Google Search Central Blog https://www.factinate.com Fun Facts About Everything 2026-09-27T09:00:04+00:00 en hourly 1 https://www.factinate.com?p=45398 <![CDATA[33 Blunders So Big They Changed The Course Of History]]> 2025-11-24T10:15:00+00:00 2026-09-25T14:35:14+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/interesting/33-of-historys-most-unbelievable-blunders Carl Wyndham Interesting History's Biggest Failures  "Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be" —John Wooden

Humanity’s come a long way—but not without tripping over its own feet first. Take the Austrian army, for example, who once managed to destroy themselves at the Battle of Karánsebes before even seeing the enemy. By the time they realized the truth, the only thing left standing was their humiliation.

From space-age disasters like the Challenger tragedy to battle blunders so bad they sound made-up, these are history’s biggest, most unbelievable fails—and the jaw-dropping stories behind them.

]]> 1. The Devastating Challenger Mistake When the Challenger shuttle blew up in 1986, only 73 seconds after its launch, all seven astronauts aboard were tragically incinerated, and the American public became traumatized by the televised tragedy. What went wrong? The O-ring seal in the joint of its right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff due the low temperatures. The O-ring was known to fail at low temperatures, but the managers of the launch ignored the warnings of the engineers about the low temperatures.

]]> 2. The Release Of The Deadly Bees The Africanized bee that has spread across the American continents isn’t a naturally occurring bee, and was actually cross-bred in Brazil during the 1950s. These highly aggressive and territorial bees escaped from quarantine and have since continued their way North into the United States, first showing up in North America 1985.

]]> 3. Sitting Ducks One of the most important English victories during the Hundred Years War with France was the Battle of Agincourt, when King Henry V led his army into France and came up head to head with a larger army. However, the commander of the French army really screwed up his advantage. He went at the English army in a very muddy field, so the heavily-armored French became sitting ducks for the famed English archers, who picked off the slipping and sliding French with ease.

]]> 4. Russian Winter Is Not For The Weak  Sometimes the obvious ones are obvious for a reason. But the ego of individuals in power can often grow too big to control. Such is the case of attempting to invade Russia in the winter. Charles XII, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler all pushed their luck too far and made the calamitous misstep of bringing their army into Russia during the winter. Never a good idea. Unless you're a Mongol.

]]> 5. Burning Books The burning of books and knowledge centers such as libraries is an ancient form of cultural cleansing that is still practiced today. Two notable examples are the Library of Serapeum and the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. Unfortunately, this tactic is still in practice, with ISIS burning books throughout Iraq.

]]> 6. Mission to Mars In 1998, NASA launched the Mars Climate Orbiter—a $300 million marvel designed to study the Red Planet. Everything went according to plan... until it didn’t. When the probe reached Mars the following year, it mysteriously vanished, likely burning up in the planet’s atmosphere. The reason? A stunningly simple math error. NASA’s team was using metric newtons, while Lockheed Martin programmed the craft in British pound-seconds. One tiny conversion mistake—and poof—$300 million gone faster than you can say “check your units".

]]> 7. Don’t Mess With Genghis Don't tick off Genghis Khan. Khan sent a convoy to the Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad for negotiations, but instead received the severed head of his diplomat in return. Yeah, wrong move guy. The Khan responded by sending a massive swarm of troopers to annihilate the Shah's empire.

]]> 8. Who Left the Gate Open In 1453, the Ottomans besieged Constantinople in an attempt to topple the Byzantine Empire. Though many thought the siege would fail, they underestimated good old human forgetfulness. In this case, according to a contemporary account, the Byzantines forgot to close one of their gates to Constantinople, allowing the Ottomans to waltz right in and raise their flags on the city walls. This caused widespread panic among the Byzantine troopers and the Ottomans managed to take the rest of the city with relative ease.

]]> 9. Titanic Failure You would think that the technological marvel of the Titanic would have spent a little of the money used on the ship for safety precautions. Wrong. Instead, because of ridiculously outdated safety regulations, the Titanic was severally understocked in lifeboats, which doomed many aboard the ship during its meeting with an iceberg.

]]> 10. Start The Conflict  The assassination of Franz Ferdinand is known as the kickoff of WWI, but it only occurred due to a mistake Ferdinand’s driver made. Earlier in the day, there was an attempt to take Ferdinand out with an explosive. Later, as the driver was taking the Archduke to visit the hospital where the victims of the explosion were being treated, he made a wrong turn and wound up in front of one of the original assassins, who realized the golden opportunity and took it.

]]> 11. Draw the Line Determined not to repeat the horrors of WWI, France built the Maginot Line—a sprawling, high-tech wall of fortresses meant to keep Germany out. It was massive, expensive, and supposedly impenetrable. There was just one tiny flaw in the plan: the Germans didn’t bother attacking it. Instead, they calmly went around the entire thing, rolling through an unguarded stretch of Belgium while France’s billion-dollar “invincible” defense sat there collecting dust.

]]> 12. Be Careful of What You Bake Distraction isn’t a thing that happens only because of cell phones. In fact, humans are always getting distracted. The Great Fire of London was started accidentally by a baker when he got sidetracked and forgot rake out his oven of the days crumblings. The baker denied it until he passed on, but we see you dude.

]]> 13. Forest Fires Kill In 2003, the largest fire at that point in California history took place after a lost hunter shot off a flare in an attempt to be found. Somewhere outside of San Diego, the hunter’s flare started a fire that rapidly grew out of control and devastated the entire region.

]]> 14. Cats in the City While Britain was suffering through The Great Plague of London, many people believed that cats were spreading the plague, and they started to kill off the city’s felines. Bad idea. As it turns out, rats were responsible for the spread, and by killing off the cats, people allowed the disease to get even further of control as the rat population boomed without as much predator competition.

]]> 15. No Place Here In 1962, Decca Records was under the belief that guitar groups would not have a place in the future, and turned down the opportunity to sign a little-known band called The Beatles.

]]> 16. Emu Battle Emus, the massive flightless birds who can eat a farmer’s entire harvest in one sitting, invaded Australian farmland in 1932 and set about to doing damage to their stock. In need of help, the army was called in to drive the emus away. What might seem like a problem easily solved by army troopers and machine guns, however, is actually not. Apparently immune to bullets, the emus could not be corralled, and eventually the Australian army was forced to admit defeat for the time being.

]]> 17. Iraqi Invasion The War in Iraq is largely seen as one of the biggest failures in American history, with even George W. Bush lamenting it as his “biggest regret.” The decision to invade Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein was a confluence of intelligence and policy failures, as the Bush administration embarked on a propaganda campaign to convince the world of an Iraqi weapons of mass destruction program.

]]> 18. Communication Breakdown The U.S. thought it could quietly topple Fidel Castro’s regime—but the Bay of Pigs invasion turned into one of the biggest embarrassments in CIA history. Backed by Washington, a small army of Cuban exiles stormed the island in 1961, expecting air support and an easy victory. Instead, they were abandoned on the beaches, outgunned, and swiftly crushed by Castro’s forces. The fiasco poisoned U.S.–Cuba relations for decades and cemented America’s reputation for catastrophic overconfidence.

]]> 19. Inept Intelligence Sharing The attack on Pearl Harbor can be seen as a failure of the American intelligence community, which was then lacking a centralized agency. The United States had cracked a Japanese code and warned Washington of the potential attack on Hawaii, but inadequate intelligence sharing among government agencies led to a neglect of information, and no preparations were made in case of attack.

]]> 20. Patriarchal Failure This one is a good kind of failure. Elizabeth Blackwell was rejected from every medical school she applied to, 29 in total, until Geneva Medical College (now Hobart College) accidentally accepted her. Despite the fact that many MDs refused to work with her, she would persevere to become the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. She would go on to establish the first medical college for women.

]]> 21. Their Own Explosives Lead to Their Demise Adolf H had promised a victory on Soviet soil, but a failure to keep a mobile strategic reserve by his Generals led to their defeat and a turning point in WWII. At the Battle of Stalingrad, the entire German Sixth Army was surrounded by Soviet troopers. The Fuhrer's tanks, however, were unable to enter the city because of the mass amount of rubble left by the Germans' own explosion.

]]> 22. Siesta Surprise There’s no sleeping in battle. On April 21st, 1836, the Battle of San Jacinto in the Texas Revolution went down when General Santa Anna allowed his army to take an afternoon siesta in order to get some rest, even though he was aware of the close proximity of the Texian army. General Sam Houston seized this opportunity and led a surprise attack in broad daylight, slaughtering 630 of Santa Anna's 1,400 troopers.

]]> 23. Antioch Embarrassment Roman Emperor Julian embarked on a Persian campaign in the year 363 that would prove to be one of Rome’s largest failures. In an attempt to invade the Sassanian Empire, Julian led his army into the interior of the region and became trapped. He would soon perish, and his successor, Emperor Jovian, had sign one of the more humiliating peace treaties in history in order to save what was left of the Roman army.

]]> 24. Betamax Bust Ever wonder how VHS became the king of home video? Back in the 1970s, Sony unveiled the Betamax—a sleek, high-quality video format that was actually better than VHS in almost every way. But Sony made one fatal mistake: they kept Betamax proprietary, refusing to let other manufacturers produce it. Meanwhile, VHS spread like wildfire, licensed to anyone who wanted in. Within a few short years, Betamax was gone, and VHS wasn’t just winning—it was rewriting the rules of the entire home entertainment industry.

]]> 25. Civil Conflict Blunder The Battle of Gettysburg is seen as the turning point for the American Civil conflict, and Pickett’s Charge is one of its big failures. On the last day of the battle, the South embarked on a combative advance directly onto open fields, subsequently suffering a 50% causality rate from which they were never able to recover, materially or psychologically.

]]> 26. Mayoral Failure 252 people lost their lives in 1992 when the city of Guadalajara underwent a series of tragic explosions due to inept local governance. Days before the explosions, the city saw gas leaking into its sewers and water supply, but the mayor found it no cause for concern and left everything as is, only to see it literally explode in his face.

]]> 27. Mississippi River Collapse The I-35W Mississippi River bridge on collapsed in 2007, leading to the deaths of 13 people and leaving 145 injured. The bridge was simply a poor design that was never fixed, and given the date of its collapse, it could have been prevented with modern technology.

]]> 28. When The Levees Broke When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, some damage was expected, but the destruction that occurred led to an incredible unprecedented emergency. New Orleans saw the most damage, as the failure of their levees caused flooding in 80% of the city. The cause of failure for their levees was inadequate design and construction, which proved disastrous for the highly vulnerable area.

]]> 29. Mutual Loss When the 2008 financial crisis hit, Washington Mutual didn’t just stumble—it collapsed spectacularly. Once a banking giant with over $300 billion in assets and nearly $200 billion in customer deposits, WaMu became the largest bank failure in U.S. history. Overnight, its empire crumbled, its doors were seized, and millions of Americans learned just how fragile “too big to fail” really was.

]]> 30. Texas Not Too Big To Fail In the 1980s, the US went through a massive savings and loan crisis that saw many banks fail. The largest was First Republic Bank, who went down in 1988 with $33.4 billion.

]]> 31. Deadly Dam Break The deadliest dam collapse in US history occurred in 1889, when the South Fork Dam broke and flooded Johnstown, Pennsylvania with 20 million gallons of water. The failure of the dam resulted in 2,209 deaths.

]]> 32. Dam Instability Considered one of the worst engineering disasters of the 20th century, the failure of the Saint Francis Dam in Los Angeles County in 1928 occurred after only 2 years of unstable operation. 12.4 billion gallons of water surged in waves as high as 120 feet, cutting the power and killing over 430 people. The remains of victims kept being found well into the 1950s.

]]> 33. Self Defeat The Austrian army once suffered a terrible defeat due to their own ludicrous incompetence: At the Battle of Karánsebes they managed to destroy most of their own army when they attacked... themselves. The scouting unit for two separate divisions of the Austrian army mistook the other for the Ottomans and they decimated each other. The best part is, the Ottomans hadn't even showed up yet!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, , 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=31872 <![CDATA[Tsar Alexander II's scandalous personal life could only be matched by his violent and disturbing end.]]> 2026-09-25T10:00:00+00:00 2026-09-24T16:49:52+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/alexander-ii-playboy-tsar Dancy Mason People The Playboy Tsar Tsar Alexander II of Russia stood at the crossroads of history—after all, his reign paved the way to the fall of the Romanov empire. And when you look at his scandalous life, it’s no wonder why it ended in tragedy. From secret, explosive letters to his utterly violent and shocking end, Alexander makes the mad, power-hungry Tsars that came before and after him look downright innocent.

]]> 1. He Was A Royal Mistake Alexander was never supposed to be the Tsar of all Russia. Born in 1818, he was merely the nephew of the current Tsar, Alexander I. But a twist of fate thrust him into power. When our Alexander was still a young boy, the throne went to his father, who became Tsar Nicholas I, and suddenly Alexander was heir apparent. This…was not a good thing.

]]> 2. His Father Was A Harsh Master Life as a Russian Prince shouldn’t have been so bad, but Alexander’s childhood was a nightmare. His father Tsar Nicholas had always been a strict stick-in-the-mud, but once he took the throne, it got much worse. For years, the Emperor kept an iron grip on his son as well as his country. It’s a small wonder, then, that Alexander rebelled in a big way.

]]> 3. He Was Unpredictable As Alexander grew up, he became the total opposite of his father: A liberal and a libertine. Infamous for his boundless energy and impulsive nature, he once befriended and then pardoned the radical, imprisoned Russian poet Alexander Herzen on a whim. By the time he turned 21, Alexander’s parents were desperate to get him to settle down—and they had just the idea.

]]> 4. He Went On One Long Bachelor Party In 1839, Alexander embarked on a journey that would change his life. At the time, young men often went on a “Grand Tour” of Europe, and his parents arranged for him to do the same. Except, it came with a twist. The Tsar and Tsarina expected their heir to meet his future wife on the trip and even had a whole list of ladies and stops picked out for him.

In classic Alexander style, he completely upended their expectations.

]]> 5. He Met A Powerful Woman During one stop, Alexander met the young Queen Victoria, who was unmarried at the time and just a year younger than him. However, Victoria was explicitly not part of his bride list. The pair of them were too powerful together, and any union between them would make other countries mighty nervous. So, of course, Alexander had to go and push his limits.

]]> 6. He Seduced Queen Victoria Although nearly lost to history, Alexander’s visit to Queen Victoria contained an enormous secret. Victoria’s future marriage to Prince Albert may now be famous, but she and Alexander likely entertained a dalliance on this trip all the same. Though the romance was brief and unconsummated, Alexander no doubt loved flexing his forbidden love muscles. And he didn’t stop creating scandal.

]]> 7. His Parents Picked A Bride The family-favorite bride on Alexander's Bachelor Tour was Princess Alexandrine of Baden, the rather homely-looking but eminently respectable daughter of a German Duke and Swedish Princess. In fact, everyone thought she was such a shoo-in that Princes Alexandrine herself felt she was already betrothed to Alexander, and acted accordingly. Oh man, did he disappoint her.

]]> 8. He Made An Unexpected And Fateful Stop On the way over to Baden, Alexander’s entourage grew tired of the constant city-hopping and princess shopping and begged him to stop in the German city of Darmstadt. At first, Alexander resisted—he wasn’t tired at all. Besides, he knew that Louis II, the reigning duke and thus the man he’d have to stay with, had a raging case of the doldrums. In other words: No fun, no Alexander.

Eventually, his men convinced him to calm the heck down and grow the heck up, and he stopped in Darmstadt after all. It was a date with destiny.

]]> 9. He Fell In Lust Though the pleasure-seeking Alexander feared a “dull evening” with the much-older Louis, his fretting stopped the moment that the duke’s young and pretty daughter Princess Marie entered the room. Slim, tall, and much prettier than his supposed betrothed Princess Alexandrine, the girl gave the Tsesarevich immediate heart palpitations. Except he should have thought twice.

]]> 10. He Was A Cradle Robber Even by Alexander’s own admission, he was into Marie “at first sight”…which is actually a little gross. See, Marie was only 14 years old at the time, so young that she still wore her hair loose the way children did. She was also equally inexperienced in society. When Alexander called her over, she was in the middle of eating cherries and had to spit the pits into her hand before greeting him. Bizarrely, this worked.

]]> 11. He Began A Serious Courtship Creepy age and maturity difference aside, Alexander was clearly all-in and stayed to dine even though he did indeed find Marie’s father dull. Like everything he did, Alexander worked fast: When he left Marie, his flirtation had progressed enough for her to gift him a locket with her hair inside. Only, it was all about to come crashing down.

]]> 12. He Chose The Wrong Girl After his meeting with Marie, Alexander wrote to his father and mother, passionately declaring his love. His parents’ response shocked him. Sure, he was supposed to sample an array of potential brides, but he was also supposed to marry poor Princess Alexandrine in the end, dangit. His mother protested vehemently, citing how inferior Marie’s family was to their own. But the Tsarina had darker reasons for her objections.

]]> 13. His Love Had A Scandalous Secret To the Tsar and Tsarina’s horror, the gossip at the time insisted that Princess Marie was actually an illegitimate child and that her father was really her mother’s illicit lover. This was a black mark enough for the time, but Alexander's parents also feared that Marie’s mother, who had died young, had passed on her consumption. Faced with this opposition, there was only one thing Alexander could think to do.

]]> 14. He Threatened His Father And Mother Already impulsive and uber-romantic—two traits that would not serve him well in the future—Alexander scrawled off a series of hastily written letters to his parents. In them, he gave a stunning ultimatum. Using the only power he had, he threatened that he would simply drop out of the line of succession if they didn’t let him marry Marie. Well, be careful what you wish for.

]]> 15. He Had A Long Engagement After their son pushed them into a corner, the Tsar and Tsarina finally relented and let Alexander propose to the girl, who said yes. In a whirlwind, Marie went to live in Russia, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, and took on the name "Maria Alexandrovna." After that initial rush, the family then waited a full year for her to become a safe child-bearing age. And in that time, the scales already started to fall from Alexander’s eyes.

]]> 16. His Fiancée Wasn’t What He Thought Alexander may have been in love at first sight with Marie, but the reality was much different. Although he was still devoted to her, it became clear that—unlike him—his fiancée was quiet and conservative. After all, she was raised in the drab, ascetic atmosphere of Darmstadt with an absolute bore of a father. And while their varying levels of energy sometimes helped balance them out, there were deeper issues with this.

]]> 17. He Scared His Bride Within these first few months, Alexander must have realized how ill-suited Mare was to the bustling court life of Russia. Instead of energizing Marie, the atmosphere only exhausted and overwhelmed the reserved girl. As her maid described it, she was “more frightened than bedazzled” in the opulent surroundings, and spent her evenings sobbing into embroidered pillows.

It was the first hint of trouble in the union, but the two lovers still took it full speed ahead.

]]> 18. He Made His Wedding All About Him When Alexander finally did decide it was time to marry Marie, he did it his way. He wed his teenage bride in a massive, showy ceremony that was more about his tastes than hers. To top it off, he chose the eve of his 23rd birthday as the wedding date, because why not make your big day all about you? Even so, one thing was clear: The wedding night was an embarrassing success.

]]> 19. He Was Very Virile With Alexander’s boundless energy and Marie’s young pliability, it’s no surprise the pair began popping out children. Just a year after her wedding, when she was still a teenager, Marie gave Alexander his first child, a daughter they named Alexandra and nicknamed “Lina” or “Sashenka.” And with the birth of his daughter, a great change overtook Alexander.

]]> 20. He Played Huge Favorites Simply put, Alexander was a girl dad like no other. He was deeply involved in raising Alexandra, and as the girl grew into a toddler he would often have her keep him company in his study while he worked. Indeed, although Maria soon birthed a succession of three strong male heirs, Alexandra remained his favorite. Which only made the girl's fate all the more gut-wrenching.

]]> 21. He Lost His Little Girl In 1849, when Alexandra was six years old, unimaginable tragedy struck the Imperial family. That summer, the little princess perished from infant meningitis, sending both of her parents into a tailspin. Their grief was so overwhelming that years later, Marie would still break out into sobs at the mere mention of the girl’s name. Yet Alexander’s own reaction was impossibly heartbreaking.

]]> 22. He Never Got Over His Grief To commemorate his little girl, Alexander kept a keepsake from her for the rest of his life. He took a flower from her funeral mass, dried it, and pressed it between the pages of his private diary to keep close to him. He then colored the page black so it would eternally represent his mourning. Tragically, as we’ll see, this was only the first of Alexander’s horrific losses.

]]> 23. He Got A New Favorite Child Alexander was never shy about playing favorites with his children, and soon he went over the top. In 1853, Marie finally gave birth to another girl, Maria Alexandrovna, and the newborn immediately eclipsed the six siblings—all boys—who came before and after her. As Alexander crowed, “Her birth was a joy and a delight, not to be described, and her whole life has been a continuation.”

Sweet? Sure. But it also set up a messy family dynamic that would come back to haunt Alexander, big time. Until then, he had his own problematic father to deal with.

]]> 24. His Father Fell Ill In 1855, Alexander’s father Tsar Nicholas I was 58 years old and getting somewhat long in the tooth, especially for the health standards in Russia at the time. So when the curmudgeon caught a chill in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg that ended up developing into pneumonia, everyone feared the worst. Well, they should have feared a whole lot more.

]]> 25. He Watched His Father Brutally Die The patriarch had never been one for sentimentality, but he really proved this over the next few days. When doctors informed Alexander’s father that his pneumonia could be fatal, the old man refused any and all treatment. He was so adamant, some suggested he wanted to die. Whatever the motive, the bitter end was the same: Nicholas passed on March 2nd, 1855—and Alexander’s world got upended again.

]]> 26. He Received A Bad Omen The 37-year-old Alexander was now the Tsar of All Russia. Yet a dark omen overshadowed his beginnings. At his and Marie’s coronation ceremony in Moscow, the Empress’s four ladies-in-waiting accidentally dropped her crown, where it fell into the folds of her cloak. Superstition held that this meant a bad future for Alexander and his wife, and the room grew uneasy.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have to wait long for the portent to come true.

]]> 27. He Had Big Plans For His Son At the time of his coronation, the Tsar’s Great White Hope was his eldest son and heir, the new Tsesarevich Nicholas—and, seemingly for once in history, the heir was equal to his burden. Well-educated, intelligent, and eloquent, Nicholas’s uncle called him the “crown of perfection,” and everyone believed the future of Russia was in good hands. Fate, however, had much crueler plans.

]]> 28. His Bad Luck Struck Again In 1863, Alexander began to put his heir on the marriage market, and things came together almost too easily. The young Nicholas fell hopelessly in love with Dagmar of Denmark, and the pair quickly became engaged. Then the other shoe dropped. In 1865, Nicholas fell seriously ill. Alexander, his wife Marie, and his second son Sasha all rushed to the young man's side, with Dagmar following.

When they realized what was the matter, the Tsar’s heart must have sunk.

]]> 29. His Son Was In Mortal Danger The universe had a bitter sense of humor when it came to Tsar Alexander II, because his heir Nicholas was suffering from a fatal case of cerebrospinal meningitis, a variant of the illness that killed his little Alexandra all those years before. The Tsar had to watch as yet another of his bright, promising children faded in front of his eyes. And still, the day got more macabre.

]]> 30. He Went Through A Horrific Ordeal On April 24, the Tsar’s heir died, leaving his son Sasha as the Tsesarevich. Though the tragedy of losing their eldest boy knocked Alexander and his wife off their feet, they had to save all of their remaining strength for Dagmar, who was totally beside herself. According to reports, the grieving Tsar and Tsarina had to tear the girl from their son’s body. Then it got very weird, very fast.

]]> 31. He Made A Harrowing Proposition Tsar Alexander and Marie were apparently happy to let Dagmar lean on them…because they had bigger plans for the girl. See, while sitting by the deathbed, the Romanov couple decided it was a “great” idea for Dagmar to get over Nicholas ASAP and marry their next son, Sasha, instead. Most bizarrely of all, the plan worked: Alexander's replacement heir married Dagmar next year.

Unfortunately, this was one of the last times Alexander and his wife were truly unified.

]]> 32. His Marriage Grew Cold Since the birth of his last child, Alexander’s marriage went through an unsettling transformation. Empress Marie, never of strong constitution and never in love with the exuberances of the Russian court, grew more sickly and more reserved as the years went on. Eventually, the Tsar and Tsarina were miles apart in taste and temperament. It began to show.

]]> 33. He Held Unbelievably Lavish Balls To cope with the passing of his children and the chill of his marriage, Alexander dove further into balls and parties. He would regularly transport hundreds of palm trees into the Winter Palace for eye-popping evenings he called Les Bals des Palmieres. After all, what better way to forget your problems than basking in a tropic oasis? And of course, his retiring wife was almost never in attendance.

It was all bound to reach a breaking point, but no one could have predicted just how bad it would get.

]]> 34. He Had A Major Wandering Eye Throughout his married life, Alexander had always taken casual mistresses whenever it suited him. Yet as Empress Marie grew more delicate, these flings turned into serious relationships, with the ruler once engaging in a decade-long dalliance with one of Marie’s own ladies-in-waiting, Alexandra Albedinskaya. Yikes...but you ain't seen nothing yet.

]]> 35. He Didn’t Touch His Wife Although Empress Marie seemed dutifully silent on the matter of her husband’s (many) infidelities, there was a reason for this. The royal couple was concealing a darker truth in their own bedroom. Marie had grown so ill, her doctors eventually advised her to stop sleeping with the Tsar entirely, lest she meet an early grave. This did not end well.

]]> 36. He Had A Teenage Crush By the 1860s, with Empress Marie completely knocked out of the boudoir, Alexander took his philandering to a disturbing pitch. How disturbing? Well, in 1864, the middle-aged Tsar began meeting with the 16-year-old Catherine Dolgorukova, a girl he had known since she was 11. At first, he just visited her at school to walk and talk. But that was only at first.

]]> 37. He Was Lovesick As the months went on, Alexander became more infatuated with Catherine. The nubile girl had liberal opinions that matched his own as well as a pert way of expressing them, and it was a combination he couldn't resist. Alexander's crush did not go unnoticed: Catherine’s mother advised her to seal the deal with the Tsar as soon as possible. Instead, something much more dangerous happened.

]]> 38. He Wanted What He Couldn’t Have For all her 16 years, Catherine was no fool. She sensed that giving into Alexander’s constant need for stimulation would only make her the latest mistress in a long line of them—which was not what she had planned for herself. Instead, Catherine calmed herself down, became Alexander’s closest confidant, and waited for her moment. Unfortunately, that moment came with a high price.

]]> 39. He Had A Near-Death Experience After taking the throne, Alexander had abolished Russia’s serfdom system—and while seemingly a no-brainer, it was a move that made him enemies in both conservative and revolutionary circles. This had dire results. On April 4th, 1866, the Tsar was out walking when the radical agent Dmitry Karakozov tried to take a shot at him.

Although it failed, the attempt thoroughly shook Alexander…and he knew just who he wanted to comfort him.

]]> 40. He Put His Mistress Through A Trial In the wake of the attempt on his life, Alexander didn’t run to his wife’s cold arms. Instead, he went right to little Catherine Dolgorukova. Catherine was dealing with the passing of her own mother at the time too, and the pair cried on each other's shoulders for weeks, growing closer than ever. Until, that July, Catherine made a fateful decision.

]]> 41. He Finally Sealed The Deal In the summer of 1866, Catherine made her move. One July evening, she finally allowed the Tsar to seduce her into his bed. The consequences were incalculable. After years of longing for and learning to understand Catherine, Alexander was now more in love with her than he had ever been with anyone, Empress Marie included. So, in the throes of passion, he made one treacherous promise.

]]> 42. He Had A “Secret Wife” Alexander and Catherine kept very detailed notes about their relationship, which is how historians know exactly what they did the night they consummated their love. According to Catherine’s records, Alexander looked her in the eye after the deed and told her, "Now you are my secret wife. I swear that if I am ever free, I will marry you." Foreshadowing, anyone?

]]> 43. He Had A Naughty Code Word With their illicit affair finally in full swing, Alexander and Catherine exercised an abundance of caution to hide their meetings. However, they couldn’t hide how crazy they were for each other. While they refused to sign their own letters, they still scrawled feverish missives multiple times a day. They also had a code word, "bingerle," for their intimate activies...and they wrote that word a lot. And then it went up a notch.

]]> 44. He Was Public Enemy Number One The two lovers came together after the violent attack on Alexander, and just a year later history repeated itself. While Alexander was driving through the 1867 World Fair in a carriage, another radical shot at him, missing only because of a misfire. After this second scrape with death, Alexander’s devotion to Catherine turned terrifying.

]]> 45. He Had Risqué Hobbies Despite all their precautions, palace insiders were very aware of Alexander’s obsession with his “Katya." Besides renting Catherine her own mansion in St. Petersburg, Alexander also had his guards accompany her to private rooms four times a week—where he liked, among other things, to sketch her in the buff. When she wasn’t around, he talked or thought of her incessantly.

He had it bad. And soon, there were much more permanent signs of his devotion.

]]> 46. He Had A Double Life With all the “bingerle” Alexander and Catherine got up to, it was no surprise when Catherine found herself pregnant in 1872. She gave birth to a son they named George, who was quickly followed by a daughter, Olga, the next year. Yep, Alexander's mid-life crisis was to get an entire secret second family. Which might be why he started being such a terror to his first brood.

]]> 47. He Made An Enemy Of Queen Victoria Right around the time that his extramarital daughter Olga was born, Alexander’s bad parenting caused an international incident. His absolute favorite child, Grand Duchess Maria, had just fallen in love with Prince Alfred, the son of his old flame Queen Victoria—and Alexander was having none of it. When the lovers stated their intention to marry, the jealous Alexander nearly refused their request.

Then when the wedding did happen the next year, the Tsar really let it all hang out. Not in a good way.

]]> 48. He Acted Like A Buffoon Alexander hadn’t exactly spent his reign building up relations with England, and both countries were now thoroughly suspicious of each other’s customs. So it was particularly stupid when, at Maria’s wedding in St. Petersburg, Alexander went major diva-dad and insisted that his baby girl take precedence over England’s Princess of Wales, who was in attendance. Queen Victoria said a big “heck no” to that.

Alexander’s children always were his weak spot—and his mistress Catherine knew just how to turn this to her advantage.

]]> 49. He Kept His Mistress Right Under His Wife’s Nose In 1876, Catherine was pregnant again, and she made a daring request. Sick of living in the shadows, she insisted that she have the newest child in the Winter Palace, where the rest of Alexander’s “real” family lived. She got what she wanted: Although the babe, a boy named Boris, died in infancy, he was nonetheless born in the Emperor’s rooms.

Catherine was moving ever closer to the center of Alexander’s life, and everyone was about to get one rude awakening.

]]> 50. He Forcefully Blended His Families After giving Alexander another daughter in 1878 and helping him through a further TWO assassination attempts, Catherine completed her domination of the Tsar’s heart. In fact, in early 1880, Alexander was so far gone that he decided his Katya was going to come live in the Winter Palace permanently. Accordingly, he moved both her and all of their illegitimate children in, right on top of his first family. Somehow, this gets tackier.

]]> 51. He Treated His Wife Abominably Catherine likely felt a sense of triumph at her royal move, but this all came with a sinister price. See, when Alexander decided to install Catherine in his wife’s house, Empress Marie was dying. You read that right; Marie's constant ill health was culminating in a vicious bout of tuberculosis, and Alexander thought that this was a great time to shove his mistress in her face. Within days, the backlash hit.

]]> 52. His Own Court Turned On Him Empress Marie might have been a bit of a downer, but she was still a fixture at court and gossip circles worked overtime to tear down Catherine in support of their Empress. Courtiers even falsely whispered that the dying Marie could hear Catherine’s illegitimate children running in the rooms above her. But when real trouble did happen between the women, it was a doozy.

]]> 53. Assailants Blew Up His Dining Room In February that same year, the worst assassination attempt yet hit Alexander—and it hit terrifyingly close to home. A timed bomb blew up underneath his dining room at the Winter Palace, killing 11 people and injuring scores more. In an unbelievable stroke of luck, dinner had been delayed that evening, so Alexander was unscathed. He was also about to do something supremely stupid.

]]> 54. He Left His Wife To Die As the smoke cleared from the ruined palace room, the Tsar’s response was bone-chilling. Immediately fearing for Catherine’s life, he sprinted upstairs screaming, “Katya, my dearest Katya!” for all to hear. In the meantime, he completely ignored the fact his wife Empress Marie, who was also right there, might have been hurt in the explosion. Don’t worry, though, karma was coming for him.

]]> 55. His Own Daughter Scorned Him In May, a handful of weeks after the explosion, Alexander’s favorite daughter Grand Duchess Maria came back home from England to visit her dying mother. She was utterly appalled at Catherine’s free rein and her father’s neglect of the Empress, and immediately confronted him about it. Alexander, to his meager credit, was ashamed enough to start asking after his wife more regularly. Unfortunately, it was far too late.

]]> 56. He Had A Last-Minute Reconciliation Knowing the end was near, Alexander’s wife performed an utterly selfless act. Not wanting to sow discord in the family when she was gone, Marie requested to meet Alexander’s illegitimate children for the first time. Alexander complied and, with both the Tsar and Tsarina sobbing their eyes out, he brought his eldest George and Olga to her deathbed one evening.

But by June 3, 1880, Empress Marie was dead and Alexander was repaying her kindness with black-hearted betrayal.

]]> 57. He Threw His Wife’s Memory Away On the very day of Marie’s death, Alexander wrote some of his most damning lines ever. Although hesitant, he was nonetheless relieved at the news of her passing, saying, “My double life ends today.” After all, he was now free to be with Catherine, and his poor dying wife wasn’t going to be a huge buzzkill about it. As for Catherine? Her reaction was downright bloodthirsty.

]]> 58. His Mistress Crowed Over Tragedy Immediately following Marie’s passing, Catherine let her true colors show—not that she’d been too shy in the past. She was baldly and boldly delighted that the Tsarina was no more; as Alexander put it, “she doesn’t hide her joy.” Indeed, the instant Marie’s body started growing cold, Catherine began to push the Tsar into a move he could never come back from.

]]> 59. He Caused An Enormous Scandal Barely a month after Empress Marie passed, Alexander did a very stupid thing: He married Catherine Dolgorukova. Though a secret ceremony, it nonetheless legitimized their children. It also turned her into the “Most Serene Princess Yurievskaya.” Now, the Tsar had anticipated a few rumblings about the union, but this dumb-dumb soon discovered just how big of a scandal it was.

]]> 60. Everyone Went Against Him Quite literally no one in Alexander's support system was for the marriage. For one, the Tsar had asked the priest who'd witnessed his first marriage to do the same for his second, and the man indignantly refused. Meanwhile, his childhood friend begged him, quite reasonably, to wait a year before tying the knot with Catherine. So when the truth came out, it was an absolute disaster.

]]> 61. His Family Couldn’t Forgive Him When his marriage came to light, Alexander had to deal with a mass resignation of his once-loyal servants, not to mention a flood of angry letters from his family. One of his sisters-in-law vowed never to recognize “that scheming adventuress,” and his favorite girl Grand Duchess Maria wrote: “I pray that myself and my junior brothers…would one day be able to forgive you.” But that was just the beginning of his nightmare.

]]> 62. He Had A Public Breakdown As Alexander kept parading Catherine about as his wife, his family got more opportunities to turn their threats into action. At one ball, it came to an infamous head. That night, his daughter-in-law Dagmar refused to kiss the upstart Catherine, a huge snub for the time. Alexander was so embarrassed and upset, he later screamed at her, "You have no heart.”

Look, I’m not sure exactly what this man thought was going to happen when he married his mistress before his wife was cold in her grave. Still, you can bet he got himself into even deeper water.

]]> 63. He Had Ulterior Motives Throughout all this, the family was terrified that Alexander would try to crown Catherine as Empress. Well, they weren’t wrong. Acting more like a lovesick teenager than a diplomatic genius, Alexander had already privately declared his intention to stage her coronation on August 1, 1881. But warranted fears or not, all this animosity did take an unfair toll on Catherine.

]]> 64. His New Wife Suffered No one asks to be an irresistible babe, and Catherine didn’t completely warrant all the vitriol she was receiving from Alexander’s family. From Catherine’s point of view, she was always deferential to Alexander’s children. She even shut him down one dinner when he talked of making one of their children a Grand Duke, telling him, “for God’s sake drop it!”

Then again, was Catherine really "deferential," or did she just have a better sense of timing than her husband? We’ll never know because we never got to find out. Horror struck first.

]]> 65. His Wife Had A Dreadful Premonition In early March of 1881, Catherine woke up with an ice-cold prick of premonition. She was certain that today was the day Tsar Alexander was finally going to die, after all the assassination attempts that had come before. Accordingly, she begged him to skip his duties and stay home, safe within the palace walls. Alexander’s reply was oh-so-typical...and very naughty.

]]> 66. He Had One Last Hurrah Instead of taking Catherine seriously, Alexander did what he always did: He got down and dirty with her to calm her fears. Apparently, they did their “bingerle” right there on the table in her rooms, and then he walked off to do his usual Sunday military roll call, leaving the only slightly less worried Catherine behind. In mere hours, she would tragically be proven right.

]]> 67. Two Assailants Cornered Him While out performing his duties, Alexander’s reality spun, then shattered. First, one radical threw a bomb at him, but it missed. Then another tried his hand. This second explosive, unlike the now six other attempts, finally hit its mark. Alexander knew it too: When the bomb landed right at his feet, he intoned, "It is too early to thank God."

Suddenly, the atmosphere tore apart with shrapnel and shouts. When the chaos calmed, the Emperor was saying his last words.

]]> 68. He Clung On For A Final Moment As aides rushed to the Tsar’s side, they discovered, half with horror and half with hope, that he was still alive and shouting “Help!” By all rights, he shouldn’t have even been breathing; his legs were shattered and he was beyond all earthly help. Nonetheless, his loyal men carried their ruler back to the Winter Palace to perform last rites—and to allow him to make a final, heartbreaking goodbye.

]]> 69. He Died In His Lover’s Arms As attendants dragged Alexander’s barely conscious form into his study, Catherine rushed out of her boudoir, half-dressed and near mad with grief. The image she created that day lived in infamy. Still done up in her pink and white nightgown, the horrified watchers remembered how the Tsar’s blood-soaked through her finery as she held his body until the bitter end. And it was a bitter one.

]]> 70. His Memory Was Tainted The legacy of Alexander II is not a happy one, either for his country or for his kin. On a political level, his violent death spurred on suppressive legislation within the government, all while radical activists took their success as a sign to employ “propaganda by deed,” i.e. achieving ends through brute force. But within the palace walls, it grew more vicious.

]]> 71. His Family Didn’t Play Nice No one in the Imperial family got over the Tsar's death, and Russia would see nothing like it again until the horrendously cruel end of Alexander's own grandson, Nicholas II. All the same, his own children dealt him the worst betrayal. They turned Catherine Dolgorukova into the scapegoat they always wanted her to be, pushing her out of court and forcing her to settle far away in France.

Catherine lived in near-disgrace, with the family continuing to besmirch her name, right up until she herself passed four decades later.

You May Also Like:

50 Imperial Facts About Empress Alexandra, The Last Tsarina
42 Brutish Facts About Paul I of Russia, The Doomed Tsar
Tragic Facts About The Imperial Romanovs, The Last Tsars

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=32204 <![CDATA[Thanks to her countless affairs, social snubs, and unhinged debauchery, Daisy Fellowes was called “the most wicked woman in high society.”]]> 2026-09-24T10:00:00+00:00 2026-09-23T16:48:09+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-daisy-fellowes Dancy Mason People High Society’s Wicked Queen For a time in high society, there was no one more dangerous than Daisy Fellowes. This acid-tongued heiress to the Singer sewing fortune made her name through shameless self-promotion, cutthroat rivalries, and mercenary marriages. But underneath her bitter bon mots and perfectly tailored clothes, Daisy Fellowes hid utterly tragic secrets.

]]> 1. She Had Piles Of Money Life started out dazzling for the young Daisy, who was born Marguerite Severine Philippine Decazes de Glucksberg. As the daughter of the Jean, Duke of Decazes and Isabelle-Blanche Singer, little Daisy wasn’t just a noble, she also stood to inherit the millions amassed in the Singer sewing machine empire. But her nightmare began young.

]]> 2. Her Family Imploded When Daisy was just six years old, a horrific tragedy destroyed her family. Her mother took her own life, leaving Daisy and her two brothers almost entirely alone in the world—albeit with that huge inheritance. To add insult to injury, their father either wouldn’t or couldn’t take care of them, and had them shipped off to their maternal aunt, Winaretta Singer, instead.

With this one move, Daisy’s infamous fate was sealed.

]]> 3. Her Aunt Was A Scandalous Role Model From then on, there was probably no way Daisy would ever turn into a well-adjusted good girl. Not only was she dragging around the trauma of losing a parent, but her new guardian Winaretta was hardly a safe, steady harbor. Winaretta went through women like she went through wine, and Daisy grew up watching her raucous aunt seduce and then discard a series of famous lovers among the likes of Virginia Woolf.

It was a model Daisy would quickly follow. But before that, a cruel fate got in the way.

]]> 4. She Was A Teenaged Bride Even with her aunt’s unorthodox example to go by, Daisy still knew what society expected of an heiress: To marry young and make more heirs. Thus, naïve and eager to uphold her family name, she tied the knot with Jean, Prince de Broglie, just a few weeks after she turned 19. In high society terms, it was an appropriate and respectable match. In real-life terms, it was a bald-faced fiasco—or so Daisy was about to find out.

]]> 5. Her Husband Had A Secret According to the rumors of the time, Daisy’s new husband was hiding a ruinous secret. He was actually gay, a preference that was tolerated at the time only if you were very rich and very careful about it never getting out beyond your circle. Fortunately, the prince fulfilled those expectations—for now. Unfortunately, Daisy reportedly found out about her husband’s preferences in one of the worst ways imaginable.

]]> 6. She Walked In On Her Husband With Another Lover According to the lore surrounding Daisy’s origin story, the young bride once walked in on her husband in bed with the chauffeur, instantly shattering all her illusions about romance and the sanctity of marriage right then and there. And whether true or not, Daisy certainly underwent a chilling change during her marriage—and it started to show.

]]> 7. She Was A Cold Mother Despite these, er, difficulties in their marriage, Daisy and the Prince de Broglie went on to have three daughters together: Emmeline, Isabelle, and Jacqueline. Except Daisy quickly proved herself to be utterly uninterested in the role of mother. One anecdote tells of a time that Daisy saw a bunch of children in a park and, momentarily charmed, went over to ask their nanny whose children they were.

The answer? “Yours, Madam!” Even so, that’s downright quaint compared to Daisy’s next actions.

]]> 8. She Loved Plastic Surgery Around this time, Daisy went from merely notable to downright notorious. She had never been a truly beautiful woman—though she was a captivating one. Daisy didn’t let this stop her from trying to attain conventional beauty, however, and had her first nose job, without the aid of an anesthetic, by the time she was 20.  Then she ramped her efforts up in truly disturbing ways.

]]> 9. She Had A Rampant Addiction Before long, Daisy had put herself on one of the most punishing and scandalous diet regimes of the 20th century. She began with a proto-keto diet along with intermittent fasting, but soon relied on substances—particularly of a white, powdery nature—to keep her figure preternaturally trim. Perhaps it’s no wonder that famous Vogue editor Diana Vreeland once said Daisy had “the elegance of the damned”. But no one knew just how damned.

]]> 10. She Pushed Substances On Her Friends Eventually, Daisy was such a convert to her unorthodox weight loss method, that she was soon serving her “naughty salt” at tea parties. But she pushed the envelope further. She started proselyting even her acquaintances to it. When a ballerina working with the famed Ballet Russes had a headache, Daisy produced “a white powder which worked wonders” for the girl.

]]> 11. She Wore Attention-Seeking Fashion Even Daisy’s fashion sense was caustic. She particularly liked the sharp, ironic designs of the visionary Elsa Schiaparelli, and famously wore Salvador Dali’s witty “high heel” hat about town. She didn’t limit herself to wit, though; Daisy was a punishing perfectionist in her looks, getting her hair done as many as 10 times a day and always wearing a symmetrical amount of enormous jewels on her wrists.

Eventually, though, these daring fashion adventures weren’t enough. Daisy wanted more—more scandal, more drama, more attention. And that’s exactly what she got.

]]> 12. She Scorned Her Own Children By 1918, Daisy was almost in the full bloom of her power, but still very much married to the Prince de Broglie. She soon rebelled in an utterly scandalous way. That January, she gave birth to her third daughter Jacqueline—but according to Daisy herself, the girl was a product of an affair. Or, as she “lovingly” put it in an interview describing her daughters, “The eldest, Emmeline, is like my first husband only a great deal more masculine; the second, Isabelle, is like me without guts; [and] the third, Jacqueline, was the result of a horrible man called Lischmann”.

But if Daisy was chafing at the bit of her marriage, she didn’t have to wait long for it to go up in flames.

]]> 13. Her Husband Died Horribly In February of 1918, just weeks after Daisy gave birth to Jacqueline, her husband the Prince de Broglie perished from a flu outbreak while serving in WWI. With a worldwide outbreak running rampant, the flu was a very common cause of early mortality at the time, and the hedonistic Daisy could hardly have been heartbroken over her indifferent husband. But there is a dark side to the prince’s end.

]]> 14. Dark Whispers Went Around About Her First Marriage Daisy was already a scandal magnet even this early on in her notorious career, and soon vicious gossip mongers were whispering about the “real” cause of her husband’s passing. People rumored that the prince had actually taken his own life after someone exposed his bedroom preferences to the wider world. Not that Daisy let that tragedy stop her.

Instead, she came completely into her own—though this wasn’t a good thing.

]]> 15. She Was A True Gold Digger With Daisy now single and ready to mingle, she came up with a shameless plan. Unabashedly out for her own interests, she was going to bag the richest man she could find. She started out by trying to seduce the hapless Earl of Pembroke, much to the horror of his family; the Earl’s son once sniped that Daisy’s “wickedness was on a scale that it had its own distinction”.

Unsurprisingly, then, this attempt at romance fell through—but the consequences were dramatic.

]]> 16. She Was In The Middle Of A Duel Drama apparently ran in Daisy’s family, because when the Earl of Pembroke broke it off with her, Daisy’s older brother Louis took it upon himself to become deeply offended on his sister’s behalf. Indeed, he was so enraged at the damage the failed affair supposedly did to her “pristine” reputation, he challenged the earl to a duel.

Luckily for everyone involved, it didn’t end up happening. Something else sure did, though.

]]> 17. She Tried To Seduce The Future Prime Minister After the Earl of Pembroke, Daisy moved on to more powerful—and more dangerous—prey. She had her eye on none other than Winston Churchill, then at the beginnings of his promising political career. The thing was, Churchill had just gotten married, a fact Daisy didn’t seem to much care about, and he graciously turned her down. In response, she came back at Churchill with an odd kind of revenge.

]]> 18. She Married A Famous Philanderer Almost immediately following her failed play for Winston Churchill, Daisy turned around and shocked high society. In a matter of months, she went and bagged Churchill’s own cousin, Reginald Fellowes. Fellowes was no stranger himself to scandal, having carried on an affair with socialite Consuelo Vanderbilt, the wife of the powerful Duke of Marlborough.

But even with this taste of drama, Fellowes had no idea what he was getting into.

]]> 19. Her Husband Was A Dunce In the end, Daisy chose Reginald as her second husband for more than just his family connections, his wealth, or his standing in society. She quite likely chose him because she knew she could control him. Bumbling and a bit dense—he had once gotten accidentally trapped in Germany as a civilian in WWI—Reginald was like putty in her hands. Well, she began using him immediately.

]]> 20. She Had A Cruel Sense Of Humor Within months or even weeks of her nuptials to Reginald Fellowes, Daisy had taken up extramarital affairs—but she didn’t stop there. According to one story, she and one of her lovers, Fred Cripps, once tailed Fellowes on a lark, watched him go into a dingy brothel, then witnessed him paying and then performing with one of the women.

For the cherry on top, Daisy then delightfully informed Reginald later that she’d been there the whole time. Still, Reginald brought some unpleasant surprises to their marriage, too.

]]> 21. Her Husband Embarrassed Her When Daisy married Reginald, she was an incredibly rich woman, but his own mountains of money via his stockbroking firm certainly helped sweeten the deal. Except, shortly after their marriage, Reginald lost it all: The firm collapsed, thanks partly to Reginald’s own idiocy. Likely embarrassed, Daisy was quick to rectify the situation in her own “special way”. By which I mean, more betrayal.

]]> 22. She Went After Another Newly Married Man Daisy seemed to have a thing for newly married men, so when the virile, good-old-boy politician Duff Cooper made the society wedding of the season by marrying socialite Lady Diana Manners, Daisy immediately pricked her ears up and approached him for a roll in the hay. This time, it worked: She and Cooper fell into a torrid affair…with bizarre results.

]]> 23. She Had A Formidable Rival As it happened, Lady Diana Manners was more than a match for Daisy Fellowes. Although Diana sniffed that her rival was “the very picture of fashionable depravity,” she also knew the best offense was a good defense. She played at magnanimity about her husband’s infidelity, mostly tolerating the dalliance between the two of them and coming off cool as a cucumber.

Until, that is, the day Duff took it too far—and Daisy felt the wrath of a woman scorned.

]]> 24. She Demanded All Her Lover’s Attention By 1921, Daisy and Duff were practically inseparable, and Duff started getting careless about hiding the “secret” affair from his wife Diana. That summer, Duff would usually spend all afternoon with Daisy, but meet up with Diana in the evening to keep up appearances. Except, one night at the casino, Duff decided he wanted one more go-around with his mistress and abandoned Diana by the blackjack tables. Her revenge was swift and brutal.

]]> 25. She Got A Taste Of Her Own Medicine Diana, offended at her husband’s lack of effort in even nominally pretending the affair wasn’t going on, decided to teach the philanderer a lesson. Extremely “distressed” at her husband’s sudden disappearance, Diana called the authorities and proclaimed her fears that someone had killed her husband in the streets.

No doubt Daisy and Duff got quite the surprise that night, but it didn’t deter them one bit. Besides, there was a hugely naughty reason they couldn’t quit each other.

]]> 26. She Used Substances For Her Bedroom Performance Daisy Fellowes had gone from a meek 19-year-old marrying a fairy tale prince to a voracious man-eater, all in under a decade. But she had something of a secret weapon. Duff Cooper once confessed that Daisy liked to take a dose of opium before love-making so that all her inhibitions—what few she even had—fell away. And Daisy was developing other disturbing tendencies, too.

]]> 27. She Was Addicted To Intimacy Daisy Fellowes was one of the most modern women of her time, and was completely shameless about her desires as well as her libidinous ways of realizing them. Still, bedroom conquests seemed like an addiction to her, with the heiress once describing the rush of a new lover as “a thrilling feeling, like taking absinthe for the first time”.

On the bright side, she did have a sense of humor about these addictions.

]]> 28. She Could Make Fun Of Herself Throughout all her man-eating, Daisy maintained her sharp wit. In one famous example, she kitted out the front of her house at Donnington with the statue of St Joseph, and was quick to quip that Joseph was “the patron saint of cuckolds”. Nonetheless, her predatory quality only grew as she aged, and her behaviors became more eccentric—and unhinged.

]]> 29. She Knew How To Rile People Up In the 1930s, everyone in high society knew the name “Daisy Fellowes,” and she’d developed a devoted following of acolytes and enemies alike. She also reveled in her polarizing nature: Daisy liked to meet her friends in her bathtub wearing only a custom cellophane cape. When she was dressed, she stormed around in Avant-garde fashion, leading one observer to comment that she was a “Molotov cocktail in a Mainbocher suit”.

But even the impeccably vicious Daisy Fellowes was beginning to show cracks in her armor.

]]> 30. She Mean Girled Her Own Friends Eventually, even Daisy’s so-called friends began to tire of her constant bitter wit and her complete disregard for other people. Daisy had two yachts, and she liked to invite her friends on them for pleasure cruises. They would live to regret accepting her invitations. Photographer Cecil Beaton boarded the ship one season and almost immediately wanted to jump off, describing how Daisy amused herself by persecuting each one of her friends in turn.

As Beaton put it, “She is spoilt, capricious, and wicked”. As it happened, that wasn’t even Daisy’s most disastrous yacht trip.

]]> 31. She Chose Lust Over Friendship Later on, fellow socialite Nancy Mitford also accepted an invitation from Daisy to come on the yacht…and this time, Daisy’s contempt had reached epic proportions. She summarily “chucked” Mitford off the boat after only a few days, all in order to make room for her newest lover, Lord Sherwood. Daisy was burning her bridges fast—and she was losing other things too.

]]> 32. Her Facelifts Got Out Of Hand As Daisy entered middle age, she didn’t exactly go gracefully. As an early adopter of plastic surgery, she continued the practice and had multiple facelifts throughout her life. Truman Capote once cattily noted seeing “Daisy Fellowes (her face lifted for the fourth time—the Doctors say no more)”. Not that Daisy cared. She was hardly one to dwell on insecurity—and she soon had much more pressing problems to worry about.

]]> 33. She Had A Love Nest As WWII dawned, Daisy probably thought she’d get through it without any significant change to her lifestyle. At first, she was right. Duff Cooper, with whom she was still carrying on an affair, became the Minister of Information for the War Cabinet, and (insensitively) installed Daisy in a London house that belonged to his wife’s family, all so that he could see her easily in between his busy schedule.

But this love den wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

]]> 34. She Grew Painfully Isolated Duff Cooper would always have a soft spot for Daisy, but he also had a job to do in Britain’s defense—not to mention he had another official mistress, installed over in Paris, who he was spending the rest of his free time with. As such, Daisy now whiled away the last days of WWII isolated and mostly alone in London, waiting for Cooper to pay her a visit.

And when the conflict ended, this only got worse.

]]> 35. She Tried To Win Her Lover Back Daisy exited WWII more determined than ever to flex her power over Duff Cooper, and she returned to Paris immediately after to flaunt her jewels and perfect tailoring right in the other mistress’s face. Well, she got what she wanted: The mistress was so upset, she actually went running to Duff Cooper’s wife Lady Diana for comfort and an assurance that Cooper liked her more than Daisy.

In many ways, this was Daisy Fellowes’ last pure victory. A downfall was on its way.

]]> 36. Her Daughters Humiliated Her While Daisy fought over the affections of Duff Cooper throughout WWII, her family was falling apart. Two of her daughters, Emmeline and Jacqueline, were caught up in collaboration charges with the Axis powers. While Emmeline spent five months behind bars, Jacqueline had her head shaved as a sign of her humiliation. This, more than anything else, felt like a true hit to Daisy’s reputation. But Daisy responded like Daisy: With an appalling lack of tact.

]]> 37. She Was Utterly Insensitive At the end of WWII, a whole generation of men was returning with new ghosts to haunt them, the economy was a disaster, and the Fellowes’ name was mud. None of this kept Daisy from her hedonistic pleasures. In 1946, she ostentatiously partied on the streets with her friends in a Rolls-Royce with a glass roof. But even if Daisy couldn’t pay attention to global tragedies, a personal one was coming right for her.

]]> 38. She Lost The One Constant In Her Life In 1953, Daisy’s whole world changed. That year, her husband Reginald passed on after three decades of marriage. And while Daisy had hardly been faithful, she had been loyal to Reginald in her way. He in turn kept her grounded as much as any one person could keep Daisy Fellowes grounded. Is it any surprise, then, that she soon went off the deep end?

]]> 39. She Owned A Famous Diamond One of Daisy’s biggest contributions to the style world was her own color. While swanning about high society one day, Daisy wore the massive, bright pink 17.47-carat diamond called the “Tete de Belier”. Once owned by Russian royalty, the diamond was made to attract attention, and it certainly caught designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s eye, who started thinking of a way to use its “shocking” and “pure and undiluted” color.

Daisy Fellowes was about to be immortalized.

]]> 40. Marilyn Monroe Owed Her A Favor Schiaparelli couldn’t get Daisy’s pink diamond out of her head, and she decided to use the color, which she dubbed “shocking pink” on the packaging of her new perfume. It was an instant sensation: The perfume, also called “Shocking,” is now iconic, and the pink would go on to grace some of the most famous costumes in history, including that dress and glove set Marilyn Monroe wears in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. All because of Daisy Fellowes.

]]> 41. She Was In A Ridiculous Cat Fight Daisy had always had female as well as male friends, but she had never been above a good old womanly rivalry. In 1957, she got right in the middle of a catfight. That season in Venice, Lady Marriott invited the aging Daisy to a dinner party, and Daisy just couldn’t help but try to sabotage it. She got much more than she bargained for, though.

Lady Marriott, incensed at the socialite, responded by “stealing Daisy’s hair appointment and trying to steal her evening coat”.

]]> 42. She Wasn’t Book Smart Daisy had always been a self-assured woman with a silver tongue, but there was something most people didn’t know. Although she could turn a phrase with the best of them—she once took up a post as the Paris editor of Harper’s Bazaar and wrote several novels—she wasn’t necessarily the most book-smart person in the room. This sometimes caused trouble in her pretentious high society circles.

At one point, her lover Duff Cooper was appalled that she thought Gustav Flaubert wrote Stendhal’s then famous, but now rather forgotten novel The Charterhouse of Parma. Honestly Daisy, I’m on your side on this one.

]]> 43. She Tried To Take Her Own Life As Daisy entered her 60s, her thoughts began turning dark. Without Reginald there to bring her back from the brink, Daisy began remembering when her mother took her own life, and attempted to take her own life more than once during these years. In the end, though, death was as cruel to Daisy as Daisy had been to herself.

]]> 44. She Was Alone It took until 1962—and the dawning of a Swinging Sixties that had no idea who she was—for Daisy Fellowes to finally succumb to a bad heart at the age of 72. By then, she was a shadow of her former self, and very few of her dazzling friends were alive anymore to mourn her. But when she passed on, Daisy’s biggest secret was revealed.

]]> 45. She Was Nearly Penniless Daisy had always lived like she had no fears or worries, but her death made one thing very clear: She was holding on to a very precarious existence. Although she had inherited millions when her mother passed, by the end of her own life there was precious little money left; just under 80,000 pounds of the formerly staggering Singer fortune.

And while that is certainly still a lot of money, in Daisy’s lifestyle it could have meant penury in a few short years.

]]> 46. She Was Friends With The Prince Of Wales For all that Daisy was one of the biggest bad girls of the early 20th century, she almost had even more infamy. On one of her many yacht trips, the future King Edward VIII happened to be one of her guests. Edward, who was just as fun-loving and notorious as Daisy, made for the perfect playmate—but Daisy also witnessed a state secret on this trip.

]]> 47. She Witnessed History While playing host to the prince, Daisy accepted one of the royal’s own guests aboard; the delicate-featured divorcee Wallis Simpson. And while Edward and Simpson’s affair would eventually tear apart England and force him to abdicate his throne, at this point in time the romance was extremely new, and extremely hush-hush.

But it didn’t exactly get Daisy’s seal of approval.

]]> 48. She Almost Became A Royal Mistress Although Daisy managed to keep Edward and Wallis Simpson’s love a secret—she was a high-class broad, despite everything else—she also reportedly had her eye on Edward the whole time. According to one bystander, if Edward hadn’t been so obviously in the passionate first stages of love with Wallis, “make no mistake, Daisy would have gone for him”.

]]> 49. She Once Pretended To Be A Commoner Daisy’s parties were legendary, and for good reason. She loved a theme, and once threw a costume party for her friend’s birthday where everybody had to come as “somebody else”; in classic witty fashion, Daisy decided to go as a cloakroom attendant. Even so, that wasn’t her best party idea—that honor went to an extremely wicked theme.

]]> 50. She Staged A Mean-Spirited Party From her cordial relationship with Duff Cooper’s wife Diana to her constant simmering feuds with society ladies, Daisy Fellowes was truly one of the most successful frenemies in history. And one day, she took it to the next level: This absolute legend threw a party where she only invited people that she didn’t like. You have to respect it.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=30843 <![CDATA[Margaret of Valois had an utterly twisted life—but few know her dark history.]]> 2026-09-23T10:30:00+00:00 2026-09-23T02:31:59+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-margaret-of-valois Samantha Henman People The Exiled Queen Some things are passed down from parent to child—and when your mother is the ultra-scandalous Catherine de Medici, odds are that life isn’t going to be tranquil. Margaret of Valois lived through one of the most tumultuous periods in French history, and she never shied away from getting right in the middle of the fracas. From her own “Red Wedding” to the passionate affairs and vicious power grabs that became her trademark, Margaret’s life was more jaw-dropping than an episode of Game of Thrones—and her twisted legacy is proof. Here are facts about the exiled queen, Margaret of Valois.

]]> 1. Her Family Was A Hot Mess Margaret wasn’t born to a happy family. Her father, Henry II, was more into his mistress than his brood, while her mother, Catherine de Medici, was just straight-up ruthless and conniving. Despite the fact that the two were often at odds, they produced 10 children, but—surprise, surprise—as these children grew up, their relationships were also full of hostility and betrayal.

]]> 2. She Witnessed A Horrific Tragedy When Margaret was just six years old, a tragic accident threw her entire world into chaos. An opponent badly injured her father during a joust, sending a piece of lance shrapnel right into his eye and causing brain damage. Henry passed soon after, leaving France without a ruler and Margaret without a dad. And more tragedy was to come.

]]> 3. Her Mother Was Cunning The next few years of Margaret's life were a whirlwind of horrors. While her teenage brother Francis initially reigned in his father's place, he up and died, too, leading the matriarch Catherine de Medici to install herself as Regent over Margaret's 10-year-old brother Charles. You can bet Margaret was taking notes on mom's political power plays this whole time—after all, her infamous cunning came from somewhere.

]]> 4. She Was A Femme Fatale Margaret was incredibly beautiful—so beautiful, in fact, that men considered her a femme fatale. As one admirer put it, "The beauty of that princess is more divine than human, she is made to [...] ruin men rather than to save them." Margaret's flirty personality made her all the more irresistible, and men would come to court specifically to catch a glimpse of her.

]]> 5. Her Mother Tried To Pawn Her Off In those days, a woman was only worth as much as the advantageous marriage she could make, and Margaret's mother tried desperately to ship her off to powerful suitors. It backfired horribly. Bewitching or not, a 12-year-old Margaret got rejected by Carlos, Prince of Asturias, Sebastian of Portugal, and a whole host of other European bachelors. Ouch.

]]> 6. She Had A Family Feud When she was still a teenager, Margaret was close to her brother Henry. However, true to their disturbing upbringing, the siblings bonded over some extremely messed-up things, namely how much they hated their scheming mother Catherine de Medici. Indeed, they vowed to always take each other's sides against her. As we'll see...this alliance didn't last long.

]]> 7. She Was An Eligible Bachelorette Around 1570, things "seemed" to be looking up for Margaret. Her favorite brother Henry was back from a campaign, and her mother Catherine had finally found an acceptable and willing match for Margaret: Henry of Navarre. But something was off. In the days leading up to a betrothal, her brother suddenly sensed that Margaret was hiding a dark secret—and when the truth came out, it was explosive.

]]> 8. She Rebelled In A Big Way Behind her family's back, Margaret had fallen for a man named Henry of Guise, who was essentially the 16th-century equivalent of a motorcycle-riding bad boy. In fact, Margaret’s secret lover wasn’t even welcome at the French court, though this didn't stop the pair from some very public displays of affection. Soon enough, everyone knew about them, and the consequences were dire.

]]> 9. Her Family Beat Her When Margaret’s family found out about the affair, their reaction was utterly disturbing. Furious and humiliated that one of their own could be so flagrantly immoral, Margaret's brothers and her mother turned on the princess, violently beating her for her indiscretions. But in comparison to her lover's fate, Margaret almost got off easy.

]]> 10. Her Clan Banished Her Lover Margaret's clan wanted to punish the insouciant Guise by killing him, but in the end they decided the whole thing would go away a lot more quickly if they just banished Guise from court, again, like for real this time. Yet even with Guise gone, there was no quick fix. After this act of rebellion, Margaret’s relationship with her family changed for the worst.

]]> 11. She Had A Sibling Rivalry Post-Guise, Margaret and her brother Henry developed a "lasting brotherly hatred," and all their former closeness evaporated. As for Margaret's relationship to her mother Catherine de Medici? Although they'd always been chilly with each other, they now went full-on Arctic Circle, and Margaret would never again feel much remorse for being a bad girl. And what a bad girl she was...

]]> 12. She May Not Have Been A "Maid" Margaret probably wanted to dust herself off and try again after Guise left, but a dark rumor still followed her. Many courtiers whispered that Margaret had gone all the way and consummated her puppy love with Guise, an enormous no-no for a time that valued female virginity above all else. Although this likely wasn't true, Margaret still had much bigger scandals to come.

]]> 13. She Had A Romeo And Juliet Love Story Somehow, Margaret managed to keep Henry of Navarre as an interested suitor through all this turmoil—except the potential union brought its own controversy, too. Margaret was a Catholic, Henry was a Huguenot Protestant, and together they were like the Romeo and Juliet of their religiously fractured era. Was all this trouble a bad omen? Uh, most definitely yes.

]]> 14. She Made A Good Match—At First Still, it started out well enough. Although Henry was some months younger than the 19-year-old Margaret, the teens both came into the match with good impressions, and Henry's own mother wrote to him and confirmed that his bride-to-be had "frankly owned to me the favorable impression which she has formed of you." Before long, however, it was going off the rails.

]]> 15. Her Husband Left Her At The Altar Honestly, Margaret and Henry didn't even make it down the aisle before practical problems started to show. Because of the bride and groom's different faiths, their wedding in Notre Dame Cathedral was a bizarre service. Henry, as a Huguenot, couldn't even set foot inside the Catholic church, so one of Margaret's brothers had to take his place at the altar. Awkward.

]]> 16. There Was Dark Gossip About Her People were so against the match, they weren't even satisfied with these very real hiccups, and they had to make up more sinister rumors of their own. One source even claimed that Margaret's family pushed her head down during the ceremony to mimic consent when the bride got cold feet. Although this didn't happen, soon enough Margaret did think twice about her nuptials.

]]> 17. She Had A Red Wedding Following the marriage, Margaret and Henry were settling into the honeymoon period, until their newlywed bliss turned into a bloody living nightmare. A large number of Huguenots had come to Paris to celebrate Henry’s matrimony, but days after the wedding, a Catholic faction suddenly attacked the group. Many lost their lives in the "St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre"—and when the chilling details of that day emerged, they led right back to Margaret.

]]> 18. Her Mother Became Her Nemesis There was a sinister force behind this tragedy: Margaret's own mother, Catherine de Medici. No, really. Even though the Catholic battle-axe had arranged her daughter's wedding to the Huguenot Henry of Navarre in the first place, she couldn't resist showing her new son-in-law who was boss. And if you thought this family feud couldn't get worse, it totally could.

]]> 19. Her Family Tried To Control Her Catherine de Medici still wasn't done wreaking havoc on her poor daughter's life. With her dastardly St. Bartholomew's Day plan accomplished, Catherine approached Margaret with an utterly indecent proposal. She wanted her to annul her marriage to Henry of Navarre. After all, Catherine no longer needed his family on their side. Margaret’s reaction was utterly ruthless.

]]> 20. She Made A Scandalous Confession By then, Margaret was onto her mother's game, and suspected the dowager of ulterior motives. Accordingly, she told Catherine in no uncertain terms that she’d never annul the marriage—besides, she couldn't even if she wanted to. Why? As the new bride smirkingly replied, she was "in every sense" Henry's wife, AKA: "We totally banged, mom."

]]> 21. She Had An Active Bedroom Life As it turned out, Henry and Margaret were having "conjugal visits" a lot. In fact, it's actually historical record that the newlyweds were doing their duty day in and day out with each other. Except there was one huge problem. For all this time spent in the marriage bed, Margaret still wasn't getting pregnant with an heir. And the solution wasn't so simple.

]]> 22. She Was Barren Baby-making in the 16th century was far from an exact science, considering women perished from childbirth on the regular. Still, it didn't take a modern doctor to figure out that lots of banging and no pregnancy likely meant devastating news: Margaret was sterile. For a while, though, the couple kept trying—yet there was something else driving them apart.

]]> 23. Her Husband Was A Huge Jerk Henry of Navarre was a total rake, and having a ring on his finger only seemed to make him more irresistible to women. He kept scores of mistresses, and would rub his flings right in Margaret’s face. Rude—but that’s not even the worst part. The one he would flaunt the most was one of her mother’s lackeys, the beautiful Charlotte de Sauve.

]]> 24. She Bared It All Obviously, people loved spreading gossip about Margaret of Valois, even her own friends. So when her regular correspondent Pierre de Bourdeille printed a text on her that contained multiple mistakes and false rumors, Margaret shot back. In 1594, she wrote her own memoirs, becoming the first woman to do so...then cheekily sent it right to Bourdeille, complete with a dedication made out to him.

]]> 25. Her King Had A Sad Downfall As if keeping her husband satisfied and keeping her mother at bay wasn't enough, Margaret quickly had a new problem on her hands. Although her brother Charles had been king for quite some time, he was rapidly losing his mind and his health, putting the throne in jeopardy. Like everything else in Margaret's life, the transition was full of family drama and betrayal.

]]> 26. She Betrayed Her Brothers See, Margaret's allegiances were now split between her Protestant husband Henry and her Catholic family. So when her youngest, most religiously tolerant, and frankly most attractive brother Francis wanted the throne, Margaret backed him to make her hubby happy. This? Was not a good move. Her older siblings found out the plan, and they were not merciful.

]]> 27. She Nearly Lost It All Margaret and Henry's first treasonous plot together as husband and wife failed miserably, and her family doled out a brutal revenge. They threw Navarre behind bars, along with Margaret's baby brother Francis for good measure. Margaret, beside herself, spent her days sending letters and pleading for their release. Not that Navarre thanked her...

]]> 28. Her Husband Was A Fugitive By 1576, both Henry of Navarre and Francis managed to escape their captivity without Margaret's help. In fact, Henry didn't even bother to warn his wife that he was planning to break out, and Margaret found out only when royal aides accused her of abetting her fugitive husband, confining her to her rooms as punishment. But a twist of fate changed everything.

]]> 29. Her Family Didn't Forgive Her In 1574, King Charles IX passed at last, and Margaret's erstwhile bosom brother Henry became King Henry III. Upon taking the throne, the new king found it in his heart to forgive Margaret and Henry's sins...sort of. He kept her and her family under surveillance for years, and even threw them in and out of jail intermittently. Don’t forget who’s boss!

]]> 30. She Had A Debauched Court The thing is, captivity didn't tame Margaret or Henry of Navarre in the slightest; it only made them wilder. Sure, as Queen of Navarre, Margaret worked to assemble a refined court, but after hours, she really let loose. Her exploits were so notorious, they inspired Shakespeare’s comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost.  So it was no surprise, then, when things really got messy.

]]> 31. She Had A Teenage Rival With Margaret still barren, Henry of Navarre began to truly push his queen away—until their relationship reached a dire breaking point. One day, Margaret discovered that Henry's teenage mistress (and her lady-in-waiting) Francoise de Montmorency-Fosseux, was pregnant with the king's child. Margaret did not handle the situation well.

]]> 32. She Got Into A Notorious Screaming Match Rightfully grossed out by the whole drama, Margaret tried to banish Francoise from her sight and her court, only to witness a teen-pregnant meltdown to end all meltdowns. Francoise screamed back at her queen that she would never, ever leave, and swore that she would marry Henry once Margaret was gone. That's not what happened, but it wasn't any less tragic.

]]> 33. She Birthed A Stillborn Baby Margaret, hoping to save both her face and the young girl's, secreted Francoise away when the mistress finally went into labor. Within minutes, it was clear it was going to be difficult and that the baby wasn't going to survive. Nonetheless, it was here Margaret showed a different side. She helped Francoise through a traumatic stillbirth...and then she pounced.

]]> 34. She Ruined Her Marriage Margaret quickly decided to ruin Francoise's life from afar—but she also ruined her own in the process. After that tragic business, the queen fled to Paris and into the loving arms of her other dysfunctional family. On the advice of her mother Catherine (never a good idea), Margaret finally fired the still-healing girl from her service. Henry was furious, and from that moment on, their marriage was effectively over.

]]> 35. She Had A Public Affair In the story of Margaret of Valois, this is the major turning point into "good girl gone bad." Margaret rebounded big time, even inviting one of her lovers, Jacques de Harlay, to come cavort with her Paris. She was so obvious about it that when she fell sick, people started to whisper that she was pregnant with Harlay's child. The reaction was swift and vicious.

]]> 36. She Suffered A Brutal Humiliation Margaret's brother King Henry III was already teed off with his sister's many betrayals against him, and he was all too ready to believe she'd messed up yet again. In response, he unceremoniously expelled Margaret from his court, thereby legitimizing all the malicious gossip about her and dealing her an enormous humiliation—but it didn’t stop there.

]]> 37. She Lived In Exile Don't forget: Margaret's husband Henry of Navarre wasn't pleased with her either, and he staunchly refused to accept her back home. So for eight long months, the mortified queen was stuck in a limbo between Paris and Navarre, all while the entirety of Europe looked on in shock and disapproval. Then the tinderbox got more fuel.

]]> 38. She Lost Her Beloved Sibling In 1584, Margaret's younger brother Francis—her biggest ally throughout all these years—passed. This was a bad situation in more ways than one. With Francis gone, Henry of Navarre was actually next in line for the French throne, and Margaret was under more pressure than ever to produce a legitimate heir with him. It was enough to make a woman go mad. And well, Margaret kind of did.

]]> 39. She Turned On Her Family After years of manipulation, Margaret was T-H-R-O-U-G-H. Her next act was so scandalous that it’s unforgettable. First, she abandoned her husband—which wasn’t exactly an option for a woman in the 16th century, let alone a queen. Then, she rallied a squad of men and started fighting against, well, everyone even remotely related to her. Spoiler: It did not go well.

]]> 40. She Watched Her Friend Die Margaret lasted about a year before the walls closed in on her. On October 13, 1586, her brother King Henry III's forces caught her, imprisoned her, and then executed one of her closest aides, Jean de Lard de Galard, right in front of her eyes. Defeated both literally and spiritually, Margaret assumed she was next up to the chopping block, and her reaction was desperate.

]]> 41. She Wrote A Desperate Letter Certain her time was up, Margaret sent a heartbreaking "farewell" letter to her mother Catherine de Medici. In it, she made one bizarre last request. As per usual, people had assumed that the late de Galard was her lover, so Margaret pleaded for someone perform to a post-mortem autopsy on her body just to prove she wasn't pregnant with his child. Um, desperate times?

]]> 42. She Made A Great Escape In the end, Margaret's own cunning helped her escape her cruel fate. In 1587, after half a year in captivity, her guard, the Marquis de Canillac, had a sudden change of heart and released her. Some say Margaret must have seduced him, while others believe she merely paid him off. Whatever the truth, our girl was one smart cookie.

]]> 43. She Tried To Settle Down By the age of 35, Margaret of Valois had married a king, carried on multiple affairs, staged a coup or two, and been exiled from her home. To the surprise of many who followed her scandalous exploits, she then just…kind of chilled out. Margaret decided to stay in the castle where she had been imprisoned, and lived there in exile for the next 18 years. Ah, if only things stayed peaceful.

]]> 44. She Could Have Been Queen Again In 1589, a new plot twist appeared in Margaret's life. Her brother King Henry III passed, turning her estranged husband Henry of Navarre into the next King of France. It might have been an opportunity for them to reconcile once more and rule France together, but...nope, there was no way in heck Margaret was going back to that. So she helped come up with an ingenious solution.

]]> 45. She Cancelled Her Marriage Knowing that, as the new King of France, Henry of Navarre now really wanted a legitimate heir she couldn't possibly provide, Margaret consented to annul her marriage. The pair quickly appealed to the papacy, citing Margaret’s sterility, the fact that their families were related, and their estrangement as evidence. Yet Margaret had some tricks up her sleeve...

]]> 46. She Made A Big Request Margaret wasn't going along with the annulment out of the goodness of her heart, oh no. Instead, she made two scandalous demands. First, like every self-respecting ex-wife, she wanted a buttload of money from Henry. Second, she demanded carte-blanche approval of whoever her no-good husband married next. And yes, this caused drama.

]]> 47. She Shot Her Husband Down Margaret had a lot of leverage, and she also had a grudge. At the top of Henry's bridal list was Gabrielle d'Estrees, his longtime mistress. Beep—WRONG CHOICE. Margaret immediately nixed the idea, saying she would never approve of him marrying someone “of such low extraction and of so impure a life.” Imagine being the victim of that beautifully-worded burn!

]]> 48. She Made An Unlikely Friend In the end, Henry went with one of Margaret's distant relatives, the Italian noble Marie de Medici, as his new bride, marrying her in 1600. Besides the fact that Margaret got to keep it in her own family, Marie and the former queen actually became BFFs after the marriage, with Margaret even managing to maintain her title. And they say exes can't be friends.

]]> 49. She Had A Strange Comeback Now back in the good graces of the king, Margaret made a triumphant return to Paris. Except when she arrived, the public was shocked. After nearly 20 years away, Margaret of Valois was like a bizarre old relic; her face was red and aged, and her clothing absurdly outdated. Nevertheless, she ended up charming them all—which makes what eventually happened to her so sad.

]]> 50. She Learned A Hard Lesson After many rebellious years fighting against the wishes of her family and spouse, late-life Margaret became a people pleaser. She pretty much became the cool aunt to King Henry and Queen Marie’s quickly growing family, and was even named godmother to one of their sons. It was a happy time, yet it wouldn’t last for long.

]]> 51. She Was A Secret Hero Margaret had a softer side that not many history books make clear. For example, when her mother Catherine de Medici orchestrated the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Margaret sprang into action to save many of the Protestants, helping the Huguenots and hiding their leaders in her own royal quarters to protect them.

]]> 52. She Was In A Bizarre Love Triangle When Margaret's husband began cheating on her soon after they married, she did not take that disrespect sitting down. She took a lover of her own, the dashing Louis de Bussy d'Amboise, who also happened to be the lover of her younger brother Francis of Alencon. Yep, you read that right, Margaret split a paramour with her brother. I mean, you know what they say: The family that shares together...

]]> 53. She Inspired Mixed Feelings Margaret of Valois fell ill in 1615 and passed in Paris at the age of 61. Incredibly, she had survived the reigns of six (!!!) separate Kings of France. One of the court’s statesmen eulogized her by saying she was “a princess full of kindness and good intentions.” However, her legacy is clearly complicated; he also described her as “her only enemy.”

]]> 54. People Called Her A Nympho Throughout her life, Margaret was the subject of intense, malicious, and largely unfounded gossip. Among the accusations were a rumor that the Queen of France was a nymphomaniac—but somehow, it gets darker. A series of political pamphlets even once accused Margaret of having an inappropriate and intimate relationship with her older brother Henry. Ew.

]]> 55. A Myth Plagued Her Name When most people think of Margaret, they tend to think of the way that she was portrayed by 19th-century author Alexandre Dumas in his novel La Reine Margot—but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Dumas based his story on all that spurious propaganda about Margaret, portraying her as nothing more than a pawn and a strumpet.

Sadly, the popularity of his novel ensured that this became the dominant narrative of this misunderstood queen’s life. Now, though, we know the real story.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=29623 <![CDATA[Elizabeth Charlotte was mocked and humiliated when she arrived at Versailles—but history made sure she got the last laugh.]]> 2026-09-23T14:55:00+00:00 2026-09-22T21:22:15+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-princess-elizabeth-charlotte-madame-palatine Brendan Da Costa People She Wrote Down Europe’s Secrets Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine wasn’t the most popular woman in King Louis XIV’s court—but she knew everyone’s secrets. Her exhaustive letter-writing revealed the scandals, betrayals, and intrigues of Europe’s royal houses. Even if she was often the laughingstock, Madame Palatine would get the last word when her grandchildren ascended to thrones across the continent.

]]> 1. She Was The Only Girl Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine was born into imperial grandeur in late May of 1652 in Heidelberg, a city within the Holy Roman Emperor. Her father was Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine and her mother was Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel. Despite her high pedigree, everyone took to calling her “Liselotte”—a simple blending of her mother’s and grandmother’s (Elizabeth Stuart’s) names.

She almost never made it out of infancy.

]]> 2. She Made A Miraculous Recovery Born "very weak and thin," no one was certain that little Elizabeth Charlotte would survive past birth given her condition. So, in a rush, her parents had her baptized—and it worked. Elizabeth Charlotte became a vigorously healthy child, preferring hunting and climbing trees to embroidery and etiquette. In her later letters (thousands of which have survived), she even called herself a “wild child”.

