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- [00:02]
Becky Milligan
This is exactly right.
- [00:07]
Tessa Dunlop
The detective said missing kids usually come home. What happens when they don't?
- [00:12]
Becky Milligan
Based on a true story Police looking for John Gacy. We discovered bodies. By the looks of it, they're younger men.
- [00:21]
Simeon
The things he did to those kids.
- [00:23]
Becky Milligan
He's sick. The system failed these families. Devil in disguise.
- [00:28]
Ryan Seacrest
John Wayne Gacy.
- [00:30]
Simeon
Streaming now only on Peacock.
- [00:32]
Becky Milligan
Do you know how many there are?
- [00:34]
Simeon
Up to you to find out.
- [00:36]
Ryan Seacrest
Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through November 4th. Shop the annual beauty event and save $5 when you spend $25 on select beauty products. Shop in store or online for items like Dove Body Wash, Native Body Wash, Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser, Dr. Squatch body wash, Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel, Dio Liquid Hand Soap and Olay Body wash. And save $5 when you spend $25 or more. Offer ends Nove restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I don't know if you've heard, but Mint's Premium Wireless is $15 a month. But I'd like to offer one other perk.
- [01:16]
Becky Milligan
We have no stores. That means no small talk. Crazy weather we're having.
- [01:23]
Ryan Seacrest
No, it's not.
- [01:23]
Becky Milligan
It's just weather.
- [01:24]
Ryan Seacrest
It is an introvert's dream. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
- [01:31]
Narrator/Advertiser
Of $45 per three month plan, $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first three months only, then full price plan options available, Taxes and fees extra.
- [01:36]
Becky Milligan
Cementmobile.com a note before we start this episode deals with the topic of suicide. Please listen with caution. The Western Balkan Mountains. April 1925, and the Royal Car navigates the narrow winding road that snakes through the valley. Rabbits and rockfall litter the route. On one side of the pass there's a sheer drop of 100ft. The chauffeur needs his wits about him to keep the tyres from flirting with the edge. On the back seat of the car are two men. King Boris III of Bulgaria and his friend, a fellow insect, enthusia. Each time the car swerves, the king rolls into him. They're giddy with excitement. They've been out walking and have found some rare flowers and an exquisite new species of butterfly. They've high hopes for today's hike. The king's gamekeeper is up front. He's swapped places with the king so Boris can chat with his friend. An old bus laboring and puffing up the Ste pass forces the Chauffeur to slow his speed. The King glances out of the window, squinting into the early morning sun. He sees something glinting in the undergrowth. Then a flash. And he instinctively ducks. It's an ambush. The first bullet is aimed at the front seat, the King's usual seat. It kills the gamekeeper instantly. The next one kills the King's friend. And the chauffeur, blinded by his shattered windscreen, loses control of the car. It starts veering towards the cliff edge. As the bullets keep coming, Boris seizes the steering wheel and yanks the car back from the edge just in time. Under a shower of gunfire, King Boris leaps from the car and races towards the bus. He jumps in, pushes the driver aside and screeches off in the direction of a military garrison. A few minutes later and the King is back with the bus, now full of armed soldiers. The soldiers chase the assailants deep into the mountains. It's clear these aren't ordinary robbers. They're far too skilled. These men are organized terrorists with one very specific and very royal target. Tomorrow's newspaper headlines will rave about the King's cool head, about his gallantry, his lucky escape from the murderous plot of communist revolutionaries. He'll be hailed across the world as a hero. But kneeling beside his friends dead bodies, King Boris doesn't feel heroic. The attempt on his life might have failed this time, but the King knows they'll get him in the end. Because this, this is only the very beginning of the plot to kill him. From Blanchard House and exactly right. Media this is the Butterfly King. I'm Becky Milligan. Chapter 6 An Inside Job what I really like is the. The really old gramophone.
- [06:29]
Simeon
Gramophone?
- [06:30]
Becky Milligan
Yes. It's a wind up one, isn't it? I'm back at Rana Palace. Not in the plush drawing room where I usually meet King Simeon and Princess Maria Louisa. I'm in the building next door where one of Simeon's aides is proudly showing me around what was once the palace powerhouse. King Boris Office complete with gramophone. Can we play it?
- [06:57]
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah, absolutely.
- [06:57]
Becky Milligan
Oh, yes, let's play it with the.
