The Firm: Blood, Lies and Royal Succession

An investigation into the secrets, scandals, and constitutional crises of the most famous – and infamous – family in the world. From ruthless Virgin Queens to traitorous wartime Kings, from madness and revolution to forbidden sex and shocking deaths, from jealousy and rivalry to brothers and sisters torn apart, this is the real, unvarnished history of the last five centuries of Britain’s Royal Family. We’re going to reveal the real stories behind the airbrushed history book tales, and we’re going to show the lengths to which the self-styled “Firm” will go in order to keep those stories secret – and to ensure the survival of the Royal Brand… no matter what the cost. Brought to you by the team behind America’s leading royals publication The Royal Observer, and featuring authoritative guests including insider royal correspondents, best-selling authors, former employees of the Palace and personal friends of senior members of the royal family, THE FIRM: BLOOD, LIES, AND ROYAL SUCCESSION serves as both a fascinating insight into 500 years of royal history, and an eye-opening exploration of just how the institution has evolved and adapted…and how it continues to do so in the face of recent unprecedented challenges to its standing. 

Recent Episodes
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Recent Reviews
  • GMJNMWW
    King George/ American War
    The gentleman talking about America and King George said that the war of independence didn’t have to be that way. We could have gotten along and it wasn’t the king but parliament making the rules for America. We all can understand mental illness in hindsight considering king George. You make it sound like all would be well if we would have sat back and let you run the country totally without any representation. America even before that time, had already for many years talking about it was time to leave British control and be our own country. The British actions with raising taxes and such just sped up the inevitable of war for freedom for America. Also, it is very hard to hear, like a bad connection. I do like to listen to history but you have the reason for the war because Washington wanted a higher position, This land was a place England sent criminals to. The people make a good place to live and you think Americans wanted to be British? Then why did so many Americans leave their families to fight for freedom?
  • mynickname4reviews
    Informative. Volume needs balancing.
    Episodes are informative. I especially enjoyed learning more about Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria. Most episodes cover today’s royal family. It got a little boring and I didn’t learn much toward the last few episodes and there is a bit of cultural bias surrounding discussions of race and women’s roles within the family. I kind of expected it may be that way so I did my best to power through because I enjoy trying to understand people’s points of view and I hoped to gain new insight. Overall, it was underwhelming. But perhaps that’s because I went into it hoping to learn more about the history of the royal family & assumed by the description that more time would be dedicated to historical events rather than the current issues. The audio needs tweaking. The host and a few guest speakers are clear to hear but other guests are interviewed remotely and there is a stark contrast in volume that made it difficult to listen to without turning up and down the volume. To be fair, I also wear a hearing aid which added an extra challenge. Some of the episodes were too difficult to hear which I’ve never had a problem with before with other podcasts. Another thing I personally didn’t enjoy was ads mid-episode. Ads are better before or at the end so it does not interrupt the listening experience.
  • paul man 12435
    Good show
    It’s a good show and talks about a lot of what has happened with the royal family. The only bad thing about this show is that there is a sound issue. Some of the interviews have either a echo or are louder than the others and some of the background music is a bit to loud.
  • Ibles123
    The RF is inherently a racist institution
    And the defense of the racism in the H&M episode makes everyone involved in the production of this podcast look bad.
  • MixedGirlMane
    Dang I almost was a fan but the Harry & Meghan episode killed that
    I was I interested in the podcast through many episodes but the Harry & Meghan episode was just rude and harsh toward both Harry & Meghan. After everything Harry went through with the death of his mother and the racism and hate towards his chosen partner, for him to choose to step down makes complete since. He was far enough away down the line of succession to not impact the royal family as poorly as the abduction of David did. The Fact that so many white people were explaining why the royal family weren’t being racist but that Hardy, Meghan, and Oprah was just being too sensitive, I’m tell me you have no cultural competency without telling me you have no cultural competency. Yikes. Journalists should know better.
  • nearly50mom
    Bashing Prince Harry Again
    Ugh! When will it stop? Do you need to use Harry as a scapegoat for badly behaving people in The Firm and the UK media? Why is it so difficult for you to accept Harry and Meghan are setting HEALTHY boundaries? Why can’t you truly hear what they’re saying? Do you have empathy? How The Firm functions seems a bit dysfunctional (yes, I’m a therapist). Harry and Meghan have been pushing against the dysfunction, and good for them and their mental health. How about holding people who have behaved badly accountable? I have yet to see that. If some people don’t like to hear what Harry and Meghan have to say, maybe they should have been kinder to begin with; then there’d be nothing for them to say. Look in the mirror folks!
  • Listener-unbiased
    I would rate this higher, but for 2 people
    Thomas Archer Mills and his desperate and horrid attempt at a British Accent and his absurd opinions, and the American Female Host who is so incredibly ignorant of British History including anything related to the Monarchy, passing themselves off as experts and talking heads. Other than that, it’s okay.