One thing was certain: she was about to have a wild childhood.

]]> 3. Her Parents Fought—Brutally Elizabeth Charlotte' idyllic imperial childhood fell apart quickly. By 1657, she had witnessed her father hitting her mother before the couple finally separated. Despite the marriage possibly never officially ending in divorce, Elizabeth Charlotte's father remarried. Her new stepmother was the comparatively low-born Marie Luise von Degenfeld. To make matters worse, von Degenfeld came with 13 new complications.

]]> 4. She Had A New Family When Elizabeth Charlotte's father remarried, she gained 13 new siblings. Sadly, many of them did not survive into adulthood. However, despite her rocky relationship with her stepmother, Elizabeth Charlotte forged a deep and abiding relationship with her half-brother Karl Ludwig, whom she lovingly nicknamed “Black Head” because of his dark hair.

Their time together would be painfully short.

]]> 5. Her Father Sent Her Away Elizabeth Charlotte's father wasn’t satisfied with his own separation from her mother—he wanted Elizabeth Charlotte separated from her too. When she turned seven, he shipped her off to live with his youngest sister, Sophia of the Palatinate, far removed in Hanover. However, the joke was on him. Elizabeth Charlotte remembered those years as some of her happiest and found in her aunt a lifelong maternal figure.

In fact, she gained more than one new stand-in mother.

]]> 6. She Wasn’t Like Her German Family Elizabeth Charlotte could win over anyone—including her English grandmother Elizabeth Stuart. Despite Stuart’s aversion to children, she became fond of Elizabeth Charlotte and even wrote of her approvingly, saying, “She is not like the House of Hesse…she is like ours”. The subtle nod to her English heritage was as much of an endorsement as she could hope to get, and she even became a close playmate of her cousin, the future King William III of England.

But her father wouldn't let her become too English.

]]> 7. She Returned Home In 1663, Elizabeth Charlotte's father called her back home after kicking her mother out of Heidelberg Castle. Thus began her formal education in “dancing, playing the spinet, singing, handicrafts, and history”. By that time, however, she was already fluent in French and could read the Bible in both her native German and French. Her religious education proved to be quite revolutionary.

]]> 8. She Learned Tolerance Long before it was fashionable, Elizabeth Charlotte learned the importance of religious tolerance. Her governess at Heidelberg saw to it that Elizabeth Charlotte never showed “any hatred or prejudice against someone because they belong to a different religion”. However, being a Calvinist herself in a largely Catholic Europe, religious tolerance was more about survival than anything else.

She would need her faith for what came next.

]]> 9. She Snagged A French Prince When King Louis XIV of France was looking for a suitable match for his younger brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, there was only one good choice: Elizabeth Charlotte. The political marriage was meant to forge lasting peace between France and the Palatinate, regardless of her wishes. To finalize the agreement, Elizabeth Charlotte had to convert to Catholicism. That would be the least of the compromises she would have to make.

]]> 10. She Never Abandoned Her Faith Elizabeth Charlotte's conversion to Catholicism was probably all for show. Marrying into the French Royal family was unquestionably a step up for the Palatine family, so she got the better end of the deal. But, throughout her life, she remained skeptical of Catholic dogma and procedures and sympathetic towards Lutherans and Calvinists.

Sincere or not in her conversion, the marriage was on.

]]> 11. She Married A Total Stranger Elizabeth Charlotte's wedding went ahead without the groom. On November 16, 1671, she said her vows at the Cathedral of Saint Stephen in Metz. To whom, you ask? The Duke of Plessis-Praslin, who stood in for the absentee Philippe I. Just like that, she became the “Madame” to his “Monsieur”. Four days later, Elizabeth Charlotte would finally meet her husband, who was 12 years her senior.

Her first impression was…grim.

]]> 12. She Catalogued His Every Flaw 15 years after Philippe I was gone, Elizabeth Charlotte confessed that her first impression of him had been underwhelming. Writing to Caroline, Princess of Wales, in 1716, she offered this (unflattering) portrait: “Monsieur didn't look ignoble, but he was very short, had pitch black hair, eyebrows and eyelids, big brown eyes, a long and rather narrow face, a big nose, a mouth that was too small and ugly teeth”.

Then she took aim at his personality, as it was.

]]> 13. Her Husband Was More “Feminine” In that same letter to the Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Charlotte was even more critical of Philippe I’s personality—and his heart—than she had been of his looks. She claimed that he had “never been in love in his life”. Further, she wrote about his “more feminine than masculine manners”, saying that he preferred “everything that ladies love”.

She was even more right than she knew.

]]> 14. She Shared Him With Another Elizabeth Charlotte's early suspicions about Philippe I’s “feminine” inclinations were entirely correct. The historical record is clear: Philippe I was attracted to both men and women, and may even have “preferred men to women”. None competed for Philippe’s attention quite as much as the Chevalier de Lorraine, with whom he carried on a lifelong romantic relationship.

The Chevalier wasn’t her only competitor for her husband’s affections.

]]> 15. She Answered To His Favorites Elizabeth Charlotte could only watch in horror as Philippe kept company with a widening circle of younger men. Then, much to her chagrin, Philippe added insult to injury when he made Antoine Morel de Volonne—one of his many lovers—a close personal aide of hers for 10 years. Even by the already low standards of the time, de Volonne was seen as a scoundrel who “sold boys like horses”.

Elizabeth Charlotte could barely even share a bed with her new husband.

]]> 16. She Found Relief In Rejection Whatever love Philippe I had in him, Elizabeth Charlotte saw little of it. Even in their marital bed, if her arm accidentally touched his, he would recoil in disgust and reprimand her for the inadvertent affection. Somehow, the couple managed to fulfill their marital duties, but after the birth of their third child, Philippe I ended their physical relationship.

Elizabeth Charlotte, for her part, could not have been happier about it.

]]> 17. She Was Unusually Progressive Elizabeth Charlotte developed a reluctant (if disdainful) tolerance for her husband’s lifestyle. Writing to one of her half-sisters in 1705, Elizabeth Charlotte said, “Where have you and Louisse got stuck that you know so little about the world…those who want to hate everyone who loves young guys wouldn’t be able to love 6 people here…You tell, dear Amelisse, that the world is even worse than you never thought”.

Even so, she and Philippe led totally different lives.

]]> 18. She Kept Her Own Staff Elizabeth Charlotte and Philippe I may have shared a marital bed (for a time), but that’s where the sharing ended. She made a point of keeping her own apartments within Philippe I’s residences inside of France’s regal palaces. She even went so far as to keep a staff of her own, consisting of some 250 people. Philippe’s staff was larger, but Elizabeth Charlotte kept what mattered most: their children.

]]> 19. She Lost Her Firstborn Son Elizabeth Charlotte gave her children the affection her husband refused. So, in 1676, when her eldest son Alexandre Louis perished at the age of two, she was utterly crestfallen. Writing that April, she said, “I don’t think one can [perish] from excessive sadness, otherwise I would undoubtedly have [gone]”. It wasn’t until six months later, with the birth of her daughter, that the dark cloud lifted.

Then she found an unlikely and powerful ally.

]]> 20. She Hunted With The King Elizabeth Charlotte had clearly married the wrong brother. When the court retreated to Fontainebleau for the autumn hunting season, no one—except for King Louis XIV himself—could keep up with her. The duo were practically inseparable, hunting from dawn until dusk. Even after the sun set, they weren’t done. “Returning from the hunt,” she wrote, “we all went to the evening meal, and from there to the ball”.

Their friendship only grew from there.

]]> 21. She Charmed A King If Philippe I had no use for his wife, his brother certainly did. King Louis XIV was reportedly “enchanted by the fact that this was an extremely witty and lovely woman” and remarked “that she danced well”. Where the French court saw a blunt German outsider, the King saw someone refreshingly free of pretense whose “keen intelligence” he respected and whose “sincerity” he appreciated.

He even liked her strange habits.

]]> 22. She Wandered The Gardens At Night Elizabeth Charlotte enjoyed strolling through the gardens at Versailles. While the rest of the French court found it odd, King Louis XIV found it utterly charming. He once told her, “Il n’y a que Vous qui jouissés des beautés de Versailles” (You are the only one who enjoys the beauties of Versailles). But, as her friendship with the King deepened, the jealousies at court intensified.

]]> 23. She Was Stuck Between Two Brothers The historian Dirk Van der Cruysse—who also wrote Elizabeth Charlotte's biography—summed up her position at court perfectly. “She was providentially placed between two completely dissimilar brothers,” he remarked. According to Van der Cruysse, Elizabeth Charlotte endeavored to show “her affection to both of them, wholeheartedly and without any ulterior motives”.

Still, she attracted the envy of less noble nobles.

]]> 24. She Was “Ungainly” Within the walls of Versailles, beauty was its own currency—and Elizabeth Charlotte had little of it. Her contemporaries within the French court described her as “ungainly and plain in appearance, with a brash and assertive manner”. Even so, she managed to win over some of her detractors who had originally written her off as an “uncultivated foreigner”.

Even the sharpest tongue in France had to admit it.

]]> 25. She Won Over Her Harshest Critic When the whip-tongued Madame de Sévigné paid Elizabeth Charlotte a backhanded compliment by quipping, “What a delight to have a woman again who can’t speak French!” her social fate seemed sealed. However, it wasn’t long before Sévigné was singing her praises. “I was amazed at her jokes,” Sévigné confessed, complimenting her “charming directness”.

Not all of her critics would be so easily won over.

]]> 26. Her Enemies Picked Off Her Friends Elizabeth Charlotte tolerated her husband’s lovers—but they didn’t tolerate her. Fearing her growing influence over her husband, the Chevalier—along with a cabal of Philippe I’s other male lovers—conspired to isolate her. They successfully booted her closest confidantes from court, leaving her without powerful allies. And that was just their opening salvo.

]]> 27. She Shut Herself In Her Writing Room Isolated and outmaneuvered, Elizabeth Charlotte withdrew further and further from court, finding refuge only in her own quarters. From the safety of her writing room, she told her aunt, Duchess Sophia of Hanover, all that was happening: “Monsieur…has nothing in the world on his mind but his young boys to eat and drink with them all nights and gives them unheard-of sums of money”.

Worse, she wrote, “his children and I hardly have what we need”. The scandals only worsened from there.

]]> 28. She Raised The King’s Son King Louis XIV was no saint himself, and he left behind a string of illegitimate children. One of them, Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Vermandois, somehow found his way into her care. What she didn’t know, however, was that her young ward had fallen in with a secret “brotherhood” of aristocratic young men, one that required its members to “swear an oath to renounce all women”.

When the scandal came to light, Elizabeth Charlotte would lose more than prestige.

]]> 29. She Couldn’t Protect Her Ward Elizabeth Charlotte had taken the young Comte de Vermandois under her wing and loved him as her own. But she had been powerless to save him from the predations of the likes of the Chevalier de Lorraine and others. When the scandal broke, she would be even more powerless to save him from the fury and indignation of the boy’s father, King Louis XIV.

]]> 30. She Lost Her Nephew Too Soon News of the Comte de Vermandois’ association with the “brotherhood” broke in June of 1682—and Louis XIV showed no mercy. He exiled the Chevalier de Lorraine and the other members of the “brotherhood”, then banished Vermandois to Normandy before packing him off to fight in Flanders. He would never return home. To her horror, he perished in battle at the age of 16.

It was a loss that cut her more deeply than she had expected.

]]> 31. She Refused To Blame The Boy Even years later, Elizabeth Charlotte refused to blame her ward for his corruption and scandal. “The Comte de Vermandois was very good-natured,” she insisted, remembering that “the poor person loved me as if I were his birth mother”. In her telling, the boy had confided everything to her before the end: “He told me his whole story. He had been horribly seduced”.

By now, she wanted out of the palace and its scandals.

]]> 32. She Asked To Disappear By 1682, Elizabeth Charlotte had reached her limit. Philippe I remained unfailingly committed to the Chevalier de Lorraine—despite his horrific actions against the young Comte de Vermandois—and her enemies continued conspiring against her. Desperate, she appealed to King Louis XIV to send her away to an abbey run by one of her aunts.

Louis XIV refused. He, too, would become an enemy.

]]> 33. She Loathed The King’s New Mistress Elizabeth Charlotte's crisis at court worsened when Louis XIV threw open his bedroom doors to the infamous Madame de Maintenon, his unofficial “second wife and untitled queen”. Elizabeth Charlotte despised Maintenon for her low birth, lust for power, and haughty, holier-than-thou attitude. In her letters, Elizabeth Charlotte called her newest rival everything from “the King’s old drab” to an “old witch”.

The insults would cost her dearly.

]]> 34. She Lost Her Only Ally Maintenon knew exactly how to hurt Elizabeth Charlotte: by putting distance between her and the King. Louis XIV’s new mistress saw to it that her access to her brother-in-law was restricted to formal occasions only. No hunting, no late-night dinner parties, no dancing. Writing to her aunt Sophia in 1686, Elizabeth Charlotte lamented: “Where the devil can’t get there, he sends an old woman”.

Even her letters weren’t safe.

]]> 35. Her Letters Fell Into The Hands Of Spies Elizabeth Charlotte had long confided in her letters—but they weren’t private anymore. King Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon had her letters monitored, reading every one of her scathing insults. But Elizabeth Charlotte was no fool and she knew that her letters were being intercepted. In fact, she often wrote insults addressed to the King’s spies in her letters.

Her insubordination was not something the Crown could overlook.

]]> 36. Her Fellow Huguenots Fled For Their Lives Elizabeth Charlotte had been raised to have religious tolerance. King Louis XIV had not been. So, in October of 1685, he signed the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the protections of French Protestants. Elizabeth Charlotte, having converted to Catholicism, was safe from persecution—but her family was not. Her aunt, Emilie of Hesse-Kassel, was among the 400,000 Huguenots who fled to friendlier countries.

The worst was yet to come.

]]> 37. Her Childhood Home Burned To The Ground When Elizabeth Charlotte's brother Charles II passed in 1685, the Palatine line ended with him—and Louis XIV saw his opening. Ignoring the terms of her own marriage contract, he claimed the Palatinate in her own name and launched a bloody nine-year conflict. During the fighting, French troops torched her childhood home of Heidelberg Castle and the surrounding town, then leveled Mannheim for good measure.

Elizabeth Charlotte placed all of the blame on one person—and it wasn’t the King.

]]> 38. She Blamed It All On Herself Elizabeth Charlotte took the destruction of the Palatinate as her own personal catastrophe. Writing once again to her aunt, Duchess Sophia of Hanover, in March of 1689, she said, “…the terrible and pathetic misery in the poor Palatinate began, and what hurts me most about it is that my name is used to plunge poor people into utter misfortune…I am the downfall of my homeland”.

Her persecution didn’t end there.

]]> 39. She Had No Say In Her Son’s Marriage In 1692, King Louis XIV foisted another one of his illegitimate children onto Elizabeth Charlotte. However, this time, she was not at all impressed or grateful. Without consulting Elizabeth Charlotte—much less, seeking her approval—Louis XIV arranged a marriage between his legitimized daughter, Françoise Marie de Bourbon, and her son, Philippe II.

Her reaction was…explosive.

]]> 40. She Cried Tears Of Fury Elizabeth Charlotte and the rest of the French court saw the marriage of Philippe II and Françoise Marie for what it was: a mésalliance. A “humiliating” insult from Louis XIV. And Elizabeth Charlotte responded accordingly. According to the historical record, Elizabeth Charlotte was so irate that she cried tears of fury in front of the entire court and “slapped her son” for consenting to the arrangement.

Her son certainly didn’t have her fighting spirit.

]]> 41. She Survived With Terrible Scars When Elizabeth Charlotte contracted smallpox in 1693, she defied the odds and made a full recovery—kind of. The disease left her face horribly “pockmarked”. However, Elizabeth Charlotte acted like nothing had changed. She had never considered herself to be attractive, refusing to wear makeup, wigs, or fancy clothes. However, there was one consequence that she struggled with.

]]> 42. She Became Too Big For Her Britches Elizabeth Charlotte might never have cared about her appearance, but she did care about her physicality. After recovering from her episode of smallpox, she gained a shocking amount of weight. The exact reason remains unknown, but the consequences were severe. From 1694 onwards, she could no longer go for long walks in the gardens of Versailles as she once had and could only ride the strongest of horses.

Big or not, she nearly ascended to the throne.

]]> 43. She Almost Ruled England In 1701, Elizabeth Charlotte's aunt, Sophia of Hanover, became the heir presumptive to the English crown. Funny enough, she might have received the honor herself had she not previously converted to Catholicism, making her ineligible. Not that she wanted the British throne. “The English humor and their parliament are not my business,” she wrote to one of her half-sisters. “I would rather be elector than king in England”.

Either way, her life was about to change for the better.

]]> 44. She Covered For Her Husband June 9, 1701: Elizabeth Charlotte day of liberation. Following a “heated argument” with King Louis XIV, Philippe I succumbed to a stroke, leaving her as his widow. By renouncing their shared assets, she managed to avoid having to pay off his considerable debts, but she still had to cover for him. Elizabeth Charlotte hurriedly destroyed as much of the evidence of his scandalous love life as she could.

But she wasn’t in the clear yet.

]]> 45. She Appealed To An Old Friend Elizabeth Charlotte's marriage contract had stated that, should she outlive Philippe I, she would join a convent. Elizabeth Charlotte, however, had no such intentions. The only person with the power to void that clause was the King. Desperately, she wrote to him, “If I hadn’t loved you, then I would not have hated Madame de Maintenon so much, precisely because I believed she was robbing me of your favor”.

Madame de Maintenon was not fooled.

]]> 46. Her Nemesis Tried To Intercept Her The historical record suggests Elizabeth Charlotte was being honest in her appeal to King Louis XIV and sincere in her attempt at reconciliation. However, her archnemesis, Madame de Maintenon, was unmoved. Maintenon simply presented Elizabeth Charlotte with all of the letters that she had written over the years, replete with scathing insults against the King’s mistress.

Some friendships, however, could endure anything.

]]> 47. She Made Nice With The King Much to Madame de Maintenon’s chagrin, Elizabeth Charlotte and King Louis XIV managed to patch up their old friendship. Far from getting shipped off to a convent, Elizabeth Charlotte continued living at Versailles in Philippe I’s old apartments and even resumed hunting with King Louis XIV (albeit from the comfort of a carriage instead of vigorously on horseback).

Still, Maintenon wanted to exact her revenge.

]]> 48. Her Life Was Miserable—But She Hid It Madame de Maintenon was relentless in her pursuit of vengeance against Elizabeth Charlotte. Writing again to her aunt Sophia, Elizabeth Charlotte said, “…she (Madame de Maintenon) does every day abrupt to me, have the bowls I want to eat taken away from my nose at the King’s table”. Elizabeth Charlotte kept her composure, which only enraged Maintenon further.

Still, she called her life in Versailles “miserable”. Thankfully, another chapter was just around the corner.

]]> 49. She Became The Most Powerful Woman In France When King Louis XIV passed in September of 1715, he paid Elizabeth Charlotte the high honor of making her one of the last people he saw. Shortly after, her son Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, became the Regent—and Elizabeth Charlotte became untouchable. As the mother of the Regent, she became the “first lady at court” and settled into a peaceful period in her life.

She immediately set out to right old wrongs.

]]> 50. She Saved Hundreds Of Huguenots Even at the height of her power, Elizabeth Charlotte had steered clear of politics. According to her, “France had been ruled by women long enough”. However, when she did intervene, she saved lives—and righted one very bad wrong. With Louis XIV gone, she managed to secure the freedom of more than 200 Huguenots, sparing them from further imprisonment.

She was, in fact, far more intelligent than anyone gave her credit for.

]]> 51. She Had A Massive Library Elizabeth Charlotte didn’t just write a lot; she also read voraciously. Her personal library consisted of “more than 3,000 volumes” including novels, plays, Biblical translations, maps, travelogues, “and tomes of natural history, medicine and mathematics”. She even dabbled in the sciences (owning three microscopes with which she inspected insects) and was an avid coin collector.

]]> 52. She Out-Wrote Every Letter Writer In Europe Elizabeth Charlotte filled her library with other writers’ works. But she could have filled it with her own letters. Over her lifetime, historians believe that she wrote some 60,000 letters, two-thirds in German and the rest in French. Sadly, only about 5,000 of them survive. Still, by comparison, the equally prolific Madame de Sévigné left behind about 1,200.

The number of letters is impressive. Their contents are even more so.

]]> 53. She Wrote The Way She Spoke Elizabeth Charlotte called her correspondence “chat”—and she meant it literally. A single letter might run 15 to 30 pages—written on gilt-edged paper, no less. “I write as I speak,” she admitted, “because I am too natural to think before I write”. Her biographer characterized her as such: “Had Madame lived in our time, she would have spent her days on the phone”.

She was just as happy to share gossip as she was to hear it.

]]> 54. She Refused To Mourn Her Nemesis On April 16, 1719, word reached Elizabeth Charlotte that Madame de Maintenon was gone—and she didn’t bother faking grief. “This morning I find out that the old Maintenon [passed], yesterday evening between 4 and 5 o’clock,” she wrote. Then came her patent frankness: “It would be very lucky if it happened 30 years ago”. Her own final years were fast approaching.

]]> 55. She Wept For Her Old Friend Elizabeth Charlotte didn’t shed a tear for Madame de Maintenon, but another familiar name jerked forth the waterworks. In June of 1722, Elizabeth Charlotte returned to Versailles for the last time and, walking the halls, she came upon the room where Louis XIV had spent his final hours. That’s when she broke down. “I cannot get used to seeing nothing but children everywhere,” she wrote, “and nowhere the great king whom I loved so dearly”.

She would see him soon.

]]> 56. She Slipped Away Before Dawn At 3:30 in the morning on December 8, 1722, Elizabeth Charlotte wrote her final letter. She passed at her beloved Chteau de Saint-Cloud, aged 70. She had outlived Philippe I by 21 years, and, despite their marital challenges, was laid to rest beside him in the royal necropolis at the Basilica of Saint-Denis. Her son was so consumed with grief that he couldn’t attend her funeral.

]]> 57. She Was Dignity Itself Elizabeth Charlotte's popularity had waxed and waned with the times. But, in the end, no one had a bad word to say about her. “I don’t know anyone who was so proud and generous and yet by no means haughty,” the sermon at her funeral mass began, “I don’t know anyone who was so engaging and amiable and yet by no means slack and powerless…Everything about her was dignity”.

But perhaps not everyone read her letters.

]]> 58. She Exposed All Of Their Secrets Out of the tens of thousands of letters Elizabeth Charlotte crafted, much of them were filled with the Court's darkest secrets. She didn't hold back, writing about adultery, rumors of homosexuality, outrageous court scandals, and even whispers of illegitimate royal children. But her letters about Madame de Maintenon take the cake. 

]]> 59. She Doubled Down On Her Enemy Because Madame de Maintenon had something Elizabeth Charlotte wanted (Louis XIV), she was the subject of many of her letters. Not only did Elizabeth Charlotte refer to Madame de Maintenon with brutally insulting terms, she also revealed the details of her morganatic marriage to the king, exposing how a low-ranking widow happened to corner the most powerful king in the world.

Her letters weren't the only thing making her famous. 

]]> 60. She Became The Grandmother Of Europe Elizabeth Charlotte—once the awkward German outsider—got the last laugh in Versailles. With Philippe I, Elizabeth Charlotte founded the fourth House of Orléans, which eventually put her son Louis-Philippe on the French throne from 1830 to 1848. Further, through her daughter, she became grandmother to Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and great-grandmother to Marie Antoinette.

Though we all know how that ended.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=28722 <![CDATA[Caterina Sforza’s Beautiful Face Hid How Terrifying She Could Actually Be]]> 2026-09-18T15:42:56+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-caterina-sforza Jillian Kent People Who Runs The World? (Girls) In a time when men relegated women to the sidelines, Caterina Sforza refused to let anyone silence her. Well-educated and descended from a line of powerful leaders, she utilized her strength, wit, and determination to wield a rare power. However, her beauty and cunning also hid just how terrifying she could be.

]]> 1. Her Birth Was Illegitimate Life never did Caterina Sforza any favors. From the moment that she entered the world, she found herself at a disadvantage. Although her father was Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, her mother was Lucrezia Landriani—his mistress. As Galeazzo’s illegitimate daughter, Caterina may have had biological claims to his impressive legacy, but socially, her ability to access that prestige depended on her father's whims.

]]> 2. She Depended On Her Father Thankfully for Caterina, her father appeared inclined to keep his children in his life. Galeazzo brought Caterina, along with her three siblings (all his illegitimate children via Landriani), to court when his father passed, and this elevated him to the title of Duke of Milan. However, it was there that they had to contend with some powerful forces: namely, the duke’s wives.

]]> 3. She Gained A Step Mother Galeazzo married Dorotea Gonzaga the same year that he became the Duke of Milan. During this time, his mother, Bianca Maria Visconti, had charge of his children by another woman. However, Gonzaga had little time to complain about Galeazzo’s illegitimate children living in her household, as fate dealt her a tragic twist.

According to some sources, she succumbed to illness before the marriage took place. Others state that she passed slightly later. However, regardless of the date, Galeazzo quickly replaced her, leaving Caterina at the mercy of another woman.

]]> 4. She Was Accepted Galeazzo married his second wife, Bona of Savoy, on May 9, 1458. Bona promptly adopted Caterina and all of her siblings, therefore legitimizing their births and allowing a whole world to open up to them. Caterina received a thorough education, which led her to take pride not just in her warrior ancestors but also in her savvy political skills. 

Caterina’s childhood proved informative and useful; unfortunately, her brains and education couldn’t save her from the fate that awaited all women.

]]> 5. She Secured A Match Although Caterina proved to be a strong student, both passionate and intelligent, she remained a woman in a time when women had one role within society: elevating their family's status by securing a favorable marriage. That meant she was only 10 years old when she pinned down a "desirable" match. 

]]> 6. She Was Still A Child. Caterina's future husband, Girolamo Riario, was a whopping 20 years older than her. But the backstory of how she snagged him is quite unnerving. You see, Girolamo was initially engaged to Caterina's 11-year-old cousin, Constanza. Reportedly, there was one awful reason why Caterina became the more desirable bride.

]]> 7. She Didn't Make Him Wait At the time, the legal age was 14. Constanza's mother wanted her to come of age before consummating her marriage to Girolamo. As the story goes, there was no wait time for Caterina, who supposedly proved willing to submit to Girolamo's desires despite the fact that she was still a child. Other sources, however, suggest that Caterina did wait for four years to consummate the marriage.

Whatever the truth might be, the marriage was a powerful one—and Caterina took full advantage of it.

]]> 8. She Had A Life Of Luxury In marrying Girolamo, Caterina now belonged to two of the most extravagant Italian courts. After all, her husband was Lord of Imola and her father was the Duke of Milan. In 1477, Caterina arrived in Rome—a city bustling with potential, passion, and culture. But though she was surrounded by powerful people, behind the scenes, her husband had some chilling expectations of her.

]]> 9. She Was A Charismatic Force Girolamo didn't want his young wife sticking her nose into politics. However, he sorely underestimated her magnetism. Caterina certainly knew how to hold her own, wielding charismatic social skills and an extroverted personality. It wasn't long before Roman aristocrats welcomed her into their circles. But this was only the beginning.

]]> 10. She Was Beautiful Caterina wasn't just a beloved noblewoman, she was also incredibly beautiful. She had society wrapped around her little finger—even the pope. And as she grew up in this world of intrigue, she shed the chrysalis of childhood, becoming an influential mediator in her own right, flitting between the Roman court and other Italian courts.

Then in 1479, she took on a brand new role.

]]> 11. She Became A Mother In addition to being a dutiful wife, Caterina also became a dutiful mother, welcoming her first child, Ottaviano, in 1479. But she didn't stop there. Over the next decade, she would give birth to five more children. However, this wasn't a time of peace and relaxation for the noble family. Fate had a tumultuous plan in store for them all.

]]> 12. Her Life Was About To Change Forever For a time, life was smooth-sailing for Caterina. After all, Pope Sixtus IV favored her husband, and elevated his power. Girolamo earned himself a reputation for being quite ruthless with his enemies, and was eventually given the lordship of Forlì in 1480. However, when the pope perished in 1484, Caterina and Girolamo's lives changed in a brutal and sudden way.

]]> 13. She Lost Her Protection Pope Sixtus IV passed in August 1482—and his demise had an immediate effect on Caterina's life. Chaos and anarchy ensued as rebellions began to rumble across Rome. With no one to control them, looters rampaged through the city. They nearly destroyed Caterina’s own home in Compo de’Fiori. 

However, in times of trouble, Caterina proved to be her most efficient. Instead of cowering, she took charge. 

]]> 14. She Took Charge No one would have blamed Caterina for cowering in the face of the chaos around her, should she have chosen to. Not only did her home almost go up in flames, but she was also seven months pregnant at this time. However, Caterina did not see that as a setback. Instead, while her husband took charge from within the city, she did something unbelievably brave.

]]> 15. She Captured A Castle Heavily pregnant, Caterina crossed the dangerous waters of the Tiber via horseback to control the chaos from the edges, ultimately taking charge of Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. It was a highly strategic position, and she used it to wield her power and influence over one thing in particular.

]]> 16. She Took Control At this time, the Pope used this building as a personal fortress. Therefore, from this position, Caterina could keep an eye on the Vatican and the creation of a new conclave. She monitored who entered the Castel Sant’Angelo, and had high demands about who was allowed entrance into the stronghold she claimed the Pope had given to her family to control. Caterina proved an obstacle too great to overcome.

]]> 17. She Bullied The Papacy So mighty was Caterina’s hold on Castel Sant’Angelo that the cardinals feared they would catch artillery from Caterina should they attend Pope Sixtus IV's funeral or attempt to enter the conclave. Although they attempted to convince Caterina to leave her position within Castel Sant’Angelo, she would not budge—even as Rome seemed to burn around them. 

]]> 18. She Couldn’t Be Stopped The situation couldn’t have been more fraught. Rome needed the election of a new pope to calm the destruction that continued. However, Caterina would not budge from her position. Therefore, the Cardinals did what any man did when forced to deal with an “unreasonable woman”. They pleaded with her husband. After all, any good husband could control his wife—right?

]]> 19. Her Husband Was Called In The cardinals felt that the obvious solution to their problems was the immediate removal of Girolamo and Caterina from Rome. Therefore, they bargained with Girolamo. In return for leaving Rome and taking his wife with him, he would retain his titles, receive money for the damages to his destroyed property, and gain the post of captain-general of the Church. 

Girolamo considered this a fair deal and accepted—but Caterina didn’t agree.

]]> 20. She Didn’t Care About Her Husband When they informed Caterina of her husband’s compromise, Caterina responded contrary to how they expected her to. Instead of ending her siege upon the papacy, she doubled down. She increased the number of men supporting her and prepared for engagement to force the Cardinals to discuss the matter with her. 

Caterina could not be moved. At a loss for what else to do, they called in the only person they thought could oppose her: her husband. 

]]> 21. Her Husband Took A Stand The cardinals returned to Girolamo, informing him of the difficult situation Caterina had created. As a response, he stood against his wife. It’s unclear how strongly he opposed Caterina. However, in the end, she finally agreed to release the stronghold from her grasp and allowed her husband to take her and their family back to their place in Forlì... But even more problems awaited them there.

]]> 22. She Returned Home As they returned to Forlì, the announcement of their new Pope reached them. The conclave elected Giovanni Battista Cybo as Pope Innocent VIII. But this posed an alarming problem. Bad blood existed between Caterina, her husband, and the newly christened Innocent VIII. 

While he honored the agreement made in theory, allowing Girolamo to keep his titles and appointment, he effectively severed all of the family’s ties to the papacy. The financial consequences were devastating.

]]> 23. Her Husband Lost His Standing While ensuring that Girolamo no longer had any control over the papal army in any way, Innocent also refused to pay Girolamo. In an attempt to gain favor in Forlì, Girolamo had removed all taxes within the state. Despite having no other source of income, he refused to reinstate the taxes. Although a seemingly generous position, Girolamo failed to create another source of income for the state. 

Soon, Caterina found herself cleaning up her husband’s problems.

]]> 24. She Faced A Tax Problem By the end of 1485, Caterina and her husband had a nightmare on their hands. The government no longer had any money, thus forcing Girolamo to reinstate the taxes. However, thanks to their now impoverished state, the people were crushed by the sheer weight of the ballooned taxes. 

As a result, whispers of something troubling began to spread through Forlí. The people weren’t happy with their lord—and, as his wife, Caterina faced their wrath too.

]]> 25. She Had No Money Girolamo had already made himself unpopular with the people of Forlì by persecuting anyone he viewed as an enemy harshly. The raised taxes turned even more citizens against him, and they began to wonder why they put up with this man at all. A conspiracy began to grow, designed to remove Girolamo and place Pope Innocent’s illegitimate son in control instead. 

With tensions growing, something drastic needed to happen.

]]> 26. Her Husband Paid The Price It took the citizens of Forlì at least six failed attempts before they succeeded in their goal. The noble family, Orsis, led a successful move against Caterina's husband in April 1488. Tragically. Girolamo lost his life, while Caterina and her children faced their own terrifying fate: prison. 

However, Caterina was not one to sit by idly while people took advantage of her, and anyone who thought she would was sorely mistaken.

]]> 27. She Had One Last Hope Although the Orsis rebellion succeeded in taking out Caterina's husband, the fortress of Ravaldio, a key part of the city's defenses, remained loyal to Caterina. The rebels couldn’t overcome it. This proved key to Caterina’s plan. Taking advantage of their desperation, she volunteered to persuade Tommaso Feo, who held the fortress, to let go of his hold. 

They couldn’t possibly have realized the depth of their mistake until it was far too late.

]]> 28. She Tricked Her Captors They believed Caterina to be genuine in her offer to help—or, at least, believed they could control her even if she was not—because they still had her children. However, as soon as Caterina had gotten within the fortress and away from capture, she began flinging insults and vows of vengeance against them. 

They began to realize their mistake; however, even here, they underestimated the lengths Caterina would go to win. 

]]> 29. She Took A Bold Stance Once they realized Caterina’s betrayal, her former captors pulled out what they thought was their ace card. They threatened to kill Caterina’s children. However, as the infamous story goes, this didn’t bother Caterina one bit. Supposedly, Cateria replied by exposing herself and yelling, “Do it, if you want to: hang them even in front of me ... here I have what's needed to make others!” 

They likely didn’t get the eyeful the stories claim, but Caterina proved to be smarter than her captors regardless. 

]]> 30. She Played Her Cards Though the story of Caterina's scandalous undressing is likely a historical tall tale, more reputable sources claim that she told the captors that she was pregnant. This undermined the conspirators' plans, for it meant even if they got rid of all of Caterina’s children, she still carried one more legitimate child of Girolamo's. 

They’d never gain the power they coveted, not while Caterina and the unborn child lived. It proved to be the one move that changed everything—and Caterina orchestrated it all.

]]> 31. She Regained Control Although the pregnancy was likely a lie to trick her enemies, it worked. They were too shocked to do anything to her children, and this enabled Caterina the time needed to gather support from her uncle and regain her family’s position within Forlì and Imola. As a result, Caterina gained another thing: a unique position of power.

]]> 32. She Became Regent Once Caterina settled the matter of the rebellion, the administration and magistrates recognized her son, Ottaviano, as the new Lord of Forlì. However, as they also recognized that he was too young to rule, Caterina rose to the powerful position of his regent—much to the concern and displeasure of those around her.

]]> 33. She Was Irrational And Vulnerable Although they granted Caterina the title of regent for her son, most of the men who held power expressed concern over it, as women were believed to be “irrational and vulnerable”. Therefore, they couldn’t possibly trust Caterina with so much power. They even went as far as sending Cardinal Raffaele Riario to watch Caterina under the guise of protecting his late cousin’s children. However, Caterina needed little to no monitoring. 

She took control swiftly and far more efficiently than her husband ever had.

]]> 34. She Handled Things Quickly Caterina got to work—and performed brilliantly. She lowered and controlled the taxes that had caused her late husband so many problems. She immediately took charge of training the militia. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. Caterina's rule ushered in peace and order, and she had high expectations of her people. 

However, she had no control over the forces revolving around her—despite her control, Caterina soon found herself at the center of conflict, quite literally.

]]> 35. She Wanted Order And Peace As Caterina began exerting her power over Forlì, Italy faced a host of other changes. Namely, the appointment of a new Pope, who favored Caterina due to past friendships. Additionally, the passing of Lorenzo il Magnifico led to increasing conflicts between Milan and Naples. This astounding domino effect eventually led to King Charles VIII of France invading Italy, causing Caterina to consider the position of Imola and Forlì carefully. 

One wrong move could undermine everything that she’d built.

]]> 36. She Was Betrayed Caterina intended to remain neutral as she knew Forlì had a vulnerable position and she had connections to all feuding members. However, the Duke of Calabria persuaded her to involve herself in the conflict—and then abandoned her when it became clear that he did not have the forces to support her. 

When the conflict rose again, Caterina remained neutral, succeeding in holding onto her ties to all important powers. While Caterina saw Forlì safely through conflict, there was still scandal on the horizon. 

]]> 37. She Was Desirable Only 25 when Girolamo Riario widowed her, Caterina remained a desirable marriage prospect—all the more so because of the power she held through her young son. Men quickly attempted to take advantage of this. None tried harder than Antonio Maria Ordelaffi. 

Antonio felt so confident in his courtship of Caterina that he began telling people that Caterina had made promises that she’d never made—a mistake he soon wished he’d never made.

]]> 38. She Punished The Writer Antonio wrote to a friend that Caterina would one day be his future bride. Caterina, having no intention of marrying a man who so clearly felt he could control her, swiftly handled the situation. She imprisoned anyone responsible for giving this rumor wings. As for Antonio, he ended up confined for 10 years as the Senate in Venice dealt with the matter. 

With Antonio handled, Caterina’s heart remained open, if someone dared to try to take it—in fact, someone already had.

]]> 39. She Formed A Bond Caterina fought hard alongside the Feo family to secure her family’s position when conspirators attempted to take it from her. She formed strong connections with those whom she fought alongside; however, none were as strong as her connection with Giacomo Feo. With Giacomo, Caterina finally found love. However, her position meant that she couldn’t indulge in it.

]]> 40. She Fell For The Wrong Man Giacomo proved himself to be faithful and a strong fighter. However, he had no education nor any noble blood. Moreover, Caterina’s position as regent of her son proved precarious. Those around her already did not like that she was a woman. Another marriage surely would undermine her authority. That being said, Caterina did not enjoy being told what to do; she’d have her cake and eat it too.

]]> 41. She Married Him Anyway Caterina married Giacomo. She just didn’t let anyone know about it. Instead, they kept their affair a secret. Over time, Giacomo began to gain more and more power. However, as he grew in power, his unkindness, particularly towards Caterina’s children, became more and more obvious. Giacomo undermined everything Caterina worked so hard for. Caterina, however, appeared enthralled by him.

]]> 42. Her Husband Was Cruel Giacomo held no love for Caterina’s children by her first husband. In one instance, he reportedly slapped Ottaviano, the rightful lord of Forlì, yet by that point, Giacomo had gained enough power that all who witnessed this horror show feared speaking out. It seemed Giacomo couldn't care less if Caterina’s first set of children passed, and, according to some sources, neither did Caterina.

]]> 43. Her Children Didn’t Like Him Some sources claim that Caterina was so enthralled by Giacomo that she would not care if he or anyone offed her first husband’s children. Even worse? She was reportedly prepared to end her children's lives herself rather than be separated from Giacomo. Caterina had lost all sense of reason. But this was only the calm before the storm.

]]> 44. Her Children Turned Against Her It became apparent that Caterina would never harm Giacomo. Therefore, someone needed to do something about it.  Even Caterina’s own children were willing to stand against their mother and her vile husband. If Caterina did not leave Giacomo, then they would have to step in... and so began an illicit conspiracy.

]]> 45. She Ruined Her Image One dark night in 1498, when Caterina, Giacomo, and several of her children returned from a hunt, those involved in the plot surprised Giacomo with force and ended his life. In her grief, Caterina’s rage knew no bounds. She threw politics out the window. Executing those who'd set upon her great love wasn’t enough for Caterina. She wanted something even more brutal—and what she came up with was unspeakable. 

She demanded to know the names of the men involved, and then went to their homes, getting her foot soldiers to drag their wives (some of whom were pregnant) and children from their beds and take their lives. She then put a bounty on each conspirator's head. 38 people died in the name of Caterina’s grief. Caterina became the villain in the story. However, as Giacomo proved, even villains could be loved.

]]> 46. She Met Another Man Despite being widowed twice, Caterina was still young. She fell in love again, this time with Giovanni de’ Medici il Popolano, a member of the powerful Medici family. Although Caterina had the approval of her children and uncle this time, she still married Giovanni in secret, fearful of causing opposition from other powerful Italian families who did not approve of the union. 

Caterina may have found happiness. However, she wouldn’t keep it—perhaps her past crimes proved too much for her to deserve happiness.

]]> 47. Her Love Was Doomed Giovanni succumbed to an illness two years after their marriage. Now alone once more, Caterina had another dangerous and powerful family to contend with: the Borgias. In France, Louis XII came to the throne; thanks to his heritage, he had claims to Milan and Naples. This led to the appointment of Cesare Borgia as ruler of Romagna and sent him marching towards Forlì. 

With no allies, Caterina found herself alone in Forlì as Cesare marched upon her. Fortunately, Caterina flourished under pressure.

]]> 48. She Stayed Behind Having sent her children to Florence for safety, Caterina met Cesare by herself, supported only by her men and the belief that Ravaldino remained impenetrable. She’d absolved her people of their fealty, freeing them to flee, and prepared to face Cesare from Ravaldino alone. 

Caterina refused to negotiate peace, and Cesare became incensed—he wanted her dead or alive, and even put a price of 10,000 ducats on her head. She welcomed the challenge, better to fall in glory than run in cowardice.

]]> 49. She Held The Line Alone All across Italy, bards sang of Caterina’s determined and lonely resistance against Cesare’s persistent attack. Eventually, however, the walls fell and Cesare’s forces flooded in. Realizing that resistance was futile, Caterina made one last calculated move. 

She surrendered to Antoine Bissey, aware that the French had a law against prisoners of war who were women. Caterina’s political savviness knew no bounds. Unfortunately, her reprieve from Cesare remained short-lived. 

]]> 50. She Refused To Stay Caged Cesare took Caterina from the French under the promise to treat her as a guest, not a prisoner. He held her briefly in Belvedere Palace in Rome until a failed escape attempt forced them to move Caterina. To justify imprisoning Caterina, they accused her of attempting to poison the pope—something she easily could have done. 

History has a way of repeating itself; as Caterina neared the end of her life, she found herself in one of the places that had defined her youth.

]]> 51. She Was Indomitable They held Caterina in Castel Sant’Angelo, the very place she’d held onto all those years ago by force. Eventually, they released her, sending her to Florence and her children. Although the eventual fall of Cesare meant that Forlì and Imola could return to her, she’d damaged her image too much. The people did not want her. 

In the end, Caterina passed from pneumonia at the age of 46. In a time when women were viewed as weak, Caterina proved the opposite. She lived her life with fire and passion—they could take everything from her, but even in the afterlife, Caterina Sforza never relinquished her pride.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=32337 <![CDATA[Alexander of Greece may have been his father’s puppet—but his scandals were just as juicy as any king’s.]]> 2026-09-17T11:00:00+00:00 2026-09-16T18:38:35+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-alexander-of-greece Brendan Da Costa People The Puppet King Alexander was the (puppet) King of Greece for most of WWI. While this rebel-turned-regent technically had no power, he still managed to cause a royal raucous. Whether it was fatal car crashes, palace fires, forbidden loves, or monkey business, Alexander caused everyone around him a great deal of grief. Read these wild facts about Alexander, Greece’s puppet king—and try to guess the twist ending.

]]> 1. He Was Royally Royal Alexander of Greece was born in 1893 to one of the most royally connected households in Europe. By way of his father, he was connected to the royal houses of Denmark, Russia, and the United Kingdom. And for good measure, his mother was directly related to the royal house of Germany. But Alexander was always something of an outcast.

]]> 2. He Was A Royal Pain By all accounts, Alexander was a royal terror. By the time he was barely out of diapers, he had already developed a reputation as a gregarious mischief-maker. He was rolling his own joints with blotting paper—before it was cool—and setting fire to various rooms throughout the palace. It was probably all a desperate cry for attention.

]]> 3. He Threw His Brother Into The Bushes Alexander of Greece was the second of six children and sibling rivalries were bound to spark up—but Alexander took things too far when it came to his younger brother Paul. One day, he loaded the toddler-aged Paul into his toy car and drove it recklessly until he launched the kid six feet into a thicket of brambles. He claimed it was an accident.

]]> 4. He Didn’t Have Any Brotherly Love Alexander’s “roguish rebel” routine alienated him from his family. For example, he and his responsible, somber-minded older brother, George II, famously butted heads in their youth. And, as they got older and the struggle for the crown came into play, their relationship would only get worse…and all of Greece would pay the price.

]]> 5. He Was A Gear Head Even before he had a driver’s license, Alexander of Greece had already racked up a few car accidents—just ask his younger brother, Paul. But that didn’t stop Alexander from jumping behind the wheel whenever he could. As an automobile enthusiast, Alexander was among the first people in Greece to own a car—and collect speeding tickets.

]]> 6. He Was A Ladies Man Living life in the fast lane was just how Alexander liked it. In addition to his infamous, attention-seeking escapades, Alexander quickly developed an even more scandalous reputation. See, he was quite the ladies’ man. Allegedly, well before his 21st birthday, Alexander had a long list of female companions. But only one of them had his heart.

]]> 7. He Fell Madly In Love At a party in 1915, everything changed for Alexander of Greece. He was ready to forget his rebellious ways and become a one-woman man. And it was all because of Aspasia Manos. Alexander and Manos had been childhood friends but, in the intervening years, Manos had blossomed into an enchanting woman. And Alexander was spellbound.

]]> 8. He Snagged A Classical Beauty It’s not hard to see how Alexander fell in love with Manos—her beauty was almost beyond words. Nevertheless, Compton Mackenzie, the British writer tried to pay credit to Manos’ good looks when he wrote, “She was tall and her skin remembered the beauty of classical Greece”. Her beauty and charm made it seem like she had it all—but there was just one problem.

]]> 9. He Was One Of The Common Folk As the daughter of Colonel Petro Manos and his wife, Maria Argyropoulos, Aspasia was technically an aristocrat. Her mother could even trace her lineage back to princely lines from places like Transylvania and Moldovia. But, compared to a prince from a ruling house like Alexander, she was basically a peasant. Albeit a pretty peasant… with lots of money.

]]> 10. His Family Disapproved Of Him Unsurprisingly, Alexander’s family was initially hostile to the idea that he should fall in love with someone so far below his station. They liked the idea that he might marry her even less. He might have been a rebel and the family’s shameful black sheep, but he was, after all, still a prince.

]]> 11. He Thought He Was Safe From Responsibility Alexander of Greece might have fallen head over heels in love with Manos—but that didn’t mean she was his for the taking. In fact, despite his title and even without competition from other suitors, Manos made Alexander work for her affections. From the sounds of it, Manos wasn’t convinced that Alexander could leave his rebellious ways behind.

But fate would force his hand.

]]> 12. He Was Far From The Crown As the third in line for the Greek crown, it seemed unlikely that Alexander would ever ascend to the throne. He thought that he could leave all of that official business to his father and older brother while he simply enjoyed being a royal rebel. It’s not like his family had shown much affection for him anyway. But then the unthinkable happened.

]]> 13. His Grandfather Took One For The Team One day, while out for an afternoon stroll near the White Tower in Thessaloniki, Alexander’s grandfather, George I, met with a horrifically dark fate. Out of nowhere, a madman by the name of Alexandros Schinas upended the whole Greek dynasty. With just one bullet to the heart of George I, he set off a chain of events that would end with Alexander on the throne.

]]> 14. He Inched Closer To The Throne Shortly after his grandfather “took one for the team”, Alexander’s father, Constantine I, ascended to the throne. Much to Alexander’s discomfort, there were now only two people between him and the Greek crown; his increasingly unpopular father and his childless brother. At least he had Aspasia Manos—for the time being.

]]> 15. He Had To Win Her Over Alexander of Greece knew that all of the royal houses of Europe, from Britain to Russia, would disapprove of a Manos—but he didn’t care. Blinded by love, he came up with a plan. Alexander traveled to Spetses where Manos was vacationing with her family, and dialed up the charm. Finally, Manos relented and confessed her own deep love for the prince. They would face the consequences together.

]]> 16. He Planned His Next Move Carefully If he ever ascended to the throne, Alexander knew that the Greek government would never allow him to marry a commoner. Not if he was king. But, as a prince, he might just get away with it. After confessing their love for each other, Alexander and Manos began a whirlwind affair that would lead to a continent-wide scandal in the following years.

]]> 17. He Made A Secret Proposal Alexander knew what his family would say if he told them that he and Manos had started dating—so he didn’t tell them anything at all. The rebel prince did exactly what a rebellious prince would do in that situation. But then he took it to the next level. The couple entered into a secret engagement—a secret engagement that would nearly tear his family—and all of Greece—apart.

]]> 18. He Had Two Good Years For two years, Alexander managed to keep his engagement to Manos secret. Everyone knew that the prince was running around with a commoner, but they all expected him to tire of her eventually. They had no idea that it was true love, bonded by a promise of marriage. Fate, however, was about to force their engagement out into the open.

]]> 19. He Narrowly Escaped An Inferno The political situation in Greece under Alexander’s father, Constantine I, was becoming increasingly… combustible. One night in mid-July, an arsonist (surprisingly not Alexander) set fire to the Tatoi Palace where the entire Greek royal family was staying. Sadly, not everyone would make it out of the inferno alive.

]]> 20. He Went From The Fire Into The Frying Pan If anyone knew how to handle a fire, it was Alexander. Even so, the flames were so hot that he only barely managed to escape with his life. The blaze consumed the palace so quickly that his mother and youngest sibling, Princess Katherine, had to jump through an open window. And the royal family’s situation only worsened from there.

]]> 21. He Dreaded Having To Wear The Crown With the outbreak of WWI, Constantine I’s already tenuous hold on the Greek crown was beginning to wane. And the more that his grasp slipped, the closer Alexander came to his nightmare of having to assume monarchical responsibility himself. Worst of all, it would almost certainly spell the end of his secret engagement to Manos.

]]> 22. His Father Gave Up The Gig Almost one year to the day after the burning of Tatoi Palace, Alexander’s worst nightmare came true. He found himself in the middle of yet another inferno. This time, it was a political one. After years of relentless pressure, the government forced Constantine I to abdicate the throne. Alexander’s embattled father had no choice but to agree. But with some conditions of his own.

]]> 23. His Hopes Drifted Away As part of his deal with the government, Constantine I agreed to go into self-imposed exile. If only Alexander had been so lucky. Unfortunately for the prince, the Greek throne kept inching closer and closer while his hopes of a secret marriage drifted further and furtherer. He had no idea, however, just how close he was to ascending the throne.

]]> 24. He Was The Last Resort At first, the Greek government contemplated replacing Constantine I with his natural heir—Alexander’s older brother, George II. Ultimately, however, they decided that George II was too much like his father. Next, they turned their attention to Alexander’s uncle, Prince George, but he refused to betray his brother, the exiled king.

There was only one person left.

]]> 25. His Worst Nightmare Came True Fate had finally arrived for Alexander. With no one left to turn to, the government decided that Alexander would have to assume the throne in place of his exiled father. They thought that, despite his rebellious habits, they would be able to control him. Of course, they had no idea about the sensational secret that he was hiding from the world.

]]> 26. His Father Called Him A Pretender Reluctantly, Alexander agreed that he would do his royal duty and wear the crown—even if only to keep it warm. Before his self-imposed exile, Constantine I told Alexander that he shouldn’t think of himself as a real monarch.

Neither he nor George II had renounced their claims to the crown so Alexander was, technically, a placeholder prince. Sadly, none of them would be immune to scandal.

]]> 27. He Was Shaking Like A Leaf Alexander was visibly shaken when he took his oath of office. As the prince pledged fealty to the Greek constitution in the ballroom of the palace, tears began to form in his eyes and his voice cracked up. But, to be honest, he probably wasn’t getting emotional for patriotic reasons. He was probably thinking about matters of the heart.

]]> 28. His Subjects Wouldn’t Let Him Go After Alexander’s (unceremonious) coronation, the royal family decided to spend their last few days together at Tatoi Palace. But the people of Athens had another idea. The citizens of Athens, enraged that the government had exiled their monarch, encircled the Royal Palace and prevented Alexander and his family from leaving.

]]> 29. He Made Another Narrow Escape Even though Alexander and the rest of the royal family appreciated the people of Athens’ show of support, they knew the situation was bad. If Constantine I didn’t leave Greece, the atrocities of WWI would end up on Greek shores. Fortunately, they devised a plan to send a decoy through one gate while escaping through another.

]]> 30. He Confessed His Secret Engagement Now that he was King of Greece—even if only in name—Alexander had to confess his darkest secret. After taking his oath of office, Alexander confided in his father that he had been secretly engaged to Aspasia Manos for years. He also said that he fully intended to marry her, no matter what the consequences were for him, the throne, or even the whole country.

]]> 31. He Promised To Wait Constantine I probably wasn’t altogether surprised—but he was disappointed. The exiled king found it unthinkable that his son could marry a commoner. Nevertheless, he was in no position to issue orders. As a compromise, he told Alexander that he could marry Manos when all of the turmoil settled down. Whenever that was supposed to be.

]]> 32. He Bided His Time Safely at Tatoi Palace, Alexander gave a tearful farewell to his family—but not before his father gave him a dire warning. He reminded Alexander that he was “king in name only” and that he couldn’t marry Manos until affairs had settled down. However, unbeknownst to Alexander and the rest of his family, things were about to get even more complicated.

]]> 33. He Said His Final Farewells As Alexander of Greece waved farewell to his entire family, he had no way of knowing that it would be the last time that he would see any of them. In fact, in the coming months, Alexander’s chief political opponent, Eleftherios Venizelos, systemically exiled Alexander’s entire extended family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and all. He was truly alone.

Except, of course, for Aspasia Manos.

]]> 34. His Enemies Labeled Him A Traitor Alexander’s deep sense of isolation worsened as the months went on. Despite his differences with his family, they were still his family. Slowly but steadily, Venizelos enacted his brutal plan. He worked to replace even Alexander’s palace staff with anti-royalists. They removed portraits of his father and brazenly called him the “son of a traitor”.

]]> 35. He Was Surrounded By Spies It was bad enough that Alexander’s entire family was living in exile and that he was surrounded by anti-royalists. But he also became aware of spies in his midst. Venizelos ensured that his spies followed Alexander’s every move and intercepted all of his letters to and from his exiled father. But Alexander had a bigger secret to protect.

]]> 36. He Had Friends In Foreign Places Alexander feared that Venizelos was trying to arrange a marriage between him and Princess Mary of the United Kingdom. Much to his relief, however, Venizelos’ foreign backers preferred Aspasia Manos as a match, in the hopes that it would make the puppet king happy. However, Alexander had promised his father—the real king—that he would wait.

]]> 37. He Couldn’t Wait Any Longer Good things come to those who wait—but better things come to those who seize the moment. Even though he had agreed to wait to marry Manos, Alexander couldn’t deny his heart any longer—or suffer more isolation. He decided to throw caution to the wind and ask his father for permission to marry Manos without a moment’s delay.

]]> 38. He Had A Lot Of Missed Calls Alexander traveled to Paris, hoping that he would be able to meet with his family while outside of Greece. But even beyond Greek borders, Venizelos controlled his every move. Alexander’s mother phoned his hotel only for one of Venizelos’ ministers to intercept the call. He informed the exiled queen, “His Majesty is sorry, but he cannot respond to the telephone”. Neither she or her son knew the heartbreaking truth. He had no idea his mother had even called.

]]> 39.  He Had A Secret Ceremony By 1919, Alexander of Greece had run out of patience—and allies. He reverted right back to his rebellious ways and decided to marry Manos at a secret ceremony, without seeking approval from anyone. However, the secret ceremony didn’t stay secret for long. Archimandrite Zacharistas, who officiated the ceremony, spilled the beans to Venizelos.

]]> 40. His Secrets Seeped Out Venizelos was irate but, without the support of his foreign backers, there was nothing he could do to break up Alexander’s happy union. He allowed Manos and her mother to live at the Royal Palace so long as the marriage remained a secret from the public. When it comes to secrets, however, palace walls are somewhat…porous.

]]> 41. He Lost His Wife To Alexander’s dismay—and Venizelos’ delight—news of the secret marriage broke. A public outcry ensued. Venizelos claimed that he had no choice but to exile Manos from Greece for her own safety. And so, just like that, Alexander was once again all alone in the Royal Palace, surrounded by spies and enemies who plotted his downfall.

]]> 42. He Had A Delayed Honeymoon After six months of isolation, Venizelos allowed Alexander to visit Manos in Paris so they could enjoy their honeymoon. But even this happy reunion ended in scandal and tragedy. While driving around Fontainebleu, Alexander and Manos witnessed a horrific car crash. Given his driving record, however, he may have been more than a witness.

]]> 43. He Was Down For “The Count” According to the official reports of the accident, Alexander of Greece had swerved to avoid another vehicle that then crashed headlong into a tree. The passengers in the other vehicle were Count de Kergariou and his chauffeur. Alexander and Manos rushed to their aid and managed to drive the Count to the hospital, but they were too late.

]]> 44. He Never Had A Queen With that gruesome end to their honeymoon, Alexander and Manos returned to Greece. Manos still couldn’t take up residence in the Royal Palace, so she moved to Tatoi Palace. To add insult to injury, Venizelos refused to give Manos the title of queen and instead only conferred upon her the lowly title of “Madame Manos”.

]]> 45. He Was Into Monkey Business After all of their trials, it seemed like Alexander and Manos had finally managed to settle into some semblance of normalcy. That’s when then fate threw a wrench in their wedded bliss. While walking through the grounds of Tatoi Palace, a Barbary macaque attacked Alexander’s dog, Fritz. The puppet king rushed to his dog’s defense—never expecting that things would spin as wildly out of control as they did.

]]> 46. He Said It Was Just A Scratch Alexander might have managed to save his dog, but it came at a tremendous cost. The monkey had given Alexander several deep and severe bite wounds to his legs and torso before his servants were able to attend to him. At first, Alexander brushed off the incident and only had his wounds cleaned and dressed without further medical care.

]]> 47. He Was Nearly Crippled That same evening, Alexander’s wounds began to show signs of severe infection. He developed an intense fever and other symptoms of sepsis. His medical staff believed that the only way to save him was to amputate his leg—but there was just one problem. None of them wanted to take responsibility for turning the King (puppet or not) into a cripple.

]]> 48. He Was Delusional Alexander’s condition worsened over the following weeks. By October 19, his infection was so severe that he became delirious. Sensing that the end was coming, Alexander called out for his mother but, in one last stroke of cruelty, Venizelos refused to allow her to return from exile. Instead, he permitted only Alexander’s grandmother to visit.

]]> 49. He Was Alone At The End By the time the dowager queen Olga arrived in Athens, Alexander had already succumbed to his wounds. But Venizelos saved the worst insult for last. He prevented Alexander’s family from returning to Greece for the funeral. Additionally, his inscription in the royal cemetery read, “son of the King of the Hellenes” instead of “King of the Hellenes”.

However, Alexander got his revenge from beyond the grave.

]]> 50. He Got His Revenge Even though he had been a rebel and a puppet king, Alexander’s very presence had stabilized the country. His untimely demise led to the collapse of Venizelos’ government and the bloody Greco-Turkish conflict. Of the whole situation, Winston Churchill wrote, “it is perhaps no exaggeration to remark that a quarter of a million persons died of this monkey's bite”.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=25352 <![CDATA[Nostradamus wrote his cryptic prophecies hundreds of years ago—but some believe they contain chilling warnings for the world we live in now.]]> 2026-09-16T10:55:00+00:00 2026-09-15T14:21:51+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/25-prophetic-facts-nostradamus David O'Shea People Future Seer Or Fraud? Nostradamus and his apparent predictions cemented an enduring legacy for the French “seer” that remains alive to this very day. Following a life dabbling in astrology, apothecary, and medicine, the enigmatic Nostradamus published a book of “prophecies” that are alleged to have predicted a variety of events from WWII to 9/11. But the veracity of these claims has been called into question, particularly given the less-than-honest practices of their supporters.

]]> 1. He Had A Christian Name Nostradamus was born in December 1503 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Provence, France. He did not adopt this Latinized name until later in life, however. The reputed seer-to-be was baptized Michel de Nostredame, and tourists can still visit the alleged place of his birth today. And though the infamy of his name survives to this day, he was an unlikely standout in a large family.

]]> 2. He Had Lots Of Siblings The home life of the de Nostredame family was likely frantic: Nostradamus was one of a whopping nine children. While only one of his siblings had anything close to a notable life—his brother, Jean, became a Provençal historian and author—Nostradamus’ parents had a more interesting story. His mother, Reynière, descended from a notable physician, and his father Jaume’s family went through some interesting changes.

]]> 3. He Came From Chosen People Nostradamus’ paternal family had originally been Jewish. However, his grandfather, originally named Cresquas and an Avignon-based grain and money dealer, had converted to Catholicism before his famous grandson was born. It was here where the family gained their notable name.

]]> 4. His Name Was Chosen After converting to Catholicism, Cresquas needed a Christian name to go along with his new faith. He chose “Pierre”, and paired it with the surname “Nostredame”, which translated to “Our Lady”, in tribute to the saint on whose day the grain dealer solemnized his conversion. Thus, the seeds got planted for Nostradamus’ famous name. His occupation, on the other hand, came from his mother’s side.

]]> 5. He Followed In Their Footsteps As previously mentioned, Nostradamus’ mother descended from a notable 15th century physician: she was the granddaughter of Pierre de Saint-Rémy, who worked in medicine in Saint-Rémy and made a name for himself as an early proponent of medical science. He may have had an influence on his great-grandson’s eventual career as a physician.

]]> 6. He May Have Gotten Homeschooled… There is very little remaining on the record about Nostradamus’ childhood. However, a persistent story reports his physician great-grandfather apparently educated him, instilling in him a passion for medicine. One huge problem undermines this claim, however.

]]> 7. …Or He May Not Have Been Casting doubt on the traditional claim that his great-grandfather educated Nostradamus is a glaring timeline issue: all records of Pierre de Saint-Rémy disappear after 1504, when Nostradamus would have been just a year old. It may be that the records simply got lost, or the story may be farcical. Either way, Nostradamus found his way to school eventually.

]]> 8. He Was A Prodigy Regardless of the identity of his tutor, Nostradamus clearly had a natural gift, an impressive intelligence, and a studious capability. Illustrating this, the young prodigy enrolled in the University of Avignon when he was just 14 years old to study for his baccalaureate. Events beyond his control would make his stint there a short one, however.

]]> 9. He Had To Leave Nostradamus lasted just over a year in Avignon, where he likely studied grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Unfortunately, however, he got forced to leave school after a nasty outbreak of the plague caused the university to shut its doors and send its entire student body packing. It was poor timing for the ambitious Nostradamus, but he enthusiastically took his education into his own hands.

]]> 10. He Took A Long Field Trip Following his ejection from the University of Avignon, Nostradamus’ own accounts of his life report that he spent the next eight years traveling the countryside, researching herbal remedies. His sojourn would last until 1521, after which he would identify with a controversial profession.

]]> 11. He Got A Trade Over the course of his travels, Nostradamus gained enough knowledge of various remedies to call himself an apothecary, a professional title under which he operated for several years. He dispensed medicine to “patients”, and perhaps to the more trusting and experimental physicians, building his confidence in the trade all the while. Eventually, he would try once again to attain academic recognition.

]]> 12. He Tried School Again In 1529, Nostradamus once again returned to education, this time enrolling in the University of Montpellier, and hoping to earn a doctorate in medicine. He began his studies in earnest, weaving in the knowledge he had attained in his years as an apothecary. Unfortunately, this would come back to bite him pretty quickly.

]]> 13. He Failed Again Shortly after his enrollment, Nostradamus was promptly expelled from the University of Montpellier. The reason this time was, in fact, the very thing that led him back to school: upon discovering his work as an apothecary, the University booted the medicine man—university statutes expressly banned the “manual trade” of apothecary. And while the forbidden profession served as the main cause for his expulsion, there was another reason too.

]]> 14. He Talked Smack The student procurator who expelled Nostradamus was Guillaume Rondelet, a renowned professor of medicine. As grounds for the expulsion, Rondelet also cited another discovery he made: that, in his years as a traveling apothecary, Nostradamus had been arrogantly slandering doctors. But despite his smack-talking, the disgraced apothecary was happy to adopt the title when it suited him.

]]> 15. He Took The Title Despite never attaining official academic recognition, many of Nostradamus’ later correspondents, and even his posthumous publishers, would refer to him as “Doctor”. The arrogant pseudo-physician would never push back on this, of course, enjoying the status it endowed him with. Now professionally adrift once again, Nostradamus returned to his independent practice.

]]> 16. He Gained A Name Following his expulsion from Montpellier, Nostradamus picked up where he left off, continuing to work as an apothecary. It was during this time that the healer began making a name for himself, particularly for inventing a “rose pill”, a remedy of his own creation which Nostradamus himself claimed protected against the plague that was still rampant in Europe. His notoriety was enough to earn him an important summons.

]]> 17. He Met His Match In 1531, on the back of his rose pill notoriety, Nostradamus received an invitation from leading Renaissance scholar Jules-César Scaliger to come to the city of Agen to further his work as a physician and apothecary. Upon arriving in Agen, the traveling healer met a woman whose name is uncertain, though some sources claim she was Henriette d'Encausse. Either way, this woman would become his wife.

]]> 18. He Started A Family… Whatever her name was, Nostradamus was immediately smitten with this woman he met in Agen, and the couple quickly got married. The apothecary would have two children with this mystery bride, but his family bliss would last only a brief time before its tragic demolition.

]]> 19. …And Quickly Lost Them It wasn’t long before the most unimaginable tragedy befell the beleaguered Nostradamus. By 1534, the apothecary’s entire family, his wife and two children, were no more. The most likely cause of their demise was the ever-present plague, and perhaps this was why the grieving patriarch doubled down on his efforts to fight it.

]]> 20. He Tackled A Big Problem After a year-long sabbatical of grief, where he traveled through France and Italy, Nostradamus reemerged in 1545 and buckled down to assist Louis Serre and other local physicians in combatting a particularly severe outbreak of the plague in Marseille. He fought further outbreaks in Salon-de-Provence and Aix-en-Provence and even published a book on his attempted treatments of the disease. He grew attached to the local area in the process.

]]> 21. He Settled Down Nostradamus’ years of traveling finally came to an end in 1547 when he decided to settle down in Salon-de-Provence, having grown attached to the area during his work battling with the plague there. Tourists can still visit the house in which the healer settled today. Nostradamus did not delay in sowing roots and setting himself up.

]]> 22. He Married Money After so much time on the road, Nostradamus had little wealth to show for it. To that end (and perhaps for love too), he decided to marry into money. After meeting wealthy widow Anne Ponsarde, the two promptly wed. They would eventually parent six children, three boys and three girls. Nostradamus set to work putting his wife’s money to good use.

]]> 23. He Invested Having married into a modest fortune, Nostradamus invested the money to grow his family’s fortune, as well as his local community. Sometime between 1556 and 1567, the couple acquired a small share in a massive regional canal project, one that resulted in the Canal de Craponne, which served to irrigate the largely barren Salon-de-Provence with water from the river Durance. His pivot to investment was far from Nostradamus’ biggest career shift, however.

]]> 24. He Pivoted In the late 1540s, Nostradamus took yet another trip to Italy, and while we don't know many details about the excursion, he apparently encountered something significant there. Upon his return to France, the apothecary began moving away from medicine toward a spooky new passion: the occult. With the publishing of another book, he cemented his historical identity.

]]> 25. He Found His Niche Nostradamus’ next move was his most historically important to date: almanacs had exploded in popularity in France, and the occultist decided to publish one of his own in 1550. Significantly, the former medicine man Latinized his name to “Nostradamus” for the first time in print, etching it permanently into history. With the success of the publication, he had found a new groove.

]]> 26. He Kept It Going Nostradamus’ almanac proved to be an outsized hit, and its success greatly encouraged the occultist. He continued writing at least one almanac every year, often publishing several within the space of a few months. These publications sometimes contained annual calendars and, more significantly, featured at least 6,338 prophecies over their entire publication run. This only resulted in further work for Nostradamus.

]]> 27. He Received Patrons Nostradamus’ almanacs attracted the attention of many prominent nobles and other wealthy Europeans, and this resulted in a massive windfall for the budding occultist. His well-to-do readers began hiring the former healer as an astrologer, seeking “psychic” readings and advice. Hilariously, however, Nostradamus made them work for it.

]]> 28. He Had A Skill Issue Professional astrologers of the time were typically responsible for calculating their clients’ birth charts in order to perform personalized readings. Nostradamus was notoriously bad at this, however, making frequent errors when he attempted it, and he eventually insisted that clients provide the birth charts themselves. Despite this shortcoming, the astrologer received significant patronage, which allowed him to publish his life’s work.

]]> 29. He Wrote His Magnum Opus In 1555, Nostradamus published Les Prophéties (The Prophecies), a book of 1,000 French (for the most part) quatrains. It remains his most significant and well-known work to this day. The book comprised a collection of poems, many of which made prophetic predictions of future events, casting Nostradamus as a seer to contemporaries and historians alike. The powerful Church did not like this, of course.

]]> 30. He Obscured Fearing his heretical predictions would subject him to religious prosecution, Nostradamus devised a syntaxial method of obscuring the true meaning of his poems. He achieved this through the use of word games and language mixing—Les Prophéties contains elements of French, Greek, Italian, Latin, and Provençal. He initially released the book to a lukewarm reception.

]]> 31. He Was A Hack Many of his contemporaries were thoroughly unimpressed with Nostradamus’ Prophecies. The author relied heavily on historical and literary precedents, which some thought compromised the veracity of his claims, leading to an initially mixed reception to the publication. Others had a more negative view still.

]]> 32. He Got Condemned Toward the more negative end of the mixed reception were those who believed Nostradamus was doing active harm with his predictions. These reactions ranged from believing the seer was a servant of evil, to those who believed he was a fraud, to others still who believed the astrologer was simply insane. The haters mattered little to Nostradamus, however, compared to his well-to-do fans.

]]> 33. He Had His Supporters Despite his detractors, Nostradamus’ predictions received their fair share of enthusiastic fans too, and many of these fans came from elite members of the upper class. One of his greatest and most notable admirers was Catherine de’ Medici, a member of a powerful Florentine family and the wife of King Henry II of France. The Queen promptly gave Nostradamus a job.

]]> 34. He Got Hired Upon reading Nostradamus’ almanacs, many of which featured predictions concerning unnamed threats to the royal family, Queen Catherine promptly summoned the seer to Paris to explain his prophecies. Nostradamus was terrified, fearing they would behead him on arrival. Clearly, however, he put his silver tongue to use because it wasn’t long before the Queen was asking the astrologer to draw up horoscopes for her children. His career prospects only improved from there.

]]> 35. He Advised Royalty Over the next 10 years, Nostradamus firmly ingratiated himself with Catherine and the royal family, and she appointed him to some powerful and important positions. Chief among these was Counselor and Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen’s young son, the future King Charles IX of France. But while he had his admirers in the halls of royal power, he rubbed other powerful institutions the wrong way.

]]> 36. He Was Sacrilegious Unsurprisingly, over the years, Nostradamus’ work as an apothecary, astrologer, and purported seer brought him into frequent conflict with the powerful Catholic Church. In Agen in 1538, for example, a Church Inquisitor publicly condemned him after visiting the area in search of anti-Catholic views. His most consequential brush with the clergy came over 20 years later, however.

]]> 37. He Went To Jail In 1561, a royal decree was issued, stating that any publication of the kind that Nostradamus regularly wrote would need the express permission of a bishop before its release to the public. The controversial seer blatantly flouted this decree, of course, releasing his 1562 almanac without permission from anyone. This bold move resulted in Nostradamus’ brief imprisonment in Marignane. But this was far from the worst experience of his later years.

]]> 38. His Health Worsened By the 1560s, Nostradamus began suffering from severe gout. The ailment plagued him with pain for many years and made movement increasingly difficult. By 1566, the gout had progressed into edema, and you didn’t need to be a psychic to figure out Nostradamus’ imminent future.

]]> 39. He Saw The Writing On The Wall Employing his trademark foresight, Nostradamus summoned his lawyer in late June 1566. He instructed the attorney to draw up an extensive will that bequeathed a now-substantial fortune to the seer’s wife and children. With his house now in order, Nostradamus made his final prediction.

]]> 40. He Saw The End On the evening of July 1, Nostradamus allegedly predicted to his secretary that they would “not find me alive at sunrise”. His prediction came true: the following morning, the controversial seer was discovered unresponsive on the floor next to his bed. He was 62 years old. The astrologer had pursued a curious life of unorthodox research and prediction, but his posthumous success dwarfs the impact he made while still alive.

]]> 41. He Posthumously Hit In the centuries following his passing, Nostradamus began attracting increasing numbers of supporters, particularly around his work in Les Prophéties. Many of these advocates, who have included members of the popular press, credit the seer with accurately predicting dozens of major world events. The list of alleged prophecies has some heavy hitters.

]]> 42. He Foresaw The Big Ones Among the interpretations of Nostradamus’ work, his most fervent believers insist he foretold great events in history. The most agreed-upon claims among his supporters are the Great Fire of London, the French Revolution, the rise of both Napoleon and the Führer, as well as WWI and WWII, and the latter’s conclusion with nukes dropped on Japan. Such was the support for these claims at one point, in fact, that cynical actors used them at a time of great strife.

]]> 43. He Was Used During WWII, both the Allied and Axis powers deployed some of Nostradamus’ alleged predictions as tools of propaganda. Upon learning of the prophecies, Josef Goebbels found them “not only intriguing but potentially useful” and employed astrologers to write propaganda based on them.

The Allies, in response, dropped their own Nostradamus pamphlets over occupied Europe, and film studio MGM even made four short Nostradamus films to boost American morale. The seer’s predictions far outlasted the conflict.

]]> 44. He Kept Going During the latter half of the 20th century, and into the early 21st century, Nostradamus’ apparent predictions continued to be applied to massive world events. He was further credited with predicting the Moon landing, the Challenger disaster, the untimely demise of Princess Diana, and the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. But while his supporters were quite vocal, his doubters spoke up too.

]]> 45. He Faced Skepticism Many other sources, particularly academic ones, vehemently reject the idea that Nostradamus had any prophetic powers, supernatural or otherwise. These detractors insist that the associations the seer’s supporters make between world events and The Prophecies’ quatrains are simple misinterpretations (sometimes deliberately so) or mistranslations. That’s the intellectual argument, at least, but there’s also a more cynical take.

]]> 46. He Skimped On The Details Nostradamus skeptics, academic or otherwise, also argue that the astrologer’s apparent predictions were incredibly vague, and could pretty much be applied to anything if one wanted to. This calls the author’s alleged prophetic powers into serious question—as well as the critical thinking skills of his supporters! Indeed, the timing of some of these retcons does seem suspicious.

]]> 47. He Inspired Cynics Many of Nostradamus’ supporters are those that publish books on the alleged accuracy of his predictions, but a look at the timeline suggests these authors may not be acting in good faith.

Their books frequently claim that the astrologer predicted whatever major event had just occurred right before these authors’ books get published, a phenomenon known as the “movable feast”, which appears to be nothing more than a cynical cash grab. In fact, one need only look at other aspects of their writing to see the shakiness of their arguments.

]]> 48. He Has Fanfic These authors, unanimous in their alleged belief in Nostradamus’ powers of prophecy, also consistently and blatantly invent aspects of the astrologer’s biography to bolster his mythical status.

Some notable lies told about the man include that he was a descendant of the Israelite tribe of Issachar, that he was educated by both of his grandfathers, who were physicians to the King of Provence, and that he was a medical lecturer at Montpellier until his ejection for his unpopular views. These are all false claims. In fact, the very claim that he made these predictions could be the biggest lie of them all.

]]> 49. He May Have Gotten Forged Perhaps the most skeptical view of all on Nostradamus’ predictions is that he didn’t author them at all. Academics like Jacques Halbronn have proposed that Les Prophecies was, in fact, an antedated forgery, made up of false stories and attributed to Nostradamus for political reasons. But despite this plethora of arguments against the alleged seer’s psychic abilities, he still retains believers to this day.

]]> 50. He’s Still Got It Though he is perhaps not as popular as he once was, Nostradamus’ prophecies still have their supporters to this day, with people continuing to attribute predictions to the seer online. Many claim that the astrologer predicted the Covid-19 pandemic, for example. Some even say that he predicted a "seven months great war" and that a celebrity would get struck by lightning in 2026!

Regardless of one’s feelings about his abilities, we cannot deny that Nostradamus had a curious mind, was perhaps ahead of his time, and remains a fascinating figure that inspires conversation long after his own lifetime.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=30472 <![CDATA[Alexander VI was the most disturbing pope the Vatican has ever seen—and yet few people know this ruthless pontiff's dark history.]]> 2026-09-11T10:00:00+00:00 2026-09-10T18:35:46+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/pope-alexander-vi Christy Box People The Borgia Pope In the long history of the corrupt and violent lineages of Europe, few families conjure up the cinematic images of power-hungry deviants like the Borgias. The patriarch of the long-maligned family was Pope Alexander VI, who used the power of the Vatican to further the ambitions and wealth of his own family. Rumors abound surrounding the Borgia Pope, painting him as a bloodthirsty tyrant willing to do anything for power and lust. For better or worse, Pope Alexander VI shaped the church, the country, and the world during his eleven years in power at the Vatican.

]]> 1. Alexander VI Was Born Into Spanish Nobility Pope Alexander VI was born Rodrigo de Borja in Xàtiva, near Valencia, Spain to a family of Spanish nobles. Eventually, the family Italianized it to Borgia, the name that would become synonymous with depravity and violence.

]]> 2. He Wasn’t the Only Borgia Pope Alexander VI was not the only Borgia to become pope. In fact, he was the second of three Borgias to lead the Catholic Church. His uncle was Pope Callixtus III, who assisted Alexander in his rise to power. Then, more than 150 years after Alexander’s ascension to Pope, his great-great-great-grandson would be elected Pope Innocent X.

]]> 3. He Ascended the Ranks Through Nepotism After the election of his uncle Pope Callixtus III, Callixtus made Rodrigo Borgia a cardinal. Soon after, he went even further and made Rodrigo then vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. This set Rodrigo up for a future ascension to the papacy. These nepotistic appointments were a common practice in the church at the time. They allowed the new pope to build a base of support at the Vatican. In fact, if anything, the Borgias weren't as bad as some other families in this regard.

]]> 4. He Kept Multiple Mistresses In this era, it wasn't too scandalous for high-ranking church officials to have mistresses. However, Rodrigo made the rare and controversial move of openly acknowledging the children he fathered out of wedlock. He had two famous mistresses, Vannozza dei Cattanei and Giulia Farnese, both of whom were married noblewomen.

These two women had a total of seven children with Borgia, though he likely fathered more with other women less well-known to history. He clearly saw the value of bringing his children into the family. Many of his offspring became allies in his political ambitions as they grew up.

]]> 5. He Influenced the New Pope’s Election While Rodrigo was still the most junior cardinal at the Vatican, Pope Callixtus III passed, and the cardinals had to elect a new pope. Rodrigo made a bold move, risking his power to play a key role in electing Pope Pius II. His power-play succeeded, making Rodrigo an ally to the new pope. As more popes rose and fell, Rodrigo amassed more power.

]]> 6. He Knew How to Throw a Wild Party During his time as a cardinal, Rodrigo took part in wild and lascivious parties. Pius II warned Rodrigo to avoid such shindigs, as they were “unseemly” for someone of his position in the Vatican. The Pope even officially reprimanded Rodrigo for his behavior. Based on his later reputation, it's safe to say that Rodrigo didn't heed the Pope’s advice.

]]> 7. He Approved the King of Spain’s Marriage After assisting in the election of Pope Paul II, the Vatican sent Rodrigo to Spain as a papal legate. They gave him the power to either approve or deny the proposed marriage between Ferdinand and Isabella, the future King and Queen of Spain. The match would unify two Spanish regions, Ferdinand’s Aragon and Isabella’s Castile. Rodrigo approved the marriage, thus earning the future favor of King Ferdinand.

