September 30, 2025 • 26 mins
Clara Ward was a "dollar princess" from Michigan who married a Belgian prince. But her adventurous spirit soon had her eloping with a Hungarian musician and she lives a life that scandalized and captivated Europe in equal measure.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. This episode
begins in Paris, the most romantic city in the world.
It's the end of the nineteenth century, the heyday of
night clubs like the Moulin Rouge and the Foulet Berger.
(00:24):
It's a typical night at one of those clubs. Patrons
arrive decked out in their finest, ready to be entertained,
titillated and lightly scandalized. The lights dim and the show begins.
This performance is a double act, a pair of performers
(00:45):
with two extremely different skill sets. First, a handsome man
takes the stage and begins to play the violin. He's
mesmerizing his music, evoking the hills of a distant land.
As he plays, a woman joins him on stage. Certain
members of the audience gasp with initial surprise. Is this
(01:10):
woman nude? But on closer look, the woman is in
fact clothed, wearing a form fitting dress that leaves little
to the imagination. Her movements are strange, heightened, as if
she's doing a series of mannequin poses. The combined effect
of the.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Music and the poses is electrifying, as is the connection
between the man and woman on stage. Their chemistry is undeniable,
amplified by the sensual nature of the performance. If they
weren't famous, and they are very famous, audience members would
(01:51):
surely be leaning into each other to confirm if their
dates were also picking up on the clear vibes in
the room. The whole production feels exciting and new. The
crowd is entranced. It feels like they're getting away with
something just by being here. But then, in the blink
(02:11):
of an eye, the spell is broken. A man stands
up and yells, I forbid this performance in the name
of the law. Folks, look around. Is there chance this
man is part of the act, But he most definitely
is not. He's a police officer acting on the authority
(02:31):
of a Belgian prince. The woman on stage in the
skimpy outfit and the goo goo eyes for her stage partner,
she's that prince's ex wife and the mother of his children,
the former Princess of She May. I'm Dana Schwartz, and
this is noble blood. When historian Michael Nagel was working
(02:58):
on his book The Forgotten Iron King of the Great Lakes,
about iber Brock Ward, the nineteenth century industrialist and Detroit's
first millionaire. His research took him all the way to Belgium.
There he visited Shime Castle, the home of Ward's former
in laws. For a time. Iber Ward's daughter Clara had
(03:23):
been married to a Prince of Sime. When Nagel asked
about Clara, the castle's current resident said plenty without saying
much at all. We don't talk about her, said the
ninety two year old Princess Elizabeth de Chime. The family
did not appreciate the way she behaved. According to the
(03:47):
then princess Clara was quote very pretty, but she was fast.
Clara Ward, the dancing enchantress from that fateful night at
the Moulin Rouge, was a so ouschelite heiress turned princess
turned ex princess turned nightclub performer who lived large and
(04:08):
left a slew of husbands and lovers in her wake.
She inherited her father's determination and ingenuity, but she found
a very different outlet for those characteristics. Clara was born
in eighteen seventy three to eber Brockward and his second wife, Katherine,
(04:28):
who was thirty years his junior. Clara had little time
with her father. He died when Clara was only two,
and conflict quickly broke out over what would happen to
his fortune. On one side, Katherine, Clara, and Clara's brother.
On the other side, Ward's seven children from his first marriage. Eventually,
(04:55):
the bulk of Ward's estate went to his very young
widow and his second wave of children, including Clara. Catherine
took the money and her children and ran to the
East Coast to make her way in New York and
probably to escape the wrath of those seven angry Ward children,
(05:17):
who inherited the family home but little else. Catherine remarried
within a few years, this time to a Canadian millionaire.
This meant moving the whole family to Canada, but Clara
wouldn't be there for long. From an early age, Clara
was known for her beauty and her high spirits. She
(05:38):
was an heiress with very little concept of money. She
was generous with what she had, but also took whatever
she wanted, seeing everything around her as some sort of
free flowing exchange in the way you can when you've
never really had to think about money. The rules didn't
apply to Clara Ward, much to the chagrin of her teachers.
(06:02):
School was a straight jacket for Clara, and she rebelled accordingly.
