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00:10Oh, well, here we go, look.
00:12Oh, yeah, it's old Buckingham Palace there, look.
00:14I mean, what happened? Why ain't I plotted up there?
00:16It's hanging a princess.
00:19Eh?
00:19But no, I ended up on a set of swings in Canning Town.
00:23I was bowled over when I found out I was related to royalty
00:27on Who Do You Think You Are?
00:29Can't be.
00:30And I will remind people at every opportunity
00:33that this man here, King Edward III,
00:37is my 22 times great-grandfather,
00:40direct descendant, right down to little old me.
00:47Everyone else sort of, you know, historians, professors,
00:50know about all my family, my family, my blood, but I don't.
00:56And I think when you've got a family tree like mine,
01:03you've got to go and explore it more.
01:05It wasn't enough on Who Do You Think You Are?
01:07I want to indulge in it.
01:09I want to smell it and drink it and taste it.
01:12I want to really feel what it would be to be royal.
01:20That's it, boys. Roll!
01:21Oh, yes, I'm going to get right stuck in,
01:24gorging on my ancestors' lives.
01:26Where are you?
01:28What's the matter?
01:29You want some?
01:30Get hold of that.
01:32I'm setting off on an amazing history lesson.
01:35I'll be meeting a lot of clever experts
01:38to learn all about my regal relatives.
01:40Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall.
01:43It's just so much to take in, you know.
01:46And I'm going to be eating, dressing,
01:48and getting up to all the stuff they did.
01:51Get up there.
01:52Where have you been?
01:53To experience hands-on how it felt to live
01:56just like my ancestors.
01:57Welcome to your castle.
02:00I want to feel closer to them
02:01and find out who they really were.
02:04It's a real treat.
02:05I'm even going to get my little mob involved
02:07so we can all get regaled out of our brains.
02:10He's got an earring!
02:12Your Highness.
02:14It's going to be a right nutty royal caper.
02:24So I've taken me tree off the wall
02:26and I'm going to take it to go and see
02:28these are called Anthony.
02:29A royal commentator, no doubt.
02:31I'm going to ask him to push me
02:33in a certain direction
02:34to start this incredible,
02:37if not slightly insane journey
02:39that I'm about to go on.
02:53Oh, young Anthony.
02:55Danny, lovely to meet you.
02:56Good to see you.
02:59I mean, it's a nice gaffe, don't get me wrong.
03:01Not the palace lounge I had in mind.
03:03Not actually Buckingham, Paris,
03:05but that's just over the road.
03:06Listen, have a seat.
03:07Oh, lovely, yeah.
03:07Nice, nice.
03:08A strong gaffe.
03:10Oh.
03:10You brought your family tree with you?
03:11Yeah, it's a good bit of kit, that.
03:13I do like to carry it around with me,
03:15you know, and just remind people, you know.
03:18So, you're obviously the man to come and see.
03:20Should I be in line to the front?
03:22I mean, is that cheeky?
03:23Well, of course, actually, yes, you are.
03:25I mean, in the terms of the royal line of succession,
03:28it doesn't stop with number 10 or number 20.
03:30It does go on into the hundreds
03:32and into the thousands,
03:33and you are there at some point
03:35in the royal line of succession.
03:37Of course I am.
03:38And it so happens, I've actually got,
03:39that family tree's nice, I like it,
03:41but it's not as good as this one,
03:42because I've actually got something a bit better for you here.
03:44Oh, well, it's not your one, is it?
03:46Yeah, we're going to trump that one, if you like.
03:49This should be good.
03:50I'm going to need your help, actually,
03:51because as with all these things, you need to run wrong.
03:53It's a long one, is it?
03:54Right, if you'd like to take that end, Danny.
03:55So, there is you, there.
03:57Ah, yeah.
03:58If you'd like to put that weight on it, right.
04:00And then reveal the royal family tree
04:03of Danny Dyer, Mark II.
04:05Oh, my word.
04:05OK, right, so it's been expanded.
04:08That was the basic one, that was Mark I.
04:10This is definitely Mark II.
04:12I've added some extra royals on.
04:14How am I going to get a frame for this?
04:16Um, I suppose what I'd like to try and do
04:18is try and to feel more connected.
04:21Mm.
04:21So, where would I begin?
04:23Well, I suggest we start right up at the top of the family tree
04:27with Rollo, who was a Viking,
04:28and not just any old Viking,
04:31but an incredibly accomplished Viking.
04:33The next person whose life you can explore
04:35is his descendant, William the Conqueror.
04:37Of course.
04:37William, who was Duke of Normandy.
04:39William the Conqueror.
04:40And the next one I thought would be interesting to look at
04:42would be William's great-grandson,
04:45Henry II,
04:46and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
04:47All these people were powerful and rich,
04:49but Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine,
04:51between them, incredibly rich.
04:53Next would be Louis IX,
04:56a very unusual King of France.
04:58Sexy sounds sexy, doesn't he?
05:00Like a sexy man.
05:01Mm, possibly not quite that.
05:02Anyway, to make them a bit more human,
05:05I've got some pictures of your ancestors here.
05:08So I want you to take those with you on your journey.
05:10Oh, smudges, we call them.
05:11Smudges, okay.
05:12You can take the smudges of your royal ancestors with you.
05:15Oh, that's nice.
05:16So you can have a genuine image of what they look like.
05:18Oh, good.
05:18I'll carry them with me.
05:19I'll protect them at all costs,
05:21even though they've all bowled over.
05:25What a man Anthony was.
05:27He's livening me right up.
05:28You know, I mean, I was happy with this,
05:30but now I've walked out,
05:31I've got scrolls coming out of me ear rolls.
05:33So we're talking about Rollo, Vikings.
05:37I can't wait to get stuck into that.
05:40Yeah, bring it on.
05:42What a nutty journey this is going to be.
05:47My journey into the lives of the ancestors I'll be learning about
05:51will take in nearly 800 years of history.
05:54In this episode, I'll be travelling through the first 400 years,
05:58spanning the 9th to the 13th century.
06:02I'm starting where my family tree begins,
06:04with Rollo, in Scandinavia, in 846 AD,
06:09when the Vikings ruled the waves.
06:22I'm going to be finding out about my 35 times great-grandfather,
06:27Rollo, the Viking,
06:30which is quite exciting for me, really.
06:32You know, you have images of Vikings and what they're about.
06:36They were a tough breed.
06:37They used to wear them hats.
06:39That's a myth, with the horns,
06:40the great big horns sticking out,
06:42you know, like the asterisks and all that caper.