]]> 8. He Was Elected Pope After Four Votes When Pope Innocent VIII passed, a conclave of cardinals met at the Vatican to elect a new pope. They considered several cardinals, including Rodrigo Borgia, Giuliano della Rovere (later Pope Julius II), and Ascanio Sforza. The conclave took three unsuccessful divided votes. Then, on the fourth vote, they unanimously elected Rodrigo Borgia. He received every vote except his own. Rodrigo Borgia was no more, and Pope Alexander VI had arrived.

]]> 9. He Bought the Votes of Cardinals Given the sudden turnaround in the votes in Borgia’s favor, many of Pope Alexander VI’s enemies accused him of buying the votes of other cardinals. This rumor followed him for the rest of his life. He allegedly offered fellow candidate Ascanio Sforza four mules loaded with silver if he threw his support behind the Borgia pope’s ascendency.

]]> 10. He Wasn’t the Only Candidate Buying Votes Rodrigo Borgia may not have been the only one trying to buy power at the Vatican. Some historical accounts report that King Charles VIII of France and the Doge of Genoa financed a combined 300,000 ducats to influence the election in favor of Giuliano della Rovere. However, even cardinals who could normally be swayed shook their heads at the French interfering with Vatican matters.

]]> 11. He Used His Daughter as a Political Pawn Once Rodrigo had risen to power in the Vatican, he started using his young daughter Lucrezia as a bargaining chip with power-hungry families wishing to align their fortunes with his. Cardinal Ascanio Sforza said at the time, “There are many who long to marry into the pope’s family via his daughter and he lets many think they have a chance. Even the King of Naples aspires to win her hand!” Cardinal Sforza ended up winning this game of power himself.

]]> 12. He Made His Relatives into Cardinals Pope Alexander was not one to break with a tradition of nepotism. He elevated at least ten relatives to the College of Cardinals. This included his own son Cesare and his mistress’ brother, Alessandro Farnese. Farnese was later elected Pope Paul III.

]]> 13. He Was Accused of Selling Church Offices Pope Alexander’s enemies also accused him of simony, the selling of church offices, formally classed as a sin in the Catholic Church. This was another common sin among the popes, who would often promise promotions to church officials in exchange for their votes in the election. In this respect, Pope Alexander played the game like his fellows, and given his reputation, he was probably past caring about formally classed sins.

]]> 14. He Had His Junk Verified by the Vatican According to an account of Pope Alexander’s consecration ceremony, the church officials had to verify that he was male. For centuries, the myth that a Pope John had secretly been a woman circulated through the Vatican, and the Church was allegedly wary such a case might happen again. Rodrigo Borgia thus had to submit to a body examination before he could take the highest office in the church.

]]> 15. He Took Land for His Family Alexander didn’t stop his nepotism at naming cardinals. He also carved out fiefdoms from land in the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples for his own children to preside over. This practice quickly made an enemy of Ferdinand I, the King of Naples.

]]> 16. He Presided Over Columbus’ Discovery When Alexander became pope in 1492, his newfound power coincided with Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World for Europe. Months after news of the discovery, Spain and Portugal had already started fighting over the land in the New World. Portugal claimed a previous papal decree gave the New World to Portugal. This put the Vatican in the middle of a world-making decision.

]]> 17. He Arranged a Political Marriage for Lucrezia When Lucrezia Borgia was 13 years old, Pope Alexander arranged her marriage to Giovanni Sforza, nephew of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, hoping to court Sforza’s powerful family as allies. Cardinal Sforza had proved his worth by playing an influential role in supporting Alexander’s election. In addition, the Cardinal’s brother was the Duke of Milan, and an alliance between the families would give the Borgias a grasp on power in northern Italy. However, the marriage would soon come back to haunt them.

]]> 18. He Used the New World as a Chess Piece When Ferdinand I of Naples sought to make an alliance against Pope Alexander, he successfully approached Florence, Milan, and Venice. Then Ferdinand sought to ally with Spain, but Spain refused. Spain wanted to remain on good terms with the Vatican to stake their claim on the New World through the pope, a gamble that worked in their favor.

]]> 19. He Divided the New World Pope Alexander stepped into the middle of the New World conflict between Spain and Portugal and decreed that any newly discovered land 100 leagues west of the Portugal-controlled Cape Verde islands would belong to Spain. He followed this with another decree giving any lands already belonging to "India" (remember how they thought North America was India?) over to Spain, no matter where they were located. Portugal wasn’t going to take that.

]]> 20. His Decision Led to a World-Making Treaty Tired of Pope Alexander’s meddling, Portugal decided to bypass the pope and negotiate directly with Spain for land in the New World. They ended up signing the Treaty of Tordesillas, which equally divided the New World between the two countries. This treaty ended up having huge historical consequences: It's the reason Brazil—barely east of the Papal Line—still largely speaks Portuguese while the other South American countries speak Spanish.

]]> 21. His Son-in-Law Refused to Ally with Him In 1494, the King of France, Charles VIII, invaded Italy. Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan and uncle of Giovanni Sforza, made an alliance with France against Pope Alexander. Giovanni refused to turn against his uncle to support the Borgias, betraying the purpose of the political marriage Alexander arranged. Lucrezia’s brother, Cesare, warned Lucrezia that Giovanni would not survive that decision.

Lucrezia may have warned Giovanni of his impending doom, and Giovanni fled to Milan in disguise. But the Borgias still had dark plans in store for him.

]]> 22. He Sacrificed His Son to Keep His Power By the end of the year, Charles VIII’s forces had reached Rome, alongside French-aligned cardinals and Alexander’s rival Giuliano della Rovere. Facing the looming threat that the French would depose him as pope, Alexander opened negotiations with the French king. He agreed to send his son Cesare to Naples with the French army as an insurance policy, essentially making Cesare a prisoner.

Alexander also agreed to turn over Cem Sultan, a pretender to the Ottoman throne who was being held in Rome, as well as surrendering the city of Civitavecchia to Charles. King Charles left, and Rodrigo got to stay in power.

]]> 23. He Sent an Army to Subdue His Enemies After Alexander successfully navigated the French invasion, Cesare escaped captivity and returned to Rome. Alexander then put his son in charge of a Vatican-aligned army to bring the disarrayed nearby Papal States into order. Cesare went on the warpath and settled much of Central Italy under the power of the Borgias. He then marched on Naples to wrest power from his once-allies. Alexander left Rome to divide up the land he was busy conquering, and left Lucrezia behind as his regent.

]]> 24. He Banned a Reformer from Preaching Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican friar, led a religious movement in Florence during Alexander’s papacy. He focused on reforming the Christian faith, and that was bad news for Alexander. Savonarola did everything in his power to wipe vice from his city, denouncing the corruption and tyrannical rule of the clerics. Pope Alexander thought little of the friar until Florence refused to join his Holy League to fight the French after their invasion.

He blamed this on the reformist influence of Savonarola, and he banned the friar from preaching. When Savonarola didn’t obey, Alexander excommunicated him—but that wasn't enough for this bloodthirsty pope. Not long after, government officials condemned and hanged Savonarola.

]]> 25. He Annulled Lucrezia’s Inconvenient Marriage When the Sforzas ultimately disappointed Alexander’s ambitions, he declared that Giovanni Sforza was impotent and annulled his marriage to Lucrezia on those grounds. Giovanni fought the annulment, but finally gave in when Pope Alexander agreed to let him keep Lucrezia’s sizeable dowry. However, even that didn’t make Giovanni disappear into history quietly.

]]> 26. He Arranged a Second Mercenary Marriage Alexander VI arranged a second marriage for Lucrezia after the annulment, this time with Alfonso of Aragon, the illegitimate son of the King of Naples. He intended for this union to pave the way to a marriage between Cesare and Carlotta, the King of Naples’ daughter. If Alexander tied himself to Naples, he would gain a crucial ally against France. Fortunately for Lucrezia, she was now 18 and seemingly happy with the match. Unfortunately for Lucrezia, their union was doomed.

]]> 27. He May Have Fathered Lucrezia’s Mystery Child In 1498, Giovanni Borgia was born into the House of Borgia, though to whom he was born is still a debate. Lucrezia Borgia is thought to be his mother, perhaps through her lover Perotto Calderon—but much darker rumors persisted. Many believed he was the child of a relationship between Lucrezia and either her father Pope Alexander or her brother Cesare. Lucrezia may not have been the mother at all, and the child could have been from Pope Alexander’s relationship with an unknown woman.

]]> 28. He Claimed He and His Son Fathered the Same Child In 1501, Pope Alexander VI finally publicly addressed the birth of Giovanni Borgia, but only in the most confusing way possible. He issued two papal decrees on the same day. One claimed Giovanni was Pope Alexander’s own son. The other claimed Giovanni was Cesare’s son, and therefore Alexander's grandchild. These decrees only stoked the flames of those who claimed Giovanni was the product of a rumored relationship between Alexander and his own daughter.

]]> 29. He Shared a Mistress with a Rival Pope Alexander VI was far from the only church official to indulge in relationships the church frowned upon. One of his primary mistresses, Vannozza dei Cattanei, allegedly had a previous relationship with another cardinal, Alexander’s rival Giulio della Rovere. Rovere was later elected Pope Julius II, Borgia’s successor, making dei Cattanei the mistress of two popes.

]]> 30. He Held a Sordid Party at the Vatican In 1501, Pope Alexander VI and his son Cesare allegedly held a shocking all-night party in the pope’s official residence. The Borgias hired 50 concubines for the event. On the night in question, they had these women disrobe and pick up chestnuts strewn on the floor. Father and son also allegedly held a competition, with a prize going to the man who could use the services of the most women that night.

However, though it's a wild tale, modern historians doubt its veracity. Only Johann Burchard, the papal master of ceremonies, wrote about the banquet. The story fit in with Pope Alexander’s sordid reputation, though, so it became part of the Borgias’ scandalous lore, true or not.

]]> 31. He Profited from a Cardinal’s Passing In 1503, a Venetian cardinal suddenly succumbed to a sudden and unidentified illness. Wasting no time, Pope Alexander VI sent his personal forces cardinal's estate to collect 150,000 ducats. He also sent nine new cardinals to replace the late official, ensuring the local cardinals would be loyal to him. This all seemed remarkably convenient for Alexander, so it's little wonder most people assumed the Pope himself poisoned the cardinal.

]]> 32. He May Have Disposed of Enemies with a Mystery Concoction The Borgias supposedly dosed enemies to get them out of the way, and their method of choice was the mystery substance Cantarella. Historians still debate exactly what Cantarella was. It could have been cantharidin, a powder made from blister beetles that causes chemical burns. The most likely theory is that it was an arsenic compound. Arsenic was a well-known and effective method of silencing one's enemies at the time.

Another rumor claimed the Borgias created their mystery compound by sprinkling arsenic on the entrails of pigs. Historians still can't say for sure, but regardless, this secret substance likely allowed Pope Alexander VI to remove some inconvenient people from his path to power.

]]> 33. He Started an Ongoing Roman Tradition Pope Alexander VI presided over a rare Jubilee Year in 1500, an event that took place only every 50 years. During this time, the Church encouraged the residents of Rome to confess their sins by passing through the “Holy Doors” opened in Rome’s basilicas. Alexander himself began a longstanding formal rite of opening the Holy Doors to mark the beginning of the Jubilee year, a tradition still practiced to this day.

]]> 34. His Reputation May Be Mostly Rumor While the Borgias are now synonymous with deviance, there may be more to the story. Alexander ruined Giovanni Sforza's life and reputation—and the spurned man might have sought revenge. Modern historians believe that many of the most shocking rumors about Alexander, such as his affair with his own daughter, might have come from Sforza.

So, at the end of the day, Sforza walked away with his life, Lucrezia’s dowry, and a decisive blow to the Borgia’s reputation. Honestly, not that bad of a deal.

]]> 35. He Received a Grim Prediction Right before his Jubilee year, an astrologer predicted that misfortune would soon befall Alexander VI. The astrologer failed to specify how many misfortunes were about to hit him—and it was a lot.

]]> 36. He Nearly Died In a Terrible Accident During a meeting in June of 1500, a strong wind knocked down a chimney over the papal throne, where Alexander VI was seated at the time. Three people lost their lives in the accident, and Alexander himself was injured—but this was just the beginning.

]]> 37. He Allied with an Old Enemy Cesare’s planned marriage to Carlotta of Naples fell through, and Alexander VI instead saw an opportunity to ally with the newly crowned King of France, Louis XII. Alexander arranged for Cesare to wed a relative of the French king, but this left Lucrezia’s husband Alfonso high and dry. France and Naples were enemies, and now Alexander was allying himself against Alfonso’s family in Naples. Talk about trying to have your cake and eat it too.

]]> 38. He May Have Ordered His Son-in-Law’s Attack The same year Cesare married to seal the French alliance, unknown culprits attacked Alfonso of Aragon with a knife. Alexander had Alfonso taken to the Vatican to recover. He assigned a dozen guards to Alfonso's quarters to protect him against a rumored plot—a lot of good that did him. A month later, someone entered Alfonso’s room at night and asphyxiated him in his bed at the Vatican. Most people suspected Cesare was behind the dark crime, though no one could prove it.

]]> 39. He Left Lucrezia in Charge of Church Affairs In a purported incident in 1501, Pope Alexander VI shocked the Vatican by allowing Lucrezia to take his place in a meeting he could not attend. This meant he was not only allowing a woman to preside over the affairs of the Catholic Church, but the illegitimate daughter of a pope no less! In later years, this became fuel for claims that Lucrezia was dosing Borgia rivals, as her attendance of papal events gave her access to many powerful men.

]]> 40. His Mistress Inspired a Religious Painting The Renaissance artist Pinturicchio's painting of the Madonna came under scrutiny when critics accused him of using Pope Alexander VI’s mistress, Giulia Farnese, as a model for the Biblical Mary. That the pope's mistress might have stood in for the Virgin Mary herself was far too scandalous for even the most lecherous cardinal to handle.

]]> 41. History Has Not Been Kind to his Daughter In later years, Lucrezia Borgia would take on the historical role of the villain. There were even rumors that she wore a ring with a secret compartment for arsenic to slip into drinks. However, it is more likely she was only a chess piece in Pope Alexander’s power games. Most of her villainization comes from her three marriages, all arranged and dissolved in a way that was advantageous to her father.

If anyone in the family was dispatching husbands and rivals, it was probably not Lucrezia. The rest of Pope Alexander’s family, however, is a different question entirely.

]]> 42. The City Rioted When He Passed Following the passing of a pope or any high-ranking official, Romans followed the grand tradition of rioting and pillaging. Cesare was too ill to attend to family business when Alexander croaked, but he knew he had to do something. He sent a trusted associate to seize Alexander’s treasures before the public learned of his passing in order to keep them out of pillaging hands.

]]> 43. The Next Pope Did Things Differently When Giuliano della Rovere became Pope Julius II in 1503, he issued a decree that annulled any papal election bought by simony and excommunicated cardinals for selling their votes. It’s safe to say he was still bitter about Pope Alexander VI successfully buying his own election a decade prior.

]]> 44. Julius II Refused Pope Alexander’s Residence After Alexander’s passing, the newly elected Julius II refused to take up residence in the same Vatican apartment as his predecessor. He abandoned the now-infamous Borgia Apartments for corresponding rooms on the next floor up. By all accounts, he hoped to escape the reminder of the pope he hated. The Borgia Apartments remained sealed until the 19th century, three centuries after Alexander VI's lifetime.

]]> 45. His Enemy Extracted Accusations Against Him Despite the many swirling rumors about Pope Alexander VI’s sordid crimes, little solid evidence exists to condemn him. Around the time of his passing, the only accusations that he dosed rivals with Cantarella came from his own servants. The servants reportedly only made these accusations under duress and violence from Pope Julius II, hoping to further drag the reputation of his longtime enemy through the mud.

]]> 46. He Suffered From Anti-Spanish Propaganda The Borgias were a Spanish family trying to play games of power throughout Italy, which may have been another downfall of their reputation. As Spaniards, they were subject to the influence of anti-Spanish propaganda following Spain’s involvement in the affairs of Northern Italy. During this volatile time, when Italian propaganda painted anything Spanish as brutal and cruel, Rodrigo Borgia tried to build wealth and power for his Spanish family. This wave of anti-Spanish sentiment could have helped wild rumors about the Borgias take hold.

]]> 47. His Successor May Have Created His Rep Some modern historians believe Alexander VI has been unfairly besmirched in the historical record, claiming that he was the victim of a smear campaign by Pope Julius II. In 1999, the Vatican opened their archives to scholars seeking new information that may show the Borgia Pope in a more favorable light.

]]> 48. He Was the Last Spanish Pope After Alexander VI, there was no other non-Italian pope for 500 years. The next pope from outside of Italy was the Polish John Paul II, elected in 1978.

]]> 49. He Lost a Son Under Mysterious Circumstances Pope Alexander favored his son Juan, his eldest child by Vannozza dei Cattanei, until tragedy struck. Following the French invasion, Alexander turned on the powerful France-aligned Orsini family, seizing their land and intending to give those lands to Juan. Before he could maneuver his son into this seat of power, Juan's corpse was found washed up in the Tiber River, the victim of foul play.

The culprit is still a mystery, though a jealous lover, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, and Juan's brother Cesare Borgia were all suspected.

]]> 50. His Reign May Have Ended in Foul Play When Pope Alexander VI finally passed on, it was in a manner befitting his legacy—under mysterious circumstances. He fell suddenly ill with a mysterious malady and it ravaged his body, claiming his life in August 1503. The effects on his body were so gruesome that his attendants deemed the remains unfit to display publicly. This stirred up rumors that it was not a natural illness.

One rumor stated Cesare had accidentally dosed his father with a fatal concoction while aiming for a rival. However, some historians suspect it was more likely malaria that brought down the Borgia Pope.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, , 22, 23

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=29026 <![CDATA[Most people have heard of the Terracotta Army—but few know about the bloodthirsty emperor who was buried with it.]]> 2026-09-10T17:06:53+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/qin-shi-huang Kyle Climans People The Dragon Emperor He was the first man to rule over a united China after years of separate states warring with each other. Qin Shi Huang’s life and legacy have been subjected to much study, and for good reason. He oversaw massive construction projects which still exist today and he helped shape China’s history to an extent that very few others have done. 

]]> 1. An Emperor by Any Other Name Qin Shi Huang’s name means “First Emperor of Qin.” As you can imagine, he only took this name when he assumed power. His birth name was either Ying Zheng or Zhao Zheng, depending on who’s writing.

]]> 2. Where’s His Birth Certificate? Qin was born on February 18, 259 BC. Given how far back that goes, and given the lack of writing to confirm, no one knows exactly where he was born. We do know that it was likely in the state of Zhao, where his father was at the time (more on that later).

]]> 3. Hindsight is 20/20 While you might expect the man who united China into one empire to be praised and revered within China, the exact opposite is more often the case. Traditional Chinese histories often portray Qin as a ruthless man with a barbaric thirst for blood and a man who was paranoid over his mortality—and that’s even with all his accomplishments as China’s first emperor. We’ll go into the reasons why that is the case, but it’s safe to say that Qin is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of China.

]]> 4. For the Sake of Ease Qin spent part of his adult life as a king of one of the independent Chinese states that warred with each other. After he united these states, Qin assumed the title of emperor. Keep this in mind while reading the article; we’ll call him a king or emperor depending on what he was calling himself at the time.

]]> 5. How I Met Your Mother Qin’s father was Yiren, the prince of the state of Qin. According to the histories, Yiren met Qin’s mother when he was living as a hostage in the state of Zhao to guarantee the continuation of a peace treaty. At the time, Qin’s future mom was the concubine of a wealthy merchant named Lu Buwei. Yiren fell in love with said concubine and persuaded Lu to let them marry.

She was known as Lady Zhao thereafter, in reference to the region where she came from.

]]> 6. Not Quite as Impressive as You Thought Understandably, Qin was the founder of the Qin dynasty, named after himself and the state which he’d ruled as king. It was the first dynasty in the history of Imperial China, beginning in 221 BC. Unfortunately for Qin, it was a very short-lived dynasty, ending in 206 BC, less than 20 years later. Some of you have had pets that lived longer than that dynasty did!

]]> 7. Rumors with a Motive Given the lowborn status of Qin’s mother as a concubine to a merchant, a dark theory emerged about his parentage. Rumors spread that he was actually the illegitimate son of said merchant, rather than Prince Yiren. This idea has often been dismissed in recent times as merely being an attempt to slander Qin’s legacy. It’s worth pointing out that Confucian China considered a merchant to be part of the lowest of social classes, and Confucians had quite a few reasons to hate Qin (more on that later).

]]> 8. Change of Plans Qin’s father reigned as King of the Qin state for just three years. While the exact cause is unknown, the king died when Qin was only 13 years old. As Qin was too young to rule, a regent ruled in his stead. Interestingly, this regent was none other than Lu Buwei, the merchant whom Qin’s mother had served as a concubine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Qin’s mother reacquainted herself with Lu, perhaps for old times’ sake?

]]> 9. The Downfall of the Ambitious The irony of Qin’s life is that while he oversaw a period that greatly shaped China in the long run, his own dynasty was very short-lived. Because he so feared death, Qin never dared to make a will. With no official documentation, people presumed Qin’s heir was his eldest son, Fusu. However, Qin’s former Prime Minister, Li Si, was sure that Fusu would remove him from power—so he came up with a dark plot.

Li Si falsified a letter from Qin which instructed Fusu to kill himself—and amazingly, this worked! With the loss of Fusu, Li Si crowned a younger son of Qin as Qin Er Shi. Unfortunately, Li Si’s plot to keep his power was undone due to the very person he made Emperor. Qin Er Shi was ill-suited to replace his father, and the Qin dynasty collapsed in a sea of rebellions and revolts. In its place was the Han dynasty, which ruled China for 400 years.

]]> 10. Impressive Final Resting Place In preparation for death, Qin ordered the construction of a massive tomb that contained an army to protect him in death. These eternal soldiers were fashioned out of terracotta. Incredibly, Qin arranged for the construction on the tomb to begin when he first became king at 13 years old. Work on the tomb continued for decades, allegedly requiring the labor of 700,000 men (though some historians have pointed out that this number is likely just a little exaggerated).

The Terracotta Army, as this collection of statues is named, featured more than 40,000 bronze weapons, 520 horses, 130 chariots, and over 8,000 soldiers—even some non-military figures were included in the massive tomb. Believe it or not, when the tomb was finally finished, it was bigger than any city which existed at that point in human history! It is currently registered as a World Heritage Site.

]]> 11. Dead Men Tell No Tales Reportedly, once Qin’s tomb—including the entire Terracotta Army—was completed, most of the workers who built it were killed. This was done in order to keep the secrets of how the tomb was laid out and where treasures could be found from potential grave robbers. Frankly, though, that’s not the severance pay we’d ever ask for!

]]> 12. He Must Die Qin was an ambitious king from almost the very start of his reign. One of his first targets was the state of Yan. It was clear that they could not oppose Qin, so in 227 BC, the crown prince of that state-organized an assassination attempt on Qin. Two men, Jing Ke and Qin Wuyang, were to approach Qin with gifts, only to stab him to death with daggers before he could defend himself.

Since it was forbidden to bear weapons in the king’s court, the plan seemed to be an effective one.

]]> 13. When Things Go Wrong… Unfortunately for the would-be assassins of Qin, their attempt in 227 BC was a disaster. First, one of the would-be assassins lost his nerve, so the other man had to go it alone. Then, Qin proved quicker with his reflexes and drew his sword to strike back. In desperation, Jing Ke flung his knife at the king, but it missed. Qin made Jing pay for the attempt by inflicting eight wounds upon Jing with his sword.

]]> 14. Another Failed Plot Speaking of Jing Ke, he had a friend who took his death at Qin’s hands less than well. Even though he was a lute player by trade, Gao Jianli was determined to avenge Jing’s death (forgetting that Jing had been trying to assassinate Qin prior to dying). Gao made his way to the king’s court and catered to Qin’s famous love of music. However, he was identified by a courtier who knew of his friendship to Jing. What a bad stroke of luck for Gao!

]]> 15. Magnanimous over Music Presented with yet another would-be assassin, Qin surprisingly didn’t have him put to death. Gao Jianli was such a skilled musician that Qin couldn’t bring himself to have him slain. Instead, he ordered Gao to be blinded, but he also kept him around to play music!

]]> 16. Brotherly Conflict In order to secure his father’s kingship, Qin had to deal with his half-brother. Zhao Chengjiao had also been born to Qin’s father, and he took issue with Qin becoming the new king. This resulted in rebellion, but Zhao proved unable to oust Qin from power. He fled for his life, leaving his followers and their families to be executed by Qin.

]]> 17. A New Friend When Qin assumed his father’s kingship, it would have been protocol to have the former regent become chancellor. However, with Lu Buwei’s exile, Qin chose another man. This was Li Si, and he proved to be one of the most important figures in Qin’s life. During the regency period, Qin spent many hours speaking with Li, and the two men bonded over the dream of getting the Chinese states into one kingdom.

]]> 18. Down with Tribalism! In 237 BC, Qin was urged to expel all foreigners from his state to prevent espionage (this included Chinese people who weren’t from that state). This would have meant expelling his friend Li Si, who was originally from the Chu state. Li actually took it upon himself to defend the rights of foreigners in Qin’s kingdom, and his arguments were so persuasive that Qin promoted him.

]]> 19. Repackaged for Entertainment Jing Ke’s attempted assassination of Qin inspired the plot of the 2002 Chinese action film Hero, released in 2002. Jet Li stars as a nameless protagonist who may or may not be an assassin sent to kill the king (you'll have to watch the movie to find out!). At the time, Hero was one of the most expensive Chinese films ever made, and it went on to become one of the highest-grossing films in Chinese film history.

]]> 20. Oh the Drama! You might be wondering just what kind of hint Qin needed to realize that his courtier was shacking up with his mom and producing children. Qin allegedly didn’t find out until a drunken Lao Ai, feasting with friends, began bragging that he was the king’s stepfather. To be honest, we’re wondering how Qin missed the two boys that his mom gave birth to!

]]> 21. No Second Chances Despite Qin’s desire to keep his failed assassin, the blinded Gao Jianli, as his personal musician, Gao wasn’t deterred from trying to kill the king, even after he was blinded. Gao once again relied on his incredible music playing to lull Qin into a false sense of security. The plan actually worked well enough that Qin allowed the blind musician to come close to him. Prior to playing, Gao fastened a piece of lead to his lute, so he swung the weighted instrument at Qin, hoping to bludgeon the king to death.

Of course, being blind did hamper his assassination attempt, and Qin evaded the blow. This time, he granted Gao no mercy and had him put to death.

]]> 22. Long-Awaited Vengeance As was mentioned, Qin’s father lived in the Zhao state as a hostage, along with his young son. In 229 BC, the adult monarch was able to avenge his and his father’s treatment after a series of natural disasters greatly weakened the Zhao state. The state was conquered within a year, even as Qin sought out his surviving enemies and dealt them a cruel death.

]]> 23. Right Hand Man In his efforts to unite the Chinese states with standardized laws and language, Qin's chancellor Li Si worked tirelessly to aid him. When Qin became emperor, Li became the Prime Minister. Li held this position for many years, serving not just Qin, but his successor as well.

]]> 24. My Way or No Way One of the less pleasant aspects of Qin’s rule as emperor (which in turn led to some of his cruelest atrocities) was his targeting of free thought. In his determination to unite China under one system, Qin suppressed any philosophy or study that he didn’t agree with, or which he thought could be a threat to his power.

]]> 25. Did He, or Didn’t He? One philosophy that met Qin’s ire was Confucianism. Arguably Qin’s most ghastly action was allegedly ordering more than 450 Confucian scholars to be buried alive. However, the source that details the atrocity comes from long after Qin’s death, and recent studies have created the suspicion that this story may be propaganda invented to vilify Qin’s legacy. Either way, however, Qin was certainly an enemy of Confucianism.

]]> 26. Change is in the Air One of the biggest steps Qin took to cement his rule over a united China was abolishing feudalism. Instead, the newly formed Chinese Empire was divided into regions known as commanderies. This severed ties that people might have had to their former states. Not only that, appointments in the empire under Qin were merit-based instead of hereditary.

]]> 27. Time for a Trip to Hot Topic! Under Qin, the royal color became black. He had all of his clothes, flags, and pennants embroidered in the color. This represented Qin's belief in the philosophy of the five elements (earth, wood, metal, water, fire). His birth element was water, and water was represented by black.

]]> 28. Lost in Adaptation As you can imagine, Qin’s life has been the inspiration for several films and television series produced by Hong Kong and Chinese film industries. Among the series produced about Qin were Qin Shi Huang, A Step Into the Past, and Rise of the Great Wall.

]]> 29. Busy Father Throughout his reign, Qin never seems to have named an empress to sit beside him. Don’t be mistaken about his love life, however. Qin had several concubines, with whom he had around 50 children (most of whose names are lost to history).

]]> 30. Fahrenheit 451 In an act that would make his reign infamous, Qin ordered the widespread burning of books, beginning in 213 BC. Some subjects were spared the blaze; books about agriculture, medicine, astrology, divination, and the history of the Qin state were allowed to continue existing. Qin was concerned with books that compared his reign with the past, but he also wanted to eliminate old writing systems to replace them with his own standardized language.

]]> 31. Take Notes, Venice! In 214 BC, Emperor Qin organized the construction of a vast canal that would connect the north of China with the south of China by linking two major Chinese waterways. The Lingqu Canal is widely recognized as one of the very best accomplishments of Ancient Chinese engineering. An expression from antiquity states, “In the North, there is the Great Wall, but in the South, there is the Lingqu Canal.”

Qin didn't build the canal for very altruistic reasons, however. He had a much darker purpose: he built it so that he could attack the indigenous Baiyue tribes living in the south.

]]> 32. A Random Name Drop While most of the films which have portrayed Qin have been Chinese in origin, the emperor did become part of the backstory to the 1986 Hollywood film Big Trouble in Little China. Directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell, the film takes place in the present (1980s present) but deals with an ancient wizard who was cursed by Qin after defeating him in battle. The film wasn’t a success during its time but has since become hailed as a cult classic which has inspired a board game, a card game, and a comic book series.

]]> 33. Let’s Try Killing Him Again In 230 BC, Qin was making strides in his conquests of the Chinese states, having just defeated the Han state. One nobleman of that fallen state, Zhang Liang, plotted vengeance. He hired a strongman to join him in an ambush against Qin.

]]> 34. Ah-Ha! I Saw it Coming! The third attempt on Qin’s life relied on perhaps the strangest plot concocted by Qin’s enemies. Hiding along a mountain trail where Qin would be traveling, Zhang Liang and the strongman waited for Qin’s carriage to approach their position. The strongman then threw a large, metal cone that weighed around 160 pounds into Qin’s carriage. However, Qin had anticipated possible assassination attempts, and so had sent out a carriage identical to his own as a decoy.

We’re not sure if he also anticipated the heavy metal cone part, but we can’t imagine that he was that crazy!

]]> 35. Playing the Big Baddie Qin makes an appearance in the long-running Magic Tree House children’s books. In this series of a boy and girl traveling through time and space with the aid of a treehouse, they come face-to-face with Qin in the 1998 novel Day of the Dragon King. The protagonists must rescue a book from the book burnings ordered by the emperor, who is known as the Dragon King in the book.

]]> 36. They’ll Upgrade it in the Future Qin was responsible for the construction of a wall that was a precursor to the Great Wall of China. After a campaign against northern tribes led to a bloody stalemate, the emperor wished to enforce the Chinese border. A huge wall was built, requiring hundreds of thousands of laborers. Part of this wall actually connected pre-existing walls built during the Warring States Period.

]]> 37. Have You Tried Horcruxes? Qin grew to love his life as emperor so much that he was terrified of dying. This fear grew worse the older he got. Qin began falling victim to stories of elixirs that would give him the gift (or curse) of immortality. Unfortunately for him, he never did find one that actually existed.

]]> 38. Bloodthirsty and Proud of It Qin’s persecution of intellectuals during his reign as emperor has become a stain on his legacy, but one man saw it as an inspiration. Even worse, that man happened to be Mao Zedong, who became the chairman of the People’s Republic of China. His own persecution of intellectuals was compared to the First Emperor, and he actually took the time to address that comparison.

Mao stated, "He buried 460 scholars alive; we have buried forty-six thousand scholars alive... You [intellectuals] revile us for being Qin Shi Huangs. You are wrong. We have surpassed Qin Shi Huang a hundredfold. When you berate us for imitating his despotism, we are happy to agree! Your mistake was that you did not say so enough." Oh boy…

]]> 39. Salacious Court Gossip During Qin’s regency period, his mother, Lady Zhang, not only became Lu Buwei’s lover, but she also became particularly interested in Lao Ai, a retainer in Lu’s employ. One reason for this attraction was, and this was explicitly written in ancient sources, that Lao was very well-endowed.

]]> 40. He's Into It? Lu Buwei allegedly supported Lady Zhang's intimate escapades—or at least, believed it was in his best interest to keep her happy. He even masterminded a plot to spread a rumor that Lao Ai had been castrated, eliminating any suspicion that he and Lady Zhang were lovers.

]]> 41. That Ended Poorly Things came to a head between the adult Qin and his mother when she became pregnant with Lao Ai's child and the two of them devised a chilling plot. They planned to depose Qin and install their illegitimate sons on the throne instead. They launched a revolt in 238 BC, but Qin was victorious in quashing it. Lao and his illegitimate sons were put to death, while Qin’s mother was stripped of any authority.

For his association with the plotters (you know, the whole eunuch charade), Lu Buwei was exiled, only for him to take his own life while on the run.

]]> 42. Royal Sadist Qin was definitely one for finding creative (and painful) ways to execute his enemies. Lao Ai, the dowager queen’s secret lover, was killed by being tied to horse carriages and torn into five pieces. His two sons were wrapped in sacks and battered to death. No wonder Lu Buwei took his own life rather than be caught by Qin!

]]> 43. Your Days are Numbered If the written histories can be trusted, a rather unique meteor foreshadowed Qin’s death. Falling to earth in China around 211 BC, it was inscribed with the words, “The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided.” When Qin found out about the inscription (which he assumed a human wrote after the meteor fell), he sought out the person who inscribed the prophecy.

Nobody confessed (shocker) so the emperor had everyone who lived around the area put to death just in case, then had the meteor destroyed. It was to no avail, however; he died shortly after, on September 10, 210 BC.

]]> 44. Well, This is Awkward… The irony of Qin’s desire to make himself immortal is that this very desire was likely what resulted in his death. The prevailing theory behind Qin’s death is that it came about due to mercury pills. At the time, these were used by alchemists in the hope that they would help produce an elixir. Whoops!

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=32230 <![CDATA[Centuries Before Princess Diana, Britain Had Another "Lady Di"—And Her Story Was Just As Heartbreaking]]> 2026-09-10T16:44:07+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-diana-russell Brendan Da Costa People The Original “Lady Di” Lady Diana Spencer captured the hearts and minds of millions across the globe before a dreadful accident claimed her life too soon. But two and half centuries earlier, another Lady Diana had the world eating out of the palm of her pretty little palm. Clearly, however, the Fates don’t favor anyone named Lady Diana.

]]> 1. She Came From A Powerful Family Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford was born as the youngest member of the illustrious Spencer family in July of 1710. Her father was Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, but it was really her mother, Anne Spencer, who had all of the right royal connections. Sadly, no amount of favoritism would save her from a tragic life.

]]> 2. Her Name Is A Bad Omen When she was just a baby, the Spencer family gave Diana the affectionate nickname, “dear little Di”. That nickname might sound familiar for good—and very ominous—reasons. Diana wasn't just a direct ancestor of the tragically-fated Lady Diana Spencer, she was actually her namesake. As we'll see, that wasn't all they shared.

]]> 3. She Was The Favorite Despite her ultimate fate, Diana's early childhood was actually mostly sunshine and rainbows. As the baby of the family, she was firmly the favorite child. In fact, her mother Anne had also been the favorite child of her own mother, the powerful Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, who was herself Queen Anne’s favorite courtier.

But coming from a long line of favorites meant nothing when tragedy finally did strike.

]]> 4. Her Mother Left Her Diana's misfortunes started pretty early on—and then just kept coming. Only a few months before her sixth birthday, she got horrific news. Her mother passed away. The Countess was only 33 years old at the time, and her unexpected and sudden passing left "little Di” without a loving mother. But things didn't stay this way for long.

]]> 5. She Got A New Mommy Diana's father was quick to remarry. In fact, his deceased wife’s corpse had barely even set into rigor mortis before he tied the knot with the little-known Judith Tichborne just a few months later. It would have been a hard transition for a six-year-old to bear, but there was so much more upheaval ahead for little Di.

]]> 6. Her Siblings Didn’t Make It In just six short years of marriage to her father, Tichborne managed to give Diana three more siblings. Then it turned dark again. Not one of those little angels survived past infancy. Losing loved ones was now practically a hobby for Little Di. But as it turned out, the worst was yet to come.

]]> 7. She Was An Orphan Almost six years to the day of her mother’s passing, Diana officially became an orphan. That summer, her father followed her mother into the grave. And once more, it was sudden and unexpected; the duke was only 46 years old, and left behind his wife and a gaggle of children. But there was also something scandalous about that day.

]]> 8. Her Father Was A Traitor Just before his passing, Diana's father had been a key player in a treasonous plot. The so-called "Atterbury Plot" was a conspiracy to restore the House of Stuart—Queen Anne’s royal household—to the throne. Before the conspirators could put their plan into motion, however, the Earl kicked the can—a turn of events that actually helped expose and doom the plot.

Amidst all this drama, Diana found a  powerful ally.

]]> 9. She Had A Formidable Grandmother Diana's family may have been dying around her, but she still had her powerful maternal grandmother, Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough. And the cunning woman knew just what to do. She took Little Di under her wing and groomed the budding girl for success. And boy, did Diana ever get it.

]]> 10. She Was An Heiress Under her grandmother’s careful protection and watchful gaze, Diana grew into a proper woman. From an orphaned little girl, she became her grandmother's favorite descendant, and then one of the most eligible bachelorettes in the Kingdom. Of course, it helped that her guardian the Duchess of Marlborough was one of richest women in the country, too. But Diana had more than that.

]]> 11. She Had It All—Before She Lost It It’s so rare that someone as beautiful as Diana would also be kind-hearted. But, just like her famous descendant Princess Di, Diana’s contemporaries commented on her gentle disposition, agreeing that she was both sympathetic and charismatic. But even if Diana had it all, she wouldn’t have it all for long.

]]> 12. She Blossomed Into A Beauty As she came of age, Diana blossomed into the good looks the Spencers have continued to be famous for. Like the future Princess Diana, she was tall, blonde, and had an open, innocent-looking face. The effect her beauty had was astounding. Men began falling over themselves just to pay her a compliment. And this is where her trouble began.

]]> 13. She Shut Down Her Suitors The first of Diana’s many suitors wasn't exactly the romantic fairy tale prince you might imagine. The Duke of Somerset approached the young girl not to marry him, but with the business-like intent to broker a union for his grandson. He failed. And as more suitors came, they failed too. Soon, the problem became obvious.

]]> 14. Her Grandmother Controlled Her Although wealthy Viscounts and Earls were lining up around the block to ask for Diana's hand in marriage, none of them seemed to make it very far. The reason why was simple. Diana's grandmother the Duchess of Marlborough had already decided they weren't good enough for her girl, and she held out for something better. But Diana's next option was the worst by far.

]]> 15. An Older Man Had A Crush On Her Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, was as enamored of Diana as seemingly every other straight man in the land, but he had an ace up his sleeve. A middle-aged man, he was actually friends with her grandmother Sarah Churchill, and thought that this would up his chances of winning her hand in marriage. So he put a bloodless plan into action.

]]> 16. She Received Love Letters Writing from The Hague directly to the Dowager Duchess, the Earl of Chesterfield wrote in not-so impassioned tones about “The person, the merit and the family of Lady Diana Spencer" when he asked for her hand. He was in for a huge disappointment. Sarah Churchill was having none of him either, friend or not, and turned him down.

Sadly, Diana and her grandmother were about to find out there's such a thing as too little, too late.

]]> 17. She Was Disfigured Good things come to those who wait—unless they wait too long. In the middle of husband shopping, a terrible and disfiguring affliction struck Diana. She developed a case of tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis, better known as scrofula or the king’s evil, which produces huge, unsightly lesions around the lymph nodes.

Terrified Diana was going to lose her good looks and thus one of her main attractions in the marriage market, the Dowager Duchess came up with a desperate plan.

]]> 18. She Went Under The Knife The Dowager Duchess of Marlborough couldn’t stand to see her favorite grandchild disfigured. So, like any doting grandmother would, she opened up her purse and spent a fortune to “fix” little Di’s disfiguration. She hired the most prominent surgeon she could find and had him conceal the injury, and it worked.

Just like that, Little Di was back on the market and more eligible than ever. But apparently, her grandmother hadn't learned any lessons, because her next plot was the most ambitious yet.

]]> 19. She Had Friends In High Places Growing up, Diana had become close to the royal family through her grandmother's connections, and had played with King George II's children when she was still in the nursery. This turned into a vital asset. Now that the Prince of Wales, Frederick, was grown, the Dowager Duchess thought she finally had a suitor worthy of her granddaughter. She was embarrassingly wrong.

]]> 20. Her Potential Suitor Was An Awful Man Not all princes are Prince Charming, and no one proved that point better than Frederick. While he certainly had the royal connections Diana and her family wanted, he was also a grade-A jerk who was completely estranged from his father and would go on to spread rumors about the king's early death just to destabilize the throne.

Yeah, this was the guy Diana and the Duchess were after. It ended as badly as you' think.

]]> 21. She Sold Herself The Duchess of Marlborough was one canny lady, and she had the Prince of Wales's number. Knowing he loved money and power above all else, Diana's grandmother came up with a brilliant idea. She posted up a massive dowry for her granddaughter, using it to entice Frederick with visions of paying off his substantial debts. But there was a huge complication.

]]> 22. She Had A Hot-Ticket Suitor A Prince of Wales is a hot commodity, and many other people, not mention entire countries, were hoping to snag Frederick for a husband. Because of this, Diana and her grandmother conducted most of these marriage meetings in secret, even going so far as to arrange a clandestine ceremony in Windsor Great Park. At first, it went perfectly.

]]> 23. She Was Ready For A Fairy Tale For Diana, everything was finally falling into place. Her dear grandmama had all but secured her future safety and success. The secretive marriage plans were moving ahead at full steam. According to the Dowager Duchess, Diana was to marry the Prince of Wales come hell or high water, and even the date had been set. And then it all began to fall apart. 

]]> 24. Her Enemies Ruined Her Wedding Day Not everyone thought that Diana and the Prince of Wales were a match made in heaven. In fact, for the Dowager Duchess’ enemies, having little Di married to the heir apparent spelled certain doom, at least for England's influence over in the continent if Frederick didn't marry a European princess.

So they began plotting to ruin her marriage plans—and what may have been her only chance at a happy life.

]]> 25. She Was Surrounded By Spies Diana's secret wedding day plans crashed and burned thanks to one very powerful man. Prime Minister Robert Walpole was one of the people who thought Frederick should make a continental union, and he wasn't about to let all of that slip away.  After hearing about the plans from his “infallible spy system,” Walpole kiboshed the wedding.

It was a crushing blow to the Spencer family, and they didn't take it well.

]]> 26. She Found An Unusual Match After weeks of plotting and holding out to marry Diana to a prince, the Dowager Duchess was back at square one. Her next actions puzzled everyone. Perhaps thoroughly downtrodden, the Duchess reached out to the 21-year old Lord John Russell as a suitor for Diana. He was an odd choice.

See, although Russell was dashing, he was also only a second son of the Duke of Bedford, and his older brother currently held the title. In other words, he wasn't the most eligible bachelor. It was a complete about-face for Diana's highly-anticipated prospects...but things were about to get twisty.

]]> 27. She Took Her Grandmother's Advice The Dowager Duchess rarely acted without thinking, had fingers in all the pies of England, and hadn't spent a lifetime in court politics learning nothing. So when she told Diana to marry the second son, Diana listened, tying the knot with the lesser noble in October 1731 for a fraction of the dowry she'd needed to tempt the Prince of Wales.

It had been a whirlwind couple of months, and she might have thought it would finally calm down. Nope. Another wrench was about to come into the works.

]]> 28. She Became Pregnant Right Away Diana and her new husband didn’t waste any time consummating their marriage. They were, after all, two of the most attractive nobles in the kingdom with more money than they could count. The consequences were instantaneous. The newly-minted Diana Russell proved fertile and quickly became pregnant with the couple’s first child.

Sadly, her first pregnancy was doomed to a violent end.

]]> 29. She Got Into A Gruesome Accident In 1732, Diana was heavily pregnant when she took a diverting carriage ride in the crisp November air. It ended in utter disaster. The carriage got into a serious accident, and Diana was sharply thrown from the vehicle with little warning. Fortunately, both mother and child survived the terrible crash. At first.

]]> 30. Her Body Suffered A Shock In those first desperate hours, Diana likely prayed that her baby was safe and all was well. It wasn't. The shock of the fall eventually proved too much for Diana's body, and the ensuing events were harrowing. She went into premature labor, possibly even on the side of the road in a small town named Cheam. She barely had time to think before her whole world changed.

]]> 31. She Gave Birth In Horrible Circumstances While still recovering from her own injuries in the carriage accident, Diana pushed until she gave birth to a baby boy she named John, who instantly became the Marquess of Tavistock. He was withered and sickly, but he was hers, and Diana intended to keep him alive as long as she possibly could. Tragically, this wasn't long.

]]> 32. She Lost Her Firstborn After swaddling the baby up, Diana rushed to baptize the premature child, knowing he had little chance of making it to adulthood but hoping and praying all the same. In the end, harsh reality won out: Just a day after his baptism, the little boy passed away. Then the real twist came.

]]> 33. Her Friends Lied To Her Face Diana had been through so much in her short life, and she must have been nearly at her wit's end when it came to her premature son. But her friends' reactions were utterly deranged. Apparently fearing for her mental health, Diana's courtiers wanted to cover up the baby's death entirely. And the way they were planning on doing that was even more unhinged.

]]> 34. She Had A Fake Child According to historical records, Diana Russell’s handlers decided that the best thing to do was to grab any old child of around the same age as poor little John. They would then plant him in the family, and everyone would simply pretend he was Diana's real son until "she was strong enough to hear the truth and be told it was only a pretender”.

Before that could happen, though something much weirder did.

]]> 35. She Became A Duchess Without Knowing It Even as Diana was having her terrible carriage accident, a huge surprise was coming for her. In an incredible twist of fate, her husband's elder brother had died in Spain without any children to his name. Although the news hadn't yet reached them, at the very moment Diana had her carriage accident, her husband was actually the Duke of Bedford, and she was the Duchess.

When the news finally did hit them, you'd think it would eventually change things for the better. Unfortunately, it it made it so much worse.

]]> 36. Her Husband Went Baby Crazy Diana's husband John had been devastated at the loss of their son, and his grief soon took on disturbing dimensions. Once he became the Duke of Bedford, he became obsessed with producing a healthy son and heir for his family. Dutiful as ever, Diana followed him right back into the bedroom to try and try again.

However, she might have been better off waiting before jumping back into the sack.

]]> 37. She Pushed Her Body To The Limit Diana never seemed to have a problem getting pregnant, and in a few short months after her carriage accident she was showing again—much to the delight of her Duke, though probably not to the delight of her still-recovering body. The couple began planning all the ways they would welcome their new heir into the world...and then once more, tragedy struck. 

]]> 38. She Lost Another Baby Sadly for Diana, getting pregnant and staying pregnant were two very different things. Tragically, after only a few months of carrying the baby, the Duchess of Bedford miscarried and lost her second child, this time without even so much as a goodbye or with the baby drawing breath. However, as she lay in bed finally convalescing, that was the least of her worries.

]]> 39. Her Husband Blamed Her For Everything Despite the fact that he had been the one pushing her to have another child quickly, the Duke of Bedford placed the blame for the miscarriage squarely on Diana's shoulders, claiming she hadn't been taking proper care of herself and that's why she lost the baby. This would have been bad enough, but the Duke didn't stop there.

]]> 40. She Was Trapped In A Cold Marriage Not content with merely accusing his wife of miscarrying almost intentionally, the Duke's cruelty soon grew. Eventually, he withdrew almost all his affection from her, excepting his regular bedroom visits to ensure that heir he so desperately wanted. Growing increasingly miserable in her marriage, Diana knew of only one place to turn.

]]> 41. She Had A Close Confidante Even though they were living far apart, Diana Russell and the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough still kept in touch. In fact, they wrote to each other practically every day. Their letters contained the most intimate details about marriage, finances and, of course, Diana Russell’s terrible luck with pregnancy. Soon, these words would be all that the Dowager Duchess had to remember her favorite grandchild.

]]> 42. She Had A False Pregnancy Sometime in the spring of 1735, Diana Russell began experiencing strange symptoms. The Duchess of Bedford assumed that she was, at last, pregnant again with her third child. Her spirits lifted and she believed that she would finally make her husband happy and bring a child to term. But once more, fate had something else in mind for little Di.

]]> 43. She Was Thinning Out It's true that morning sickness is a common symptom of early pregnancy. But other, more disturbing signs were appearing. Soon, Diana Russell began noticing that she wasn’t gaining weight as pregnant ladies so often do. In fact, contrary to gaining weight, she was losing weight. And she was losing weight fast. Eventually, the dark truth came out.

]]> 44. She Was Scarily Sick It wasn't long before doctors confirmed the 25-year-old Diana's worst suspicions: The Duchess of Bedford was suffering from a particularly virulent bout of the potentially fatal disease tuberculosis. Her prognosis was dim at best, and Diana's grandmother begged her to go to Bedford House in London to recover. Even that was too much.

]]> 45. She Never Made It To Safety Disappointed and dismayed that she was “pregnant” with a virus instead of a baby, Diana Russell began making her way to Bedford House, but by the time she arrived there she was already beyond all help. That September, the beautiful Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford succumbed to her illness. The aftermath was brutal. 

]]> 46. Her Grandmother Burned The Evidence Diana had been the apple of her grandmother’s eye, and her passing was more than the Dowager Duchess could bear. Allegedly, Marlborough read her granddaughter’s revealing letters one last time, then tossed them into a roaring fire and threw herself on the ground in grief. But according to some, this elaborate display of mourning had a dark side.

]]> 47. She Had All The Family Jewels In her short 25 years of life, Diana had managed to accumulate an enviable jewelry box. In fact, it might have been more like a treasure chest. According to some of the family's enemies. the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough was more interested in getting her hands on her granddaughter’s jewels than anything else.

]]> 48. Her Grandmother Never Recovered No matter what her detractors said, the Duchess of Marlborough did appear to be truly destroyed by her favorite granddaughter's death. She not only withdrew from public life, she also loudly accused the Duke of Bedford of causing Diana's tragic end, believing his coldness to her granddaughter contributed to her ill-heath.

But a grief-stricken grandmother wasn’t Diana Russell’s only legacy.

]]> 49. She Has A Dark And Dreadful Legacy Two and half centuries later, another Lady Diana captured everyone’s heart. In fact, the lives of these two Dianas were so similar that one might be forgiven for thinking that they were the same person. Both were celebrated for their beauty, grew up without a mother from the age of six, were romantically entangled with a Prince of Wales, suffered an accident during their first pregnancy, and died young.

]]> 50. Her Admirers Mourned Her Passing Practically the entire kingdom mourned Diana's passing, and her funeral turned into quite the affair. Mourners would have flanked the streets as her lead-lined coffin made its way through town. Following her demise, she was finally laid to rest in Buckinghamshire. Her poor grandmother never truly recovered from the loss.

]]> 51. She Knew A Famous Musician Diana Russell received an education befitting someone of her social standing and position. That is to say, she learned about all of the important things in life…like opera. In fact, she actually grew up next to the famed composer George Frederic Handel, just to give you some idea about the rarified circles Diana moved in.

]]> 52. She Had More Sense Than Any Other Woman Diana's grandmother the Duchess of Marlborough once noted that her granddaughter had "more sense than any [woman] I know". Accordingly, she trusted the young Diana to write out all of her private communications, particularly when the Dowager Duchess's gout made it nearly impossible for her to write.

You May Also Like:

Defiant Facts About Princess Alice, The Victorian Princess Diana
Heartbreaking Facts About Princess Diana, The Royal Rebel

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=63141 <![CDATA[Frederick Barbarossa Didn't Just Defeat His Enemies—He Humiliated Them]]> 2026-09-11T10:57:00+00:00 2026-09-10T14:08:53+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-frederick-barbarossa Byron Fast People He Was Colorful  The story goes that redheads are fiery and blondes have more fun. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa had blonde hair and a red beard, so it’s safe to assume he had a bad temper and enjoyed using it. There’s a long list of popes that can attest to his temper. And when it came to bizarre punishments, Barbarossa certainly made a laughing stock of his enemies. But there’s one more color we can add to the mix. He was ferociously green with envy of anyone who got what he wanted. 

]]> 1. He Had Connections Frederick Barbarossa was born in December of 1122. His parents were Frederick II, the duke of Swabia, and Judith of Bavaria. Through various family members, Frederick had connections to the Welt family, the Hohenstaufens, and the Ottonian dynasty. These ranked among Europe's most powerful families, so everyone expected great things from Frederick. 

But he had one big thing going against him. 

]]> 2. He Had A Deficiency  While growing up, Frederick learned important things like hunting and riding. But there was one glaring omission in his early education. Surprisingly, no one bothered to teach him how to read or write. He also didn’t learn to speak Latin until much later in his life. 

Despite this, he still got some rather impressive invites. 

]]> 3. He Took His Rightful Place Frederick’s uncle was King Conrad III, and he held assemblies known as Hoftages. These were elite “invite only” events where nobility got together to talk about issues that mattered to the different rulers of the empire. Obviously, an invite from the king put Frederick at a high level of importance. 

But Frederick still craved adventure. 

]]> 4. He Enlisted For Battle  On December 28, 1146, Frederick’s uncle Conrad promised the pope that he would lead a crusade. These were violent offensives with the goal of taking back the Holy Land for the Empire. Frederick saw this as a great opportunity and signed up to be by his uncle’s side. 

One man stood between Frederick and a life of adventure. 

]]> 5. His Dad Got Angry Frederick’s father didn’t have long to live, and he didn’t want his son rushing off to battle and maybe not returning. After all, Dad wanted Frederick to take care of his mother and half-brother. Dad complained to King Conrad, but it was too late. Frederick was ready to rumble. 

]]> 6. He Went Anyway Dad was still fuming about Frederick’s imminent departure on the crusade when he suddenly passed. Dad’s worst fear had come true. At least now Frederick could stay home and take care of his family. Nope, Frederick still didn’t care. Seven weeks after his father’s passing, he left on the crusade. 

His life of adventure would start with a bang. 

]]> 7. They Had To Hold Him Back  While on the crusade, one of Frederick’s fellow crusaders lost his life at the hands of thieves in a monastery. Conrad decided to let Frederick choose the punishment for the thieves. Frederick didn't hold back at all. He completely razed the monastery, executed the thieves, and demanded all the money back. He would have gone further if a general hadn’t held him back. 

But even someone as powerful as Frederick could find himself in danger. 

]]> 8. He Got A Lucky Break  Around the beginning of September, Frederick Barbarossa and the crusaders set up camp. Frederick and his uncle Welf VI decided it would be better to be on a hill away from the main camp. This ended up being a very lucky decision, as a flash flood descended on the camp and pretty much destroyed it and everyone in it. 

Luck was on Frederick’s side and he would live to slay another day. 

]]> 9. He Was The Best  During the crusade, Frederick battled it out in the Siege of Damascus. This was a short battle—only about five days—but Frederick showed his prowess. Gilbert of Mons said that Frederick “prevailed in arms before others in front of Damascus”. That’s old-timey talk for “he slayed in Damascus”. 

Frederick may have been strutting his stuff, but he couldn’t win it alone. 

]]> 10. He Was In The Right Place  As it turned out, the crusaders failed to win the Siege of Damascus and were soon in full retreat. Back in Germany, Frederick Barbarossa found himself in a textbook case of being in the right place at the right time. You see, King Conrad was about to breathe his last breath, and there was only Frederick and a bishop-prince in the room. 

As the king was dying, he said something astonishing. 

]]> 11. He Got The Green Light The official heir to the throne was Conrad’s son, who at this time was just six years old. Frederick swore that before passing, Conrad had said that he wanted Frederick to be the next king and not his own son. Luckily, Frederick had the prince-bishop to back up his claim. 

But would anyone believe this? 

]]> 12. He Walked Into A Mess As it turned out, they did believe and Frederick Barbarossa became King of the Romans on March 9, 1152. But what he was ruler over was a mess. As it turned out, whoever was the King had no real power. They also had very little money. The king’s only wealth came from a few prosperous towns in northern Italy. 

Job one for Frederick was unification. 

]]> 13. He Made Promises  At this time, Germany consisted of more than 1,600 states, and each of these had its own prince. King Frederick, who had largely meaningless titles like “Caesar”, “Augustus”, and “Emperor of the Romans”, just wanted to restore order. He did this by making huge concessions to the nobility of the different states. 

Frederick was bringing order to Germany, but there was disorder in his own household. 

]]> 14. His Marriage Was in Trouble Before he left for his crusade, Frederick Barbarossa had married Adelheid of Vohburg in a bit of a rush. I think he should’ve given this marriage a little more thought. You see, Queen Adelheid hardly fit the role of a devoted wife. She hadn’t even made the effort to attend her husband’s coronation. In fact, she rarely did the usual royal duties of appearing before the masses.

But there was something even worse about Adelheid. 

]]> 15. She Wasn’t The Best Wife Some historians believe that Adelheid cheated on Frederick. At least she had the excuse of her hubby always being away on crusades. But there was something even worse. She hadn't produced any heirs. With these two strikes against her, Frederick had had enough of Adelheid. 

He turned to the pope to solve this problem. 

]]> 16. He Gave A Lame Reason  In 1153, just six years after their marriage, Frederick Barbarossa asked the pope for an annulment from Ahelheid. He didn’t use her adultery or her general laziness about royal duties as reasons. Instead, he dug way back in history and found that he and his wife were “fourth cousins, once removed”. The pope bought this excuse and granted an annulment. 

Frederick was single and ready to mingle. 

]]> 17. He Found A Wife  Of course, speed dating didn’t exist back then, and it wouldn’t have mattered. Frederick wasn’t looking for a woman he had things in common with. He was looking for a wife with benefits. He found her in Beatrice I of Burgundy. This 13-year-old girl offered Frederick something that money couldn't buy. She was the countess of Burgundy. 

This was a major coup for Frederick. 

]]> 18. She Came With Benefits  So, what did Frederick Barbarossa want with Burgundy? First off, it would give him easy access to his enemies in Milan in case he wanted to mount an offensive there. She also had a huge number of knights to fight alongside Frederick’s men. As it turned out, Beatrice was a catch in other ways. 

]]> 19. She Was A Catch  While it seemed that Frederick was marrying just for Beatrice's royal assets, it seemed that she was actually a great catch in other ways. Since there were no cameras back then, a poet took the time to describe the bride. He said that Beatrice was more beautiful than Venus, smarter than Minerva, and richer than Juno. It looked like Frederick was getting the full package. 

And he was ready to take advantage of it. 

]]> 20. He Took Over Frederick Barbarossa didn't waste any time. Right after his marriage to Beatrice, he took over in Burgundy. Officially, he co-ruled with Beatrice, but she was still young, and on paper anyway, it looked like Frederick was calling the shots. This wouldn’t change until 1166, when Beatrice was in her 20s. 

As Frederick strengthened his power in Italy, he met up with a formidable foe. 

]]> 21. This Pope Had Three Strikes  Back in 1155, Pope Adrian IV had made Frederick very angry by handing over territories to Sicily’s King William. Frederick thought those territories should be his. Then it came out that the pope thought that Frederick was only emperor because he had put him there, and that Frederick answered to him and not the other way around. 

Frederick was angry, and he had a plan for revenge. 

]]> 22. He Took Milan  Furious with the pope, Frederick Barbarossa grabbed his cousin Henry the Lion and a group of fighters and entered Milan. He easily took the city and even put his own men in charge of some Italian cities in the north. Frederick could now enjoy the feeling of having taken full revenge on the pope. 

But taking Milan had its consequences. 

]]> 23. They Humiliated Her  After he’d conquered Milan, Beatrice soon became captive to a group of rebels. To punish Beatrice for being the wife of the man who’d conquered them, they made her ride a donkey backwards. While this seems laughable now, many considered it a hugely degrading humiliation. 

Frederick would have to avenge his bride. 

]]> 24. He Used A Creative Punishment  Frederick Barbarossa freed his wife from her captors and plotted his revenge. He put a fig in a donkey’s rear-end and cruelly forced the magistrates of Milan to remove the fig using their teeth. In another story, the fig was actually dung from the donkey, and to finish off the punishment, Frederick forced the men to say “behold the fig” with the dung still in their mouths. 

Frederick was clearly having a ball doling out punishment. But there were more serious issues at hand.

]]> 25. He Had Great Power  On this same campaign, Frederick also reduced the city of Crema to a pile of dirt. While this was happening, Pope Adrian IV passed. What happened next was really bizarre. Two popes now fought for control of the Church. It was Alexander III versus Victor IV, who they called the antipope. Both of the contenders looked to Frederick for support. 

This kind of power could go to a man’s head. 

]]> 26. He Took Some Relics  After yet another violent stop in Milan, Frederick’s arrogance allowed him to take some interesting loot. He heartlessly made off with some relics that many thought had actually belonged to the three kings—yes, those same ones from the Christmas story. Frederick gave the relics as a gift to the Archbishop of Cologne, and to this day they remain there. 

Pilfering relics does not make you popular with popes. And neither does choosing one over the other. 

]]> 27. He Made An Enemy Eventually, Frederick Barbarossa named Victor the new pope, and this, of course, enraged Alexander. Alexander ignored Frederick's decision and excommunicated both Victor and Frederick. Then, Alexander turned to Sicily for support. Frederick had become Alexander’s sworn enemy and was about to receive his papal punishment. 

]]> 28. One Enemy Became Many  To make Frederick pay, Alexander was now backing the Lombard League. This league’s sole purpose in life was to take away Frederick’s power in Italy. Alexander had also cozied up to another one of Frederick’s enemies: the Byzantine emperor Manuel I. Together, these three foes could give Frederick a real run for his money. 

Frederick had reason to be afraid, very afraid. 

]]> 29. He Met A Powerful Army Frederick Barbarossa fought his way through Italy and, in 1167, he was preparing to face a serious enemy. The word out there was that the Roman army was the greatest ever assembled by Romans. Frederick faced off with them at the fierce Battle of Monte Porzio. When the dust had settled, Frederick came out as the clear winner. 

Frederick quickly headed to Rome. There was something he’d been wanting to do for a long time. 

]]> 30. He Got His And Hers Titles  Once in Rome, Frederick arranged for his wife to finally take the title “Empress”. For himself, Frederick got his second coronation, this time from Pope Paschal III, who had taken over from Victor. Everything on this campaign was going Frederick’s way. And then it all stopped for a surprising reason. 

It was a foe that Frederick couldn’t battle with a sword.  

]]> 31. He Had To Retreat  The one thing that Frederick Barbarossa couldn’t fight against was disease. There was an outbreak of the plague, and it put a halt to Frederick’s plans. He returned to Germany and had to regroup. This was a time for sensible thinking on Frederick’s part, as he started to become friendly with his arch-rival Manuel. 

It was also a time to work on his family. 

]]> 32. He Helped His Sons  Because of the plague, many rulers of the time passed. Frederick saw this as an opportunity to put his sons in power. Frederick V was soon the Duke of Swabia, and Henry became king of the Romans. Once it was safe to travel again, Frederick knew he still had a few scores to settle.

His first stop was his constant rival, Milan. 

]]> 33. He Got Something Unexpected  While the plague kept Frederick grounded, Milan had risen and become independent again. Frederick was soon headed off to Italy with a vengeance. But he soon found that Italy was different this time around. The northern cities were much richer than before. They were a much more formidable opponent, and Frederick realized he’d need some help. 

It was time to call on an old and trusted friend. 

]]> 34. He Was In Over His Head  Frederick was clearly in over his head against these more powerful places in Italy, so he turned to Henry the Lion for help. Henry was Frederick’s cousin and had helped him out before. But this time it was different. Henry had his own troubles to worry about, and he turned a cold shoulder to Frederick. 

Frederick was very much alone. 

]]> 35. He Met With Defeat  Without the help of Henry, Frederick was in trouble. He and his men marched on Alessandria in 1175, and they met with defeat. This happened again in the battle of Legnano, near Milan. These defeats shocked Europe. Frederick had seemed untouchable, and here he was losing battle after battle. 

And then a story surfaced that Frederick was no more. 

]]> 36. He Had To Eat His Words  The rumor was out there that Frederick had lost his life in battle. The truth was that he had only received an injury, but with this injury came a loss of power. He’d met with failure against the Lombard League, so Frederick had to eat his words and accept Alexander as pope. They even arranged for a humiliating ceremony in Venice. 

With Alexander as pope, Frederick’s life would look completely different. 

]]> 37. He Mellowed  With Frederick’s reconciliation with Alexander, many changes happened almost immediately. Because Frederick was acknowledging that Alexander was pope, Alexander acknowledged that Frederick was the overlord of the Imperial Church. Frederick also started a peaceful relationship with his enemy, the Lombard League. Everything seemed rosy except for one thing. 

Frederick still had one axe to grind, and he was ready with a severe and painful punishment. 

]]> 38. It Was Payback Time Henry the Lion had declined to help Frederick when he needed him most, and as we now know, Frederick was not one to let things like this go. At this time, Henry had his own state with power in Saxony, Bavaria, and other places in Germany. The irony was that Henry only had this state because he had failed to help Frederick in Italy. 

Frederick knew a punishment that would get Henry right in the gut. 

]]> 39. They Ganged Up on Him Many German princes already resented Henry, and Frederick used that against him. Frederick set up a trial and deliberately excluded Henry from it. At the trial, they took away Henry’s land and declared him an outlaw. Frederick had successfully weakened Henry’s power. 

Next he’d move in to finish him off. 

]]> 40. He Handed Out His Punishment  Frederick and his powerful army marched into Saxony and forced Henry to surrender. When Henry looked to his allies for help, he found they’d all turned their back on him—much like Henry had done to Frederick. In 1181, Henry submitted to Frederick and Frederick sentenced him to exile. Henry lived his remaining days completely powerless. 

Frederick had satiated his desire for revenge, but there was still more to fight for. 

]]> 41. There Was Trouble Back At Home Frederick soon realized that Germany had descended into disorder. The nobles who ruled the individual states were always in combat against each other. Making matters worse, these German states had gotten more powerful over the years. Frederick knew he had to unite the fighting states, but defeats in Italy had left him a tired, broken man. 

And Italy was still a thorn in his side. 

]]> 42. He Had To Get Creative Frederick also suffered when he considered his role in Italy. As the emperor, he was the official ruler of Italy. But the truth was something altogether different. Italians still looked to the pope as the most powerful man in Italy. If he wanted to make headway into Italy, he’d have to be more creative. He may have been too weak to fight, but at least he could be strategic. 

He started with a marriage.

]]> 43. He Set Up His Son  To be more successful in Italy, Frederick set up a marriage between his son Henry and Constance of Sicily, who was more than a decade older than him. Of course, this marriage was for one reason only: To gain power in Italy. The new pope, Urban III, objected to the marriage, but Frederick was now more than used to angering popes. 

Frederick had gotten his strength back. It was time for another crusade. 

 

]]> 44. He Planned It Carefully Frederick was now an old hand at leading crusades, so he knew that strategy meant everything. For this one, he spent a full year just planning. When he was finally ready, Frederick had an army of 15,000 men. With this massive group of fighters, Frederick had success at the Battle of Philomelium and the Battle of Iconium. 

But when Frederick stopped to ask for directions, he faced a tragedy. 

]]> 45. He Took A Shortcut  Frederick wasn't sure of the next direction to take, so he asked some local Armenians what he should do. Their advice was to take a shortcut that went alongside the Saleph River, which is now in present-day Turkey. While his army took the mountain path, Frederick took the river shortcut. 

There's more than one story about the tragedy that occurred next. 

]]> 46. He Entered A River  After heeding the Armenian’s advice, Frederick was either bathing in the river, swimming across it, or riding his horse through it. The almost 70-year-old emperor was doing one of these things when he tragically drowned. The details are as murky as that river, but one thing was very clear. 

This crusade suddenly had no leader. 

]]> 47. It Ended With Him  After Frederick’s river accident, thousands of his men abandoned the crusade. Because they were weaker and lacking a leader, the crusade descended into failure. One way to save the crusade from complete failure would be to bury Frederick’s remains in Jerusalem. Sadly, their attempts to preserve the body in vinegar also failed. 

In the end, Frederick’s final resting place was, well, not in one single place. 

 

]]> 48. They Split Him Up Frederick’s final resting place actually had three different locations. His followers buried his flesh in a cathedral in Antioch. His bones ended up in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Tyre, now Lebanon. Lastly, there was his heart and other organs. They finally found peace in Saint Paul’s Church in Tarsus, now a part of Turkey. 

Despite having three separate burials, some believed he was still alive. 

]]> 49. He’ll Come Again  Somewhere there is a mountain in Europe where some believe Frederick still lives in a cave. His red beard has grown so long that it has gone through the table where he sits. The myth states that when the ravens stop circling the mountain, Frederick will come out of his cave and make Germany a great power once again. 

If you don’t believe that Frederick lives on in a mountain cave in Europe, there are other ways to meet up with him. 

]]> 50. He Lives On In 2009, Blade Runner actor Rutger Hauer played Frederick in the film Barbarossa. If you dare, you can get more interactive and meet up with this formidable emperor in the video games Sid Meier’s Civilization and Age of Empires II. Warning: making him angry may be hazardous to your health. 

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4. 5, 6, 7, 8 

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=63178 <![CDATA[Kate Chase, The Most Ambitious First Lady That Never Was]]> 2026-09-03T10:55:00+00:00 2026-09-09T17:21:14+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-kate-chase Byron Fast People She Had A Spectacular Fall  Brilliant and competitive, Kate Chase had lofty political aspirations. But as a woman of a particular era, society barred her from politics. Chase had only one choice. She hung her dreams on her father’s shoulders. As her father suffered one political defeat after another, Chase had to watch helplessly as her political future dissolved before her very eyes. But even so, Chase’s spectacular fall from the top was just getting started. 

]]> 1. She Came From Tragedy  Kate Chase was born on August 13, 1840, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her dad was politician Salmon P Chase, and he was already on wife number two. Dad’s first wife had passed one year after giving birth to a daughter who had also passed. And believe it or not, even more tragedy loomed on the horizon for this little family.

]]> 2. She Lost Her Mom Like her father’s first wife, Kate’s mother also passed young. Kate was only with her mother for five years before losing her to consumption. Luckily, Chase did manage to break the trend and lived into adulthood. With Mom out of the picture, Chase looked for a replacement. 

Luckily for her, Dad was right there. 

]]> 3. She Was Close To Her Father  Now without his second wife, Kate's father became her sole caregiver. The two had a close bond that was more than just a typical father and daughter relationship. So much so that when her father married his third wife, Chase wasn’t about to give up her dad easily. 

]]> 4. She Was A Rebel Maybe it is no surprise that Kate Chase did not get along with her father’s third wife. After all, Chase and her father were close, and Sarah Bella Dunlop Ludlow was not going to get in the way of that. Chase soon started acting out, and her dad had to take drastic measures. 

]]> 5. He Groomed Her  Chase’s father saw no alternative but to send the rebellious Chase off to school. Chase studied at the Haines School in New York City, immersing herself in subjects like how to speak properly and how to have polite manners. She also studied music, history, and languages. But as it turned out, Dad had an ulterior motive. 

He was grooming his daughter for a future in politics. 

]]> 6. He Was Cold  While off at school, Kate Chase and her father exchanged letters. But this correspondence was not a weekly warm-and-fuzzy letter about how much he missed her. Nope, Dad was correcting her grammar and offering advice. These letters came across as cold, but this didn't seem to faze Chase. She idolized her father. 

And as such, Chase was ready to take her rightful place in the family home. 

]]> 7. She Took Control  In 1852, Chase’s father lost his third wife, also to consumption. So with wife number three out of the way, Chase took control over her father’s social life. She vetted his friends and even went through his correspondence. Sometimes she would even resort to being rude to get rid of an unwanted guest. In other words, Chase was not going to let anyone get between her and her father ever again.

]]> 8. They Were A Team  Surprisingly, Chase’s father didn't mind the interference provided by his daughter. In fact, he welcomed it. About his daughter’s control, Salmon P Chase once said, “But for … the feelings of Katie … who knows what I might not have been tempted to the consenting”. Chase was more than a doting daughter. 

These two had become a team, and they had a plan. 

]]> 9. She Replaced His Wife Chase’s father was soon the Governor of Ohio, and Chase stepped up as the hostess of the household. The wife of the Governor usually did this job, but Chase took the role and ran with it. Chase was a natural, and Dad’s associates couldn’t help but notice. 

]]> 10. She Looked Good  Politician Carl Schurz praised Chase’s character and looks. Physically, he described her as “well formed”, with “vivacious hazel eyes” and “waving, gold-brown hair”. He also liked the way she wasn’t afraid of participating in political discussions. With all this going for her, it's no surprise that Chase broke a lot of hearts.  

But eventually, something would break Chase’s heart. 

]]> 11. Her Dream Was Shattered In 1860, Kate Chase watched on with excitement as her father sought the Republican presidential nomination. Sadly, she didn’t count on her father losing out to a man named Abraham Lincoln. When Lincoln went on to become president, Chase’s life changed forever. 

]]> 12. She Was The Hostess With The Mostest  In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln made Chase’s father the Secretary of the Treasury. This meant a move to Washington, and a new residence. You might think that living in Washington would humble Chase into shyness. But no, she arrived and got right down to work. 

Nothing or nobody would stand in her way. 

]]> 13. She Got the Number Four Spot Kate Chase began throwing parties in Washington for her father almost immediately. The parties became more extravagant and also quite popular. She was only 20 years old, and they ranked her as number four in the official society. Clearly, Chase was no ordinary daughter of a politician. 

But Chase soon realized that she had a rival. 

]]> 14. She Had A Battle  Chase had to face off with the First Lady of the White House, Mary Lincoln. Party after party put these two hostesses at odds with each other. It seemed that no one would ever win until Lincoln tragically lost her son. Mary was in mourning, and Chase became the victor of the party battles. 

With her competition in the dust, Chase became a force to be reckoned with. 

]]> 15. She Was A Belle  Washington was quickly falling in love with Kate Chase. Not only was she beautiful, but she also had a “keen mind, quick and forceful”. She was skilled at both political discourse and small talk, and she was the envy of the elite of Washington. They called her the “Belle of the North”. 

But not everyone was a fan. 

]]> 16. She Didn’t Please Everyone  When it came to people not on “Team Chase”, it was mostly women. The thing was, women found her arrogant. While men were more Chase’s thing, a problem existed there too.  A lot of men got creeped out by one of Chase’s quirks. You see, she only had eyes for her father. 

But Chase had more important things to do than worry about her haters. 

]]> 17. She Had An Opinion  This was a dark time in American history as states battled each other on the issue of slavery. Kate Chase didn’t shy away from the conflict and visited battle camps. She also made friends with Union generals and offered her opinion on what America was going through. Chase was standing up for her own opinions, and this was rare for women at this time. 

As you might imagine, finding a husband who could handle the outspoken Chase would be a job and a half. 

]]> 18. She Turned Heads  Despite, or because of, Chase’s outspoken personality, she certainly had her share of male attention. Men like politicians Carl Schurz, John Hay, and James Garfield had all fallen under Chase’s spell. When she attended the ceremony to dedicate the Oliver Hazard Perry Monument, she met and fell in love with a man named William Sprague IV. 

Sprague certainly wasn't the most obvious choice for a husband. 

]]> 19. She Made A Surprising Choice  Kate Chase had broken many young men’s hearts, so there was a lot of excitement over who she would finally choose as her husband. When she became engaged to William Sprague IV, some people were clearly surprised. After all, Sprague was not well-educated, a small man, and most considered him not very attractive. 

But Sprague had one very important thing going for him. 

]]> 20. She Needed Money Sprague was rich. Super rich. Now, you might wonder why a young woman connected to a well-established politician would need a rich husband. The thing was, Chase’s father wasn't actually rolling in dough because he was a poorly paid politician. As the Treasury Secretary, he was close to money, but he didn't earn much. 

But this wasn’t about greed. Chase had a very specific need for Sprague’s money. 

]]> 21. She Did It For Dad  Chase’s father, Salmon P Chase, had serious ambitions of becoming the President of the United States. Running a campaign for the presidency cost a lot of money, and many believed that Chase married Sprague for this reason only. It’s hard to believe that she would marry just for her father’s campaign. 

But there was something else going on.

]]> 22. She Had Her Eye On the Prize Chase’s father was a three-time widower, and he had no intention of marrying again. Chase could see that if her father became the president, she would be in a unique position. She would be an acting First Lady. At this time, this was as close to the top spot that a woman could achieve in politics. Of course, a lot of this is speculation. 

But what we know for sure is that in 1863 Chase went ahead and married Sprague. 

]]> 23. It Was A Huge Affair  Only 50 people attended the wedding ceremony of Kate Chase and Sprague, but 500 arrived for the reception, making it the “wedding of the decade”. President Lincoln himself was at the wedding, but his wife, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, sent her regrets. Apparently she was not a fan of Chase or her father.  

At her wedding, Chase got something that few brides could ever dream of getting. 

]]> 24. They Were Playing Her Song  While most brides enter their reception to a song they like, most don’t get what Chase got. When she walked into her reception room, the US Marine Band was playing a song that a composer had written just for her. What a way to make a bride feel special. 

Her wedding gift was also a stunner. 

]]> 25. She Got A Fabulous Topper  Chase’s groom had a lot of money, and that money bought an impressive gift. As a wedding present to his beloved, Sprague sprung for a tiara that sported both diamonds and pearls. Reportedly, this headpiece was worth $5700, which would be a staggering $150,000 today. 

Sadly, after this extravagant wedding present, the marriage went straight downhill. 

]]> 26. He Wasn’t Quite Enough  From the outside, this looked like a picture-perfect marriage. Kate Chase was an attractive and intelligent young woman, and her husband, while lacking in the looks department, was from a rich and respected family. But Chase had her ridiculously high standards, and it was becoming clear that Sprague was not really up to the mark. 

Soon after the wedding, their marriage quickly unravelled.  

]]> 27. They Quarreled  One of the constant quarrels between Chase and her new husband was about money. Sure, Sprague was rolling in the dough, but he still complained about his wife's spending. This gave Chase the opportunity to complain about her husband’s drinking problem. There was also an issue with Sprague’s fortune. 

]]> 28. They Were Losing Their Fortune  Sure, Chase’s spending was putting a dent in Sprague’s millions, but Sprague was also running down the fortune. He had a habit of investing in business ventures that critics considered “poorly conceived”. If Chase had indeed married him for his money, she may have been wasting her time. 

So Chase decided to turn her focus back to dear old dad. 

]]> 29. They Lived Separate Lives Kate Chase continued spending much of her time in Washington helping her father with his political ambitions. Since she didn't really enjoy being with her husband, Chase spent a lot of time in the capital helping her father. Sprague stayed in Rhode Island and worked for the family business. 

It seemed like a not-so-perfect arrangement for a married couple. But Sprague still had one duty to perform. 

]]> 30. He Did His Duty  Supposedly, the main reason for Chase marrying Sprague was to get money for her father’s presidential campaign. And in In 1864 he did just that, funding Salmon P Chase’s run for the presidential nomination. Sadly, Chase failed to win. But luckily, a surprise was in store for Chase and her father. 

]]> 31. She Wasn’t Happy Chase’s father had failed in his bid to be president, but Lincoln still had something for Chase. He appointed him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. While many saw this as a prestigious post, Chase saw right through it. She reportedly feared the appointment might put her father’s presidential ambitions on the shelf. 

As such, it was time for Chase to move her focus back to her husband. 

]]> 32. She Fascinated The Nation In 1865, Kate Chase and Sprague had a son they named Willie. The public still had a fascination with Chase, and this birth drew national attention. The baby didn’t change things, as the couple still lived mostly separate lives. Chase spent her time in Europe, in Washington, and in the mansion she and her husband had in Rhode Island. 