- [06:59]
Simeon
Bulgarian Royal National Anthem.
- [07:01]
Becky Milligan
Oh, I thought it was a bit of jazz.
- [07:02]
Narrator/Advertiser
Chumi.
- [07:02]
Simeon
Maritza.
- [07:03]
Ryan Seacrest
No.
- [07:05]
Simeon
Oh, just a second.
- [07:08]
Becky Milligan
Okay, here we go. You can imagine Boris sitting at the big desk in his office, listening to his gramophone, head in hands, the weight of the world on his shoulders. It wasn't an easy job being Bulgaria's king. It's a beautiful desk, isn't it? And are these all his uniforms here?
- [07:34]
Simeon
Absolutely.
- [07:35]
Becky Milligan
Military uniforms aren't they military uniforms with.
- [07:38]
Simeon
His decorations and medals. Yeah, you can see the White Cross, the Bravery for Bravery Cross.
- [07:46]
Becky Milligan
Yes.
- [07:47]
Simeon
He was awarded by King Ferdinand during the First World War with this medal and was maybe the most precious in some way.
- [08:01]
Becky Milligan
Boris courage was legendary, but it was also very necessary. In the interwar period when Boris was on the throne, Bulgaria was a brutal place. Political assassinations and targeted killings were commonplace. Rival factions fought and murdered each other in the race for power. Ruling over such a viper's nest was no picnic. The King's governments were more or less democratically elected. But few politicians really respected the wishes of the ballot box. Rival parties often tried their luck by force. They weren't trying to oust Boris, they just wanted to unseat his cabinet. Poor Boris had only been in the job five years before the first coup d' etat happened. That one, backed by the military, toppled his leftist government and brought a bloc of bourgeois right wingers to power. And to make it absolutely clear that they meant business, they chopped the fingers off. The ex prime minister then allegedly sent his head in a biscuit tin to the palace. I did tell you those Bulgarians were brutal. So Boris knew all too well that there was a biscuit tin somewhere out there with his name on it too. It was just a matter of time.
- [09:36]
Tessa Dunlop
Don't forget, kings were always being murdered.
- [09:39]
Becky Milligan
Boris didn't care for his new right wing government, but he just had to suck it up. His job was to try to keep everyone sweet. Historian Tessa Dunlop.
- [09:52]
Tessa Dunlop
He is a man who begins feeling anxious at the beginning of his reign. He's got partisans, murderers, discontent, army leaders, communists. It's all kicking off in the witch's cauldron that is the Balkans. Bulgaria, the bad boy of the Balkans. And there were quite a lot of bad boys, to be honest with you, in the Balkans.
- [10:12]
Becky Milligan
A few months after the right wing coup, the Bulgarian Bolsheviks, the communists had a go at seizing power themselves. But their attempt at a power grab failed dismally. It was brutally repressed by Boris's right wing government. Pushed underground, the Bolsheviks and Communists became bitter. If a red revolution was to succeed in Bulgaria, they realized they needed a major change of strategy. So they came up with a new plan of action. A targeted campaign of terror. And their bullseye was King Boris. Boris would have known the communists had marked him out and he must have felt so alone in that knowledge. In the early years of his reign, he was still unmarried. Plus his brother and his sisters were in exile in Germany with their father, Foxy Ferdinand. Did the King fear his life was unraveling before it had really begun.
- [11:14]
Tessa Dunlop
He's pretty fearful. His hands tremble quite a lot to begin with, but he, he grows a bit of a second skin.
- [11:23]
Becky Milligan
Tessa means he had to toughen up and that would prove invaluable. But what he really needed was nine lives, because the next assassination attempt was already brewing. Podcast studio is here. Oh, wow.
- [11:42]
Tessa Dunlop
With a candle?