06:45That was all added on later on,
06:47so, you know, I do feel I need to get Vikinged up out of my brain.
06:55So there he is. Look at him, look.
06:58Old Rollo.
06:59Slightly concerned about his anxiety across his face,
07:03but that would definitely mean we're related.
07:05You know, I've had my anxious moments in the past.
07:07Love the look of him.
07:11Love you, Gramps.
07:17I've arrived in Fudoviken in Sweden.
07:21It's a lovely little village full of Viking re-enactors
07:23who are going to show me how to roll like Rollo.
07:26But first, I'm meeting a clever Scandinavian geyser called Soren,
07:30who can give me a bit of background.
07:33I'm descended from a Viking, which is very exciting to me.
07:37What can you tell me about this beautiful-looking man?
07:39He is very beautiful, isn't he?
07:41One of the most telling things about him is what we don't know.
07:45And the strange thing about Rollo is he's the founder of a dynasty.
07:49He's the kind of guy that everybody wants to be associated with,
07:52and yet we have no clear idea where he came from.
07:55The Norwegians say he was from Norway.
07:57The Danes say he was from Denmark.
07:59Really?
07:59In fact, we don't know if he came from a Scandinavian royal family.
08:02We would have heard.
08:03So he's come from nothing?
08:04He's come from nothing.
08:05So I couldn't really trace myself back any further than this man?
08:12Yeah.
08:12And I love that.
08:13This is where it all starts with this man.
08:15And this is where it ended.
08:16Yeah.
08:17Yeah, there's a certain similarity.
08:19Yeah, okay.
08:21Obviously, he started at a young age.
08:22To become the warrior that he was.
08:24I mean, would you reckon, I mean, what, 12, 13?
08:28You know, the young lads would have got their first axe.
08:30A guy like that would have been thinking of himself as a fighter
08:34from as soon as he could stand on his legs.
08:36Really?
08:36He probably went on his first raid as a young teenager.
08:41He was certainly a badass from the moment that he could speak.
08:43Beautiful nose.
08:44That's what I wanted to hear.
08:46Well, the thing about the Vikings is also that they were a whole society.
08:49They were the fighters.
08:50Those are the people we hear about.
08:52But, of course, all males in the early Middle Ages are fighters.
08:55You have to.
08:56It's a violent period.
08:57Yeah.
08:57But the thing that the Vikings are expert at are boats and sailing.
09:01They're great navigators.
09:03And that's what they use for their raids.
09:05That's also what they use for trade.
09:07And it's even more important.
09:08It's what they use to discover new lands.
09:13Soren tells me that the Vikings who lived in Scandinavia from the 8th to the 11th century
09:18were also called Norsemen.
09:20They were avid explorers travelling across Europe, to the Middle East, North Africa,
09:26and even as far away as Canada.
09:28The name Viking means pirate raider, but some Vikings traded peacefully,
09:33while others, like Rollo, went to fight and conquer.
09:48Rollo was a great fighter.
09:50And for you to go out there and fight with us,
09:53you need to know how to do it safely.
09:56Because we don't want to hurt you.
09:57Not that Rollo did it safely, did he?
09:59No, but...
10:00Because he was an animal.
10:01Make it easy.
10:06Yeah.
10:06Show me some shield moves, then.
10:08Better with a shield.
10:09Standard Viking shield.
10:10Would it have been made of wood?
10:11It would have been made of wooden planks, yeah.
10:14Okay.
10:15And they would have very often kept them wet.
10:19It's going to matter what happens to your sword if you put that in a wet plank.
10:22And your sword's going to get stuck, and all I have to do is that,
10:25and you've got no more sword.
10:26Gotcha.
10:27Let's have it.
10:28Yeah?
10:29Here we go, do it.
10:30All right.
10:30Come on, boys.
10:32One of the fighting techniques that the Vikings were famous for
10:34was called a shield wall.
10:36Put your shield up there.
10:37What you do is basically just overlap all the shields in a line like that,
10:41and it'll protect you from spears pushing through.
10:44Like, here, I can move your shield.
10:45Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:46Here, I can't.
10:47Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
10:47Very effective way to protect...
10:49And you do that as a group, do you?
10:51You do that as a group.
10:52Okay.
10:52Let's call it on, then.
10:53Yeah?
10:54Come on in, boys.
10:55Well, then get back in line.
10:55I'm the king man, dear.
10:57Fire it up!
10:59Hold the line!
11:02Hold on!
11:03Ah!
11:05Come on, then.
11:06You want a bit of shield, boy?
11:08Don't!
11:08You want something to get out of here?
11:10That's it.
11:11Go on, clamp him!
11:13Ah!
11:15One call from the king, and it all went off, see?
11:18You know, it was that direct descendant coming through me,
11:20and there was a right tear-up.
11:27It's fun, this, isn't it?
11:37Time to eat, Rollo-style.
11:40Ah!
11:41Hello!
11:42Pleasure to meet you.
11:43I'm Danny.
11:44Come down.
11:45Danny, pleasure to meet you.
11:47So, this is the Viking kitchen.
11:49Yes.
11:49It would always be outside, would it?
11:51Always outside in summertime.
11:52Looks quite similar to what we get back home.
11:54Look, that's a parsnip.
11:56Yeah.
11:56All over it, yeah.
11:57Do you know what this is?
11:59Er, that's a carrot.
11:59Yeah.
12:00That's carrots.
12:01Er...
12:02What one's that one?
12:03Er, just black carrot.
12:05Black carrot.
12:06Of course it is.
12:06It's black.
12:07They had a lot of, er, fish.
12:09This is fermented shark.
12:10Why is some of it yellow?
12:12Some of it's a bit jelly.
12:13It's, er...
12:14The lard.
12:14So, basically, it's lard and...
12:16Yeah.
12:16Lard and shark, really.
12:17Yeah, lovely.
12:18All right, yeah.
12:19Do you have any, but go?
12:21Yeah, didn't fancy it.
12:23Look, didn't fancy it.
12:24Cheers.
12:25It's like a strong cheese.
12:29Er...
12:29No, it's all right.
12:31What else have we got in here?
12:33And this is, er, whey.
12:36Curd and whey, yeah.
12:37Oh, yeah.
12:38It's, er...
12:38It's used to, er, for serve meat, for example.
12:40Oh, so it's like brine.
12:42Or cook food in.
12:42It's for drinking.
12:43It is for drinking.
12:44Children and old people.
12:45Oh.
12:46Drank it.
