Here are some of The Most Bizarre Royals Throughout History
Maria Eleonora Of Brandenburg
On 25 November 1620 Eleonora married Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. In 1626 Eleonora was pregnant for a fourth time, none of her previous children had survived. On 7 December a baby was born with a fleece (lanugo), which enveloped it from its head to its knees, leaving only its face, arms and lower part of its legs free. Moreover, it had a large nose and was covered with hair. Thus, it was assumed the baby was a boy, and the King was told. Closer inspection, however, determined that the baby was a girl. Gustavus Adolphus’ half-sister Catherine informed him that the child was a girl. She “carried the baby in her arms to the king in a condition for him to see and to know and realise for himself what she dared not tell him”. Gustavus Adolphus remarked: “She is going to be clever, for she has taken us all in.” His disappointment did not last long, and he decided that she would be called Christina after his mother. When the queen was presented with her child she screamed: “Instead of a son, I am given a daughter, dark and ugly, with a great nose and black eyes. Take her from me, I will not have such a monster!” She may have suffered from a post-natal depression. In her agitated state, the queen tried to injure the child. In Christina’s early childhood, she repeatedly met with accidents. Once a beam fell mysteriously upon the cradle. Another time, she fell from a flight of stairs, apparently by accident. On another occasion the nursemaid was blamed for dropping the baby onto a stone floor, injuring a shoulder that ever afterwards remained a little crooked. In the year after Christina’s birth, Maria Eleonora was described as being in a state of hysteria owing to her husband’s absences. In 1632 Gustavus Adolphus described his wife as being “a very sick woman”. In 1636 Maria Eleonora was taken to Gripsholm castle and officially lost her parental rights to her daughter, because at times she was completely out of her mind. In 1633 her husband died in battle. Maria Eleonora returned to Sweden with the embalmed body of her husband. For more than a year Maria Eleonora condemned Christina to a mourning seclusion in rooms draped with black and lit by candles day and night, from which every ray of light was excluded. She made her daughter sleep with her in a bed over which her father’s heart was hung in a golden casket.
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Charles VI of France
Charles thought that he was made of glass, and thus tried to protect himself in various ways so that he would not break. He reportedly had iron rods sewn into his clothes so that he would not shatter if he came into contact with another person. He gave up on his personal hygiene to the point that he had to be cut out of his clothes. This condition has come to be known as glass delusion.
Charles VI of France
Elagabalus Emperor of Rome
.He released poisonous snakes into the audience of
the gladiator games and watched as crowds panicked
and died from poisonous bites.
.He tied dinner guests to a water wheel to
watch them slowly drown.
.He let loose lions and leopards during a feast.
.When his chief adviser warned him that he should
live a moderate life to prevent revolt over the
effects of his taxation, Elagabalus stabbed the
adviser to death.
.He literally smothered visitors with flowers.
He did all of this and more before he
died at the age of 18.
Elagabalus Emperor of Rome 1
Elagabalus Emperor of Rome 2
Peter III Of Russia
When Peter married Catherine at 17, it was clear from the start they were a bad match. Rather than consummate their relationship Peter was more content to play toy soldiers in bed and make his wife dress up in a military outfit to run drills. He was also a mean-spirited drunk who in the middle of a banquet said the reason he would not touch Catherine was because she was a stupid whore. When a rat bit the head off one of Peters beloved toy soldiers, he gave the rat a proper court martial and trial before he had the vermin hung from tiny gallows he constructed.
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Sado Crown Prince of Korea
Born in 1735, Prince Sado’s brutal treatment at the hands of his father, led to a life of perversion, violence and despair. Sado suffered from delusions and nightmares from the age of 10, and things got worse as he grew up. His constant quest to impress his father drove him to madness, especially considering his father may have been equally crazy and hell-bent on torturing his son. Sado indulged in his vices liberally, but always hid them from his father. He was obsessed with clothes, and threw alcohol-fueled orgies, despite the fact that alcohol was illegal. He took his anger out on anyone who came near, sending dead bodies out of the palace on a daily basis. He murdered a concubine and slept with a nun and his younger sister. When his father learned of some of Sado’s misdeeds, he summoned him to court and locked him in a giant chest, where, after eight days on 12 July 1762 (aged 27) he was dead.
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Ivan the Terrible
After his wife’s death, Ivan sank into a depression that inspired a 24-year-long reign of terror. After he seized absolute control, Ivan murdered any noble who spoke against him, beat his daughter-in-law so badly she miscarried, and murdered his son in one of his rages. He allegedly blinded the architect of St. Basil’s Cathedral so that he could never create another building as beautiful.