- [11:43]
Becky Milligan
Yeah, with a candle. Oh, brilliant. My producer EJ and I have come to Sofia to see Anna Blagova. You'll remember she co hosts the Bulgarian podcast, the Urban Detective. We were talking to her in the last episode about how the Soviets and the Communists erased large parts of Bulgaria's history when they invaded Sofia. That was in 1944, just a year after King Boris was poisoned. And it's that which makes the royal family, particularly Maria Luisa, deeply suspicious that the Soviets were behind her father's murder. But right now we want to talk to Anna about her dad. My father was an investigative journalist and in fact he wrote a book about famous coup d' etats and political assassinations in Bulgarian history. He attempted to rank the political assassinations based on their influence. Now, Anna's dad was particularly interested in all the murders and acts of terrorism that took place during King Boris reign, primarily because there were so many of them, but also because King Boris was so often the target. One of the greatest terrorist acts, and actually the one that my father ranked number one, was the St. Nedelia Church, very close to where we are, in the center of Sofia, where, look at the number one assassination on Anna's dad's list. Bear with me, because at first glance it sounds rather obscure. In 1925, just hours after Boris had been ambushed on that mountain pass, a retired high ranking army general was suddenly gunned down in Sofia. Quite why, no one really knew. But this general was also a member of parliament and a political big shot. So as befits a dignitary, his funeral was an all bells and whistles affair. It was held at the Stna Dalia Cathedral and it was attended by Bulgaria's great and good. The priest opened the gospel and began reading from St. John. He that heareth my word hath everlasting life. And at that exact moment, the bomb was so powerful, it blew off the roof of the nave. Dismembered bodies and corpses littered the church. Two hundred and thirteen men, women and children were murdered in that attack. Over 400 others were wounded, but none of them were the intended target. They were just terrible collateral damage. The real target of that bombing escaped without a scratch. I Imagine. You can guess who the real target was. Yes, King Boris. But he survived unharmed because he wasn't there. He'd been attending the funerals of his friends who died in that ambush in the mountains and was running late. And who were the bombers? Yes, the Reds again, the Communists. At the time, a wing of the Communist Party bombed the church in the hopes to kill Boris. It was one of the bloodiest terrorist acts in our history. And it actually precipitated a response of persecution of those Communists. It was bloodbath after bloodbath. But the Communists were foiled again and again. They were brutally punished by Boris government. But the Communists were determined. They kept trying and trying. A couple of years later, a communist activist broke into the palace at first light with a pistol, ready to kill the King as he slept in his bedchamber. Foiled again. The King was already up and about. Boris was an early riser. He was probably out catching butterflies. And these assassination attempts just keep coming. In the winter of 1934, the king was on a train to the Bulgarian coast when a bomb went off in the engine. Boris was again unhurt. In fact, he even dressed the engine driver's burns before leaping into his skin seat and driving the burning train to safety. Nothing was proved. But that assassination attempt had all the markings of a communist attack.
- [17:00]
Tessa Dunlop
He survived ambushes. He was the original James Bond of Bulgaria in many respects. But he just didn't have the dashing good looks and the charisma to go with it.
- [17:09]
Becky Milligan
I think he was quite dashing, actually. So Bulgaria's own Communists had been trying for years to get Boris out of the picture. They were seriously persistent. But in the end, someone succeeded. As we know, after all those attempts on his life, the King finally died on 28 August 1943. Was it the Communists? Did they finally pull it off? The Communists certainly had a motive. They were politically weakened and brutally repressed under King Boris. And what about the means? The Soviet Union would surely have been happy to help out their Bulgarian comrades by handing over a phial of their very best poison. Anything for another Red revolution. And the Communists had form too. They bombed trains, cathedrals and mountain passes. They made sure they were never short of opportunity. But let's not jump to conclusions, because there is another possibility. I want to take you somewhere quite different. I want to try and take you inside. King Boris head. Boris often sought solace in the mountains. Looking for rare plant species or just hiking. It was a passion he shared with his uncle, King Albert of belgium. But in 1934. King Albert died in a mountaineering accident. He'd leant against a boulder which had given way under his weight. That was the official story anyway. But in his excellent book Crown of Thorns, the author Stefan Grueff tells us that Boris wasn't convinced by that story. Boris believed his uncle had deliberately leapt to his death. And what's more, according to Gruev, the King told many friends that his uncle had the right idea, that he somehow envied him.
- [19:25]
Simeon
Tsar Boris was really on a big pressure, really big pressure. This pressure, pressure for Boris was not easy.
- [19:34]
Becky Milligan
Our Bulgarian historians Vladimir Zlatarsky and George Bozduganov put it delicately, because this is a very sensitive subject. But I do think we have to examine whether King Boris may have wanted to take his own life. The pressure he was under during the Second World War was phenomenal. And on a number of occasions, the King mentioned to his staff that he wished someone would just shoot him dead or that he felt like shooting himself.