12:47To get strength.
12:50Wow.
12:51Get up there.
12:54Yeah, okay.
12:56Oh, that's how you want your cheese delivered, innit?
12:58Yeah.
12:58It's like an old sack.
12:59Yeah.
13:00Okay, so how long's that been sitting there?
13:02Two days.
13:02Oh, perfect.
13:03You can also keep it over the fires, because then you smoke the cheese at the same time,
13:08and you make it...
13:08You smoke this one?
13:09No, we haven't smoked this one.
13:14Wow.
13:16That's good.
13:17Tastes like, um, Philadelphia.
13:19Yeah.
13:19You've heard Philadelphia?
13:20Yeah.
13:20And then we have a sheep set.
13:25Yep, stop.
13:26Yeah, good.
13:28Oh, here we go.
13:29Oh, yes.
13:30Get in there.
13:31So, lift it up.
13:34Very advertising, innit?
13:36Hey!
13:37Have that on a cracker?
13:38Yeah.
13:38The best things that you're going to taste when we've prepared it for you is the cheeks
13:42and the tongue.
13:43And the tongue as well, yeah?
13:45The tongue is really good meat, because it's lots of muscles.
13:48We will prepare for you and bring it in.
13:49Thank you very much, sir.
13:50Can't wait.
13:54It's fascinating that one of the main reasons the Vikings started raiding other countries
13:58was the search for food, as the harsh climate of Scandinavia made it tough to produce enough
14:03to eat here all year round.
14:07This is the lovely bit of grub that my fellow Vikings have prepared for me.
14:11I mean, you've got to think, this is how they lived.
14:15That's how we roll in the Viking world.
14:17With a bang on the old tongue, you know?
14:19Listen.
14:20This is what we do now.
14:25Yes.
14:27Oh, yes.
14:29Nice, that is.
14:30Really nice.
14:31A bit of French mustard wouldn't go amiss, but...
14:34as tongues...
14:37as tongues go...
14:39beautiful.
14:42Let's have a bit of that.
14:43Let's get involved in that.
14:44Nice bit of...
14:45I don't know what it is.
14:46Bit of wood.
14:47Yeah.
14:49Oh.
14:59Just going to go out of cars, eh?
15:04That's enough grub now.
15:05Let's get involved in something else, eh?
15:06Something that's not going to make me spew me ring up, basically.
15:17So we're doing it the Viking way.
15:19Don't have all them rowboats here.
15:20You just bowl out.
15:23Ready for battle.
15:28Yeah.
15:30Yeah.
15:36Oh.
15:39Oh.
15:41Well, we're moving.
15:43That's the result, isn't it?
15:54All that rowing, get the sail up.
15:56So how long would they row at any one time?
15:59A couple of hours.
16:00A couple of hours.
16:01Maybe three, and then you take a rest.
16:03And is this sort of an average Viking boat?
16:07Or are you getting bigger ones, no?
16:08This is a little small.
16:10So you wouldn't really go into battle, would you?
16:12Yeah, but this is for going up rivers and stuff.
16:14Yeah.
16:15Yeah.
16:16Pop the Seine all the way up to Paris and beyond.
16:18Yeah.
16:18The boat, the use for that wouldn't have been much bigger than this.
16:21But if you're going to go across Atlantic, then you'd have bigger boats.
16:24With maybe 100, 120 men on.
16:26Yeah.
16:27So would Wallow have rowed, being the king of the Vikings?
16:31No, he would have steered the ship.
16:33If not standing up in the stone, looking proud.
16:36Looking all tough and proud.
16:38Yeah, yeah.
16:38Like the king of the Vikings should.
16:40OK, then.
16:48That's it, boys, row.
16:51Row, there we go, yes, row.
16:55Go on, stick them all right in, go on.
16:57There you go, look at that, proper Viking outfit.
17:04In 911, Rollo led an attack on Paris.
17:08And the French king, Charles III, decided to make a deal to end the fighting.
17:12He offered Rollo land on the north coast on condition that Rollo protect France from other Viking invaders.
17:21Rollo and his Norsemen settled in Normandy and became known as Normans.
17:27And Rollo was made the first Duke of Normandy.
17:32It's been really interesting finding out about Rollo, my 35th times, great-grandfather.
17:39What an interesting man, come from nothing, to become the leader of the Vikings.
17:46And I never knew that the name Norman came from the word Norsemen.
17:50What a way to start me journey, really.
17:52Yeah, it's quite an emotional thing.
17:54This must be when you're in a little Viking village knocking about with Vikings.
17:57You know, you really get a little sense of it.
17:59So I'm happy I've come here.
18:00And I'm just excited about what's in store.
18:05Normandy, here we come.
18:07Yes, let's have it.
18:09Let's go and have a tear up with the Normandy mob.
18:12Let's have it.
18:15Rollo died in France in 931, leaving behind a powerful Norman dynasty, which soon set its sights on England.
18:23In 1066, my 30 times great-grandfather, William the Conqueror, sailed a fleet of 7,000 men on 700 longships
18:33across the Channel and defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings.
18:39William was now King of England.
18:45I'm back in London and I'm meeting a fella called Mark who can tell me a bit more about William
18:50the Conqueror.
18:50We're plotting up opposite the Tower of London.
18:54Lovely to meet. What a beautiful day.
18:56Lovely as night.
18:57What a gaff.
19:00William the Conqueror.
19:02He looks quite gentle.
19:03He looks almost like a priest.
19:06With his haircut.
19:07I thought it was an act.
19:09No, he's wearing a haircut.
19:10No sideburns.
19:11No, absolutely.
19:12No, they're very clean shaven and that's also something that we can find in some of the chronological accounts.
19:16So no beards, no moustaches.
19:17The Englanders have got moustaches but the Normans don't have.
19:20Right.
19:21And what the designer of this tapestry is telling you is that the Normans are Vikings.
19:25This is a haircut associated with that sort of people.
19:27He may look peaceable but he has got years of campaigning behind him by this point.
19:31He's been fighting against the kings of the French.
19:32He's been fighting against the Counts of Anjou who lie to the south of his duchy.
19:36He's been fighting against internal rebels and he's defeated every single one of them so far.
19:39There is nothing that's stopped him in his trajectory.
19:41Would he get involved?
19:41Would he get his hands dirty?
19:42Yeah, no, absolutely.
19:43He's very much at the front getting his hands dirty.
19:45But he has to be because you don't take a back seat in this period if you're a leader.
19:49You're out the front.
19:50He's very seasoned, very aggressive in what he's doing.