Next, a national tragedy would throw Chase for a loop. 

]]> 33. She Faced A New Lady  In 1865, a tragedy occurred when John Wilkes Booth heartlessly ended Abraham Lincoln’s life. Chase suffered a brief moment when she wasn’t sure about her political future. Luckily, the new president was Andrew Johnson, and his wife Eliza, was no match for Chase. Chase could continue on as the number one hostess in Washington. 

But Johnson’s term as president would soon face a huge obstacle. And it would seriously damage Chase’s marriage. 

]]> 34. He Voted Against Her In 1868, Johnson faced an impeachment trial, and Chase’s father was presiding over it. Chase believed that if the impeachment failed, it would help her father’s future run for the presidency. When her husband voted in favor of the impeachment, it was another nail in this marriage’s coffin. 

But n the end, the impeachment did fail. Chase would have another opportunity to fulfill her dream of being First Lady. 

]]> 35. She Was The Boss In 1868, Chase’s father once again attempted to win a nomination for the presidency. This time he tried as a Democrat. It was Chase herself who ran the campaign, and she did it from their hotel on Fifth Avenue. Chase was clearly in her element. But one very important place was out of bounds. 

]]> 36. She Suffered As A Woman  Even though it was Kate Chase who was running her father’s campaign, her gender made this difficult. Chase involved herself in the mostly male-dominated “back-room maneuvering", but the rules barred women from the convention floor. Sadly, Chase failed to get her father the nomination. 

Chase knew exactly who to blame. 

]]> 37. She Pointed A Finger When the Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour instead of Chase’s father, Chase knew who to point the finger at. She was sure that a collection of New York politicians had formed an alliance against her dad. At the head of this alliance was Samuel Tilden. Chase was livid, and she marked Tilden for future punishment. 

Four years later, Chase got another chance at being First Lady. 

]]> 38. She Got Crushed  In 1872, Kate Chase had to watch one more time as her father, this time as a member of the Liberal Republican Party, failed to get the nomination. This was another crushed opportunity to fulfill her dream of being the First Lady. When, a year later, her father passed due to a stroke, things became clear. Chase would never be the First Lady. 

But Chase had more heartache to face. 

]]> 39. They Lost A Fortune The same year that Chase lost her father, the Panic of 1873 struck. This was an economic crisis that adversely affected many parts of the world. Chase felt its impact when her husband’s empire almost completely collapsed. Worse still, some had accused Sprague of some underhanded cotton trading. 

This was the beginning of the end for Chase. 

]]> 40. She Got Caught  Along with her husband’s poor investments, Sprague was also guilty of cheating on his wife. Apparently, there were several other women he was running around with. Kate Chase also got involved with someone outside her marriage. This was Roscoe Conkling, who was a married New York Senator. 

Conkling had something that Chase’s husband couldn’t provide. 

]]> 41. She Found Her Equal  In Conkling, Chase found a man who was her equal in politics and intelligence. In fact, Conkling went to Chase for her opinion on many matters. This gave Chase something that few women at this time got: a voice in American politics. Chase was not above using her influence for her own benefit. 

]]> 42. She Got Her Revenge  Remember, back in 1868, Chase had blamed Samuel Tilden for her father’s loss of the Democratic nomination. As such, Kate was later said to have gotten a measure of revenge when Conkling played an influential role in resolving the disputed 1876 election, which ultimately went to Hayes.

But in the end, their illicit, political love affair ended in scandal. 

]]> 43. Her Life Was In Danger  In 1879, Chase was at her summer house enjoying alone time with her secret boyfriend Conkling, when her husband walked in the door. An enraged Sprague had two intentions. Throw his wife out a window and shoot Conkling. Luckily, he didn’t manage to do either. But this marriage was over. 

]]> 44. They Split Up  At this time, divorce was something almost unheard of in America and considered social taboo. But this marriage had to end. When Chase and Sprague got their divorce in 1882, they had four children: three girls and a boy. Chase handed over the son to Sprague, took the girls, and went back to using the name Chase. 

You might be thinking “go girl” for this bold move. But America was a different place back then. 

]]> 45. She Fell From Grace  Of course, all of the secrets came out when Chase got her divorce. Her affair caused the greatest scandal. Many saw her fling with the married Conkling as a shocking scandal. Until this moment, Americans had looked up to Chase, but now she didn’t seem that special after all. 

This would be a spectacular fall from grace. 

]]> 46. She Faced A Final Tragedy  As she was spiraling downward, Chase faced a staggering tragedy. In 1890, her son Willie Sprague took his own life in Seattle, Washington. He was just 25 years old at this time. Chase still had her three daughters, but she could not deal with the loss of her son. 

She went to a very dark place. 

]]> 47. She Lived In Rubble  Already living with her daughters at her father’s Edgewood estate, Kate became increasingly reclusive after Willie’s passing. The once elaborate mansion was now a crumbling ruin, but it was all Chase had. One of her daughters had a mental disability, so Chase spent a lot of her time helping her. 

But still, Chase had to bring food to the table. 

]]> 48. She Did Whatever She Could  Chase literally only had the land she lived on, so she turned to the soil to make a living. She grew and harvested vegetables, and raised chickens. Each day she swallowed her pride and loaded up her “one-horse wagon”. The former “Belle of the North” took her wares to the street or sold them door-to-door. 

Compared to her fabulous lifestyle as a Washington hostess, this was a low that Chase could never have imagined. 

]]> 49. They Forgot Her In 1899, Chase passed due to Bright’s disease. She was just 58 years old and living a life of poverty. At her funeral, there were only two or three mourners, and they were her closest family members. There was one silver lining: they buried her next to her father. 

It seemed that everyone had forgotten the woman known as the “Belle of the North”. Well, not everyone. 

]]> 50. She Was Almost A Queen  Despite her small funeral, it turned out that the media did not let Chase pass without notice. The Washington Post called her “the most brilliant woman of her day”. The Enquirer went even further and said that Chase “came closer to being Queen than any American woman has".  

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=31657 <![CDATA[Queen Victoria wanted Duleep Singh's secrets to stay hidden forever. Now, they're finally exposed.]]> 2026-09-09T15:31:15+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-duleep-singh Sukhpreet Sangha People The Lost Maharaja The tale of Maharaja Duleep Singh will evoke pity in even the coldest antimonarchist hearts. Life started off promisingly for Singh when, at the tender age of five, he took the throne of the Sikh Empire as its fifth maharaja. Little did Duleep know, he would soon become its last...and his life would only turn more tragic and devastating from there.

]]> 1. His Childhood Was A Nightmare Maharaja Duleep Singh was the only son of two giants of the Sikh Empire: Maharaja Ranjit Singh, "The Lion of the Punjab," and his formidable wife Jind Kaur. But this lineage didn't save him from horror. Although he had eight older half-brothers, seven of them died by the time Duleep himself was just a child. And unfortunately for the young boy, that was just the first blow in a series of tragedies.

]]> 2. He Barely Knew His Father Despite his royal titles, Duleep seemed born under a bad sign. After all, his father Ranjit was already terminally ill by the time he came into the world, and had died of a stroke before Duleep turned one. Duleep never really got to know his father, and only had the legends of his great feats to sustain him. As we'll see, these were definitely not enough.

]]> 3. He Took The Throne As A Kindergartener Like so much else in his life, Duleep came to the throne through unthinkable violence. When he was just five years old, his elder half-brother Sher Singh, who was the current Maharaja, was assassinated after only three years in power. With the throne unstable—not to mention dangerous—the toddling boy was shoved into the role under the guidance of his cunning mother Jind Kaur. And then his troubles really started.

]]> 4. He Lost His First War At Eight In 1846, Duleep suffered his first crushing defeat—and it was at the hands of his soon-to-be greatest enemy: Britain. The Anglo-Sikh war was an utter disaster for the baby ruler and his mother, and they lost immense power and territory. Their defeat was so bad, it turned Duleep into a mere figurehead ruler. Times were desperate...and they called for desperate measures.

]]> 5. He Was A Child Bridegroom Duleep's mother Jind was no fool, and she soon came up with a cunning plot. To consolidate her son's power, she engaged him to Tej Kaur, the daughter of a powerful governor and noble from another province. With this new alliance, Duleep thought he was finally going to be on the winning side of things. But fate had another twist in store.

]]> 6. He Was A Rebel The British were watching Duleep and his mother very closely, and they immediately shut down the marriage prospect to keep him dependent on them. Did this deter Duleep? No. Though he couldn't have his bride, he and his mother continued to chafe under British manipulation, often refusing to bend to their demands. That's when it all came crashing down for good.

]]> 7. The British Imprisoned His Mother The British were starting to realize that they had two tough customers on their hands in Duleep Singh and Jind Kaur. Their vengeance was unforgettably heartless. Getting at Duleep through his mother, they imprisoned Jind, violently separating her from her son, all while slashing her pension by more than two-thirds. Yet that was just the beginning of the nightmare.

]]> 8. His Enemies Were Merciless Duleep already suffered long months without his mother, but he was about to experience what true separation meant. Cruelly deciding that imprisonment wasn't enough, the British then completely exiled Duleep’s mother from Punjab, taking her to a faraway fort and even stealing her valuable jewelry. You know, to render her all the more helpless. But that was the least of the family's worries.

]]> 9. He Didn’t See His Mother For Over A Decade Tragically, Jind Kaur’s exile was long and brutal. Although the wily Maharani managed to escape the fortress and hotfoot it to Nepal, she was stuck there for 11 long years, making for 13 whole years away from her beloved son. Throughout this time, the British didn't permit Duleep to see her even once. And well, without his mother, Duleep got into big trouble.

]]> 10. He Lost His Crown Unfortunately for the young Maharajah, the Second Anglo-Sikh War fell hot on the heels of the first. In 1849, it brought true disaster. That year, destabilized beyond all hope, the Sikh Empire fell. Duleep fell with it, losing his throne at just 10 years old. With an out-of-work Maharajah on their (bloody) hands, the British put Duleep under the guardianship of Scottish surgeon Dr. John Login. Though really, “guardianship” is too nice a word for it…

]]> 11. He Was A Captive King Without a mother and without a kingdom, Duleep traveled far away from Lahore to Fatehgarh. While there, his captors subjected him to extreme restrictions on who he could see; apart from British yes-men servants, his wardens prevented him from socializing with any of his fellow Indians in private. And their reasons behind this were chilling.

]]> 12. He Underwent A Transformation In sending Duleep to live with Dr. John Login, the British were shamelessly and bare-facedly trying to purge all the Sikh customs Duleep had ever learned and sought to replace them with British "culture." Everything they did from this point on, whether outwardly cruel or seemingly benign, was part of their broader policy to culturally anglicize him as deeply as possible. This had grave consequences.

]]> 13. He Was Deathly Ill This regime of extreme, individual colonization very likely contributed to young Duleep's frequently poor health. He often had to convalesce for weeks at a time at a hill station in the Lower Himalaya. It was a grueling four-day journey to his ultimate destination, dubbed The Castle, and it probably didn't help his dangerously frail state, either. But the weaker he got, the more power the British took.

]]> 14. He Converted To Christianity In 1853, something in Duleep snapped. After his intense crash course in "Britishness," he converted to Christianity as a 14-year-old teenager, much to the delight of Dr. Login and the other British ministers circling around him. The nominal Maharajah of the Sikh Empire was a Sikh no more. Only, the British weren’t done with him yet.

]]> 15. The British Kidnapped Him In 1854, like his mother before him, the British government sent Duleep into exile. Unlike his mother, they didn't send him to an Indian fortress; they sent him to England. Call it Phase Two of their "turn him into a Brit" plan...and it worked a little too well. He lived in England for nearly the rest of his short life, and he made quite a splash.

]]> 16. He Was Queen Victoria's Plaything The British were playing "good cop" during this time, and they began lavishing Duleep with honors, parties, and feasts. And then came one of the defining moments of his life. He went to the court of Queen Victoria, and she and her husband Prince Albert took an immediate liking to him, showering him with royal affection. The Queen even invited him to stay at her rural, summer home, Osborne House. And that’s where it all got very strange…

]]> 17. Queen Victoria Had A Crush On Him Ol’ Vicky took quite the liking to the teenaged Duleep. She even waxed poetic about his dark good looks, writing, "Those eyes and those teeth are too beautiful." All this despite the fact that Victoria was nearly 20 years Duleep's senior, and very much in a position of power over him. And she certainly didn't mind flexing that position when it suited her.

]]> 18. He Was A Royal Muse While staying at Osborne House, Duleep became something of a royal muse. No less than Queen Victoria herself sketched him, while Prince Albert photographed him. The court artist also made his portrait, cementing Duleep's position in the Victorian court. It seemed like the British had won another assimilation victory over Duleep...but inside, Duleep was raging to get out.

 

]]> 19. He Got Sick Of England Quickly Within a year of his arrival in England, Duleep itched to return home to India and asked if he could travel back. He was doomed to heartbreak. Still fearing his power, the British rebuffed his request, then suggested he tour the European continent instead. Not quite a gap year with a Eurorail pass, but it was the closest Duleep would ever get. When he got back to England, though, he got one indecent proposal.

 

]]> 20. The British Bribed Him Upon his return to England in 1855, the British gave 17-year-old Duleep a yearly pension of £25,000—a massive sum for the times. Only, it very much came with strings attached: The Queen only granted him this pension on the condition that Duleep “remain obedient to the British government.” It was a steep price to pay for a man who should have been ruling his own empire, and yet he kept that promise…for a while.

]]> 21. He Was A Mama’s Boy When Duleep turned 18, his thoughts turned sharply toward his mother Jind, who was still holed up in Khatmandu, Nepal, fearing for her life and cursing the British. Determined to see her again, Duleep wrote to her, asking her to join him in England. Instead, what he got was a harsh betrayal. The British intercepted this letter, making sure it never got to her. So Duleep simply had to try again.

 

]]> 22. He Was A Fighter Ever the dedicated—if distant—son, Duleep tried to reach his mother again. This time, he sent a human rather than a letter to let his mother know he wanted to see her. Unfortunately for the royal mother and son, evil stepmother England was as good at tracking couriers as she was mail. Victoria's minions also intercepted Duleep’s courier and prevented them from reaching Maharani Jind. Then Duleep had to get creative.

]]> 23. He Had A Few Tricks Up His Sleeve Jind Kaur had raised no fool, and Duleep soon realized that the only man for the job was his own darn self. First, he used the pretext of a tiger shoot in Bengal to slip free of British eyes and get geographically closer to his mother. Then, using every ounce of cunning she'd given him, he wrote to the British Resident in Kathmandu, craftily hiding his letter within one from his guardian, Dr. Login.

This subterfuge worked, and the resident wrote back with an update about Jind. The letter's contents were harrowing. 

]]> 24. He Got Heartbreaking News The years had not been kind to Duleep Singh, but they had treated his mother much worse. Although the British had once nicknamed Jind the "Messalina of the Punjab" because of her own steadfast opposition to their rule, the letter Duleep received revealed her grim current condition. She was now blind and had lost much of her characteristic fire. However, there was a bittersweet silver lining.

]]> 25. He Finally Reunited With His Mother The Maharani’s decline meant that the Brits were finally not so terrified of her. Upon receiving news of her themselves, they finally allowed Duleep to see her for the first time since he was a young boy. The heartfelt reunion took place in January 1861 at Spence's Hotel in Calcutta, when Duleep was 22 and his mother was approaching her mid-40s. Yet, once more, the British had underestimated the former Indian rulers.

]]> 26. He Nearly Started A Riot Duleep’s long-awaited reunion with his mother happened to coincide with the return to Calcutta of several Sikh regiments who had been off fighting. Their response nearly caused a catastrophe. When they heard their Maharaja and his mother were in town, they demonstrated outside of  Spence’s Hotel, striking fear of rebellion into the hearts of the British. Only, this didn't have the end Duleep's mother might have wished for.

]]> 27. His Brainwashing Ran Deep The British were quaking in their boots when they saw the soldiers gathering in the name of Duleep, so much so that the Governor General of India himself, Lord Canning, personally asked Duleep to take the next boat back to England to quell the rumbles. Luckily for Canning, Duleep obeyed, perhaps foiling his last real chance to renew the fight for his rightful kingdom. Nonetheless, Duleep struck back in other ways.

]]> 28. He Got The Maharani Her Bling Back Not satisfied with his mother-son reunion, Duleep also fought to reunite his mother with her long-lost jewels. For all these years, the British had kept these gems in a treasury, and Duleep successfully negotiated for their return. It wasn’t their kingdom, but at least it was something, and he could put his mother back in the glamor she deserved. Yet, it all came too little too late.

]]> 29. He Had A Tragic Goodbye In 1863, the biggest tragedy of Duleep's life hit. After barely a year of living in Britain, his mother Jind Kaur finally succumbed to her lifetime of torment, passing at the still-young age of 46. Although Duleep was at least beside her when it happened, it was small comfort for all the years the British had taken from him. But just as one chapter of his life ended, another began. And it was juicy.

]]> 30. The British Wouldn't Let Him Bury His Mother Properly The next year, Duleep traveled to Bombay to put his mother's ashes to rest, since the British wouldn't allow him to do it in her hometown of Lahore (classic). Still, this ended up being a fateful decree: While returning from Bombay, Duleep stopped off in Cairo and took a tour around a local girl's school. While there, he literally met his destiny.

]]> 31. He Fell In Love With A Scandalous Woman One of the instructors at the school was the beautiful part-Ethiopian, part-German Bamba Muller, the illegitimate child of a prominent banker. Crucially, Muller was also a devout Christian—one of the only ones at the institution. Duleep must have liked what he saw, because after he met her, he began gifting the "school" with incredibly lavish gifts. Still, he may have kept his crush on the down low for a reason...

]]> 32. Queen Victoria Was His Matchmaker When Duleep got back to England and his old frenemy Queen Victoria, a strange kind of pressure began mounting. Victoria had decided that, now that his mother was well and truly out of the way, it was time for Duleep to marry. In particular, Victoria wanted him to make a match with a British-assimilated Indian princess because, you know, who else would be worthy? But Duleep had other ideas.

]]> 33. He Had A Type Forever wiggling underneath Victorian meddling, Duleep decided he didn't want a perfect British subject. Instead, he wanted someone "less sophisticated," AKA less touched by colonialism. And he had just the idea: He wrote to the old girl's school in Cairo and asked the missionaries there if they could recommend anyone who was both Christian and of Eastern descent.

Considering Bamba was the only one there who fit that description, methinks Duleep already knew who he wanted. But that didn't mean he had a smooth time of it.

 

]]> 34. His Love Nearly Rejected Him You might think that a proposal from a prince would make any girl say yes. But Duleep's reality was much different. Bamba was reluctant to uproot her life and stop teaching children, which she considered her main ambition in life. Eventually, though, she grew to believe this was God's way of saying "go get 'em, girl," and she consented to him. Which is where things got truly awkward.

]]> 35. He Made A Bizarre Proposal When it came time for Duleep's official proposal to Bamba, it was mighty hard to get much romance in. Duleep spoke zero Arabic, while Muller spoke only Arabic, and he had to use an intermediary just to pop the question. In fact, when the pair married in a small ceremony in Alexandria in 1864, they spoke their vows in different languages. Quirky, right? Unfortunately, their future was less quirky, more devastating.

]]> 36. He Watched His Baby Die In 1865, Duleep was expecting his very first child with Bamba, who was due any day now. It all ended in blood and tears. Although Bamba gave birth to a son that year, the boy died just a day later, without the couple ever even giving him a name. For Duleep and Bamba, who had both seen so much hardship, it must have been a crushing blow. Duleep reacted the only way he knew how.

]]> 37. He Was Very Virile Duleep knew that if at first you don't succeed, ignore the trauma and try again: Eventually, he and Bamba had a whopping six healthy children together, most of whom made it into adulthood and had glittering lives among both the British and the Indian elite. All in all, the pair were married for over two decades...but behind bedroom doors, it was no fairy tale.

]]> 38. He Was Unfaithful If you believe the rumors, Duleep was far from faithful to Bamba. In fact, he was obsessed with one "other woman" in particular: The French princess Ada Douglas Wetherill. As the years wore on, Duleep got restless in his marriage and domestic duties to Muller and began spending more and more time with Wetherill. And that wasn't all he was restless about.

]]> 39. He Got Apprehended In 1886, Duleep got another irresistible pull to return home to India, and this time he didn't take no for an answer. Amid objections from the India Office, he set sail with Bamba and his children. Until it all unraveled. After catching up to him in the middle-eastern city of Aden, the British apprehended him and demanded that he turn back in Queen Victoria's name. Duleep did not do this. No, his response was ten times more jaw-dropping.

]]> 40. He Abandoned His Family Upon receiving this ultimatum from the British, Duleep fled to Paris...without his family. Yes, he seriously abandoned Bamba and the children to their own fates, instead preferring to go solo to France. And that wasn't all. When he got to the City of Love, his long-term mistress Ada Wetherill reportedly shacked up with him, too. OUCH, Duleep. Ugh, and he wasn't done yet.

]]> 41. He Married His Mistress A mere year after her husband chucked her at the border to abscond with another woman (!) Bamba Muller died at just 39 years old. Duleep repaid her with stunning cruelty. Two years later, he made things official with Wetherill and married her, going on to have two more children with the royal-mistress-turned-wife. Oh, but they got a comeuppance.

]]> 42. Queen Victoria Rejected His Wife You don't get through that kind of explosive mid-life crisis quietly, and one person in particular noticed that Duleep was coming apart at the seams: Queen Victoria. Well, she was not amused. Forever after, Victoria refused to meet Ada Wetherill in any kind of polite company, citing her respect for Bamba Muller's memory. Hey, the broad can do some things right.

]]> 43. He Converted Back To Sikhism Even though his "return to India plan" was foiled, Duleep managed to stick it to the British in another way: He got reinitiated into Sikhism. He had wanted his reconversion ceremony to take place in the homeland of both himself and his faith, but managed to pull off a more casual, impromptu one in Aden while he was being detained.

The Maharaja’s cousin, Sardar Thakar Singh Sandhawalia, was instrumental in both his reintroduction to Sikhism and this successful re-initiation, as he sent emissaries to Aden to accomplish the latter. The Queen could keep the Maharaja from India, but she couldn’t keep Indians from the Maharaja! With this accomplished, Duleep set his sights on a violent aim.

]]> 44. He Tried To Get Russia To Invade India At this point, Duleep was very much in an "off" phase of his on/off, toxic friendship with Queen Victoria, and he let her know it under no uncertain terms. While living in Paris, Duleep and his then-mistress Ada traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia. His mission: Convince the Czar to invade India through the north and re-install him as ruler. Unfortunately, the Czar did not take the bait.

]]> 45. He Fathered A Famous Suffragette Duleep Singh’s third daughter, Princess Sophia Singh, became a famous suffragette in the United Kingdom. She was a leader in the Women’s Tax Resistance League, which advocated for refusing to pay taxes in protest of women’s ongoing disenfranchisement. And she did this all while living in a palace apartment given to her by Queen Victoria. Turns out biting the hand that feeds you isn’t always a bad idea—especially when it’s the hand that stole your family’s plate.

]]> 46. He Was The Last True Owner Of A Legendary Diamond Once the young Duleep took the throne all those years ago, he automatically became the owner of the renowned Koh-i-Noor, one of the largest cut diamonds on Earth. As a child, Duleep wore it in court at Lahore, fastened to his arm. But it suffered a dark fate. The British seized it as a spoil of war, giving it to Queen Victoria for her own crown jewels collection.

]]> 47. He Went Under The Radar While compliant by most standards, Duleep Singh rebelled when it came to his heraldry. The Maharaja and his family used an illicit coat of arms that was not registered at the College of Arms, even though it had been drawn up by Prince Albert. To be fair, the family motto was “to do good rather than be conspicuous,” and there is nothing more conspicuous than registering your coat of arms.

]]> 48. He Was Both An Indian King And A British Knight In 1861, Queen Victoria continued her strategic adulation of Maharaja Duleep Singh,  naming him one of the first handful of knights in the brand spanking new Order of the Star of India. This appointment netted him the appellation “Sir” in addition to his longstanding—and long limited in terms of real power—title of Maharaja.

]]> 49. He Was In A Cult Duleep Singh was a member of the Freemasons, AKA the actual fraternal organization upon which The Simpsons’ famous Stonecutters organization was based, if that's more your bag. Indeed, he was involved in all sorts of shady spiritualism; one account has him entering a room arm-in-arm with the notorious occultist Madame Blavatsky.

]]> 50. He Was A Man Of Many Names Duleep's name comes in many forms: Duleep, Dhulip, Dulip, Dhalip, Dhuleep, and Dalip. Despite the fact that he used "Duleep" when writing it himself—and surely he was the foremost authority on the matter—even some official British documents refer to him as Dalip. They do follow it up with “the Ultimate,” but does that really make up for their sins against him?

]]> 51. He Lives On In digital spirit, at least. Maharaja Duleep Singh has been immortalized in a video game, of all places. Duleep is a character in Ubisoft’s well-known action-adventure video game series, Assassin’s Creed. A young Duleep Singh figures in its 2015 installment, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. The Maharaja and his battle for his kingdom live on!

]]> 52. He Made Queen Victoria A Godmother Adding further intrigue to their odd dynamic of crush and controller, Queen Victoria ended up being the godmother to many of Duleep Singh’s children. Though there could have been a disturbing motive behind this. Quite likely, this was yet another power move. Victoria used it to limit Duleep and his children's opportunities to reclaim their rightful throne in India.

]]> 53. His Relationship With Queen Victoria Inspired A Movie Not only was Duleep Singh a muse to Queen Victoria, but their relationship was also a muse for filmmaker Kavi Raz. His 2017 historical drama, The Black Prince, centers on the Stockholm Syndrome-like relationship between the two royals. Unfortunately, critics didn't love the movie, despite its salacious subject matter.

]]> 54. He Was "The Black Prince Of Perthshire" While in the United Kingdom, Duleep took a liking to Scotland and, at age 20, managed to rent a castle there from a Scottish Earl. He quickly set about making a name for himself...though not always for the best reasons. The surrounding commoners knew him for his luxurious lifestyle and his shooting parties, as well as his penchant for dressing in Highland costume; these habits quickly had him dubbed “the Black Prince of Perthshire.”

Of course, Duleep was actually brown and not Black, but it seems that was none the difference for the pale Scots of the 1850s.

]]> 55. He Was A Narcissist It may be a bit of reach, but Duleep might have indeed been a narcissist, considering that he gave his own name to all eight of his children. His three sons and five daughters alike had two to three given names, all followed by “Duleep Singh.” Okay, his first son with Bamba Muller died without a name, but it’s a safe bet how it would have ended.

Despite having so many children with his name, the Maharaja’s family lineage ended with this generation. All eight of his children died without legitimate issue.

]]> 56. He Had Something In Common With Another Famous King In what must have been a scene reminiscent of Hamlet, Maharaja Duleep Singh’s eldest son, Prince Victor Albert Jay Duleep Singh, claimed he saw a vision of his father looking at him through a picture frame one day. But the creepiest part came later. As Prince Victor soon found out, he had this vision just a day before his father's death. Might I suggest you pursue haunting Queen Victoria instead, dear Maharaja?

]]> 57. He Died Too Young Though it was largely unwillingly and at the behest of the British Empire, Duleep was a bit of a globetrotter throughout his troubled life and, true to style, died outside of his putative homes of India and England. Instead, at only 55, Duleep took his last breath in Paris, after suffering a stroke. One might hope he was finally freed from his life under British tyranny...but one further indignity loomed.

]]> 58. He Died Alone Adding insult to the many injuries of his short life, Duleep Singh died in circumstances unbecoming of a royal: He passed away alone in a Paris hotel room, broke and indebted to many. After all, Duleep Singh’s lavish life of large estates, recreational hunting, and fancy parties were largely behind him by the time he passed. Still, the British had one final betrayal for him.

]]> 59. He Didn't Get His Last Wish Duleep explicitly wanted his family to return his body to India upon his death but, like his many wishes to return home while he was still alive, the British denied this one too, fearing the insurrection his homecoming might foment. Instead, they buried his body next to that of his wife, Maharani Bamba, following Christian rites. Even in death, the Crown couldn't risk Maharaja Duleep Singh’s power over his people.

]]> 60. The British Betrayed Him After Death Despite being the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire, Duleep Singh was born in what is now Pakistan, an Islamic Republic. At the time, his birthplace of Lahore in the province of Punjab was actually the capital of the Sikh Empire. However, after the British partitioned India in 1947, they gave this part of Punjab to Pakistan. Thus, the Maharajah continued to lose his kingdom even after death.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=63440 <![CDATA[Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich became one of Russia’s most powerful men—but history only remembers him for his gruesome end.]]> 2026-09-09T10:55:00+00:00 2026-09-08T14:11:53+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-grand-duke-sergei-alexandrovich-russia David O'Shea People A Man For The Moment…Kind Of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia made an outsized impact, especially considering he was the fifth son of an emperor and never came close to actual rule. Despite his position, he went on to influence policy in Russia through his tsar brother and, later, nephew.

Like many Romanovs before him, however, he remained ignorant of the threat posed by the revolutionary change bubbling up within his own country until it was too late and, also like many of his kin, eventually fell victim to it in a grisly way…

]]> 1. He Was Far Down The Line Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was born in Tsarskoye Selo, Russia, in the Zubov wing of the Catherine Palace, on May 11, 1857. Sergei was the son of Tsar Alexander II, but he would never succeed his father: he had six older siblings, four of them brothers, all of whom had succession rights before him. But while he didn’t possess a chance at inheritance, he never lacked company.

]]> 2. He Was Comfortable Sergei’s early years were spent in luxury and childhood bliss. He moved between the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg and the Romanov’s Crimean retreat property, spending most of his time inseparable from two of his siblings: his younger brother, Paul, and his older sister, Marie. The three remained close their entire lives, and their mother was the glue that bound them.

]]> 3. His Mother Was Present During these early years, Sergei spent as much time with his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, as he did with his siblings. The children’s mother was not particularly affectionate (though she had a soft spot for her youngest daughter), but nevertheless, she was very close to her three youngest children, perhaps more to them than any of her older kids. The love between the tight-knit junior imperial siblings was evident in their words for one another.

]]> 4. His Sister Loved Him Sergei’s sister, Marie, in particular, adored the young Grand Duke. She would gush about him in her diaries, praising him as “an exceptionally nice young man”, promoting him as a person who “can be recommended one very possible way, not because he is my brother, but because he is an exception among princes”. This description somewhat contradicts later descriptions of the adult Sergei’s demeanor, but perhaps childhood difficulties hardened the innocent boy.

]]> 5. His Mother Deteriorated Sergei’s mother suffered for a long time with poor health, and her condition was already declining by the time of the Grand Duke’s birth. As a result, even after he returned to Saint Petersburg to begin his education, Sergei would spent long sojourns abroad with his mother so that she could avoid the toll that Russia’s harsh climate took on her health, including stints in Germany and the South of France. As his mother deteriorated, the young duke retreated inside himself.

]]> 6. He Was Quiet By the time his education began, Sergei showed some of the personality traits that would come to define his later public persona. The young duke was shy and withdrawn, though he also displayed an impressive studiousness and natural intelligence. The influence of his ever-present mother was clear too.

]]> 7. He Was Pious Sergei clearly inherited his reserved nature from his mother, herself quite an introverted character as well. Empress Maria was also extremely pious, a quality she passed on to her son: Sergei became very religious in childhood and would remain so for the rest of his life. His horizons did not remain narrow, however.

]]> 8. He Had Culture Sergei’s education began in earnest in the 1870s, and he proved a capable and curious student. His studies instilled in him a lifelong interest in arts and culture, including antiques, art treasures, archaeology, music, and acting. Indeed, the Grand Duke showed quite a bit of creative aptitude: he painted well and was a competent flute player. He also became fluent in several languages. Despite all this, however, Sergei's destiny held only one kind of career.

]]> 9. He Was A Military Man All male members of the Romanov dynasty were required to pursue a career in the armed forces, and Sergei was no different. He began early in life, becoming colonel-in-chief of the 2nd Battalion Guards Rifles at an impressively young age. A quirk of the imperial family meant that this was not his first leadership position, however.

]]> 10. He Was A Boss Baby Romanov family tradition and custom amusingly granted Sergei a military position on the day he was born! The new Romanov baby was also the new colonel-in-chief of the 38th Tobolsk Infantry Regiment, though it would be a few years before he gave his first order. By the time he reached adulthood, it was time for the Grand Duke to officially commit to his dynastic family.

]]> 11. He Showed His Loyalty Sergei celebrated his 20th birthday by reaffirming his commitment to his family, his ruler, and the Russian Empire. On April 29, 1877, the Grand Duke swore a solemn oath of allegiance to the emperor and committed to serving him in whatever way the empire saw fit. His timing could not have been better from the Russians’ perspective.

]]> 12. He Served The Empire Just five days before Sergei took his oath, the Russo-Turkish conflict of 1877 had broken out. The Grand Duke played a prominent role in the conflict, alongside his tsar father and his brothers, with Sergei serving most of his stint under his brother, Tsarevich Alexander, in southeast Romania. It was there that the Grand Duke would truly prove himself.

]]> 13. He Received Recognition Sergei displayed his capability during his service, proving himself and receiving honor for it: he got promoted to colonel and received the Order of St George, awarded to him for courage and bravery in action during a reconnaissance expedition. The younger Romanov proved himself to be a competent and influential force within his family, even as that family began crumbling.

]]> 14. His Family Split Following the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish conflict, Tsar Alexander II dropped a bombshell on the imperial family when he announced he would neglect his sickly wife, Empress Maria, in favor of starting a new family with his mistress. This caused a massive scandal within the Romanov dynasty, and Sergei, ever the loyal son, sided with his mother in the split. The disharmony within the family foreshadowed a grisly epoch for the Romanovs.

]]> 15. He Lost His Parents With the dawn of the 1880s, seismic events rocked the Imperial Family, and within two years, Sergei became an orphan. His mother, Empress Maria, finally succumbed to her illnesses in June 1880. The following year, terrorists took out Tsar Alexander II. It was a dramatic turn of events for the Romanovs, and as Sergei’s brother ascended, the Grand Duke found solace in his passions.

]]> 16. He Mixed Business With Pleasure Following the demise of his parents, Sergei had had enough of the dramatics of court. Three months after his father’s assassination, the Grand Duke traveled to Palestine to visit Jerusalem and the sacred sites.

There, the studious young duke founded the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Orthodox shrines in the Holy Land. Sergei took on the role of chairman and patron of the Society, an obligation which he adored, and which reportedly brought him more joy than any other duty. Not that he shunned his other duties…

]]> 17. He Advised His Brother After the untimely passing of his father, Sergei’s brother, Alexander III, assumed the position of tsar. The Grand Duke ended up playing an influential role in his brother’s reign; the two Romanov boys were very close, and reports suggest Alexander trusted Sergei more than his other brothers. The Grand Duke’s loyalty got rewarded.

]]> 18. He Got Entrusted Alexander III appointed Sergei as commander of the elite 1st Battalion Preobrazhensky Life Guard Regiment on January 15, 1882. It was a huge honor to serve in this role, which Sergei did loyally for nine years. Importantly, Sergei’s duties involved him introducing his nephew, Tsarevich Nicholas, to army life, which ingratiated him with the future tsar. Indeed, Nicky could have done worse for mentors.

]]> 19. He Was A Fine Young Man Impressively, Sergei was just 24 years old when his brother appointed him to command. By 1883, the 26-year-old Grand Duke had many admirers in his ranks. Contemporaries described him as intelligent, well-read, and refined. However, he also remained quite reserved, as he had been in childhood, and people struggled to connect personally with the colonel. Nevertheless, he cut something of an imposing figure.

]]> 20. He Was Weedy Sergei, like many Romanovs, stood at a towering height: the Grand Duke was over six feet tall, though, unlike his burly emperor brother, the young man was extremely thin. His choice to wear a corset, in the style of Prussian officers, only accentuated his weedy build. And though he was lanky, he wasn’t difficult to look at.

]]> 21. He Was Put Together Sergei was certainly easy on the eyes as far as Romanovs went. He wore his hair closely cropped and his beard neat, cutting an impressive figure in his imperial duties. The Grand Duke of Hesse, Sergei’s brother-in-law, described him as “tall and fair with delicate features and beautiful light green eyes”. Another noble went further still.

]]> 22. He Was A Looker While Sergei impressed most who met him with his dapper look, some who crossed his path were practically fawning. After meeting him in Moscow, the Duchess of Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt, gushed that the Grand Duke was “one of the most handsome men I have ever seen”. Despite all this praise, however, Sergei remained humble—often to a fault.

]]> 23. He Was Uncomfortable All the praise Sergei received for his looks merely bounced off the reserved Grand Duke: for his entire adult life, he remained very self-conscious, a trait which caused him to hold himself stiffly and keep a hard expression in his eyes.

Sergei’s uncomfortable nature meant that he always stood very straight, and many observed that he would constantly turn his jeweled ring around his finger in a sign of social discomfort. Some mistook his rigid nature for pride. But if anything, the Grand Duke felt unwarranted shame.

]]> 24. He Was Sickly Like his mother before him, Sergei’s health became seriously compromised after a bout of osteoarticular tuberculosis that caused his joints to wear and deteriorate over time. Sadly, the Grand Duke felt much shame for this condition, which he had no control over, and always sought to conceal it from others. Despite all this hardship, however, his reserved nature was indeed central to his true character.

]]> 25. He Was Uptight Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was indeed shy and reserved by nature, but he was something of a wet blanket too. He greatly disapproved of fashionable society and what he saw as its lax, overly liberal ways, and he made no secret of this disapprobation. And though he was largely quiet, it was quite scary when he did speak up.

]]> 26. He Was Thin-Skinned For all his reservedness, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich did not deal with any kind of criticism, or disagreement with his position, very well. He found it incredibly difficult to tolerate opposition and had a tendency to lose his temper easily in the face of reproval. This hypersensitivity influenced how he ran his household too.

]]> 27. He Ran A Tight Ship In his home, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was a slave driver: he insisted on discipline, order, and tidiness within his household. This made things difficult for those who shared his home, leading to a contradiction of feelings.

This was best summed up by his niece, who described him as “dry, nervous, short of speech, impatient, he had none of the rather careless good humor of his three elder brothers ... but for all that we loved him, felt irresistibly attracted to him, hard though he could be”. But who were these long-suffering members of his household…?

]]> 28. He Got Married In 1884, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich married Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain. It was not exactly a storybook romance: the Grand Duke and Princess were first cousins once removed and had known one another all their lives, but both were quite hesitant to marry one another at first.

Elisabeth even rejected his first proposal. She relented after the two spent some time together, however, and the couple married at the Winter Palace on February 26, 1884. The public record of the union basically ends there.

]]> 29. His Marriage Was Quiet Sergei’s marriage is unique among Romanov unions in that it is barely documented; his private papers got destroyed, leading many to believe his marriage was unhappy. The few surviving records disprove this, however, as they suggest that the union was happy in its own way and that, at the very least, the couple continued sharing a bed their entire married life. Proof of consummation is less certain, however.

]]> 30. He Was Childless Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Elisabeth sired no biological children together. They did foster the children of Sergei’s brother Paul, however, after the younger Grand Duke got banished from Russia following a morganatic marriage. Sergei was strict but devoted and affectionate to his niece and nephew, and they spoke positively of him in their diaries. Rumors suggest there may be a reason the Grand Duke never had children of his own…

]]> 31. He Had An Open Secret Most historians agree that Sergei was almost certainly gay, or bisexual. Russian statesman Count Witte wrote that the Grand Duke “was always surrounded by comparatively young men, who were excessively affectionate towards him”, and he was not the only one who reported such behavior. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, of course, was never open about this, given the attitudes of the time and the conflicts with his religious beliefs. Fortunately for him, his secret did not hinder his career.

]]> 32. He Climbed The Ranks Throughout his life, Sergei’s military career marched on, and he saw much success (from nepotism, in part, though he was quite a competent leader). The 1880s saw his role occupying an increasing chunk of his time, and in 1889, army brass promoted the Grand Duke to the rank of major general. His tsar brother appointed him to another important position too.

]]> 33. He Ruled A City Alexander III adopted a repressive policy, and the tsar needed a like-minded man to enforce it in Imperial Russia’s second city. To that end, Sergei was appointed governor general of Moscow in the spring of 1891. The Grand Duke accepted the role with some reservations; he and his wife were fond of their quiet Saint Petersburg life and were reluctant to give it up. Still, duty came over comfort for Sergei, and he got down to the work asked of him.

]]> 34. He Was Divisive Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich served as governor general of Moscow for 14 long years, and in that time, he helped the tsar enact repressive conservative policies. This made him a polarizing figure among the citizenry of Moscow and the Russian intelligentsia in general. His actions as governor were certainly odious.

]]> 35. He Was A Bigot Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich began his tenure as governor with a deplorable bang: he expelled an astonishing 20,000 Jews from Moscow, as part of the tsar’s antisemitic political philosophy. This systematic expulsion involved violence and pogroms against the vulnerable Jewish communities of the city and resulted in mass displacement and the ruin of many of Moscow’s most lucrative industries. Sergei’s reactionary policies didn’t stop there.

]]> 36. He Cracked Down The Grand Duke continued his deplorable rule by repressing a nascent student movement, placing severe restrictions on students and professors at universities in an attempt to eliminate revolutionary ideas. This only sank his popularity among the intelligentsia, though conservative citizens obviously felt pleased with the state’s policy of conspiracy prevention. Sergei’s actions reflected the broader worldview of his brother’s odious regime.

]]> 37. He Was A Tyrant History rightly regards Sergei as an outsized political reactionary, as was the government of Alexander III at large. The two Romanov brothers were conservative hardliners with an unshakeable belief in a strong, nationalist Russia, and the country’s citizens suffered greatly as a result of their backwards views. Despite this regression, however, the governor general was not completely irredeemable.

]]> 38. He Had A Soft Spot Proving that people are more complicated than their political identities would have you believe, Sergei seemed to care deeply about Moscow’s poor (as long as they weren’t Jewish). He and his wife would often discuss ways to address the poverty they saw in the city, and he really did see it: the Grand Duke would occasionally tour the city incognito to personally observe the conditions of his people. He put his money where his mouth was too.

]]> 39. He Was Charitable Throughout his life, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich patronized welfare organizations that sought to help Russia’s poorest gentiles. He even chaired some of these organizations, including the Moscow Society for the Care, Upbringing, and Education of Blind Children and the Society for Homeless, Neglected Children, and Convicted Adolescents. Perhaps it was this ability to balance the conservative with the compassionate that kept him relevant beyond his brother’s reign.

]]> 40. He Continued His Influence Tsar Alexander III passed on November 1, 1984, which meant that his son, Nicholas II, was now the Emperor of Russia. Sergei had always enjoyed a close relationship with his nephew, and Nicky returned this affection in kind: the Grand Duke remained as influential a presence during his nephew’s reign as he had been during his brother’s. He even set the new tsar up with his wife.

]]> 41. He Arranged A Union Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and his wife, Elisabeth, put their heads together to shore up their positions, and the standing of the Duchess’ family as well, by promoting Elisabeth’s sister as a potential marriage candidate for Tsar Nicholas. Because of Nicky’s close relationship with his uncle, he enthusiastically agreed and wed Princess Alix of Hesse on November 26, 1894. The union resulted in an odd familial fact.

]]> 42. He Became An In-Law In a classic quirk of imperial family intermarrying, Sergei now possessed a dual relation to Tsar Nicholas II following his nephew’s marriage to his wife’s sister: he was now both the emperor’s uncle and brother-in-law. For better or worse, Sergei and the tsar found themselves permanently tied to one another. This territory came with some reputational damage.

]]> 43. He Oversaw Disaster As per tradition, the Emperor and Empress received their coronation in Moscow, meaning Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, as governor general, ended up in charge of organizing the festivities. The Grand Duke approved plans for the ceremony to be held in Khodynka Field, an area normally used for military training which was, thus, crisscrossed with ditches.

Half a million people from all over Russia traveled for the coronation, but despite this, Sergei dispatched only one small detachment of police to maintain order. This, of course, came back to bite him: during a rush of confusion, many in the crowd tripped on the uneven ground, causing a stampede which cost the lives of over 1300 souls. Many partially blamed Sergei for the Khodynka Tragedy, seriously damaging his reputation. Of course, it hardly affected his career.

]]> 44. He Continued To Succeed Sergei’s slip-up with Khodynka barely hindered his political rise at all, at least not with his fellow nobles. In 1894, the tsar made the Grand Duke a member of the State Council, his supreme advisory body, and a pre-cursor to Russia’s upper house of parliament. Nicholas II placed him on the Council to counterbalance the ministers who would go against the tsar’s preferred policies. His actions in government had few fans on either side.

]]> 45. He Pleased No One Though most correctly viewed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich as a reactionary, the truth was not as simple as that: he did desire improvements for the Russian people, and strove for these improvements, which angered conservatives. The Grand Duke could please no one, however, as progressive radicals also hated him for his blocking of revolutionary reforms, changes he believed Russia was not “ready” for. Despite his unpopularity, however, he continued to consolidate power.

]]> 46. He Rose Further 1896 saw another successful jump in position for the Grand Duke: he got promoted to lieutenant general and appointed commander of the Moscow Military District, tightening his control over the city even further. This role seemed to suit Sergei much more than his political one…

]]> 47. He Shuffled His Priorities As time wore on, the revolutionary mood in Russia grew alongside dissatisfaction with the tsarist regime, and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich noticed. Few around him seemed to share his awareness, however, and he grew disillusioned with the situation. After 13 years in the position, the Grand Duke resigned as governor general of Moscow, though he remained in command of the city’s military district. His private(r) life proved not all that fulfilling.

]]> 48. He Stayed Indoors Shortly after his resignation, Sergei, his wife, and their foster children moved to the Nicholas Palace, an imperial property within the safety of the Kremlin. With revolutionary fervor increasingly on the rise, the Grand Duke’s detectives advised him to remain within the palace, an order with which he obliged, meaning he and his wife rarely ventured outside. He was right to be careful, but one slip-up proved to be his downfall.

]]> 49. He Got Taken Out By February 15, 1905, the (ultimately doomed) Russian Revolution of 1905 was in full swing, and Sergei defiantly decided that if his demise was the will of God, no amount of security would prevent it. That evening, he ventured with his family to a concert at the Bolshoi Theater.

A revolutionary organization known as the SRRs got word of Sergei’s route, and after tracking the Grand Duke to ensure his wife and children would be safe from attack, an SSR terrorist took Sergei out with a bomb just outside the Kremlin. It was a gruesome scene.

]]> 50. He Was In Pieces Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was just 47 at the time of his assassination, and his demise was decisive: the explosion left a grisly scene, with the Grand Duke’s carriage completely disintegrated, his bloodstained clothes scattered all over the snow, and his body thoroughly mutilated.

Reportedly, some of the Grand Duke’s fingers landed on the roof of a nearby building, still adorned with his lavish jewelry. It was a grim ending for a man who recognized the danger of the moment, but failed to convince those around him, and life only got worse from there for the Romanovs.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=27106 <![CDATA[The Bewitched King Of Spain]]> 2025-09-05T10:55:00+00:00 2026-09-04T16:48:46+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-charles-ii-spain Dancy Mason People Something Rotten In The Habsburg Dynasty King Charles II was the last hope of the Spanish , which had ruled an ever-expanding Spain for over a century—and he wasn’t much to hope for. A victim of decades of close inbreeding, from the day he was born Charles wasn’t expected to live. When his rule did come, it was bitter, brief, and doomed everything it touched. 

]]> 1. He Was The Last Of His Kind When Charles was born in 1661, his dynasty was already failing. His father, King Philip IV of Spain, hadn’t managed to have a living son during his first marriage, and his second marriage to Charles’s mother Mariana of Austria wasn’t faring much better. Charles would have one full sister, Margaret Theresa, but he would be the only boy in the family. 

Yet from the beginning, Charles was in no state to rule a dynasty. 

]]> 2. He Was Seriously Inbred The Habsburgs were infamous for inbreeding, and his father and mother were actually uncle and niece. While this wasn’t uncommon for the day, the obsessive way the Habsburgs stuck to their own line for generations was. It had horrific consequences. Potentially because of all the recessive genes, Charles was sickly from the start. 

As one historian wrote, "from the day of his birth, they were waiting for his death”. This almost happened very early on. 

]]> 3. He Was Sickly  As a young boy, Charles was bombarded with potentially fatal illnesses, including measles, chickenpox, rubella, and smallpox, all of which he survived against the odds. However, he didn’t escape his infancy entirely unscathed: He also got rickets, a weakening of the bones usually due to a vitamin D deficiency, and had to wear leg braces until he was five. 

His most infamous physical ailment, however, was with him all his life. 

]]> 4. He Had A Startling Trait  At the time, the Habsburgs were easily identifiable by just one trait: The “Habsburg jaw”. Also called the “Austrian lip”—thanks to its equal prevalence in the Austrian Habsburg line—the Habsburg lower jaw jutted out, giving many people in the family a prominent chin and a crossbite. This too was likely the result of inbreeding. 

Although historians have noted this jaw in many of Charles’s relatives’ portraits, Charles himself seems to have had the most prominent one on record. So prominent, in fact, that it interfered with his daily life. 

]]> 5. He Couldn’t Eat Properly  As Charles grew up and began taking care of himself, it became clear that his Habsburg jaw was getting in the way of this independence. One of his contemporaries reported that his lower jaw was so distinct from his upper, he had difficulty chewing. His solution was disgusting. Reportedly, Charles would just swallow his food whole where possible, and suffered stomach problems as a result. 

Yet the issues kept on coming. 

]]> 6. He Couldn’t Speak  Charles also suffered from an enlarged tongue. It was difficult for him to enunciate and be understood, and there are reports that he couldn’t even speak at all until the age of four, and was treated mostly as an infant until at least the age of 10. 

Historians continue to debate which ailments could have been due to inbreeding, and which weren’t. Sadly, though, it’s not just inbreeding that affected Charles. 

]]> 7. He Had A Fateful Infection  Perhaps Charles’s most severe ailment came not from genetics, but likely from bad luck: Some suggest that, thanks to one of his infant infections, Charles also suffered from hydrocephalus, where fluid builds up in the brain, engorges the head, and can cause mobility issues, among other ailments. It’s no wonder he earned the nickname “El Hechizado” or “The Bewitched”. 

There was more bad luck to come. 

]]> 8. His Mother Controlled Him In 1665, Charles’s father King Philip IV passed, leaving him as a toddler king. His mother Mariana quickly took over as regent—likely a necessity even if he was of age—and set about getting the kingdom in order. It would have been difficult for the young boy to lose his father, no matter the circumstances. But as Charles grew more aware of his kingdom, he also must have grown more disturbed.  

]]> 9. His Kingdom Was In Ruins By the time Charles became king, the Habsburg kingdom of Spain was both massive—and in dire trouble. The “Little Ice Age” decades earlier had felled crops and people alike, severely affecting the realm’s economy and rendering it dependent on bigger powers like Britain, France, and the Netherlands. 

To make matters worse, Charles seemed particularly ill-suited to rule…

]]> 10. People Used Him As king, it soon became clear that Charles would not be a glorious solo ruler. Likely due in part to his mental and physical disabilities, his court during this time—and for the rest of his life—was largely controlled by courtiers, councillors, and even his own mother grasping for the power he was born into. But Charles still had the ability to surprise people. 

]]> 11. He Worked Hard  It makes a more dramatic picture to think of Charles II slobbering into his food while others ran the kingdom around him. But the truth is more complicated. There are reports that Charles did play a somewhat active role in administration; one envoy from the Sultan of Morocco described how Charles personally received him and then stayed throughout the discussions. 

Charles had other qualities to recommend him, too.

]]> 12. He Had A Favorite Hobby  There is more evidence to suggest that Charles doesn’t fit our reductive picture of an ailing, inbred king. Although he had physical limitations, there are ample stories about how much he loved to hunt, like many young courtiers of his day, and how much he enjoyed physical activity outdoors. Yet Charles did have at least one Achilles heel in the “courtier” department. 

]]> 13. He Suffered From Shyness  Many foreign diplomats noted that Charles could be amiable and even generous with his time and resources, but that throughout international talks he often lacked self-confidence and could fall into shyness. Heartbreakingly, still others noted that Charles suffered from bouts of depression, which must have also interfered with this work. 

Still, there was one thing everyone agreed Charles was good for: Marriage. 

]]> 14. He Made A Powerful Alliance  The year Charles turned 18, he made the next step toward adulthood. One of his ministers brokered a match between him and the 17-year-old Marie Louise of Orleans. The niece of King Louis XIV and the daughter of the Duke of Orleans, Marie Louise was a crucial link in an alliance with the more powerful France. But not everyone was happy about it. 

]]> 15. His Bride Hated The Idea  Pretty and cultured, Marie Louise was a darling of the French court and her father’s favorite child. More than that, she was in love with her cousin, the Dauphin of France. So when the elders in her life told her she was being packed off to marry the deformed Spanish king, the poor girl spent the next weeks weeping her eyes out. 

Her upcoming marriage couldn’t have provided her much solace. 

]]> 16. He Fell In Love  In August of 1679, Marie Louise and Charles married by proxy, before officially tying the knot that November, just weeks after Charles’s 18th birthday. According to reports, Charles soon fell deeply in love with his new bride, and would remain in love with her to the end of his days. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the nightmare that was his court. 

]]> 17. His Court Was Icy While the French court of Marie Louise’s time was an infamously loose, languid affair under the “Sun King” Louis XIV, the Spanish court was another atmosphere entirely, and not in a good way. It was dour, rigid, and obsessed with strict forms of etiquette: Marie Louise soon discovered that her new courtiers weren’t even allowed to touch her. Then there was the matter of her new husband. 

]]> 18. His Bedroom Life Was Controversial  For the next decade, Charles and Marie Louise tried to produce an heir who would carry on the Habsburg name. The, well, “quality” of their efforts is controversial: Although there is necessarily no physical evidence, many have suggested that Charles was impotent or else had other difficulties in bed, which didn’t help matters.

Indeed, Marie Louise’s own testimony suggests something was very wrong. 

]]> 19. His Wife Was Confused  Charles’s young queen once confessed to a French ambassador that, “she was really not a virgin any longer, but that as far as she could figure things, she believed she would never have children,” indicating that whatever was happening behind bedroom doors with Charles, it likely didn’t feel hopeful to her. One thing is certain, however: After nine years, the pair still didn’t have children. 

So Marie Louise pushed herself to the limit. 

]]> 20. His Wife Hurt Herself  At the time, most people within and without the court blamed Marie Louise for infertility rather than pointing the finger at Charles. In response, she began a fertility regime full of dangerous substances thought to “help” her body carry a baby, but which did nothing but give her intestinal issues. Unfortunately, worse was to come. 

]]> 21. Her Health Declined  By the end of their first decade together, time was ravaging the royal couple. While Charles still battled with various ailments, Marie Louise struggled with her self worth in the face of her “barren” womb, and gained weight after developing a penchant for sugary drinks. 

Not that it would matter. She wouldn’t live to see her 10th anniversary. 

]]> 22. His Queen Met A Gruesome End  In February of 1689, nine years into her marriage with Charles, Marie Louise was out riding when she experienced a vicious pain in her abdomen, then went through a bout of convulsions and vomiting. Doctors quickly realized she was on her deathbed, and Charles rushed to her side. Reportedly, her last words were for him before dying: “Many women may be with His Majesty, but none will love him more than I do”. 

Yet it may have been Charles and his court’s expectations that killed her.

]]> 23. She Lost Her Life For Him The Kingdom of Spain had enough enemies and so few heirs that some believed Marie Louise had been poisoned, thus ushering the realm closer to destruction. The truth is more tragic. Given her symptoms, historians are almost certain that Marie Louise perished from appendicitis, a condition that her endless fertility treatments may have exacerbated.

Her end put the Crown into panic mode.  

]]> 24. His Mother Chose His Second Queen  Just weeks after his old queen’s passing, Charles’s mother selected a new bachelorette for her son: Maria Anna of Neuburg. In this choice, she selected from the Austrian side of their alliances and snubbed the French, who had turned into rivals in recent years. Indeed, Maria Anna was chosen for her particular hatred of France—but it wasn’t the only quality she brought with her. 

]]> 25. His Family Got Desperate  By now, Spain was desperate for a son, and Maria Anna had a secret weapon. With a mind-boggling 16 siblings to her name, she came from an enormously fertile line. Plus, just 22 years old on the day of their proxy wedding in August of 1689, Maria Anna seemed to have not only the equipment but also the time to finally provide the Spanish crown with an heir. 

They just weren’t expecting her to be cunning. 

]]> 26. His New Wife Was Clever  Maria Anna knew she was a Hail Mary, and she was also no doubt aware of her poor, “barren” predecessor Marie Louise. So, to stave off rumors about her own fertility, Maria Anna frequently, and publicly, claimed she was pregnant. Even when no child materialized, this nonetheless seemed enough to push more of the blame onto Charles. 

Then Maria Anna went the extra mile. 

]]> 27. She Turned The Tables On Him  Throughout her marriage to Charles, Maria Anna lovingly encouraged her husband to seek fertility treatments of his own, thus further shutting down the idea that she—with her 16 siblings—was the one who was the problem. This was especially helpful when it became clear that the second time wasn’t the charm, and no child was imminent. 

Maria Anna was more right about Charles than she would have even believed, but it hardly helped what was to come. 

]]> 28. His Realm Fell Apart  As Charles’s childless second marriage went on, more and more problems came for the throne: In 1690, Spain entered the Nine Years’ War with France and its European allies. This proved an utter disaster. Just two years in, they had to declare bankruptcy, and four years later, in 1696, they had lost almost all of Catalonia to the French. 

Soon, people began to notice just how bad it was.

]]> 29. He Was An Anomaly  In 1691, a year after Spain entered the Nine Years War, a foreign ambassador visited King Charles II’s court and was appalled at what he saw. From the ailing king to the childless marriage to the disastrous war effort, the ambassador admitted, "it is incomprehensible how this monarchy survives”.

It wasn’t the only way the Nine Years War was cataclysmic. 

]]> 30. He Was At The Center Of A Crisis  Part of the reason the Nine Years War started in the first place was because of Charles—namely, because of his inability to both stay healthy and to produce an heir. All the powers in Europe were wound tighter than springs, knowing that if Charles passed without a son to inherit his enormous kingdom, it would throw off the power balance on the continent and spark a succession crisis.  

No one was happy about the situation, but Charles was about to suffer an incredibly personal blow.

]]> 31. He Lost His Guiding Light  In 1696, the same year Spain lost most of Catalonia, Charles also lost his mother Mariana. The 61-year-old had likely perished from breast cancer, and her passing deprived the Spanish court of one of its stabilizing forces—she had been a significant figure in Charles’s government since before he could walk without leg braces. That government didn’t hold together long. 

]]> 32. His Wife Took Over In the wake of his mother’s passing, Charles might have stepped up and taken more of his power back. Instead, he stepped aside, and it was his wife Maria Anna who rose to prominence in the power vacuum. Soon, she was running the court’s political factions just like her mother-in-law had—and she did it with one goal in mind. 

]]> 33. His Court Was At War Both Charles’s late mother and his second wife were staunch supporters of the “Austrian faction” in the Spanish Court, and vehemently opposed the still-active “French faction”. Both sides fought over all manner of influence, but their biggest goal was also the most existential one: To control who became Charles’s successor, an Austrian candidate or a French one. 

As Charles’s health continued to decline without a son in sight, Maria Anna had to put all her cunning into overdrive. 

]]> 34. He Chose An Heir In 1698, two years after his mother’s demise, Charles fell terrifyingly ill. With the Grim Reaper lying in wait, Spain went into fierce, urgent talks with the rest of the European powers to give Charles an official successor and hopefully avoid all-out conflict when the end finally came. They emerged with good news…for his wife Maria Anna, at least. 

]]> 35. His Wife Wielded Immense Influence  When the talks ended, Charles was ready to name Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria as his successor, a coup for both Maria Anna and the Austrian faction at court. In fact, Maria Anna had reason to be very pleased with the result; she and young Joseph were actually from the same noble house. And that was just the beginning of Maria Anna’s victory. 

]]> 36. He Gave His Wife More Power  When Charles officially published his will that November, he didn’t just name Joseph Ferdinand as his successor, he also appointed Maria Anna as regent for the boy should he come to power while still a minor, giving his wife a vote of confidence he never seemed to give himself. But the course of royal power dynamics never did run smoothly.

]]> 37. His Countrymen Hated His Queen  Charles’s Will was supposed to stabilize the Kingdom of Spain, but it only threw it into further turmoil. When Charles’s court heard that he was making his wife regent, their reaction was chilling. Reportedly, his Spanish councillors took the news in complete silence, an “I don’t know her” move that nobody could mistake for kindness. 

Charles, meanwhile, was fighting his own battles.

]]> 38. He Wanted The Impossible  Throughout negotiations for Charles’s heir, there were pressing questions about just what his successor would inherit. Spain’s enormous acreage made it difficult to pass the kingdom along wholesale to one outsider—but while councillors sought to partition the realm in various ways, Charles II and many Spaniards were adamant the kingdom remain intact. 

Everything kept ratcheting up, even as Charles kept declining. Until: catastrophe. 

]]> 39. He Lost His Heir  In 1699, death brought everything back to the drawing board—and believe it or not, it wasn’t Charles II who perished. That year, Charles’s heir Joseph Ferdinand passed unexpectedly, throwing most of Europe into frantic treaties for the second time in as many years. Charles, ailing but understanding just how vital it was for him to rewrite his Will, joined right in.

Once more, his wife Maria Anna came out on top.

]]> 40. His Wife Won Again The choice of Charles’s next successor gave Queen Maria Anna even more to crow about: The boy was none other than her nephew, Archduke Charles. Although there was still bickering about just how much of Spain Archduke Charles would get, the Austrian faction at court was overjoyed. It wouldn’t last. 

]]> 41. He Stopped Eating  In late 1700, Charles’s health took its last bad turn. The symptoms were horrifying. After a lifetime suffering stomach issues and having difficulty ingesting food, Charles grew so ill he wasn’t able to eat at all, and starting that October he began wasting away in front of everyone’s eyes. There was no more time left, and his disgruntled courtiers now made their checkmate. 

]]> 42. Her Enemies Pounced  Many of Charles’s Spanish courtiers, particularly the Castillians, had long despised his wife Maria Anna, and believed that a French successor rather than an Austrian one would allow Spain to keep the greater part of her lands after Charles passed. 

So, they did what any power hungry courtiers would do: They approached Charles on his deathbed and pushed their agenda. To Maria Anna’s horror, it worked. 

]]> 43. He Changed His Mind  While Maria Anna’s nephew Archduke Charles had seemed like a shoo-in for the successor role just weeks before, Charles now suddenly changed his mind. An Archbishop from the French faction successfully convinced the ailing king to appoint Philip of Anjou, the grandson of King Louis XIV, as his official heir. Maria Anna responded by going ballistic. 

]]> 44. He Was “Bewitched” In these last days of the Spanish Habsburg Empire, everyone knew the ship was sinking, but some were still clinging to the helm. Incensed at this switch-up, Maria Anna had her ally General Baltasar arrest the king’s personal confessor Froilan Diaz, whom she felt had helped convince Charles to go with France and thus “bewitched” the king. 

But in making this accusation, Maria Anna didn’t realize she was opening Pandora's box. 

]]> 45. The Spanish Inquisition Got Involved Maria Anna’s ally General Baltasar was a member of the infamous Spanish Inquisition, and this political arrest was the beginning of the Inquisition’s end. When Diaz emerged from the ordeal unconvicted, Baltasar—now as berserk as his queen—tried to arrest the people who acquitted Diaz, and the unhinged move permanently damaged the Inquisition’s reputation.

All this, for one little heir. But when Charles II finally did perish, it only proved how high the stakes really were. 

]]> 46. His Wife Was Exiled On the first of November 1700, just a handful of days before his 39th birthday, Charles’s beleaguered body finally gave out. It all happened very fast from there: With Maria Anna caught on the back foot, Philip of Anjou was proclaimed King of Spain, and Charles’s queen—once one of the greatest inheritors to her husband’s kingdom—was exiled to Toledo.

Then the real fighting began. 

]]> 47. It Fell Apart After Him  In the end, all the treaties and discussions around Charles’s heir weren’t enough to avert disaster: The War of the Spanish Succession erupted in Europe almost instantly, and kept on flowing for 13 years after. When the dust settled, Charles’s worst nightmare was reality: Though Philip was still king, Spain had lost much of its former lands, and the Spanish Habsburg dynasty was well and truly gone. 

Even so, Charles II’s mysteries lived on. 

]]> 48. His Autopsy Was Gruesome  In the days following King Charles’s passing, attendants performed an autopsy on his remains. Their findings were blood-curdling. From the state of his body, it was a miracle he had lived as long as he did: His "heart was the size of a peppercorn; his lungs corroded; his intestines rotten and gangrenous”. Yet these were only their surface-level findings. 

]]> 49. He Was The Problem  The most momentous discovery medics made was also their most intimate: They found that Charles only had “a single testicle” and that it was “black as coal,” indicating that it had atrophied long ago. From this information, historians believe that—as his wife Maria Anna may have suspected—Charles was wholly sterile at the end of his life.

]]> 50. He Was The End Of An Era King Charles II of Spain’s story is heavy with meaning, and little of it is comforting: He is a centuries-old cautionary tale about the horrors of inbreeding; the gruesome last gasp of a failing dynasty; and the coming of the apocalypse for the balance of European power. Yet, as we’ve seen, Charles’s life is often more slippery than his legend.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=31055 <![CDATA[Pope John XII was a womanizer, backstabber, and party animal—right up until his incredibly fitting end.]]> 2026-09-04T10:30:00+00:00 2026-09-03T19:08:56+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/pope-john-xii Rebecca Wong People Pope John XII Was The Party Pope It’s hard to do justice to the story of the walking disaster that was Pope John XII. When even the historian most sympathetic to his life states, “There cannot be a doubt that John XII was anything but what a Pope, the chief pastor of Christendom, should have been,” you know he must have messed up somewhere along the way. An adulterer, backstabber, and all-around terrible human being, John XII’s story is like a trainwreck you can’t take your eyes off of.

]]> 1. His Parentage Is Filled With Scandal Known as “Octavian” at birth, John was born to a man named Alberic II of Spoleto, self-proclaimed Prince of Rome, and a woman named…well, actually, we’re not entirely sure who his mother was. Why is that, you ask? Well, uh, it’s kind of complicated. Future biographers aren’t exactly kind to John, so the story of his birth has been twisted to make him seem extra evil (although the truth isn’t exactly too far off).

]]> 2. His Mother Is A Mystery The story goes that John’s mom may have been one of two people. She may have been an unnamed concubine of his dad’s, which is already pretty darn scandalous. Others, however, say his mom was Alda of Vienne, a woman Alberic married for the sake of a political alliance. What’s so bad about that? Well, in a creepy twist, Alda of Vienne was Alberic’s stepsister. Either way, John’s life had some shady beginnings, and things only get worse from here.

]]> 3. Expectations For Him Were High John’s family had high hopes for the boy, and it showed in the name they chose for him. They called him “Octavian,” not just because it was the personal name of the first Roman emperor Augustus Caesar, but because it was the name of an ancient Etruscan prince as well. John’s family clearly expected him to leave behind a great and lasting dynasty. John eventually fulfilled this destiny, but probably not in a way that made them proud.

]]> 4. He Was Set Up To Fail John likely didn’t grow up being trained as a future priest. His dad more likely trained him in the art of combat, in the manner befitting Roman aristocratic nobles such as himself. However, this meant that book-learning wasn’t exactly on the top of John’s list of priorities. He was essentially raised to be an ancient Roman equivalent of a fratboy, so it’s not surprising that his future as the Pope was rife with problems.

]]> 5. His Dad Sealed His Fate It wasn’t long before John had his date with destiny. He was likely 16 years old when fever claimed the life of his father in the autumn of 954. Shortly before this, John’s father asked the nobles of Rome to swear an oath to him, promising the papal throne to John upon its vacancy. The nobles, who loved John’s father, took the oath, sealing young John’s fate. The decision to give John the papacy quickly took a turn for the disastrous.

]]> 6. He Had Too Much Power Even for his time, John was incredibly young when he became the Pope—unbelievably, he may have been as young as 17 years old! To make things even trickier, he also inherited his father’s position as a Prince of Rome, which put a lot of prestige, power, and wealth into the hands of the teenager. It’s absolutely no wonder, then, that it all quickly went to his head. This put him on a course for utter catastrophe.

]]> 7. He Committed Unbelievable Sins What kinds of catastrophes happened during John’s tenure as the Pope? Well, the list of things he’s been accused of doing (true or not) is long, but highlights include: ordaining a 10-year-old as a bishop, blinding his confessor (and killing him for good measure), and castrating a subdeacon (who he also killed). Think this is bad? Oh man, this is just the very tip of the iceberg, because things get even more unbelievable.

]]> 8. He Was Insatiable This wouldn’t be the story of a scandalous Pope if it didn’t include accusations of his appetite in the bedroom, and believe me, the accusations get pretty crazy. He apparently fornicated with any female who breathed in his general direction, including (but not limited to): several widows, his father’s mistress, and even, disturbingly, his own niece.

While we can’t be sure if all these accusations are true, the things we know he’s actually done are even crazier—but to be fair to John, he did at least try to not suck at his job (kind of).

]]> 9. He Took On Two Names John tried to keep his life as a prince and his life as the Pope separate, in an effort to seem fair. Whenever he dealt with secular issues, he used the name “Octavian,” while any matters of the Church went under his pontifical name, “John.” It soon became clear to all involved, however, that John was a terrible prince and a terrible pope. He had a nasty habit of only looking out for one thing: himself, and it led him to his first major failure.

]]> 10. He Wasn’t Much Of A Leader At around 960, John XII, a little too eager to show off his greatness, led an expedition against the Germanic duchies of Beneventum and Capua. He intended to take back land belonging to the Papal States, but the campaign was, as one biographer bluntly put it, “hastily planned” and “badly organized.” Somehow, John still managed to march his men all the way to Beneventum and Capua, where things swiftly descended into chaos.

]]> 11. He Failed His First Conquest When the dukes of Beneventum and Capua spotted young Pope John XII leading his men towards them, they asked for the aid of Gisulf I of Salerno, who came sweeping in to help them. John stood no chance against their combined forces, and his men fled North with their tails between their legs. For John, this must’ve been completely and utterly humiliating. Little did he know, even more humiliation awaited him just around the corner.

]]> 12. He Faced Utter Defeat After being reduced to running away, John had no choice but to agree to enter negotiations with Gisulf. Luckily for John, Gisulf’s terms ended up being relatively fair. In return for Gisulf keeping away from John and his future expeditions, John had to give up on his little conquest of Beneventum, Capua, and Salerno. John agreed to the terms and returned to Rome, where he continued his streak of failure.

]]> 13. He Failed At Political Intrigue Back at home, John’s inexperience in spiritual and political matters severely handicapped him. While he was purportedly a smooth talker when it came to saving his own skin, his ability to play people against each other was sorely lacking. Oh, don’t worry, John definitely tried to do so, and while he couldn’t really influence the Roman nobles, he had just enough influence elsewhere to plunge Rome into complete turmoil.

]]> 14. He Encouraged Chaos Under John XII’s father, the varying vicious factions within Rome had kept a low profile, but under John, they positively thrived. To make things even worse, John actively encouraged them to rampage through the Papal States. Why did he do this? Some speculate it was incompetence. Others believe that John did it just because he could. Either way, Rome’s people did not see peace under Pope John XII’s rule, but John himself certainly reaped many rewards at their expense.

]]> 15. He Only Looked Out For Himself With money coming in from the Church, and the power of his position as an aristocrat at his fingertips, Rome became John XII’s own personal playground. He kept his own guards handsomely paid, which kept John safe from attempts at his life. In the meantime, John bedded women left and right, giving his favorites money, and worst of all, land. He happily carried out his shenanigans for a time, but outside of Rome, a dark threat to his rule loomed.

]]> 16. Invasion Kicked Him Into Action Rome had always been a magnet for invasions, and the fact that it was in utter disarray made it an even juicer target. Shortly after John’s failed conquest of Beneventum and Capua, King Berengar II of Italy made his own attempts to take over Rome. As Berengar’s men drew closer and closer, John grew increasingly desperate for help. Eventually, John cooked up a scheme that, like most of his plans, didn’t exactly succeed.

]]> 17. He Made An Alliance In 960, John sent for the aid of King Otto I of Germany. Otto was basically everything that John was not. While Otto had single-handedly united an entire kingdom, John deliberately divided his own people. While Otto shone as a beacon of virtue, John purportedly took offerings left behind by pilgrims in his cathedrals.

Despite the unflattering comparisons, John knew full well that he needed Otto and his men, so when Otto agreed to meet with him, John welcomed him into Rome with open arms. However, the aid came at a cost.

]]> 18. He Was A Kingmaker Shortly before Otto even entered Rome, Berengar met him in the field of battle in 961. The two clashed, and much to John’s delight, Otto won. Otto continued on to Rome, where Pope John XII awaited, in 962. John welcomed Otto with much enthusiasm, so much so that he promised to crown Otto emperor in return for his protection. For John, it should’ve been a brilliant political move, but unfortunately, he made a fatal miscalculation.

]]> 19. He Was Unpopular Otto may have saved them, but the citizens of Rome hated the idea of an outsider being welcomed into their home, and when you considered their history of being invaded over and over again, you couldn’t exactly blame them. This meant that John’s promise to make Otto an emperor probably made John even more unpopular with his people. Otto’s feeling towards John didn’t exactly make things easier either.

]]> 20. The Alliance Was An Uneasy One Otto didn’t trust John at all. During the coronation, he fully expected John to make an attempt on his life, but he needn’t have worried. John proceeded to make a bunch of extravagant promises to Otto: He promised to never touch Otto’s lands, never allow him to fall to injury, and to never provide aid to Berengar or his son, Adalbert. With all that out of the way, John crowned Otto the Holy Roman Emperor.

While this likely infuriated his fellow Romans, John truly believed he just made the deal of the century—for a very simple reason.

]]> 21. He Looked Down On Others You see, John didn’t at all believe that crowning Otto gave him any actual power. The title of “Holy Roman Emperor,” as far as John saw it, was an empty one. As the Pope, John held all the power, and Otto was merely another bodyguard. It didn’t help that John, like his fellow Romans, looked down his nose at Otto’s people, and considered them “barbarians.” John ended up paying a heavy price for underestimating them.

]]> 22. He Sometimes Did His Job John spent the next while strengthening his new alliance with Otto, but apparently, the way he went about it completely bewildered and confused Otto. On one hand, John almost seemed to know what he was doing. He created and ratified the landmark Diploma Ottonianum, which put the responsibility of guaranteeing the independence of the Papal States on the Holy Roman Emperor. On the other hand…

]]> 23. He Aligned Himself With Incompetents John surrounded himself with yes-men and incompetent advisors, leading him to make decisions so baffling that Otto seriously suspected it to be all an act, even when he realized that no, John just really didn’t know what he was doing. As someone much older and experienced than John, Otto tried to become something of a father figure to the younger man, and for a while, John almost turned things around.

]]> 24. He Nearly Turned Things Around On February 12, 962, John convened a synod in Rome at Otto’s urging. During the synod, John did several things that Popes are generally expected to do. He established the Archbishopric of Magdeburg and the Bishopric of Merseburg, and even excommunicated an archbishop who attempted to reclaim his title of Archbishop of Reims. In other words, John actually, for a time, acted like the leader of the Church.

Unfortunately, Otto left two days later, and John very quickly reverted back to his old ways—but this time, he made a decision that led to his doom.

]]> 25. He Broke The Alliance On February 14, 962, Otto left Rome to deal with Berengar, who apparently didn’t learn his lesson and wanted to take another stab at expanding his kingdom. As soon as Otto left, John XII tried to go back to his old partying and womanizing ways, but he just couldn’t relax. John, perhaps after spending so much time with Otto, finally understood just how powerful Otto really was.

When Otto first successfully pushed Berengar out of the Papal States, John made the mind-numbingly terrible decision to betray him.

]]> 26. He Was A Backstabber John’s betrayal was two-fold. First, he sent envoys over to the Magyars (an ethnic group native to present-day Hungary) and to the Byzantine Empire. He hoped to combine his forces with them in order to form a league against Otto. It was already bad enough that John wanted to raise men against his former ally, but it was the second part of his plan to betray Otto that really showed how little John cared about loyalty.

]]> 27. He Went Back On His Word Pope John XII's next move was shocking, even for him. He entered negotiations with Berengar’s son, Adalbert. Yeah, the thing that John promised Otto he would never do? He was totally going to do it. Not only did John completely backstab Otto by speaking with Adalbert, but he also promised Adalbert the title of Holy Roman Emperor, the title he literally just gave to Otto.

Adalbert rightly hesitated, and while negotiations between him and John stalled, the hapless Pope had no idea that his entire plot was unraveling.

]]> 28. They Discovered His Plot Otto soon captured John’s envoys, who spilled the beans about the Pope's plans to turn against the newly-crowned emperor. Otto, unsurprisingly, was completely taken aback by John’s sudden about-face. In a shocking twist, he decided to give John the benefit of the doubt. On top of this, and very luckily for John, Otto was a tad too busy fighting Berengar to turn his men around immediately for Rome.

Instead, Otto sent envoys over to John to set the record straight, and he didn’t like what he discovered at all.

]]> 29. He Let Things Get Worse By the time Otto’s envoys arrived in Rome, John had already managed to let things get worse than ever before. Not only did John XII let the Papal States fall into anarchy, but the number of pilgrims visiting Rome completely dried up. At the time, the money spent by visiting pilgrims was a huge source of revenue for Rome. John’s failure to elevate the sanctity of the Church was, to put it mildly, a huge issue.

The people were ready to revolt, and John XII, as far as the envoys could tell, didn’t even seem to care.

]]> 30. His People Began To Rebel While his people were on the verge of rioting, John gambled, went hunting, and generally partied it up. If John were merely a prince, most people probably wouldn’t have batted an eye at him. But he wasn't a prince. Being the Pope meant that John didn’t have the luxury of acting like a Medieval Roman fratboy. John’s people, now thoroughly tired of his lack of leadership, began to whisper among themselves. Maybe they should let Otto back into Rome, if only to overthrow John.

Otto’s envoys, after gathering all the intel they needed, went back to Otto, and things continued to go downhill.

]]> 31. Otto Pitied Him John’s luck continued to save him from immediate danger. Although he'd thoroughly disappointed Otto, the German emperor didn’t make a move against him—at least, not right away. Instead, he stated, “[John] is only a boy and will soon alter if good men set him an example.” He sent John some “words of admonition,” hoping that John might turn himself around.

And did John do that? Nope! Somehow, he managed to mess up his one chance at redemption.

]]> 32. He Thought He Had All The Power Otto’s words didn’t cause Pope John XII to have a moment of self-reflection. Instead, Otto’s perceived inaction signaled to John XII that Emperor didn’t have the guts or ability to rise up against him. Now, as gleeful as this probably made him, Pope John XII wasn’t a total fool. He realized that he should probably send some envoys over to Otto, if only to head him off until he finalized his alliance with Adalbert. John then proceeded to tell Otto some truly bald-faced lies.

]]> 33. He Was A Total Liar The first thing John told Otto was how sorry he was for the entire misunderstanding (even though he definitely wasn’t, and it definitely wasn't a misunderstanding). Next, he said that he totally changed for the better and was completely reformed thanks to Otto (even though, again, he totally wasn’t), and that he planned on turning the whole situation in Rome around (sure you did, John).

Though John's lies were obvious, Otto may have been able to accept this apology—but John quickly followed up on his apologies with another baffling maneuver.

]]> 34. He Threw His Chances Away After apologizing for his behavior, John proceeded to attack Otto’s character. He accused Otto of failing to fulfill his promise to act in the interest of the Papal States, and of harboring two officials accused of treachery. Otto denied John’s accusations, and in a last-ditch effort to prevent conflict, sent one last envoy to Rome.

The news that came back was not good, and it forced Otto to finally turn his sword on John.

]]> 35. He Crowned A New Emperor By 963, John managed to convince Adalbert to enter Rome for the title of the Holy Roman Empire, and Otto could not ignore this. After achieving a decisive victory over Berengar, Otto turned his men around and marched them straight for John. Well it’s a good thing that John managed to cement that alliance with Adalbert in time, right? Actually, things for John didn’t exactly end up going smoothly.