She was kicked out of multiple schools. She was devilishly
smart and spoke at least five languages, but she was
also a spoiled child without a code of ethics. There
was always another school happy to take her family's money,
(06:24):
but there wasn't a school on earth that would have
been right for Clara. As she grew up, the pressures
of adulthood loomed large. At one school, Clara wrote in
her diary quote, the humdrum life is not for me.
I must feel, must have emotions. Ordinary marriage and smug
(06:46):
respectability appall me. I feel that it would be a
joy to marry a murderer end quote. She made good
on her promise to live an extraordinary life, but thankfully
stopped short of may carrying a murderer, at least that
we know of. By the time Clara turned sixteen, her
(07:07):
mother's wanderlust had kicked in as well. Catherine was ready
to leave Canada, so she left her second husband behind
in Toronto and moved to Paris, her beautiful but rebellious
daughter in tow There. Catherine opened up a salon and
enrolled Clara in yet another boarding school. French schools were
(07:30):
no better match for Clara, so Catherine set out to
do the next logical thing, find her daughter a good husband.
Catherine and Clara traveled throughout Europe looking for a suitable match.
A wealthy man from a good family wasn't enough for Catherine.
Clara was an heiress. Catherine wanted her daughter to have
(07:54):
a title. If you've watched The Gilded Age or listened
to our earlier episode on American dollar princesses, you might
already know that this was a common occurrence during this period,
wealthy young American women being married off to Europeans heavy
with nobility and prestige but light in liquid assets. Clara
(08:17):
needed legitimacy and elevation in her social standing. Her husband
would need money to repair a crumbling old mansion. Sounds romantic,
doesn't it It did to Prince Joseph de karaman Shime
of Belgium. The thirty two year old nobleman was a
cousin of King Leopold the Second, with an impressive pedigree
(08:41):
matched only by his mountain of debt. He saw Clara
one night when she attended the opera in Nice with
her mother. Reportedly, the whole audience turned to stare at
the young woman as she entered the theater. Joseph was
captivated by her beauty, or by her obvious wealth, or
(09:02):
more likely by some combination of the two. Regardless of
the reason, he made his move, and the two were
married in Paris in May of eighteen ninety, one month
before Clara turned seventeen. Initially, Clara resisted the union. She
did not love Joseph, who was twice her age, but
(09:24):
Catherine was determined. After all, Catherine was a woman who
married a wealthy man thirty years older than she was
and then successfully made off with her stepchildren's inheritance. For
all of Clara's small time teenage rebellion, there was never
a chance that she'd win this war against her mother.
(09:45):
But marriage would not change Clara Ward. If anything, it
only strengthened her drive to live an unconventional life. In
a short time, the confines of marriage would prove as
unbare for Clara as the confines of boarding school. At
(10:06):
sixteen years old, Clara Ward became Princess de caraman Chime overnight,
joining the ranks of American dollar princesses who exchanged their
fortunes for European titles. She paid off her new husband's
massive debts, then put a large chunk of money towards
(10:26):
fixing up the family home, a crumbling castle named Chateau
de Chemee. The couple settled down in Shime, and real
life began to creep in. Joseph kept himself busy with hunting.
Clara gave birth to two children, but quickly grew restless
(10:46):
and bored. The brash American princess who rejected tradition was
a hit with the public, but not so much with
the aristocracy. They resented her free spirited nature and refusal
to fall in line and behave herself. There were rumors
of affairs which didn't seem to bother her husband. She
(11:07):
would later describe Joseph as a good man but quote
cold as ice. But eventually the other man in Clara's
life became too big to ignore. King Leopold the Second,
at that point in his sixties, made his affections for
Clara quite clear. As she stated in a later interview,
(11:29):
quote from the very first moment that I arrived in Brussels,
King Leopold showered me with attentions by his favoritism, the
jealousy and hatred of the entire court was aroused against me.
I defied them, as I have all my life, defied everyone.
The attentions of the King were pleasing to me, and
(11:51):
I encouraged them end quote. By eighteen ninety six, the
situation in Belgium had become untenable, with Clara finding herself,
in her own words quote, a social pariah. So the
family packed up and moved to Paris. Perhaps Joseph thought
this would calm his wife, but it had the opposite effect. Clara,
(12:14):
now just twenty three years old, threw herself into the
city's endless parade of parties, drinking and dancing. She quickly
earned a reputation as the most righteous American in town.