19:54So, Mark, why are we meeting at the Tower of London?
19:57So, the reason we're here is that William the Conqueror is the man who first constructs this building.
20:01Not the whole thing because this is the work of centuries,
20:04but that tower in the middle, the White Tower, is the work of William.
20:08So, you now have this fortification towering over the houses
20:11and it changes the landscape completely in London and indeed across the country
20:15where you have these castles built where none were before to make the point under new management.
20:19So, I can safely say that my ancestor started to build the tower.
20:24Absolutely, and you can take pride in that.
20:25How beautiful.
20:27He has other means of promoting his authority as well,
20:30but his most important mass media is his coinage.
20:33And we've got some silver pennies.
20:35What are these, proper ones, or are they...?
20:37I'm afraid to say they're not.
20:38Nah, you're joking.
20:40I'm afraid so.
20:41OK.
20:42They'd be counterfeit coinage back in the 11th century.
20:44You might lose your hand for holding one of these.
20:45Go on.
20:46The only coin that exists in this period is a silver penny.
20:49And everybody sees those all the time.
20:52And that's their image of William.
20:53He can build up his image by what he has put on his coins.
20:57And William actually adds some silver content to the penny that he inherits from his Anglo-Saxon ancestors.
21:03It increases its value.
21:04But the trouble is, by doing that, he sort of makes it useless for a day-to-day business transaction.
21:09It's too high value.
21:11So what you find is, people cut them in half.
21:14And that now gives you a half penny, which is much more useful.
21:16If that's too big, you can cut it down the cross and make it into a quarter, and then you'll
21:19have a father.
21:20Yeah, absolutely.
21:21And you walk around with these tiny bits of shrapnel in your pocket, which are your day-to-day currency.
21:26It's incredible.
21:28Well, and talking about coinage, I have a present for you.
21:31Oh, he's got a sack. I do love a sack.
21:34What have we got in here, then?
21:35Look at that.
21:38Oh, well.
21:43It's me.
21:46Look at that, a fine likeness.
21:48It's incredible.
21:49What's going on here?
21:50It's very good, isn't it?
21:50You had these made for me, did you?
21:52I did.
21:52Did you?
21:53Oh, my word.
21:56So handsome.
21:57Oh, absolutely.
21:58Very regal.
21:59What do you think?
21:59You're going to send them to all your subjects?
22:00It's got the West Ham thing on there.
22:02This is a real...
22:04I just want to put the lips on you.
22:06That's a gift, is it?
22:07It is.
22:08It's a gift.
22:08Oh, this isn't.
22:09Just hold me.
22:10There you go.
22:12Lovely.
22:13You're very well.
22:14That's beautiful, that is.
22:19Mark tells me that William was a brilliant horseman.
22:22And like all my royal ancestors, he practically lived on one.
22:25Both out hunting and leading his troops into battle.
22:29So here I am.
22:31William the Conqueror.
22:32Powerful man.
22:34And it's time now to jump on an horse.
22:37Because that's how I roll.
22:40Norman style.
22:42I'm meeting Steve, who can teach me to ride like a Norman.
22:46Which means holding the reins with one hand so I can get talled up with the other.
22:50Perfect.
22:52They're quite small in this period.
22:54Oh.
22:55This is your status symbol.
22:56This is your Ferrari.
22:58Is he getting the hump?
22:59Nope.
22:59No, he's fine.
23:00So all the time, nice and proud.
23:02Mm-hmm.
23:04That's good.
23:07This get up I've got on now is obviously for hunting, is it?
23:09And just for just bowling the battle.
23:11When I go into battle, I'd have the proper arm.
23:13You'd have these undergarments and male armour over the top.
23:17Okay.
23:18Would the horse have no armour?
23:20You know, if you're going into battle.
23:21All they would have is what is called a comparison, which is your colours, which denotes who you are on
23:26the battlefield.
23:27They may want to capture you and ransom you rather than kill you if you've got lots of money.
23:31Of course.
23:31So your...
23:32William was Keiko Beiko, wasn't it?
23:34Exactly.
23:34So his comparison and his standard that followed him everywhere would literally save his life
23:39because they wouldn't want to kill him, they'd want to take him away and sell him back.
23:44Shall we go and get Messi?
23:44Yep, let's go and get some weapons and speared up and then see what we can do.
23:49It's like chopping some nuts off, eh?
23:50That's it.
23:52Right, coming in Anglo-Saxon, you want a bit of me?
23:56Oh, fuck.
24:00It's perfect.
24:01I've had no experience and you get on it and you do feel a bit powerless when actually you've got
24:07to be in control of the whole thing.
24:09So, you know, I had a little moment when I got up there, but I did think it's important that
24:13I experience it
24:14because back in the day, that's what it was all about.
24:16Everyone was on a horse, you know, and it was their form of transport, it was a status, all these
24:23things.
24:23What we do is we'll be slippery with a watermelon, we'll walk past as if we're not going to do
24:27nothing and then...
24:28I've got to say, I'm glad I've done it. I feel really proud of myself, you know?
24:33And I think that William would have been proud of me.
24:36All right, Danny Dyer, 30 times great-grandson of William the Conqueror, has got the ump with an Anglo-Saxon
24:42watermelon and it's going to get it.
24:44What's the matter? You want some?
24:46Get hold of that.
24:48That's how we roll in the Norman times. Don't forget it.
24:58The Normans bred powerful war horses in France, so valuable on the battlefield that William sailed 2,000 of them
25:07over to England in 1066.
25:09An expert horseman, William was also a keen hunter who introduced the forest law, making huge areas of land royal
25:18that only he could hunt on.
25:22Well, I can ride and I can slaughter fruit and veg, but how good will I be at catching an
25:27animal?
25:28I'm with Naomi to help me understand the carnage.
25:31Naomi, here we are in the medieval woodlands, shall we say.
25:34I ain't got an horse, where is it?
25:36Well, you were fabulous on the horse, but people didn't just hunt on horseback, they also hunted on foot.
25:42Even William?
25:43Yeah, you know, at some point he would have jumped off his horse, bows and arrows,
25:46and certainly he would need to have learnt how to shoot bows and arrows on foot.
25:52So that's kind of what we're going to have to do with you.
25:54And any particular animal would have been the deer, would it?
25:58Yeah, it's going to be the red deer.
25:59There were some really important rituals that went with the butchery of the deer.
26:04They were called the unmaking rituals.
26:05So once you had actually killed your deer, you would roll it onto its back and dig the antlers into
26:11the ground to kind of like steady it.