  • Rab2.0
    Lacking
    Leaves out a lot of information that puts a lot of this in perspective.
  • Lolo13419
    M/H are DELUSIONAL
    JUST reading the highlighted paragraphs from The Cut article were so nauseating, I could NOT believe it. How DARE she compare their marriage to one SINGLE thing related to Nelson Mandela. His family has every reason to be insulted and disgusted. I’ve never despised 2 people more in my life. They just keep slapping the RF over and over.
  • m18isyss18
    Trash
    So many labels being used, so much conjecture and projections and very few facts it’s a lot of people who have never met these individuals running their mouths. We already know these so called royal experts are not credible will say anything you want and the right wing ads is just the cherry on top don’t waste your time
  • kschlichty
    Lacking nuance, chocked full of snobbery
    You can tell the majority of people reporting on this or producing it are not people of color. Even the “balance” feels very biased. The racist legacy of the British Empire is glossed over, and dare I say, mourned? The commentary is rather stuffy and snobbish. But then again, maybe it’s just my American viewpoint…
  • ASE2012
    I’ve had enough…
    As an American, I did find some good bits of info in the first few episodes despite some of the more tabloid-ish parts. Those good bits are why I’m giving it 2 stars. I stopped listening at episode 7 with the clip of the woman saying she talked to some of the psychiatrists/psychologists that knew/talked with Diana’s mother who said she had borderline personality disorder. 1)Any actual mental health doctors she had would never divulge such information, 2) any half decent mental health professional would never “arm chair” diagnose someone who wasn’t their patient. I was able to overlook the nonsense about the American colonists being spoiled children who were pitching a fit, but this clip proclaiming that mental health professionals told her that Princess Diana’s mother had BPD is inexcusable. I don’t care if either of them actually had BPD, I do care deeply about non-professionals attempting to arm-chair diagnose someone they hardly (if ever) knew as well as professionals who attempt to diagnose someone who isn’t a patient of theirs. If she did have personal doctors/therapists who did actually divulged this info, that’s even more scummier than anything else I’ve mentioned and they should have their license revoked. Shame on you for giving this a platform.
  • JMRS1977
    Great content, sound needs work
    The content of this podcast is excellent. However, the varying volumes between speakers and sound clips makes a frustrating to listen.
  • 2025 First frustration
    Princess Diana
    She will be always remembered for who she was, since the world knew about her. As of today I fell so sorry what she had to go through with the royals. In this time and era “the royals” should be like regular people and stop the waste of money etc.
  • OliviaKel
    Good Podcast
    I really like this podcast about The Firm. Good details and information. Like the interviews with various people involved. My one issue is: why does the woman with the US accent have to repeat, almost verbatim, what the man with the British accent says? It truly is redundant and annoying. If they didn’t have different voices I’d think there was a glitch.
  • Paranormal66
    Interesting!!
    Very good podcast about the royal family!! The episode about Diana was by far the best. Diana will ALWAYS be in our hearts. She will ALWAYS be the people’s Princess..
  • alexandheidi
    PLEASE fix audio
    This could be such a great podcast, but I often have to turn it off midway through because of poor sound quality.
  • Beck15
    Pretty Interesting
    I’m only on Episode 2, but so far, I find the podcast fascinating. The only critique I have is please have proper equipment to record voices. Some sound like they are speaking over the telephone and it is difficult to understand them.
  • FlashJeff
    “Royally” Interesting
    As someone who lives in the colonies (U.S.), I find the goings on of the Royal Family quite interesting, and this podcast brings it all to life.
  • ChelCooper
    Great content, terrible audio quality
    I was so excited to come across this podcast and have not yet been disappointed by the content. However, it is incredibly hard to listen to much of it due to poor audio quality. Many of the contributors gave their interviews over the phone and it’s really muffled - listening in the car is nearly impossible. If you can get past that, however, it’s worth the listen.
  • M-and-P
    Muffled sound unfortunately
    Hard to follow what they are saying because so much of the sound is muffled and low quality.
  • StarkGirls4Eva
    confusing to follow
    FYI this podcast has ads for right wing extremist publication The National Review. It’s also hard to follow with a lot of interviewees that are not always labeled as to who they are. Very piecemeal info, jumps around a lot. the audio quality is wildly inconsistent. honestly, there are better royal podcasts out there.
  • stanislavia
    Annoying ads
    I don’t mind listening to ads in a podcast, but this one has way too many, mixed louder than the podcast. Extremely annoying. Especially as I was listening while falling asleep, and the ads kept waking me up. Anything that wakes me up gets one star.
  • kelvin41968
    Andrew definitely a nonce
    It’s true!
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