One night, Clara and Joseph were dancing at the Cafe
Ga Yard, an exclusive nightclub. A violin player was going
(12:36):
from table to table, playing for the guests. It's unclear
the exchange that happened that night between Clara and the musician,
a charming Hungarian man named johnshi Rigo, But ten days
later the two ran away together. As you might expect,
(12:57):
the press lost their minds. They had been following Clara's
unconventional life for years. But a princess abandoning her children
to a lope with a Romani musician, this was the
story of the century, and they chased the new couple
from Paris to Budapest, documenting every scandalous detail. Prince Joseph,
(13:21):
who had turned a blind eye to so much of
his wife's behavior, apparently had his limits. He filed for
divorce and one custody of the children. Clara was ordered
to pay fifteen thousand dollars a year in alimony, which
she seemed happy to do. I am done with it all,
(13:41):
she declared, I want to be free, and free she was.
Clara and the musician Yanchi married as soon as her
divorce was final, and they quickly jumped into a lavish,
chaotic life. A few years prior, Clara had come into
to a three million dollar trust about one hundred million
(14:04):
in today's dollars, and she wasted no time in spending
her hefty allowance. The couple traveled the world, Clara showering
her new husband with gifts that included a white marble
palace in Egypt and a zoo full of exotic animals.
The press followed their every move, reporting on dramatic fights
(14:27):
and mountains of debt. Before long, Clara's family intervened and
her uncle was made conservator of her estate. The money
tap began to run dry, and for the first time
in her life, Clara had to find a way to
support herself. She and her new husband returned to Paris,
(14:49):
where Clara decided to lean into their public personas and
capitalize on their new fame. Clara posed for photogra both
solo and with her new husband. In some of the pictures,
she wore a body suit so tight it created the
illusion of nudity. These images sold and spread like wildfire
(15:14):
in Paris until the police shut down their distribution at
Prince Joseph's request. Undeterred, Clara pivoted to advertising, allowing her
portrait to be used to sell everything from cigarettes to
bicycles to postcards. Clara and Yan she became masters of publicity,
(15:36):
feeding the press exactly what it craved. The Hungarian violinist
was a gift to newspaper editors. His romani heritage, combined
with his musical talent and undeniable charisma, made him the
perfect romantic figure. I obviously won't be using the g
(15:57):
stler in this episode, but as I'm sure you can imagine,
it was being thrown around quite liberally in this day.
Here was the quote exotic musician who had stolen a
princess from her palace, a story that practically wrote itself.
The pair hit the nightclub circuit, with Yanchi playing the
(16:18):
violin while Clara performed what she called Jose's plastiques, sensuous
tableaus that she would hold while her husband accompanied her.
She earned big money for these shows and booked residencies
across Europe. It was brilliant, it was scandalous, and it
brings us full circle to that electric night at the
(16:41):
moo Lain Rouge where we began our story. Clara Ward,
the rebellious heiress who defied boarding schools, Belgian courts, and
social conventions, was now literally center stage, turning her notoriety
into cold, hard cash. But even this new chapter of
(17:04):
Clara's life would be complicated by the men from her past.
Prince Joseph put up with a lot from his ex wife,
but the mother of his children, spicy dancing with her
new husband in front of a paying crowd was where
he drew the line. He let his feelings be known
(17:24):
in a way he knew would speak to his wife
dramatically in full view of the public. The shutdown of
Clara's theatrical career marked the beginning of the end for
her second marriage, Though it would take a little time
for the cracks to fully show. Reports began servicing about
(17:46):
private performances she would give for wealthy clients. The exact
nature of these shows remains unclear, but they were lucrative
enough to keep her in the lifestyle she'd grown accustomed to,
and controversial innen enough to infuriate her husband. The passionate
romance that had once set Europe ablaze was curdling into
(18:08):
something uglier. Stories appeared of screaming matches that could be
heard through walls, Whispers of infidelity followed them from city
to city, and by nineteen o three, newspapers were already
reporting that Clara had grown tired of her fiddle player.
The divorce came in nineteen o four, ending a relationship
(18:31):
that started on a wild note and just kept getting
wilder from there. But Clara Ward was not one to
remain single for long. Within months of her divorce, while
traveling in Italy, Clara met her next romantic conquest at
the foot of Mount Vesuvius. Giuseppe Ricardi was working the
(18:53):
tourist railway that wound its way up the famous volcano,
but accounts differ on whether he was a ticket agent, waiter,
or baggage handler, but his exact job title hardly mattered.
