What happens when you're born a princess without a kingdom, fall in love with your governess, and end up risking everything to help people escape the Nazis?
This week, Don travels back in time with Dr Ranj and historian Dr Kit Heyam to the extraordinary life of Catherine Duleep Singh, daughter of the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, who was forced into exile in Britain after the British conquest of Punjab.
Born a princess in exile, Catherine Duleep Singh lived a life of aristocratic glamour—but behind the scenes, she was battling displacement and colonial expectations.
Enter Lina Schäfer. What began as a governess-and-chaperone relationship became a lifelong partnership—a love story society tried to file under 'just friends.' When the Nazis rose to power, Catherine didn't just survive; she became a resistance hero, using her wealth to save lives and refusing to leave Lina behind. It’s a story of a princess who defied everything to protect the person she loved.
A princess. A love story. A suffragist. A resistance ally. And a woman who refused to leave the person she loved behind.
History has never been this queer.
#ttqpod
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A Molly House Media Production.
www.mollyhousemedia.com
Host : Don One
Guest : Dr Ranj Singh
Historian : Kit Heyam
Creator, Writer & Director : David Mark Graham
Writer & Producer : Marie Horner
Executive Producer : Rishi Khosla
Set Designer : Ellie Koslowsky
Sound Designer : Jon Gray
Dubbing Mixer : Sam Morris
Edited by : David Mark Graham
Theme music Composer : Adiescar Chase
Recorded at www.storyhousestudios.co
CHAPTERS
0:00 - 4:53 Intro
4:54 - 5:48 Time Travel
5:48 - 13:36 Exiled princess
13:36 - 19:05 Governess Lina
19:05 - 23:17 What’s on Trend!?
23:17 - 28:39 The party’s over, The Nazi’s arrive
28:39 - 33:14 The Suffragette sisters
33:14 - 34:15 Ashes to ashes
34:15 - 40:17 Catherine’s Legacy
40:18 - 41:37 Sorting out the fare and outro
REFERENCES
Catherine Duleep Singh — Historic Royal Palaces, Hampton Court Palace, 2026. Read online
Princess Catherine and the Jewish Refugees — Tylers Green Church. Read online
Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary — Anita Anand, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
IMAGE CREDIT
Portrait of Princess Catherine Duleep Singh, by Lafayette Studio, 1897. © Courtesy of Peter Bance Collection.
Catherine Duleep Singh (left) with her German governess and lover, Lina Schäfer (right). Addressed to Miss Mayes, signed ‘Lina Schäfer’, 1930. © Courtesy of Peter Bance Collection.