]]> 36. He Divided His People Rome was generally a divisive place under Pope John XII, but by this point, the division became a lot more literal. Some of the Romans supported Otto, and very much wanted the Emperor to enter the city—these people dug themselves in at Joannispolis, a fortified section of Rome. Meanwhile, John and his supporters took up position in the old Leonine City, another walled section of Rome.

This fracture between his people split John’s defenses, and when Otto’s men arrived to besiege the city, John didn’t last long.

]]> 37. He Was A Coward John XII attempted to put up a defense, appearing in armor to lead his men in a counterattack. John, along with Adalbert, attempted to push Otto’s advance forces across the Tiber River, but were unable to do so before Otto himself approached. When John caught wind of Otto’s impending arrival, he quickly folded like a wet napkin.

He quickly made his escape, but not before committing one last act of blasphemy.

]]> 38. He Plundered The Church As John and Adalbert ran, they made a quick pit-stop at St. Peter’s Basilica and plundered it of the papal treasury and any other treasures they could carry. After grabbing everything they could, the two high-tailed it out of Rome and fled to Tivoli, just in time. Otto arrived in Rome shortly after, and summoned a synod three days later. John was about to be put on trial, and he wasn’t going to like the results.

]]> 39. They Put Him On Trial Several archbishops, bishops, cardinals, and even a single common man testified against John (who, of course, didn’t bother to show up to the trial). They accused John of, well, basically being a terrible Pope. One even testified to John raising a toast to the Devil himself! After confirming their statements on oath, Otto summoned John to Rome, giving him one last chance to clear his name. John took this about as well as you’d expect—as in, he didn’t take it well at all.

]]> 40. He Lost His Title John sent back the following brief, poorly-written, reply: “To all the Bishops—We hear that you wish to make another Pope. If you do I excommunicate you by almighty God and you have no power to ordain no one or celebrate Mass.” Otto’s camp shot back a legendarily snarky reply, calling his grammar “more fitting for a stupid boy than a bishop—we always thought that two negatives make an affirmative.” They then deposed him.

With that, John’s downfall began—and his allies started leaving one by one.

]]> 41. He Lost His Ally Adalbert, sensing the turning of the tides, abandoned John XII to his fate. John, in a mind-numbingly tone-deaf move, basically shrugged his shoulders and went about life as if he didn’t have a very angry emperor breathing down his neck. John was the Pope, after all, and a Roman at that, one of the mightiest people who ever lived. Surely the barbarian Otto was no match for him? And unbelievably, John, to an extent, turned out to be right.

]]> 42. The People Fought For Him Back at Rome, Otto appointed a new pope, named Leo VIII, to take over for Pope John XII. However, as John believed, the people of Rome rose up against the new pope. The Romans did not like the idea of an outsider appointing their officials, and while John may be a terrible pope, at least he was a terrible Roman pope. Despite everything John did, a revolt in support of John erupted in Rome, setting the stage perfectly for his return.

]]> 43. He Made His Return After putting down the rebellions (at a huge, bloody cost), Otto soon left Rome once again, leaving Leo behind with a couple of bodyguards. As soon as Otto left, Pope John XII returned, with a huge company of friends and supporters trailing behind him. Seeing this, Leo high-tailed it out of Rome, basically laying out the welcome mat for John.

John re-entered Rome in February of 964, and he was ready to make some heads roll.

]]> 44. He Couldn't Compete John summoned a synod of his own. He had every intention of laying down the law and making sure that everyone knew who was in charge, but it turned out to be an embarrassing display of his waning power. For the synod deposing John, summoned by Otto, over 100 different members of the Church showed up. John’s synod, in contrast, barely managed to get 30 members. After a rare moment of self-reflection, John, amazingly, decided to let it go. Sort of.

]]> 45. He Let It All Burn Okay, so he did mutilate some of the people who testified against him, but let’s face it, that’s pretty much small potatoes for a guy as messed up as Pope John XII. This time, he managed to confine his anger to a small group of people, instead of lashing out at everyone like he wanted to. With Otto gone and Leo excommunicated, John let everything in Rome go back to the chaos he preferred and carried on like this for the next three months. Then, his life came to a sudden and spectacular end.

]]> 46. His End Was Befitting May 14, 964, marked the last day of John’s life on the earthly plane. How he passed is a bit of a mystery, but according to at least one account, John's life did not end at the hands of an assassin or through political intrigue. No, apparently John’s life ended mid-coitus, either because he suffered a stroke during all the, err, “excitement,” or because an angry husband bludgeoned him in a fit of rage. Either way, the way he left was certainly on-brand for John.

]]> 47. He Suffered From A Grudge Much of what we know about John’s life came from a bishop named Liudprand of Cremona, which kind of throws a wrench into parsing out the truths about John’s time as the Pope. You see, Liudprand had some prior beef with John’s grandmother, Marozia, and as a result, really didn’t like anyone in her family, including Pope John XII.

Having said that, even accounts that are charitable to John declared him as merely an okay prince who really never should have been Pope at all.

]]> 48. He Tried To Fix Everything Before his untimely end, Pope John XII actually made an attempt to reconcile with Otto. Unfortunately, his sudden passing made reconciliation impossible, and this rift continued to plague Otto for the rest of his life. Otto, and later, his son, attempted to bring Rome to heel numerous times throughout their lives, only for the city to rebel against the foreign emperor again and again. Even in death, Pope John XII still managed to be a thorn in Otto’s side.

]]> 49. He Inspired Legends At least one historian claims that Pope John XII inspired the legend of Pope Joan. Joan, according to legend, was a woman who became the Pope for a couple of years throughout the Middle Ages. She apparently got her name from one of John’s mistresses, named Joan, who reportedly influenced John throughout his tenure as the Pope. Why such a legendary figure was named after the mistress of the most infamous pope in history remains a mystery.

]]> 50. He Wasn’t Technically Wrong It’s funny to think that Pope John XII’s actions, at least when it came to the bedroom, weren't technically against the rules, but it’s true. Until the Second Lateran Council of 1139, popes didn’t have to remain celibate, meaning John technically could sleep around if he chose to. However, his excessiveness when it came to women, not to mention the neglect of his duties, made it easy for his political enemies to use his appetites in the bedroom to completely demonize him. So, uh, this is technically a win for John. Yay?

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Sources: 1, 2, 3

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=30702 <![CDATA[Juana Azurduy was the most scandalous woman of the 1800s. If her name isn’t well known today, maybe that’s because of her dark end.]]> 2026-09-04T10:30:00+00:00 2026-09-03T18:55:11+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/juana-azurduy-facts Eli Artman People The Warrior Woman Who Brought Down An Empire Throughout history, certain figures have left their mark in ways that no one else has been able to match. Without question, Juana Azurduy de Padilla is one of them. Azurduy was one of the most influential and successful martial figures in South America’s history, as well as a trailblazer for women and indigenous people’s roles on the battlefield. Whether as commander of large guerilla forces or as leader of an official army division, Azurduy never missed a battle and never backed down. 

]]> 1. Things Were Different When She Was Born Juana Azurduy de Padilla’s life began in 1780 in what was then known as Chuquisaca, Upper Peru. Today, the town’s name is Sucre—and it is the capital city of the nation of Bolivia. The people of Chuquisaca might not have realized anything special had happened that day, but her birth would forever change the course of their history.

]]> 2. She Had A Diverse Family Background Azurduy came from unique origins. Her parents had very different backgrounds, both ethnically and socioeconomically. Her father was a white, Spanish landowner while her mother came from a poor, partially-indigenous family. The locals of Upper Peru in the 1780s called people with mixed ethnicities mestizos.

]]> 3. Her Background Mattered At The Time Now, you might be wondering what difference the ethnicity of Azurduy’s parents makes. Well, even though the origins of someone’s family might not mean much to us today, in those days it meant everything. The Spanish colonial government that existed at the time had a system that divided everyone into different societal castes based on their family lineage. As a result, Azurduy’s background affected many aspects of her life and expected role in society.

But the Spanish would soon learn that putting Juana Azurduy de Padilla in a box was no easy task.

]]> 4. She Suffered Many Losses As A Child There were many challenges in Azurduy’s life, starting with her difficult childhood. Her family suffered multiple tragic losses while she was growing up. First, Azurduy’s older brother passed as a young child. Then, when Azurduy was seven, her mother also passed. It’s hard to imagine the effects that such losses can have on a small child.

]]> 5. She Had A Special Bond With Her Dad The loss of one’s mother at a young age would surely leave a lasting impact on anyone, and Azurduy’s case was no exception. But in addition to the sadness it likely invoked, the loss of her mother also brought about a key component of Azurduy’s upbringing that would affect the person she became forever: Her extremely close relationship with her father.

]]> 6. Her Upbringing Defied Gender Norms Azurduy’s father began to raise her on his own from that point on, and this caught many people’s attention. In a society where strict gender roles were the norm, it was bizarre to see a man teaching his daughter the things he taught Azurduy—things like riding, shooting, and working skills that most girls at the time never learned.

]]> 7. She Got To Know The Locals Azurduy’s connection to the indigenous population of Upper Peru began during the period where her dad was teaching her to work. She spent a great deal of time around the locals while working alongside them on her father's land. This experience definitely planted another seed in Azurduy’s mind, and would shape the hero she'd become.

]]> 8. She Spoke Several Languages Azurduy developed a strong affinity for the local indigenous population. She began to spend a lot of her time around them, and even learned their languages. In addition to Spanish, Azurduy became fluent in both Quechua and Aymara, two languages native to the region where she lived.

]]> 9. She Suffered Another Loss After he had been her close mentor for most of her formative years, Azurduy’s father passed when she was in her early teens. This was a devastating blow to Azurduy and her younger sister. Suddenly, they were both orphans. Even though she was still only a young girl, Azurduy had already endured a tremendous amount of suffering.

But Juana Azurduy de Padilla wasn't about to let something as trivial as the death of her entire family slow her down.

]]> 10. She Moved In With Her Aunt Following their father’s passing, Azurduy and her sister went to live under the care of their aunt. Their father had left them a lot of property, and their aunt was responsible for looking after it until they were old enough to take care of it themselves. These changes would mark the beginning of a new chapter in Azurduy’s life.

]]> 11. People Called Her A Problem Child While living with her aunt, many adults started to view Azurduy in a very negative light. They thought it was inappropriate for a girl to be engaging in traditionally male activities as Azurduy did, and they began to view her as a mischievous and problematic child. This led to a number of efforts to rein in her behavior and change who she was. Bet you can guess how that went...

]]> 12. She Shunned Efforts At Changing Her Azurduy’s aunt hired a tutor as her first attempt to reign in her wild spirit. The tutor was tasked with teaching Azurduy both proper social skills and positive academic habits. Unfortunately for the aunt, Azurduy was not interested. She continued her undesirable behavior—if anything, she only got worse.

]]> 13. She Become A Nun Azurduy developed a rebellious attitude towards her aunt and the efforts to curb her behavior. Eventually, her aunt could no longer handle it all, so she sent the future fighter off to live in a convent and become a nun. This decision marked the beginning of yet another new and crucial chapter in Azurduy's life.

]]> 14. A Legendary Figure From History Inspired Her Another life-changing event took place during Azurduy's days in the convent. When learning about the medieval heroine Joan of Arc, Azurduy became inspired and decided she would dedicate her future to glory on the battlefield. Some of her classmates remembered her stating this intention at the time. Bet they didn't expect her to go out and do something about it—but that's just what she did.

]]> 15. The Convent Kicked Her Out Even though the convent introduced Azurduy to her new hero, she still did not have such a pleasant experience while living there. She frequently misbehaved, rebelled, and got into fights with the nuns who oversaw her. As a result, the institution permanently expelled Azurduy when she was 17 years old. Yeah, coulda seen that coming.

]]> 16. She Saw A Problem And Wanted To Help Solve It After getting kicked out of the convent, Azurduy returned home—and this is when her legend truly started to grow. Upon her return, she got a more intimate view of the indigenous workers' grueling lives. Already imbued with a fighting spirit and an affinity for these people, seeing their hardships sparked a fire in her soul. She felt that something needed to be done to help them once and for all.

]]> 17. She Married A Like-Minded Individual Azurduy soon married Manuel Ascencio Padilla, a neighbor and childhood friend of hers who shared her feelings towards the plight of the indigenous and the idea of revolution on their behalf. He felt so strongly about this issue that he even dropped out of law school to devote himself to the cause. It was a match made in heaven.

]]> 18. She Had A Supportive Spouse Despite the times, Azurduy’s new husband was surprisingly cool with his wife’s many progressive social habits. He supported her pursuit of leadership roles in the revolutionary movement and, unlike many of the adults in her life during childhood, he took no issue with her interest in expanding beyond the horizons of what was acceptable for girls back then.

]]> 19. She Lost Two Sons In the early years of their marriage, before their efforts on the battlefield began, the couple had two sons who would both tragically pass at very young ages. Disease and malnutrition were the main causes of this tragedy. One cannot even begin to imagine what this was like for the young couple to have to go through.

]]> 20. They Had A Major Victory Early On The couple began its military career when it participated in the 1809 Chucisaqua Revolution in Azurduy’s hometown. As soon as this opportunity presented itself, the couple jumped on board and helped to successfully oust the region’s governor. With that, the couple’s revolutionary ways were off to a strong start—but the Spanish weren't about to lie down and let the revolutionaries have their way.

]]> 21. She Spent Time As A Captive As the fighting continued in 1811, Azurduy faced her biggest challenge yet. The enemies took her captive after a fierce battle. The Spanish army barricaded her inside her home and guarded her carefully at all times. It seemed like her story had ended before could even begin—but of course, that's not what happened. Her husband eventually staged a daring rescue, taking out all the Spanish guards and freeing her.

]]> 22. Fleeing The Country Didn’t Stop Her Efforts After escaping to a new region, the couple resumed their efforts at organizing rebellious activities against the ruling powers. Once a fighter, always a fighter! They refused to give up after the experience of being captured, and instead joined an army in Buenos Aires with the intention of fighting their detested rulers from the outside.

]]> 23. They Made Big Plans, But Faced Setbacks Azurduy and her husband never stopped putting their minds to work to find new ways to combat their enemies. They bravely tried to use their new position outside of Upper Peru in an attempt to physically prevent an invasion of the region by Spanish forces. Sadly, though, this effort was unsuccessful and the rebels lost.

]]> 24. Her Enemies Made It Personal Losing the battle was not the only sad result of this episode for Azurduy. The Spanish fighters were not very kind to the rebels that they defeated. They confiscated Azurduy’s property and took her children hostage. Luckily, she and her husband managed to heroically rescue them before fleeing to the mountains to hide out.

]]> 25. She Organized The Masses When General Manuel Belgrano took over a rebel army, Azurduy returned to her fighting ways. She joined his forces and became an extremely successful recruiter for their cause. According to estimates, she recruited a whopping 10,000 fighters to join these ranks, many of whom were indigenous people inspired by Azurduy’s love of their heritage.

]]> 26. She Got A Lot Of Women Involved Azurduy’s recruitment abilities were historic not only because of how many fighters she was able to enlist, but also because of who many of those recruits were. Among her followers was a battalion composed entirely of female fighters. She named them the “Amazonas,” in honor of Greek mythology’s famous Amazons.

This is one of the many reasons that people today consider Azurduy a pioneer of women’s involvement on the battlefield.

]]> 27. The Amazonas Fought Hard These women were fierce fighters, but battle of any kind is no easy task—let alone one against a powerful colonial army. Although the Amazonas managed to capture and control some territories in the mountains, the Royalist enemies eventually broke through. Even then, the Amazonas heroically fought them off until the rebel leaders could flee to safety.

]]> 28. People Trusted Her With Their Lives The indigenous populations trusted Azurduy so deeply that she soon became the leader of the “Loyal Battalions.” As its name suggests, this division of rebel forces had a policy of uncompromising loyalty to whoever was leading it. It consisted almost entirely of indigenous men and women.

]]> 29. She Made Do With Whatever She Had When Azurduy began her role as leader of the Loyal Battalions, she didn’t have a whole lot to work with. Her fighters didn’t have modern weaponry and had to rely on fighting with things like slingshots and wooden spears. Luckily, they also had an unmatchable spirit and belief in their cause, which would prove to more than make up for what they were lacking.

]]> 30. She Fared Better Than Her Male Counterparts Even with their limited equipment, Azurduy and her loyalists managed to beat back some of the Spanish forces during 1813’s Battle of Ayohuma—an incident that was otherwise a major failure and setback for the rebel forces. Azurduy’s ability to outperform some of her fellow rebel leaders on the battlefield definitely caught some attention...

 

 

]]> 31. She Received A Serious Honor Like many others, General Manuel Belgrano found Azurduy’s leadership abilities extremely impressive. In a bold move, he awarded Azurduy his sword as a token of his respect for her—probably one of the first times in history that someone bestowed such a serious military honor onto a woman.

]]> 32. She Changed Her Fighting Style Following this triumphant moment in Azurduy’s career, things took a very different turn. The allies of her rebel forces retreated and Azurduy, along with her husband, adopted a new strategy of guerilla warfare from this point forward. Unfortunately, things were about to get a lot rougher for the Padilla couple…

]]> 33. Her Dedication Was Epic Unlike most military leaders, Azurduy didn’t just command her forces—she also did some of the actual fighting herself. This sometimes made for some interesting moments—such as the time she had to leave the battlefield in the middle of a fight in order to give birth to one of her sons. That’s the stuff of legends!

]]> 34. Nothing Could Distract Her From Her Efforts Fans of Azurduy’s legacy have passed down many legends and stories of her heroism over the years. In one of the greatest such stories, she returned to the battlefield immediately after giving birth to her fourth son and resumed fighting as if it was just a regular day. Now that is true dedication to a cause!

]]> 35. She Got Results, No Matter What But the story gets even better. Not only did Azurduy continue to fight on the very day she had given birth to her son, but legend has it that she also managed to personally capture the flag of the enemy forces after handing them defeat in battle. I guess that new motherly instinct paid off for her!

]]> 36. Her Fortunes Changed For The Better The victories kept coming for Azurduy at this point. She and her Amazonas launched a shocking surprise attack on a group of Spanish forces in March 1816. They defeated them handily and, once again, captured their flag—but this time, that wasn’t all they captured. The team swiped a huge stockpile of serious, modern weapons from the Spanish, completely changing the name of the game.

]]> 37. She Hit Them Where It Hurt That same year, Azurduy and company managed to conquer and take control of the Cerro Rico of Potosi. That name might not ring a bell to you, but rest assured it meant plenty to the people of this region at the time. This spot was the Spanish Empire’s main source of silver in the region. Without control of the mountain, the royalist rulers could not access their primary source of wealth.

 

]]> 38. She Made History In Yet Another Way Following this stretch of one major victory after another for Azurduy, Argentinian General Juan Martin de Pueyrredon granted her an unprecedented honor. In August 1816, he bestowed upon her the formal rank of Lieutenant Colonel. This honor made Azurduy history’s first-ever woman to receive an official military rank. She probably wished 1816 would never end!

]]> 39. The Enemy Wounded Her Unfortunately, luck can change in the blink of an eye, and Azurduy learned that the hard way. Her first stroke of bad luck came during September 1816’s Battle of La Laguna, in which enemy forces shot and injured her. To make matters worse, she was pregnant at the time. Luckily, the shot was not fatal and she managed to recover—but she was far luckier than her husband.

]]> 40. She Suffered Another Personal Tragedy Things went from bad to worse for Azurduy during the Battle of La Laguna. After the enemy shot her, her husband tried to run to her aid to rescue her. In the process of doing so, they shot him too. Once he was down, the Spanish forces took him captive—and they showed no mercy. They beheaded him within a few days of his capture and publicly displayed his head on a pike.

]]> 41. Things Took A Turn For The Worse This sudden change of luck marked a drastic adjustment for Azurduy. She was now pregnant, wounded, widowed, and losing control of her territory. Desperate, she had no choice but to flee the area and spend some time laying low in the nearby region of Salta. Just like that, her whole life and career had been thrown on its head.

]]> 42. She Fought For The Man She Loved Even though Azurduy fled the territory she once controlled, she wasn’t going down without one last fight. She launched an unexpected counterattack on the group she had just retreated from, in order to try and recover the remains of her beloved husband’s body. After a lifetime of fighting alongside one another, how could we expect anything less than this final gesture of true love?

]]> 43. Her Large Following Made A Difference Just because she faced some setbacks did not mean that Azurduy was giving up her fight. She continued to lead her loyal followers into battle whenever an opportunity arose. She managed to win over control of an area on the Argentina-Upper Peru border, which she turned into an independent rebel zone. By this point, she had over 6,000 men serving under her command.

]]> 44. Her Lifelong Dream Finally Came True In 1825, everything for which Azurduy had been fighting for her entire life finally came true. The nation of Bolivia finally declared its independence from Spanish colonial rule. Finally, after such a long absence, Azurduy could at last return to her hometown—the newly renamed Bolivian capital of Sucre. This just goes to show that perseverance does pay off in the long run.

]]> 45. She Had Friends In High Places Azurduy had many fans in the newly independent nation of Bolivia—including the country’s first president and namesake, Simon Bolivar. The legendary figure once remarked: “This country should not be named Bolivia in my honor, but Padilla or Azurduy, because it was them who made it free.” That’s some serious recognition right there!

]]> 46. She Finally Moved On With Her Life Although most of Azurduy’s biological children tragically passed during her fighting years, she adopted an indigenous child as her own in her old age. This adopted child lived a quiet lifestyle with Azurduy and her daughter outside of the public eye. Her new child also helped take care of her when she needed help in her later years.

]]> 47. The Government Betrayed Her Ever since her retirement, Azurduy received a pension from the Bolivian government in honor of her vital service to the nation. Towards the end of Azurduy’s life, however, she suffered a cruel betrayal. New leadership implemented some bureaucratic policies in 1857 which resulted in the cancellation of her pension.

This meant that at the age of 77, the very government she had helped to establish was now turning its back on her and taking away her primary source of income.

]]> 48. Her Life Ended Tragically Despite all she did for her country and its people, the public had largely forgotten about Azurduy in her old age and its gratitude seemed to disappear completely. She passed at the age of 82 after living out her final years in complete poverty. They buried her body in a communal grave, and no one bothered to make a big deal out of the loss of this national hero.

]]> 49. Bolivia Honors Her In Many Ways Beginning about a century after Azurduy’s passing, people rediscovered her and started to appreciate her important role in history. The people of Bolivia have regarded her as a national hero ever since. In addition to the country dedicating an airport, a monument, and an entire province to her memory, they moved her body to a proper individual gravesite where she can be remembered and honored for generations to come.

]]> 50. She Faced A Posthumous Controversy Controversy erupted in 2015 when Buenos Aires, Argentina replaced a statue of Christopher Columbus with a statue of Azurduy. City officials made the decision because they considered Azurduy to be more representative of the region’s indigenous population. Despite the controversy, a lot of people out there are happy to have a monument to this heroic woman in one of South America’s greatest cities.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=31171 <![CDATA[Pamela Harriman was Europe’s most infamous socialite. She lied, schemed, and slept her way to the top—but her story is far more complicated than that.]]> 2026-09-03T10:30:00+00:00 2026-09-02T20:35:41+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-pamela-harriman Sarah Ng People Europe's Most Infamous Courtesan Pamela Harriman was a wealthy country girl with big dreams. During a time when women only dreamed of equal opportunity, Pamela used her refined manners and seductive prowess to woo powerful men in high places. Her ambition was tantamount, and by entertaining romances with famous men, she climbed her way to the very top. She was, in every way, both a masterful businesswoman and a bewitching lover.

]]> 1. She Had Humble Beginnings Pamela Harriman, born Pamela Digby, entered the world on March 20, 1920. Her parents, Edward and Constance, laid their firstborn to rest in an interesting crib—the bottom drawer of a wooden chest. But this simple bedding was but a cozy substitute for the bright nursery that awaited her at Minterne Magna, a large manor and property that promised nothing but a delightful childhood.

Whatever her humble beginnings, Pamela had a larger-than-life path ahead of her.

]]> 2. She Was On Her Own Pamela Harriman got her first taste of travel when she was only 18 months old. Her parents uprooted the entire family and moved to Australia—a land of better tax advantages and exotic fauna. But there was a dark side to it all. In truth, her parents wanted very little to do with their daughter—it was the English way, after all. She made the trip to Australia on a boat with her nanny, completely separate from her parents.

This disconnect paved the way for Pamela’s independent and rebellious nature and made for some interesting milestones along the way.

]]> 3. She Had Interesting Tutors Pamela Harriman learned her first words, not from doting parents, but rather...from a doting parrot. Yes, a chatty white pet parrot taught her to speak, but also instilled in her a love for mimicry that she later used to emulate accents such as Winston Churchill’s. She also learned to ride horses at the tender age of three.

But instead of being taught by her own father, it was the Ashton brothers—her father’s polo-playing friends—who were her main tutors. This passion for horse riding followed her throughout her life.

]]> 4. She Jumped Hurdles By 1924, the Digby family had settled back into their large family home at Minterne, enjoying every comfort of an upper-class existence. It was here, on 1,400 acres of land and countryside, that Pamela had the freedom to hone her talents on horseback and eventually took her riding to the competitive level, performing confidently in shows at the International Olympia.

But despite her idyllic and pampered upbringing, Pamela couldn’t help but feel trapped by the isolation of her home life. She felt destined for something more.

]]> 5. She Had No Real Friends Pamela was undeniably a people person and she hated being alone. This made her all the more resentful of her life at Minterne, where her only real friend was her sister Sheila, if she could even consider Sheila a friend. The two girls barely got along and to Pamela, her sister was the farthest thing from the fun-loving people she wished to surround herself with. The two of them were opposites in every way.

]]> 6. She Dreamt Of Escape Pamela was ambitious and extroverted—she sought the spotlight and thrived in its glow. Unlike her sister, Sheila enjoyed solitude and took to hunting alone in the forest, something Pamela abhorred. At the end of the day, it was Pamela who thought nothing but of escape. To her, the country was mundane and mind-numbingly boring.

She dreamed of the city’s diversions and the company of fascinating people. She wanted to learn, not from the dusty pages of books, but from experience.

]]> 7. She Felt Unaccomplished In 1934, after years of pleading to be sent away to school, the Digbys sent both Pamela and Sheila to a boarding school in Hertfordshire called Downham. After two years studying home economics, she jetted off to Paris for study at a finishing school. Later in her life, Pamela used her time at these institutions to concoct an elaborate lie.

It was one that stretched the truth to better serve her image. She wanted to seem more accomplished than she actually was.

]]> 8. She Was A Liar As an adult, Pamela embellished her educational accomplishments, effectively lying about her qualifications to hide her embarrassment over her meager academics. She called Downham a college and claimed the ‘B’ she received stood for bachelor, hoping that her peers would believe her to be a college graduate. And then there was the Paris finishing school.

She referred to her time there as “post-graduate work at the Sorbonne”—but in fact, there was no record of her ever receiving a degree or diploma. According to a friend—"With Pamela, it’s always hard to find where the truth lies.”

]]> 9. She Was Still A Country Girl When Pamela arrived in Paris, she was still a naive and pampered country girl—bright-eyed, with a head covered in bouncing, red curls. Sheltered by her nannies, she was still more a child than a modern teenager and had difficulty adjusting to the bustle of city life. In addition, she was also completely uneducated when it came to manners of the heart.

With a chaperone attached to her at the hip, there was no possibility for her to meet an eligible young man...but Pamela knew what she wanted, and it was only a matter of time until she got it.

]]> 10. She Went In Blind After Paris, Pamela moved to Munich—but her timing? Not so great. At that point, Munich was the beating heart of Nazi Germany. In 1938, the city served as headquarters for Hitler’s Nationalist Social Party and there were already outward displays of unrest. But Pamela, unphased by the presence of infantrymen in her new city, wasn’t completely anti-German.

In fact, like many others, she hoped to one day meet the Fuhrer in the flesh. Be careful what you wish for…

]]> 11. She Met Him According to Pamela, a mutual friend named Unity Mitford arranged a tête-à-tête between her and the German leader. They met one afternoon over tea at Munich’s Englischer Garten—just a casual cup of tea between a teenage girl and Hitler. But oddly enough, this meeting didn’t make as dramatic an impression on Pamela as one would believe.

In later interviews, her descriptions of this momentous day were surprisingly vague and her account of the Fuhrer's character conveniently cliché. Once again, there was evidence to suspect her honesty...did this meeting even take place?

]]> 12. She Built Her Image Pamela’s interesting anecdote about her meeting no doubt amped up her image later in life when she became more politically active. And while onlookers took her word for it, her inability to name specifics about the dates, times, and happenings can’t help but seem curiously suspicious. Even one of her closest friends—Sarah Baring—had her doubts, saying “Hitler didn’t entertain [British girls] that way.”

And so, Pamela’s time in Munich remains somewhat of a mystery.

]]> 13. She Put The Pedal To The Metal It all began with a green Jaguar, or rather, Pamela’s freedom began with a green Jaguar. In the summer of 1938, she returned to Britain from Europe where the isolation of country living threatened to pin her down once again. A generous gift of a sports car on her 19th birthday ensured that she had free reign to leave Minterne on weekends to pursue gregarious pastimes in London and Leeds.

But of course, this was not exactly what her parents had in mind.

]]> 14. She Was Outrageous If Pamela’s parents thought her rebellious phase had already happened, they were dead wrong. It was just starting. She was completely apathetic to her parent’s concerns. In this way, she took after her great-great-aunt Jane Digby—a courtesan with a penchant for travel, adventure, and seduction. It turned out Pamela was quite the same. She wanted nothing but her independence and owned her beauty.

When she was out on the town, she was a total flirt. In fact, she proudly flaunted her high heels and ample bottom. Bored with the boys her own age, Pamela used her freedom to woo older men—a pursuit that was more than she bargained for.

]]> 15. She Fancied Older Men In 1939, Pamela met a dashing and very rich divorcé named Fulke Warwick. He was 11 years older than her and already had a son. Around this time, Pamela had quite the knack for disappearing and then reappearing, going wherever she wanted when she wanted to. So, it wasn’t much of a surprise that when she disappeared from Leeds castle one weekend. Nobody knew where she had gone.

But of course, when Monday rolled around, the whole sordid story came spilling out.

]]> 16. She Disappeared On the Monday after her disappearance, Pamela promptly returned to Leeds castle, claiming that she had jetted off to Paris with none other than Fulke Warwick. Although they kept separate lodgings, they still spent much of their time together, having fun and dancing into the night. He even gifted her an expensive pair of jade earrings.

Despite this intimacy, nothing truly untoward transpired. That is, they never actually slept together. But no matter the claims of innocence, Pamela’s reputation still hung in the balance.

]]> 17. She Couldn’t Care Less Of course, Pamela didn’t care what others whispered about her. All she cared about was having a good time. Fulke Warwick, on the other hand, cared enough for both of them, and, worried about his own reputation, broke off their brief but memorable fling. But this pleasurable excursion to Paris was just the beginning for Pamela. She had already proved herself reckless and ambitious.

As she set her aims high, she never again gave men her own age a second glance...

]]> 18. She Bet It All It wasn’t all about flirting for Pamela. Her rash behavior also manifested in her gambling, and somehow, no matter the result, she always managed to get her way. One summer she lost a whopping 100 pounds at the track—an equivalent to half a year of her allowance. Instead of having to deal with this blow, she ran to her father, demanding he replace the money she’d lost.

Similarly, on a gambling night in Leeds, she suffered a massive loss during a game of poker with the guys, and instead of paying up, simply cried until they pardoned her debt. One thing was for sure, whether she won or lost, she really knew how to play the cards in her favor…

]]> 19. She Was A Consolation Prize While working at the Foreign Office in London, Pamela met someone with a rather impressive name and family. He was Randolph Churchill, the son of enigmatic leader Winston Churchill. But Randolph was far from Prince Charming. A cloud of desperation hung around him. He always kept one eye on the ladies and the other on his drink.

On the fateful night they met, he was hoping to have dinner with her landlord, Mary Dunne. But when she proved unavailable, he took her suggestion and asked out her guest—Pamela. The rest, as they say, was history.

]]> 20. She Had Standards Randolph was older than Pamela and attractive—two very important assets in her opinion. And though he barely paid her any attention during their first dinner, his status and political confidence in Britain captivated her interest. By the end of the outing, Randolph proved that he too, saw something in Pamela. He asked her out for another dinner.

This time, he wanted a more private affair—instead of a large party he wanted it to be just the two of them. Alone.

]]> 21. She Found Her Golden Ticket After their second outing, and their first real date, Randolph asked Pamela to marry him—but he was hiding a scandalous secret. What Pamela probably didn’t know was that he’d already proposed to eight other women in the weeks prior to meeting her and that he simply needed to find a wife. Either way, Pamela had more practical notions to consider.

More than anything, she wanted to escape the suffocating confines of Minterne and her family, and this marriage glittered promisingly. On all counts, it seemed to be the answer to all her prayers. And so, she went with her instincts…for better or for worse.

]]> 22. She Was Impulsive Pamela said yes to Randolph. On agreeing to marry him, a whole new world opened up to her. It was one with powerful connections, both social and political. She knew that she didn’t love him, but even more enticing than love were the benefits of his station and the places she could go as the wife of a Churchill. They both got what they wanted.

As such, two complete strangers happily entered into an engagement. But not everybody was happy about the announcement...

]]> 23. She Charmed Churchill Pamela’s friends and family vehemently tried to dissuade her from marrying Randolph. They were undoubtedly aware of his rakish reputation. There was, however, one person in particular with not a single worry about their pending union—Winston Churchill. Upon meeting her future father-in-law at his estate, she enjoyed a very warm welcome.

He eased her anxiety and rebuffed her doubts. He told her: ”Nonsense. All you need to be married is champagne, a box of cigars, and a double bed.” But behind the smiles, Churchill concealed a very personal incentive—one that served his own needs over Pamela’s.

]]> 24. She Carried The Torch When it came to getting his son married off, Winston Churchill had ulterior motives. WWII was brewing, and it was the overarching reason for Churchill’s desire for Pamela and Randolph’s hasty marriage. With Randolph bound for duty and headed to the frontlines, there was the imminent risk of not securing an heir for the Churchill name.

Pamela was a beacon of hope. If she bore a son, she’d eliminate these fears. If she failed and Randolph lost his life in battle, the Churchill line would end. And so, Churchill had everything to gain by cultivating a close relationship with Pamela.

]]> 25. She Suffered His Wrath Pamela entered her marriage blindly, but it wasn’t long before she uncovered the dark side of the Churchill family. Firstly, there was her husband’s excessive drinking and fiery temper. During a fit, Randolph was rash and loud—yelling insults, kicking their furniture, and tramping angrily around the house. Publicly, he embarrassed her at dinners.

The drinking made him aggressively argumentative and he’d often storm away and disappear, leaving her alone and humiliated amongst guests. But this was just the tip of the iceberg.

]]> 26. She Couldn’t Keep Up To make matters worse, Randolph was terrible with paying his bills. He accrued debts through extravagant spending. He put everything on tabs, and when Pamela realized the never-ending trickle of invoices, the worry started to settle in. Her husband was spending far more than he could afford. Consistently living on the edge of financial panic, and facing Randolph's indifference, Pamela had no choice but to turn to her powerful in-laws for help.

]]> 27. She Had A Wandering Eye Luckily for the Churchills, Pamela became pregnant and gave birth to a boy on October 10, 1940—another Winston Churchill. But this happy moment had an unexpected side effect. By producing a male heir, she achieved the end goal. Now there was nothing of her marriage left to salvage, and with Randolph’s incessant financial foolishness, the distance between them became a chasm.

When Pamela set eyes on a very attractive American working for Franklin Roosevelt, her loyalty to her husband wavered. But this was only the beginning.

]]> 28. She Cheated Pamela was 21 when she met the dashing Averell Harriman—Roosevelt’s special envoy visiting Britain. Throughout WWII, her husband’s constant absence gave her leave to pursue other men, and Harriman proved quite the prize. Firstly, and most impressively, he was a millionaire. Secondly, he was 30 years older than her. There was just one problem. He was a married man.

Regardless, for the next two years, the two of them carried on a passionate affair. But just because he was a prime candidate didn’t mean he was the only one...

]]> 29. She Wooed Millionaires Although her affair with Harriman didn’t work out, Pamela kept other lovers to satisfy her needs—all of them with generous wallets. She met another millionaire in John Hay Whitney, and then there was also CBS broadcaster, Edward Murrow. She desperately wished for Murrow to leave his wife and marry her. Though he promised her he would, he never did.

Rejection never seemed to phase Pamela—she simply moved on to the next bachelor in line. And as Pamela quickly learned, keeping rich men in her pocket reaped glorious benefits.

]]> 30. They Spoiled Her During WWII, everyone rationed their goods in order to survive. Pamela, accustomed to having every extravagance at her disposal, wasn’t about to stoop to the average citizen’s standards. Whenever she wanted something she simply had to turn to one of her rich lovers and they’d provide for her. They helped upkeep her lavish lifestyle—their money providing Pamela with nylon stockings, make-up, perfume, and high-end meals.

In return, she kept their beds warm and their hearts happy.

]]> 31. She Was An Amazing Lover Pamela soon garnered a “unique” reputation…for being able to please men. She paid attention to their individual needs and set out to completely satisfy them. Simply put, she fulfilled their every desire—their every fantasy. Many referred to her as “the greatest courtesan of the century.” Pamela understood what it was to be a woman in a man’s world, and used seduction to ensnare powerful men.

This earned her a spot next to some of the biggest names of the day.

]]> 32. She Met A Prince Pamela even had an affair with a prince. It was a short-lived fling, but she and Prince Aly Khan—the son of Sultan Aga Khan—made the best of it. During their time together, she allegedly mastered the ability to feign complete interest and absorption while listening to men speak—a red flag perhaps? It became clear that, for both of them, their dalliance was a mere pit-stop on the road to their greatest loves.

For Aly Khan, he went on to meet his future wife, the inimitable Rita Hayworth. For Pamela, it was the fashion icon, Gianni Agnelli.

]]> 33. She Admitted Defeat By December 1945, WWII was over—and it wasn’t the only thing that was ending. It became excruciatingly clear that Pamela’s marriage was done. Her lurid affairs and Randolph’s gambling were the tipping points of an already doomed union. She filed for divorce, claiming that her husband was guilty of deserting her for three years.

When she found release from the shackles of this unhappy business, she dove headfirst into what she described as the happiest period of her entire life. Things were looking up.

]]> 34. She Dated A Playboy In 1948, Pamela met Gianni Agnelli, a wealthy man with impeccable taste who happened to be the heir to the Fiat empire. But that wasn’t all. He was also a well-known playboy. Like her prior boyfriends, Agnelli spoiled her. He not only put her up in a posh New York apartment, but also provided her with a car and chauffeur. When her father visited her, Pamela’s well-doing surprised and impressed him.

He couldn’t quite figure out how she afforded her lifestyle on such a small allowance.

]]> 35. She Was Only A Mistress In return for his generosity, Pamela helped keep Agnelli’s busy life organized. According to one of his friends—”She was an ideal housekeeper for Agnelli, she ran his life perfectly.” She even converted to Catholicism for him, embracing him in every way she could. But despite her greatest efforts, Pamela couldn’t keep Agnelli from straying.

He had no intention of settling down anytime soon, and even if he changed his mind, he’d never choose a divorcée. Pamela had no idea of the disappointment that lay ahead of her.

]]> 36. She Couldn’t Believe Her Eyes In 1952, four years into their affair, Pamela made a disturbing discovery. She walked in on Agnelli with another woman—Anne-Marie d’Estainville. It was a taste of her own medicine…bitter with a bite of betrayal. She complained and stomped her feet, but none of her admonishments changed his behavior. And then, one night, while driving his new mistress home, Agnelli suffered a violent car crash that severely injured his leg.

As luck would have it, there was one special woman eager to pick up the pieces.

]]> 37. She Made A Tough Call With all her tenderness, Pamela rushed to Agnelli’s side and nursed him through a difficult recovery. But this wasn’t the end of their medical surprises. Later on, Pamela made a shocking discovery—she was pregnant. Whether the child was Agnelli’s or not was unconfirmed. Pamela had a difficult choice to make, but in the end, she chose not to keep the baby and underwent an abortion in Switzerland.

This undoubtedly marked the end of the honeymoon phase, as the relationship began fraying around the edges.

]]> 38. She Moved On When Pamela found out that Agnelli had impregnated another woman—a princess no less—she broke off their long-standing affair. It was painfully clear that Agnelli was never going to marry her, and for her next conquest, she reverted to old habits. Next up was—surprise, surprise—another rich married man. But this time, she gained not only financial support, but also an education.

Baron de Rothschild was from a French banking family and had a lot to offer.

]]> 39. She Had A Thing Or Two To Learn During her short but fruitful fling with Baron De Rothschild, Pamela came away with lessons in art history and wine-making. And even though she entertained the company of two other men during this time, she still gave Rothschild a marriage ultimatum. While waiting for his answer, she kept her options open and agreed to go to the theater with someone new.

He was a Broadway producer responsible for some of the greatest musicals of the century…and she was certainly in for a show.

]]> 40. She Seduced A Broadway Producer Leland Hayward met all of Pamela’s usual standards, and gave her access to another alluring world—theater. With bragging rights including having worked on South Pacific and The Sound of Music, Hayward’s power kept Pamela intrigued. She soaked it all in and learned as much as she could about Broadway. Her interest in his life, keen attention span, and undeniable style helped win the producer over.

When her marriage ultimatum with Rothschild fell through, she gave all her love to Hayward.

]]> 41. She Locked Him In Finally, Pamela’s one wish came true. Although he was still married to socialite Slim Hawks, Hayward popped the question to Pamela, promising to divorce his wife. When the papers went through, she became the fifth Mrs. Hayward. For the next 11 years, she played the doting housewife—always a gracious hostess and ready cook.

Life was untroubled and most definitely luxurious, with the couple moving back-and-forth between their home in New York and their Estate in Westchester County. Life was good, but as they say, all good things must come to an end...

]]> 42. She Offended His Kids When Hayward passed on in 1971, Pamela became a widow. But now, with his fortune on the line, those hoping to inherit his wealth stood at attention. Hayward’s children from his first marriage never really warmed up to their stepmother, and upon his passing, the contents of his will ruffled some feathers. He left half of his holdings to his children, leaving Pamela feeling somewhat cheated.

Her unsatisfied attitude toward her share left a sour taste in the mouths of the Hayward children. From then on, they never had a good word to say about her.

]]> 43. She Rekindled An Old Flame After Hayward passed, Pamela didn’t waste a single second. Only a day after the funeral, and with her tears barely dry, she arranged to meet with “the one that got away”—79-year-old Averell Harriman. He too was a recent widower, and now that they were both free to date again—not that marriage ever held them back in the past—they reconnected and rekindled their long-dormant romance.

But what was the takeaway for Pamela? How would this relationship benefit her? After all, when it came to Pamela, there was always a profit to be made.

]]> 44. She Was Opportunistic By going after Harriman, Pamela earned a disturbing new nickname. People called her “The Widow of Opportunity.” Only six months after she lost her husband, Pamela and Harriman tied the knot. With his fortune including a railroad company, an estate in Virginia, and a private jet, Pamela Harriman had a lot to gain. But even more enticing than his assets were his connections.

Harriman’s involvement in the Democratic party dangled in front of her as a VIP pass into his political circles.

]]> 45. She Proved Herself With her new American citizenship in one hand and her husband’s influence in the other, Pamela Harriman dove headfirst into the world of politics. She helped create a fundraising system for the Democrats—a political action committee nicknamed “PamPAC.” In 1980, the National Women’s Democratic Club dubbed her “Woman of the Year.” This initial foothold, and its resulting recognition, was only the beginning of Pamela’s illustrious political career.

]]> 46. She Sold A Picasso When her husband passed on in 1986, Pamela Harriman took control of his $115 million fortune—but of course, there was a caveat. As with her previous marriage, she ran into a sticky situation with his surviving relatives regarding the inheritance. They accused her of making terrible investments and squandering the fortune.

As a result, a civil suit forced her to sell some of her priceless pieces including a Matisse, a Picasso, and a Renoir. But these speedbumps weren’t enough to throw her off track. Pamela had her eyes on the prize.

]]> 47. She Took It Seriously In 1993, Pamela Harriman received a high honor when President Bill Clinton appointed her United States Ambassador to France. All those years spent schmoozing and perfecting her social skills truly paid off, because now she could apply them to matters of utmost importance—questions of N.A.T.O expansion and International Trade.

Over a lifetime, Pamela had transformed from a naive country girl into an experienced woman in politics.

]]> 48. She Was Honored Pamela Harriman spent four years serving as an ambassador until her death in 1997. While enjoying a swim at the Paris Ritz, she suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage. Both the President of France and The US President recognized her contributions. At her funeral, Bill Clinton spoke highly of her public service. But throughout her rather scandalous lifetime, not everybody had kind words for Pamela.

]]> 49. She Neglected Her Son Winston Churchill, Pamela’s only son, claimed that his mother ruined his childhood Christmases because, as he put it, she was “too busy whoring around.” Her first husband, Randolph Churchill, used the same language to describe his wife, and like his own son, used the W-word. But for Pamela, the pros of her chosen lifestyle greatly outweighed the cons.

For a woman of her time, dating and marriage were economic considerations. And so, she always did what she wanted—what she thought was necessary,

]]> 50. She Turned Things Around In 1957, Pamela Harriman desperately sought an invitation to the Embassy reception in Paris, as it was Queen Elizabeth’s first trip to France. But to her dismay, her poor reputation dashed her chances. Cynthia Jebb—the wife of the British ambassador—scoffed at the very idea of Pamela showing her face at the event. She said: “I will not have that tart in the Embassy.” Well, it took years, but Pamela finally showed her. 

Luckily for Pamela, in the decades that followed, her strategic climb to the position of US ambassador proved that a discreditable reputation didn’t end one’s bid for power and respect. Also, she was the first woman to hold the position. You go, Pamela!

 

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=26924 <![CDATA[The Black Prince Left A Legacy Of Utter Brutality—Some Would Say It’s A Blessing He Never Made It To The Throne]]> 2026-09-03T10:30:00+00:00 2026-09-02T20:23:10+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-edward-black-prince Christine Tran People The King Who Never Was Well, his nickname says it all: He was Edward the Black Prince, not Edward the Black King. But despite that spoiler, Edward endures as one of the most (in)famous royal commanders in European history, gaining a record of violent conquests and romantic scandals without ever actually sitting on the throne. Live fast, die young, and leave a sickly corpse to these grim facts about Edward The Black Prince, The King Who Never Was.

]]> 1. He Was Born Into A Maelstrom Being born heir apparent to the English throne pretty much sets you up for a cushy—albeit pressure-ridden—life. But that wasn’t really the case for Edward of Woodstock, AKA the Black Prince. After all, he was born just a few years before the infamous Hundred Years’ War—a conflict in which he’d go on to play a major part.

And it didn’t take long for his family to throw Prince Edward right into the middle of the drama.

]]> 2. They Didn’t Waste Any Time To say that Edward’s childhood was a whirlwind would be an understatement. His father, who’d become King at 14, prepared Edward for a similar trajectory. He tried to arrange a marriage for Edward when the kid was barely out of infancy and made him Earl of one of England’s most powerful kingdoms at the ripe old age of…two.

Edward then became the youngest Duke of Cornwall of all time. But this period wasn’t all plans for the future—a sword hung over Edward the whole time.

]]> 3. He Had To Be On The Run Edward’s early life was, as we’ve established, filled with drama—but during his most vulnerable years, he was also in grave danger. When he was just five, whispers began to spread that France wanted to invade England. As heir to the throne, Edward would be one of the first to go. His father quickly had to come up with an escape plan for the Prince and his sisters.

The threat never materialized, but that would be the first of many brushes with danger for young Edward.

]]> 4. He Was Already Ruling On His Own Edward wasn’t the only one in peril during this time—his father, King Edward III, was walking the thin edge of a blade with France. A major conflict was on one side, and peace on the other. As such, when the King set out for Flanders in 1338, he left Prince Edward as protector of the kingdom for the first time. The boy was just eight! And his father didn’t stop there.

]]> 5. He Had To Face His Own Mortality Edward joined his father on the battlefield for the first time in his teens—but that’s not even the most twisted part. Considering the dangerous situation he was about to get in, he had to prepare his own will at just 15 years old. But despite the fact that Edward’s father spent his entire childhood thrusting the boy into uncomfortable situations, the young Prince took to the battlefield well.

Perhaps a little too well.

]]> 6. He Had A Hidden Talent Shortly after his 16th birthday, Prince Edward went into battle for the first time—and quickly revealed that he had a serious dark side. Edward had a flair for brutality, and on his very first campaign, he left a legendary trail of destruction in the Cotentin area of Normandy.

And this was just what he did on the way to the battle.

]]> 7. He Made A Grave Error At the beginning of the Battle of Crécy in 1346, a still-teenaged Edward said goodbye to his father and took his position at the head of some 2,000 men. As they entered battle and created chaos among the French, Edward went ahead and began to attack the second line. He and his men soon found themselves up against the Count of Alençon—and realized they’d made a terrible mistake.

]]> 8. His Father Refused To Save Him Word spread throughout the battlefield that Prince Edward was in trouble, and it went all the way back to the King. His reaction was utterly chilling. He asked if the Prince was injured, and upon learning that he was not, he refused to send aid to the boy. The King had already made Prince Edward a knight, but that day he claimed that he wanted his son to “win his spurs”—or, at the very least, give his opponents the opportunity to win honorably.

Yeah, he picked chivalry over his own son’s life. And back on Prince Edward’s side of the battlefield? Things were getting serious.

]]> 9. He Almost Didn’t Make It Prince Edward’s father might not have run to come to his aid, but he did have someone he could rely on—Sir Richard FitzSimon, his standard-bearer. FitzSimon quite literally stood over the heir’s battered body and beat back the men who sought to end him until more English forces arrived to help them.

When he met his father again after the battle, the King congratulated him for his efforts. But the next time they saw battle together, the roles would be reversed.

]]> 10. He Came To The Rescue On the first day of 1350, during the battle at Calais, the French forces easily outnumbered King Edward’s unit. Despite some excellent maneuvering, the King found himself in trouble—until the Edward the Black Prince’s forces stormed in. Not only did Prince Edward and his men force the French back, they also captured three leading commanders.

Luck was often on his side—but that wasn’t always a good thing.

]]> 11. He Lost Many Loved Ones When it came to making “an heir and a spare,” Edward’s parents took their duties pretty seriously. He had a whopping 12 siblings—but this was the Middle Ages, and that meant not all of them would make it to adulthood. In 1348, three of his siblings fell victim to the bubonic plague and didn't survive. It’s entirely possible that Edward the Black Prince avoided falling ill thanks to the fact that he was constantly away from home.

Not that he was in any less danger out there on the battlefield…

]]> 12. They Nearly Cornered Him Following his triumph at Calais, Edward took to the seas to face Castilian forces at the Battle of Winchelsea. While it seemed like they had the upper hand, there was one crucial problem. Their ship was so full of leaks that it was in danger of sinking at any minute. Thankfully, the Duke of Lancaster swept in at the last minute to help them.

With Lancaster's aid, Prince Edward and his men managed to board the Spanish ship and throw the Spaniards overboard, just as his own vessel sunk.

]]> 13. He Still Had Time For The Ladies Edward the Black Prince was barely 20, the commander of a large force, and had territories in Chester and Cornwall to maintain. His father had been trying to arrange his marriage since he was a kid, but despite his many commitments, Edward still had time to sow his wild oats. He had a number of mistresses throughout his 20s—and while none led to marriage, they did lead to some, ahem, other things.

]]> 14. He Started Early Edward the Black Prince was prolific on the battlefield…and in the bedroom. Throughout his 20s, he had between two and four illegitimate sons. While little information survives about them, one, Roger Clarendon, managed to rise to historical prominence—but as we’ll later see, he fell more on the side of infamy than anything else.

]]> 15. Things Got Serious In 1356, the King tasked Edward the Black Prince with his most important mission yet. He wanted to restart the conflict with the French—and for his eldest son to lead the first charge into Aquitaine. This time, he wasn’t just acting with his men on one puny ship. He was leading hundreds of ships and thousands of men. It was Edward's biggest challenge yet—but was he up to it?

]]> 16. He Wanted One Thing The King may have had orderly plans for his invasion in mind—but Edward the Black Prince was there to let his greedy side out. Both he and the nobles he was leading were far more interested in plunder and spoils. And anyone who got in his way? Well, they weren’t going to like what he had in store for them.

]]> 17. He Didn’t Like It When He Couldn’t Win When Edward entered an area that the Count of Armagnac was occupying, the count refused to engage him in battle. By now, the prince’s brutal reputation preceded him. With the chivalric code in mind, Edward passed on by—and then went on to burn and pillage each territory he subsequently passed through afterward. And that’s not even the darkest part.

]]> 18. He Laid Waste To Them The people in these areas weren’t used to battle, which made them easy victims for Edward the Black Prince. He and his men slaughtered many men, women, and children in southern France, then robbed whoever was left blind. The damage was so grave that the papal court begged him to consider peace negotiations.

Edward’s reaction was chilling. He basically shrugged his shoulders and said he couldn’t possibly stop without knowing his father’s will. Luckily, the battlefield called, giving the area some reprieve…

]]> 19. He Lost A Friend In 1356, Edward the Black Prince traversed France in order to reach Normandy, where his father had allies. He continued to leave a trail of destruction in his wake, and expected to easily decimate a group of French knights at Romorantin. However, the knights managed to slay one of the Prince’s friends—a move that he was determined to make them regret.

]]> 20. He Was Burning Mad Edward the Black Prince was furious at the loss of his friend—and he decided to get a brutal vengeance. I guess they hadn’t invented the phrase “Revenge is a dish best served cold” yet, because the Prince went straight for heat. He besieged the fort using Greek fire (basically an unstoppable ancient flamethrower) and burned it to the ground.

Overkill? Maybe…

]]> 21. They Outnumbered Him The next time that enemy forces took on Edward the Black Prince, they knew to come prepared. Edward showed up at the Battle of Poitiers with a few thousand men—and he was in for a terrifying surprise. The French king had gathered some 50,000 men to meet him. Edward's men stood no chance. Thus, Edward went from a fearless leader to a helpless pawn in the negotiations for peace.

]]> 22. He Tried To Make A Truce Edward was actually quite generous in the negotiations, saying that he’d give back all the castles and towns he’d taken, release his prisoners, and promise not to go against the French king for seven years. But King John II of France knew what a valuable bargaining chip that the English heir to the throne was. He wanted the Black Prince and 100 of his men as prisoners.

John gave them a day to decide—and it was a serious mistake.

]]> 23. He Moved In Silence Prince Edward’s men spent the day fortifying their position and digging trenches. The next day, they struck. Within a few hours, the English had stolen the upper hand straight out of the French king’s grip. In fact, they even captured him. They declared a truce and carted King John II of France straight back to England.

Prince Edward treated his captive with great honor on the journey, even allowing him to ride a much more stately horse into London. It was just the kind of behavior you’d want to see from a future king…

]]> 24. He Was Desperate Back at home, the people of England celebrated both Prince Edward’s victories and the man himself. He spread the good cheer to the men who’d accompanied him—but all the while, he was hiding a dark secret. All these impressive victories came at a cost, and Edward was broke. And he wasn’t the only one.

]]> 25. He Had A Fatal Flaw Edward and his father had at least one thing in common: They were both bad with money. Financial problems haunted both Edwards their entire lives—an issue partly related to the abnormally huge staffs they employed. Also, Edward III’s expensive project of “get the French throne” put a hole in his wallet that his son never learned to fill.

And despite their victories, things were only going to get more expensive.

]]> 26. He Finally Fell In Love Edward the Black Prince’s romance with Joan “the Fair Maid of Kent” goes down as the stuff of Arthurian legend. She was a beautiful lady with a swarm of other suitors behind her, while he was an athletic and accomplished Prince. However, there was a seriously gruesome side to their romance. They were first cousins once-removed from his father’s side.

Kind of puts a damper on things when your marriage might not be 100% legit—even by their times—due to the consanguinity. And that wasn’t the only problem.

]]> 27. There Was Someone Else In The Way As if the whole “cousins” thing wasn’t enough of an issue, Joan of Kent’s ex-husband was still alive when Edward began to court her. Fortunately, the third wheel got sick and succumbed to his illness by Christmas 1360. Problem solved! Edward wasted little time in pressuring his dad to let him and Joan marry. Less than nine months after her husband’s passing—plus one handy dispensation from the Pope on account of them being close cousins—they tied the knot.

And that wasn't all Edward had going for him...

]]> 28. They Got What They Wanted It turns out that a captured French king makes for a handsome bargaining chip. Having seized John II of France as his POW in 1360, Edward was able to negotiate a peace treaty that was overwhelmingly in his family’s favor. The Treaty of Bretigny essentially gave the English complete control of new French provinces with no pesky interference—all in exchange for the king’s life.

It’s good to be a king’s captor.

]]> 29. He Made A Move In 1362, Edward III granted his son official control of Aquitaine and Gascony. In return for being Prince of these lands, Edward just needed to pay his dad an homage of one ounce of gold a year (we’re sure that’s worth way more after inflation, but don't worry: he could afford it). He sailed off with his bride for his new domain, and everything was going according to the plan.

His people received him with grace…at first. Emphasis on: at first.

]]> 30. He Had A Family Edward the Black Prince and his wife Joan of Kent made themselves right at home in their new domain. She’d brought along the children she’d had with her first husband, and she also fulfilled her duty as the heir’s wife when she gave Prince Edward two sons. Unsurprisingly, they named the first Edward, just like the men who came before him. The second became Richard.

However, despite Edward's riches, only one of his sons would make it to adulthood.

]]> 31. He Went Back Out For More Settle down and enjoy family life…now, does that sound like something Edward the Black Prince would do? He was itching for a reason to get back on the battlefield, and when Peter of Castile lost his throne to his illegitimate brother, Edward found his cause. In exchange, Peter promised Edward that he’d make his son ruler of Galicia. What a deal, right? Well…

]]> 32. His Ally Turned On Him Edward quickly gained the upper hand for Peter—but as they marched across Spain, he began to sniff out a cruel sense of betrayal. They’d spent two years as allies, but Peter had fallen behind on paying his share. With each passing day, he owed Edward more money. Peter told Edward to wait at Valladolid while he went to get funds.

However, money wasn’t going to be his only problem.

]]> 33. They Left Them Out To Die The heat of Spain did not agree with Edward and his men. They spent the summer slowly falling prey to dysentery and other diseases, though dark rumors prevailed that someone was poisoning them. Sure, not a great way to pass the time—but it’s so much worse than it sounds. Some historians estimate that the illnesses took out four out of five of the Prince’s men.

Edward didn’t escape unscathed either. After his time in Spain, illness plagued him for the rest of his life. And on top of that, it really didn’t look like Peter was coming back with that money…

]]> 34. He Retreated Realizing that he wasn’t about to get Peter owed him, Edward beat it back to his domain in Aquitaine while he still had a danger-free path to get there. And when he returned, he didn’t exactly get a warm welcome. After all that he’d done, Edward was desperately unpopular with the French. On top of all the conquering, they’d footed the bill for his time in Spain.

Now that he was back, they were ready to express their anger.

]]> 35. They Turned On Him The free companies, organized bands of mercenaries that roved France at the time, tailed Edward back to Aquitaine. He'd hired them to help fight in Spain—and they wanted their money. Between them, other unpaid bills, and the fact that he’d spent a whole summer sick in Spain, Edward was reaching code-red levels. He began angering nobles left and right, and whole towns began to turn against him by the hundreds.

He warned his father that things were bad, and he was right. In fact, they were about to get so much worse.

]]> 36. He Lost His Closest Friend Finally, England and France declared war once again. The French wanted Aquitaine back from Edward—but the loss of his domain was nothing compared to the personal loss he experienced as the conflict broke out. After a brutal attack and hours spent in agony, Edward’s closest friend and constant ally, Sir John Chandos, succumbed to injuries sustained in battle.

But this time, Edward's response wasn't like the others...

]]> 37. He Wasn’t Quite Himself Normally, Edward the Black Prince would’ve rained down all sorts of brutal vengeance on the forces that took out his friend. But, to add insult to injury, Edward was just too sick to go into battle himself. He still did get some blood on his hands, though. This tension reached its breaking point in 1370, when the city of Limoges rose in rebellion against the Black Prince.

Some say Edward massacred as many as 3,000 people in retaliation, but in fact…

 

]]> 38. They Might Have Fudged The Numbers Historians raise increasingly high eyebrows towards that “3,000 massacred by Edward” figure in the rebellion of Limoges. The huge of casualties in this most infamous chapter of the Black Prince’s life was popularized by a Victorian historian. However, in 2008, another historian suggested that this number could really be as low as 300 casualties in total.

I guess you just had to be there? Either way, it almost looked like Edward was losing his touch.

]]> 39. Loss Tore Him Apart As he retreated, Edward the Black Prince grew even more ill. Soon, he couldn't even ride his horse—but the worst was yet to come. In 1371, shortly after his devastating losses on the battlefield, he returned home and received the news of a horrific loss at home. His eldest son had perished of the bubonic plague at just five years old.

His grief made him even more sick—just a shell of the man who’d once conquered such large swathes of Europe. After a lifetime of fighting, it seemed like maybe the Black Prince just didn't have any fight left.

]]> 40. He Had To Flee Fearing for his life and safety, Edward’s doctor sent him back to England. There, he languished—but when he got back into the politics game, he began to recover, just like a good workaholic does. Unfortunately, the hits kept coming.

]]> 41. He Had To Give His Land Back Prevailing circumstances forced Edward the Black Prince to give up the territories he’d once ruled over in Aquitaine and Gascony. Between that and the passing of his eldest son, it was as if he’d lost everything he’d fought so hard for in the decade before. Did Prince Edward deal with it well? Ahem…not exactly.

]]> 42. He Tried To Rule Without An Iron Fist Edward’s talents on the battlefield did not translate into diplomatic skill. Still, despite some missteps—like gravely insulting an archbishop—he did manage to make some moves, and even atone for some of the damage he’d done. He helped free some residents of Cheshire from a corrupt system. But there may have been a disturbing reason behind this change of heart.

]]> 43. He Knew His Time Had Come It seemed as though Edward was finally turning his attention to ruling the land properly. You know, now that all the conquering was over. But really, it may have all been because he knew that the end was near. Edward was sicker than ever, and by 1376 was sure that he wasn’t going to make it much longer. Edward the Black Prince, England’s most formidable warrior, had likely once believed he’d perish on the battlefield.

But now, it looked like he’d die writhing in agony, suffering a brutal and undignified illness.

]]> 44. He Was The Walking Dead By May of 1376, Edward was incredibly ill. It was so bad that he’d regularly faint. On some occasions when he collapsed, his own staff would suspect that he'd given his last breath, only for him to pop back up to live another day. Finally, on June 8, just a week before his 46th birthday, he succumbed to his illness. The man everyone thought would make a legendary king—never even got the chance.

Of course, he was given a send-off worthy of a fearsome warrior…but lest we forget, he was also the heir to the throne. And that made things complicated.

]]> 45. His Son Was Put In The Line Of Fire King Edward III had survived his eldest son, which put the succession of the throne in question. Prince Edward’s surviving legitimate son, Richard, was next in line for the throne. But at the same time, he was still only a child. The King immediately signed papers putting John of Gaunt, his fourth son (and a Lancastrian) second in line.

Within a year, Edward III would follow his son into the afterlife—creating a chaos that mirrored the one his son had been born into.

]]> 46. He Set Up A Wicked Game Of Thrones In many ways, the dark fate of Edward the Black Prince led to the Wars of the Roses. The battles between his remaining siblings and their offspring for the throne during the reign of Edward’s son, Richard II, were utterly legendary. And Richard wasn’t the only one who found himself in the middle of that hot mess, either…

]]> 47. His Son Was In The Line Of Fire It’s not easy being the illegitimate son of a prince who perished before his time—especially when so many descendants are jockeying for the English throne. No one knew this better than Roger Clarendon, Edward’s son from an affair who was born about 1350. Roger lived peacefully (as far as we know) for years, but after his father’s passing, he suddenly found himself on the radar of the English royal family.

]]> 48. He Suffered A Cruel Fate Roger Clarendon unfortunately wound up paying the price for his father’s sins. In 1402, King Henry IV had him hanged on suspicion that he was a pretender. Was Roger, by then 52, actually in fact trying to take the throne? It’s unclear, but those who rebelled against Henry IV didn’t think so—and that he might have just been another innocent pawn lost in the Wars of the Roses.

If only Edward had known what happened to his children—or what his wife had done after he passed.

]]> 49. She Turned Her Back On Him When the Black Prince perished in 1376, he made sure that his crypt was decorated with stone sculptures featuring his beloved wife’s visage. But soon after, she dealt her husband a heartbreaking betrayal. When she passed, she chose to be buried next to her first husband, Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent. The guy wasn’t even a prince! Ouch.

]]> 50. He Was Really, Really Sick So, what was the brutal illness that eventually took the life of Edward the Black Prince? It might have been anything from the lovely-sounding nephrites to cirrhosis or even edema. But the prevailing theory is a lot more gruesome. Many historians suspect that a long-running case of amoebic dysentery—yup, bad creatures in the ol’ gut—was what took him down.

After that experience in Spain, it makes sense. The fact that he was suffering from serious stomach issues may rationalize his “dark” personality and mood swings, but I hardly think that qualifies as an excuse.

]]> 51. His Nickname Was Fitting There are multiple theories as to why Edward the Black Prince had such an intimidating nickname. For one, there’s another famous Prince Edward taking up space in English history. Some say it was because his bronze armor had taken on a black patina. But many agree that it all had to do with his bad temper and history of utter brutality. When it fits, it fits.

]]> 52. He Wanted To Save His Soul On Edward’s deathbed, his priest begged the dying prince to ask forgiveness not just from God but from all those who he had injured in his life. Although this was a pretty standard thing to do for a dying medieval Christian, it takes on a whole different tone in light of Edward’s barbarous history.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62941 <![CDATA[Tilly Losch Wore Many Wild Hats: Dancer, Actress, Seductress, And Scandal-Maker]]> 2026-09-02T10:55:00+00:00 2026-09-01T14:14:30+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-tilly-losch David O'Shea People Tilly Losch Was An Artist With A Penchant For Scandal There were very few creative areas in which Tilly Losch did not dip her toes during the early 20th century. From ballet to modern dance, from stage to screen, and from choreography to visual arts, Losch was nothing short of a genius. But despite her many talents, perhaps what she was best known for in her day was her insatiable libido, which resulted in many steamy affairs with some of the most powerful men of the era…

]]> 1. She Was European Tilly Losch was born Ottilie Ethel Leopoldine Losch in Vienna on November 15, 1903, her nickname being a shortened version of her first name. Born to Russian émigré parents, her father was but a humble banker, meaning the Losch family did not quite have the stature that would explain Losch’s later high-class contact list. 

But a chance encounter with a nobleman gave this lower-class Jewish girl a shot at the big time.

]]> 2. She Found Her Talent An opportunity fell into Losch’s young lap when she was just six years old: she got a chance to study ballet at the Vienna Opera. The young girl immediately took to the discipline and made her debut at Vienna’s Royal Opera House in a children’s ballet. Her dedication to the craft was evident early on, even if it almost cost her mobility.

]]> 3. She Took A Tumble Tilly Losch would later recall that first performance with amused nostalgia. She recounted her complete surrender to the art of ballet early on, claiming that she had been so focused on her debut performance that she lost herself and fell into the prompter’s box. It would take more than one slip to stop this plucky young ballerina, however.

]]> 4. She Hit The Stage Though still just a child, Losch made her official debut in a 1913 production, when she secured a role in Louis Frappart’s Wiener Walzer, performed on the main stage of the Royal Opera House in Vienna. The talented young protégé dazzled crowds, and she continued upwards from there, one graceful leap at a time.

]]> 5. She Climbed The Ladder The next few years saw a rapid acceleration in the young Losch’s success, and her career entered the stratosphere. She became a member of the Royal Opera House’s esteemed corps de ballet on March 1, 1918, going on to secure the coveted rank of coryphée only three years later, at an impressively young age. Further demonstrating her singular talent, she next took a step up that few ballerinas ever take.

]]> 6. She Got The Spotlight The Royal Opera promoted Tilly Losch to soloist on New Year’s Day of 1924, at just 20 years old, an incredible achievement for a dancer her age and of her social stature. Given the nod directly by ballet master Heinrich Kroeller and Opera co-director Richard Strauss, Tilly made her solo debut as the Chinese Lady Doll in Josef Hassreiter's Die Puppenfee. The big roles just kept coming from there.

]]> 7. She Racked Up Credits Over the next few years, Losch established herself as a marquee act in the Vienna ballet scene, and she became a muse for some of the biggest names of the era. Among the new ballets in which she took on major roles were productions by Kroeller, Georgi Kyaksht, and Nicola Guerra. Critics and audiences alike were stunned by her display.

]]> 8. She Was A Pro Critics fell head over heels with the ballet scene’s humble newcomer and gushed about Losch’s talents throughout their review columns. Her contemporary critics acclaimed Tilly for her “superb grace," “brilliant technique," and recognized that the artistry of her hand and arm movements alone had the power to evoke imagery.

However, it wasn't just her grace that harnessed people's attention.

]]> 9. She Was A Knockout Tilly Losch gained a reputation for her charming personality, but her assets didn’t stop there. Indeed, she was the whole package: talented, personable, and a timeless beauty. Her piercing gaze and full lips infatuated audiences. Men everywhere crumbled at the bat of her eyelashes.

And, whether intentional or not, she wielded this power wherever she went.

]]> 10. She Had Admirers Losch quickly began attracting the attention of almost every man who would come in contact with her, and she wasn’t afraid to use her beauty to her advantage. One suitor would later gush about the spell she held over him, falling for, in his words, her “very Slavic high cheekbones, wonderful green eyes wide apart, and a nose like a little cat’s”. 

Losch was still laser-focused on her career, however, and was not ready to settle down quite yet. She had more mountains to climb.

]]> 11. She Expanded Her Repertoire Showing early signs that one art form could not contain her, Tilly Losch began to explore other areas of dance. Most notably, she took modern dance classes outside the Opera, with prominent teachers, Grete Wiesenthal and Mary Wigman. But even dance quickly grew too limiting for the unstoppable star.

]]> 12. She Crossed Disciplines Losch enjoyed the physicality of dancing but was ever eager to express herself in new and exciting ways. To this end, she began to perform dramatic and movement roles onstage in Viennese theaters, most prominently at the Salzburg Festival. She also performed outside of Austria for the first time—and one production in particular unlocked yet another talent.

]]> 13. She Took Charge In 1924, Tilly Losch secured a role in Max Reinhardt’s Berlin production of the Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Tilly's talents and creative spirit deeply impressed Reinhardt, and during preproduction, he offered her the opportunity to choreograph the entire play. Jumping at the chance, Losch excelled, and her collaboration with Reinhardt inspired her to leave her old life behind entirely.

]]> 14. She Struck Out Once production in Berlin had concluded, Losch returned to Vienna. However, she had gotten a taste of her true passion. Over the next three years, she longed to return to choreography, where she had felt truly free to express herself. Finally, on August 31, 1927, she resigned from the Vienna Opera to resume work with Reinhardt, who promised her more work in Salzburg, Berlin, and even New York City. Thus began their fulfilling collaboration.

But the opportunity to finally spread her creative wings wasn't the only perk.

]]> 15. She Got To Work Losch promptly became Reinhardt’s muse, though the creative relationship was mutually beneficial: he took her on as one of his chief collaborators, and she took the lead as choreographer for two of his most acclaimed productions, Everyman and Danton’s Death. And though they weren’t New York-bound yet, working for Reinhardt meant that she had the chance to travel the world.

]]> 16. She Spread Her Wings Losch’s newfound creative freedom and collaborative relationship opened new doors for her, and before long, she featured in her first performance outside of mainland Europe. In 1928, she made her London debut, starring in a production of Noël Coward's musical revue This Year of Grace. It was a smashing success, and Losch began building an international reputation.

]]> 17. She Stormed The Anglosphere Over the next few years, Losch’s success afforded her opportunities to work in London and, finally, New York, and she moved regularly between the two cities. She was not just dancing; the ambitious young star also got to spread her creative wings further, working as an in-demand choreographer. She became a worldwide sensation and rubbed elbows with Hollywood’s biggest names.

]]> 18. She Danced With The Stars In 1931, Tilly Losch got an invaluable opportunity to perform onstage with two of the era’s biggest stars: Adele and Fred Astaire. She jumped at the chance, of course, and danced in the musical revue The Band Wagon, a huge production staged in New York. Losch held her own admirably alongside the Astaires, and it wasn’t long before further opportunity knocked.

]]> 19. She Started Talking All the while, Reinhardt remained Losch’s greatest advocate. Her talent dazzled him, and he constantly pushed her to expand her repertoire. In particular, the director grew convinced that Losch was an actress-in-waiting, and to that end, cast her in a London production of The Miracle in 1932.

He even rewrote Losch’s part so that she would have the only spoken dialogue in the production, which she recited with great dramatic flair. But while Losch was making a name for herself in the world of performing arts, there were other, less flattering whispers about her too…

]]> 20. She Was A Sugar Baby Losch’s talent could not outrun another unflattering reputation she was gaining. Whispers abounded in New York and London circles, and one biography claimed that the talented young dancer was “ravished by men in power”. It wasn’t long before she became known as a gold digger. And while we should never discount her talent as the most notable thing about her, the rumors may have had some truth to them.

]]> 21. She Wasn’t Fussy Perhaps it was because of her humble origins, or perhaps she just loved having nice things, but Tilly Losch did indeed engage in affairs with rich and powerful men. Her reputation went beyond that, however.

Upper-class folk knew her to be a reliable pursuit for rich and powerful men who were physically unattractive and, thus, unappealing to other pretty young “gold diggers”. Losch, to her credit, was not shallow (when it came to looks, at least), but it wasn’t just money she was getting from these encounters.

]]> 22. She Was A Chaser While Losch was certainly a trophy passed around by wealthy men in London and New York, she wasn’t exactly shy about her intentions. Indeed, she reportedly exuded a magnetic aura herself, barely concealing her appetite for intimacy, which caused rich men to fall head over heels for her. But make no mistake: it was never about love.

]]> 23. She Wasn’t A Romantic Losch was never sentimental, nor overly affectionate with her lovers. Her pursuits of men were purely for financial benefit and pleasure. One biographer opined that she was “incapable of love”. Whether that was true, it certainly seemed like romance was, at the very least, a transactional act for the talented young debutante—even if some of her suitors didn’t see it that way…

]]> 24. She Ensnared A Prime Minister’s Son One of Losch’s many suitors was Randolph Churchill, son of titanic British icon and Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. The younger Churchill was putty in Losch's hands, and he became utterly infatuated—so much so that she became the first woman he ever slept with. After their encounter, Randolph would gush about her for years to come, praising her “boundless sexual capacity”. 

But one man eventually locked Tilly Losch down...at least, for a little while.

]]> 25. She Became A Beard Another figure enchanted by Tilly Losch was Edward James, a poet and patron of surrealist arts. After a brief courtship, James begged Losch to be his wife. She didn’t have to think long and hard about it; James was one of the wealthiest men in England!

There was another factor that played into her decision as well: one of London’s worst-kept secrets was that James had a preference for men. Likely seeing this as a way to continue her promiscuous lifestyle, Losch agreed to marry the poet. She quickly let him know that she knew the score.

]]> 26. She Was Insensitive Despite his preferences, Losch’s new husband's infatuation with her was undeniable—in fact, he was the source of the previously mentioned gushing quote that referred, among other things, to her “nose like a little cat’s”.

On the night of their wedding, the newlyweds took a westbound express train, and her new husband entered Losch’s compartment intending to consummate the marriage. The dancer immediately denied his advances, however, cruelly protesting, “But Edward, my darling, you’re a pansy!” Despite her hurtful remarks, however, James’s love remained passionate.

]]> 27. She Received Gestures James would express his love for Tilly Losch in touching and creative ways. One day, at his Monkton House estate in West Sussex, Losch finished bathing and climbed the spiral staircase, but her feet were still wet. The footprints she left in her wake provided the perfect opportunity for her husband to do the most romantic gesture imaginable. He had a carpet made for the stairs, with her footprints woven into the design.

He threw his money around for her too, of course.

]]> 28. She Got Spoiled In addition to his heartwarming expressions of love, James was also a passionate advocate of Losch’s career and became something of a patron. His most significant act of patronage occurred in 1933 when he founded a ballet company for his wife, named Les Ballets 1933. The troupe performed regularly in London and Paris, with Losch dancing to her heart’s content. 

These acts of love did not stop her infidelity, however, and she even graduated beyond men…

]]> 29. She Batted For The Other Team Losch’s husband commissioned German composer Kurt Weill and writer Bertolt Brecht to come to London and create a production in which his wife could star. This ended up being The Seven Deadly Sins, starring Tilly Losch and singer Lotte Lenya. But Losch repaid his kindness in a scandalous way.

]]> 30. She Had Her Eye On Marlene Dietrich Tilly Losch struck up a tawdry affair with co-star Lotte Lenya. Her encounters with women didn’t stop there, however. She later also engaged in a romantic liaison with none other than superstar actress Marlene Dietrich. But one act of rebellion was, finally, the last straw for the ballerina’s aggrieved husband.

]]> 31. She Went Behind Her Husband’s Back James and Losch did eventually consummate their marriage, and at one point, she even got pregnant. But she had no desire for children. Without telling James, she terminated the pregnancy. His reaction was horrifying. James was so angry when he found out—he cursed his wife as "a dirty swine, a dirty gold digger, filthy vermin".

They didn’t last long after that.

]]> 32. She Got Dumped By 1934, James had had enough, and he filed for divorce from Losch, citing her alleged adultery with Russian-American hotel executive Prince Serge Obolensky as his justification. The shocking story claims that Losch and the Prince made love on top of the Empire State Building half a year into her marriage to James. 

Despite all her adultery, however, Losch’s husband was something of a hypocrite.

]]> 33. Her Husband Was Unfaithful Though he was not shy in accusing Losch of infidelity, James was no monogamous angel himself. Indeed, it appears neither spouse could remain faithful. On their honeymoon in Hawaii, James reportedly had intimate encounters with various beach boys. He seemed to prefer blue-collar type, with one of his favorite paramours being an Italian bus driver. 

During divorce proceedings, Losch tried to use this information to her advantage.

]]> 34. She Clapped Back Attempting to get as much from the divorce proceedings as she could, Losch opted to file a countersuit, claiming that her husband was gay, and she was, thus, entitled to better compensation. The suit failed, however, and after they finalized the divorce, James signaled that he was done with the ballerina forever.

]]> 35. She Got Wiped From Her Ex’s Life After the divorce, James was sickened by a reminder of Losch, the woven footprints on the staircase, permanently etched into his home. He promptly had the staircase moved to West Dean College, where it is still viewable today. Ever the artist, however, James could not let a good idea go to waste. 

He had the staircase carpet replaced with a comparable version, but with one essential tweak. Instead of his ex-wife's footprints, it featured his dog’s footprints. Now newly single, Tilly Losch returned her focus, for a little while, to her career.

]]> 36. She Kept Acting Growing restless within the confines of the world of dance, Losch once again extended her work into drama, taking on much more significant speaking roles. She was, as it turns out, a very talented thespian, and saw massive success and popularity as a stage actress in England. With her signature savviness, she used her new position as a launching pad to greater heights still.

]]> 37. She Hit Stage And Screen With her success onstage, Losch gained enough notoriety to break into Hollywood and launched a relatively successful career on the silver screen. Some of her biggest supporting roles included Limelight, The Garden of Allah, and Duel in the Sun. She never quite broke through to starring roles, however, and, unsatisfied, turned her acting and choreography career toward Broadway instead. 

All this tireless work, however, would soon take its toll.

]]> 38. She Burned Out After years and years of hard grinding, time-consuming affairs, and international travel, Losch began to feel severely despondent and was diagnosed with clinical depression. After burning so brightly for so long, the young starlet felt completely spent, and a restful stay at a medical facility led her to a massive life decision.

]]> 39. She Checked In And Checked Out Following her diagnosis, Losch signed herself in to a sanatorium in Switzerland for some rest, relaxation, and recovery. While there, she thought long and hard about where her life had led her, and upon leaving the sanatorium, came to a shocking decision: she chose to abandon dance forever. 

With her newfound status of semi-retirement, she figured she would finally settle down as well. 

]]> 40. She Hitched Herself To Another Man Around this time, Losch met Henry Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon, and, unsurprisingly, he fell hard for her. The Earl was a rich man, and so, naturally, she agreed to marry him. The quiet ceremony took place in a London register office before it opened for the day on September 1, 1939. Known officially now as the Countess of Carnarvon, Losch's new family through marriage were none too pleased.