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Emperor Justin II
Justin II was ruler of the Byzantine Empire from 565-578 AD, and over that time, Justin was prone to bouts of mental illness. He would often try to bite others in the court and demanded that organ music be constantly played to settle his nerves. Members of his court tried desperately to divert his attention, pulling him around the castle in a wagon with a throne on it. They had to hold him down during fits of violent rage, and installed bars on windows to prevent him from jumping out. He would laugh, cry, make animal noises, and hit people without provocation. People began to believe he was possessed by the devil. Through it all, Empress Sophia took care of him and even made political decisions on his behalf.
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Joanna Of Castile
As a young woman, Joanna was known to be highly intelligent. It was only after her marriage that the first suspicions of mental illness arose. Joanna earned her title “Juana La Loca” for her obsession with her husband. After his sudden death in 1506, she refused to be separated from Philip’s dead, embalmed body. She kept it in her room, slept in the same bad as him and traveled with him. Wherever she want her husbands rotting body was at her side. She had the coffin opened after hearing stories that the grave might have been robbed. She began kissing the corpse’s feet and had to be forcibly removed.
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Princess Alexandra of Bavaria
Alexandra suffered from a number of psychological eccentricities, including a fixation with cleanliness as well as wearing only white clothes. In her early twenties, she notably developed a delusion that as a child she had swallowed a grand piano made of glass, which remained inside her. She thought that any sudden movement would shatter the instrument. She would walk sideways in corridors and doorways to avoid breaking.
Princess Alexandra of Bavaria
Christian VII Of Denmark
In 1766, Christian VII of Denmark became king at age 16, and seemed to never act a day older for the rest of his life. According to his doctors, his frequent masturbation bordered on unhealthy, he even did it while on the throne in front of his court. He played pranks on his grandmother, putting pins in her throne and throwing things at her. He ran wild through the streets with his friend and mistress, destroying shops and patronizing brothels. He built his own torture rack and had himself tied to it and flogged. He often leap-frogged dignitaries when they bowed to him. As he regressed further and further, his doctor Johann Friedrich Struenseé, saw a chance to swoop in and gain power. Struenseé had himself appointed to Christian’s cabinet and seduced Christian’s wife Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. Struenseé maintained his spot as de facto ruler until Christian’s equally manipulative stepmother persuaded a very weak-minded Christian to have Struenseé and the Queen arrested for their affair.
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Ibrahim I of the Ottoman Empire
Ibrahim I became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire after the death of his brother in 1640. From the start, he showed himself to be an inept ruler. Depressed over his brother’s death, he distracted himself with the pleasures of his harem of 280 concubines. His mother took full advantage of his inattentiveness and ruled in his stead—until he had her banished. His most infamous moment of madness came when had his entire harem of 280 concubines drowned. It was the high taxes he imposed to keep himself fat and happy that ultimately led to his downfall. His decadent tastes had a direct impact on the economy of the empire. He was said to drink amber in a cup of steaming coffee so frequently he drove up the price of amber. He loved sable furs so much he ordered hundreds of furs to carpet his harem and he had his cats shaved insisting they should wear capes of sable. His obsession increased the price of sable 10 times over. His people imprisoned him and installed his 6-year-old son as Sultan, all with the support of his mother. In the end he was strangled by his former executioner.
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Erik XIV of Sweden
Erik XIV, the King of Sweden who once courted Elizabeth I. He was a charming, handsome and capable king. He ascended to the throne in 1560 and spent a large portion of his early kingship in a battle for control with his brother. As time went on, paranoia started to take over and his mind began to fade. Erik began to have vicious mood swings, and unhinged impulses started to take over. He sentenced guards to death for irritating him and executed people for whispering or giggling in his presence, convinced that everyone was plotting against him. Servants who looked were put to death for trying to seduce the ladies of the court. His rage eventually boiled over when he killed a Swedish nobleman with his own hands by stabbing him to death, then had his guards execute a number of other aristocrats who were held in his castle’s cells.
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Henry VI of England
When Henry fell into his completely unresponsive state in 1453, his wife was pregnant. When his son Edward was born, the king didn’t seem to notice much at all. When his son was shown to him, he glanced at him and then just looked away. He often needed to be reminded that he had a son. When affected, he was unable to move his limbs or even hold his own head up, staying in a slouched position when unsupported. Sometimes unable to properly communicate or show awareness of events around him, he didn’t seem to have any sense of time or memory at all. After being incapacitated by his illness since August of 1453, Henry VI suddenly became lucid again on Christmas Day 1455. He would later fall ill again. During the Second Battle of St. Albans, he was seen laughing and singing maniacally while swinging his sword.
