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Hey guys, this is Mel. 
If you're listening to this, you

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are about to hear a super 
special sneak peek of our latest

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bonus episode. 
But fair warning, this is just a

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sneak peek. 
Don't hurt us. 

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It's totally optional to 
subscribe, but if you're 

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interested, you can check out 
our Patreon by searching 

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Significant Lovers Patreon 
Online. 

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Hope you enjoy. 
Kate, who are we talking about 

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today? 
Drum roll. 

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Well, last week I teased that I 
was talking about a couple that 

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had a historical drama 
miniseries released about them 

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this past year. 
And that TV show that I was 

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talking about was called Mary 
and George, and that was 

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released on the Skynet channel, 
which is like an English 

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Channel, I'm pretty sure. 
And it was also on the Stars 

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Channel. 
And that TV show is about George

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Villier and King James the first
of England. 

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Yeah, historic. 
Is gay romance yes. 

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So that is who we are talking 
about this week. 

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Whoa. 
And I'm excited. 

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Kate what 3 words? 
Would you use to describe this 

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couple? 
The three words I would use to 

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describe them are. 
I mean, this is technically 4 

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because I had to mutually 
beneficial interest, domestic. 

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Oh, and dubious. 
Oh yeah, we got that -1 we 

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always do that. 
Always got to have that one. 

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I'm intrigued. 
I'm intrigued. 

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Yeah, so like I said with the TV
show, I really enjoyed that 

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show. 
I highly recommend it if you 

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haven't seen it already. 
It's honestly quite historically

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accurate as people would say. 
There's some flaws with the show

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itself, nothing too major, but 
its commitment to depicting 

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history has actually happened. 
Isn't one of its flaws. 

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Like it said, it's quite 
accurate. 

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So again, I very much recommend 
it. 

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It stays very close to the truth
and close to the history, and 

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that's in part because it's 
based on a nonfiction book about

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the life of King James and 
George Villier. 

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The book is called The King's 
Assassin by Benjamin Woolley, 

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and I've read that as research 
for this show. 

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And I also read a couple other 
books. 

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And kind of like with The King's
Assassin, some of the titles are

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kind of spoiler alerty, so sorry
in advance. 

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So one of the books I read was 
The Murder of King James the 

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First by Alistair Salony and 
Thomas Cogswell. 

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Kings James and the Letters of 
Homoerotic Desire by David M 

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Bergeron, The Catochring by Alan
Stewart and the Wisest Fool. 

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The Lavish Life of James the 4th
and 1st by Stephen Pepperon. 

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Sorry if I pronounced your name 
wrong, Stephen. 

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I'm sorry. 
Well, it is a spoiler, but now 

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I'm extra intrigued. 
I'm on the edge of my seat. 

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Yeah. 
So I read all of those books as 

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high preparation for this 
episode, so I have a lot of 

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information. 
But before I begin, I just want 

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to say that there's no way I can
fit all of this into this 

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episode. 
So this isn't going to be a 

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completely comprehensive 
history, but I will never fit in

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everything. 
Yeah, that's important. 

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I'll try and fit it in. 
So if you like to know more 

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about any of the people or 
things or events that I talk 

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about, definitely do your own 
research. 

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I think it's very interesting. 
And again, highly recommend the 

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TV show if you want to learn 
more as well. 

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Cool. 
So yeah, we can get into it. 

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But before we get into our main 
cast of characters, which is 

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King James and George, we kind 
of have to do some background 

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context knowledge because 
there's a lot of politics and 

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fighting and wars and stuff that
you kind of need prior knowledge

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to know about before you kind of
get to everything that goes on 

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later. 
Because then you will be kind of

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lost with all. 
What? 

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Century are we in here? 
We are in the 17th century for 

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the majority of the story, but 
we'll start with the 16th 

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century, which is the 15th. 
Of 9th, This is the furthest 

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back we've ever gone it. 
Is and I'm so excited. 

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If you didn't know, I studied 
history in college and I love 

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it. 
So this is really fun for me. 

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She's the resident historian. 
So it's really hard to talk 

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about James without first 
talking about his mother. 

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Who do you guys know who that 
might be? 

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Mary, Queen of. 
Scots. 

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Yes. 
OK, so his mom is Mary Stewart, 

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or Mary Queen of Scots, which is
what she's most normally known 

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as. 
Mary was the only surviving 

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child of the previous King of 
Scotland, James the 5th, and 

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upon his death she was only six 
days old. 

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She became the new queen. 
But despite her title, Mary was 

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raised primarily in France and 
eventually became the Queen at 

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Consort of France when she 
married the King Francis the 

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Second. 
The King of France, whoever 

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Their marriage and his rule only
lasts a year as he died in 1560 

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and after his death, Mary 
returned to Scotland and 

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expected to be lovingly embraced
by her cousin, the new Queen of 

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England, Elizabeth the First. 
However, that did not happen. 

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Although Elizabeth was 
unmarried, childless, and Mary 

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was technically the second in 
line for the throne, Elizabeth 

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refused to name Mary as her 
heir. 

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For some reason they just. 
Because she was Catholic. 

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Right. 
Yeah. 

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Mary. 
'S Protestant, yeah. 

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And Elizabeth was also jealous 
about how Mary was raised. 

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She had like a better childhood 
and Elizabeth had a poor 

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childhood, so there was some 
jealousy going on as well. 

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And OK, their father was Henry 
the Eighth, right? 

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So, yeah, so Elizabeth's father 
was Henry the Eighth, and Mary's

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father was James the 5th. 
They're cousins. 

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They're. 
So there's a relation there. 

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Anyway, yeah, sorry. 
So Mary is very enraged that she

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was not named the Rifle Air 
because that's what she believed

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she was. 
So she decided to marry again 

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and solidify a line of 
succession that would rival 

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Elizabeth. 
So without Elizabeth's 

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permission, Mary married her 19 
year old first cousin. 

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Take a drink, Henry Short, Lord 
Darnley. 

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And then shortly after they wed 
on June 19th, 1566, Mary gave 

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birth to her son James. 
OK, so this. 

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Is the main character James? 
So this is the universe that he 

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was born into. 
So I won't go into much detail 

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of what happened afterward, but 
a couple months after the 

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birthday of James Laura Darnley,
his father ran away back to his 

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home after he committed murder 
in front of Mary while she was 

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pregnant. 
Like like who did he kill? 

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All right, I will have to stop 
the episode right there. 

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Thank you so much for listening 
to the teaser. 

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If you want to hear the full 
episode and many other bonus 

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episodes, you can find them on 
Patreon. 

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You can search significant 
lovers on the website or 

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download the Patreon app. 
It works a lot like regular 

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have tons of other couples on 

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Patreon to listen to. 
So thank you so much for 

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listening and supporting the 
show, and we'll get back 

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together next week.