]]> 41. She Was Suspected Losch’s new husband, known as Porchy, was a little older than the retired ballerina. The marriage disgusted his family, and they immediately distrusted Losch and her gold-digger reputation that preceded her. In the words of one writer, the Carnarvon family “marveled at how he could ever think to take such a shop-soiled and frankly dangerous woman for his wife”. 

The Earl was no angel himself, however.

]]> 42. Her Husband Was A Pest Losch’s new husband, the Earl of Carnarvon, had a shady reputation himself as something of a deviant. He was an unattractive man who would often sleazily try to ensnare other men’s wives. Many knew him for his obnoxious demeanour at parties, but that wasn't even the worst part.

One of the most off-putting alleged stories was that he had a habit of knocking on the doors of his prospective mistresses “with a certain portion of his anatomy”. Regardless of all this, though, Losch now had access to his resources, and she put them to good and healing use.

]]> 43. She Expressed Some More While recovering from her bout with depression, Losch discovered a new outlet for self-expression in the form of painting. She began experimenting with watercolors, then with oils, and specialized in portraits, first of herself and then later of friends, including one of her former lovers, Lotte Lenya. But as Losch busied herself with harnessing her peace, Europe hurtled in the opposite direction.

]]> 44. She Got Sent Away With the ongoing rise of a certain dictator in Germany, the danger of conflict in Europe was increasing by the day. Losch’s husband, aware of her delicate health, grew concerned for his wife’s well-being in such a stressful environment, and sent her to live in the United States. As with her previous stint in New York, she flourished once again.

]]> 45. She Showed Off Her Talents By 1944, Losch was quite the painter, and her talent was such that a gallery gave her the opportunity to mount her first exhibition in New York City. Like her dancing, acting, and choreography before, her artistic talent dazzled critics, and she began exhibiting around the world, with prominent art collectors purchasing some of her works. 

It was not a complete reinvention of her creativity, however, but rather a synthesis.

]]> 46. She Mixed Media Drawing on her wealth of experience, Losch skillfully implemented visual elements of dance into her painted works. Her art was conscientious of the times as well: she would often place her subjects on backgrounds that called to mind scenes of the devastating ongoing conflict in Europe. She won more and more acclaim as her style developed. Unfortunately, she had a thorn in her side that she had to forcefully remove.

]]> 47. She Tired Of Her Husband By 1947, Losch had grown truly tired of her lecherous husband, and finally managed to divorce him. This empowered her to live the remainder of her days as a traveling artist. Losch lived out the rest of her life in artistic bliss. She commuted between London and New York, painting and exhibiting her works, making a decent living.

Her contentment was evident nowhere more than in the sheer number of years she had post-divorce.

]]> 48. She Lived A Long Life 28 years after her divorce, Losch received a cancer diagnosis and didn’t survive much longer after that. She drew her last breath on Christmas Eve of 1975, at the ripe old age of 72. After an amazing life of promiscuity, creativity, and adventure, many mourners attended her funeral—including one who probably annoyed her beyond the grave.

]]> 49. Her Ex Showed Up Losch’s funeral was a well-attended tribute to the widely respected artist, but unfortunately, she no longer had any control over the guest list. Among the mourners at her memorial was her despised ex-husband, the Earl of Carnarvon. She could rest easily knowing, however, that her estate gave her remains a rest befitting her status.

]]> 50. She Rests Like Royalty Losch’s ashes were interred on the grounds of Leopoldskron Castle in Salzburg, the city where she staged so many great performances. From humble beginnings and lower-class Russian parents, this unassuming Jewish girl rose to titanic heights that earned her a resting place among royalty.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=29441 <![CDATA[Inside The Dark World Of Aleister Crowley]]> 2026-08-31T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-27T19:13:33+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/aleister-crowley A.V. Land People He Was Rich, Reckless, And Really Twisted Many people know Aleister Crowley because of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mr Crowley,” but the song only hints at the bizarre truth. An occultist, magician, writer, painter, mountaineer, and alleged spy, Crowley was a trust-fund Victorian edgelord who courted scandal at every turn. A peek into the life of “The Wickedest Man in the World” reveals a trail of dark rituals, broken lives, addiction, affairs, and a legacy as unsettling as the man himself.

]]> 1. His Nickname Stuck At first glance, Aleister Crowley’s origin story seems too good to be true. Born Edward Alexander Crowley on October 12, 1875, in a posh spa town in Warwickshire, England, he had every advantage money could buy. Even so, the unease started early. Whenever young Alick (as he was called) misbehaved, his intensely religious mother called him “the Beast”—after the monstrous 666 figure from the Book of Revelation.

Curious, he looked up the Bible passage himself. Even then, he started to wonder if his mother was right.

]]> 2. He Loved The Bible It might come as a surprise, but the future “Wickedest Man in the World” loved the Bible and idolized his father, a preacher with the Plymouth Brethren, a conservative Christian movement. After breakfast each morning, the Crowleys and their servants would take turns reading the Scripture aloud. Young Alick became fascinated by the strange names and stories in its pages.

When he turned eight, his father declared it was time for boarding school. Alick soon discovered that home had been the easy part.

]]> 3. He Was The Kind Of Boy Headmasters Dreamed Of Nothing builds character like a Victorian boarding school—and Aleister Crowley fit right in. The boys’ days were packed with prayers, sermons, Bible readings, and ceremonies. Even cricket came with a catch: there was no scorekeeping to avoid the “sin of emulation”. Surprisingly, Crowley loved it. He excelled in class, made close friends, and even dreamed of following in his father’s footsteps.

Then, just as his world seemed settled, in the middle of the spring term of 1886, everything changed.

]]> 4. His Childhood Crumbled Crowley was 11 when he was suddenly pulled out of boarding school with devastating news: His father, Edward, the preacher whose sermons had filled his childhood, had been diagnosed with tongue cancer. For a man whose life revolved around his voice, it was a pretty cruel twist of fate. Instead of having it immediately removed by Queen Victoria’s surgeon, Edward began seeing Count Cesare Mattei, the inventor of electrohomeopathy.

Although doctors were optimistic, Crowley couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

]]> 5. His Happy Days Were Over Back at boarding school, young Alick tried to get on with life, but there was one problem. As the months passed, he couldn’t stop worrying about his father. Then came the dream. One night, Crowley jolted awake after dreaming that his father had lost his battle with cancer. The next day, the boy learned that Edward had passed. Crowley had lost his father, his hero, his friend, and the center of his world.

The nightmare didn’t end when he woke up. In many ways it was only beginning.

]]> 6. He Was A Little Boy Lost Losing his father also made young Aleister Crowley rich. At just 11 years old, he inherited what would be worth millions today, but all the money in the world couldn’t buy back the one person he missed. While his mother struggled through what Crowley later called the “hysteria of widowhood,” the boy unraveled. The model student who had once dreamed of becoming a preacher became a regular in the headmaster’s office.

In a Victorian evangelical boarding school, that was a very scary place to be.

]]> 7. He Had No One To Save Him The one person who had always protected Crowley was gone. His father’s final piece of advice before boarding school had been chillingly simple: “Never let anyone touch you there”. Now whenever Alick ended up in the headmaster’s office, the punishment was almost as unsettling. With the boy lying over the headmaster’s lap, the man would hit him “on the legs, because flogging the buttocks excites the victim’s sensuality!”

Too bad the canings weren’t the worst form of punishment waiting for Crowley.

]]> 8. He Stayed Silent When Crowley's uncle visited the school, he took one look at the boy’s pale face and gaunt frame and knew something was terribly wrong. But when he asked questions,  young Alick insisted everything was fine. His uncle confronted the headmaster and even sent the boy to speak with a judge. Crowley still didn’t snitch.

The terrified boy thought that if he complained, his mother or uncle would get locked up. So, they sent him back to school.

]]> 9. He Came This Close Crowley managed to keep the truth hidden—until he came home for Christmas looking so sick that even his grieving mother couldn’t ignore it. She questioned her son until he finally spilled the tea: Crowley was being punished for refusing to confess to an offense he hadn’t committed. He hadn’t even been told what it was he was being accused of. His punishment? Isolation, with nothing but bread and water.

His mother promised to take care of it. Spoiler: She made it so much worse.

]]> 10. He Walked Into A Trap After telling the truth about what was happening at school, Crowley thought that help was coming. Boy, was he wrong. His mother told him they were visiting his uncle for the holiday, but when they arrived, there was a horrifying surprise waiting: the headmaster was there. When Crowley saw him, his blood ran cold.

For the whole visit, the terrified boy hid in the corner and didn’t utter a word.

]]> 11. His Nightmare Was Never-Ending Like a horrific version of Groundhog Day, Aleister Crowley again returned to the place he feared most. Finally, during a visit, his uncle saw the truth and didn’t back down. He confronted the headmaster and pulled Crowley out of school. Soon afterward, the school closed, but by then, the damage had been done. Crowley's doctor diagnosed him with a lethal kidney disease and said he might not survive to adulthood.

]]> 12. He Went On The Trip Of A Lifetime For wealthy Victorians, a “rest cure” was what most of us call a dream vacation. After surviving kidney disease, Crowley came down with whooping cough at age 15 and was sent to a seaside resort on the English Riviera to recover. His tutor and chaperone was James Douglas, a 25-year-old philosophy teacher—and let’s just say he gave Crowley an education he wouldn’t find in any classroom.

]]> 13. His Chaperone Failed (Or Succeeded?) Douglas was supposed to keep young Alick out of trouble on the trip. Instead, he blew open everything Crowley had been taught about pleasure. He smoked, drank, played cards, and, most shockingly of all, didn’t think women were sinful temptations. Then, on a sunny afternoon in a field, Crowley lost his virginity with a local girl—and it was glorious. After a childhood spent being warned about the evils of pleasure, this was revolutionary.

Crowley later wrote that Douglas “taught him sense and manhood”. His next act definitely did not involve the former.

]]> 14. He Crossed A Line Apparently, getting lucky was good medicine. Aleister Crowley was no longer a sickly boy who might not reach adulthood. Now he was a handsome, square-jawed guy with penetrating eyes and a newly acquired lust for life. He decided to put it to use by flirting with the family’s new parlor maid, and she flirted back. One Sunday, he made an excuse to skip church and instead seduced her—on his mother’s bed.

As enjoyable as it was, for Crowley it was also symbolic. He’d just given a big middle finger to his mother and the harsh religious rules he’d grown up with. And he had only just begun.

]]> 15. He Took A Big Bite Out Of Uni Life We all know that university changes people (Hello, freshman 15!), but Crowley went in as Alick and came out as Aleister. The boy for whom books other than the Bible were forbidden was now a man with a massive trust fund, devouring literature, writing poetry, climbing mountains, and even considering becoming a professional chess player.

With all of this newfound freedom came a busy—and increasingly dangerous—romantic life.

]]> 16. He Went Wild At university, Crowley was making up for lost time in the romance department. His new name came with a new wardrobe: silk shirts, bow ties, and a floppy hat, which must have been irresistible to the ladies—and if it wasn’t, he’d pay them for their company. Unfortunately, one of those encounters left him with syphilis. It didn’t slow him down, though.

On an 1896 trip to Stockholm, Crowley crossed yet another line.

]]> 17. He Was Plowing Through All The Taboos As creative as he was, Aleister Crowley was not the first poet to compare the big O to a mystical experience. In verse, he called it “joining the Order of the Temple,” but in reality, on New Year’s Eve in Stockholm, he had a secret intimate encounter with a man, which was against the law at the time. Herbert Charles Pollitt was a fellow trust-fund kid who also happened to be a female impersonator performing under the stage name Diane de Rougy.

For all its enchantment, the relationship was not perfect. As Crowley later wrote, “I was determined to make my dreams come true; and he represented eternal dissatisfaction”.

]]> 18. He Was Terrified Of Being Forgotten Some rich men put their names on buildings to live forever. Crowley decided to master the dark arts. In 1897, while in Russia, an illness sent 22-year-old Crowley into an existential spiral. He began wondering what the point was of becoming a diplomat or great poet if everyone eventually forgot about you. Even Shakespeare and Homer, he reasoned, would ultimately be forgotten.

So, Crowley didn’t claim to receive a mysterious voice from beyond. He simply decided he needed a form of power that couldn’t be destroyed by time. His answer? Magic.

]]> 19. His Trajectory Was Wild So, here’s a resume: Aleister Crowley abandoned his budding diplomatic career, dropped out of Cambridge, immersed himself in the occult, published some decidedly mid poetry (including White Stains, a collection of dirty verses—eek), and kept mountaineering around the globe. He also joined a secret society, moved into a luxury London flat, and invited another member to move in as his personal magic tutor.

Then things got weird.

]]> 20. He Let His Freak Flag Fly With unlimited funds, a luxury flat, and no one to tell him no, Crowley, in his 20s, was able to truly unleash “the Beast”. His new live-in magic coach, Allan Bennett, introduced him to the ritual use of substances. And with such a wide range, including chloroform, morphine, coke, opium, and ether, it’s no wonder they saw spirits. Crowley fearlessly experimented, convinced he could unlock his mind and communicate with the spirit world.

Then there was the decor.

]]> 21. His Flat Was Scary Do you want the house tour? Located in the heart of bustling London, this luxurious residence featured not one but two temple rooms: The white temple boasted six enormous mirrors (48 square feet each!), ideal for deflecting evil forces. The black temple room contained a human skeleton. Both rooms included a magic circle and a pentagram on the floor—perfect for rituals!

Bonus feature: The tenant had kept the skeleton on a diet of blood and sparrows in the hope that it would come back to life. Updates still pending.

]]> 22. He Had An Outrageous Alter Ego When it came to his new occult obsession, Aleister Crowley wasn’t exactly out of the closet. To keep things on the DL, he went undercover. At his first meeting of the Golden Dawn, he arrived wearing a fake mustache, speaking in an exaggerated Russian accent, and introducing himself as the “Count Vladimir Svareff”.

The Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn was a secret society that claimed its members could communicate with angels and unlock ancient magic—and for a hot minute Crowley fit right in. Then things got messy.

]]> 23. He Had Major Beef With A Literary Legend Crowley may have been whip smart and had extra help from Allan Bennett, but when it came to the Golden Dawn, he wasn’t exactly Mr Popularity. One of his biggest haters was renowned poet WB Yeats. Yeats, who considered Crowley an “unspeakable degenerate” due to his bedroom activities and libertine lifestyle, helped convince the other members to reject Crowley’s initiation into Second Order.

Let’s just say Crowley didn’t take it well.

]]> 24. He Wanted Payback For a secret society of mysterious Victorian occultists, the members of the Golden Dawn were more like a group chat full of pettiness, gossip, and feuds. After his rejection, Aleister Crowley fled to Paris and convinced the group’s founder to back him in a power struggle. Furious and armed with magic tips, he returned to London determined to seize control of the Blythe Road headquarters.

Crowley showed up in full Highland regalia: kilt, cloak, and dagger, wearing…a black mask. The members barricaded themselves inside and called the authorities. The whole thing was a spectacular anticlimax—and Crowley lost the court battle that followed.

]]> 25. He Bought A Haunted House Oh, and if you’re wondering about the kilt, Aleister Crowley had entered his Scottish laird era, complete with a haunted manor on the shore of Loch Ness. Even before he bought it, Boleskine House had a sinister reputation. Locals believed it to be haunted by the severed head of Simon Fraser, executed in 1747. The house was also built on the site of a church that burned down with everyone inside.

It was the perfect isolated spot where Crowley could perform a complicated and notoriously demanding ritual. What could go wrong?

]]> 26. He Couldn’t Put The Toothpaste Back In The Tube Summoning your guardian angel is not an activity for the time-pressed. Crowley needed six months of preparation, isolation, and discipline (no booze, total celibacy) to perform the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. Too bad that, right in the middle of the process, he had to suddenly leave for Paris and London for his Golden Dawn “showdown”.

Legend has it that Crowley left the ritual unfinished—and the demons he had summoned were still hanging around. The strange and tragic events that followed would certainly back that up.

]]> 27. His Demons Didn’t Leave Boleskine’s reputation kept getting darker—and more tragic. Crowley’s estate keeper, Hugh Gillies, lost his 10-year-old daughter when she suddenly perished at school. A year later, his 15-month-old son passed after suffering from convulsions in his mother’s arms. Decades later, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who was also fascinated by Crowley, bought the house.

Page’s groundskeeper, a paranormal skeptic, later described one event at the house as “the most terrifying night of my life,” adding “whatever was there was pure evil”.

]]> 28. He Found An Unexpected Muse Never one to do things in the normal way, Crowley’s marriage was, ahem, unconventional. He offered to marry his friend’s sister, Rose Edith Kelly, to save her from an arranged marriage. Like any good rom-com, the union ended up turning into real love—and then something much stranger. The pair explored carnal rituals and tantric practices, sure (no kink shaming here), but it was something else that made their honeymoon unforgettable.

]]> 29. His Honeymoon Was Insta-Worthy (At First) Aleister Crowley took his new bride on a honeymoon that would make most travel influencers jealous, with stops in Italy, Egypt, India, and China. In Egypt, he arranged a private dinner in the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza. After sending the servants away, he lit candles, cracked open an ancient spellbook, and started summoning spirits.

Next stop on the itinerary: big game hunting in Ceylon. Then, the now-pregnant Rose and Crowley decided to rent a flat in Cairo. That’s when Rose started acting very strangely.

]]> 30. His Wife Blew His Mind One evening in their Cairo flat, Crowley was trying to show Rose some air spirits when she suddenly started muttering, “They are waiting for you”. Staring vacantly, she started naming specific Egyptian gods despite never having studied Egyptian mythology. Crowley assumed it was morning sickness or, ahem, a hangover. Then he started testing her—and she got every question right.

Over the next three days, he recorded everything Rose said while in her trance. The result was The Book of Law, the foundation of the religion Crowley would call Thelema. Its core tenet? Do what thou wilt…yeah, you can tell this isn’t gonna end well.

]]> 31. His Feud Turned Fatal Crowley liked his hobbies the way he liked everything else in his life: extreme. He was a world-class mountaineer who, unfortunately, let his ego get in the way during a 1905 expedition on Kangchenjunga with fatal results. When four members of his climbing party were buried by an avalanche after Crowley had been quarreling with them, Crowley refused to leave his tent to dig them out—even though he could hear their screams from camp.

“A mountain ‘accident’ of this sort is one of the things for which I have no sympathy whatever,” he later wrote. While Crowley was scaling mountains, disaster was brewing on the home front.

]]> 32. He Was Hands Off Crowley may have called himself a “proud Papa,” but he wasn’t going to let fatherhood interfere with his busy life of occultism, mountain climbing, and globe-trotting. While his infant daughter with Rose, Nuit (full name: Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith but nicknamed “Little Nut”), was battling typhoid fever in Burma, Crowley was off doing Crowley things.

He had abandoned his pregnant wife and baby Nuit in the Far East and then literally headed in the opposite direction. What happened next would leave Rose devastated—and destroy their marriage.

]]> 33. His Family Was Unravelling Baby Nuit did not survive the typhoid fever. Both Rose and Crowley were devastated—but they dealt with their grief in very different ways. Rose coped by drinking heavily, even while pregnant with their second child. Instead of getting her help, Crowley threw himself back into magic and, oh, you know, creating his own new religion. Somehow, though, he found time for a mistress.

]]> 34. He Was Shameless Adam Levine may have considered naming his baby after his mistress, but Aleister Crowley actually went there. In early 1906, Rose gave birth to their second daughter, Lola Zaza. Because of Rose’s drinking, the baby was tiny and frail, and so inactive that they weren’t sure if she was alive. At just a few weeks old, she nearly succumbed to bronchitis. It was hardly a joyous beginning.

Eventually, Crowley had Rose committed to an asylum for drinking-related dementia. He believed she had failed her spiritual mission—and suddenly found himself free to pursue his “spiritual” (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) interests.

]]> 35. He Really Unleashed The Beast Credit where credit is due, even with his inheritance running out, Crowley was not short on charisma—or audacity. He managed to take over the German secret society, Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), and replace its Masonic rituals with his own Thelemic practices. Among them? Cakes made of bodily fluids, including menstrual blood (or if that was not available, blood from a child, priest, or goat would do.)

And yes, it gets even more salacious...

]]> 36. His Rituals Went Off The Rails What was it? His charm? Copious amounts of substances? Whatever the explanation, by his thirties, Crowley had pushed his occult practices into increasingly extreme territory. For one, he was bringing goats into the bedroom to do more than collect their blood. He was a pioneer of what he called sex magick, and his elaborate rituals and sacrifices were all part of his quest for enlightenment.

Then in 1914, he took his experiments to Paris with the poet Victor Neuburg. But what could have happened during those six weeks that was so intense that it drove Neuburg to a nervous breakdown? Gird your loins and pull up a chair.

]]> 37. His Experiments Were Grueling In Paris, Crowley’s bedroom really was where the magick happened—but that wasn’t the half of it. For six weeks, he and Neuburg used the act of love as ground zero for their body-punishing rituals. Picture it: New Year's Eve, Crowley is the bottom as they try to time their pleasure for midnight, all while very high and chanting in Latin in an attempt to summon Egyptian deities. Rinse and repeat for six weeks.

Crowley was convinced it worked when random checks started arriving in the mail, and even his health improved. Too bad the entities also had a warning for them.

]]> 38. He Was A Madman On A Mission During the Paris rituals, the spirits also delivered a bizarre warning: Crowley’s magical experiments were unleashing dark forces that would spread worldwide. A few months later, WWI broke out, and to Crowley that was no coincidence. He sailed to New York, staged a bizarre declaration of Irish Independence near the Statue of Liberty, and started writing outrageous pro-German propaganda.

Crowley later claimed he was deliberately making the German cause look ridiculous—and historians have found evidence that he might have had connections to British Intelligence.

]]> 39. He Went Full Commune Crowley’s next chapter almost sounds quaint: He rented a farmhouse in Sicily where he wrote, painted, and lived communally while he and a handful of devoted Thelema followers frolicked under the Italian sun. Plot twist: Life at the Abbey of Thelema quickly turned sinister. It’s not a surprise, really, when you know that Crowley’s guiding philosophy was “Do what thou wilt”.

He brought along his latest “Scarlet Woman,” Leah Hirsig, and the couple’s new baby, Poupée. Crowley called it “my idea of heaven”—it was the total opposite.

]]> 40. His Utopia Suddenly Became A Dystopia Life at the Abbey may have seemed like heaven to Aleister Crowley, but to be fair, he was out of his mind on serious substances to the point where the inside of his nose was eroding. Apparently, “Do what thou wilt” extended to housework, because nobody wanted to clean and the place soon became filthy. Threesomes turned into bitter rivalries. Wild animals roamed around, and so did the children who would often witness all kinds of adult rituals.

Whatever Crowley thought he was building, it was hardly the ideal place to raise a child. And then the unthinkable happened.

]]> 41. His Spells Couldn’t Save Her The anything-goes Abbey had already fallen into squalor, but it was about to get much worse. Crowley’s daughter Poupée had been ill when she arrived, and the unsanitary conditions and goat’s milk they fed her likely didn’t help. When doctors in Palermo couldn’t help, Crowley tried magic but was too distraught. Leah took the baby to the hospital and returned to the Abbey alone.

It was all too much. Leah, who was also pregnant, suffered a miscarriage. As heartbroken as Crowley was, it didn’t do anything to rein in his lifestyle.

]]> 42. He Took It Too Far You’d think an Oxford grad would have known better than to move into Crowley’s occult commune. Alas, Raoul Loveday and his wife, Betty May, soon discovered that Thelema’s spiritual enlightenment came with some very real dangers. During one ritual, Loveday drank the blood of a sacrificed cat. Instead of leveling up his spiritual powers as he had hoped, he soon got something else entirely.

]]> 43. His Commune Claimed More Lives The cause of Loveday’s demise wasn’t exactly tabloid material, but somehow that’s where the story eventually ended up. Despite Crowley’s warnings about drinking the local water, Loveday, who had been sickly his entire life, contracted a liver infection after drinking from a dirty stream while on a hike. As the doctors did what they could, Crowley turned to astrology.

He calculated that Loveday would meet his end on February 16 at 4:00 pm—and that’s exactly what happened. A grief-stricken Betty returned to London with a new mission: burn Crowley’s reputation to the ground.

]]> 44. He Was In The Line Of Fire Most people would be horrified to see their secret rituals splashed across the London tabloids. Aleister Crowley, naturally, was thrilled. After Betty May returned to London and exposed the Abbey’s shocking conditions, the tabloids dubbed Crowley “The Wickedest Man in the World” and “a man we’d like to hang”. Instead of being ashamed, Crowley wore his newfound notoriety like a badge of honor.

And you know what’s rich? Dictator Benito Mussolini was so disgusted, he had Crowley exiled.

]]> 45. He Entered An Abyss Crowley had broken every other taboo, so why not the age gap? By 1930, he and his 19-year-old lover that he’d nicknamed “Monster” were traveling the world on a budget and writing about it to make some cash. When she got fed up with his bizarre bedroom rituals, she left him in Portugal. He was so distraught, he wanted to depart this world—in the end, he staged his own demise at a sea cave named Boca de Inferno, the Devil's Mouth.

The tabloids went into another frenzy. And then he popped up in Berlin—at his own art show.

]]> 46. He Went From Führer Fan To Hater The paintings didn’t exactly fly off the walls at Crowley’s Berlin art exhibition, and he ended up storing them at his friend Martha Kuntzel’s place. Kuntzel considered the German dictator her “Magical Son” and hoped to convert him to Thelema. At first Crowley was intrigued, but as Germany pounded Britain, he changed his tune, calling the Führer a black magician and saying he was too “fond of monkeys” to compare any German to one.

Eventually the monkeys had the last laugh—they seized and destroyed Crowley’s paintings.

]]> 47. He Created A Masterpiece Remember Crowley’s very first existential crisis, when he chose magic because he feared that even Shakespeare would eventually be forgotten? By the late 1930s, he was about to create one of his most ambitious projects. Broke, aging, and relying on friends for financial support, he teamed up with artist Lady Frieda Harris to create the Thoth Tarot. The pair spent five years working on the deck of 78 lavishly illustrated cards.

It showed that despite all of the darkness, even the Beast could make something beautiful-ish.

]]> 48. He Was The Occult Forrest Gump It’s kinda crazy how, just like the unlikely movie hero, Aleister Crowley had an uncanny knack for running into some of history’s most famous figures. He feuded with poet WB Yeats, rubbed shoulders with Dracula author Bram Stoker, sat for sculptor Auguste Rodin, crossed paths with Aldous Huxley and Roald Dahl, got ousted by Mussolini, influenced L Ron Hubbard—and eventually landed on the cover of a Beatles album.

Despite all of the legends in his life, Crowley’s final chapter was much less glamorous.

]]> 49. He Had One Last Trick Up His Sleeve Oh, how the mighty had fallen. By the time he was 72, Crowley was seriously ill and living in a boarding house. On December 1, 1947, his body finally gave out from myocardial degeneration, complicated by chronic bronchitis and addiction. At the moment he passed, a witness reported a sudden peal of thunder shook the room, and a gust of wind blew the curtains everywhere.

When his attending doctor perished less than 24 hours later, the press exploded with rumors that Crowley had cast one final curse from behind the grave. He may have shuffled off his mortal coil, but he wasn’t done causing trouble.

]]> 50. He Became Immortal…Just Not How He Imagined After Crowley’s final bow, the absurdity continued. Of course, the tabloids went wild, branding his funeral a “Black Mass”. His ashes were then shipped to a disciple in New Jersey and carelessly scattered under a pine tree in a suburban backyard. For all his money, charm and magic, the one thing Aleister Crowley couldn't conjure was where he would end up.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=27491 <![CDATA[Italy’s Most Scandalous Duchess]]> 2026-08-28T10:30:00+00:00 2026-08-27T15:29:27+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-hortense-mancini Alicia B. People Poor Little Rich Girl Hortense Mancini’s story, of a child bride trapped by a monster, would’ve been a footnote in history books. Until she fought back and ran away. Hortense spent the rest of her life running from her insane husband, having royal affairs, and causing scandals. She proved that well-behaved women rarely make history.

]]> 1. She Was Privileged Hortense was born into the House of Mancini in 1646. Her parents, Baron Lorenzo Mancini and Girolama Mazzarini, had five daughters and three sons. The big happy family had everything—but soon lost it all. Tragedy struck and Lorenzo passed. This changed four-year-old Hortense’s life forever. Girolama had to make a huge decision.

]]> 2. She Was Uprooted Girolama then uprooted the rest of the family from Rome to Paris. But it wasn’t a change in scenery she was after. Cardinal Mazarin was King Louis XIV’s chief minister—and her brother. His influence, money, and connections would be catnip to suitors for her girls. Mazarin already had his work cut out for him, but his mission got even more complicated.

]]> 3. She Went Husband Hunting Two is a party, three is a crowd, and seven is a circus. Two Martinozzi cousins soon joined the five Mancini sisters. Everyone moved to Paris with the same marriage-minded intentions. Seven girls, one matchmaking uncle. But they were hardly taking advantage of him. Mazarin had a master plan, and his nieces were the pawns.

]]> 4. She Was A Pawn Mazarin was strong, but not invincible—he had too many controversies, enemies, and foreignness for that. So Mazarin schemed to establish himself in France through marriages into its greatest families. But he was part of the clergy, and couldn’t have his own kids. So Mazarin encouraged his extended family to join him in the lion’s den. Sorry, I meant the French royal court.

]]> 5. She Became The Talk Of The Town Before the Kardashians, we had Mazarin’s nieces. The girls even got the nickname “the Mazarinettes”. Gossipers loved keeping up with the Mazarinettes. Cattiness was nothing new when it came to young girls in high society, but this family had it even worse. They were outsiders—and the French could tell just by looking at them.

]]> 6. She Was Unique Looking The Mazarinettes couldn’t blend in even if they wanted to. The beauty ideal in France was pale skin and full figures. The Mazarinettes, with their darker complexions and thinner frames, were far from it. Many found their differences beautiful. But others didn’t, and didn’t hold back. This includes comparing their features to everything from owls, cabbages, and chimneys. It gets worse.

]]> 7. She Was Hated Being related to—and depending on—Cardinal Mazarin was a blessing and a curse. The Mazarinettes reaped the benefits when he was doing well. But they paid the price when he wasn’t. His haters often mentioned his nieces when criticizing him. It got even worse when the Fronde, a series of civil wars, broke out in 1648. The opposition went after King Louis XIV and his right-hand man Mazarin. Uh oh. 

]]> 8. She Was Exiled Mazarin had to flee Paris and go into exile. Twice. In 1654, they crushed the revolts and restored Mazarin to power. Mazarin knew what he had to do. One by one, he married his nieces off to men from important French and Italian families. A minor Italian noble scooping up all those eligible men scandalized many. Hortense was one of the last unmarried Mazarinettes—but she was special to Mazarin.

]]> 9. She Was Rebellious Hortense was Mazarin’s favorite—and he showed it. She was the most beautiful Mazarinette…and the most badly behaved. Hortense was so spoiled that she even threw Mazarin’s gold coins out of his palace windows for fun. He wanted good matches for all of his nieces, but the best for Hortense. Ironically, this led to the worst outcome for her.

]]> 10. She Was Proposed To Charles II of England, King Louis XIV’s first cousin, proposed to Hortense in 1659. She was a 13-year-old girl. He was a 29-year-old exiled king. Charles knew that her and Mazarin’s resources could help him out. Charles promised to make Hortense the Queen of England if his exile ended. But that was a huge if. Mazarin, figuring his favorite niece could do better, turned him down. It was the biggest mistake.

]]> 11. She Was Rejected Months later, Charles was restored as King of England. Mazarin rushed to do damage control. This time, the Mancinis were proposing to Charles. Mazarin even included an insane 5 million-livre dowry. But it was too little too late: Charles now had a wounded ego, and his pick of wives. The King of England may have been Hortense’s most prestigious suitor, but he wasn’t the last.

]]> 12. She Had More Suitors Charles Emannuel II also proposed to Hortense. He was another one of Louis’ first cousins, the Duke of Savoy, and 15 years her senior. Charles Emanunuel wasn’t a king, but he’d do. The negotiations began. But they ended when he demanded a special castle as part of Hortense’s dowry. Mazarin refused to include it, so that was another suitor down. Their time was running out. 

]]> 13. She Still Couldn’t Find A Husband The Duke of Lorraine also proposed, but negotiations also fell apart over her dowry. Hortense had plenty of suitors, but no actual fiance. Then Cardinal Mazarin got sick. And sicker. He didn’t have much time left. But Mazarin, even on his deathbed, was determined to give Hortense the best life and the best husband. Mazarin decided to give Hortense, and by extension her future husband, most of his fortune. Jackpot.

]]> 14. She Got Engaged In 1661, a dying Mazarin finally secured Hortense a match. Turns out, Armand Charles de la Porte de La Meilleraye, had been there all along. He'd wanted to marry Hortense for years. But Mazarin, figuring that Hortense could do better, kept rejecting him. Now Mazarin knew he didn’t have much time left, and had a change of heart.

]]> 15. She Married The Wrong Guy Armand’s own father had a bad feeling about his obsession, and sounded the alarm. Mazarin didn’t listen, and he didn’t see the red flags. Instead, Mazarin saw a responsible 29-year-old who would be responsible about his 15-year-old wife and his inheritance. Mazarin had no idea that he’d cursed Hortense to an unhappily ever after. 

]]> 16. She Had A Crazy Husband Armand was as crazy as he was rich. He claimed God’s messenger spoke to him in dreams. Armand forced everyone to live as miserably as him. This included having the front teeth of his female servants’ teeth knocked out to make them less attractive, and firing servants who seemed to be too well-liked by his wife. The things he did to Hortense were even worse.

]]> 17. She Was Controlled Armand felt like he owned Hortense, and acted like it. He isolated her from everyone. He forced her to spend a quarter of her day praying. He sold off her valuables. He barged into her room in the middle of the night to search for lovers. But Armand was so focused on Hortense cheating on him with men that he left a loophole.

]]> 18. She Had A Lover This led to Hortense taking Sidonie de Courcelles as a lover. They had a lot in common: age, gender, and marital status. They enjoyed their affair until Armand and Sidonie’s husband found out. The men didn’t take it well. They forced their child brides into the same convent as punishment. They thought this was the perfect punishment—but it backfired.

]]> 19. She Was Locked Up The punishment turned out to be a win-win situation. The girls got to escape their husbands and spend more time together. Hortense and Sidonie turned the convent into their playground. They spiked the Holy Water with ink, flooded the nuns’ beds, and even tried escaping through the chimney. The poor nuns had enough. Hortense, against her wishes, had to return to Armand.

]]> 20. She Tried Escaping Years passed as Armand mistreated her, and blew through Cardinal Mazarin’s fortune. Hortense tried escaping a few times, but she ended up locked up and in a worse situation. Her friends and family encouraged her to leave. They knew Armand’s depravity was only going to get worse. Hortense tried to get a separation legally, but got bad news.

]]> 21. She Was Trapped Hortense had no way out—at least legally. Her marriage contract turned out to be too complicated (thanks, Mazarin) and King Louis didn’t want to get involved. But after seven years and four kids, Hortense snapped. Then she plotted. On June 13, 1668, Hortense, disguised as a man, fled in the middle of the night. She left her kids behind. But freedom turned out to be messy.

]]> 22. She Struggled Hortense went from riches to rags. She could only sneak out things like jewels. But Armand, suspecting she’d do this, already sold many of them. What one of Europe’s wealthiest women turned into shocked her friends. Hortense was on the run, and unable to pay for necessities. They compared her to “heroines in a novel”. And her journey still wasn’t over.

]]> 23. She Went On The Run Hortense ended up in Rome, where her sister Marie lived. But her refuge didn’t last long. Turns out, Marie was also in a miserable marriage that she’d end up running from. Hortense had always been rebellious, but now everyone knew it and was talking about it. Hortense and Marie’s names even became generic terms for women fleeing their husbands. With Armand hunting her down, Hortense was in danger.

]]> 24. She Was Protected If Armand dragged Hortense back, she might never be heard from again. Louis’ change of heart came in time. The King declared himself her protector, and gave her a pension. But Louis also encouraged her to return to Armand. Hortense knew she couldn’t depend on him alone. Louis protected her, but he wasn’t her protector. Then one of her former suitors jumped in.

]]> 25. She Had Protectors Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy joined the fray. Years before, he was Hortense’s suitor and almost husband. Now, he was her protector. Hortense moved into one of his chateaus after four years on the run. The 26-year-old felt like she could finally relax. Now it was time to tackle an issue that had loomed over Hortense the entire time: her reputation.

]]> 26. She Told Her Truth Much had been said about Hortense—but little came from her. So she got to writing. Her memoir was the first time a French woman, who wasn’t a royal, had published her life story under her own name. And the first time one exposed her husband. Hortense ended her book with a happy ending: “I have finally found the peace I had been seeking fruitlessly for so long”. But she spoke too soon.

]]> 27. She Was Unwanted Hortense thought her peace would last forever under Charles-Emmanuel’s protection. The Duke wasn’t around much, but resentment always was—especially from his wife Jeanne-Baptiste. Hortense and her crew clashed with everyone. Her servants even got into a brawl with the servants of the local elite at a carnival. Charles-Emmanuel demanded they apologize to Hortense. That made it worse.

]]> 28. She Was Kicked Out The drama made Hortense realize this couldn’t be her forever home. But the end came sooner than anyone expected when Charles-Emmanuel perished from a suspected poisoning. Jeanne-Baptiste wasted no time and kicked Hortense out. To make matters worse, Armand managed to freeze all her income, including her pension. Hortense became desperate.

]]> 29. She Was Recruited Others sensed the now-29-year-old’s desperation and pounced. Ralph Montagu, the English ambassador to France, wanted to get closer to King Charles II. He figured the best way to do it was through the King’s heart (or pants)—and with the woman Charles II once proposed to. He instructed Hortense to work her way in, and replace his current mistress. She decided to give it a shot.

]]> 30. She Was Devious In 1675, she travelled to London under false pretenses. Hortense told everyone that she was just visiting her niece Mary of Modena, who’d just married the King’s brother James II. But she had a secret mission, and a trick to be unforgettable. Hortense liked cross-dressing, and made sure she wore men’s clothing when she and Charles II reunited. Hook, line, and sinker.

]]> 31. She Was A Plant It was mission accomplished by mid-1676. Charles II’s main mistress was Louise de Kerouaille, a French woman with a good girl reputation. But even kings can’t resist the bad girl. Hortense took over the court and Charles II’s affections, just as Louise herself had done. The King broke Louise’s heart and replaced her—but the ex-mistress got the last laugh.

]]> 32. She Was A Weird Mistress Hortense wasn’t like most royal mistresses. She refused to address the King as “majesty”, but he didn’t mind. And he didn’t just not mind her crossdressing—he loved it, just as they both loved drinking, partying, horse riding, and fencing. Charles gave Hortense a generous pension that set her up for life. He was surprisingly tolerant with Hortense. But when he gave her an inch, she took a mile. 

]]> 33. She Had A Bad Reputation Hortense, unsatisfied with only Charles as a lover, found more. She became known for her promiscuity, and got some nasty nicknames. But the King didn't care that she was independent and free-spirited. Well, he didn't until Hortense had an affair with Anne, Countess of Sussex. It wasn't because Anne was a girl. Or because she was 14. Turns out, he had a secret connection with Anne.

]]> 34. She Had A Mistress Yes, the mistress had a mistress—who happened to be the King’s illegitimate daughter, and the wife of an Earl. Hortense and Anne’s romance led to them having a playful fencing match in St James Park. In their nightgowns. In full view of everyone. Anne refused to return to her husband, so he had to drag her away from London. She lost her mind trapped in the countryside.

]]> 35. She Was Separated Anne’s husband dragged her away from London to a country estate. Anne was so heartbroken that she didn’t do anything but lay in bed and kiss a mini portrait of her ex-lover. Hortense coped by taking on Louis I de Grimaldi, the Prince of Monaco, as her lover. Charles figured it wasn’t serious…until she began flaunting Louis.

]]> 36. She Was Estranged Charles hit Hortense where it hurt the most: her wallet. He refused to pay her pension. Everyone thought she’d have to go back to France and Armand. The King gave in after a few days, but the damage was already done. Charles and Hortense would always be friends, but she’d never be his favorite mistress ever again. The King poured more salt on the wound, and brought Louise de Kerouaille back. And Hortense’s situation was about to get even more uncertain.

]]> 37. She Was Blindsided In 1685, Charles unexpectedly passed. Lucky for Hortense, James and Mary were his successors. They took over, and continued taking care of Hortense. But this didn’t last. Three years later, they got deposed, fled England, and were exiled in France. When William III and Mary II took over, Hortense found herself at their mercy.

]]> 38. She Was Weakened The new rulers weren’t so generous with an ex-mistress from two kings ago. Hortense got to stay, but with a greatly reduced pension. And with both her protectors six feet under, Hortense was socially and financially weakened. Of course that’s when Armand came out of the woodwork again. He was like a shark smelling blood in the water, and now was the time to bite.

]]> 39. She Was Ambushed Hortense’s husband took her to court in 1689. He demanded she return to France with him. The judge ruled in his favor and ordered Hortense to go back. This was her worst case scenario, so she refused to give up. Her team argued that Hortense legally couldn’t travel until she paid off her English debts. And she had a lot of them. Armand fought back.

]]> 40. She Fought Back Armand refused to accept not only Hortense’s defence, but her debts. His team argued that these debts were invalid because he never gave her permission to take them. Armand was still her husband, at least on paper, after all. Hortense and Armand reached a stalemate. But Hortense won in the most important way: she never ended up going back to him. And she made the most of it.

]]> 41. She Was Groundbreaking Hortense hosted one of the most illustrious salons in 17th century Europe. She became one of the original influencers. When people at her salon read, drank, ate, or wore something, others followed suit. From gambling to academic debates, her salon had it all. It was one of the few places where women enjoyed the economic and intellectual freedoms as men. But it wasn’t immune to scandal.

]]> 42. She Had Crazy Admirers Everything went wrong when Hortense’s nephew visited her in the winter of 1684-1685. Philippe de Soissons became infatuated with his 39-year-old aunt. He challenged one of her admirers, a Swedish baron, to a duel. Philippe won the duel—at the cost of the man’s life. He fled the country. He left behind a mourning aunt, and an even more strained family. Then Hortense made things so much worse.

]]> 43. She Had A Boy Toy Hortense got a taste of her own medicine. She took on Arnold Joost van Keppel, Earl of Albemarle, a man 20 years younger, as a lover. But they weren’t exclusive—at least on Arnold’s end. He was also the rumored lover of King William III. Hortense seemed fine with these things. Until Arnold allegedly began an affair with Marie-Charlotte, Marquise de Richelie—and Hortense’s daughter. Oh dear.

]]> 44. She Was A Bad Mom Like mother, like daughter. Marie-Anne’s husband and dad banished her to a convent. She jumped its walls to chase the same freedom her mom had pursued and abandoned her for—only for Hortense to betray her over a boy toy. She didn’t care that Marie-Anne was her daughter. Hortense responded in the worst possible way: with jealousy, fury, and vengeance. 

]]> 45. She Had Vices Hortense pulled strings with the King to send Marie-Anne out of the country. She didn’t want to compete with or share Arnold with her daughter. But karma came quick when Arnold chased after Marie-Anne instead. This heartbreak and drama contributed to Hortense’s heavy drinking. Hortense, now past the point of no return, only had tragedy waiting for her.

]]> 46. She Passed In 1699, Hortense passed. She was 53. Many believe this wasn’t an accident or natural end. Hortense allegedly drank a concoction of substances that were well known to end one’s life. It was the end of a drama-filled life… well, it should've been. Except Armand outlived Hortense and was still deranged. Turns out, he’d gotten even crazier.

]]> 47. She Was Sold One of Hortense’s creditors refused to write off her debts, and claimed her body as collateral. Armand, jumping at the opportunity to claim Hortense in every way, bought her body. Armand had already done countless awful things to her while she was alive. But the things he did to Hortense after her death took the cake.

]]> 48. She Was Disrespected She wasn’t even alive, but still couldn’t catch a break. Armand dragged Hortense back to France where he unlocked new peaks of insanity. He travelled back and forth between his various properties…with her body. For almost a year. Armand finally laid Hortense to rest next to Cardinal Mazarin—but he wasn’t done with her yet. Poor Hortense.

]]> 49. She’s Not At Peace Armand refused to leave Hortense alone—and not even the end of his life could stop him. When Armand passed in 1713, he was laid next to Hortense. It looked like she was stuck with him forever. Then the French Revolution broke out. Revolutionaries ended up throwing their bones into the Seine River. Instead of resting in peace, Hortense is now resting in pieces.

]]> 50. She Lived A Crazy Life Hortense wrote in her memoir: “If the events that I have to recount to you seem like something out of a novel, blame it on my unhappy fate rather than my inclination”. She knew her life was crazy, but that it wasn’t her fault. Well…mostly. If Hortense accepted her fate, she might’ve just been remembered as the Mazarinette who married some rich guy, moved to a country house, and disappeared. Instead, Hortense made noise—and history. 

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, , 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, , 22

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=32263 <![CDATA[Socialite Brooke Astor lived to be 105—but her glittering world came to a dark end long before that.]]> 2026-08-27T15:05:04+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-brooke-astor Byron Fast People The Star-Crossed Socialite Brooke Astor lived the kind of life that many people dream of. She had multiple homes, cars with drivers, and servants who catered to her every need. Brooke, however, made one mistake that would lead her to a life of squalor, fear, and danger. What was her mistake? She neglected to give her only son "enough" attention. When this spurned child reached adulthood, nothing could stop him from wreaking his brutal revenge.

]]> 1. She Got Around Brooke Astor was actually born Roberta Brooke Russell on March 30, 1902 in New Hampshire. Her father was the 16th commandant of the Marine Corps and that meant moving around—a lot. Bobby, as they called her, had residences in quite a variety of places including Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and China. All this moving around kept Brooke on the lookout for some much needed stability in her life.

When she met her first husband, she thought she’d found it—boy was she wrong.

]]> 2. She Wanted Stability At the tender age of 17, Brooke got married. The groom was John Dryden Kuser, who was the son of a very wealthy family. Unfortunately, Kuser did not bring with him a wealth of kindness. Kuser had a reputation for his drinking, womanizing and physical mistreatment of Brooke—he also played daily $2,000 games of golf.

Brooke later called her first marriage some of the worst years of her life. There was, however, a silver lining.

]]> 3. He Was A Ray Of Hope After being in this difficult marriage for five years, Brooke, now 22, received the news that she was pregnant. But this came with a dark side. The pregnancy did nothing to improve her marriage, and Kuser—reportedly convinced the child wasn't his—broke Brooke’s jaw six months into her pregnancy.

However, Brooke still clung onto her unborn child as something to live for, and in May of 1924, she gave birth to a son, Tony Dryden Kuser.  While this may sound like a ray of hope, we’ll soon see that this child would be nothing but a world of trouble for poor Brooke Astor.

]]> 4. She Got Out By 1930—11 years into her horrible marriage—Brooke filed for, and received, a divorce from Kuser. She then gave herself a reward for surviving: a lover. This was the over-the-top handsome British film, TV, and radio star Brian Aherne. Brooke must have been on top of the world to be canoodling with a man who would go on to play King Arthur—not once but twice. This was definitely fun for Brooke, but was he marriage material?

]]> 5. She Neglected Her Son Dating a handsome actor had its benefits, but Brooke had much different plans for herself in mind. For marriage, she chose to go with someone with actual money: Charles Henry Marshall, a senior partner in an investment firm. Brooke said that it wasn’t just about the cash, though, and that she truly loved Marshall. There was, however, one problem.

Marshall was not overly fond of her son Tony. Marshall had children of his own that kept him busy, and they seemed to take a lot of Brooke’s time as well. Sadly, Tony began to feel neglected by both his mother and stepfather. Even though Tony was still a child, he would remember this rejection for the rest of his life.

]]> 6. She Was Finally Proud Brooke’s son Tony was getting harder and harder to handle. His grades were poor and he was openly hostile to authority figures—especially his mother. Even though Brooke's new husband refused to adopt him, Tony took his name anyway. He was now Tony Marshall and, in search of some attention, he signed up to fight in WWII.

Brooke seemed to finally be proud of him, but for a startling reason: He got shot in the leg while he was fighting at Iwo Jima. Tony finally had his mother’s attention, but fate was about to rip them apart again.

]]> 7. She Had A Need In 1952, Brooke’s husband suddenly passed. Not only was Brooke now lacking the love of her life, she was also lacking something else: an income. Sure, she’d contributed to Vogue magazine and been the features editor at House & Garden—salaries that would have satisfied an average person. But Brooke was used to the high life. No one could expect her to earn the kind of money it took to keep her happy.

A "real" job was out of the question, So Brooke developed a new plan.

]]> 8. She Received A Bizarre Offer Instead of working, Brooke knew she needed to find another man. She found one in the strangest place. American socialite Minnie Cushing was desperately wanting a divorce from her husband, William Vincent Astor, but there was a bizarre caveat: He wouldn’t divorce her unless she found him a new wife. Cushing almost immediately thought of Brooke.

Of course, Vincent Astor reputedly had a bad temper, a problem with drink, and was basically psychotic. Sounds like a real charmer!

]]> 9. Sparks Flew With A Scion Brooke didn’t quite know what to make of Astor, but others thought they’d be a perfect match. Some careful schemers managed to get the two sitting opposite each other at a dinner party and sparks flew—at least they flew for Astor. One thing that Astor had to his credit was oodles of money; his father had not survived the Titanic’s first and only crossing and left his fortune to his son.

But was money all Brooke was looking for? Before she could marry him, she needed to know more.

]]> 10. She Missed Her Son's Milestone At this fateful dinner party, Astor asked Brooke to accompany him to his pool house at the family’s Ferncliff estate. Brooke saw this as a means to find out more about this very rich—but potentially horrible—husband. But even this came with a high cost. She only had one thing on her calendar stopping her from going to Ferncliff: her son's birthday party.

Of course, Tony was only turning 35, so she could skip it guilt-free. This was just one more insult to her son that would eventually lead them both down a dark path.

]]> 11. She Received A Proposal Whatever happened between Brooke and Astor at the pool house remains a mystery. What we do know is that a few days later, Brooke had a proposal on her hands. After receiving a few rather convincing love letters, Brooke agreed to the match. But what about all his bad points?

Brooke had had experience with a difficult husband, and now she was older and wiser. She used her charm, sense of humor, and a ton of patience to deal with her new husband’s vices. There was one problem she couldn’t fix, however, and maybe you can guess what—or who—that problem was.

]]> 12. Her Husband Rejected Her Son Like Brooke’s previous husband, Astor wanted little to do with Brooke’s son Tony Marshall. In fact, he wouldn’t let Tony take the Astor name. By this time, Tony was an adult and had children of his own. Ironically, Astor really liked Tony's twin boys—born in 1953—and saw them as the children he never had. Poor Tony, he just couldn’t get a break.

Well, all this heartache was becoming a powder keg. One that would soon explode.

]]> 13. She Struck It Rich By 1959, Vincent Astor had passed and once again Brooke was a widow. Fortunately for her, this time she wasn’t broke—far from it. Vincent Astor’s passing left Brooke a very rich woman. The Vincent Astor Trust had a value of $60 million. She got that, but there was more.

There was also the Vincent Astor Foundation—also valued at $60 million—at her disposal. Of course, the foundation money was for various charitable endeavors, and Brooke was excited to get involved in any way she could. It did not go as planned.

]]> 14. She Wanted In Not everyone actually wanted Brooke to be involved in the fund. Both the Astor Trust and the Astor Foundation had people who took care of them. Astor had been pretty hands-off in recent years—but Brooke Astor wanted to be hands-on. When she made her desire known, one of the many men running things told her to take a trip around the world. In other words, to get lost.

However, Brooke wouldn't give up. She wanted in and she needed help getting there.

]]> 15. She Had To Fight Brooke turned to her director, Linda Gillies, and together the two women worked on taking the power away from the men who were running the show of the Astor gold mine. With not just a little hard work, Brooke soon became a star in the New York world of philanthropy. Once more, however, this was a double-edged sword.

In reality, Brooke was in over her head with the many charities she had to deal with. She was busy and, once again, she neglected her son Tony. She was one step closer to her dark fate.

]]> 16. She Had To Fight Getting a hold of the Vincent Astor Foundation was one thing, next she had to make sure the Vincent Astor Trust remained hers. When Astor passed, Brooke assumed that money was simply hers—as that was her late husband’s wish. There were, however, a few unhappy relatives who thought they deserved something from the estate. Brooke was in for a huge fight just to keep what was hers.

]]> 17. She Was Convincing The first to take up fighting Brooke’s fortune was Vincent Astor’s half-brother, Jack, who was born after the tragic sinking of the Titanic that had ended their patriarch’s life. According to Jack, he had just as much a right to the money as Brooke. The socialite knew what she had to do. In response, Brooke put on her best black outfit and cried in front of the court. Her performance convinced them that, for the most part, the money was all hers. And she wasn't done yet.

]]> 18. She Took Down Another After Jack’s failed attempt to take half of Astor’s money from Brooke, there was Astor’s sister to deal with. Alice Obolensky Von Hofmannsthal Harding Pleydell-Bouverie was not poor in the name department, but she certainly felt so when it came to her inheritance. Astor had left her out of his will because of one glaring issue: He believed she wasn’t truly his sister.

Astor was almost one hundred percent sure that Alice was only his half-sister, and that her father was a Cuban polo player who her mother saw on the side. This rumor helped dispatch Alice easily as well.

]]> 19. She Became A Momager Brooke’s financial problems were far behind her, and she finally had time to focus on her son Tony. Brooke used her influence and wealth to get him interviews at both the Bronx Zoo and Metropolitan Museum. These organizations responded like Brooke’s previous husbands: They wanted nothing to do with Tony. So she made a dubious decision.

Brooke’s only option was to hire him herself. His job was taking control of her portfolio, which paid massive amounts per year. Tony was now getting involved in Brooke’s finances—and it was all part of his evil plan for revenge.

]]> 20. He Searched For Number Three Tony had been burning through spouses like his mother, and soon he was looking for a third wife. Well, when you’re the son of someone as wealthy as Brooke, brides usually miraculously turn up on their own. His third wife ended up being Charlene Detwiler Tyler.

Charlene Tyler made Brooke suspicious on two accounts: She was 21 years younger than Tony, and she was poor...at least compared to the Astors). Only, the scandal didn't stop there.

]]> 21. She Didn’t Trust Her The truth is, Brooke actually knew Tyler even before her son did. Scandalously, she was the wife of Brooke's priest, Reverend Paul Gilbert. The way Brooke saw it, Tyler was through with her holy husband’s measly salary and wanted to trade up to a life a little more upscale than a church wife. Brooke believed that Charlene married her son for one reason only: his ability to receive a huge inheritance one day.

]]> 22. She Couldn’t Stand Him In 1998, Brooke got a surprising invite. The White House was offering her the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her philanthropy. This was great except for one thing: the man in the White House was Bill Clinton, and Brooke couldn’t stand him. She went, of course, but she promised herself she would simply be cordial to the president and no more. Well, that certainly didn’t happen.

]]> 23. She Flirted With A President It turned out that Brooke only disliked Clinton as a politician—not as a man. When the then-president started openly flirting with her at the ceremony, she couldn't help herself; she flirted right back. There was, however, another disaster waiting for Brooke at this event: her daughter-in-law.

Brooke watched in horror as Charlene pushed her way into photographs she hadn’t been asked to be in and approached celebrities for random conversations. These behaviors were big no-nos in Brooke’s world and caused her a world of embarrassment.

]]> 24. She Was Suffering While Brooke’s assessment of Charlene—”she has no style and no neck”—may have been spot on, there were other things that were not quite so. That's because a dark truth was lurking in Brooke's life.  It quickly became clear that Brooke was suffering from Alzheimer’s. Her son Tony, with his eye on her estate, was keen to make this diagnosis stick. Around Christmas-time 2000, he took Brooke to a specialist in senile dementia to make it official.

]]> 25. She Was A Danger Alzheimer’s was certainly taking its toll. One good thing was that Brooke was continuing to take long walks with her dogs. On the negative side, she insisted on continuing to drive. A clear sign that Brooke shouldn’t have been behind the wheel was when one of her dogs did something outrageous: it refused to get into the car with her. Even the animal knew that Brooke’s Mercedes-Benz was not a safe place to be.

Brooke’s mental health was quickly deteriorating, and this was Tony's cue to finally start his evil plan.

]]> 26. He Wanted To Protect Her Tony was already Brooke’s power of attorney, but he shared the role with Henry Christensen III from the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. Tony went to Christensen with a valid concern: What if his mother outlived him? Tony, after all, had a pacemaker and had already had several heart attacks. He wanted to make sure his wife would get something from the Astor estate if he was gone.

Christensen wasn’t having any of this and instead of getting money for his wife, Tony walked away with a 2% raise. However, Tony had a plan B to get more of his mother's money.

]]> 27. He Sold Her Stuff Tony didn’t like having to go to Brooke’s other power of attorney when he wanted a cash bump, so sometimes he went straight to Brooke. Brooke had a favorite painting that hung in her library: Childe Hassam’s Flags, Fifth Avenue. This work of art was worth a ton, and Tony convinced his mother they had to sell it because they were broke.

He sold it for $10 million to a collector and then turned around and pocketed $2 million as a commission—pretty easy money if you ask me. Not only was this ruthless, it wasn’t good business. The dealer then turned around and sold it for $20 million. Tony, however, was just getting started.

]]> 28. He Took Her House Selling his mother’s artwork for his own personal profit wasn't quite enough for Tony. Next, he turned to her real estate. He secretly annexed Brooke’s summer property in Maine and handed it over to his wife Charlene Tyler. Tony of course, said he’d asked his mother’s permission to do this.

When asked, Brooke had no memory of gifting her favorite summer house, called Cove End, to the daughter-in-law she despised. But what Brooke did next made Tony's jaw drop.

]]> 29. She Was Messing With Him Tony had covertly taken Brooke’s favorite property and given it to his wife. He then received a letter from the other power of attorney that stated something shocking: his mother was now offering Cove End as a gift. Two things were possible here: Brooke really was in an Alzheimer-induced fog, or perhaps she was messing with him.

]]> 30. They Moved In Whatever means they had gotten Cove End didn't matter to Tony or his wife, and they got ready to move in. Getting a free estate, however, wasn’t quite enough. They wanted to redecorate. Sure, the place belonged to them so they could do what they wanted, but I think getting Brooke to pay for the redecoration—done by neighbor Martha Stewart no less—was beyond callous.

Once Tony and Charlene got into the house, things went from bad to worse.

]]> 31. They Said Nothing Brooke had retained the same staff at Cove End for many years and had cultivated close relationships with the hired help. When Tony and Charlene moved in, they didn’t say anything to the staff about the change in the ownership of the property. Checks kept coming from Brooke’s bank account, so the staff had no reason to believe that Brooke was no longer their boss.

If the staff assumed it was business as usual, however, they were in for a shock.

]]> 32. They Got Rid Of Them Brooke had been a kind boss to the staff at Cove End. In fact, she’d even made arrangements for some of them to receive money or, in one case, even get a greenhouse. Brooke had made one provision, however. Many staff members could only receive their bequeathment if they still worked for her. It didn’t take Tony and his wife long to figure something out: They owed the staff nothing if they no longer were working at Cove End.

The firings began soon after.

]]> 33. She Signed It was becoming clear that Tony did not have his mother’s best interests in mind. But what about the other power of attorney, Christensen? Surely he could protect Brooke from her son. But the real story was far more heartbreaking. Sadly, Christensen was also conspiring against Brooke for his own motives.

He arrived one day and got a confused Brooke to sign a document. Later, when she asked her trusted butler Chris Ely what she’d signed, of course he had no idea. When the two called Christensen to ask, he refused to tell them. Brooke was a wreck: what had she agreed to?

]]> 34. She Wasn’t Safe Meanwhile, Brooke’s mental health was suffering and her nurses had some concerns. They felt Brooke needed two things for her own safety. A hospital bed because she kept falling out of her own bed, and a gate, because there was a risk she could fall down the stairs. The nurses felt that these were pretty small, inexpensive things to keep their boss safe.

According to the nurses, Tony and his wife said no to both requests. And their reason? It would cheapen the look of the apartment.

]]> 35. She Gave Them Away Brooke must have known that the end was near, because when guests she cared about visited she often gave them mementos. Of course, this was Brooke Astor, so the little trinkets to remember her by were not casual mementos but worth a good chunk of change. Tony noticed this and saw his future inheritance going out the window. He had to stop Brooke from seeing her friends, but how?

]]> 36. They Kept Her Alone Tony had to stop his mother from slowly giving away his inheritance, and he did it in two merciless ways. First, he put the word out there that Brooke was too frail to receive visitors and would appreciate receiving postcards instead. Then, he fired Brooke’s secretary and replaced her with a friend of his wife's. The new secretary hovered over all of Brooke’s rare guests and made them feel uncomfortable and unwanted. Soon, the guests stopped coming entirely and Brooke was all alone.

]]> 37. He Shredded His Mother's Memories Up until this point, most of Tony's underhandedness had to do with money. What he did next showed how deep his resentment of his mother was. Brooke had in her possession boxes of historically significant documents. Included in these documents were personal photographs of Brooke, and also photographs the press had used. All of these documents—70 boxes' worth—Tony tossed in the paper shredder.

Tony was revving up his diabolical plan, and now it was time to take down the mothership.

]]> 38. He Went For It All Tony seemed to grow restless with trying to get bits and pieces of his mother’s estate. He soon decided it was time to get it all. He hired Francis X Morrissey, an estate lawyer known to be “creative” when helping his clients. The two men aggressively attempted to change Brooke’s will. The beneficiaries would be only two people: Tony and his wife. Of course, Morrissey would get his share as well.

It was a frail woman with Alzheimer’s against two powerful men. Who could she turn to for help?

]]> 39. She Needed A Savior Brooke’s knight in shining armor came from a surprising place: it was Tony's own son. Remember, Tony had twins from his first marriage. One of them, Phillip C Marshall, noticed what his father was doing. He started a lawsuit to have his father replaced as power of attorney. When this happened the media finally took notice: this was a big story. The details were about to bring down the Astor name.

]]> 40. She Lived In Squalor In addition to Tony's corrupt manner in dealing with Brooke’s finances, there was also another charge: elder mistreatment. He had strictly limited the number of visits from doctors, and he’d even put a cap on her medications—ones that she desperately needed. Worse still, under his supervision, his mother lived in squalor.

]]> 41. She Just Wrote Checks During the lawsuit, several shocking claims came out. Under Tony's care, Brooke was reportedly in a “vegetative state” and just a bed-ridden, check-signing machine for Tony and his wife. He also allegedly convinced her that she was poor. Brooke was often counting single dollar bills that she thought she desperately needed. But that wasn’t all; Tony seemed bent on making his mother’s life as miserable as possible.

]]> 42. She Had Only One Friend Throughout her ordeal, Brooke had one constant: her butler Chris Ely. Ely was more than a butler, however. He was a companion who made her laugh and calmed her nerves by taking her for drives. Of course, then, Tony mercilessly fired Ely, depriving her mother of her one companion. Once Ely was gone, things spiraled for Brooke.

]]> 43. They Felt Sorry For Her Brooke had always taken great care of her appearance. Her son and daughter-in-law, however, severely restricted money spent on cosmetics. Tony and Charlene had a rule when it came to beauty purchases: “nothing but Vaseline and Nivea,” and even then Brooke's nurses often paid for any beauty supplies.

With Ely gone, all Brooke had left were her precious dachshunds, Girlsie and Boysie. Tony, however, was not through tormenting his mother yet.

]]> 44. They Lived In The Pantry Tony wanted to save even more money, so he fired the dog-walkers Brooke had for Boysie and Girlsie. Instead of walks in the park, the dogs lived in the pantry and, if they needed to do their business, they did it in the dining room. Servants eventually had to remove the soiled carpets only to have the wood floors warp because of the dogs’ urine.

Brooke could also only see the dogs rarely, as their paws threatened to scratch her frail skin. Brook was in a miserable state: no friends, no dogs, and no butler. Tony was giddily getting his sweet revenge.

]]> 45. He Stayed In Touch In all this, Brooke’s former butler, Chris Ely, attempted to stay in touch with his ex-employer. Ely would talk regularly with Brooke’s nurses, who informed Brooke of his communication. One time, Brooke was having difficulty remembering Ely. She asked to see a photograph of him in order to refresh her memory.

The nurses located a picture of Ely and showed it to her. Brooke’s response was beyond eerie.

]]> 46. She Missed Him The nurses gave Brooke the photograph of her former butler—and friend—and Brooke stroked the picture, obviously missing her companion. This man who had been with her for decades and helped her through tough times. After looking at the picture for a long time, Brooke looked up at one of the nurses and asked: “Did they kill him?”

Even in an addled state, Brooke seemed quite aware of what her son was capable of.

]]> 47. They Took Her In Tony had given Brooke’s caregivers strict instructions not to call for an ambulance or take Brooke to an emergency room unless they had his permission first. But when Brooke got ill in July 2006, Tony and his wife were out of town. The nurses went against their orders and brought Brooke to the hospital.

Sadly, being under the care at a hospital—and away from her squalid surroundings—was actually a great improvement for Brooke.

]]> 48. She Got Him Back Around this same time, there was a breakthrough in the lawsuit. The court took the guardianship of Brooke away from her son Tony and handed it over to Annette de la Renta, Brooke’s close friend. De la Renta quickly hired Ely back, and the butler set out to prepare one of Brooke’s houses for her return from the hospital.

More importantly, the court indicted both Tony and his lawyer, Morrissey. Could Brooke actually have a chance to beat her enemies?

]]> 49. She Had A Year Of Peace In July 2006, Brooke left the hospital and moved to Holly Hill, the house Ely had prepared for her. It was at Holly Hill and other estates where Brooke spent her final days. She was in a safe home and with her constant companion, Ely. She eventually passed just over a year after returning.

It was August 13, 2007 and she was 105 years old. But what about her son? What was his fate?

]]> 50. They Locked Him Up Although Brooke didn’t get to see it, there was a trial for her son. The court convicted Tony of grand larceny and his lawyer Morrissey of forgery, among other charges. They both received sentences. Tony did go behind bars, but he only lasted eight weeks. His poor health—he had congestive heart failure and Parkinson’s disease—got him early parole. He passed on November 30, 2014.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62839 <![CDATA[Bettina Graziani Had A Tragic Beginning—But Later Became One Of The World’s First Supermodels]]> 2026-08-27T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-26T18:56:54+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-bettina-graziani David O'Shea People Bettina Graziani Was A Fashion Icon With A Dark Backstory Bettina Graziani emerged from rural obscurity to become one of the world’s biggest fashion icons. Personifying the new era of post-WWII Paris chic, the hard-working beauty would put her looks and gumption to good use, becoming the world’s first supermodel. She traveled the globe, encountered many notable figures, and, later in life, experienced a devastating tragedy.

]]> 1. She Had A Real Name Bettina Graziani did not begin her life with such an appropriately glamorous name. In fact, the idea of modeling, let alone under a stage name, could hardly have looked likely for her, given her humble origins. Born on May 8, 1925, in France, her parents named her Simone Micheline Bodin, a name which would do little for her beyond childhood—a childhood that contrasted with her adult world in a shocking way.

]]> 2. She Was A Country Girl Though she would eventually become the face of the Paris of her adulthood, Bettina originally hailed from outside the city. In fact, she might as well have been a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of urban life. Her family was a humble rural one, and she spent her childhood in idyllic and natural splendor in Normandy. That is, until one of her parents threw a spanner in the works.

]]> 3. Her Father Abandoned The Family The patriarch of the Bodin family worked for the railways, which earned him a modest income. The pressures of supporting a family proved too much for the railman, however. When she was still a child, Bettina’s father abandoned the family, leaving her mother, who was a teacher, to raise Bettina and her older sister alone. Now finding themselves in hard times, it was no wonder the young girl started dreaming big.

]]> 4. She Had Aspirations Bettina Graziani showed an early passion for fashion, and though she would go on to become a model, that was not her original life’s ambition. In fact, the young Bettina had dreams of becoming a fashion designer. She spent her youth creating sketches of her ideas and could only dream of one day living that lifestyle. 

With a sweeping historical event, however, she was free to set her sights on the boutique capital of the world.

]]> 5. She Moved To The Big Smoke For a good portion of Bettina’s young adulthood, Paris had been under German occupation, changing the very fabric of the town in the consciousness of the French people. With the conclusion of WWII, however, the Allies liberated the capital, and the young wannabe-designer made the move to the big city. She set to work finding a living that would support her passion.

]]> 6. She Got Odd Jobs Bettina Graziani wasted no time in getting set up in France’s capital. She began working as a babysitter to make ends meet; a short time later, she managed to nab a job coloring an architect’s drawings after he’d completed the outlines. But breaking into the fashion industry proved difficult at first for the ambitious young designer, especially considering some recent changes in the industry.

]]> 7. She Faced A Hurdle Bettina arrived in Paris at an odd time for the fashion industry. Following the conclusion of WWII, model agents and employment agencies of any kind got outlawed in the city, with lawmakers viewing the taking of a portion of another’s earnings as improper, part of a brief leftward swing. Luckily for Bettina, however, an enterprising woman soon found a loophole.

]]> 8. Her Chances Improved Bettina’s career prospects opened up again when fellow model, the industrious Dorian Leigh, decided to study French employment laws in the mid-1950s. Leigh concluded that while agencies could not take fees from their models, there was no issue taking money from clients, a technicality that allowed Leigh to open an agency using her modeling earnings. This set the stage for Bettina—now she just needed a contact.

]]> 9. She Found Her In At some point, Bettina Graziani got introduced to Jacques Costet, a big name in the city’s fashion industry at the time, and, seeing an opportunity in the designer, decided to show him some of her fashion sketches. Bettina had been working tirelessly at them and hoped Costet would take her on as an apprentice. The Frenchman only had one thing in mind upon seeing her, however.

]]> 10. She Got Scouted The lecherous Costet had eyes for only one aspect of the future-Bettina Graziani: her body. After taking one look at the comely young country girl, the designer insisted on seeing her in one of his own designs. The moment Bettina walked in Costet’s chosen dress, he hired her as a model right then and there. Simone Micheline Bodin clearly had the look; now she just needed the name.

]]> 11. She Got Rechristened Shortly after her encounter with Costet, Simone met another Jacques, this time fashion designer Jacques Fath, who provided her with yet another life-altering event. She equally enraptured Fath and took it upon himself to reinvent her, starting with gifting her the name she would become world famous with: Bettina. The name change did not come from thin air; Fath had his reasons.

]]> 12. Her Name Got Taken Fath was not just against Bettina’s real name on principle; he had another model in mind that might cause issues for the young upstart. He told her, “We already have a Simone; you look to me like a Bettina," likely referring to Bettina Graziani's fellow French model, Simone D'Aillencourt. But what exactly did “a Bettina” look like…?

]]> 13. She Had A Unique Look Bettina Graziani certainly had a unique look uncommon in French models up until that point. Fath believed that her appeal, that which made her stand out, was her fresh-faced, country-girl looks. Bettina was a redhead whom one fashion historian described as “a freckle-faced rail worker's daughter from Brittany”. That country girl was about to see the world.

]]> 14. She Traveled The World Bettina’s newfound association with Jacques Fath opened many new doors for the young model. Fath was beginning to make a name for himself internationally as a designer, and on a personal appearance tour of the USA, he decided to bring Bettina along with him. The country girl from Brittany found herself in New York City, a place unlike any she’d ever seen. She made a decent living too.

]]> 15. She Had A Job Though she was yet to fulfill her dreams as a designer, Bettina Graziani had already accomplished a rare feat in the fashion industry at the time: she was a full-time model. And though she got paid only a small wage, it was enough to get her by while she built a name for herself. Her hard work and unique look attracted some big names.

]]> 16. She Got Head-Hunted Bettina’s star continued to rise, and she caught the attention of some of the fashion world’s most prestigious eyes. After a few years of modeling, she got approached by arguably the most important designer of his time, Christian Dior, who asked Bettina to join his fashion house. The freckled young model stuck with her friends, however.

]]> 17. She Was Loyal Joining the Dior fashion house was an unfathomably great opportunity for a young, up-and-coming model, and Bettina probably gave it deep consideration. Doing so, however, would have meant turning her back on the man who championed her career early on. With that in mind, she politely declined Dior’s offer, opting to work with Fath instead, in a touching show of loyalty. Fath rewarded her in kind.

]]> 18. She Got A Payout With Bettina's decision to take a job with Fath, the designer who gifted her her name, received a handsome benefit in return: Fath opted to pay her five times her previous salary. The generous compensation, as well as the increasing amount of work that subsequently rolled in, meant Bettina soon made history.

]]> 19. She Blazed A Trail With her high salary, worldwide reputation, and work in both haute couture (high fashion) and commercial modeling, Bettina Graziani became one of the 20th century’s first supermodels (though that term would not come into popular usage until much later). She set the path for hundreds of women that would follow her, and the jobs kept rolling in.

]]> 20. She Went Worldwide While Bettina had certainly made a big name for herself in Paris, she did not become a worldwide star until she began to rub elbows with American photographers, who snapped her looks for famous magazines. Indeed, because of Vogue, Bettina flew to the US in 1950 and signed with the Ford model agency, which blew her career up overnight. It was not just her looks, nor her ambition, that propelled her to stardom, however—it was what she represented.

]]> 21. She Was The Face Of A City At the height of Bettina’s fame, her adopted home of Paris was undergoing something of an identity shift itself. Bettina became synonymous with the City of Love’s new image; one French journalist described the “fiery redhead” as embodying the modern Parisian “with singular chic”. She provided a much-needed sight for sore eyes.

]]> 22. She Helped A City Recover The city of Paris’ identity crisis did not come from nowhere; following its occupation during WWII, the French capital longed to distance itself from some of its darkest years, and Bettina symbolized this recovery as the vanguard of what became known as the New Look of the late-1940s. It had an impact well beyond lifting a city’s spirits, however.

]]> 23. Her Look Liberated Bettina’s rise coincided with sweeping changes in society’s general attitudes towards fashion, intimacy, and women in general. Her prominence represented, as one journalist put it, “the aspirations of a generation of liberated French women," and she became an important symbol of early feminism. Indeed, she was a strong figure to lead the charge.

]]> 24. She Had Grit Some may scoff at the idea that a model, a symbol of pure objectification to some, could represent something more powerful for women’s liberation. Bettina was not merely a pretty face in a pretty dress, however; she made bold and courageous choices in both her career and personal life, displaying her fierce independence. Few others rose to her level, though there were some.

]]> 25. She Had Competition Bettina's success was nearly unmatched in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s. In fact, it only got truly rivaled by one woman: Barbara Goalen, considered by many to be Britain’s first supermodel. The two traded the spotlight, often in friendly competition. But Graziani, arguably, had access to bigger industry titans.

]]> 26. She Had Friends In High Places Throughout her career, Bettina Graziani rubbed elbows with some of Paris fashion’s biggest 20th-century names. Among them was Lucien Lelong, a French couturier prominent in the first half of the century. Lelong’s fashion house was one of the largest in Paris, and he played an important role in managing the industry during WWII.

But he wasn’t the only prominent designer she inspired, however.

]]> 27. She Launched A Big Name Bettina also worked with one of the later-20th century’s biggest designers, Hubert de Givenchy. In fact, she was there from his humble beginnings, serving as one of his earliest muses. The two would form a relationship, both working and personal, that would leave their mark on the fashion world forever.

]]> 28. She Worked The Phones So strong was Bettina’s belief in Givenchy’s talents that she opted to personally work for him to get his fashion house off the ground. She did not just model for the designer, however; to cut overhead costs for the struggling startup venture, Bettina worked as Givenchy’s press agent too, acting as a middle-model between the designer and local journalists. Givenchy paid her back in kind.

]]> 29. She Became The Flagship Givenchy was incredibly grateful for Bettina’s faith in him and the hard work she put in to launch his career. As a token of this gratitude, when Givenchy’s first collection debuted in 1952, he named it after his most loyal model and friend. The collection was a huge success and cemented both of their names.

]]> 30. She Became A Household Name One of Givenchy’s designs from his debut collection was a Byronesque blouse, and it exploded in popularity in Paris upon launch, becoming a fashion icon of the early 1950s. Having extensively modeled it, this piece became synonymous with Bettina and became popularly known as a “Bettina blouse”. Her image continued to inspire.

]]> 31. She Got Immortalized The Bettina blouse’s shelf life, and with it Bettina’s fame, got greatly extended when it became the inspiration for Givenchy’s foray into the world of perfumes. Their signature scent, Amarige, got packaged in a bottle resembling the blouse and became a best-seller. And it only added to the torrent of attention on Bettina.

]]> 32. She Was In The Spotlight By the 1950s, Bettina Graziani was unavoidable in France. Paparazzi followed her everywhere, and the camera absolutely adored her, inside the fashion studio and out; various sources claimed she was, at the time, the most photographed woman in France. Her image got reproduced in other media too.

]]> 33. She Inspired The Greats Bettina’s beauty served as a muse for artists ranging from fashion designers to musicians to painters. Indeed, she even caught the attention of one of the great artists of the era: it inspired none other than to paint a picture on a shirt as a personal gift to the model. Less common was the reverse, however: did any men catch Bettina’s eye?

]]> 34. She Met A Boy Relatively early in her career, Bettina met photographer and newspaper reporter Gilbert “Benno” Graziani. She immediately fell for the charming young Frenchman, and the two began a passionate affair. Such was her affection for Benno that she almost gave it all up for him.

]]> 35. She Took A Break Benno and Bettina fell hard for one another, and all other aspects of their lives fell by the wayside. With a laser focus on their love, the two made an impulsive decision to give up their careers entirely. They left Paris and moved south to Juan-les-Pins, where they briefly ran a bar. Their passion led to a hasty union, but the love was not to last.

]]> 36. She Had A Whirlwind Romance Bettina and Benno got married while in Juan-les-Pins, but the marriage did not last long. She did return to Paris with something from the marriage, however: her last name. Up until that point, she had largely been going by simply “Bettina”; Benno assisted with her career in a major way in that he completed her iconic stage name. It was not the last time the lady Graziani would get involved in an ill-advised affair.

]]> 37. She Was The Other Woman In the early 1950s, Bettina met Peter Viertel, an American screenwriter known for such films as The African Queen. The two immediately fell in love and began a relationship. Their affair had a tragic victim, however: in order to shack up with Bettina, Viertel left his pregnant wife for the French model. Bettina did not seem to know how to pick ‘em, but she finally met someone later whom she’d settle down with.

]]> 38. She Met A Prince In 1955, Bettina crossed paths once again with Prince Aly Khan. The two had previously met when the prince had been dating actress Rita Hayworth, but now that both were single, sparks flew between the model and the royal. The two soon got engaged, and Bettina suddenly had some powerful connections.

]]> 39. She Entered A Powerful Family Bettina’s new husband-to-be came from important stock: Prince Aly Khan was the son of Aga Khan III, one of the founding fathers of the country of Pakistan. The elder Khan had even briefly served as the UN Ambassador from Pakistan and was a powerful and influential figure on the geopolitical stage. With a chance at settling down on the cards, Bettina said goodbye to her old life.

]]> 40. She Gave It Up By the time she met Khan, Bettina had begun to tire of the busy lifestyle of a supermodel. With the Khan family’s significant fortune, she saw an opportunity to pursue other passions elsewhere with a financial safety net. Bettina finally retired from modeling in 1955. She was ready to start a family.

]]> 41. She Got Some Good News Five years after retirement, Bettina and Khan had yet to marry—but that didn’t stop them from expanding their family. In 1960, she learned she was pregnant by the prince, a joyous occasion which the couple welcomed with warmth and excitement. But tragedy lurked around the corner that altered the course of the supermodel’s life forever.

]]> 42. She Suffered Loss A few months into her pregnancy, disaster struck the expecting couple. Bettina and Khan were involved in a devastating car crash, which tragically cost the prince his life. She survived the accident, but the cost was more than just her companion.

]]> 43. She Suffered Further Following the accident, Bettina suffered immense grief and devastating shock. And though her unborn child survived the initial car crash, the aftermath proved too much for the pregnant former model. The shock of the accident resulted in a miscarriage for Bettina shortly after the incident. It was an unimaginable period of loss for the retired model, and the only place she could turn was back toward her original passion.