He was twenty two and handsome, Clara was thirty one
and infatuated. They were married within three months of meeting.
(19:16):
The marriage lasted seven years before Giuseppe filed for divorce
in nineteen eleven, claiming his wife was having an affair
with their butler. Clara denied the accusations vehemently, but her
actions post divorce don't do much to back up her claims.
No sooner was she free than she married again, this
(19:39):
time to a man named Abano Castellado. The timing raised eyebrows,
as did Castellado's profession. He was described in various reports
as either a chauffeur or, rather pointedly, a butler. Was
he the same butler Giuseppe accused her of ca on
(20:00):
with That's the thing about Clara Ward, anything is possible,
however outlandish. The rumors and theories about her were, the
truth was guaranteed to be even juicier. Clara and her
new husband, Abano, settled in northern Italy, and this fourth
marriage would turn out to be her last. Details about
(20:23):
their life together are sparse, as the woman who had
once commanded headlines across two continents began to fade from
public view. In nineteen sixteen, at forty three years old,
Clara Ward died of pneumonia, and their village in Padua.
Her family back home in America learned of her death
(20:43):
not from official channels, but from a letter written by
Abano himself. Claire Ward packed more drama, romance, and scandal
into her forty three years than most people could manage
in several life times. Was she reckless, sure, but she
had the means and ability to follow her heart, and
(21:07):
she followed the hell out of it, for better or
for worse. She had loved passionately, spent recklessly, and refused
to be contained by the expectations of her time. Around
the time of her third marriage, a prominent psychologist took
it upon himself to write an article titled The Erratic
(21:30):
Erotic Princess. She may a psychological analysis in the article.
The doctor who never treated Clara diagnosed her as being
a quote aeropath with a quote limitless financial ability for
self indulgence. He recommended medication and commitment to a sanitarium
(21:52):
to treat her alarming behavior. But I think we can
see now that her quote alarming behavior would but have
probably just raised some eyebrows, but nonetheless been acceptable were
she a man, certainly not fodder for an unsolicited medical diagnosis.
As Nagel says in his book, quote a strong independent woman,
(22:16):
Clara left the husband she did not love and chose
to live her life on her own terms. She did
not care about contravening the social norms of the era
in which she lived. These actions showed a similarity to
traits her father possessed and demonstrated throughout his professional career.
While Clara was not driven to create a business empire
(22:40):
like her father, she created a kingdom based upon her
own set of rules, regardless of the expectations of society.
Clara's goal was to live a life of excitement on
her own terms. End quote. Whether you see Clara Ward
as a tragic figure or a flawed figure, or a
(23:02):
triumphant one probably depends on how you measure a life
well lived. In an era when women typically had few choices,
Clara Ward took her privilege and insisted on her independence,
regardless of what it cost her. The humdrum life is
not for me, she had written in her schoolgirl diary.
(23:25):
We must assume that the teenager would look at the
life she did live and be proud. That's the story
of Clara Ward. But keep listening after a brief sponsor
break for a bit more about her delicious legacy. While
(23:52):
you can't travel back in time and snag a front
row seat at one of Clara Ward's legendary nightclub performances,
there is one delicious way to connect with her story today.
In the cafes of Budapest, you'll find Rigoyanchi, a cake
named after Clara's second husband. Hungarians put their last names first.
(24:15):
The cake's origins are as disputed as the couple themselves.
Some say Rigo worked with a pastry chef to create
this sweet surprise for his American bride, while others claim
an enterprising confectioner simply capitalized on the couple's tabloid notoriety.
(24:37):
Wherever the dessert comes from, it sounds delicious chocolate sponge
cake layered with chocolate cream and a thin layer of
apricot jam, all covered in a dark chocolate glaze. It's
a dessert that makes no apologies for its richness and
requires you to indulge very much in the spirit of
(25:00):
its namesake's very famous wife. But come on, by all rights,
this cake should really be named after Clara, after all.
