42:20this incident
42:21from our knowledge.
42:22Absolutely.
42:23This information
42:24has been redacted.
42:26Just as strangely,
42:27there was never
42:28any kind of criminal
42:29investigation into
42:30the Count's disappearance
42:31by the Hanoverian court.
42:34But when it comes
42:35to Sophia's fate,
42:36the evidence
42:37is horribly clear.
42:39What happened
42:40to poor Sophia Dorothea?
42:42Well, the story
42:43does not turn out
42:44well for her at all.
42:46She is accused
42:48of planning to
42:49maliciously leave
42:50her husband.
42:51They get a divorce.
42:53She loses her titles.
42:55She's locked up
42:56in Alden Castle.
42:58She's never allowed
42:59to see her children again
43:01and must exist
43:02under guard
43:03without freedom
43:04for the rest of her life.
43:06This must have
43:07been devastating.
43:08This woman
43:08is now imprisoned.
43:10Even if we can say,
43:12well, George I
43:14is not necessarily
43:16responsible
43:16for Königsmarck's
43:18disappearance,
43:18he's certainly
43:19responsible for
43:20this kind of living death
43:21in which he puts
43:22Sophia Dorothea.
43:23Absolutely.
43:24She never gets
43:25out of that castle.
43:27And how do people
43:28react to this?
43:29The court rumours
43:30start circulating.
43:32You might have had
43:33state silence
43:34about the issue,
43:35but you can't stop
43:36rumours in letters
43:37from nobles
43:38and noblewomen
43:39across Europe.
43:40They are scandalised
43:42by what's happened
43:43and are very,
43:44very interested indeed.
43:46Scandalised by the Count's
43:48suspicious disappearance,
43:49monarchs across Europe
43:50from France,
43:52Poland and Saxony
43:53sent agents to investigate,
43:55but they all drew a blank.
43:58But the incident
43:58and George's involvement
44:00were never forgotten.
44:02When he became
44:03King George I,
44:05moving from Hanover
44:06to England,
44:07the public were
44:08less than welcoming
44:08to a foreign king
44:10whom it was claimed
44:10couldn't even speak English
44:12and who had
44:13such a shady background.
44:15and they showed
44:17their defiance
44:18in a rather perplexing manner.
44:21What is this story
44:23about people
44:24waving turnips at him?
44:25So the story
44:26of his wife
44:27and the Count
44:28had reached Britain
44:29and, of course,
44:30they were waving turnips
44:32because there weren't
44:33any Swedes
44:34and it was a way
44:35to mock
44:36George I
44:37about the Swedish Count.
44:39Do you think,
44:41therefore,
44:42the death of Königsmarck,
44:43the imprisonment
44:45of Sofia Dorothea
44:46cast a shadow
44:47over George's reign?
44:49Absolutely.
44:49The story
44:50keeps coming back.
44:51It keeps finding
44:52its way
44:53into pamphlets,
44:54into ballads,
44:55into other printed material,
44:56so he can't really
44:58escape it.
44:59The scandalous tale
45:01of the missing
45:02Swedish Count
45:03has fascinated
45:04historians ever since.
45:07So much so,
45:09there's still hope
45:10that we might
45:10one day
45:11find the evidence
45:12to crack the case.
45:15In 2016,
45:16human remains
45:17were found
45:18in the Leine River
45:19in Hanover,
45:20close to the site
45:21of the suspected
45:22assassination.
45:23There was much
45:24speculation at the time
45:25that these might be
45:27the remains
45:28of the unfortunate
45:29Count von Königsmarck.
45:31But on closer inspection,
45:33they turned out
45:33to be the body
45:34of animals
45:35and humans combined.
45:37That final piece
45:38of evidence
45:39is still out there.
45:41We may never know
45:43what happened
45:43to von Königsmarck,
45:45but one thing
45:46we do know,
45:47our first Georgian king
45:49is pretty high up
45:50the list of suspects.
45:56If there's anything
45:58I've learnt
45:58from my investigations
45:59into these cold cases,
46:01it's that in each one
46:02of them,
46:03the evidence
46:03is far from conclusive.
46:05But it does quite often
46:08seem to point
46:09to the involvement
46:09of royals,
46:11or those closest to them.
46:13No royal has been found
46:15with blood on their hands,
46:17but some have been
46:18very closely linked
46:19to some suspicious deaths.
46:21There is no concrete proof.
46:23We cannot say for certain
46:24that any royal was involved.
46:26But if one is in possession
46:27of that much power,
46:29it's highly unlikely
46:30that definitive proof
46:31would survive,
46:33isn't it?