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Louis XIV of France
Like many other noblemen in his day, Louis used enemas, believing they contributed to good health. However, Louis may have taken the colon cleansing a little further than his peers. He demanded four enemas throughout the course of a single day. The water in the enemas was infused with colour and scented with rose, bergamont, and angelica.
Louis XIV of France
Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria
She was obsessively concerned with maintaining her youthful figure and beauty. She maintained her weight at approximately 7st (110pounds, 50kg) for the rest of her life. Whenever her weight threatened to exceed 7st, a “fasting cure” or “hunger cure” would follow, which involved almost complete fasting. Meat itself often filled her with disgust, so she either had the juice of half-raw beefsteaks squeezed, or else adhered to a diet of milk and eggs. Elisabeth emphasised her extreme slenderness through the practice of “tight-lacing”. She reduced her waist to 40 cm (16 inches). Corsets of the time were split-busk types, fastening up the front with hooks and eyes, but Elisabeth had more rigid, solid-front ones made in Paris out of leather, “like those of Parisian courtesans”, probably to hold up under the stress of such strenuous lacing. The fact that she only wore them for a few weeks may indicate that even leather proved inadequate for her needs. The empress developed extremely rigorous and disciplined exercise habits. Every castle she lived in was equipped with a gymnasium, mats and balance beams were installed in her bedchamber so that she could practise on them each morning. She had gigantic mirrors installed so she could correct every movement and position. She took up fencing in her 50s with equal discipline. A fervent horsewoman, she rode every day for hours on end, becoming probably the world’s best, as well as best- known, female equestrian at the time. When, due to sciatica, she could no longer endure long hours in the saddle, she substituted walking, subjecting her attendants to interminable marches and hiking tours in all weather Daily care of her abundant and extremely long hair, which turned from the dark blonde of her youth to chestnut, took at least three hours. Her hair was so long and heavy that she often complained that the weight of the elaborate double braids and pins gave her headaches. Responsible for all of Elisabeth’s ornate hairstyles, her hairdresser Fanny accompanied her on her wanderings. Fanny was forbidden to wear rings and required to wear white gloves, after hours of dressing, braiding, and pinning up the Empress’ tresses, the hairs that fell out had to be presented in a silver bowl to her reproachful empress for inspection. Fanny secreted the combed-out hairs under her apron on a piece of adhesive tape – and could show the Empress a clean comb When her hair was washed with eggs and cognac once every two weeks, all activities were cancelled for that day. Elisabeth tested countless beauty products prepared in the court pharmacy or by a lady-in-waiting. She appeared to favor a compounded from white wax, spermaceti, sweet almond oil, and rosewater. Elisabeth slept without a pillow on a metal bedstead, which she believed was better for retaining and maintaining her upright posture; raw veal or crushed strawberries lined her nightly leather facial mask. She was also heavily massaged, and often slept with cloths soaked in violet- or cider-vinegar above her hips to preserve her slim waist; her neck was wrapped with cloths soaked in toned washing water. To further preserve her skin tone, she took both a cold shower every morning and an olive -oil bath in the evening.
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Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon carried licorice with him everywhere he went. He used it for pleasure as well as treatment for a wide variety of ailments including colds, indigestion, coughs, and infections. Napoleon ate so much licorice that his teeth became stained black. He only drank water that had been steeped with licorice.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Herod the Great
He wasn’t actually born a Judean or a royal, but married into it. His wife Mariamne regularly made Herod jealous. So, thanks to some conspiring from his own family, Herod had her killed. Horrifyingly, he couldn’t let her go after her death. He kept her body in a vat of honey and once a week for seven years he was (how can I phrase this) intimate with her.
Herod the Great
Emperor Nero
Suetonius wrote in The Twelve Ceasars that, “like a wild creature himself, Nero was released from a cage dressed in the skins of wild animals, and attacked the private parts of men and women who stood bound to stakes.”
Emperor Nero
British Royals
It’s hard to believe now, but as little as 300 years ago, British Royals routinely consumed human flesh and organs for medicinal purposes. According to research, this practice may have persisted to as late as the beginning of the 19th Century. Blood, brains, hearts, livers and even eyes were on the menu. The parts were often taken from dead soldiers or prisoners. Some monarchs even opted to extract the body parts directly from the corpses themselves to ensure they were as fresh as possible.