26:12Then you'd split it from the chin to its genitals, whip them off, tie them on a stick, parade them
26:19round a bit.
26:20Wow.
26:20And very particular bits of the deer go to particular people.
26:24You're the lord, you're the king, you get the best bits, the haunches.
26:28But whilst the king would be getting the haunches, people lower down the pecking order would get something called the
26:35numbles.
26:35These are the intestines and because they don't look very tasty, you bake them into a pie.
26:40So that's where the origins of eating humble pie, eating numble pie comes from.
26:45Numble pie.
26:45Because it's the low status associated with eating the intestines.
26:50And there are lots of people who are involved in the hunt.
26:53The hunters and the foresters, they're dressed in green, kind of like Robin Hood and his Merry Men, as you'd
26:59imagine.
27:00But the lords are always dressed in the pinks and the purples, like what you're wearing at the moment.
27:05So you're very clearly the man in charge of the hunt.
27:09And you'd be the one who would have to do all of this butchery.
27:11Are you up for that?
27:17No, I'm not going to be doing that, am I?
27:19I'm fucked for that.
27:20I think we're out of season, so you're okay.
27:24Now for a man who can teach me how to shoot me bolt and stalk me prey.
27:29Gordon.
27:30Danny.
27:31Pleasure.
27:31Nice to meet you.
27:32Absolute pleasure.
27:33So here we are in the middle of the woods.
27:35It's always nice to meet another man in the middle of the woods.
27:38Well, there you go.
27:39Wow.
27:39You need some kit.
27:40That's your bow.
27:42Okay, that's my old bow, yeah.
27:43Nice.
27:43Long, isn't it?
27:44Hence the name.
27:46Hence the term longbow, yes.
27:49Knocking, the arrow goes onto the bow.
27:52Okay.
27:53One finger above and two below.
27:56Yep.
27:56You're effectively locked and loaded.
27:59Only look where you want it to hit.
28:01Okay.
28:03Further, further, further.
28:04Now let go.
28:05There we go.
28:06Get hold of that.
28:08There we go.
28:09Beautiful.
28:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:10Oh, yes.
28:12Let's fire another one off then, eh?
28:14Shoot.
28:15Shoot.
28:16Another one off.
28:16There's no gunpowder involved.
28:17There's no firing.
28:19Look where you want it to go.
28:21There.
28:21Oh.
28:23And that is quite a small target.
28:24Any Anglo-Saxons knocking about?
28:29So, Gordon, we're on the mooch, yeah?
28:33Well, the skills of a Norman lord, hunting isn't just about fun.
28:39It is fun for them.
28:40But what it is, it goes to their primary purpose, which is preparation for war.
28:46Hunting with horses and hounds against wild boar obviously gives you some bottle.
28:51But this stalking prepares the more subtle skills.
28:57Being a bit more cunning, a bit more stealth.
28:59And your top-line prey here is a stag, a red stag.
29:03That is the epitome of hunting in the eyes of a Norman lord.
29:09We've got a deer over there, but we're far too far away and there's too much clobber in the way.
29:14So, we need to work our way towards it.
29:16Now, this thing has got senses like you wouldn't believe.
29:19Ten of his mates have seen you before you've even seen it.
29:22So, we have to work our way using the cover and being as quiet as we can.
29:26OK.
29:28So, we're going to use the natural cover of this.
29:31Now, when you appear from behind cover, you need to get your eyes round first.
29:35Make sure it's the first thing that gets round.
29:38Acetane that it's still there.
29:40It hasn't been spooked before you move off again.
29:51So, we've used about all the available cover, but we still have a bit of distance to go.
29:57And one thing we can do is to utilise some Norman camouflage by clamping that between your teeth.
30:04And what that does is break up the shape of your face.
30:08It does a bit, doesn't it? Yeah.
30:11Tastes lovely, doesn't it?
30:12Right. It's all yours.
30:16Draw up and take your shot.
30:22He's a big old boy, isn't he?
30:27Focus on where you want to be.
30:30All the way back.
30:35I've caught him right in the windpipe.
30:40I think it's time that we feast.
30:41No. Get down.
30:45Because this isn't a rifle.
30:46It's not going to fall over dead.
30:49It's dying, but it doesn't know it's dying yet.
30:52So, if you rush forward, adrenaline is going to carry it off into the next county and you'll never see
30:57it again.
30:58So, you stay doggo.
31:01It, if he doesn't see you, will then lie down, settle after a while, bleed out and die.
31:07And, of course, then you've got the butchery, which is another of your military skills.
31:12Because what it's going to do is it inures you to the blood and the gore of battle.
31:19It's done a nice little shot, that, though, wasn't it?
31:21Lovely.
31:21I'm happy.
31:26William, a very important king for many, many reasons.
31:30You know, he was battle-hardened.
31:32He won everything.
31:34The ultimate fighter and leader.
31:37It's very difficult, isn't it, you know, going back to the 11th century
31:41and understanding the way they lived with, you know, the idea of these weapons that he used,
31:47you know, that he was an expert at.
31:49So, I'm glad I've learned about him.
31:51Now I've got a real sense of him.
31:53And I love him.
31:55Lovely. I'd better go and give this crossbow back.
31:57The geezer's looking at me funny.
32:03William the Conqueror died in 1087,
32:05after his horse reared up, throwing him so forcefully against his saddle that his intestines ruptured.
32:13Half a century later, the country suffered civil war and a crisis over who would succeed to the throne.
32:21Eventually, my 27 times great-grandfather, French-born Henry II, came to power in 1154.
32:29Like William, he had the task of rebuilding royal government and stamping his authority on England.
32:41I'm driving up to Dover Castle to find out about my 27 times great-grandfather, King Henry II.
32:50He was beyond rich, I was told. Like double, double rich.
32:54It's a beautiful gaff.
32:56It really, really is.
33:00Unlike the weather.
33:03And, er, there he is.
33:06Look at him.
33:08The lovely King Henry II.
33:12And I'm off to talk to a professor called Laura, who knows all about him and his missus, Eleanor.
33:18Laura.
33:18Hello.
33:21Come here.
33:22Lovely to meet you.
33:23Great to meet you.
33:24Yeah. Welcome to the castle.
33:25Henry II.
33:27Henry II.
33:27A direct descendant.
33:29So, in a way, I've got every right to be in here.
33:33Yeah.
33:33So, why was Dover important to Henry?
33:36Dover is the first place you see you when you come from the continent.
