Hell in Heaven: The Butterfly King – Episode 4: "A Snake is Still a Snake"

Podcast: Hell in Heaven: A Mysterious Death in Paradise / The Butterfly King
Host: Becky Milligan
Date: April 4, 2024
Summary by Podcast Summarizer

Episode Overview

In this gripping fourth chapter of The Butterfly King, Becky Milligan advances her investigation into the mysterious death of King Boris III of Bulgaria during WWII. The episode scrutinizes both the motive and means behind the King's demise, spotlighting British and Soviet wartime intrigues, personal vendettas, and the legend of assassination by snake venom. Milligan interviews royal family members, historians, and experts, inching closer to the truth while unraveling layers of propaganda, disinformation, and old grievances. Ultimately, the episode casts doubt on the popular theory of British-inflicted snake poison and opens the door to a possible Soviet hand in one of history’s strangest royal deaths.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dramatic Setting: Wartime Bulgaria under Siege

• [03:00] The episode opens with a detailed account of the Allied bombing of Sofia, focusing particularly on a 1944 raid targeting the royal family at Vrana Palace.
• Queen Giovanna and her children are sheltering underground, terrified as their home is besieged—Boris has been dead for nearly seven months.
• The bombings are framed as personal vengeance, with Winston Churchill, incensed by Boris's WWII alliances, highlighted as a principal antagonist.

“Vrana palace, home to the Bulgarian Royal family.” – Becky Milligan (04:02)

2. Background: Treacherous Alliances and Deep Distrust

• [11:20] The podcast explores Boris’s diplomatic balancing act and Britain’s suspicion of his Saxe-Coburg family, who previously double-crossed the Allies.
• Churchill and Boris’s personal WWII and WWI histories are dissected, suggesting long-standing animosity.
• Bulgarian royal family members recall their direct experiences of the siege, highlighting how the air raids became personal after Boris’s death.

“They think Boris is more Saxe Coburg treachery.” – Historian, quoted by Becky Milligan (14:51)

3. Motives for Murder: The British Connection

• [15:05–19:07] Through diplomatic correspondence, cited from archives and Lord George Lloyd’s private papers, the British government’s growing frustration, feelings of betrayal, and outright threats toward Bulgaria come to light.
• British embassy staff face harassment and violence in Sofia, further escalating hostilities.

“We must now write off King Boris as a dead loss.” – British Ambassador Sir George Rendell (32:37)

Notable Moment

• [23:55] Yavor (royal associate) reveals that a Bulgarian historian, Sylvia, claims to have discovered a British government document that allegedly details plans to assassinate Boris.

4. Means of Murder: The Snake Venom Theory

• [35:01–40:47] The most sensational theory is that King Boris was poisoned with Asian snake venom by the British. Two main sources: London archive materials and Joseph Goebbels’s Nazi diary.

Expert Analyses:

• Mark O’Shea, snake venom expert, methodically debunks the plausibility of venom as the means.
• Snake venom digested orally is ineffective; injected, it could take days to kill—but clinical symptoms and medical details don’t line up with reports of Boris’s illness.

“I’m absolutely positive that it wasn’t [snake venom]. It sounds great. It sounds so sensational and exciting, but no.” – Mark O’Shea (39:38)

5. Red Herrings and Propaganda

• [41:20] Princess Maria Louisa and King Simeon, Boris’s children, dismiss the British motive: Boris had opened secret communications with the Allies prior to his death, making British murder improbable.
• Nazi propaganda is acknowledged as the root of the snake venom rumor, and Goebbels’s personal “diaries” are unmasked as propaganda documents expected to be read publicly.

“This was one of the Nazi theories, part of the propaganda. … So, obviously trying to point to the British Intelligence for having done the job.” – King Simeon (42:20)

6. Archival Cliffhanger: A Japanese Telegram Surfaces

• [44:56] Milligan discovers a newly declassified telegram, intercepted by British intelligence, in which the Japanese ambassador in Berlin reports suspicions that Boris was killed by “a British or Soviet plot.”
• With the British theory looking thin, the Soviets—whose army would soon sweep into Bulgaria—emerge as plausible new suspects.

“I don't know if I found Sylvia's missing document, but I think I might have found something even better … It says the Communists are lying low for the time being. Their time is not yet ripe for action. Not yet. But within a year of Boris’s death, the Red army will have marched into Sofia and occupied Bulgaria.” – Becky Milligan (45:35)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Boris’s death:

“Of course, the official reason for Boris’s death is that he died of a heart attack. But as we’ve established, his strange symptoms suggest he was poisoned. That’s what his daughter Maria Louisa has believed all these years.” – Becky Milligan (07:34)

• On historical grudges:

“Both men had fought in the First World War on opposite sides, of course … and Churchill still held that grudge. He just couldn’t let it go.” – Becky Milligan (14:17)

• On British involvement:

“I'm under no illusions as to the treachery and perfidy of King Boris.” – British Diplomat via archival reading (18:49)

• On Nazi propaganda:

“Turns out Goebbels was counting on his diaries being published. They were not his private thoughts at all.” – Becky Milligan (42:52)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment Description | |------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:00 | Allied bombing raid on Sofia; targeting of royal family | | 11:20 | Historian and analysts discuss Boris’s wartime diplomacy and British anger | | 17:27 | Lord Lloyd’s charm and later suspicion toward King Boris | | 19:02 | Notes from British archives on threats and diplomacy breakdown | | 23:55 | Yavor mentions the alleged assassination document found by Sylvia | | 32:19 | British Embassy staff under threat and evacuation of diplomats | | 35:01 | Examination of the snake venom murder theory | | 39:38 | Expert Mark O’Shea: “It wasn’t snake venom.” | | 41:20 | Conversation with King Boris's children, dismissing the British theory | | 44:56 | Discovery of Japanese telegram re: British and Soviet plot suggestions | | 45:35 | Soviet motive for the King’s death considered |

Conclusion

This episode artfully dismantles the theory that King Boris was murdered by British-planted snake venom, revealing it as Nazi propaganda. With new evidence pointing to the Soviets as possible instigators, and with the royal heirs themselves unconvinced of British involvement, Milligan leaves listeners on a tantalizing cliffhanger—was Boris’s death political murder after all, and if so, were the Soviets the true “snakes in the grass”?
Stay tuned for the next episode as the investigation turns to Soviet ambitions and communist infiltration in the Balkans.

For listeners hungry for history, conspiracy, and Cold War–era drama, this episode weaves archival intrigue with living memory, painting an atmospheric and suspenseful portrait of one of WWII’s most peculiar royal mysteries.