It's passionate, indulgent, may be a little too intense for
everyday life, but undeniably fabulous. Noble Blood is a production
(25:27):
of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble
Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing
and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit
and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced by
Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima Ill Kali and executive producers
(25:51):
Aaron Mankey, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. This episode
begins in Paris, the most romantic city in the world.
It's the end of the nineteenth century, the heyday of
night clubs like the Moulin Rouge and the Foulet Berger.
(00:24):
It's a typical night at one of those clubs. Patrons
arrive decked out in their finest, ready to be entertained,
titillated and lightly scandalized. The lights dim and the show begins.
This performance is a double act, a pair of performers
(00:45):
with two extremely different skill sets. First, a handsome man
takes the stage and begins to play the violin. He's
mesmerizing his music, evoking the hills of a distant land.
As he plays, a woman joins him on stage. Certain
members of the audience gasp with initial surprise. Is this
(01:10):
woman nude? But on closer look, the woman is in
fact clothed, wearing a form fitting dress that leaves little
to the imagination. Her movements are strange, heightened, as if
she's doing a series of mannequin poses. The combined effect
of the.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Music and the poses is electrifying, as is the connection
between the man and woman on stage. Their chemistry is undeniable,
amplified by the sensual nature of the performance. If they
weren't famous, and they are very famous, audience members would
(01:51):
surely be leaning into each other to confirm if their
dates were also picking up on the clear vibes in
the room. The whole production feels exciting and new. The
crowd is entranced. It feels like they're getting away with
something just by being here. But then, in the blink
(02:11):
of an eye, the spell is broken. A man stands
up and yells, I forbid this performance in the name
of the law. Folks, look around. Is there chance this
man is part of the act, But he most definitely
is not. He's a police officer acting on the authority
(02:31):
of a Belgian prince. The woman on stage in the
skimpy outfit and the goo goo eyes for her stage partner,
she's that prince's ex wife and the mother of his children,
the former Princess of She May. I'm Dana Schwartz, and
this is noble blood. When historian Michael Nagel was working
(02:58):
on his book The Forgotten Iron King of the Great Lakes,
about iber Brock Ward, the nineteenth century industrialist and Detroit's
first millionaire. His research took him all the way to Belgium.
There he visited Shime Castle, the home of Ward's former
in laws. For a time. Iber Ward's daughter Clara had
(03:23):
been married to a Prince of Sime. When Nagel asked
about Clara, the castle's current resident said plenty without saying
much at all. We don't talk about her, said the
ninety two year old Princess Elizabeth de Chime. The family
did not appreciate the way she behaved. According to the
(03:47):
then princess Clara was quote very pretty, but she was fast.
Clara Ward, the dancing enchantress from that fateful night at
the Moulin Rouge, was a so ouschelite heiress turned princess
turned ex princess turned nightclub performer who lived large and
(04:08):
left a slew of husbands and lovers in her wake.
She inherited her father's determination and ingenuity, but she found
a very different outlet for those characteristics. Clara was born
in eighteen seventy three to eber Brockward and his second wife, Katherine,
(04:28):
who was thirty years his junior. Clara had little time
with her father. He died when Clara was only two,
and conflict quickly broke out over what would happen to
his fortune. On one side, Katherine, Clara, and Clara's brother.
On the other side, Ward's seven children from his first marriage. Eventually,
(04:55):
the bulk of Ward's estate went to his very young
widow and his second wave of children, including Clara. Catherine
took the money and her children and ran to the
East Coast to make her way in New York and
probably to escape the wrath of those seven angry Ward children,
(05:17):
who inherited the family home but little else. Catherine remarried
within a few years, this time to a Canadian millionaire.
This meant moving the whole family to Canada, but Clara
wouldn't be there for long. From an early age, Clara
was known for her beauty and her high spirits. She
(05:38):
was an heiress with very little concept of money. She
was generous with what she had, but also took whatever
she wanted, seeing everything around her as some sort of
free flowing exchange in the way you can when you've
never really had to think about money. The rules didn't
apply to Clara Ward, much to the chagrin of her teachers.
(06:02):
School was a straight jacket for Clara, and she rebelled accordingly.
She was kicked out of multiple schools. She was devilishly
smart and spoke at least five languages, but she was
also a spoiled child without a code of ethics. There
was always another school happy to take her family's money,
(06:24):
but there wasn't a school on earth that would have
been right for Clara. As she grew up, the pressures
of adulthood loomed large. At one school, Clara wrote in
her diary quote, the humdrum life is not for me.