33:39When Henry built this castle, it was really a way of putting his stamp on the whole country
33:43in a way that everyone who came to England would see.
33:45Can you tell me about Henry's wife, Eleanor?
33:47Well, so, she was the prize in Europe.
33:50The prize in Europe?
33:51Yeah.
33:51She was the heiress to vast amounts of land.
33:55And so, anyone in Europe would have married her.
33:57First, the King of France marries her.
33:59Was she a bit of a looker?
34:00Apparently.
34:01Apparently, she was.
34:02So, she was rich and she was beautiful.
34:04Okay.
34:05Yeah.
34:05But she married the King of France.
34:06They only had two daughters.
34:08And that was a problem for the succession.
34:10You know, you had to provide a son.
34:12And it seems as though they didn't get on very well.
34:14And they had their marriage annulled.
34:16And then she married Henry within a couple of months.
34:18Between them, they rule from the Scottish border down to the Pyrenees.
34:23And almost all of France is included.
34:25So, they had everything?
34:26They had pretty much everything, yeah.
34:28Just to rub salt into the wound, Eleanor, having only had two daughters with Louis,
34:32went on to have eight children with Henry, of whom five were sons,
34:36and four survived into adulthood.
34:38Although, you could say that the French kings had the last laugh
34:41because Henry's four sons rebelled against him in adulthood.
34:45Why?
34:46Because he was so young.
34:48He came to the throne at 21, so he was a healthy, vibrant man in his 40s
34:53when his sons were desperate for power themselves and were frustrated.
34:59Oh, I see.
34:59And meanwhile, the King of France starts saying to them,
35:02hmm, why don't you just rebel and get some power for yourself?
35:05And, hence, Henry ends up, at the end of his life,
35:07fighting wars against his own sons.
35:09He died the day he heard that his youngest and favourite son, John,
35:13had joined the rebellion against him.
35:15Oh, really?
35:17Apparently so.
35:19Spoiled little brat.
35:20Shall we go and have a little pint?
35:22Yeah, yeah.
35:22Well, you should go first.
35:23Well, I am the king, darling, don't forget it.
35:26Very high, isn't it?
35:28All the old ceilings and that.
35:30But, erm, they was small people.
35:33Well, not really.
35:34No.
35:35Was he a bit of a lump?
35:37Was he?
35:37He was an impressive character.
35:39He was barrel-chested.
35:41He was handsome devilishly.
35:42And in you go, my lord.
35:45Ah.
35:45Right.
35:46King approaches O'Neill.
35:49Great Dominey.
35:50Welcome to your castle here at Dover.
35:53We have prepared for you fresh clothes,
35:56so that you may be ready for those you are to meet.
36:00Er, well...
36:03Cheers, thank you.
36:04I need to get this clobber off.
36:08Erm...
36:08Where...
36:09May I rise, great king?
36:11Yeah, you can rise now.
36:13OK.
36:14If you would step this way, my dread lord.
36:18Oh, OK.
36:20If I may.
36:25Well...
36:26You had a good day today, or...?
36:28A little rushed, my lord king.
36:30No rushed.
36:31You have been busy?
36:32As ever, my lord king, your whims of where you wish to be are our pleasure.
36:46I take it all the piss has been washed out.
36:48Sorry?
36:48Of course.
36:49The piss.
36:50Which is why it is so white, though.
36:52What piss is it?
36:53It is the urine contributed by all members of your household, my lord king.
36:58Have you pissed on it, Daniel?
36:59I pissed on it myself, my lord.
37:01You...
37:01You pissed...
37:02Makes the colour so white.
37:03Have you pissed on it?
37:04Yeah.
37:04Yeah.
37:04But it doesn't smell.
37:07Mm-hmm.
37:07Uh...
37:08Your pleontal tunic.
37:10Aye, lord king.
37:10Love a tunic.
37:12Next.
37:13Something for a little extra luxury.
37:15A super tunic.
37:23Your mantle.
37:25Incredibly comfortable.
37:27So...
37:28Where's me crown?
37:30Here.
37:31Here we go.
37:37Your highness.
37:40Quite a heavy crown.
37:42As it should be, I suppose.
37:45And, er...
37:47Now how do I look?
37:49Quite magnificent.
37:51The ruler of all.
37:53The greatest king in Christendom without any doubt.
38:00My lady, you may enter the king's presence.
38:05Young Laura.
38:07My lord king.
38:08How do you feel?
38:09I bet you're freaking out slightly inside.
38:12I have to say, you look more imposing, significantly more imposing than you did in your own clothes.
38:17You feel it.
38:19I don't know what it is.
38:20It's quite a lot of layers.
38:21Yeah.
38:22But you suddenly feel quite large in stature.
38:27And, er, the thing about, er, the urine, er...
38:33It's a natural bleach and then if you rinse it a lot afterwards, you can get rid of them.
38:37So you would have been happy to be wearing piss?
38:39I doubt he would have thought about it much.
38:41No.
38:41Yeah.
38:42Different age.
38:43You know, other people dealing with the piss, he'd get the nice white robe.
38:46So would Henry have constantly been surrounded by people?
38:51Absolutely, yeah.
38:52People of all kinds, people with very specific jobs.
38:54People to bring cups of wine, people to take the chamber pot, people to be on hand for whatever he
38:59wanted at any point.
39:00But you can tell, also, this is the bedroom and it's a huge room.
39:03There's no kind of expectation of small private rooms.
39:07Everything is public in the sense that the king is always surrounded by people.
39:11Henry was...
39:26Laura tells me that although they were once great friends, Henry was furious with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Beckett,
39:33when he excommunicated three of the king's bishops.
39:38Henry is said to have shouted,
39:40Will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest?
39:43Four knights took this at face value and rode to Canterbury Cathedral, murdering Beckett at the altar.
39:51Chronicles tell us that Henry didn't sleep much and he'd lie awake and have ideas about new legislation he wanted
39:58to pass and suddenly ask for paper so he could write it down.
40:01So he'd drive everyone mad?
40:03Yeah.
40:03He drove everyone mad.
40:04Like the last one up at a party, just always rabbiting, rabbiting.
40:06Right.
40:06And he really famously would sort of, he'd have told everyone, yeah, we're staying at Dover Castle for six days
40:11and then he'd suddenly get up at five in the morning and say, that's it, we're gone, we're going somewhere
40:16else.
40:17And then hundreds of people would suddenly have to get up and pack everything and get on the road because
40:22he changed his mind all the time.
40:23Sounds like me, to be fair.
40:24I think I've had them moments.