]]> 44. She Found Solace After the devastating loss of her unborn child and its father, Bettina had no notable relationships again. Instead, she turned her focus back toward her childhood dreams: she began to once again design clothes, mostly knitwear, with the help of the contacts she had made working in the fashion industry. She found other outlets for her grief too.

]]> 45. She Broadened Her Horizons The meaning Bettina Graziani found in creativity following personal tragedy was clear, and she did not limit her output to fashion design. Later in life, she tried her hand at poetry and music composition, to a modest degree of success. Still, with such an interesting and devastating life behind her, Bettina had more to tell.

]]> 46. She Told Her Story Another way in which Bettina dealt with her devastating losses was to recount her life and its many ups and downs. Some time after the accident, she released her autobiography, entitled Bettina par Bettina, to positive reviews. And though she may have tired of the spotlight relatively young, she found her way back on her own terms.

]]> 47. She Remained A Presence Understandably, Bettina largely kept to herself for the next 15 years or so after the accident. However, she began to reemerge as a public figure in the 1970s, remaining a relatively recognizable figure of Parisian life from then on. France, in turn, recognized her great contribution, even if it was a few decades too late.

]]> 48. She Got Honored In 2010, Graziani received official recognition from the state for her contributions to fashion and Parisian life in general when she was appointed to France’s Order of Arts and Letters, an acknowledgement of a French figure’s significant accomplishments in the arts, awarded by the Minister of Culture and Communication. Her role got summed up beautifully.

]]> 49. She Received Praise Upon the former model’s acceptance of the Order, the Minister of Culture and Communication honored Graziani in a way that captured not just her contributions but the ways in which she represented post-WWII Parisian women. “You are”, she was told, “in a word, the embodiment of the modern woman”. One could scarcely put it better than that, and Bettina took the honor and identity with her to the grave.

]]> 50. She Had A Full Life Bettina Graziani passed in 2015. She was 89 years old. After a long and eventful life, with its many ups and downs, she left behind a legacy as the face of France’s modernity and progressiveness, blazing the way for the women, models and non-models alike, who would follow in her footsteps and spit in the face of anyone who told them that they couldn’t do things their own way.

You May Also Like:

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=25363 <![CDATA[History's greatest circus performers risked everything to amaze audiences—and many paid a heartbreaking price.]]> 2026-08-26T10:30:00+00:00 2026-08-26T15:54:09+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/things/38-astonishing-facts-historys-craziest-circus-performers Miles Brucker Things History's Craziest Circus Performers “The circus allows one to be logical and unreal at the same time. In the circus, all is possible: there can be a man with two heads or a character with a green face.”—Fernando Botero

The early days of the circus were some crazy times. As the science and medical worlds were still developing, there were many mysterious conditions that people utilized for profit. But it was just physical conditions that people put on for display, as some people were just plain crazy and loved to perform wild stunts. Here are some of the most downright insane, and sometimes sad, circus performance acts performed throughout the years.

]]> 38. Camel Knees Hailing from Tennessee, Ella Harper was known as “The Camel Girl.” This was because her knees could bend forward. She would utilize this condition by dropping down onto her hands and knees and walking around. Eventually, she joined the circus to make some money, before quitting and going back to school. That was her plan, but after one year on the road, she simply disappeared from the circus scene, with few traces of her to be found afterward.

]]> 37. Hot Air Tricks The “iron jaw” of the 19th century was a woman by the name of Leona Dare. A true daredevil in every sense of the word, she was a sensation in her time, most notably for a strunt in which she climbed down to the bottom of a hot air balloon in mid-flight and dangled in the air, held up only by her teeth.

]]> 36. Airplane Games Gladys Roy rose to circus performance fame for her insane stunts that involved her climbing onto the wings of airplanes that were in flight and playing around. She would sometimes mime a tennis match, walk across the entire wingspan, or parachute off. Tragically, Roy would die in an airplane accident at only 25 years old, when she became distracted during a publicity shoot and walked into a propeller.

]]> 35. Diving into the Abyss Known for his diving skills, Samuel Gilbert Scott would dive from incredible heights wearing a noose tied loosely around his neck. As dangerous as that sounds...well, it was that dangerous. Scott would leap to his death during a stunt at the Waterloo Bridge in 1841 when the noose slipped during a jump, and he was hanged from the bridge. As spectators looked on, they assumed it was a part of his act, and didn’t take action in time to save his life.

]]> 34. A Dangerous Hang Promoted as “the man who hangs himself and lives to tell the tale,” Aloys Peters would tie a bungee cord around his neck and jump through the air from a platform. Unfortunately, at only 45 years old, his last performance was done in front of 5,500 people, who watched him accidentally hang himself and die.

]]> 33. Safety First Hanging from your neck while playing a drum attached to your waist is pretty crazy. Especially when you are a 10-year-old boy. Though he was an American born William Leonard Hunt, the young boy who climbed to fame performing the dangerous stunt was billed as El Niño Farini. Farini’s aerial drum show was also the first time a safety net was used in performance. Guess that was long before child labor laws and work safety laws existed.

]]> 32. Human Arrow Before being rocketed out of cannons was a thing, the Zedora sisters practiced the human crossbow. Pansy was the one who could fly—she would be loaded and shot through a paper target, which she would accurately nail, and then be caught by her sister, who was swinging from a trapeze.

]]> 31. Flying Cars Taking an early, and by early, I mean one of the very first, automobiles and using it to fly through the air in 1905 is truly insane. Octavie LaTour would dress up in full Edwardian attire and drive his car down a ramp and backflip it onto another ramp. Why would he do this? I’m going to guess money had something to do with it.

]]> 30. Painless Dentist Born as Edgar Parker, he would legally change his name to Painless Parker after gaining success as a street dentist. You read that right, a street dentist. While he was despised by the American Dental Association, he was an advocate for patient rights and universal access to dental care. After struggling to gain patients, he took his practice on the road. He would perform a traveling medicine show in which he would give people some sort of cocaine/whiskey mixture he called “hydrocaine,” and pull their teeth.

]]> 29. Paying for Pain Parker charged 50 cents per tooth, but if the hydrocaine didn’t work properly and the patient felt any pain, he would pay them $5. He would eventually grow his business so much that he earned over $3 million a year through 28 offices and had 70 dentists under him. He would sometimes wear a necklace made out of 357 teeth, which he claimed to have all pulled over the course of one day.

]]> 28. No False Advertisements Parker legally changed his name to “Painless” in order to avoid any false advertising laws.

]]> 27. What a Quack Crazy in another sense of the word, Gus Visser was a performer of a different variety from the others on this list. His trick was to take the stage with his duck, who he had trained, and then sing together.

]]> 26. Fire Starter Hadji-Ali was able to control his stomach like no one else. His special circus act was to first drink a great amount of water, then to drink a bunch of kerosene and spray a fire out of his mouth, before finally extinguishing the fire with the water.

]]> 25. Favorite Flame-Thrower Ali was a vaudeville performer who gained a cult following. The favorite magician of both Judy Garland and David Blaine, he performed for many world leaders, including the Russian Empire’s Tsar Nicholas II.

]]> 24. Two Pelvises, Four Legs Born with two pelvises side by side, Myrtle Corbin was billed as the “Four-Legged Girl from Texas,” because, well, she had four legs. Two of her legs functioned normally, but the other two were much smaller and weaker, though she was indeed able to move them.

]]> 23. Pregnancy Matters Since she had two pelvises, Corbin had duplicate reproductive organs, both externally and internally. Everyone, including her to her doctors, were shocked to find out that she could become pregnant, and she would go on to birth five healthy children. Interestingly enough, her pregnancies were carried in the left uterus, even though she preferred to do the deed on her right side.

]]> 22. Concrete Burial After Corbin passed away just six days before her 60th birthday, her family decided to have her casket covered in concrete before being buried. This decision was made in order to prevent grave robbers from disturbing her peace, and family members took turns watching the casket until the concrete fully dried.

]]> 21. Conjoined Twins Chang and Eng Bunker were dubbed “The Siamese Twins” by Robert Hunter, a Scottish merchant who was determined to make a profit after finding the brothers while traveling through Thailand in 1829, which was the Kingdom of Siam at that time. After touring and making some cash, the brothers decided that they wanted to live a better life than one on their road where they were presented as freaks, and settled in North Carolina.

]]> 20. Let’s Get It On After The Bunker brothers settled, they married sisters, of course, and then got busy. They would go on to father a total of 21 children between the two of them. One day in 1874, Eng woke up to find that Chang was not longer alive. He immediately called in a doctor, but by the time the doctor arrived, it would be too late for Eng.

]]> 19. Elephant Scare One of the most well-known and tragic celebrities of the 19th century was Joseph Merrick, AKA “The Elephant Man.” Born with birth defects that to this day doctors are unsure of the cause of, his nickname came from his parents' belief that he was born the way he was because while his mother was pregnant with him, she was frightened by an elephant.

]]> 18. Marvelous Mabel Stark The most famous of all the Ringling Brothers animals acts throughout the first half of the 20th century, Mabel Stark was a tiger trainer who was smaller than most of the beasts that she tamed, standing at only five feet tall.

]]> 17. Stitch It Back Mabel Stark was one tough woman. Once, after slipping in the arena during an act with her tigers, she was almost clawed to death. It took 378 stitches to put her body back together, but after only a few weeks she was ready to go and jumped back into the arena. Another time, she had her arm also completely unhinged, but it was saved by another 175 stitches.

]]> 16. Circus Life is Life Enjoying an impressively long career, performing for 57 years, Mabel Stark called it quits after she was fired from her last job at a place called JungleLand. So distraught over being done with the circus life, she took her own life.

]]> 15. Cannon Family The Zacchini family is one of the storied families of modern circus as the patriarch, Mario, created a family dynasty by being shot out of cannons. While the family never revealed their secret to flying through the air, they did reveal that the cannon blast noise was a sound effect produced by igniting half a cup of gunpowder as they were being shot from the cannon.

]]> 14. Houdini’s Start Harry Houdini may not be known for his circus performances, but he actually began his storied career with the Welsh Brother Circus in Lancaster, Pennsylvania late in the 19th century. While he was still working on his craft, he and his wife created a show entitled “Metamorphosis” where they would lock themselves into a trunk and switch places.

]]> 13. From Great Heights The Flying Wallendas were a daredevil family that toured for years with various circuses, dangling, walking, and flying through the air. It shouldn’t be any surprise then that besides the many injuries the family suffered while performing, including one member who was paralyzed, the patriarch of the family, Karl, fell to his death in 1978. His was the third family death to occur during a performance. The Wallendas didn’t stop performing, though, and they still tour to this day.

]]> 12. First Crossings Nikolas Wallenda, the great-grandchild of Karl Wallenda, is the first person to cross Niagara Falls on a high wire. If that isn’t impressively crazy enough, he is also the first person to cross the Little Colorado River Gorge at the Grand Canyon.

]]> 11. Riding in Cars With Lions Owning a lion—though, it is hard to say anyone can actually “own” a lion—is crazy enough, but performing circus acts with a lion is another level. Ethel Purtle was famous for racing with her lion, named King, in a sidecar around a customized track while riding along “the wall of death,” defying gravity in their stunt.

]]> 10. Cannonball Gut Frank “Cannonball” Richards was famous for taking a cannonball straight to the stomach. By now, you’re probably aware of this feat, as it has circulated and been parodied countless times, most notably on The Simpsons. But Richards didn’t just decide to shoot himself with a cannon one day. Instead, he worked his way up to the act, first beginning with punches, then to iron poles, before trying to cannon. At his prime, he was performing the act twice a day. Now that sounds like a proper use of the nickname “Frank the Tank.”

]]> 9. Kidnapping the Beard Annie Jones was known as “The Bearded Lady.” While she’s well-known today, Jones had a wild ride in life. After first being featured at just one-year-old by P.T. Barnum, she lived her life in the circus. While a child, however, she was somehow kidnapped by a phrenologist who attempted to exhibit her himself. The phrenologist attempted to claim she was his own child, but when they went to court, the case was dismissed the moment that her real parents entered the courtroom.

]]> 8. No More Freaks Annie Jones toured as a sideshow act during her career. However, she worked hard to humanize the circus and abolish the use of the word “freaks.”

]]> 7. Fart Life The Moulin Rouge had many wild acts perform there over the years, and one of the stranger acts was Joseph Pujol, known as Le Petomane. So what did he do to gain his success? He farted on command in the club. So, yes, his name was Pujol, and he farted for a living. You can’t make this stuff up.

 

]]> 6. Queen of Fire Eaters There is no doubt that Jo Girardelli was the true queen of fire, as she spent her life shocking audiences around the world. Apparently immune to heat, Girardelli would perform a variety of crazy performances to prove her abilities, including gargling nitric acid and spitting it onto iron bars, which would rapidly decay, and rolling boiling oil, after cooking an egg in it, in her mouth and spitting it into a fire, which would then burst into huge flames.

]]> 5. Sealed Mouth These two tricks by Girardelli were impressive, but nothing compared to her grand finales, where she would dip her hands into molten lead and scoop it into her mouth; or would put melted sealing wax into her mouth and have a member of the audience create a wax seal on her tongue.

]]> 4. Shovel Licks Girardelli was more than a fire-eater, though, and she would prove so by heating shovels up in a fire and then pressing them against her skin. She would be left unmarked by the hot steel and then punctuate the performance by licking the shovel, which would let off a sharp hiss.

]]> 3. Piercing Performances The Invulnerable Man was a Dutchman who went by the name Mirin Dajo, though he was born as Arnold Gerrit Henskes. What made him so invulnerable, no one knows, but he was able to stick entire swords through his body, from one side to another. Doctors tried to evaluate him while metal objects ran through his body, but were absolutely stumped at how he managed to do it and survive.

]]> 2. Free Love Instead of relegating himself to sideshows, Dajo put on a show by himself. He traveled around and used his talents as a platform to promote an immaterial spirituality. He denounced materialism and preached love among humans, making him a sort of proto-hippie.

]]> 1. Death by Needle Dajo claimed that he heard voices, and in 1948 these voices told him that he should swallow an entire steel needle and go into surgery to have it removed. Crazy, yes—and it didn’t work. After having a successful removal operation, Dajo died just days later from an aortic rupture.

 

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=31385 <![CDATA[More People Need To Know About Jind Kaur, Queen Victoria’s Greatest Enemy]]> 2026-08-27T10:30:00+00:00 2026-08-25T18:30:51+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-jind-kaur Dancy Mason People “The Messalina Of The Punjab” In the days when the sun never set on the British Empire, there was only one woman who made Queen Victoria quake in her lace-up boots: Jind Kaur, the powerful Maharani of the Sikh Empire. And believe me, she more than earned her nickname “The Messalina of the Punjab.” Just like that tragic Roman empress, Jind Kaur lived through eye-searing luxury, vicious captivity, and one infamously stunning betrayal.

]]> 1. She Had Humble Beginnings Jind Kaur’s humble beginnings showed few hints of the infamy she would achieve. Born in 1817 in the Sikh Empire, she was the daughter of the overseer of the royal kennels. Sure, it was a cushy job that provided Jind and her siblings with a comfortable life, but it was hardly glamorous. Yet even from a young age, her family knew she was destined for much, much more—and they had a scandalous way of getting her there.

]]> 2. Her Father Had Big Dreams For Her Jind Kaur obviously didn’t have an awkward teenage phase, because by the time she was 18 years old, she was so incredibly beautiful that her father Manna Singh was convinced she could snag herself a powerful groom. In fact, he was sure she could snag the most powerful groom: The Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh. Then again, Manna didn’t exactly leave it up to chance.

]]> 3. She Had A Cinderella Story Before long, Jind’s father was dropping little “hints” to Ranjit whenever he saw him about how unbelievably gorgeous his young, nubile, and single daughter was. Until one day, it all fell into place. The ruler took the bait, sending a ceremonial arrow and sword to Jind’s village as a proclamation of his intention to marry her. From then on, nothing was the same.

]]> 4. Her Groom Was Scary Jind didn’t have a say in her choice of husband—especially since that husband was a freaking Maharaja—but she also couldn’t have known what she was getting into. Besides being nearly 40 years her senior, Ranjit Singh was also tough as nails, having fought in battles from the tender age of 10. Yet when it came to her new married life, that was the least of Jind’s worries.

]]> 5. She Had Stiff Competition The Maharaja was nearing his twilight years, but he’d taken many wives and mistresses over the course of his prime. So many, in fact, that the number of his official spouses could be anywhere from 20 to 46. One thing was certain, though: Jind was his final wife, and the teenager soon found out that she had a lot to prove in the royal palace.

]]> 6. She Had A Dysfunctional Family In reality, Ranjit Singh’s household was more like a snake pit, writhing with petty differences and old grudges. His first wife, Mehtaub, was a political match and had despised him from day one. Meanwhile, his second wife, Datar, had been his firm favorite and had ruled the roost before passing in 1818. But when it came to this soap opera, that was just the beginning.

]]> 7. She Had One Royal Job Sure, tales of Jind’s beauty had intrigued Ranjit, but he had an ulterior motive for marrying her. The Maharaja’s son and heir was sickly, and he worried about the strength and longevity of his bloodline. In Jind, Ranjit saw one last opportunity for a robust heir. Gee, thanks. Still, Jind Kaur was not a woman to walk away from a challenge—and she certainly wasn’t going to lose, either.

]]> 8. She Did Her Duty Perfectly Three years after her marriage to the Maharaja, Jind gave birth to a boy she named Duleep. So yeah, while some historical consorts struggled for years to give their husbands that coveted male heir, our girl Jind got it on the first try. Only, before she could celebrate this “accomplishment” for too long, catastrophe came to visit.

]]> 9. She Lost Her Husband In The Blink Of An Eye Jind gave birth to Duleep in the nick of time, because the Maharaja’s health had been failing since long before they were married. During the 1830s, he suffered a stroke as well as a slew of other ailments, likely brought on by his alcoholism and failing liver. In June 1839, when Jind’s boy was barely a year old, the Maharaja passed—and with his death came a chilling ritual.

]]> 10. Her Husband’s Funeral Was Gruesome In some ways, Jind was lucky to make it out of her husband’s funeral alive. On the day of the Maharaja’s funeral, four of his Hindu wives and seven Hindu concubines performed the ritual of sati, where they threw themselves on his funeral pyre and voluntarily perished. Since Jind was Sikh, she was exempt from this honor killing…but her future was still full of danger.

]]> 11. Her Son Became Ruler For the next few years, Jind tried to fly under the radar with her son Duleep as the empire fell into various infighting. Then, in 1843, destiny knocked on her door. After the assassination of the current Maharaja, the imperial military proclaimed that Jind’s five-year-old son was the new ruler. You’d think that Jind would have been happy about this, but you’d be wrong.

]]> 12. She Had Powerful Enemies Jind had learned a few things about power, survival, and the game of thrones while serving as the Maharaja’s wife, and she had dark suspicions about her newfound “luck.” It seemed obvious to her that the army had chosen Duleep because, as a literal toddler, they thought he would be easy to control. Well, Jind Kaur was having none of that, and she came up with an ingenious plan.

]]> 13. She Could Play The Game Of Thrones Over the next few months, Jind used her considerable charms and shrewd senses to defend the rights of her son as ruler, fighting with the various adult committees to place more true power in his chubby little hands, and pleading with them to “ensure that he was not a king with an empty title.” But she wasn’t doing this out of the goodness of her maternal heart, oh no…

]]> 14. She Earned Power For Herself Apparently, the Maharani had had enough of living in the shadows as a younger wife, and she was grabbing onto this opportunity with both hands. Because for every inroad she made for her son’s power, she actually put influence in her own hands. Before long, Jind had become Regent for her son and had taken control of the entire government.

Darn, girl. And then the trouble really started.

]]> 15. Her Stepson Tried To Topple Her Jind’s court might have looked lavish and generous, but at its heart, it had a shrill, bitter streak. Almost the minute that Jind secured her power, her fellow wives and stepsons came out of the woodwork hoping to grab a piece of it, chief among them Duleep’s half-brother Pashaura Singh. Sensing danger, Jind reacted the only way she knew how.

]]> 16. She Promoted Her Own Brother In order to protect herself against her many and growing enemies, the new Regent cleaned house, replacing and punishing many of her corrupt advisors. In particular, she sacked her old vizier and put her older brother, Jawahar, in his place, certain that her loyal sibling would defend her to the end. Sadly, she was a little too right about this.

]]> 17. She Was In The Middle Of A Family Feud In July 1845, Pashaura Singh decided to make his big gambit for the throne, attacking a fort and declaring himself the true Maharaja of the Punjab. Although Pashaura quickly surrendered to Jind’s forces after a short skirmish, he’d made his point. For Jind’s brother Jawahar, it was the final straw—and the consequences would go down in infamy.

]]> 18. Her Brother Was A Murderer Certain that this usurper would never stop trying to take his baby nephew’s throne, Jawahar had his men capture Pashaura for themselves, and then strangle the rogue royal so that he could never cause trouble again. In one version of history, this would be a triumphant political play. But for Jind and her brother, it became a notorious tragedy.

]]> 19. The Army Turned On Her Family When word got out that the vizier of the empire was going around offing royal princes—even troublesome, ambitious ones—the Sikh army was none too happy. For over a week, they ominously insisted on an audience with Jawahar, all while Jind and her brother tried to negotiate for mercy. But 10 days later, they could negotiate no more, and had to meet a terrible fate.

]]> 20. She Tried To Save Her Brother On September 21st, 1845, Jind accompanied her sibling to his meeting. She did everything in her power to keep him safe, including escorting him with a whole line of elephants and placing her young royal son right beside him. It was all supposed to show whose side Jind was really on, but it didn’t change things one bit. In fact, it only made it more horrific.

]]> 21. Her Brother Died In Front Of Her When the army spotted Jind, Jawahar, and the little Maharaja, they broke up the trio in an instant, tearing the boy away and dragging Jind off to the side. They then toppled Jawahar from his elephant and got a gruesome revenge, spearing him 50 times while Jind watched, devastated, from the sidelines. It was one of Jind’s darkest hours, and it hardened her right down to her core.

Unfortunately, she’d need every ounce of this steel for the next sharp twist of fate.

]]> 22. She Had Traitors In Her Midst In December 1845, Britain busted into Jind Kaur’s life and started a world of trouble. The English absolutely routed Jind’s people during the Anglo-Sikh War, and then had the audacity to promote one of Jind’s traitorous courtiers, Tej Singh, for his greasy “help” during the conflict. Fiery to a fault, Jind lashed out—and paid a heartbreakingly high price.

]]> 23. The British Threw Her In Prison When the high-ranking British Resident Harry Lawrence then commanded Jind and her son to turn the slimy Tej Singh into a Raja, Jind point blank refused, unwilling to give the traitor any more accolades. The response was swift and brutal. Like a villain in a fairy tale, Lawrence imprisoned Jind in a fortress and stripped her of her money. If only he had stopped there.

]]> 24. She Begged To See Her Child Jind was imprisoned for months on end, and during this time, Lawrence refused to let the Maharani have access to her young son, no matter how much Jind pleaded with him to see Duleep. As she once wrote to the Brit, "He has no sister, no brother. He has no uncle, senior or junior. His father he has lost. To whose care has he been entrusted?" The answer to that question was almost too horrible to be true.

]]> 25. Queen Victoria Kidnapped Her Son After hemming and hawing about what to do with the young Maharaja with the troublesome mother, the English decided to all but kidnap Duleep. In 1854, when Duleep was just 15 years old, the British exiled him to their own country, making him an honored guest of Queen Victoria but keeping him in (lavish) captivity all the same. And still, they weren’t through with tormenting Jind.

]]> 26. She Was A Pauper Princess While the British kept her away from her son, the Maharani had to fight for her life. Because of her mistreatment, she became a “rallying point for rebellion,” and the Brits grew terrified she would bring about their doom. In response, they moved her from prison to prison, and took her jewelry from her so she wouldn’t have any bartering power to escape. But do you think this stopped her? Heck no.

]]> 27. She Made A Great Escape In 1849, Jind Kaur earned her nickname “The Messalina of the Punjab.” After plotting for nearly a year, she escaped her cell by disguising herself as a servant, then somehow managed to trudge through 800 miles of heavy forest, all the way to Nepal, in order to ask for sanctuary. She was finally where the British couldn’t touch her…and she let them know it in the best way possible.

]]> 28. She Left A Letter Behind After making the harrowing, lengthy journey to Nepal, Jind made sure to show the British a token of her “gratitude” for stealing her son and keeping her behind bars for years. When soldiers entered her cell after she had secreted herself away, they found a note lying on the cold, damp floor. Its contents are worthy of a fist-pump.

]]> 29. She Taunted Her Captors See, even while she was plotting her escape, Jind made sure to take the time to taunt the British. Jind wrote to them, “You put me in a cage and locked me up. For all your locks and your sentries, I got out by magic…I had told you plainly not to push me too hard – but don’t think I ran away. Understand well, that I escape by myself unaided…don’t imagine I got out like a thief.”

Only, this sneering note wasn’t the only thing Jind left her captors.

]]> 30. She Gave A Legendary Insult Besides the letter, Jind scattered coins on the floor for the men to find, as if to impress upon them that although they and their country had taken so many of her precious heirlooms from her, she still had plenty of money to spare on their sorry selves. Still, though Jind was finally away from the malicious British authorities, they only found new ways to punish her.

]]> 31. Her Son Tried To Contact Her Although Jind remained in Kathmandu for over a decade, she could never forget about her precious only son, who had now started growing roots in the United Kingdom without her. Indeed, Duleep was so content in Britain that when he turned 18, he wrote to Jind in Nepal, suggesting she come over and they reunite at long last. This is where the immense tragedy kicked in.

]]> 32. She Was Public Enemy Number One See, Duleep’s letter to his mother never reached her—and the reason why is chilling. Although Jind had escaped the clutches of the British occupiers in India, they still kept close tabs on her. Fearful of her vengeance and influence, they intercepted Duleep’s letter before it could even get to Nepal. And this was only the beginning of her nightmare.

]]> 33. The Government Kept Her In The Dark After realizing that his missives weren’t reaching his long-lost mother, Duleep tried for years to get in contact with her in some way. At one point, he even sent his own courier, but the British government still steadfastly blocked the man from getting to the rebellious Maharani. Fed up, Duleep finally took matters into his own hands.

]]> 34. She Changed For The Worse Pushed to his wit’s end, Duleep sent an undercover letter to a British officer in Kathmandu, practically begging for news of his mother. The response he got back was heartbreaking. The years had not been kind to Jind, and the man reported that she was “much changed, was blind and had lost much of the energy which formerly characterised her.”

It couldn’t possibly have been what Duleep was hoping to hear, and he resolved to meet his mother once and for all.

]]> 35. She Had A Heart-Wrenching Reunion In 1861, Jind finally had her long-awaited reunion with her kidnapped son. After deciding that the half-blind, middle-aged woman was no longer planning on restoring her son’s throne, the British allowed Duleep to travel to Calcutta to link up with his mother and bring her back to England with him. It was everything they both had been dreaming of—but it was nothing like either of them imagined.

]]> 36. She Had The Army On Her Side In the first place, Jind’s meeting with her son in Calcutta, which took place at Spence’s Hotel, was no peaceful reunion. It just so happened that while both the Maharani and Maharaja were in the city, a Sikh regiment was returning back from the battlefield, and word quickly got around that the erstwhile royals were in town.

What happened next wasn’t pretty…at least for the British.

]]> 37. She Almost Started A Riot If the British thought Jind was no longer a threat to their occupation, her mere presence at Spence’s Hotel proved them wrong. Way wrong. Thousands of armed Sikh soldiers surrounded the hotel and performed demonstrations in honor of their monarchs inside, much to the chagrin of British officials in the city. It got so tense, they eventually had to take drastic action.

]]> 38. The British Begged Her To Leave With Jind Kaur and Duleep Singh’s reunion causing near rioting in the street, the Governor-General, Lord Canning, made one last request of the Maharani and Maharaja. He begged them—as a special favor to him—to get the heck out of Calcutta on the very next boat they could, lest they ignite true unrest. Luckily for the British, the royals listened. But that doesn’t mean they forgave.

 

]]> 39. Her Son Was A Stranger Of all the things the British took from Jind, nothing was as precious as the time they had stolen from her motherhood. When she finally met Duleep again, they had been apart for over 13 years and were all but strangers to each other. In his early 20s, Duleep was now robust and handsome, while Jind was in her 40s and clinging to a faded beauty.

More than anything, mother and son just wanted to spend time together—but nonetheless, they had one final revenge for the British.

]]> 40. She Got Her Jewels Back Even as Duleep arranged for his mother to go to her new home in England, he stalked the streets of India with a single-minded mission. Duleep couldn’t get back the days, months, and years that the British had taken from his mother, but he could get back the jewelry that they had forced her to relinquish. Before long, he had negotiated the jewels’ return from “safekeeping” in a treasury.

Once he had the precious baubles, he put the next step of his plan into action.

]]> 41. She Was Immortalized In Art Upon reaching Britain, Duleep surprised his mother by putting the jewels back in her hands. She was so overjoyed that she put them on immediately, parading them around for her new acquaintances. Then, a few months later, Duleep had the matriarch sit while wearing her heirlooms so that the famous English portraitist George Richmond could immortalize her (and her shiny, bright diamonds) in art.

]]> 42. Her Son Was A Changed Man Once Jind settled into her new country, she had a hard time believing her eyes. Her son Duleep had spent his formative years in England and Scotland, and he had picked up more than a few habits from his oppressors, such as his conversion to Christianity and a love of dressing like a Highlander, the latter of which earned him the nickname “The Black Prince of Perthshire.” Jind was none too happy about that.

]]> 43. She Revealed Everything To Her Son In truth, Duleep’s memories of his mother and his palaces back in India kept him from fully embracing Victorian society, and his reunion with Jind increased his suspicions of Britain. After all, once the two were finally together, Jind could tell him vivid stories of his home, of his life with her, and of his true heritage. Before he knew it, she had produced a sea change in him.

]]> 44. Her Son Was Brainwashed With the help of Jind’s stories, as well as his own maturing opinions, Duleep Singh’s admiration of England soon transformed into complex criticism. He came to believe that the British brainwashed him, and eventually converted back to his mother’s religion of Sikhism. Many years on, he even petitioned Queen Victoria herself to right the injustices he faced.

]]> 45. She Moved Into An English Castle After a few months acclimatizing to England, Jind Kaur and Duleep Singh moved into Mulgrave Castle in Yorkshire. It was supposed to be a happily ever after—but tragedy still seeped in. For a long time, Duleep tried to set his mother up with a separate household on the same estate, but her response to these efforts was heartbreaking.

]]> 46. She Couldn’t Leave Her Son Every time Duleep tried to give Jind a little bit of independence in her daily life, the Maharani absolutely refused. She had spent far too long without her son by her side, and she couldn’t bear the thought of ever being separated from him again, even if he was only a couple of houses away. Nonetheless, there was still one thing even Jind Kaur couldn’t bulldoze her way through.

]]> 47. She Deteriorated Fast Although Jind still had a lively mind and a sharp curiosity, her years of imprisonment and the stresses on her body and psyche had taken their toll. After just two years in England with her son, her health was beginning to fail her—and now that she had achieved nearly everything she had been striving for, Jind would separate herself from her beloved son forever.

]]> 48. She Went Too Soon On August 1, 1863, the house attendants woke to find that the great Jind Kaur, the fearless Messalina of the Punjab, had passed in her sleep at the age of only 46. While this was far too young to go, it was likely a much more peaceful end than Jind thought she would ever see. So of course the British had to go and deal her one final insult.

]]> 49. Her Final Wishes Were Forbidden There was just one problem when it came to Jind’s passing: She wanted to be cremated according to Indian custom, and Britain had banned this process at the time. Determined to give his mother the end she deserved and wanted, Duleep asked the government if he could transport her body to the Punjab to cremate it. The answer was a resounding no—so then he had to get really creative.

]]> 50. Her Son Went To Great Lengths To Please Her While some sons would give up at this point, Duleep probably knew that his mother’s ghost would haunt him forever if he dared get lax on her last wishes. Instead, to accommodate all the political wrangling, Jind Kaur’s corpse lay in a chapel for almost a full year before Duleep finally got permission to go to Bombay and perform the cremation. Now that’s dedication.

You May Also Like:

Tragic Facts About Princess Asmahan, The Fallen Star Of The Middle East
Dark Facts About Duleep Singh, The Lost Maharaja
Stunning Facts About Gayatri Devi, The Lost Maharani

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62912 <![CDATA[Conrad Hilton Jr. was born with a silver spoon in his mouth—and a serious destructive streak.]]> 2026-08-26T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-25T18:04:50+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-conrad-hilton-jr David O'Shea People Life In The Fast Lane Conrad “Nicky” Hilton Jr was born with every advantage in life, but with that came a darkness inside that would manifest in deplorable ways. Behind the façade of a charming and handsome man-about-town existed a deeply troubled and violent soul, and the many Hollywood starlets that crossed his path were the ones that ultimately had to deal with the consequences of Hilton’s unaddressed issues.

]]> 1. He Was From The South Conrad Hilton Jr, known as “Hilton” for most of his life, was born on July 6, 1928, in Dallas, Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas, and that included Nicky’s personality: while he spent most of his adult life in Los Angeles and became almost synonymous with the City of Angels, he would always identify with the American southwest. Indeed, that’s where his family made their fortune.

]]> 2. He Had A Family Business Hilton was the eldest son of Mary Adelaide Barron and Conrad Hilton Sr, the latter being the founder of the global hotel and resort brand, Hilton Hotels. The very first Hilton-branded hotel was, in fact, opened in the place of Hilton’s birth: Dallas. The franchise’s success would explode from there, and its meteoric rise meant a cushy life for the heir to the Hilton fortune.

]]> 3. He Was A Rich Kid By the time Hilton came of age, his family was enormously wealthy, and the young man enjoyed all the pampering and privilege that came with such a socioeconomic status. The success of Hilton Hotels meant that Conrad Jr enjoyed only the finest things growing up, a fact which may have contributed to his entitled rich kid personality. It hadn’t always been smooth sailing, however.

]]> 4. His Family Faltered Conrad Hilton Jr had experienced many ups and downs growing up when it came to his family’s finances. While the Hiltons’ hotel business was enormously successful by the time Hilton was an adult, it hadn’t always been that way: during the Depression, his father went broke and the Hilton hotel empire nearly collapsed entirely. Luckily, Hilton had plenty of company at home to get him through the tough times.

]]> 5. He Was The Eldest Conrad Hilton Jr was the eldest of four children, and his three younger siblings would go on to have interesting lives in their own right. After Hilton came Barron, who would later become a business magnate, philanthropist, and sportsman; next was Eric, and he too became a hotelier and philanthropist; finally, the only Hilton daughter, Francesca, would go on to be an actress and comedian. Hilton has another interesting relative too.

]]> 6. He Preceded A Celebrity Though the two would never meet (as he had passed by the time of her birth), Hilton was the granduncle of none other than socialite and late-1990s/early-2000s icon, Paris Hilton. Like her granduncle before her, Paris’ exploits around Hollywood attracted much tabloid attention, and from a young age too. Perhaps Hilton could’ve avoided this fate if he had been more focused.

]]> 7. He Flirted With Work Upon coming of age, Conrad Hilton Jr did not immediately become the playboy philanderer most would later know him as. In fact, growing up, the eldest Hilton child took an interest in the family business, perhaps eyeing a takeover from his father someday. Being something akin to a modern American royal family, the Hiltons assumed the first son would eventually take over.

Indeed, Hilton seemed to be Conrad Sr’s preferred heir at first.

]]> 8. He Was The Pick Of The Litter While we don’t know the dirty details of Hilton’s relationship with his father—and given his later troubles, it’s likely there was at least some friction there—we do know that Conrad Sr admired his eldest son’s business acumen, at least at first. Hilton was, reportedly, his father’s favorite, and though he seemed on track for success, he took a sudden life turn.

]]> 9. He Dropped Out As a young man, Conrad Hilton Jr enrolled in Loyola University in Los Angeles to begin his studies, likely with an eye to taking over the family business. His studies coincided with the United States’ entry into WWII, however, and perhaps feeling some sense of duty, Hilton opted to drop out of college to join the Navy. He never saw action, however, and his stint serving did not last long.

]]> 10. He Seized The Day Following his brief sojourn in the Naval service, Hilton returned to Los Angeles where he finally embraced the fun his privileged life afforded him. Donning only the finest suits, he gained a reputation as a highly social young man about town, attending parties and engaging in debauchery. The charming young Hilton heir attracted the eyes of many admirers.

]]> 11. He Was A Lady’s Man Hilton’s womanizing was perhaps his defining feature. The young Hilton was dashing, charming, and well-dressed, and he was magnetic to women. The feeling was, indeed, mutual; as one writer put it, “the girls were crazy for him, and he was crazy for them”. Such was his infatuation, in fact, that his father may have viewed it as something of a distraction.

]]> 12. He Got Shipped Off After dropping out of college, leaving the Navy, and spending most of his time chasing women in LA, Hilton’s father grew concerned that his son had lost his previous focus on the family business. To that end, Conrad Sr enrolled his eldest son in the Swiss hospitality school, École hôtelière de Lausanne. It did not go well for Hilton.

]]> 13. He Got The Boot In perhaps a preview of the questionable behavior that would worsen later in his life, Conrad Hilton Jr only lasted six months in the Swiss hotelier school before getting suspended. He maintained his party-hard lifestyle even in Europe, and his studies suffered as a result. Arriving home in shame, the young Hilton picked up right where he left off.

]]> 14. He Got Noticed Upon his return, Hilton resumed his Los Angeles womanizing, and his exploits began attracting the attention of the tabloids. He quickly gained a reputation as a playboy, and his dating became the subject of many gossip columns. As a young heir, he made for a fascinating subject.

]]> 15. He Got Pampered Being the son of an enormously wealthy hotel magnate, Conrad Hilton Jr was irresistible to gossip mags. Columns painted a picture of a good-looking socialite who grew up pampered, and perhaps overly accustomed to a life of luxury; Hilton would sometimes throw tantrums if he didn’t get what he wanted. But more than any of that, the tabloids obsessed over his latest squeeze.

]]> 16. He Had Famous Arm-Candy One of the most notable things about Hilton’s dating life was the notoriety of his dates themselves. At almost all times, the young hotelier was dating one Hollywood starlet or another. The list of these women is head-spinning, but for Hilton, it all started with one of the biggest stars of them all.

]]> 17. He Developed An Obsession Conrad Hilton Jr had eyes for one of the biggest actresses of the time: Elizabeth Taylor. The young Hilton heir had observed the starlet many times from afar, both onscreen and at social events to which both were in attendance. Taylor positively mesmerized the charming lothario; in fact, his infatuation bordered on (or perhaps crossed into) obsession.

]]> 18. He Staked Her Out Hilton’s obsessive stalking of Elizabeth Taylor led him to find out that she was friends with actress Jane Powell, a mutual acquaintance. When Powell announced her engagement in 1949, Hilton saw his chance: that November, he attended her bridal party at Mocambo, a glamourous LA night club, hoping to catch Taylor there. And while he failed to make contact at that event, the two did eventually cross paths.

]]> 19. He Met His Crush Conrad Hilton Jr did not have to wait long to meet the subject of his infatuation. By the end of the year, he had finally met Elizabeth Taylor in a chance encounter at Paramount Studios. The two hit it off immediately, with Taylor none the wiser that he had been hunting her over the past few months. Hilton immediately turned on the charm.

]]> 20. He Made A Move Hilton was something of a romantic, at least when he was courting women. Taylor was no different in this regard, and he pulled out all the stops for his crush: the day after their meeting, the Hollywood starlet arrived home to find three dozen yellow roses from the Hilton heir. It was enough for her to give him a shot.

]]> 21. He Love Bombed After Hilton’s grand gesture, he and Taylor started dating, and the honeymoon phase proceeded at a clip. In the weeks following his initial courtship, Hilton lavished the starlet with gifts, phone calls, and nights on the town. One author described their early relationship as a time of “nonstop attention, adulation, and adoration”. But Hilton was not the only Hilton who felt charmed by the actress.

]]> 22. His Parents Approved It wasn’t long, of course, before Conrad Hilton Jr introduced his new squeeze to his folks. The Hilton parents were immediately fond of Taylor, with Conrad Sr, in particular, reportedly immensely charmed by the young actress. Things didn’t go quite as well with the other set of parents, however.

]]> 23. He Had His Doubters Hilton’s meeting with the Taylor parents did not go as smoothly for the playboy hotelier. All in all, it was a mixed response: Elizabeth’s mother, Sara Taylor, was over the moon that her daughter had hitched her wagon to such a fabulously wealthy and charming young gentleman.

Francis Taylor, however, was not so sure about his daughter’s new man: to him, Hilton was a spoiled rich kid who was used to being indulged and, on top of all that, Mr Taylor was concerned about the age gap, with Hilton in his early twenties while Elizabeth was still a teenager. Still, in the end, the Taylors gave their approval, and soon, wedding bells rang.

]]> 24. He Got Hitched It wasn’t long before Conrad Hilton Jr proposed to Elizabeth Taylor, and the two wasted no time in tying the knot. The wedding took place on May 6, 1950, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. The ceremony was a highly publicized one, with droves of paparazzi snapping photos of the happy couple. They would not stay that way for long, however, as a darkness grew in Hilton…

]]> 25. He Had Problems By the time of his marriage, Hilton’s behavior had taken a dark turn. The young party boy began overindulging in vices, developing addictions to gambling, booze, and even harder substances. Taylor had no idea what she was getting herself into, and it soon became a huge problem for the poor young actress.

]]> 26. He Got Violent With so many vices and a darkness building inside him, Conrad Hilton Jr soon became a nightmare to live with. His moods grew increasingly erratic and his behavior towards Taylor became more abusive, eventually turning violent. As the starlet later grimly put it, “Nick kind of got a kick out of beating the [tar] out of me”. Elizabeth found herself in a bad situation, and one incident in particular illustrated just how far off the deep end her husband had gone.

]]> 27. He Was A Disgrace Conrad Hilton Jr was reportedly resentful of his wife’s success, and of the fact that she had greater fame and celebrity than he did. That resentment made him drink, and drinking made him violent. In one particularly deplorable incident, the spoiled rich kid reportedly kicked Taylor in the stomach during a violent outburst, causing her to miscarry their unborn child. That was the last straw for the actress, and she finally took action.

]]> 28. His Wife Left Taylor left Hilton in December 1950, publicly announcing their separation. Their intense, tempestuous, and abusive marriage had lasted just eight months, but it must have felt like much longer for the beleaguered actress. The entitled rich kid she had married had disgraced himself, and the courts saw it Elizabeth’s way.

]]> 29. He Got Dumped The courts granted Elizabeth Taylor a divorce from Conrad Hilton Jr in January 1951, on the grounds of mental cruelty—and that doesn't even cover the adultery (but more on that later). The actress remained steadfast in court, standing up for herself admirably, refusing alimony from her wealthy ex, and taking back her maiden name. Newly single and disgraced, 

Hilton turned to his family for solace, and like many men of his day, got rewarded for his deplorable behavior.

]]> 30. He Failed Upward After his whirlwind “romance” and marriage ended, Hilton found himself adrift, still struggling with substance misuse and lost as to where to go next. Of course, being a rich man in mid-century America, the world was his oyster, and a few months after his divorce, the family business made the disgraced heir vice president of the Hilton Corporation. He still lacked experience, however, so his father set him up with a cushy, on-the-ground job.

]]> 31. He Became The Boss Along with his new role as Vice President, Hilton Hotels also handed Conrad Hilton Jr the manager position at the boutique Bel Air Hotel. A luxurious property that saw many famous stars occupy its rooms over the years. Hilton’s stature in Hollywood only improved as he worked there, and he accumulated an impressive contact list. This list featured, of course, many more Hollywood starlets.

]]> 32. He Engaged Royalty One of the many famous guests that stayed at Hilton’s hotel was Betsy von Furstenberg. Betsy was a successful Hollywood actress and originated from German nobility. The pair immediately hit it off and, by September 1951, they had announced their engagement. The wedding would never come to pass, however.

]]> 33. He Lost Another One Hilton and Betsy made plans to marry during the spring following their engagement. The wedding never happened in the end, however, with the couple ending their relationship. We know little about the circumstances surrounding their breakup, but with Hilton’s track record, we can make reasonable assumptions. Betsy would not be the last starlet he would liaise with.

]]> 34. He Had A List Throughout the 1950s, Hilton would date a who’s who of Hollywood actresses, and his list included some of the biggest names of the era. At various points, tabloids linked him with Arlene Solof, Jeanne Carmen, Mamie Van Doren, and Terry Moore. None of these relationships lasted long, however, and Hilton’s demons likely played a big part in that fact.

]]> 35. He Got Nabbed Hilton’s downward spiral continued throughout the 1950s as his substance misuse worsened by the day. This all culminated in 1954 when the hotelier got arrested for public drunkenness. His belligerent behavior might have been his final downfall, but as we know all too well, different laws exist for the rich.

]]> 36. He Got A Slap On The Wrist While the punishment may have been severe for the average person, the heir to Hilton Hotels got off pretty lightly, all things considered. Conrad Hilton Jr received a fine and two years’ probation for his transgression. Now more or less free, the hotelier could resume his degeneracy in peace.

]]> 37. He Was A Player As the 50s wore on, Hilton continued to add Hollywood starlets to his hit list. The debaucherous hotelier started getting overconfident too. In 1957, he dated two actresses—Joan Collins and Natalie Wood—at the same time! Neither of these relationships lasted either, of course, so Hilton cast his net wider.

]]> 38. He Took A Work Trip Hilton Hotels began expanding their franchise, and as a result, so did Conrad Hilton Jr. At the opening of a new hotel in Acapulco on the Pacific Coast, Hilton met Mexican actress Silvia Pinal, and the two began dating for a period in 1957. Interestingly, however, it took a non-actress to finally lock the Hilton playboy down.

]]> 39. He Married Money The following year, Hilton met Patricia McClintock, and the two started a courtship. Unlike most of his previous squeezes, McClintock had no onscreen experience. In fact, she too was an heiress, from a powerful oil family in Oklahoma. Perhaps this commonality between the two inspired them to tie the knot that year. With a new wife in tow, Hilton began producing heirs of his own.

]]> 40. He Had Some Kids Following their marriage, Conrad Hilton Jr and the new Mrs Hilton got to work building a family. They had two sons, Conrad Nicholson Hilton III and Michael Otis Hilton. The presence of children didn’t help things for Hilton, however, and the darkness returned quickly and intensely.

]]> 41. He Spiraled Hilton’s second marriage quickly deteriorated alongside his mental state. His substance misuse got worse as he developed a dependency on Seconal, a sleeping pill, which he liked to mix with hard liquor. This combination would leave the hotelier despondent, and he would stay in bed for days on end. This took an inevitable toll on his marriage.

]]> 42. He Did It Again Hilton’s despondency was the least of his wife Trish’s worries. On his “good” days, those where he got out of bed, the Hilton heir would continue his penchant for brutality. McClintock got fed up by 1964, and filed for divorce on February 10, charging her husband with “causing her extreme mental and physical suffering”. Hilton would convince her to stay, however.

]]> 43. He Saved His Marriage Despite his long-suffering wife’s accusations, Conrad Hilton Jr somehow, someway, managed to convince Trish to stay. The two publicly reconciled shortly after her divorce filing, and Trish never went through with the split. Well, not on those grounds anyway.

]]> 44. He Lost His Love Hilton’s behavior and substance misuse, unfortunately, did not improve, and Trish only had a few more years of tolerance left in her. She filed for divorce once again in 1967, accusing her husband of “repeated acts and threats of violence”, and this time she didn’t come back. She never got her dues, however.

]]> 45. He Remained Married Interestingly, the courts never granted a divorce to Trish, and she and Hilton remained officially married. The relationship was unsalvageable, however, and despite their legal status, the two stayed separated for the remainder of Hilton’s life. That allowed him enough room for one more Hollywood affair, of course, and this one was a doozy.

]]> 46. He “Stepped” Up The apple didn’t fall far from the tree for Hilton: in 1942, Conrad Hilton Sr had married Hollywood actress Zsa Zsa Gabor. The marriage lasted five years before they divorced, but years later, after Gabor published her autobiography, she made a shocking allegation: that she had engaged in an affair with her stepson, Hilton, while still married to his father. Even worse, the affair continued during Conrad Jr’s romance with Elizabeth Taylor.

If Conrad Sr ever found out, there were clearly no hard feelings, because Hilton eventually took his father’s place in the family business.

]]> 47. He Got The Top Spot In the later years of his life, after his father took a step back from the family business, they promoted Hilton to director and chairman of the executive committee of the Hilton International Company. His tenure would be devastatingly short, however, because the party boy’s lifestyle finally caught up to him.

]]> 48. He Burned Out On February 5, 1969, Conrad “Nicky” Hilton Jr perished suddenly from a heart attack. He was just 42 years old. After a wild and controversial life, Hilton’s bad habits got the better of him in the end. Indeed, one habit in particular was the leading causal theory for his early demise.

]]> 49. He Drank Himself To The Grave For medical experts, the cause of Hilton’s heart attack at the age of just 42 was clear: his rampant alcoholism. Indeed, the hotelier had continued to drink heavily right up until his final days. It was a tragic end to a troubled life for a spoiled rich kid who never really got it together. At least Hilton could rest now.

]]> 50. He Got Laid To Rest Hilton’s funeral took place at St Paul’s Church in the city he never stopped loving, Los Angeles. The family interred him just outside the city, however, in Culver City’s Holy Cross Cemetery. Hilton’s painful life had, in turn, inflicted a lot of pain on others, and he serves as a cautionary tale of how one’s demons can adversely affect others (particularly women, in this case) if left unchecked.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=32272 <![CDATA[Olive Oatman and her family trespassed on occupied Indigenous lands—and paid a gruesome price.]]> 2026-08-25T17:50:46+00:00 2026-08-25T17:50:46+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-olive-oatman Kayla Sousa People The Tattooed Captive Olive Oatman was one of the only survivors of a gruesome tragedy that destroyed her family. Captured by an Indigenous tribe, she witnessed the unthinkable. Sadly, her tragic losses created a twisted ripple effect—her memories haunting her right to the bitter end.

]]> 1. She Never Saw It Coming Olive Oatman's beginnings were like any other 19th-century Mormon girl in Illinois—but little did she know, fate had a nightmare in store for her. Born in 1837 to Mary Ann and Royce Oatman, Olive grew up in a large family of seven children.

But when she was 14 years old, her family broke away from their original Mormon group—and that's when everything changed.

]]> 2. Her Family Rebelled Olive and her family began following a new leader, James C. Brewster—but there was trouble afoot. While undertaking a pilgrimage to the border of Arizona and California, conflict and tension began to tear the group asunder.

Again, Olive watched as her parents led the rebellion. The group split in two, with Brewster choosing the northern route and the Oatmans choosing the southern route. This, however, was a tragic mistake.

]]> 3. She Lost Hope As the Oatman family and its following party trudged onward, Olive's father Roys became their brave leader. Unfortunately, the road to their new Holy Land was terribly bleak. The land was desolate and barren, effectively drying up everyone's hope.

Many wagons began abandoning the troupe as the climate and country turned against them. Hoping to reach the Colorado River, Olive and her family finally reached Maricopa Wells. But this was only the calm before the storm.

]]> 4. She Met A Fork In The Road Here, Olive’s father received a warning from the locals that Indigenous tribes ahead were highly protective of their land (as one might expect). They urged him to stop venturing forward with the family as a hostile run-in with the Indigenous citizens could prove fatal. His response, however, sealed his family's devastating fate.

]]> 5. She Followed Him Into Danger Olive's father decided not to heed the chilling warning and ignored the advice to stay back. Foolishly, he decided to step into dangerous territory. But that wasn't even the worst part.

All the other families chose to play it safe and hang back; so, it was just Olive and her family, alone and vulnerable. That being said, it was only a matter of time before it all went off the rails.

]]> 6. Her Family Had A Confrontation Just four days after leaving the rest of the group, the Oatman clan had their first encounter with the Yavapai tribe. And boy, was it a recipe for disaster. The Indigenous strangers wanted tobacco and food. However, the Oatman family was short on supplies and unprepared to part with anything. When they denied the Indigenous folks, pure chaos ensued.

]]> 7. She Watched Him Perish When you couple an unwillingness to share with an intrusion onto occupied land, you can probably imagine that things would take a left turn. That’s exactly what happened. Not only did things go left—they turned fatal.

The Oatmans' stinginess enraged the Yavapai tribe, and they lunged right for Olive's father and ruthlessly clubbed him. But this was only the beginning of the carnage.

]]> 8. She Lost Her Family Olive watched in horror as the Yavapais took down her father. But they weren't done yet. A blood bath ensued, and her pregnant mother and four of her siblings met brutal ends as well—all clubbed until their last breaths. Only three of the Oatman clan managed to survive: 14-year-old Olive, 15-year-old Lorenzo, and seven-year-old Mary Ann.

But here, Olive's story takes an even darker turn.

]]> 9. She Thought He Was A Goner The Yavapais captured Olive and Mary Ann, but left Lorenzo behind. They expected him to perish from his wounds, but they were so wrong.

Poor Lorenzo awoke to find his entire family deceased, and two of his sisters missing. Completely alone and heartbroken, he trekked to safety. But as pushed through the pain, a burning mission began forming in the back of his mind.

]]> 10. She Became His Mission While Olive and Mary Ann were at the mercy of their captors, Lorenzo made it to safety and had his injuries tended to. Eventually, he returned to the horrific scene of the slaughter and buried the bodies of his family, but the whereabouts of his two surviving sisters still haunted him. He became determined to find them, no matter what.

]]> 11. She Thought She Was Done For While her brother managed to escape, Olive and her sister weren't so lucky. After being taken by the Yavapais, Olive had no hope for survival, expecting to perish just like the rest of her family. But fate had other plans for her.

The tribe took the girls to the Harquahala Mountains and treated them in an aggressive and threatening way. And that's when they discovered their true purpose.

]]> 12. She Was A Slave The tribe used Olive and Mary Ann as slaves. They began carrying water and firewood, looking for food, and carrying out other menial tasks. However, the terrible treatment they endured made these chores all the more grueling. Burdened by grief, loss, and the terror of the unknown, Olive had no idea that her awful luck was about to change.

]]> 13. She Had A Guardian Angel Olive's life changed forever when another Indigenous group came to trade with the Yavapais—the Mohave people. When the chief's daughter, Topeka, witnessed the chilling treatment of Olive and Mary Ann, she couldn't believe her eyes. She wanted to save them and her empathy transformed her into Olive Oatman's guardian angel.

]]> 14. She Was A Bargaining Chip Topeka, hoping to rescue the girls, tried to offer a trade for them. At first, the Yavapais seemed immovable, unwilling to part with their new slaves. However, Topeka refused to give up, and eventually, her stubbornness paid off. In exchange for Olive and Mary Ann, the Yavapais received two horses, produce, beads, and blankets.

It was a trade that swung Olive's destiny in a completely new direction.

]]> 15. She Found A New Family After finding salvation with the Mohave tribe, Olive and her sister trekked for days toward its village. Unlike the Yavapais, the Mohave tribe greeted them with openness. Chief Espaniole and his family ushered the girls under their wings, taking a singular interest in their wellbeing.

In fact, with the seeds of gratitude already planted, Olive turned a new page and made this tribe her new home.

]]> 16. She Assimilated Compared with her initial captors, Olive found the Mohaves to be far kinder. They treated her better and as time passed, she became assimilated into their way of life. A mark of this total assimilation was her given clan name, Oach. The tribe also gave her the nickname Spantas, meaning "unquenchable lust or thirst".

But this wasn't the most dramatic signifier of her new life.

]]> 17. She Earned Her Life The Mohave people gave the sisters their very own plots of land and expected them to contribute to the community just like everyone else. Olive's life turned topsy-turvy as she adopted new routines and had important duties thrust upon her.

She foraged for food and even planted and harvested her own crops, but that wasn't all.

]]> 18. Her Tattoos Were Meaningful Beyond her wild survival story, Olive Oatman is best remembered for her striking facial tattoos. The permanent marks on her chin and arms were a tribal custom. Both she and Mary Ann bore these marks and they held immense meaning.

The tattoos proved that the Mohave people did not force the girls into captivity, but instead, considered them one of their own. In lieu of the controversy that later engulfed Olive Oatman, this fact is extremely important.

]]> 19. She Was Important To Them According to Mohave tradition, their tattoos would become a powerful tool in the afterlife. When entering the land of the dead, the deceased would be recognizable to other Mohave ancestors. Slaves, on the other hand, did not bear the same tattoos. The Mohave simply weren't interested in being reunited with them, and so, didn't mark them.

Because Olive and Mary Ann bore these special tattoos, they were not considered slaves—but that wasn't the only clue to their total assimilation.

]]> 20. She Didn't Want To Leave You see, according to anthropologist Alfred L Kroeber, the Mohaves gave Olive Oatman the freedom to leave whenever she pleased. However, they refused to accompany her to any white settlement out of fear for their own lives. After all, being found guilty of keeping white women captive had its own dangers.

Olive blamed her hesitancy to leave on her poor directional skills, but like most of her story, there may have been a lot more than met the eye.

]]> 21. She Never Tried To Escape Olive must have felt very comfortable in her new life because when a group of white railroad surveyors arrived in the Mohave Valley, her reaction was stunning.

Instead of rushing to them for help and revealing herself, she remained with her new family. The white surveyors stayed for an entire week, trading and socializing, and Olive didn't make a single peep.

]]> 22. She Faced Starvation In the mid-1850s, another tragedy befell Olive Oatman. A devastating drought ripped through the region and wreaked havoc, leaving everyone scrabbling for sustenance. The Mohave tribe struggled with food shortages and the consequences were heartbreaking. Olive's little sister was around ten years old when she became startlingly ill.

]]> 23. She Tried To Save Her Olive—having lost almost everything already—worked as hard as she could to keep her sister alive. She looked for berries, roots, and birds' eggs in the hopes of finding anything to save Mary Ann's life.

Olive worked hard to tend to the sick members of the tribe, but most especially her sister. Sadly, Mary Ann's lack of nutrition ate away at her tiny body, and Olive began to lose all hope.

]]> 24. She Buried Her Sister To her horror, Olive watched her sister Mary Ann starve and perish. Traditionally, the Mohave people cremated their deceased loved ones, but they made a special exception for Mary Ann. The chief's wife appealed to her husband on Olive's behalf, allowing her the freedom to do whatever she wanted with her sister's remains.

Sadly, the nightmare was far from over.

]]> 25. She Almost Perished Though the Mohave tribe allowed Olive to bury her sister, she herself wasn't out of the woods. In fact, Olive might have met the same early end, if not for Aespaneo—the chief's wife. With an empty belly and her strength waning, Olive let Aespaneo tend to her in her time of need, swallowing gruel just to stay alive.

These loving ministrations only created a deeper bond between Olive and the Aespaneo—one that would later be called into question.

]]> 26. She Was Different By the time she was 19, Olive had fully surrendered to her new reality. She had new friends and connections and considered herself a part of the Mohave tribe. But there was one truth she just couldn't escape.

Olive's whiteness and true identity would always be a threat to her community. She just couldn't outrun her past—and eventually, it came knocking at her front door.

]]> 27. She Became Hot Gossip One day, a messenger named Francisco arrived with an unsettling message from For Yuma. Authorities there had caught wind of the disturbing rumor of a white girl living amongst the Mohave people. The post commander wanted the girl returned, or at least to know why she hadn't come of her own free will. This caused an absolute uproar.

]]> 28. She Was Important To Them Contact from the outsiders made the Mohaves more protective of Olive than ever before. They hid her away and tried to deny that she was the white girl in question. In fact, they argued that Olive wasn't white at all. Their affection for Olive fueled their resistance; they didn't want to return her. But in the end, it just wasn't enough.

]]> 29. They Traded Her The messenger, Francisco, wasn't about to give up right away. Determined to get Olive back, he made another bargaining attempt. This time, there was a trade involved. But that wasn't the most deranged part. Although the Mohave accepted a white horse and blankets in exchange for Olive, fear guided their decision.

Francisco passed on a pointed threat: He told the Mohaves that the whites would destroy them if they didn't free Olive.

]]> 30. She Had To Let Go It was finally time for Olive to return to her people, but this was a hard goodbye. It was a 20-day journey back to Fort Yuma, and Topeka—Olive's original savior—joined her. Upon arriving at the fort, it became clear that Olive was not wearing suitable attire. She still wore a traditional Mohave skirt and absolutely nothing from her waist up.

It was time to strip off her new identity and don her old one.

]]> 31. She Returned To Her People As Olive slipped into an appropriate Western outfit, she readied herself for her grand return. When she entered the fort, screams of joy and celebration surrounded her, with people cheering from every angle. But this was a bittersweet moment if there ever was one. In fact, there's reason to believe that Olive had left far more behind than she let on.

]]> 32. She May Have Kept A Secret When Olive returned to the Western way of life, she reunited with one of her long, lost friends, Susan Thompson. Years down the road, Susan made a shocking confession about Olive. She reported that Olive grieved her forced return. Even worse? Susan claimed that Olive had left an entire family behind.

]]> 33. She Sparked Wild Rumors The stories surrounding Olive's life with the Mohave people are often hazy, but her close friend Susan claimed that Olive had been married and even had two sons. However, Olive denied every rumor about a possible romance with a Mohave man. In fact, according to her, she had never slept with an Indigenous man in her life.

]]> 34. She Was Chaste Olive Oatman later declared, "to the honor of these savages let it be said, they never offered the least unchaste abuse to me". However, some believe that this was a downright lie.

Her nickname, Spantsa, could have meant "rotten womb," implying that she may have been intimately active yet infertile. Historians, on the other hand, believe her name could have had many meanings.

]]> 35. She Made A Shocking Discovery Integrating with the white folks at Fort Yuma was already a culture shock for Olive, but the biggest surprise was yet to come.

Only a few days after arriving, she discovered that her dear brother Lorenzo had miraculously survived and had been looking for her this entire time. When they finally reunited, their heartfelt meeting made headlines everywhere throughout the West. But this certainly wasn't the end of Olive's story.

]]> 36. She Told Her Story In 1857, a new character entered Olive's life—a pastor named Royal Byron Stratton. He'd heard about the Oatman massacre and believed that this horrifying story was tailor-made for great literature. And boy was he right.

Stratton wrote Life among the Indian: or, The Captivity of the Oatman Girls Among the Apache & Mohave Indians. It was an instant hit and became a bestseller. But there was also a dark side to this publication.

]]> 37. She Colored The Truth Although Olive had lived amongst the Mohave and chose to stay with them, Stratton's novel told a very different story. In it, Olive claimed that she and her sister were held by the Mohave against her will and that she felt terrified to leave. There's a good chance that Stratton influenced this particular account, coloring the truth for the sake of sensationalism.

Of course, Olive played along with any falsehoods the novel spouted.

]]> 38. She Blurred Fact And Fiction Olive's exaggerated claims and blatant lies helped her sell tickets, but did a disservice to the Mohave people. She told everyone that her tattoos signified her enslavement and called the Mohaves "savage masters" who disfigured her against her will. Stratton no doubt supported the embellished retelling and offered Olive a delicious incentive in return.

]]> 39. She Was A Bestseller Stratton's book sold 30,000 copies and the royalties helped turned the surviving Oatman siblings' lives around. As a result, Olive and Lorenzo had the opportunity to attend the University of the Pacific. Of course, she had to do far more than just share her story. She also had to hit the road and promote the book on a book tour—and it was incredibly eye-opening.

]]> 40. She Was A Curiosity To the rest of the world, Olive Oatman's story was so horrifying, it sounded surreal. This transformed her into the perfect moneymaker—a curiosity worth every penny. Most astonishing of all was the blue tattoo on her chin. On the book tour, curious audiences could come to spectate Olive in the flesh.

In fact, Olive had a lot of "firsts" to her name, which made her all the more intriguing.

]]> 41. Her Tattoos Became A Sensation Olive Oatman was the very first white American woman to be tattooed, but that wasn't all. By promoting Stratton's book and telling her story to audiences, she also became one of the first female public speakers. At this time, feminism was still in its infancy. As a woman speaking out, Olive's name became wrapped up in the movement, whether she wanted it to or not.

But in the end, it couldn't be denied that Stratton's book blurred truth and fiction, sensationalizing Olive's nightmare. She relived it time and time again—but eventually, it began to take its toll.

]]> 42. She Fell In Love Although Lorenzo got fed up with hawking his sad story, Olive continued for about six years. Finally, about 10 years after returning to western society, she decided to settle down. She married a rancher named John Fairchild, settling in Texas. But before she could embark on this new chapter, she and her new husband severed the past in the most dramatic way.

]]> 43. Her Husband Burned Her Books Reportedly, Olive's husband John was not a fan of Olive's old collaborator, Stratton. He burned as many copies of Captivity of the Oatman Girls book as he could. But that wasn't all.

John likely influenced Olive's complete break with the author as well. Stratton was not welcome at the couple's wedding. He'd proven himself to be opportunistic, preying on Olive's need for financial support.

]]> 44. She Had Scarring Memories Now happily married, Olive had no need for Stratton—but her awful history continued to haunt her. After breaking ties with Stratton, she became incredibly tight-lipped about her time with the Mohave people. Often seen wearing a veil to cover her face, she retreated into the shadows, shy and reserved.

But though she no longer shared her story, it continued to tear her life apart.

]]> 45. Her Mental Health Faltered The loss Olive endured at such a young age caused her to carry some serious mental distress. In her later life, she struggled with depressive episodes and was emotionally disturbed. In fact, the ghosts from her past became so overwhelming, they drove her right to the edge. On one occasion, her anguish reached a shocking climax.

]]> 46. She Had A Nervous Breakdown Unsurprisingly, Olive's mental health struggles caused her to have a nervous breakdown. For treatment, she tried everything, even traveling all the way to a Canadian medical spa in hopes of respite. But no amount of medicine or therapy could ever heal her. In fact, one of her private letters revealed an incredibly dark truth about Olive's true feelings.

]]> 47. She Missed Her Parents In 1882, Olive wrote to a friend and the letter proved that she'd never be able to let go of her gruesome past. She wrote, "I long to have my dear mother back". But that's not the saddest part.

Her parentless status affected her deeply, so much so that she busied herself with charity work that reflected her own life: She worked with orphans.

]]> 48. She Never Worked Olive Oatman's prosperous life was in stark contrast to her life with the Mohave people. After marrying John, she never had to work again; he made enough money to support them both. She didn't have to plant and harvest her own food or worry about starvation ever again. They lived in a large Victorian mansion and wanted for nothing...except, maybe, a child.

]]> 49. She Adopted Olive and John never had any biological children, but they did adopt a little girl who they named Mary Elizabeth and called Mamie. Olive gave Mamie the childhood she never had herself. For the rest of her life and beyond, speculation about her past continued to swirl—and there was one rumor in particular that had an unexpected twist.

]]> 50. They Got It Wrong Many believed that Olive Oatman ended her days locked up in a mental asylum. But that was horribly untrue. Instead, it was Stratton—the man she'd exiled from her life—who developed hereditary insanity and eventually passed. Even so, Olive's mental health struggles dogged her until the bitter end.

]]> 51. Her Legacy Lives On In 1901, Olive Oatman lost her last surviving family member—her brother, Lorenzo. But she quickly followed in his footsteps, succumbing to a heart attack less than two years later. On March 20, 1903—at the age of 65—she closed her eyes forever. Still, she'd never be forgotten. Today, her legacy and real-life horror story continue to shock and move modern audiences.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=29036 <![CDATA[The Lennox Sisters turned high society upside down with one scandal after another—and the fallout destroyed far more than their reputations.]]> 2026-08-25T14:32:56+00:00 2026-08-25T14:32:56+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-lennox-sisters Brendan Da Costa People They Broke All The Rules The Lennox sisters—Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah—had a king for a great-grandfather, palaces for playgrounds, and more money than they could ever spend. Yet none of that could keep them out of trouble. Secret elopement, a near-miss with the throne of England, and affairs that scandalized two kingdoms, the Lennox sisters had everything…until it all fell apart.

]]> 1. They Were Eight, Not Four Georgian England never knew what hit it. Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox were the daughters of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and Sarah Cadogan. Those four aristocratic girls would keep the scandal sheets busy for half a century—and that wasn’t even all of the Lennox sisters. A fifth sister, Cecilia, was gone by 19, and three more girls never made it out of the nursery.

Four Lennox sisters were all England could bear anyway.

]]> 2. They Descended From A King The Lennox sisters had royal pedigree. Their grandfather, the 1st Duke of Richmond, was King Charles II’s son by way of his French mistress, Louise de Kérouaille. Illegitimacy, it turns out, paid handsomely: the king set his boy up with titles in England, Scotland, and France, a hefty annuity, and a cut of Britain’s coal dues that would keep the Lennox sisters living in luxury generations later.

]]> 3. They Had A Strange Hobby What did the Lennox sisters do with all that cash? Beg for seashells. Through the 1730s and 1740s, the Lennox sisters, encouraged by their mother, collected shells off navy captains docking at Portsmouth. But they had a purpose for it. The young sisters arranged the shells into intricate designs in the grotto at the family’s estate in Sussex, the fabled Goodwood House.

Goodwood, mind you, was only one of their addresses.

]]> 4. They Charmed The King Home, for the Lennox sisters, was wherever the king happened to be. With their father serving as Lord of the Bedchamber to King George II, the girls split their childhood between Goodwood House, Richmond House in London, and the royal palaces themselves. That proximity to the King would lead to one of the biggest scandals of Georgian England with a Lennox sister square in the middle of it.

]]> 5. They Taught Themselves Nobody expected the Lennox sisters to be scholars. Their formal schooling stopped at the usual ladylike checklist—reading, writing, music, embroidery, and a dose of religion. So the girls filled the gaps on their own, devouring French literature, with Voltaire the runaway favorite. In fact, the girls read so much French that it became almost as natural as English.

The eldest, Caroline, would be the first Lennox sister to turn heads and raise eyebrows on her own.

]]> 6. Caroline Performed For Royalty As the eldest, Caroline was the first Lennox sister to make a name for herself at court. Born Lady Georgiana Carolina Lennox on March 27, 1723, at Richmond House, she got her first taste of the spotlight at 9. The endearing little Caroline took to the stage in the drama The Indian Emperour in front of the reigning King and Queen.

That was about all the attention she could get.

]]> 7. Caroline Fell For The Wrong Man Caroline’s parents, concerned with their duties at court, were around so rarely that a French-speaking governess practically raised her. The Duke and Duchess would often be away for days at a time, leaving Caroline to her own devices. That might explain why, at age 19, she fell head over heels for Henry Fox—a Member of Parliament nearly two decades older than her.

Her parents liked Fox just fine. But as a son-in-law? Not a chance.

]]> 8. Caroline’s Suitor Was Trouble On paper, Henry Fox was nobody’s dream son-in-law. He gambled recklessly and chased women with abandon. The unforgivable part, however, was that he was a commoner. The Richmonds happily kept Fox as a friend, but marrying a duke’s daughter was another matter entirely. When Fox finally worked up the nerve to ask for Caroline’s hand, her father didn’t just say no. He raged.

Fox heard the no. He simply ignored it.

]]> 9. Caroline Faced An Impossible Choice Fox knew his window was closing—Caroline was about to leave London with her family. So he forced Caroline to choose: her parents, or him. Her emotional response to Fox, preserved in a letter that still survives to this day, read: “I am vastly frightened to think of what I am going to do. I fear they will never forgive me”.

Caroline was about to cause the first Lennox sister scandal.

]]> 10. Caroline Ran Away To Elope Caroline made her choice. On May 2, 1744, she quietly slipped away and wed Fox at the house of a friend to avoid raising an alarm. When she informed her parents what she had done, their response was volcanic. The Duke and Duchess barred Caroline from the family home, cut her off from her brothers and sisters, and refused to speak to her.

The fallout had only just begun.

]]> 11. Caroline Broke Her Father’s Heart After the near-excommunication between Caroline and her family, she had to cancel a large society ball that she had planned to host at Richmond House the week after her secret wedding. But a cancelled ball was the least of the damage. Historian Tim Clarke recorded that the Duke never really recovered from his daughter’s betrayal, calling it “perhaps the only great sorrow of [the Duke’s] full and successful life”.

The freeze between Caroline and her parents lasted four long years—but the thaw wasn’t much better.

]]> 12. Caroline Won Them Back It wasn’t until Caroline delivered her first son in 1748 that her parents finally defrosted the cold shoulder they had given her. Fox seized the opportunity to make nice with his in-laws, commissioning a beautiful portrait of his wife as a peace offering. And it worked. Caroline and Fox went on to have four sons, including Charles James Fox, the future giant of Whig politics.

A growing family needed a proper home.

]]> 13. Caroline Got A Fixer-Upper To accommodate their growing family, in 1746, Caroline and Fox moved into a crumbling Jacobean pile on the edge of London: Holland House. The place came with 64 acres…and a to-do list. But, within a decade, the couple had turned the wreck into one of London’s great social and political salons, and filled its walls with portraits by masters like Joshua Reynolds.

Renovations on that scale don’t come cheap.

]]> 14. Caroline’s Husband Struck Gold Henry Fox had a talent for finding money—though maybe not always legally. His rise through the government was rapid, eventually occupying the position of Paymaster of the Forces. His alleged, though never proven, corruption led to the press calling him “public defaulter of unaccounted millions”. It’s not like Caroline had any money of her own…

]]> 15. Caroline Inherited Nothing Despite their apparent reconciliation, Caroline’s parents took their grudge to the grave. The Duke passed on in 1750, the Duchess a year later—and their will pointedly skipped Caroline as payback for the elopement. Guardianship of the three youngest Lennox sisters—Louisa, Sarah, and Cecilia—went to Emily and her husband in Ireland instead.

Caroline seethed, but spotted a path back to respectability: she would launch her little sisters into society herself, and see them brilliantly married.

]]> 16. Emily Was The Smart One Every family has a smart one. Among the Lennox sisters, that was Emily. Born Lady Emilia Mary Lennox on October 6, 1731, she read everything she could get her hands on—politics, philosophy, theology. At 15, she married James FitzGerald, the Earl of Kildare, trading London for a pair of grand Irish addresses: Leinster House, then Carton House in County Kildare.

Emily had big ideas.

]]> 17. Emily Had Radical Ideas Of the Lennox sisters, Emily turned heads for the radical way in which she raised her children. She was devoted to the Enlightenment ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau—so devoted that she reportedly invited the philosopher himself to come teach her brood, but he declined the offer. Undeterred, Emily ran the program on her own.

Breaking with tradition, she skipped out on the wet nurse and nursed her babies herself. She also stressed the importance of physical, outdoor exercise in her children’s upbringing. She would need every ounce of motherly devotion.

]]> 18. Emily Never Left Their Side Emily’s nursery never stopped growing—and neither did her heartbreak. Across 25 years of marriage with Kildare, Emily brought 19 children into the world…but only 10 of them reached adulthood. Emily grieved each loss like it was the first, staying at every sickbed to the very end, and stepping out only when the grief physically overcame her.

Her husband, meanwhile, kept busy in his own way.

]]> 19. Emily Became A Duchess By most accounts, despite their mounting personal losses, Emily’s marriage to Kildare was a happy one. Emily’s husband was a rising star in Ireland, collecting titles—Marquess of Kildare, then 1st Duke of Leinster—to improve the family name. It was all, however, a veneer. Kildare’s affairs were an open secret—one Emily knowingly chose to live with.

Two, she figured, could play at that game.

]]> 20. Emily Fell For The Tutor Emily didn’t spend much time crying over her husband’s infidelity—she just had an affair of her own. William Ogilvie was the tutor she hired for her enormous brood—but, in the romantic setting of her seaside resort, Ogilvie became a lot more than that. Then, in April of 1773, Emily gave birth to a son the world knew as Kildare’s…but he was Ogilvie’s.

Kildare passed on that November, never learning the truth. It was Emily’s shortened mourning period that raised some eyebrows.

]]> 21. Emily Scandalized Dublin Emily barely waited for her husband’s corpse to go cold before she married Ogilvie in France. It was scandalous enough that she had remarried so soon, but marrying a tutor, nine years her junior, and nowhere near her rank was what shocked Ireland’s high society. For her part, Emily didn’t seem to care, accepting the title of Dowager Duchess of Leinster while having three more children with her new husband.

And she kept the money, too.

]]> 22. Emily Got A Sweet Deal Despite their respective infidelities, Kildare left Emily very well looked after. His will handed her £4,000 a year—more than the marriage contract ever promised—plus lifetime use of Leinster House and Carton, and an allowance for every child. The terms were so generous that they left little to her own son and hobbled him for decades after.

While Emily built her new life with her husband’s old money, another Lennox sister blazed a trail of her own.

]]> 23. Louisa Lost Her Parents Young Louisa barely got to know her mother and father. Born Lady Louisa Augusta Lennox on December 5, 1743, in London, the third surviving Lennox sister wasn’t yet 8 when her parents passed within a year of each other. Thankfully, she had siblings—lots of them—so off she went to Ireland, where big sister Emily raised her, just as her father had ordered.

]]> 24. Louisa Married At 15 Emily took her matronly responsibilities over her sister seriously and saw to it that Louisa found a good match. In 1758, the 15-year-old Louisa wed Thomas Conolly, one of the wealthiest landowners in Ireland and grand-nephew of a former Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The marriage made Louisa rich. It also made her the family’s odd one out.

]]> 25. Louisa Was The Good One By the 1750s, the Lennox sisters were almost synonymous with scandal—except for Louisa. One contemporary account called her “notable among [her sisters] for leading a wholly uncontroversial life filled with good works”. Good works that earned their own headlines alongside her sisters’ scandals. When John Bush published his 1769 travelogue Hibernia Curiosa, he dedicated the book to her.

Louisa’s good works were no accident. They filled a painful hole in her heart.

]]> 26. Louisa Never Had Children If Emily had too many little Lennoxes, then Louisa had too few—none to be exact. Their inability to conceive led Louisa and Conolly to throw themselves into caring for everyone else’s children. The couple opened a school of their own—one of Ireland’s earliest Industrial Schools—and filled it with local boys learning to earn a living. Louisa even mentored the students herself.

What little time she had for herself, she dedicated to improving Castletown House, their grand Palladian mansion. Eventually, Louisa found a child to love as her own.

]]> 27. Louisa Found A Daughter In middle age, Louisa got her child after all. Her little sister Sarah had a daughter, Emily Louisa Napier, and Louisa all but adopted the girl, keeping her for long stretches at her home in Kildare. The bond held for life—even after the girl married a baronet and moved to Suffolk, she stayed devoted to her aunt. Louisa’s devotion extended to her husband, too—right up until she lost him.

]]> 28. Louisa Lost Her Husband In 1803, after 45 years of marriage, Conolly passed on. Most of his sprawling estates went to a distant relative—but Louisa kept what mattered. Castletown House stayed hers, along with investments and city properties that kept her flush with cash to continue funding her charities to the very end. If Louisa was the saintly sister, the next one was the sinner.

]]> 29. Sarah Would Be The Scandalous Sister Caroline, Emily, Louisa—and then there was Sarah. Born Lady Sarah Lennox on Valentine’s Day in 1745 at Richmond House, the youngest of the four famous Lennox sisters would also be the family’s most scandalous. Before she could read, she had already become George II’s favorite of the Lennox sisters; he found that her energy and cheek provided levity in his dull court.

She was certainly entertaining.

]]> 30. Sarah Sang For Her Freedom George II’s sense of humor ran close to being cruel. On one visit in the late 1740s, he scooped up tiny Sarah and dropped her into a giant Chinese jar. Most children would have screamed until the jar cracked and shattered. Not Sarah. From inside the porcelain came a little voice, cheerfully singing a French folk tune until the delighted king let her out.

The king was no match for Sarah.

]]> 31. Sarah Ambushed The King Sarah was causing scandals before her fifth birthday. The littlest Lennox sister managed to give her governess the slip and strolled straight up to the most powerful man in Britain. Greeting him in French, she impertinently said, “How are you doing, Mr King? You have a large and beautiful house here, don’t you?” The King’s heart melted.

Then she was gone before he knew it.

]]> 32. Sarah Went To Ireland When her parents passed, Sarah went to live with her older sister, Emily, in Ireland. But the Duke of Richmond kept directing his daughters’ lives from beyond the grave. Under the terms of his will, Sarah had to return to London once she was of marrying age. So in 1759, the 14-year-old said her goodbyes and moved into Holland House, where Caroline and Fox took charge of her future.

Her new guardians could hardly believe their luck.