I must feel, must have emotions. Ordinary marriage and smug
(06:46):
respectability appall me. I feel that it would be a
joy to marry a murderer end quote. She made good
on her promise to live an extraordinary life, but thankfully
stopped short of may carrying a murderer, at least that
we know of. By the time Clara turned sixteen, her
(07:07):
mother's wanderlust had kicked in as well. Catherine was ready
to leave Canada, so she left her second husband behind
in Toronto and moved to Paris, her beautiful but rebellious
daughter in tow There. Catherine opened up a salon and
enrolled Clara in yet another boarding school. French schools were
(07:30):
no better match for Clara, so Catherine set out to
do the next logical thing, find her daughter a good husband.
Catherine and Clara traveled throughout Europe looking for a suitable match.
A wealthy man from a good family wasn't enough for Catherine.
Clara was an heiress. Catherine wanted her daughter to have
(07:54):
a title. If you've watched The Gilded Age or listened
to our earlier episode on American dollar princesses, you might
already know that this was a common occurrence during this period,
wealthy young American women being married off to Europeans heavy
with nobility and prestige but light in liquid assets. Clara
(08:17):
needed legitimacy and elevation in her social standing. Her husband
would need money to repair a crumbling old mansion. Sounds romantic,
doesn't it It did to Prince Joseph de karaman Shime
of Belgium. The thirty two year old nobleman was a
cousin of King Leopold the Second, with an impressive pedigree
(08:41):
matched only by his mountain of debt. He saw Clara
one night when she attended the opera in Nice with
her mother. Reportedly, the whole audience turned to stare at
the young woman as she entered the theater. Joseph was
captivated by her beauty, or by her obvious wealth, or
(09:02):
more likely by some combination of the two. Regardless of
the reason, he made his move, and the two were
married in Paris in May of eighteen ninety, one month
before Clara turned seventeen. Initially, Clara resisted the union. She
did not love Joseph, who was twice her age, but
(09:24):
Catherine was determined. After all, Catherine was a woman who
married a wealthy man thirty years older than she was
and then successfully made off with her stepchildren's inheritance. For
all of Clara's small time teenage rebellion, there was never
a chance that she'd win this war against her mother.
(09:45):
But marriage would not change Clara Ward. If anything, it
only strengthened her drive to live an unconventional life. In
a short time, the confines of marriage would prove as
unbare for Clara as the confines of boarding school. At
(10:06):
sixteen years old, Clara Ward became Princess de caraman Chime overnight,
joining the ranks of American dollar princesses who exchanged their
fortunes for European titles. She paid off her new husband's
massive debts, then put a large chunk of money towards
(10:26):
fixing up the family home, a crumbling castle named Chateau
de Chemee. The couple settled down in Shime, and real
life began to creep in. Joseph kept himself busy with hunting.
Clara gave birth to two children, but quickly grew restless
(10:46):
and bored. The brash American princess who rejected tradition was
a hit with the public, but not so much with
the aristocracy. They resented her free spirited nature and refusal
to fall in line and behave herself. There were rumors
of affairs which didn't seem to bother her husband. She
(11:07):
would later describe Joseph as a good man but quote
cold as ice. But eventually the other man in Clara's
life became too big to ignore. King Leopold the Second,
at that point in his sixties, made his affections for
Clara quite clear. As she stated in a later interview,
(11:29):
quote from the very first moment that I arrived in Brussels,
King Leopold showered me with attentions by his favoritism, the
jealousy and hatred of the entire court was aroused against me.
I defied them, as I have all my life, defied everyone.
The attentions of the King were pleasing to me, and
(11:51):
I encouraged them end quote. By eighteen ninety six, the
situation in Belgium had become untenable, with Clara finding herself,
in her own words quote, a social pariah. So the
family packed up and moved to Paris. Perhaps Joseph thought
this would calm his wife, but it had the opposite effect. Clara,
(12:14):
now just twenty three years old, threw herself into the
city's endless parade of parties, drinking and dancing. She quickly
earned a reputation as the most righteous American in town.