- [20:10]
Simeon
Could you imagine what kind of pressure during a war with everything and you are alone on the top of the power pyramid?
- [20:22]
Becky Milligan
In fact, on the way back from that dreadful meeting with Hitler at the wolf's lair in 1943, he reportedly told his aide he wished the plane would crash. He was constantly saying he'd had enough of being king, that it would be better if he were dead. After he flew back to Bulgaria from the Wolf's Lair, Boris went hiking in the mountains with his brother Kirill and some close aides. And at a certain point, he broke away from the rest of the party and disappeared. He was eventually spotted by his secretary. He was standing very still on the precipice of a huge rock, just staring into the abyss.
- [21:12]
Simeon
Ah, yes, that's what the secretary said, that he saw him. Yes.
- [21:17]
Becky Milligan
So the rumor was. What was the rumor from that?
- [21:20]
Simeon
Well, that he had suicidal thoughts because of the. This last meeting, which was so dramatic and with no way out.
- [21:30]
Becky Milligan
But Simeon doesn't believe his father was planning to jump, or for that matter, to poison himself with pills and toxins for one very simple reason. King Boris was an extremely religious man.
- [21:44]
Simeon
My father was far too believing, I think, to have considered suicide.
- [21:50]
Becky Milligan
Do you think so?
- [21:50]
Simeon
Not only. I think. I'm sorry to say it's nonsense. I think that this is part of the moment's mood and people see things like that. But to me, it's really part of not very serious thinking.
- [22:08]
Becky Milligan
Really, it's ridiculous. Yes. Ok. So Boris was indeed a man pushed to his limits, but his children are absolutely certain he wasn't serious about taking his own life. He was very serious about his faith. Though Boris believed in the power of prayer, he prayed constantly for guidance and for protection, which is probably why he became so interested in a Christian group called the White Brotherhood. Now, despite the name, this is not a white supremacist group. Far from it. The White Brotherhood was all about finding universal kinship in a fracturing world. Think meditation, music. And the White in their name referred only to the ceremonial robes they wore. They just wanted a better future for everyone. And Boris certainly feared what the future held in store for him. And that's ultimately what drew him to the White Brotherhood. They claimed they knew the answers. The White Brotherhood is still going strong today. In fact, eight members of the group are putting on a concert for us in Sofia. They believe that respect for music and for nature bring peace and harmony to the world. You can't blame a stressed out king for liking the sound of that. Now, just to be clear, I'm not lining up the White Brotherhood as a suspect in Boris murder. I think they genuinely wanted to help him. But I want to tell you about them because, well, they kind of guessed what was coming to Boris and they wanted to try to stop it. It's all a bit freaky, actually. The White Brotherhood was founded at the turn of the last century by a Bulgarian man called Peter Denov, better known as the Master. He was a masterful musician. The pieces you're listening to were actually written by him. As I've said, it's a Christian movement. But members often dressed like druids in white flowing robes. They danced barefoot in the mountains. Rumors circulated around Bulgaria that the King had joined the White Brotherhood, that he'd.
- [24:36]
Simeon
Become a disciple, which is not the case. That's part of one of the very sweet mythologies.
- [24:44]
Becky Milligan
Okay, so King Boris may not have been a fully signed up member of the White Brotherhood, but Simeon does admit that his father was a big fan of their ecological ideas and ideals, as is Simeon himself. It's true, they were pretty revolutionary for the 1920s.
- [25:09]
Simeon
It was a mixture of Christianity of Eastern, but everything very, I would say, peace loving, nature loving, God fearing, what have you. Actually very advanced on their time.
- [25:23]
Becky Milligan
They're a very prayerful group. But it wasn't just the Master's prayers which attracted Boris. It was the Master's predictions, because it was claimed that Peter Denov was a prophet.
- [25:46]
Simeon
He was like a man who can see in the future. He was knowing what is going to happen.
- [25:53]
Becky Milligan
That's Momchil Karamatev. He's a Bulgarian filmmaker and a member of the White Brotherhood. Now, the White Brotherhood, they love their prophecies. Remember when the King was ambushed on that road high up in the mountains in 1925? Well, a couple of days before, a disciple who worked in the palace predicted that the King's life was in danger somewhere in the highest peak, the White Brotherhood called it. But the prophecies didn't end there. Fast forward to World War II. The master warned King Boris to stay safe. He'd need to stay out of the war. He would need Bulgaria to stay neutral.