Royal family
Princess Märtha Louise of Norway
A lot of people think they have a bond with their pet where the dog or cat can understand what they’re saying and vice versa. But most of us understand we aren’t literally talking to them with our minds. Not Princess Martha Louise. She rode horses when she was young and discovered she could communicate with them. This led to her talking to all animals. Somehow, the horses also taught her how to speak to angels, and this became her life’s work. She has written at least two books on the celestial beings, and has announced plans to open an “Angel School.”
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Maha bint Mohammed bin Ahmad al-Sudairi
Maha bint Mohammed bin Ahmad al-Sudairi Despite belonging to the House which runs Saudi Arabia and is one of the richest families in the world, Princess Maha doesn’t like paying for things. When she’s given a bill she will shout, scream break things and threatens self harm. During a 2009 Paris stay she managed to grab 20 million worth of swag from 30 stores and didn’t pay any of them. Her tactic was to hand the merchant a fancy-looking document saying I.O.U. and then just never settle it. Because of this King Abdullah had her confined to the palace for four months when she returned to Saudi Arabia. In 2012, she had been staying at Paris’ five-star Shangri-La Hotel for five months, taking up 41 rooms. The bill came to more than £7 million, but she had no intention of paying. Instead, she and her 60-strong entourage tried to sneak out at 3:30 a.m. But it’s hard to go unnoticed when you have a fleet of limos and a mountain of luggage. When she was barred from leaving until the bill was paid she lay on the floor and threw a tantrum. Amazingly, after some diplomats got involved, she was allowed to leave without paying.
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Charles, Prince of Wales
One thing that happens when you’re royal is you get used to a certain level of luxury. The problem is, most other houses and hotels don’t live up to that standard. When traveling he brings his favorite mattress with him he also takes his own special toilet seat and premium toilet paper. Since he changes his clothes up to five times a day, he brings a chest of drawers to hold his wardrobe. And he likes looking at two pictures of the Scottish Highlands, so he takes those along too. He admits to talking to plants every day. He employs retired Indian servicemen to hand-pick slugs off the plants at night in his garden at Highgrove. Camilla heard a shriek coming from the kitchen one night after the Prince stumbled upon a mystery plastic wrap covering food while searching for a late-night snack. Fearing the worst, Camilla dashed in after him. “What’s this?” he asked, pointing at the food, “It’s cling film, darling,” she replied.
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Mary of Teck
She was a kleptomaniac. Her technique went something like this: She’d pop by your house and see something she liked. Instead of making conversation like a normal person who had come to visit, she would stare in silence at whatever object she wanted. This was the first warning sign. She would sigh and loudly say something like “I am caressing it with my eyes.” Since this was the queen telling you this, you’d probably give in and offer whatever it was to her as a present. But what if it was a family heirloom or something you just couldn’t bear to part with? Then she would just have to take it without you noticing. When people realized what she was doing they took to hiding anything they thought she might take a shine to before she came over. She countered by showing up unannounced. Queen Mary was known to stop by antique dealers and take whatever she wanted and then ‘forget’ to pay. Eventually her stealing got so bad her assistants had to be on high alert, and if they found out later she’d managed to sneak something into her purse, it was returned with a note that there had been a “misunderstanding.”
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Queen Nzinga
She had harem of men, she made them dress up like women while she dressed as a man. She would have two men fight to the death every night and bed the winner. The next day, she would execute the winner as well. At 75 years old she had all of her harem killed except for one, a 16 year old who she married.
Queen Nzinga
Farouk of Egypt
During formal meals he would throw stuff at the dignitaries he was eating with and yell whenever he hit them. When he was out driving he liked honking his specially made horn that sounded like a dog being run over. He once appointed someone Minister of Justice because he liked his mustache. He once decided he wasn’t a fan of the railway station that he used twice a year and had the old one demolished and a new one built. After having a nightmare about being chased by lions, he went to the Cairo Zoo and shot the two there. He had been taught how to pickpocket by a master thief. He once stole Winston Churchill’s pocketwatch, and when the theft was discovered he pretended he had “found” it.
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Frederick William I of Prussia
Friedrich had an obsesion with developing his own personal regiment of unusually tall soldiers. They were known as the Potsdam Giants. There was only one criterion that needed to be met in order to join the ranks of the Giants -you had to be at least six feet tall. Some soldiers volunteered to be a part of the regiment, but Wilhelm had other means of “recruiting.” He would often pay men for their tallest sons and farmhands. Leaders from other countries would even send him their tallest men in order to foster civil relations. Wilhelm attempted to make these soldiers even taller by stretching them on the rack, which often led to the soldier being crippled or killed.
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