Penelope Singh articles

In public, the Victorians were some of the stuffiest, snobbiest, most repressed people in history. Behind closed doors, it was a different story. In private, Victorian England was rife with drink, debauchery, and scandal—and no one did it better than Queen Victoria's infamous son, King Edward VII.

Strong, intelligent, and best known as Queen Victoria’s African goddaughter, Sarah Forbes Bonetta led an extraordinary life. Her experiences, however, were far from idyllic. Born an African princess and captured as a slave, she was later raised as the queen’s ward in English high society. But if her time in England revealed anything, it’s that any cage, no matter how gilded, is still just a cage.

After hearing a singular piece of music, Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter, daughter of the Rothschild dynasty, abandoned her gilded cage and basically left her husband behind to become a patron saint to the High Priest of Jazz, Thelonious Monk, and a muse to countless other musicians.

Lavinia Warren was the 19th-century proportional little person who lived largely—and very lavishly. Despite being small in stature, she was huge in stardom. From her humble beginnings as a school teacher to her worldwide fame as one-half of a petite power couple, Warren did it all.

He was born into royal privilege, yet King Edward VIII’s reign ended in absolute infamy.

When Wenxiu married Emperor Puyi of China and became his Imperial Consort, she likely imagined a life filled with luxury. Instead, she got tragedy.

Prince Philip wasn't just the longest sitting Prince Consort in British history, he had a lifetime full of more intrigue than most people can even imagine.