- [26:40]
Simeon
The Master said to King Boris, don't go to Germany, because he was invited by Hitler to go there. And he didn't follow this advice. And he met Hitler. And very soon after his return in Bulgaria, he was dead.
- [26:59]
Becky Milligan
But the King did change the date of his last meeting with Hitler, because the original date, Hitler had summoned him to the Wolf's lair. It was August 13, which in 1943, happened to fall on a Friday. And Boris had a very bad feeling about the whole Friday the 13th thing.
- [27:20]
Simeon
The fact that he was summoned on the 13th of August by Hitler. He delayed it by a day, which upset the other man, obviously, because of fearing the 13th. He was a superstitious man. There was something irrational in my father's behavior.
- [27:40]
Becky Milligan
The White Brotherhood believe the King should have paid more attention to the Master's prophecies. If King Boris had followed the advice, the stories told to him, he would have survived. He wouldn't have been killed. I say maybe. I think this. Does everyone sort of agree with that? I mean that, you know, if he'd just taken that advice, if he'd just listened to the person you call the Master, he would have survived, probably. Make of that what you will. But that's not all. Here's the really spooky bit. He may not have taken their advice about Hitler, but according to the historian Stefan Grueff in his book Crown of Thorns, it sounds like Boris had also been warned of the exact date of his own demise. Remember how the King lay dying in his chamber in the late summer of 1943, covered in those strange spots, with all his organs failing, he was barely conscious. Yet very suddenly, the day before his death, he opened his eyes and demanded to know the time. When he was told it was 20 past four, he shook his head. Tomorrow at the same time, he said. Tomorrow at the same time. The next day, on the 28th of August, at precisely 22 minutes past 4, the King was pronounced dead. Now, as this podcast is about the murder of King Boris. Inevitably, we focus a lot on the sad stuff, on the times when things for Boris were fraught and difficult, when he was stressed and scared and felt torn in every direction. But there were happier times, too. Did the White Brotherhood predict the lonely king would one day find a soulmate? We don't know. But we do know he did fall in love. What kind of man would let this happen to his family? Inspired by shocking actual events, I'm working on a story about the Murdochs.
- [30:21]
Narrator/Advertiser
Their abuses of power are playing out in real time.
- [30:24]
Becky Milligan
Starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette and Jason Clark. It's only cheating if you get caught. Hulu Original Series Murdoch Death and the Family New episodes Wednesdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.
- [30:41]
Ryan Seacrest
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- [31:11]
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- [32:14]
Becky Milligan
We haven't really touched on the romantic side of Boris personal story yet, and I think we need to because some people think that's where we'll find Boris killer.
- [32:28]
Tessa Dunlop
Well, he did take a while to get married. I think he was like properly old.
- [32:31]
Becky Milligan
Boris didn't stay a lonely bachelor forever. In October 1930, aged 36, Boris finally got lucky, so to speak. He married Princess Giovanna, the daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Eleanor of Italy. Our historian, Tessa Dunlop.
- [32:52]
Tessa Dunlop
I think Boris, you know, had his interests in pulling levers and pinning butterflies onto boards, not in lots and lots and lots of sex. But back then, Boris marriage had huge political significance.
- [33:07]
Becky Milligan
It certainly did. And by the time Boris died in 1943, when the war was raging, the marriage was a political hot potato, which is why quite a few rumors circulated that his murder was an Italian job. By August 1943, Mussolini had been deposed and Italy was just about to switch sides to join the Allies, the British and Americans. And now that would have put Italy on the opposite side to Bulgaria, made them enemies. And it was Giovanna's father, the King of Italy, who'd been doing all the negotiating with the Americans because he knew if Germany invaded Italy, that would mean bye bye to the Italian royal family. So could the Italian royals have thrown Boris under the bus to try to secure their own dynasty? I mean, they certainly had a motive. Their son in law, Boris, was an ally of Hitler. And there's another thing that really got up the nose of the Italian royal family. Boris's baptism. King Boris was born to Catholic parents, so his father, Foxy Ferdinand, didn't hesitate to baptize Boris, a Roman Catholic too. But Bulgaria is an Eastern Orthodox country, and as a Bulgarian, you'd kind of expect the heir to the throne to share the national faith. Ferdinand clocked his mistake pretty quickly.