One night, Clara and Joseph were dancing at the Cafe
Ga Yard, an exclusive nightclub. A violin player was going
(12:36):
from table to table, playing for the guests. It's unclear
the exchange that happened that night between Clara and the musician,
a charming Hungarian man named johnshi Rigo, But ten days
later the two ran away together. As you might expect,
(12:57):
the press lost their minds. They had been following Clara's
unconventional life for years. But a princess abandoning her children
to a lope with a Romani musician, this was the
story of the century, and they chased the new couple
from Paris to Budapest, documenting every scandalous detail. Prince Joseph,
(13:21):
who had turned a blind eye to so much of
his wife's behavior, apparently had his limits. He filed for
divorce and one custody of the children. Clara was ordered
to pay fifteen thousand dollars a year in alimony, which
she seemed happy to do. I am done with it all,
(13:41):
she declared, I want to be free, and free she was.
Clara and the musician Yanchi married as soon as her
divorce was final, and they quickly jumped into a lavish,
chaotic life. A few years prior, Clara had come into
to a three million dollar trust about one hundred million
(14:04):
in today's dollars, and she wasted no time in spending
her hefty allowance. The couple traveled the world, Clara showering
her new husband with gifts that included a white marble
palace in Egypt and a zoo full of exotic animals.
The press followed their every move, reporting on dramatic fights
(14:27):
and mountains of debt. Before long, Clara's family intervened and
her uncle was made conservator of her estate. The money
tap began to run dry, and for the first time
in her life, Clara had to find a way to
support herself. She and her new husband returned to Paris,
(14:49):
where Clara decided to lean into their public personas and
capitalize on their new fame. Clara posed for photogra both
solo and with her new husband. In some of the pictures,
she wore a body suit so tight it created the
illusion of nudity. These images sold and spread like wildfire
(15:14):
in Paris until the police shut down their distribution at
Prince Joseph's request. Undeterred, Clara pivoted to advertising, allowing her
portrait to be used to sell everything from cigarettes to
bicycles to postcards. Clara and Yan she became masters of publicity,
(15:36):
feeding the press exactly what it craved. The Hungarian violinist
was a gift to newspaper editors. His romani heritage, combined
with his musical talent and undeniable charisma, made him the
perfect romantic figure. I obviously won't be using the g
(15:57):
stler in this episode, but as I'm sure you can imagine,
it was being thrown around quite liberally in this day.
Here was the quote exotic musician who had stolen a
princess from her palace, a story that practically wrote itself.
The pair hit the nightclub circuit, with Yanchi playing the
(16:18):
violin while Clara performed what she called Jose's plastiques, sensuous
tableaus that she would hold while her husband accompanied her.
She earned big money for these shows and booked residencies
across Europe. It was brilliant, it was scandalous, and it
brings us full circle to that electric night at the
(16:41):
moo Lain Rouge where we began our story. Clara Ward,
the rebellious heiress who defied boarding schools, Belgian courts, and
social conventions, was now literally center stage, turning her notoriety
into cold, hard cash. But even this new chapter of
(17:04):
Clara's life would be complicated by the men from her past.
Prince Joseph put up with a lot from his ex wife,
but the mother of his children, spicy dancing with her
new husband in front of a paying crowd was where
he drew the line. He let his feelings be known
(17:24):
in a way he knew would speak to his wife
dramatically in full view of the public. The shutdown of
Clara's theatrical career marked the beginning of the end for
her second marriage, Though it would take a little time
for the cracks to fully show. Reports began servicing about
(17:46):
private performances she would give for wealthy clients. The exact
nature of these shows remains unclear, but they were lucrative
enough to keep her in the lifestyle she'd grown accustomed to,
and controversial innen enough to infuriate her husband. The passionate
romance that had once set Europe ablaze was curdling into
(18:08):
something uglier. Stories appeared of screaming matches that could be
heard through walls, Whispers of infidelity followed them from city
to city, and by nineteen o three, newspapers were already
reporting that Clara had grown tired of her fiddle player.
The divorce came in nineteen o four, ending a relationship
(18:31):
that started on a wild note and just kept getting
wilder from there. But Clara Ward was not one to
remain single for long. Within months of her divorce, while
traveling in Italy, Clara met her next romantic conquest at
the foot of Mount Vesuvius. Giuseppe Ricardi was working the
(18:53):
tourist railway that wound its way up the famous volcano,
but accounts differ on whether he was a ticket agent, waiter,
or baggage handler, but his exact job title hardly mattered.