40:26Well, there you go.
40:26You probably inherited it.
40:28It's crazy.
40:28Yeah, that's, um, so what do you, you know, a lot of kings were quite adulterous.
40:34Mm-hm.
40:36Was he a loyal king?
40:37Would you have said from history, maybe?
40:40Well, he, he had a lot of lovers and he had a lot of illegitimate children because your, your bastard
40:46sons were incredibly useful in politics.
40:49Indeed, um, one of his bastard sons, he made him Archbishop of York and he was one of his main
40:54supporters during the war against his lawful sons.
40:57I was going to say, so, so, yeah, a son that was loyal to you.
41:01Because, exactly, because your bastard son has an interest in no one else being in power except for you.
41:05And famously, after the war when he'd won and he saw his bastard son Geoffrey again, apparently he hugged him
41:11and said to him, my other sons are the true bastards.
41:15What a lovely little story.
41:17See, so he's had a roll about with a little treacle somewhere.
41:20He's had a bastard son and that one come right to the front for him.
41:23I think there's some sort of romance in there somewhere.
41:30Just, er, surveying my kingdom.
41:33Because I own everything.
41:34I own the lot from Scotland down to the Pyrenees.
41:38I thought I'd just have a little pipe about.
41:40Have a look at all my peasant friends.
41:43They love me and adore me.
41:44You know, that Beckett story, it's done me that has Henry shouting his mouth off and being misunderstood.
41:50I mean, I've been a bit trappy in the past, so I get that.
41:54But, I must say, I quite like this whole royal thing.
41:57It was a bit weird when I first walked in the room and you've got these people just, you know,
42:00on their knees.
42:01And obviously I don't know the rules, so those, you know, I've got to tell them to stand up.
42:05I mean, they're waiting on you every single word.
42:08Erm, I soon got over that.
42:10And I really started to enjoy it.
42:14I do feel a little bit like the king of the castle.
42:17You can't help it, really. It's just, it's a real treat.
42:30After his death in 1189,
42:32Henry II's vast empire slowly collapsed,
42:36as his sons and heirs fought each other.
42:39France, meanwhile, was entering a golden age of arts and culture.
42:43And on the French branch of my family,
42:46my 26 times great-grandfather, Louis IX,
42:49came to the throne there in 1226.
42:57So here I am in France, Paris.
42:59Seemed like the obvious choice.
43:02Erm, all my ancestors so far have had something to do with France.
43:06Rollo went over there, invaded the Gaff.
43:11William came from there, as did Henry and Eleanor.
43:14I think it was the obvious choice, really,
43:16er, er, to find out about this man.
43:20King Louis IX.
43:23Who looks like a rather splendid chap.
43:26So, I'm going to meet Emily, a historian who loves him, obsessed with a geezer.
43:31Let's find out what he's all about, eh? I love it.
43:37Emily.
43:38Hey.
43:38Come here.
43:39Nice to meet you.
43:40Welcome to Paris.
43:42So, King Louis IX, I know nothing about this man.
43:46I'm getting a sense of it, because we're in the red light district.
43:49Do you want to explain a little bit to me?
43:51He was very religious, very devout, and he is anti-bad behaviour.
43:57So, here in Pigalle, we have things like prostitution, we have scandalous sex clubs.
44:04He's the opposite of all that.
44:07That's slightly surprising, considering he's my own relative.
44:11Yeah.
44:11Not that I'm into all this at all.
44:13I'm bang against it.
44:14So, a good king?
44:16A very good king.
44:18Perhaps one of the most famously good kings in the Middle Ages.
44:21When Louis IX was a young man, he used to like to wear beautiful clothes
44:25and eat big extravagant meals, but that all changed.
44:29Because he won on crusade, and he lost.
44:32And that failure really affected his behaviour.
44:35He became extremely penitential.
44:38He had some very harsh views on blasphemy.
44:41Can I just show you a picture?
44:44What do you think is going on here, Danny?
44:48Well, it looks like someone's having their teeth ripped out.
44:52It's close.
44:53They're using a hot rod to brand this man's lips, and this is Louis IX.
44:59He's commanding it because this man has blasphemed or cursed against God.
45:06So, a violent man, really?
45:07Uh...
45:08If he didn't get his own way?
45:09Well, he...
45:10I mean, he's burning the geezer's lips.
45:11He really is.
45:12I mean, there's other ways, isn't there?
45:13There are other ways, but for him, a sin of the tongue deserved punishment on the tongue.
45:18And he would burn their tongues, the tops of the lips, inside the mouth.
45:25Fucking hell.
45:26Then he changed.
45:28This didn't last very long, because the reality of it was he couldn't actually enact something that harsh.
45:34And he sort of became a little bit more tolerant over time.
45:38So, it was only two years that this kind of edict existed.
45:43He became a man who actually modelled himself on Jesus Christ and lived to imitate Christ.
45:51According to Emily, Louis was so religious that he lived like a monk who prayed every hour and was whipped
45:58each day.
45:59He embraced those on the margins of society, washing the feet of lepers and feeding the poor at his table.
46:09So, do you want to sort of live like Louis for a day?
46:12Of course, I'm here. I'm raring to go.
46:14If you curse, could you please put a donation into the poor box?
46:21And that way you can sort of connect with his anti-blasphemy regime.
46:27And this would all go to charity.
46:29Yeah, it's a big ask.
46:32But as I'm feeling charitable at the moment, I shall say, you know, bollocks.
46:39They can beat that out.
46:40And then I'll pop, if you notice, that's my first little gesture to King Louis the Ninth.
46:49Get in there, my old son.
46:51Lovely. Shall I bowl about with it?
46:53Yes, please.
46:54Yeah.
46:55Oh, that's a good look.
46:58But I'm getting an even better look now as I'm off to change clobber to get in touch with my
47:03inner Louis.
47:05So, Danny, you're dressed in this extremely humble manner for a reason, but how are you feeling?
47:12Um, I do feel quite special.
47:15Slightly odd.
47:17Something's coming over me.
47:18I notice you've got something in your hand.
47:20Yes.
47:21So, the reason King Louis the Ninth dressed in this very pious manner was because it was to honor his
47:28reception of the relic of the crown of thorns of Christ himself,
47:33which he was meant to have worn before his crucifixion.
47:37And to celebrate the arrival of this precious token of Christ's passion, he led this jubilant procession to the city
47:44of Paris.
47:44And the people marveled at the appearance of their king, because he looked like a sort of monk or a
47:51friar.