- [34:48]
Tessa Dunlop
You've married an Italian girl, a fervent Catholic. You've signed up and changed the constitution so that your firstborn will be a Catholic. And then you think, oh, no, I better reverse that decision.
- [34:58]
Becky Milligan
Foxy Ferdinand booked Boris another baptism ceremony pronto.
- [35:05]
Tessa Dunlop
So Boris, having been christened a Catholic, is then rechristened or baptized into the Orthodox Church. Hallelujah. He's certainly covered both stumps as Boris.
- [35:20]
Becky Milligan
Covered both stumps is one of those quaint British sayings. It refers to cricket, but translate it into baseball and it would be like saying he was covering all the bases. Anyway, Fox's defensive play was enough to satisfy the Bulgarian people, but it didn't go down quite so well in Rome. The Pope excommunicated him. Poor old Foxy. Anyway, fast forward again, and here's now Orthodox Boris on his wedding day, marrying An Italian Catholic princess in the Catholic cathedral in Assisi. They also had a blessing in an Orthodox Church. Now, by all accounts, Boris really loved Giovanna, but he also had a royal duty. To marry, to provide an heir to.
- [36:12]
Tessa Dunlop
The throne, you need progeny. First of all, he had to acquire a womb that he considered suitable.
- [36:18]
Becky Milligan
The problem was the royal womb Boris had found belonged to a Catholic. And a Catholic is supposed to bring up her children as Catholics. Now that put Boris, the king of an Orthodox country, in a tricky situation. But he didn't want to annoy his new in laws or the Pope. So he promised his firstborn child would be baptized a Catholic. But when his daughter was born, Boris reneged on his promise. Maria Luisa was baptized into the Orthodox faith and the Church was so relieved, it even bent the rules.
- [36:58]
Simeon
Well, I'm called Maria Luisa and that's it, because in the Orthodox Church you don't have more than one name.
- [37:05]
Becky Milligan
Except she does, of course, because it's.
- [37:08]
Simeon
A double barreled name they had to have a special permission for with the Church. And they make it like one name, but it's Maria Luisa, after my paternal grandmother.
- [37:17]
Becky Milligan
But when Simeon was born four years later, he was also baptized into the Orthodox faith. Queen Giovanna accepted this, but what about her family? Were the Italian King and queen horrified that their grandchildren were not Catholics? I mean, they quite liked their son in law, Boris, but he'd basically just hoodwinked them. Is this what they wanted for their daughter? And here's another thing. Remember Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister who kept a diary? He wrote that King Boris had been poisoned with snake venom. But when we ran that theory past our snake expert, Marko Shea, he pretty much rubbished it. Turns out it's pretty impossible to get a snake to bite someone if it doesn't feel like it. Plus the snake has to bite in the right place with the right amount of venom. So admittedly, Goebbels was a bit off the mark with the whole snake venom idea. But a few days after he penned that, Goebbels wrote one more entry about the murder. And this time he pointed the finger of blame fairly and squarely at someone specific in the Italian royal family.
- [38:45]
Simeon
Goebbels claims that it was my mother's sister, Princess Mafalda, that she had poisoned him.
- [38:55]
Becky Milligan
Now, Princess Mafalda was married to the German Prince Philip of Hesse, who was disillusioned with the Nazi party and everything Hitler stood for. And Mafalda was absolutely on the same page as her husband and her parents. She wouldn't have been impressed that her brother in law, Boris, was in league with the Fuhrer. So according to Goebbels, Mafalda paid a little visit to Bulgaria, to the palace with a bottle of poison in her bag. Four weeks after her departure, the King was dead. Could Mafalda be the royal assassin?
- [39:36]
Simeon
This is nonsense. Because I was at the station to receive my art after my father was dead. Because she came to the funeral.
- [39:46]
Becky Milligan
Let's not forget that Simeon was an eyewitness. And neither he nor Maria Luisa can recall Aunt Mafalda paying a visit before Boris death. In fact, no one can remember Mafalda coming to visit her sister and brother in law before the funeral for one simple reason. She didn't come.
- [40:11]
Simeon
So there was no way that she could have poisoned him.
- [40:14]
Becky Milligan
So you know that for a fact because you were a witness to it.