He was twenty two and handsome, Clara was thirty one
and infatuated. They were married within three months of meeting.
(19:16):
The marriage lasted seven years before Giuseppe filed for divorce
in nineteen eleven, claiming his wife was having an affair
with their butler. Clara denied the accusations vehemently, but her
actions post divorce don't do much to back up her claims.
No sooner was she free than she married again, this
(19:39):
time to a man named Abano Castellado. The timing raised eyebrows,
as did Castellado's profession. He was described in various reports
as either a chauffeur or, rather pointedly, a butler. Was
he the same butler Giuseppe accused her of ca on
(20:00):
with That's the thing about Clara Ward, anything is possible,
however outlandish. The rumors and theories about her were, the
truth was guaranteed to be even juicier. Clara and her
new husband, Abano, settled in northern Italy, and this fourth
marriage would turn out to be her last. Details about
(20:23):
their life together are sparse, as the woman who had
once commanded headlines across two continents began to fade from
public view. In nineteen sixteen, at forty three years old,
Clara Ward died of pneumonia, and their village in Padua.
Her family back home in America learned of her death
(20:43):
not from official channels, but from a letter written by
Abano himself. Claire Ward packed more drama, romance, and scandal
into her forty three years than most people could manage
in several life times. Was she reckless, sure, but she
had the means and ability to follow her heart, and
(21:07):
she followed the hell out of it, for better or
for worse. She had loved passionately, spent recklessly, and refused
to be contained by the expectations of her time. Around
the time of her third marriage, a prominent psychologist took
it upon himself to write an article titled The Erratic
(21:30):
Erotic Princess. She may a psychological analysis in the article.
The doctor who never treated Clara diagnosed her as being
a quote aeropath with a quote limitless financial ability for
self indulgence. He recommended medication and commitment to a sanitarium
(21:52):
to treat her alarming behavior. But I think we can
see now that her quote alarming behavior would but have
probably just raised some eyebrows, but nonetheless been acceptable were
she a man, certainly not fodder for an unsolicited medical diagnosis.
As Nagel says in his book, quote a strong independent woman,
(22:16):
Clara left the husband she did not love and chose
to live her life on her own terms. She did
not care about contravening the social norms of the era
in which she lived. These actions showed a similarity to
traits her father possessed and demonstrated throughout his professional career.
While Clara was not driven to create a business empire
(22:40):
like her father, she created a kingdom based upon her
own set of rules, regardless of the expectations of society.
Clara's goal was to live a life of excitement on
her own terms. End quote. Whether you see Clara Ward
as a tragic figure or a flawed figure, or a
(23:02):
triumphant one probably depends on how you measure a life
well lived. In an era when women typically had few choices,
Clara Ward took her privilege and insisted on her independence,
regardless of what it cost her. The humdrum life is
not for me, she had written in her schoolgirl diary.
(23:25):
We must assume that the teenager would look at the
life she did live and be proud. That's the story
of Clara Ward. But keep listening after a brief sponsor
break for a bit more about her delicious legacy. While
(23:52):
you can't travel back in time and snag a front
row seat at one of Clara Ward's legendary nightclub performances,
there is one delicious way to connect with her story today.
In the cafes of Budapest, you'll find Rigoyanchi, a cake
named after Clara's second husband. Hungarians put their last names first.
(24:15):
The cake's origins are as disputed as the couple themselves.
Some say Rigo worked with a pastry chef to create
this sweet surprise for his American bride, while others claim
an enterprising confectioner simply capitalized on the couple's tabloid notoriety.
(24:37):
Wherever the dessert comes from, it sounds delicious chocolate sponge
cake layered with chocolate cream and a thin layer of
apricot jam, all covered in a dark chocolate glaze. It's
a dessert that makes no apologies for its richness and
requires you to indulge very much in the spirit of
(25:00):
its namesake's very famous wife. But come on, by all rights,
this cake should really be named after Clara, after all.
It's passionate, indulgent, may be a little too intense for
everyday life, but undeniably fabulous. Noble Blood is a production
(25:27):
of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble
Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing
and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit
and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced by
Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima Ill Kali and executive producers
(25:51):
Aaron Mankey, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Dana Schwartz
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