47:51I don't put this on me nut, I just carry it right now.
47:53No, you just carry it.
47:54Because it looks a bit prickly.
47:55Yes.
47:56Obviously, trotters off.
47:57Yes.
47:58This is how it's got to be done.
47:59I'm sure King Louis would never have moaned about a little drop of sewage running down an alleyway.
48:04So, should we get pious, kids?
48:07Good.
48:08All right then.
48:09You lead the way.
48:10I will do.
48:14Christus, qui venit in nomine Domini,
48:26hosanna in excelsis.
48:51I can be told all sorts of information.
48:54You can tell me stuff that's incredible,
48:56but to actually walk in King Louis IX's footsteps,
48:59to think that he did this as a king,
49:03I really respect it.
49:04I admire him because he practises what he preaches completely,
49:08and he's showing everybody he doesn't care.
49:11He walked for six miles barefoot, in pain,
49:14and that you've got to respect,
49:16considering the money and wealth he had
49:18and the life he could have lived,
49:20and I think he's very, very brave.
49:22Bless him.
49:25Well, I'm going to go and save some lepers.
49:28See you later.
49:30Yeah, there's a couple now, look.
49:32Bonjour.
49:40I'm curious, as Emily has said,
49:42there's something peculiar she wants to show me
49:44inside the breathtaking Notre Dame Cathedral.
49:56Is this what I think it is?
49:58It is.
49:59It's a linen tunic worn by King Louis IX.
50:02It's eight centuries old.
50:05Fucking hell.
50:07Careful.
50:08That's one for the box.
50:09I just can't believe it.
50:10How can it be?
50:12I mean, he actually wore that.
50:17My 26 times great-grandfather wore that.
50:21Yeah, do you want to have a closer look?
50:22I'd love to.
50:23I'd like to put it on.
50:24Well, because you're one of his descendants,
50:27we actually have permission to open this locked cabinet.
50:30Okay.
50:31Let's do it.
50:32Yeah.
50:36Is that actually it, though?
50:40Yeah, it's meant to be the tunic worn by King Louis IX.
50:43He even says it here on this wonderful medieval inscription.
50:46What does it say?
50:47It's a 15th century script, which says in old French,
50:51this is the tunic of my sire, Louis.
50:54You can't get a kind of better provenance for an object.
50:58Wow.
51:00And you can probably also guess what this is.
51:06What goes around his?
51:08No, it's part of the whip used for his discipline.
51:13It's not.
51:14It is.
51:15It's his scourging instrument.
51:18Fuck.
51:22That's just unbelievable.
51:24Here it is, eight centuries later.
51:28Can I, um...
51:30Can I touch it?
51:31Well, with a glove.
51:35Do you notice any strange things on the sleeve there?
51:38Oh, yeah, look.
51:40What do you think that is?
51:42Is that his claret?
51:44His blood?
51:45It's his blood.
51:46No.
51:47Yeah, from the whip.
51:48Can you see the holes?
51:51Yeah.
51:53Wow.
51:54Bless you, Grandpa.
51:56Bless you.
52:04My love for my 26 times great-grandad is flowing over.
52:08And I'm about to see his crowning glory, the Sainte-Chapelle, which was completed in 1248.
52:15Awww, it's just cleaned.
52:17Because I knew I was coming.
52:42It's just been cleaned.
52:44Because I knew I was coming.
52:44I love you, I see the...
52:51Pretty wonderful.
52:54You first walk in here,
52:57made me feel a bit sick.
53:00All this beauty.
53:01It's an overwhelming guttural feeling of...
53:06Do you know what I mean? Yeah.
53:08I mean, I don't think I've ever been in a building
53:10that's more godlike, where you think that
53:13you could see God plotting up in here.
53:18You know what I mean?
53:19That's exactly what he wants you to feel.
53:21If God was going to have some windows,
53:25there'd be his windows.
53:27Yeah, that's right.
53:28It's like a spinning kaleidoscope in here all the time,
53:31but what you're looking at is almost the entire Bible
53:35represented in colour and light.
53:37It's a great big book.
53:39And we're within that book.
53:43The Saint-Chapelle is a space designed to house the crown of thorns,
53:47and that first arrived as a gift to King Louis IX in the year 1239.
53:52This was built just nine years later to hold that gift.
53:56The people around Louis IX believed
53:59believed that because he had the crown of thorns,
54:03it means that he sort of made Paris into a new paradise.
54:09Because at the end of time, when Christ comes back to judge,
54:13he needs to wear his crown again.
54:15So where does he come back to make that judgment?
54:19The palace in Paris.
54:21But he's not just building this for himself at all.
54:25He's building it for the return of Christ.
54:27It's for the return of Christ.
54:29He's giving Christ a throne room on earth.
54:33That's why the man who hated luxury is glorifying this space,
54:38because it's for Christ, the true king.
54:41Never showed up, though, did he?
54:43There's actually one more thing I need to tell you about King Louis IX.
54:48He wasn't just a king.
54:51He was a saint.
54:5427 years after his death,
54:57the pope canonized him, Saint Louis.
55:00There are very few saints that aren't virgins or martyrs,
55:04so to have the blood of a saint in your blood
55:07is an extraordinary thing.
55:09Yeah, isn't it?
55:13Again, it's just so much to take in, you know, just...
55:18I'm related to a saint.
55:20That blood is sacred blood.
55:22It works miracles in the church.
55:26And I've got it coals him through me veins.
55:30Shall we have a look at the high altar?
55:34The high altar.
55:35The space you're about to enter was reserved
55:37just for King Louis IX in his lifetime,
55:40and then only the kings of France.
55:46And up there would have been the relic of the crown of thorns,
55:50which today is locked away at Notre Dame Cathedral.
56:12The first time I really do feel like a king.
56:28So there's 33 coins in there.
56:33Which is weird, because it was age 33 that Christ died.
56:40So I'll leave that with you.
56:45That's just how it rolled.
56:47But I did find it difficult not to swear.
56:50Terrible, really, innit?
56:51And I'm not going to swear much in the future.
57:01Next time on my blue-blooded binge,
57:04I'll be galloping through another 400 years of history
57:07and living my own medieval soap opera.
57:11Sickening.
57:12Channeling Britain's toughest night.
57:14Can you have a night kiss?
57:16Love it.
57:17Getting all refined with the Tudors.
57:20There they are.
57:22And inviting my own family along for the party.
57:25Oh, and I finally get to wear a ruff.
57:28Lovely.
57:52That's enough now.
57:53Yeah, all right.