If you were to ask someone in the 20th century what a romance novelist looked like, they’d likely have visions of pink chiffon, bright blue eyeshadow, false eyelashes, and excessive costume jewelry thanks to one woman: Barbara Cartland, who was dubbed by the Romantic Times as the “Queen of Romance.” Cartland was larger than life, but like most outsized figures, the “self-publicizing juggernaut’ was also very controversial. From the 1920s until her death in the year 2000 she wrote over 700 novels, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Strap in as our resident himbo takes Emma and Beth through the highs and lows of Cartland’s life.