- [40:18]
Simeon
Definitely not the Italians, because why? You know, the Italians had no advantage whatsoever. Goebbels was blaming the Italian court because the Nazis were very upset when Italy changed sides before my father's death. But that's why I say that sometimes documents which are supposed to be, what you call it, official can also be misleading.
- [40:42]
Becky Milligan
Point taken. It's all propaganda. That's the very last time I cite the diary of Joseph Goebbels. Promise. I suppose there's something else I may have overlooked. Families, and particularly sisters, tend to talk. Mafalda would have known King Boris was unhappy with Hitler and that he was also in secret talks about switching sides. She'd have respected him. She wouldn't have wanted him dead. There's a postscript to Mafalda's story. It's not a happy ending. The Nazis found out that she and her husband had been helping Jews get to safety. And while Mafalda was in Bulgaria supporting her sister at Boris's funeral, her husband was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. When Mafalda returned to Italy, the Nazis tricked her into visiting the German Embassy in Rome, claiming they had a message for her from her husband. But when she arrived, she was immediately arrested for subversive activities and sent to a concentration camp called Buchenwald Muft. Falda grew very sick and thin at the camp. And then the Allies started to bomb. You see, there was a munitions factory right next door, a prime target. And during one raid, Princess Mafalda was badly wounded. The SS doctors made a half hearted attempt to operate, but she died of her injuries in the summer of 1944, exactly a year after her brother in law, Boris. So where does that leave us? Suicide is off the list. Simeon's adamant about that. And despite their differences in faith and in politics, it can't have been the Italians. They were too fond of Boris. But I cannot dismiss the Communists. They tried to kill the King again and again, but I still don't have concrete proof. I don't even have a name for the poison that was used to kill the King. You know, at a certain point in every investigation I've ever done, something unexpected always turns up. And in my experience, it most often comes at that exact moment. I think I'm done. Just as I'm about to take stock of what I know and draw up my final conclusions, I receive an intriguing voicemail. It's very cryptic. It suggests we meet up in Sofia to talk about the death of King Boris iii. And who's the message from? Well, when he says his name, I'm honestly speechless, because this voicemail's from someone who has a microscopic knowledge of King Boris. A man who claims he knows exactly how the King died. He almost never gives interviews, but now he's offering to tell us all he knows. He says it's time the world knows the whole truth about what killed the Butterfly King. That's next time. Coming up on the Butterfly King.
- [44:31]
Simeon
I simply regret. And now that you bring it up, I think of it again. It's disturbing. You know, one has to make one's peace with. With these things.
- [44:43]
Becky Milligan
Painful revelations for the royal children, and we're dealt a brand new line of inquiry.
- [44:50]
Simeon
Cocaine can cause the arteries to your heart to spasm, to close down.
- [44:57]
Becky Milligan
Are you saying King Boris may have been on cocaine? The Butterfly King is a production of Blanchard House and Exactly Right Media, hosted by me, Becky Milligan. It's written and produced by Emma Jane Kirby. Original music is by Daniel Lloyd Evans, Louis Nankmanel and Toby Matamong. Sound design and engineering by Toby Matamong and Daniel Lloyd Evans. Artwork by Vanessa Lylak. The managing producer is Amica Shortino Nolan. The creative director of Blanchard House is Rosie Pye. The executive producer and head of content at Blanchard House is Lawrence Grisel for Exactly Right Media. The executive producers are Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark and Danielle Crane, with consulting producer Kyle Ryan. The Butterfly King is inspired by the book Hitler and the King by John Hall Spencer.
- [46:23]
Ryan Seacrest
Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest. For Albertsons and Safeway this fall, take care of the little ones in the family. With Baby Club Savings now through November 4th, spend $25 on select Baby Club products and save $5. Shop for items like Pediasure bottles, Pedialyte powder packs, Huggies baby wipes, Huggies diapers, Gerber puffs and Gerber pouches. And save $5 when you buy $25 or more on participating products. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.
- [46:53]
Becky Milligan
This is Alec Murdock. I need police and an ambulance immediately.
- [46:57]
Narrator/Advertiser
Murdoch Death in the Family Official Podcast is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch family.
- [47:06]
Tessa Dunlop
First to unravel the story piece by.
- [47:09]
Becky Milligan
Piece was really surprising because you don't.
- [47:11]
Narrator/Advertiser
Want to believe it. Murdoch Death in the Family Official podcast Wednesdays and stream Murdoch Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.
- [47:24]
Ryan Seacrest
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