]]> 33. Sarah Dazzled Holland House “Different from & prettyer than any other girl [he] ever saw”—that was Henry Fox’s assessment of the teenage Sarah when she arrived at Holland House in London. And he wasn’t exaggerating, noting she had “the finest complexion, most beautiful hair…a pretty mouth, remarkably fine teeth & excess of bloom in her cheeks”.

Fox saw dollar signs.

]]> 34. Sarah Caught A Prince’s Eye Sarah’s debut at court in 1759 filled Fox’s imagination with riches. George, the 21-year-old Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, couldn’t take his eyes off the newest Lennox sister. Over the next two years, the Prince of Wales fell madly in love, gushing, “She is everything I can form to myself lovely”. A Lennox sister on the throne of England?

One man wanted it even more than the prince did.

]]> 35. Sarah Was Her Brother-In-Law’s Cash Cow Fox—along with the rest of the English court—noticed the Prince of Wales’ infatuation with Sarah and decided to cash in. As her guardian, he engineered as many court appearances for Sarah as he could, betting a royal marriage would carry him to an earldom. The prince’s adviser, Lord Bute, ran the same calculation but reached the opposite conclusion: the last thing Britain needed was a more powerful Henry Fox.

Sarah’s love story was now a game of politics—and she wasn’t the one moving the pieces.

]]> 36. Sarah’s Suitor Became King In October 1760, George II passed on—and just like that, the Prince of Wales became King George III. Heavy as the crown was, it didn’t change his feelings for Sarah. The new king reportedly dropped a hint to Sarah’s close friend Susan Fox-Strangways: England, he mused, deserved an English queen. Sarah was one bended knee away from the throne.

]]> 37. Sarah Lost The Crown The proposal never came—and neither did the crown. In 1761, the palace announced King George III’s engagement…to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a German princess from half a continent away. But it’s not like George III ever stopped loving Sarah. “The interest of my country shall ever be my first care,” he confided to the pages of his diary, “my own inclinations shall ever submit to it”.

Sarah wouldn’t make George III’s decision any easier.

]]> 38. Sarah Carried Her Rival’s Train While England rejoiced at the engagement announcement, Fox fumed. He persuaded Sarah to stand as a bridesmaid at the royal wedding, convinced the king would “behold your pretty face and repent”. And so Sarah spent the ceremony as chief bridesmaid—carrying the train of the German princess who had taken her place. Sarah, for one, could not have been happier to move on.

]]> 39. Sarah Had No Regrets If losing a king broke Sarah’s heart, she hid it well. Years later, she admitted to feeling relieved that the crown had passed her by—and the historian John Brooke sided with her, writing the whole thing off as puppy love. George III also moved on, declaring, “before God that I have never had any improper thought with regard to her [Sarah]”.

If Sarah couldn’t be a queen, she would at least be a baronetess—an unhappy one.

]]> 40. Sarah Married Her Storybook Man After her thwarted royal marriage, Sarah married Sir Charles Bunbury—young, handsome, witty, and a Member of Parliament to boot. In fact, Sarah considered him an upgrade from the Prince of Wales, swooning that he was like “a Marquis in a French story book”. The couple made it official in June of 1762, exchanging vows in the chapel at Holland House.

Sarah’s fairytale, however, ended at the altar.

]]> 41. Sarah Was Bored Married life took Sarah to Barton Hall, Bunbury’s estate deep in the Suffolk countryside. There she discovered her husband’s true love: horse racing. Bunbury followed the turf all over England while his young wife sat home, bored out of her mind and utterly alone. Boredom, for a Lennox sister, was a dangerous condition.

]]> 42. Sarah Found Comfort Elsewhere Scandal found Sarah in the form of Lord William Gordon—a dashing young army officer and a duke’s son. A friendship quickly deepened into an affair. An affair that would have devastating consequences when, just days before Christmas in 1768, Sarah gave birth to a baby girl. Fueled by guilt, Sarah had to confess the truth to her husband: the baby wasn’t Bunbury’s.

Bunbury’s response was surprising.

]]> 43. Sarah Burned Every Bridge To Sarah’s surprise, Bunbury was willing to raise another man’s daughter as his own; all Sarah had to do was give up Gordon. That, however, was too much to ask. Within weeks, Sarah and her lover ran off together to a friend’s country estate—and this time, there was no coming back. Bunbury shut the door for good, and Sarah landed at her brother’s house, baby in tow.

The romance with Gordon fizzled. The consequences had just begun.

]]> 44. Sarah Got Dragged Through Court Bunbury’s patience with Sarah had run out by April of 1769—and then he did something almost unheard of. Seeking romance justice, Bunbury petitioned for a formal separation with a scathing condemnation of his wife: “Lady Sarah Bunbury, being of loose and abandoned disposition, and, being wholly unmindful of her conjugal vow”. Even then, the marriage took ages to dissolve, finally reaching an end in 1776.

By then, all of England knew Sarah’s business.

]]> 45. Sarah Made All The Papers Georgian tabloids feasted on every detail of Sarah’s divorce proceedings. Town and Country was among the first to run the lurid story, writing in April of 1769 as the scandal was breaking that “rank and beauty have been her [Sarah’s] ruin”. The Morning Post, however, was among the most ruthless in its gossip, causing Sarah to remark that it was “full of lies and no news”.

Her past romances only made the coverage juicier.

]]> 46. Sarah Haunted The King England never forgot that Sarah had once been the object of King George III’s affections and had nearly worn the crown as a result. King George III himself also hadn’t forgotten. During the king’s infamous 1788 breakdown, Sarah’s name came rushing off his tongue—feeding whispers that the famously proper king had been repressing his feelings all along.

Not even a king could protect Sarah from the social stain of her actions…

]]> 47. Sarah Became An Outcast The high-profile divorce made Sarah untouchable. For 12 years, she lived what even she had to call a “solitary life”. Her social isolation was so severe that she could spend time with her family…and almost no one else. In fact, Sarah had become such a pariah that her brother, the 3rd Duke, ordered her to stay out of sight when guests visited the Lennox estate.

She might have gone mad if it hadn’t been for one thing.

]]> 48. Sarah Found A New Purpose To help keep her busy, Sarah’s brother let her build a house of her own on the family estate. Without a single date on her social calendar, Sarah threw herself into every detail of the design. The result was Molecomb House. One historian wrote that the project “provided her with a sense of purpose and usefulness during the long years of social obscurity”.

What Sarah really needed, though, was a reason to rejoin the world. In 1776, one came calling.

]]> 49. Sarah Met Her Match George Napier. That was the man who, in 1776, breathed new life into the youngest of the Lennox sisters. Napier was an army officer, a Scottish lord’s younger son, and…flat broke! Nevertheless, Sarah’s brother made the introduction and a deep friendship, free of social expectations and financial concerns, took root.

There was just one problem: Napier already had a wife—and the Lennoxes couldn’t afford another scandal.

]]> 50. Sarah Behaved Herself For once in her life, Sarah—or any Lennox sister apart from Louisa, for that matter—played it safe. No elopement this time. To help prevent a scandal, higher-ups in the British army nudged Napier into a different posting, shipping him off to America. But when his wife passed, there was nothing holding Sarah back.

The two were wed in August of 1781, at Goodwood House. This time, the fairytale would be real.

]]> 51. Sarah Raised National Heroes Sarah’s second marriage was everything her first was not—happy, devoted, and dirt poor. Her divorce settlement paid a measly £500 a year, but the couple made it work while raising a growing brood of eight children. Four of her boys went on to celebrated careers in the army and navy, and their exploits against Napoleon earned Sarah letters of praise from Lord Wellington himself.

Motherhood, however, came with heartaches as well.

]]> 52. Sarah Lost Her Firstborn Little Louisa Bunbury—the daughter born of Sarah’s great scandal—never got the chance to add to the Lennox legacy. Consumption claimed the girl at just 17, and years later Sarah would still fondly remember her daughter’s “angellick [sic] disposition”, writing that her passing “carried up my thoughts to that Heaven where I know she is”.

It wouldn’t be the last time Sarah’s world fell apart.

]]> 53. Sarah Lost Her True Love In October of 1804, after 23 years of marriage, Napier passed on—and Sarah’s world just about stopped. Her surviving letters paint a picture of her grief: “I have lost him who made me like this world. It is now a dreary expanse…while he lived, I saw all objects through the medium of my own happiness”. In her grief, Sarah turned to the unlikeliest source of comfort.

]]> 54. Sarah Got A Royal Apology Napier’s passing left Sarah with little income—so she turned to an old flame. Invoking her late husband’s years of loyal service, Sarah wrote to the crown—to her first romance, King George III—asking for a pension. At first: silence. Then, perhaps feeling guilty over the humiliation Sarah suffered at the end of their teenage fling, the king came through with £800 a year.

Sarah’s story was nearly complete. But one Lennox sister never got to write hers.

]]> 55. Cecilia Never Got Her Story There was a fifth Lennox sister who might have electrified Georgian England. Cecilia arrived on February 28, 1750. Her father was gone before that summer ended, her mother soon after, making her the only Lennox sister who never really knew her parents at all. Like Louisa and Sarah before her, the baby of the family went to Ireland, where Emily raised her.

Unlike her sisters, Cecilia would never get the chance to make headlines or history.

]]> 56. Cecilia Faded Away As Cecilia grew into a young woman, her health deteriorated instead of improving. Afflicted with a wasting illness—likely tuberculosis—the other Lennox sisters tried everything. Seeking better climates and treatments, they sent her off to Lyons Gate and even France where, tragically, she would spend her last days. When she passed in Paris in November of 1769 she was just 19 years old.

The remaining Lennox sisters held each other all the tighter.

]]> 57. They Ended Up Together The Lennox sisters’ story ends where it began: with each other. Widowhood brought Louisa and Sarah under one roof in London, while the aging Emily settled nearby at Grosvenor Place. Together again, they gardened, wrote letters to distant friends and relations, and settled into a leisurely life. But age was taking the toll that their respective scandals had not, and they all grew old together.

Then they left, one by one.

]]> 58. Sarah Outlived Them All Emily went first, in 1814, at the age of 82. Then a quieter seven years passed until Louisa followed in 1821. That left Sarah—the baby of the family, the almost-queen—as the last Lennox sister standing. She held on until August 26, 1826, passing at 81 at her home in Cadogan Place, London. The Lennox sisters were gone. Their voices weren’t.

]]> 59. They Left Their Voices Behind The Lennox sisters wrote to each other constantly, across decades and distances—and the letters contained secrets. The historian Stella Tillyard calls the collection “nearly a century’s worth of letters…written in voices that we have scarcely ever heard, from eighteenth-century women” whose “circumstances were extraordinary”.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62809 <![CDATA[Percy Fawcett dedicated his life to finding a lost city in the Amazon rainforest—but the more obsessed he got, the more he sealed his dark fate.]]> 2026-08-25T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-21T19:02:08+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-percy-fawcett David O'Shea People The Search For A Lost City Percy Fawcett was born into a well-to-do British family with an insatiable urge for exploration. Though few frontiers remained untouched by the time he reached his prime, the Amazon rainforest was still largely unexplored, and after hearing legends of a lost city deep therein, finding it became an obsession for Fawcett—one that would ultimately lead to his mysterious disappearance.

]]> 1. He Had Privilege Percy Fawcett was born in Devon, England, on August 18, 1867. The Fawcetts were a very well-off family who traced their roots back to old Yorkshire gentry. They had made their family fortune as shipping magnates in the late-18th and 19th centuries, primarily in the East Indies. This seafaring lifestyle instilled in Fawcett men a deep passion for exploration.

]]> 2. His Dad Was A Role Model Percy’s father was Edward Boyd Fawcett, and he nurtured in his son a fascination with geography that would later morph into Percy’s passion, or, more appropriately, his obsession. Edward had been born in India, where his parents no doubt took part in the colonial occupation of the country, and was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). It was not just Percy to whom he passed on his enthusiasm.

]]> 3. His Brother Was An Oddball Percy’s older brother, Edward Douglas Fawcett, was a fascinating figure in his own right. He was a passionate mountain climber, which ticked the explorer/naturalist/daredevil boxes of the Fawcett lineage, but Edward Jr had more peculiar interests too.

He became enraptured by Eastern occultism and published several philosophical books on the topic. He also authored several popular adventure novels. Percy, then, had a lot to live up to, but luckily, his privilege afforded him the best education money could buy.

]]> 4. He Learned With The Best For his teenage years, Percy Fawcett’s parents enrolled him in the prestigious Newton Abbot Proprietary School, where he studied alongside some important figures of the era. One of these was Bertram Fletcher Robinson, who would become an influential sportsman and journalist, and would later be Fawcett’s “in” to the world of literature, to which he was adjacent. Upon graduation, Fawcett did what any good British boy did: he looked to serve his country.

]]> 5. He Sought Glory With an adventurous spirit already instilled in him, Fawcett wanted to see the world, and there was one avenue that assured that kind of lifestyle. He enrolled in the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, hopeful that it would offer him the chance to strike out across the British Empire. He took to it like a duck to water.

]]> 6. He Started Well Fawcett’s performance (or maybe it was his family name?) at the Academy was impressive enough that upon graduating on July 24, 1886, he got commissioned as a lieutenant of the Royal Artillery at the age of just 19. It wasn’t all work, no play for the young upstart, of course, and his socializing put him in touch with a striking young woman.

]]> 7. He Met A Girl With his career firmly established, Fawcett now sought to start a family. The same year he received commission, he met Nina Agnes Paterson, and the two were immediately smitten. They began courting, and as their relationship solidified, so too did Fawcett’s professional success.

]]> 8. He Climbed The Ranks Percy Fawcett continued to excel in his lieutenant position and received a series of successive promotions. In January 1896, army brass appointed him Adjutant of the 1st Duke of Cornwall’s Artillery Volunteers; the following year, in June, he received promotion to captain. This success allowed him to realize his dream of seeing the world, too.

]]> 9. He Traveled The Globe The Brits deployed Fawcett across the Empire to serve his country, and he saw a diverse range of exotic locations. His areas of service included Hong Kong, Malta, and several years in Ceylon, which was the name given to British-occupied Sri Lanka. Upon his return home, he couldn’t keep Nina waiting any longer.

]]> 10. He Tied The Knot Percy and Nina’s courtship was a long one, largely due to his deployments overseas. Finally, though, in 1901, the two were married. They quickly set to work carrying on the Fawcett family name.

]]> 11. He Had A Family The Fawcett family began to grow a couple of years after Percy and Nina’s marriage, with the arrival of baby Jack in 1903. Another son, Brian, followed in 1906, and finally, a daughter in 1910, Joan. The eldest Fawcett child’s fate got tied to his father’s, but in the familial bliss of his childhood, no one could have known the destiny that awaited him. That all began with Percy following in his own father’s footsteps.

]]> 12. He Pursued His Passion The same year he married Nina, Percy Fawcett joined the organization for which his father had been a Fellow: the Royal Geographical Society. It wasn’t just family ties that attracted Fawcett to the RGS; the organization empowered him to pursue his passion and study surveying and mapmaking. This led to interesting opportunities in exotic lands.

]]> 13. He Was A Spook In his pursual of the surveyor’s craft, Fawcett spent some time in North Africa. All the while, however, the budding explorer was still an enlisted man in the British armed forces, and so, while there, he undertook clandestine work for the British Secret Service. As he honed his expeditionist skills, Fawcett excelled on two fronts as he continued to climb the ranks.

]]> 14. He Was A Colonial Occupier From 1903 to 1906, Fawcett’s work saw him take part in the British occupation of Ireland. They deployed him to Spike Island, off the coast of County Cork, where he served for the British War Office. Fawcett excelled in his colonial duties there and saw promotion to major on January 11, 1905. And with the rank of major came some major contacts.

]]> 15. He Met Some Writers Around this time, Fawcett made a few noteworthy friends, who likely inspired his future exploits as an adventurer. One of these was Sir Henry Rider Haggard, a writer of adventure fiction and pioneer of the lost world literary genre. Another was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who famously penned the Sherlock Holmes novels. Doyle’s other works, however, took inspiration from Fawcett himself.

]]> 16. He Inspired A Tale Fawcett’s later exploits in the Amazon jungle, and his field reports that followed, served as direct inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World. If that pop culture credit wasn’t enough, some have also posited that Fawcett’s character formed the basis for action hero Indiana Jones. And given the details of his expeditions, there was no shortage of inspiration to draw from.

]]> 17. He Set Out To Explore The first of Fawcett’s many expeditions to South America launched in 1906 in Brazil. At the behest of the RGS, Fawcett’s mission was to map an area of the Amazon jungle that encompassed part of the Brazilian-Bolivian border, a job commissioned to the organization for their presumed impartiality to local national interests. Fawcett would return with far more to report than simple cartography.

]]> 18. He Saw A Big One After the expedition, Percy Fawcett wrote at length about the unbelievable and exotic plants and creatures he had encountered in that largely unexplored part of the world. One of his more outlandish claims was that he had a run in with a 62-foot-long anaconda; Fawcett professed he had shot the beast. Reactions to the thrilling story were not what he expected.

]]> 19. He Was A Laughingstock Following his anaconda claim, scientists, who doubted the veracity of his claims and the possibility that such a creature could even exist undiscovered, widely ridiculed Fawcett. And while the claim never got proven, the Giant Anaconda has become something of a legend in the Amazon, akin to the Loch Ness Monster, with a few others claiming to have spotted it too. It wasn’t the only beast that Percy claimed to see.

]]> 20. He Saw More Creatures Fawcett reported run-ins with other animals unknown to zoology on his first expedition, too. These included a small cat-like dog, which he claimed was about the size of a foxhound and allegedly spotted twice, and a giant, poisonous spider known to locals as the Apazauca. Along with all this crazy wildlife, Fawcett encountered some interesting plant life as well.

]]> 21. He Found A Snack Recounting his travels through the Mato Grosso region, Fawcett reported spotting an interesting natural phenomenon: giant peanuts. Scientists believe these big nuts were most like Arachis nambyquarae, a type of legume known to grow up to four inches in length. Following his nutty first trip, Fawcett had well and truly contracted the jungle bug.

]]> 22. He Was Jungle Crazy The jungle had absolutely enraptured Percy Fawcett after his first expedition in 1906, and over the next 20 years or so, he jumped at every opportunity to go back. Between the first trip in 1906 and 1924, the explorer made a whopping seven expeditions there. He became something of a recognizable figure to the locals.

]]> 23. He Was Respectful Over his seven expeditions, Fawcett regularly encountered the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest. To his credit, unlike many of the other brutish Westerners that bumbled through the lands with an entitled lack of concern for their inhabitants, Fawcett was courteous, offering gifts, patiently waiting for permission to pass through their territories, and fostering an amicable relationship with them. But what exactly was Percy up to on these expeditions?

]]> 24. He Chased Waterfalls (Kind Of) Fawcett happily undertook more work for the RGS while out on his Amazonian expeditions. In 1908, for example, he traced the source of the Rio Verde River. Two years later, he took a trip to the Bolivian-Peruvian border to source the Heath River. This was difficult work, and Fawcett made sure he had a trusty crew with him at all times.

]]> 25. He Had Companions 1911 saw Fawcett return to the Amazon once again to chart hundreds of miles of unexplored jungle. Accompanying him on this expedition was biologist and polar explorer James Murray, as well as Fawcett’s longtime, trusted exploring companion and friend, Henry Costin. Across his multiple expeditions, the crazy sightings continued.

]]> 26. He Spotted Nosy Creatures Fawcett’s relentless claims of undiscovered wildlife continued throughout these later expeditions. After a 1913 trip, the explorer claimed to have seen dogs with two noses. This claim is actually less outlandish than the others, and scientists believe these may have been double-nosed Andean tiger hounds. But despite the zoological and geographical wonders of the Amazon, it was one specific goal that took hold of Fawcett’s imagination and never let go.

]]> 27. He Made A Claim During his expeditions, besides his work for the RGS, Percy Fawcett compiled his own documentary research, and he came to some pretty legendary conclusions. Based on his findings, the brave explorer formulated a theory about a “lost city” somewhere in the Mato Grosso region; he named this city “Z” (pronounced Zed, as is custom in Britain). Percy’s musings painted a magical picture.

]]> 28. He Fleshed It Out Fawcett’s ideas went further than just the mere existence of the Lost City of Z. He theorized that it had been part of a larger and complex civilization that had once existed in the region and convinced himself that isolated ruins of this city may have survived. Fawcett made it his life’s ambition to find the Lost City of Z. He had a few secondary goals too.

]]> 29. He Sought More Cities In his research, Fawcett also found a document known as Manuscript 512, which is believed to have been written in 1753 by Portuguese explorer João da Silva Guimarães. In the document, Guimarães claimed he discovered the ruins of an ancient city containing arches, statues, and temples with hieroglyphics.

Guimarães provided a detailed description, but no specific location. For whatever reason, Fawcett decided this city wasn’t his Z but, rather, another lost city, which he made a secondary priority to find. As his obsession with finding his lost city intensified, so too did Fawcett’s magical thinking.

]]> 30. He Believed In Magic While in Brazil, Percy Fawcett uncovered a jade statue which he brought on every subsequent trip. He believed the statue, which depicted a human figure with inscriptions on the chest and feet, had supernatural powers over the Amazonian tribes, claiming to a Brazilian general that “by showing the statue, he could exercise an irresistible power over the natives”. Fawcett may have been losing his marbles a bit, but world events would soon interrupt the search for his lost city.

]]> 31. He Got Back In The Action Fawcett had retired from the British Army in 1910, but with the outbreak of WWI in 1914, the explorer once again enlisted to serve his country. Returning to Britain, Fawcett signed up as a reserve officer in the Royal Artillery, despite the fact that he was almost 50 years of age. He hadn’t lost a step.

]]> 32. He Excelled Again Fawcett had hardly faltered at all during his retirement. Bravely volunteering for duty in Flanders, the ageing expeditionist took command of an artillery brigade. They widely praised his leadership: he received promotion to lieutenant-colonel, got kudos in multiple dispatches from his Field Marshal, and received the Distinguished Service Order in 1917. But all the while, Fawcett itched to return to his life’s work.

]]> 33. He Went Back Out When the conflict had concluded, Fawcett did not waste any time getting back to business. He returned to Brazil, this time to study local wildlife and archaeology. Of course, his ultimate goal remained in the back of his mind, and soon, he could no longer resist its call.

]]> 34. He Sought Z Again In 1920, Percy Fawcett assembled a crew to once again search for the Lost City of Z. This time, he enlisted the help of ornithologist Ernest G Holt and aspiring explorer Lewis Brown. Percy had not chosen wisely this time, however; they abandoned the expedition to search for Z when his colleagues made it clear that they were not up for the hardships demanded by the Amazon rainforest. His next move was his boldest yet.

]]> 35. He Went Solo Disappointed with the performance of his last crew, Fawcett next tried his most daring attempt yet: he went in search of Z completely alone. Luck was not in his favor yet again, however, and he eventually had to abort the solo attempt after coming down with a fever and the loss of his pack animal. He couldn’t go it alone, but he needed to find a crew he knew was up to the demanding task.

]]> 36. He Made It A Family Affair By 1924, Fawcett was aging out of the exploration game, and he knew he had one final chance to achieve his dream. He began plans for one final expedition to find the Lost City of Z, and this time, he enlisted the help of the next generation: his eldest son, Jack, and Jack’s friend, Raleigh Rimmel. Before they left, Fawcett left grim instructions in the event of their failure.

]]> 37. He Went All In Such was Fawcett’s determination that he wanted the expedition to be his last, one way or another. Before embarking on the expedition, he left instructions stating that, in the event the crew did not return, no rescue expedition was to be sent after them—he didn’t want rescuers to suffer the same dark fate. This may seem cruel, given the presence of his son. But Percy had every faith in Jack.

]]> 38. He Went Prepared Percy Fawcett had chosen his young travel companions for their ability, robust health, and loyalty to each other, things that had been somewhat lacking in his previous expedition mates. Combined with his own experience and the barebones equipment and provisions the crew packed, Fawcett was confident that this final trip would be successful. We’ll never know if he succeeded, but the trip was certainly his last.

]]> 39. He Left For Good Fawcett departed from Cuiabá on April 20, 1925, alongside his son Jack, Raleigh Rimmel, two Brazilian laborers, two horses, eight mules, and two dogs. The crew would never be seen alive again. We know little about their disappearance, of course, but they certainly left a few breadcrumbs along the way.

]]> 40. He Had Hope While nobody saw him again, some heard from Fawcett a couple of times via correspondence before disappearing completely. His last communication occurred on May 29, where, in a letter to his wife sent from the Dead Horse Camp, Fawcett expressed optimism as the crew prepared to enter unexplored territory. And while they disclosed their location, the details may have been misleading.

]]> 41. He Might Have Lied In Fawcett’s final letter to his wife, he gave the coordinates of their location. There was one discrepancy, however: he had sent completely different coordinates about the alleged location of the Camp in a report to the North American Newspaper Alliance.

Though this could have simply been an error, some believe Fawcett was intentionally misleading so as to prevent any rescue attempts, and—quite pettily—so that no one else could use his notes to find the Lost City of Z. And if the city ever did exist, its location perished with Fawcett.

]]> 42. His Loss Got Confirmed Almost two years after Fawcett’s final communication, the RGS finally accepted and declared the expedition officially lost in 1927. Percy Fawcett was gone forever; he had been 57 at the time of his final sighting, and his son Jack, devastatingly, only 18. The RGS’ declaration (and Fawcett’s last wishes) didn’t stop exploration enthusiasts from attempting a rescue, however.

]]> 43. He Got Tracked Almost immediately after the declaration by the RGS, many volunteers set out to attempt to find the lost expedition party…or their remains, at least. It became something of an obsession for the community, and many expeditions to find Fawcett failed—one even resulted in the demise of a searcher. The reason for Fawcett’s disappearance, then, may never emerge. But there are some leading theories.

]]> 44. He May Have Overstepped The most common theory on Fawcett’s demise is that his party got slain by Indigenous peoples distressed at the men’s presence on their land. Fawcett had stayed on their good side in the past by bringing gifts, but because of the minimum provisions this final expedition set out with, it’s possible they ran out of gifts too soon. Indeed, one tribe was even happy to take credit for the disappearance.

]]> 45. He Became A Lie 20 years after Fawcett’s disappearance, a chief of the Kalapalo tribe named Comatzi came forward and publicly declared that his tribe had slain the explorers. Comatzi even provided bones to prove his claim; after forensic investigation, however, it turned out the bones were not Fawcett’s, nor anyone from the crew, casting doubt on the chief’s claims. The Kalapalo tribe may still have been involved, however.

]]> 46. He May Have Antagonized More than one source claims Fawcett had some kind of run-in with the Kalapalo tribe. Comatzi’s predecessor, chief Izarari, claimed he had slain the explorers after they allegedly attacked him and his tribe when the chief refused to provide guides for the expedition.

Another version of the story reports that Jack had consorted with one of Izarari’s wives, and that Fawcett had slapped Izarari in the face when the chief refused to give him more provisions, leading to a grisly end for the lost crew. Still, others claim that the loss of the party may have been from more natural causes.

]]> 47. He Might’ve Fallen Ill Another school of thought concerning Fawcett’s disappearance, backed up by claims from other tribes who spotted the party, was that the crew succumbed to natural causes—namely illness contracted while traveling through the jungle. Indeed, this was the opinion of one man who knew Percy Fawcett better than most.

]]> 48. His Friend Opined Henry Costin, an explorer who’d accompanied Fawcett on five previous expeditions, did not buy the story that the explorer fell victim to the local Indigenous people, citing Fawcett’s courteous relations with them. He believed that a lack of food or just simple exhaustion had been the cause of Fawcett’s demise. No more clues about the incident would pop up for half a century.

]]> 49. He Left Another Clue Amazingly, in 1979, more than 50 years after his disappearance, Fawcett’s signet ring turned up in a pawnshop. This gave rise to a brand-new theory: that Percy Fawcett and his companions got ambushed by bandits who slew them, looted their remains, and disposed of them in a river. It remains a grim possibility, but there is one last theory that is much more optimistic.

]]> 50. He Might Have Lived In 2004, television director Misha Williams, after painstakingly studying Fawcett’s private papers, concluded that the explorer had disappeared intentionally. He believed Percy Fawcett had intended to start a commune in the jungle, based on theosophical principles, where—bizarrely—the deity worshipped would be Fawcett’s own son, Jack.

It is an insane theory, but certainly a fun one, and who knows—maybe Fawcett and his crew found the Lost City of Z in the end, where they set up their commune and turned Jack Fawcett into a god.

You May Also Like:

Searching Facts About Mai, The Lost Traveler

Brash Facts About Sir Walter Raleigh, The Troublemaking Explorer

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62751 <![CDATA[Frederick II was one of the most bloodthirsty rulers in history—and when he wasn’t fighting his enemies, he turned his wrath on his own subjects.]]> 2026-08-24T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-21T19:00:49+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-frederick-ii Byron Fast People He Was A Child King Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, started out young. They crowned him King of Sicily at the age of three, and he was married at 14. What followed was a wild and dangerous life both on the battlefield and in the political arena. As his astonishing victories accumulated, many saw him as a kind of messiah. Clearly, he was getting too powerful, and there was one man who could stand up to him: Pope Gregory IX. 

This bitter feud would go from neutral to nasty in a heartbeat.

]]> 1. He Was Born Into Royalty Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, came into the world on December 26, 1194 in Jesi, Italy. Both of his parents were royalty. His father was Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, and his mother was Queen Constance I of Sicily. The funny thing is, we’re not exactly sure if these two were his actual parents.

]]> 2. There Were Rumors Around the time of Frederick’s birth, dark rumors began to swirl around the kingdom. You see, Frederick’s parents were a little old to be having a baby. Constance was already 40 at this time, and back then few believed it would be impossible for her to carry a pregnancy to term. Even her husband was suspicious of her pregnancy.

And when Constance was ready to give birth, she went to great pains to prove that it was a real pregnancy.

]]> 3. She Had To Prove Herself Constance swore on the bible that Frederick was her own son. One report, which may or may not be true, has Constance actually giving birth right in the public square, so no one would doubt that she was the mom. To settle his mind, Dad consulted a theologian who confirmed that Frederick was legitimate. There was no DNA testing, so the theologian proved it using a prophecy from Merlin.

Once they’d determined who the parents were, they had to choose a name.

]]> 4. He Had Multiple Names Frederick’s parents chose Constantine for the baby’s name because it linked him to his mother, who was Constance, and to his relative Constantine the Great. When he was two years old, he underwent baptism and received his grandfathers' names: Frederick and Roger. Once again, naming was all about connecting the dots so no one would forget that little Frederick was royal.

Obviously, Mom and Dad cared a great deal for their son. Well, that may not be totally true.

]]> 5. They Abandoned Him Just over a year after his birth, Frederick's parents departed. His dad was on his way to become the king of Sicily, and Mom followed soon after. They left their dear child Frederick in Foligno under the care of the Duchess of Spoleto. Sadly, Frederick would never see his father alive again.

]]> 6. He Got Some Bad News Just a few years later, in 1197, Frederick got some bad news. His father had passed due to malaria. Well, Frederick was still only a toddler, and he probably had little memory of dear old dad. The good news was that now, they would take him to Sicily to be reunited with his mom.

But there was another, more vital reason, for rushing him off to Sicily.

]]> 7. The Empire Needed Him Since his father had been the king of Sicily, someone had to take his place. It seemed that the entire Roman Empire was suddenly vulnerable. Little Frederick was just three years old, but it didn't matter. He needed to be the next king of Sicily. On May 17, 1198, they crowned him.

But what kind of king would a toddler make?

]]> 8. He Was Too Young Because Frederick was still an infant, his mother Constance took care of a lot of the matters of the state. But Constance could see that her son’s age was a problem. You see, little Frederick was also the king of Germany. Mom saw that was too much for her son and ditched the German title altogether.

Obviously, Frederick needed his mother around to call the shots until he got older. But she wouldn't be around for much long.

]]> 9. He Was All Alone In November 1198, just a few months after they’d crowned Frederick king, his mother passed. She was only 44 years old, so this came as quite a shock. The problem now wasn't just that the king was a child, but now he was a parentless child. With no adult ruler, the empire fell into chaos.

And only one thing could save it.

]]> 10. He Tied The Knot In December 1208, Frederick, who was just 14 at the time, took a big step. He was now an adult and ready to bring order back to the empire. One thing a teenage king needed was a queen. In 1209, they presented him with his bride-to-be. Like his mother, his bride’s name was Constance. And also like his mother…she was kind of old.

Though barely a teenager, Frederick was about to marry a 30-year-old woman.

]]> 11. He Did His Royal Duty Frederick’s wife was much older and was actually on her second husband. You might think, due to the age difference, this was a marriage on paper only. Nope, by 1211, the 15-year-old Frederick and his wife had a baby boy they named Henry. But a son was only part of the benefit that Constance brought to the marriage.

She also brought other men.

]]> 12. He Was In Trouble With his marriage to Constance, Frederick got his hands on some knights that he could use to gain control over an almost lawless Sicily. This worked, but then things took a turn for the worse when Otto IV began an invasion. Otto was heading to Sicily, and there was no telling what would happen when he got there.

]]> 13. He Became King Otto’s attack on Sicily ended when German princes decided to get behind Frederick. In September 1211, they named him king of Germany. Frederick wanted to be in Germany to reap the rewards, but he didn’t want to leave Sicily without a leader. No matter. He left his one-year-old son in Sicily as the king.

Frederick was heading to bigger and better things.

]]> 14. He Got An Empire In November of 1220, the pope himself crowned Frederick as Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. He right away separated this empire from the Kingdom of Sicily, where his toddler son was residing as king. Frederick spent the next years bringing order back to Sicily and rebuilding his connection to the pope. He built castles and fortified the borders and built up a massive fleet of merchant ships.

It was a time of great growth, but there was heartache ahead.

]]> 15. He Married For Convenience Just two years after he became the emperor, Frederick’s wife contracted malaria and passed on. Three years later, Frederick turned the tables. He married Isabella of Brienne, who was just nine years old at the time. His child bride was actually the Queen of Jerusalem, and Frederick saw an opportunity. He made himself the King of Jerusalem.

This aggressive move by Frederick brought down the wrath of his wife’s father.

]]> 16. He Took Advantage By making such a drastic move, Frederick II had basically double-crossed Isabella’s father, John. He’d convinced John to let him marry his daughter and then proclaimed himself king of Jerusalem right after the wedding. This was not the bargain John had signed on for.

But Frederick was actually even worse.

]]> 17. He Was A Bad Husband Not only had Frederick taken the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his father-in-law, but now he was misbehaving terribly. Not long after marrying Isabella, he turned around and seduced his wife’s cousin and friend. When Isabella finally got pregnant, she might have expected things to get better.

They actually got worse.

]]> 18. He Had A Terrible Temper Not only was Frederick II cheating on his young wife, but he was also mistreating her. In 1226, a 14-year-old and very pregnant Isabella discovered her husband’s frightening rage. Her father had done something to anger Frederick, and he took this out on Isabella with a physical assault that almost made her miscarry.

Isabella recovered, but fate had other plans.

]]> 19. He Got What He Wanted Isabella did manage to give birth, but baby Margaret passed in the summer of the following year. Then, in 1228, Isabella got pregnant again with another of Frederick’s children. On the delivery day, April 25, she gave birth to a son, Conrad II. Sadly, Isabella did not survive the delivery, but Frederick had what he wanted: a son.

But trouble was brewing with the pope.

]]> 20. He Angered The Pope Around this same time, Frederick II got into the pope’s bad books. Long ago, he had promised to carry out Crusades against the Muslims. While Frederick was ready to participate in the Crusades, there was an epidemic which prevented him from fighting. However, the pope wasn’t buying the excuse and excommunicated Frederick.

But not even the pope himself could stop Frederick from doing what he wanted.

]]> 21. He Used His Charm Frederick ignored the pope’s excommunication and set off to join the Crusades. Instead of fighting, Frederick used his charms and negotiated treaties with the Sultan of Egypt and, in the bargain, obtained Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth. On March 18, 1229, Frederick held a ceremony in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where he made himself king.

Frederick was risking making the pope very angry, but he had his reasons for not caring one little bit.

]]> 22. He Had An Inflated Ego One of the reasons why Frederick II didn’t heed the pope’s orders was that Frederick thought he was better than the pope. Some even say that Frederick saw himself as a messiah. When he entered Jerusalem as the new king, some compared it to Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

With his new (imagined) status as messiah, Frederick was ready to face his enemies. First on his list? His own son.

]]> 23. His Son Made Him Angry Frederick did end up making up with the pope, yet it was his own son who gave him trouble next. He’d left young Henry VII to become the king of Germany, but he was getting a little too cozy with the German princes. Then, in 1234, Henry did something even worse. He made an alliance with Frederick’s enemies, the Lombard League. This made Frederick angry enough to head to Germany.

Henry had to brace himself for a visit from his angry father.

]]> 24. He Locked Up His Son Frederick II arrived in Germany, and Henry’s little rebellion almost immediately fell apart. Of course, Frederick had to punish the leader of the rebellion, even though he was his own son. Frederick had little choice but to put his son behind bars. Sadly, Henry would stay there until 1242, when he passed from leprosy.

He’d lost a son, but he was about to gain a new wife.

]]> 25. He Needed A New Queen Remember, Frederick’s second wife Isabella had passed while giving birth, which meant that Frederick was in need of a new wife. Another Isabella, this time from England, was on offer. She was the sister of King Henry III, and he’d been having trouble finding a husband for her. He’d even tried to marry her off to Frederick’s son.

So, it seems unlikely that Frederick would marry someone his own son had said no to. Well, don’t be too sure.

]]> 26. He Married For Power As it turned out, there were some very good reasons to marry Isabella number two. First of all, the pope was in favor of it, and it was always a good idea to keep him happy. Secondly, this marriage would make the bond stronger between the Roman Empire and England. They needed this as they were preparing to gang up on France.

They discussed the marriage for three days and then came up with their decision.

]]> 27. He Wasn’t A Romantic They gave Isabella the green light to marry Frederick II, but there was no romantic proposal. It was Frederick’s ambassadors who gave her the ring. In fact, she would not marry Frederick for six weeks, as her new husband was busy in battle. They eventually met and married in the very unromantic-sounding city of Worms.

There was no time for a honeymoon. Frederick was on the road again.

]]> 28. Another Child King Frederick was soon back in Germany, and they needed a new king. He had just the person for the job: another one of his sons. This was nine-year-old Conrad IV—much easier to control, at that age—and Frederick elected him to the position in Vienna. With his son in power, Frederick turned his sights south. He had a grudge that needed taking care of.

]]> 29. He Wanted Them To Surrender Remember, Frederick had gotten angry when his other son had joined forces with the Lombard League. Well, he went into battle against them and won. He then did something surprising. He demanded “unconditional surrender” from the people of Milan. They had tried to negotiate peace, but Frederick would have none of it.

When Frederick wasn’t busy doing battle, he was arranging marriages that would quench his thirst for power.

]]> 30. He Married Another Son Off Frederick seemed to always be plotting his next move, and his schemes often seemed to incorporate marriage. He had an illegitimate son named Enzo to marry off, and he found a wife for him in Princess Adelasia. This led Enzo to become the King of Sardinia. The problem was, Frederick had no right to place an illegitimate heir in such a position.

The pope had had it. This was the last straw.

]]> 31. He Made An Irreverent Joke When Frederick II named his illegitimate son the king of Sardinia, the pope hit the roof. He’d lost all trust in Frederick, and it got worse when he heard a joke that some claimed to hear Frederick make. According to rumors, Frederick had been heard to say that Moses, Christ, and Muhammad were all imposters. On March 20, 1239, the pope excommunicated Frederick once again.

But Frederick was almost crazy with power, and no one could stop him.

]]> 32. He Marched On Rome The pope's excommunication seemed to have little effect on Frederick’s rash behavior. He amassed an army, and in February 1240, he marched into Rome. He would have taken Rome if the Romans had not gotten behind the pope and fought him off. But as he retreated, Frederick took POWs, which included cardinals and bishops.

This would have a very negative effect on his reputation.

]]> 33. It Spiraled Out Of Control Frederick II had abducted members of the church, and so he fell prey to propaganda that accused him of being anti-church. This “Frederick versus the pope” feud seemed to be spiraling out of control. And then it happened: Pope Gregory passed at the ripe old age of 95.

But it wasn’t exactly a victory by default—because, around the same time, Frederick’s family life also took a hit.

]]> 34. He Kept Her Locked Up Frederick was still married to Isabella number two, and he wasn’t treating this one as badly as his first one. But he did tend to keep her behind closed doors. Even her own brother, when he visited, had to wait days before he could see her. Like the Isabella before her, this one would face tragedy during childbirth. They buried her beside the first Isabella in 1241.

Meanwhile, there was a new pope for him to face off against.

]]> 35. He Met A New One Pope Gregory had been Frederick’s formidable foe, but his replacement, Innocent IV, seemed to be a little more chill. Based on their first interactions, it seemed that this would be a much easier relationship. In 1244, Innocent surprised everyone and fled to Lyon, France. When he arrived, there was an even bigger surprise: he fired Frederick.

Obviously, something had gone horribly wrong.

]]> 36. He Wanted A Meeting With the pope running off to Lyon, and deposing Frederick II, this was turning into a power struggle even more severe than Frederick versus Gregory IX. Frederick's supporters called him the Messiah, while those against him saw him as one step away from the Antichrist. Frederick wanted to speak directly to Innocent, and so he began his journey to Lyon.

But this trip would have a frightening interruption.

]]> 37. He Suffered Losses While traveling to meet the pope in Lyon, there was a revolt in Parma. With this, Frederick lost a good deal of central Italy and Romagna. Then, Frederick met with more disappointment. His favorite confidant, Pietro della Vigna, ended up behind bars. They accused him of treason, and this led to him taking his own life.

The next loss would be closer to home.

]]> 38. He Lost A Family Member Frederick II was suffering losses in his battles and with his friends. This next loss was in his family. Remember his illegitimate son, Enzo, the king of Sardinia? In 1249, the Bolognese took Sardinia and captured Enzo. They kept him behind bars until his passing in1272.

Frederick’s world was falling apart, but he still had a son he could call on for help.

]]> 39. He Was Getting It Back Frederick’s son Conrad IV was still reigning in Germany, and he helped Frederick out there. Frederick was also working hard to gain back what he’d lost in Italy. Just as he was getting himself back into a comfortable position, the worst happened. Frederick caught dysentery and, after a painful struggle, he passed.

Or did he?

]]> 40. They Waited For His Return Since many saw Frederick II as a Messiah, the news of his passing created skepticism. Soon, fakes started appearing as Frederick, and then there were rumors. Some thought Frederick was alive and living in either a volcano in Italy or a mountain in Germany. They thought that he would return, punish the church, and recreate the Roman Empire.

But this was not going to happen.

]]> 41. It Ended With Him There would be no return of Frederick. Worse still, his family would pretty much vanish. Frederick had gone to great lengths to place his sons in powerful positions. But just 22 years after Frederick’s passing, none of his heirs would be alive. They’d all lost their lives fighting the papacy.

His familial legacy did not survive, but Frederick lives on in other ways.

]]> 42. He Was A Scientist One positive thing that came from Frederick’s life involves his interest in science and nature. Frederick was an animal lover and, in addition to having a zoo, he studied the behavior of birds. Modern-day natural historian and broadcaster David Attenborough thought that Frederick was way ahead of his time in his understanding of bird migration.

He was also very curious about human beings.

]]> 43. He Did Cruel Experiments Some critics of Frederick have told tales of his cruel experiments on people. In one experiment, they said he wanted to see the human soul escape a body, so he locked a man in a cask and waited for the soul to escape through a hole. Of course, for the experiment to work, the man would have to perish.

His interest in biology also resulted in some cruel experiments.

]]> 44. He Needed To Know About Digestion Frederick had a question about digestion that he wanted answered. Some say that he fed two men the same meal and then sent one to bed and one out to hunt. To find out which one had better digestion, he disemboweled both men and looked at their insides.

Even his experiment about psychology ended up being horribly cruel.

]]> 45. He Locked Up Children Some allege that Frederick had a barbaric way of testing a theory about language development. They say he took children and locked them up, so they would have no contact with other humans. He did this to see if a natural language would develop spontaneously. Apparently, he was trying to find out what language god had passed on to Adam and Eve.

Thankfully, his contributions to the arts were not so heartless.

]]> 46. He Invented The Sonnet One thing that Frederick brought to the European court was paper. Before his reign, people didn't use it. Once he had paper, Frederick supported poetry through the Sicilian School. This led to the emergence of what we now call the sonnet. He also set a standard for education.

]]> 47. He Opened The First One In 1224, Frederick II created something the world had never seen before: a state-run university. The state picked up the bill for students at the University of Naples. One famous graduate is the theologian Thomas Aquinas. The university still exists. They now call it Università Federico II.

Frederick was also a trailblazer when it came to laws.

]]> 48. He Was A Lawmaker Many see Frederick as a ruler who liked to regulate his people. With his team, he created laws for many practical purposes, even the use of coins. He was also ahead of his time when he created protection for women, public health, and even for the environment.

We know so much about what Frederick did, but only a little about what he looked like.

]]> 49. He Was A Ginger The people who saw Frederick in Jerusalem said that he had red hair all over him but was at the same time bald. They also reported that he appeared to be very short-sighted. Others said that Frederick was like a chameleon and able to change to whatever suited the occasion. He could be haughtily autocratic and also look a little rough.

This shapeshifting quality also came out in his personality.

]]> 50. He Had A Dual Personality As a ruler, our memory of Frederick remains full of contradictions. One minute he could be friendly and even gay, and the next he could show his cruel and rigid side. He was both tolerant and intolerant, sensual and pious. And if you’re looking for excuses for this strange behavior, some historians blame it on his difficult childhood and lack of parental guidance.

You May Also Like:

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=59078 <![CDATA[Ben Johnson’s Olympic victory should have made him a legend—instead, it became one of the worst scandals in sports history.]]> 2026-05-05T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-21T05:26:19+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-ben-johnson David O'Shea People Running Dope Ben Johnson became the pride of Canada overnight as he sprinted his way to Olympic glory, world records, and lucrative sponsorship deals. Known for a time as the fastest man in the world, his fall from grace would be as swift as his sprinting after he found himself marred in a doping scandal. And while Johnson eventually admitted to enhancing his performance, he stubbornly maintained that he wasn’t the only one doping—just the only one who got caught.

]]> 1. He Came From The Caribbean Though widely known for representing Canada, Johnson was actually born in Falmouth, Jamaica, on December 30, 1961. The future Olympian spent his formative years there, remaining on the island until he was 15 years old. Johnson faced some difficulty early on that proved he was a fighter from the start.

]]> 2. He Got Sick Johnson’s family lived a modest life in Jamaica, and it did not spare him from the dangers of tropical island life. In his self-published autobiography, he recounted a harrowing story of an early bout of malaria that he suffered through during his childhood, which largely colored his early years. The next phase of his life would come with a big change of scenery.

]]> 3. He Was An Immigrant In 1976, Ben Johnson and his family immigrated to Toronto, Canada. There, they settled in the neighborhood of Lawrence Heights, a housing project known to locals as “The Jungle”. They would later move again, this time to the suburb of Scarborough. But while Johnson’s parents uprooted for a better life, their son struggled to fit in.

]]> 4. He Faced Discrimination Canada at the time was a white-dominant society, and that resulted in great difficulty for the young Johnson. He struggled greatly with challenges and discrimination related to his status as a Black immigrant. Things eventually got so bad that he made a desperate plea to his folks.

]]> 5. He Wanted Out The young Ben Johnson faced such difficulty in his new home that it wasn’t long before he’d had enough. He confronted his parents and begged them to move the family back to Jamaica, fearing he would never fit in within the oppressive environment of white Canada. His parents gently refused, however, and Johnson eventually accepted his lot. Instead, he turned his pain into passion.

]]> 6. He Found His Lane One thing Canada did provide for the embattled Johnson was an outlet for his frustrations in the form of competitive sprinting. The future Olympian trained at York University, and there he joined the Scarborough Optimists track and field club where he honed his ability as a sprinter, displaying obvious talent immediately. His natural ability caught the eye of a big name in the field.

]]> 7. He Got A Mentor At York, trainer Charlie Francis quickly noticed Johnson’s undeniable talent. Francis had been a champion sprinter himself, bringing glory to Canada in the 1970s, including as part of the track and field team for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. He had also served as the country’s national coach for nine years. Francis immediately recognized something in Johnson and set about training him for the big leagues.

]]> 8. He Won Some Medals After a few years of local competitive success, Johnson’s first international accomplishments came in 1982 at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia. There, he won not one but two silver medals, in the 100 meters and as a member of the Canadian 100 meters relay team. With this success, it irrepressibly ignited a spark in the talented young athlete. But he’d have to wait another little while before he saw metal again.

]]> 9. He Got Humbled 1983 saw a temporary drop in form for Ben Johnson. Competing in that year’s World Championships in Helsinki, he devastatingly got eliminated in the semi-finals, finishing sixth overall. The Pan American Games later that year would see further pain for the plucky young athlete, where Johnson placed fifth in the 100 meters final. His hunger never abated, however.

]]> 10. He Stormed The World Stage The following year, Ben Johnson competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. By then, his performance had greatly improved, and he managed to reach the final of the 100 meters. As the world watched in thrilled anticipation, Johnson finally got his hands on Olympic metal, finishing third in the final and awarded a bronze medal.

He placed behind Carl Lewis, an American, which prompted a heated rivalry between the two athletes that would span the next few decades of their lives. Closer to home, though, Johnson was the king.

]]> 11. He Was The Top (Canadian) Dog Despite his failure to get the gold, Johnson was shooting up the ranks in his home country. Desai Williams held the Canadian 100-meter sprinting record of 10.17 seconds, but on August 22, 1984, Johnson clocked in at 10.12, making him the top sprinter in Canada. And you’d better believe he was eyeing his international competition too.

]]> 12. He Beat His Rival Johnson’s rivalry with Carl Lewis was bitter for the Canadian during the early days. Devastatingly, he suffered eight consecutive defeats to the American. In 1985, however, Canada’s fastest man finally beat his rival, igniting the competition between the two men in earnest. They would trade losses and wins over one another for the next few years, and all the while, Johnson kept going for the gold.

]]> 13. He Began A Streak 1986 was a good year for Ben Johnson. At the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh that year, Johnson won his first gold medal in the 100 meters, with a stunning time of 10.07 seconds. He snagged yet another gold leading the Canadian 100 meters relay team. His star was on the rise, and so were his records.

]]> 14. He Smashed The 60 For seven years, the world record in the 60 meters was held by American Houstin McTear. Eyeing that coveted spot, Johnson proved he was more than a 100-meter wonder in 1986 when he smashed McTear’s record, clocking 60 meters in a stunning 6.5 seconds. Johnson was quickly becoming a superstar in Canadian athletics, but his rise coincided with an increase in rumors of foul play…

]]> 15. He Fell Under Suspicion The same year Johnson was tearing up the record board, rumors began circulating about doping among Canadian athletes. Sprinter Mike Dwyer expressed public concern around the issue, claiming that the use of performance enhancing steroids had reached “epidemic proportions” among Canadian sprinters.

And while he did not single Johnson out, Dwyer specified that those who trained in the Toronto area were heavy users, implicating Johnson in all but name. For now, though, it was a case of he said, she said, and the Canadian authorities paid it no heed, instead decorating their man even more.

]]> 16. He Got Honored Johnson received investment as a Member of the Order of Canada on April 29, 1987, solidifying the grip he held on his adopted country’s sporting dreams. Accompanying his initiation was a praise-filled statement which read “World record holder for the indoor 60-metre run, this Ontarian has proved himself to be the world's fastest human being and has broken Canadian, Commonwealth and World Cup 100-metre records”. Johnson earned more than just honors, however.

]]> 17. He Earned A Nickname Because of his large stature, personality, and presence on the world sporting stage, Johnson also earned the loving nickname of “Big Ben” among Canadians and the athletics fandom at large. He continued his climb up the ladder of stardom, and his accomplishments climbed alongside him.

]]> 18. He Solidified His Name The 1987-88 season was a marquee one for Johnson. Over the course of that year, he broke not one but two world records: those were the 100m and 60m indoor world records. This monumental achievement earned the sprinter recognition well beyond Canadian shores.

]]> 19. He Became The Best With his smashing of both records in the 1987-88 season, Johnson had proudly earned the title of the world’s fastest man. But while fans of sprinting knew him well, he was not yet a worldwide household name. That was all about to change.

]]> 20. He Bested His Rival Johnson’s rivalry with Lewis had heated up all the while, and by the time the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome rolled around, Johnson had defeated the American in four races in a row. The Canadian added one more notch to his belt at that competition, besting Lewis for the 100 meters title and setting the world record of 9.83 seconds. His fame exploded overnight.

]]> 21. He Blew Up Johnson’s performance in Rome cemented his global fame instantly. Everyone knew him as the fastest man on earth, and Johnson was more than happy to take the spotlight and allow the adoration of the masses to wash over him. His newfound recognition was, of course, quite lucrative too.

]]> 22. He Became A Brand Ambassador Having broken the world record in Rome, and gained the recognition that came with that accomplishment, the sponsorship deals rolled in for Johnson. By the end of 1987, some estimate that the fastest man in the world was earning an astonishing $480,000 a month from endorsements. Everyone loved Big Ben, but there was one scorned man who sought to ruin his life.

]]> 23. His Rival Ratted His defeat at Johnson’s hands deeply bruised Carl Lewis’ ego, and he immediately began making excuses in the media. After accusing Johnson of false-starting their last race and then claiming he had suffered from a stomach virus, Lewis had still not garnered the sympathy he sought—so he took a new tact.

Though he didn’t name Johnson by name, Lewis heavily alluded to him when he bluntly stated in an interview: “There are a lot of people coming out of nowhere. I don't think they are doing it without drugs”. It was a stunning accusation, and the World Champ did not keep quiet.

]]> 24. He Rebutted Johnson was furious at Lewis’ accusations and painted the American’s media tour as the actions of a sore loser. He clapped back in a public response, stating, “When Carl Lewis was winning everything, I never said a word against him. And when the next guy comes along and beats me, I won't complain about that either”. The media ate up this verbal sparring, and it created a great narrative ahead of an upcoming showdown.

]]> 25. He Eyed The World Stage Again Johnson and Lewis, whether or not they knew it, turned the upcoming 1988 Summer Olympics into a massive spectacle. Their heated rivalry and media digs toward one another drummed up a frenzy of anticipation for the competition, where the two would face off yet again. The media capitalized on the stark contrast between the two rivals.

]]> 26. He Was Likeable The rivalry between Johnson and Lewis was a sportswriter’s dream, and the two had many contrasts that painted the perfect yin and yang dichotomy. Johnson was from Canada, Lewis from the US; Johnson grew up poor, Lewis’ parents were college-educated.

Johnson was a party animal and a ladies’ man, loved among his fellow athletes, while Lewis was much more reserved. On the track, Lewis was fast and elegant, while most knew Johnson for his impressive strength. These attributes made for balanced competition.

]]> 27. He Had A Setback As the sprinters’ rivalry heated up ahead of the ’88 Olympics, Johnson ran into some bad luck early in the year. Devastatingly, he pulled a hamstring in February and further aggravated the injury in May. This caused him to lose a couple of races in a row to his detested rival. But for the fastest man on Earth, it only fueled his ambitions.

]]> 28. He Was Triumphant The 100 meters final of the Summer Olympics in Seoul took place on September 24, 1988, and when it was over, there was no question who the victor was. Johnson finished first, smashing his own record in the meantime—he clocked in at an astonishing 9.79 seconds. It wasn’t just the biggest moment of his career, but a historic moment for Canada.

]]> 29. He Made History Canada had suffered decades of bad luck in the 100-meter sprint event at the Olympics, and Johnson finally brought glory back to the Great White North. His victory made him the first Canadian to win the gold since Percy Williams in 1928. He also accomplished another astounding feat.

]]> 30. He Was Fastest First Johnson’s 9.79-second record meant that he was the first human being to beat the 9.8 seconds barrier in the sport of sprinting, defending his title of fastest man on the planet. But in his trademark cocky manner, Johnson boasted that he probably could’ve done it quicker.

]]> 31. He Slowed Down The 100m final race ended in dramatic fashion: Johnson triumphantly raised his hand in the air just before he hit the tape. In a later interview, the cocky sprinter insisted that this victory move actually negatively affected his record, claiming he would have been even faster if not for the aerodynamic effects of the hand-raise. We’ll never know for certain, of course. And as far as events transpired from there, it wouldn’t even matter.

]]> 32. His Fortunes Reversed Three days after the most triumphant moment of his life, Johnson’s entire world crumbled. Park Jong-sei, a chemistry researcher from the Olympic Doping Control Center, found traces of stanozolol, an anabolic steroid, in Johnson’s urine sample. Olympic authorities immediately disqualified the gold medalist from the games and his achievements turned to ashes in his hands.

]]> 33. He Lost It All Johnson’s disqualification, of course, had a serious consequence: the Olympics' governing body immediately stripped him of his gold medal, his victory stricken from the record. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the beleaguered athlete also lost his gold medal from the 1987 Championships. All that was left to do for the disgraced sprinter was frantic damage control.

]]> 34. He Flip-Flopped Following the Seoul test, Johnson vehemently denied that he had used performance-enhancing substances. The following year, however, after a Canadian investigation into the allegations known as the Dubin inquiry, Johnson admitted in testimony that his denial had been a lie. Perhaps he thought coming clean would earn him some favor, but it only cost him more.

]]> 35. His Broken Record Was Fixed After his admission, Johnson faced further consequences. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world record keeping body, formally rescinded his 1987 record, meaning Johnson was no longer officially the fastest man on Earth. If he felt like his treatment was unfair, he may have had a point.

]]> 36. He Was Following The Tide Increasingly aggrieved, Johnson and his coach, Charlie Francis, complained to the media that Johnson was one of many cheaters—he just happened to be the only one to get caught. Furthermore, Francis insisted doping was so rife among the sprinting athletes that Johnson only took part in it to remain competitive. Shocking revelations would later reveal some truth to these claims.

]]> 37. He Was One Of Many After further investigations, it was eventually revealed that, of the eight participants who ran in the 1988 100m final that Johnson won, only two of those racers, Calvin Smith and Robson da Silva, remained clean and steroid-free for their entire careers. This has led sports writers to dub the event “the dirtiest race in history”. This, of course, had implications for Johnson’s biggest rivalry.

]]> 38. His Rival Got In Trouble After Johnson’s success was called into question, the dominoes began to fall for other athletes too. This, of course, included his main rival, Carl Lewis, who indeed tested positive for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine at the Olympic Trials.

Lewis claimed he had accidentally consumed the substances and, surprisingly, investigators found this to be true—he was unaware that these substances were present in Chinese supplements he had been taking. Johnson, meanwhile, claimed that he was the victim of a nefarious plot.

]]> 39. He May Have Gotten Targeted Shortly before Johnson’s dirty race, he had switched sponsorships from Adidas to the much less well-known Diadora brand. Decades later, on a podcast appearance, Johnson claimed this switch may have contributed to his target for testing, suggesting that athletes with big-name sponsorships were better protected than those aligned with smaller companies. Indeed, years after the fact, other elements of the situation were called into question.

]]> 40. He May Have Gotten Screwed Over In 2018, the Toronto Star ran an article that called into question the lab report that burned Johnson all those years ago, claiming there were “inconsistencies” found in the report. Canada’s chief medical officer requested a copy of the report for examination, but the Canadian team offered no objections when the IOC Medical Commission later insisted that the testing methods used were unassailable. Regardless of the truth, however, the damage had been done in 1988.

]]> 41. His Country Turned On Him The reaction to Johnson’s initial Olympic victory in Canada was one of widespread jubilance: he received a personal call from the Prime Minister congratulating him and newspapers invented words like “Benfastic” to describe the rejoicing mood.

After his downfall, however, public opinion quickly turned on the disgraced athlete. Fellow Canadian Olympian and swimmer Mark Tewksbury hung a banner from his Olympic Village window which read “Hero to Zero in 9.79”, which reflected the overall mood of the nation. It would be a while before Johnson even attempted to re-enter Canada’s good graces.

]]> 42. He Popped Up Again After his suspension ended in 1991, Johnson attempted a comeback to the world of athletics and sprinting. His first competitive race back was for that year’s Hamilton Indoor Games, where he attracted a massive audience of over 17,000 spectators. Johnson finished second in the 50m. Johnson would enjoy varying success for the next couple of years, but never quite reached his former heights…until he tried his former methods.

]]> 43. He Played The Hits Ben Johnson competed in the 50m in Grenoble, France in 1993, where he won in a dizzying 5.65 seconds—just 0.04 seconds short of the record. His glory was short-lived, however. Incredibly, just after the race, Johnson was once again found guilty of doping, this time with testosterone. Devastatingly, this resulted in a ban for life by the IAAF. The public response was as negative as you’d expect, but this time it went too far.

]]> 44. He Faced Xenophobia Canadians felt a widespread sense of shame at Johnson’s transgressions, feeling he hadn’t learned his lesson. One deplorable instance, however, brought back all the pain of the athlete’s difficult childhood as an immigrant.

After calling him a national disgrace, federal amateur sport minister Pierre Cadieux shockingly suggested Ben should move back to Jamaica. His offensive comments got widely condemned, with Johnson himself calling it “by far the most disgusting comment [he had] ever heard”. Reality was setting in for the former fastest man, however: he essentially faced exile from Canadian athletics.

]]> 45. He Became A PT For The Stars Ben Johnson bummed around for the next decade or so, taking odd jobs that were sports adjacent. One of the more notable of these occurred in 1997, when Johnson got a gig training Argentinian soccer superstar, Diego Maradona. It wouldn’t be his last brush with a big name.

]]> 46. He Worked With A Would-Be Leader Most knew Maradona for his big personality, but Johnson’s clients only got stranger from there. In 1999, the disgraced sprinter once again made headlines when he took a job as a personal trainer for the son of Muammar Gaddafi, the infamous leader of Libya. It wasn’t all work, no play for Big Ben, however.

]]> 47. He Participated In Wacky Races In 1998, Ben Johnson appeared in a lighthearted race for charity. His opponents in this showdown were a thoroughbred racing horse, a harness racing horse, and a stock car. Incredibly, the former fastest man on earth finished third in the race! As he aged out of his physical prime, however, Johnson had to find other ways to occupy himself.

]]> 48. He Told His Story In 2010, Johnson self-published a tell-all autobiography entitled Seoul to Soul, where he recounted his life story from his childhood in Jamaica through his glory days and the scandalous aftermath. A critic in the Canadian press described the book as “an unconventional sports autobiography”. At this juncture, Johnson was finally ready to laugh at his mistakes.

]]> 49. He Capitalized On Controversy Later in life, Ben Johnson took part in two ad campaigns where he poked fun at his misadventures with doping. The first, in 2006, was for energy drink “Cheetah Power Surge”. In the commercial, the president of the brand asks Johnson: “Ben, when you run, do you Cheetah?”, to which he slyly replies, “I Cheetah all the time”.

Johnson followed this in 2017 with an ad for Australian bookmaker Sportsbet, where Johnson cheekily endorses the company’s new Android app by stating it “has tested positive for speed and power”. Even wilder, the tagline for the campaign was “Putting the 'Roid in Android”. Many condemned the moves as tasteless, but Johnson laughed all the way to the bank.

]]> 50. He’s A Family Man Today, Ben Johnson lives happily in Markham, Ontario, where he continues to coach and spends most of his time with his daughter and granddaughter. For the onetime fastest man on earth, it’s finally time to take a load off.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=26942 <![CDATA[King John's Reign Was An Utter Catastrophe]]> 2026-08-21T10:30:00+00:00 2026-08-20T19:23:24+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-king-john-king-of-england Kyle Climans People The Most Hated King Of England Most people think of King John as the sniveling usurper who plagued Robin Hood, but the real man was far more complicated—and far more twisted. Born a forgotten fourth son to King Henry II, the wily and cunning John played his family against each other until he was the only one left on top. But while John knew how to take a throne, he didn't know what to do with it once he had it, and his reign was one of the most disastrous in England's history.

]]> 1. He Came From A Powerful Family We know John as the King of England, but he should have had so much more than that. When John was born, his father, King Henry II, ruled over the Angevin Empire, which included England and nearly half France. His mother, the infamous Eleanor of Aquitaine, brought even more territories in the South of France. Had the Angevin Empire continued, France and England might still be one country today.

But the Angevin Empire crashed and burned—and the catastrophic rule of King John is to blame.

]]> 2. His Parents Abandoned Him John's mother and father might have been two of the most powerful people in Europe, but that didn't make them good parents. Soon after his birth, Eleanor handed John off to a wet nurse, then ditched him to return to the capital of Aquitaine. She was far too busy conspiring against her equally-absent husband Henry II to spend any time with little John.

John and his sister Joan ended up spending a lonely childhood at Fontevrault Abbey, rarely seeing their powerful parents. Maybe the boy hoped he'd see more of his parents as he grew older—but he was about to learn just how cruel they could be.

]]> 3. His Father Thought Little Of Him John was his parents' fourth (surviving) son. While their older boys Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey stood to inherit great fortunes and massive swaths of land, there wasn't going to be much left for the runt of the litter. It must have been painful for John growing up, knowing how little he meant in his family. His father's cruel nickname must have made it even worse.

Henry II called his youngest "John Lackland," in case he ever forgot he stood to inherit nothing. Eleanor pushed John towards a life in the Church, while his brothers were going to run the empire. Well, the ruthless and ambitious John had something to say about that...

]]> 4. His Family Was A Hot Mess John wasn't supposed to inherit anything, but he had one thing going for him: He came from one of the most toxic, dysfunctional families in history. King Henry II didn't really trust his three older sons, and he refused to grant them any real power over the empire. As each of them grew older, they chafed under his restrictions. By the time John was a boy, the Angevin Empire was a den of infighting, backstabbing, and sometimes even open conflict.

The royal family played the game of thrones with the best of them, and the patriarch, King Henry II, needed every advantage he could muster. That meant bringing the forgotten son John onto the board. He couldn't have known it yet, but that would turn out to be a terrible mistake.

]]> 5. His Dad Had A Change Of Heart Henry wanted to weaken his uppity sons' holdings, so he had a change of heart about that whole "Lackland" thing. Though John was only five years old, Henry had the boy betrothed to the Count of Savoy's young daughter, whose lands would then go to John upon his death. Tragically, John's young bride-to-be perished on the journey over the Alps—though knowing John, she might have dodged a bullet.

Don't worry, though, Henry still gave young John control over several powerful castles across France. The problem, however, is that one person, in particular, was absolutely furious about it.

]]> 6. Henry II Played Favorites Wills are still a source of family drama today, and it was no different in the Middle Ages. You see, the three castles that King Henry II gave to John? Well, Henry II had already promised them to John's older brother, Henry the Young King. Henry II simply decided to give them over to John without even telling his eldest about it. The Young King was furious—and he decided to do something about it.

]]> 7. His Brothers Rebelled Henry the Young King, who wanted more power and feared that their father would give even more of his lands to John, hit a breaking point. He revolted against his father—and he wasn't alone. Remember John's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine? Well, she didn't like her husband sticking his nose where it didn't belong (ie. Aquitaine), so she pushed John's other brothers to join forces with the Young King against their father.

The family was in complete disarray—but no one had more to gain than John.

]]> 8. He Sucked Up To His Father Where was John through all this? He was right at his father's side, the final remaining loyal son. Who do you think Henry II's favorite was now? The longer the rebellion dragged on, the more lands Henry II gave to John—mostly by ripping them away from various bitter nobles. Just a few years earlier, John seemed doomed to a lonely life in the Church while his brothers ran the world.

Now, he was quickly rising through the ranks of the royal family—and that made him a threat.

]]> 9. His Dad Set Him Up Henry II now wanted nothing more than to give John "Lackland" as much land as possible—and he had some seriously shady means to get it done. The Earl of Gloucester was one of the richest men in England, but he planned to split up his lands among his many daughters. Well, Henry had other ideas. He disinherited all of the earl's daughters except for one: Isabella.

Then Henry II betrothed John to Isabella, setting him up to become one of the richest men in the empire. This was no fairy tale romance, though—it was more like a horror story.

]]> 10. His Marriage Was Messed Up John and Isabella were mere children when they were betrothed—but that's not even the twisted part. The two of them were related through their great-grandfather, King Henry I. That was close enough that their marriage should have been illegal based on consanguinity. The Archbishop of Canterbury certainly thought so, and he banned the two cousins from marrying.

But when Henry II wanted something, he got it, and he was willing to do whatever it took.

]]> 11. He Couldn't Do The Deed Ok, so the Archbishop said no to John's marriage, so why not go over his head? Henry II took his case straight to the Pope. He must have buttered up the pontiff something fierce, because the Pope agreed to allow John and Isabella to marry—under one, completely bizarre condition. They weren't allowed to sleep together.

Is it any wonder this twisted marriage was doomed from the start?

]]> 12. He Was A Little Teapot, Short And Stout I hope Isabella wasn't into tall guys. John grew older, but he didn't exactly grow "up." He maxed out at 5'5" tall, though he had a stout, barrel-chested body to make up for what he lacked in height. With his diminutive height, broad shoulders, and mop of dark red hair, he cut a strange figure—but when you get into his personality, he only grew stranger.

]]> 13. He Had Expensive Tastes John was the medieval equivalent of a spoiled millionaire's son. He adored books and even maintained an incredibly expensive library of books to travel around with him. That was nothing compared to his extensive collection of jewels and his wardrobe full of the finest clothes money could buy. He enjoyed backgammon, gambling, and hunting to a degree that bordered on obsessive.

All of this sounds fairly normal, if a little eccentric—but anyone who knew him quickly realized there was something...off about John.

]]> 14. He Was A Little Deranged John's mood swings could break the sound barrier. Though sometimes "genial, witty, generous and hospitable," that only made his darker moods all the more disturbing. He was extremely touchy, incredibly jealous, and prone to sudden and violent fits of rage. Without an outlet for his anger, many noted that he would often gnaw on his own fingers in blind rage.

However, beneath the fine clothes and wild mood swings lay a cunning and ruthless mind, and that made John extremely dangerous.

]]> 15. His Brother Met A Gruesome End The constant infighting that haunted John's family soon claimed its first victim. John's oldest brother, Henry the Young King, started a war with the middle brother Richard over one slight or another, but he bit off more than he could chew. The conflict accomplished basically nothing, and all Henry got out of it was an agonizing demise from dysentery.

With the primary heir to Henry II's empire gone, everyone moved up in the world. Henry made Richard the King of England, and gave John Richard's old territory of Aquitaine. And that all went smoothly and no one got upset about anything, right? Right??

]]> 16. His Family Kept Fighting You've seen how much this family fights, so did you really think that Richard was going to give up a territory as rich as Aquitaine that easily? He bunkered down and basically said, "Come and take it." Furious, Henry ordered John and his other brother Geoffrey to gather a force and take the duchy from Richard by any means necessary. John and Geoffrey stormed the capital at Poitiers...so Richard responded by attacking Geoffrey's territory in Brittany.

This family was a total mess—but after years of scheming and fighting, they were finally getting sick of it.

]]> 17. They Called A Truce Clearly, all this fighting was getting no one in John's family anywhere. The conflict reached a stalemate, and the whole family met up in England to call a truce. Richard ended up keeping Acquitane, but here's the thing: John, now a temperamental teenager, got his first taste of real power—and he liked it. If Henry II had known what was good for him, he'd have just sent John off to the Church and forgotten about him...

]]> 18. He Got Ireland Henry II still wanted to get some serious land for his favorite son, so why not Ireland? He sent John and a large entourage to the Emerald Isle to start running things there. Finally, John actually had real power. And what did he do with it? He completely screwed it all up.

]]> 19. He Screwed It All Up It's hard to imagine John doing a worse job in Ireland. To be fair, he had his work cut out for him: The Angevins had only recently conquered the island, and the Irish still weren't exactly happy about it. It was going to take a delicate hand to secure control of Ireland—and John was more like a bull in a china shop. Upon first meeting local Irish leaders, the tactless John chortled and made fun of their long beards, offending them basically instantly.

John lasted a year in Ireland. In that time, he managed to anger the locals, alienate pretty much all his Angevin allies, and lose a bunch of ground to Irish rebels. He eventually slunk back to England with his tail between his legs, placing all the blame on his viceroy, Hugh de Lacy's shoulders. And this was just the beginning of a lifetime of failures...

]]> 20. He Turned On His Own Father Remember that truce John's family had agreed upon? Turns out, it wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Henry II grew old and weak—and John's brother Richard saw blood in the water. He allied with Philip II, the King of France, and declared war on his stumbling father. In a shocking twist, after a lifetime as his father's lapdog, John actually turned coat and sided with Richard.

Henry II was used to fighting his older sons—but John's betrayal was too much to bear.

]]> 21. His Father Met A Sad End Henry II had no fight left in him. He waved the white flag, acceded to Richard's demands, and passed on soon after. Richard became the new king, and he had only one thing on his mind: the Crusades. Richard desperately wanted to fight the Holy War in the Middle East, but he knew that was risky. He'd spent his entire life squabbling with his parents and brothers over the Angevin Empire, so he realized someone might take it as soon as he left.

So Richard came up with a plan to appease his shifty little brother—but trusting John was always a terrible mistake.

]]> 22. His Brother Tried To Buy His Loyalty To buy John's loyalty, Richard showered him with valuable territories in Cornwall, Derby, Devon, Dorset, Nottingham, and Somerset. He hoped that with all that wealth, John would just sit by and watch over the empire in Richard's name while his lionhearted brother fought Saracens in the Holy Land. Do any of us think that that was going to happen?

]]> 23. He Made A Deal Richard named his four-year-old nephew Arthur heir to the empire and forced John to promise not to step foot in England for three years. The way he saw it, that gave him plenty of time to go off, crusade to his heart's content, then come back to reclaim his throne. John happily agreed; he would never dare try to usurp his brother's throne. Of course not...

]]> 24. He Found A Way It didn't take long for John to get to work. He knew that the people of England were unhappy with Richard's rule thus far, and he saw his chance to strike. First, he convinced his mother Eleanor to persuade Richard to let him back into England. Richard relented (Eleanor of Aquitaine had a certain way with people), and John quickly crossed the Channel, establishing himself at the royal court.

He claimed he only meant to keep the throne warm for his brother—but you and I both know he had more sinister intentions than that.

]]> 25. He Spread Dark Rumors The years began to pass, and yet still Richard, the supposed "King of England," remained nowhere to be found. Pretty soon, people in England began to see John as their de facto ruler—perhaps even the next king. Did John anything to dissuade them of that notion? Nope! In fact, he started spreading rumors that Richard had been killed on the crusade—or, at the very least, was lost forever.

Ironically, though John was lying through his teeth, he wasn't actually that far off.

]]> 26. His Brother Found Himself In Hot Water Richard was still very much alive and actually had begun his trip back to England after years abroad. Unfortunately, Duke Leopold of Austria had captured him en route and handed him over to the unscrupulous Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Now, it's never a good look for a king to get captured—and John knew it. This was the best opportunity he was ever going to get, so he went all in.

]]> 27. He Made A Deal With The Devil John wanted all of the empire to himself, and there was only one person powerful enough to help him get it: Philip, the King of France. When John heard the news of his brother's capture, he jumped on the next ship across the Channel, bound for Paris. He persuaded Philip to form an alliance with him—though he had to be utterly heartless to do it.

]]> 28. He Ditched His Wife How did John convince one of his greatest rivals to ally with him against Richard? Simple: He agreed to marry Philip's sister, Alys. But wait, wasn't John already married? Well, don't worry, that wasn't going to be a problem. Believe it or not, the cousins who were betrothed as children and barred from ever sleeping together as husband and wife did not have a happy marriage.

John didn't hesitate to have his marriage annulled, leaving his wife out in the cold in order to marry Alys. It looked like everything was finally starting to come together for John—of course, that's right when everything started falling apart.

]]> 29. He Openly Rebelled The time for all this scheming and maneuvering was over. Back in England, the lines had been drawn: There were those who supported Richard, and those who backed John. With the sides chosen, fighting broke out, and it quickly turned ugly. And remember how badly John had screwed up in Ireland? Well, this is the same guy we're talking about, and his conflict with Richard went about just as well...

]]> 30. He Couldn't Hit Fish In A Barrel Even with Richard in captivity, John just couldn't gain a foothold against the forces loyal to his brother. By the time Richard escaped his bondage and limped back to England, John had accomplished nothing. His forces surrendered pretty much the second that Richard stepped foot on England, and John, as he always did, fled with his tail between his legs.

He ran away to Normandy and tried to lay low, hoping his brother would forget about that whole "treachery" thing. Richard, of course, found him before long—yet his response to John's betrayal surprised everyone.

]]> 31. His Brother Shaded Him Apparently, Richard the Lionheart, the fierce crusader king, was a big softie deep down. He forgave his 27-year-old brother, saying he was only "a child who has had evil counselors." Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds like an insult to me. The greater insult was certainly removing nearly all of John's lands. Obviously, John seethed under the humiliation—but his time was coming.

]]> 32. His Chance Came After his laughable failed coup, John bided his time and waited for his next chance to strike. That chance came when Richard took a crossbow bolt to the shoulder. The wound soon festered, and the warrior king quickly faded away. The lion's heart stopped in 1199, leaving a power vacuum behind. John, of course, wanted to be the one to fill it—but could he handle it if he got it?

]]> 33. He Had To Fight His Nephew The succession crisis after Richard's passing was a complete mess. There were two claimants to the throne: John and his nephew Arthur, still a young boy. To make matters worse, Norman law favored John, while Angevin law favored Arthur. Within a matter of months, the crisis broke out into open conflict—that was really the only way John's family knew how to solve problems.

Now that John was the only brother left, he wasn't going to roll over for some punk kid—and that drove him to make a terrible decision.

]]> 34. He Did It Again John had already made one deal with the devil, so why not do it again? He negotiated a peace with King Philip of France not long after Richard's passing. In the treaty, Philip recognized John as Richard's heir, while John accepted Philip as the feudal overlord of his territories in France. His brother would have fought tooth and nail for sovereignty, but John was no warrior.

John's weak diplomacy disgusted the Normans, who took to calling the new king "John Softsword" for his craven deal. Still, it managed to earn John some peace—until he managed to mess everything up yet again.

]]> 35. He Wanted A New Wife Remember how John had planned to ditch his wife to marry the French king's sister? Well, that deal fell through, but now that the idea was in John's head, his poor wife was doomed. He couldn't wait to marry the next candidate who caught his eye—but John's tastes were disturbing, even for the Middle Ages...

]]> 36. He Liked Them Young John's scandalous second marriage would cost him everything, so who was this woman who made him throw away all that he'd worked for? Well, "woman" might not be the word. More like, "girl." When John first laid eyes on Isabella of Angoulême, it was allegedly love at first sight. The twisted part? She was only a child. Though no exact record of her age exists, contemporary chroniclers noted that she was too young even for the time.

And in a world where people married 13-year-olds at the drop of a hat, that means she was way too young, but John couldn't be stopped.

]]> 37. She Was Already Taken Isabella's age was just one part of the problem. How about the fact that she was already engaged to someone else? Isabella was supposed to marry the powerful Hugh IX of Lusignan, who just so happened to be a political rival of John's. John, AKA "Mr. Steal Yo Girl," swooped in and decided to marry Isabella himself, and he didn't even have the decency to make it up to Hugh.

Instead, John treated Hugh with open contempt—and that would come back to bite him in a brutal way.

]]> 38. She Was The Helen Of Europe So who was this young girl causing all of this fuss? Even as a child, Isabella of Angoulême was famous for her stunning blue eyes and shock of blond hair. However, she wasn't some calm, seraphic beauty. Turns out, Isabella was better for John than you'd think. Much like her soon-to-be husband, she possessed an utterly chilling temper—as anyone in her household could attest.

John was allegedly completely infatuated with his fiery bride. Little did he know, this marriage would be the worst mistake of his life.

]]> 39. He Didn't Listen Hugh IX wasn't about to take John's treachery lying down. He did what all great men do: he tattled. Hugh took his case straight to King Philip of France, who ordered John to come to Paris to make amends. John, who never liked being told what to do, said, "Screw that," and stayed put with his child bride. I don't know what he thought would happen, but the consequences for his actions were so much worse than he could have possibly imagined.

]]> 40. He Had to Fight For It Maybe Philip was offended by John's child bride, or maybe he was just fed up with the upstart king in general (I know I would be...). Either way, he brought the hammer down. He revoked John's claim to all of his territories on the continent, including his ancestral home of Normandy. King John now found himself at war once again, fighting for his birthright, all because he wanted to marry one particular young girl.

It was during this new conflict that John showed the darkest side of himself yet.

]]> 41. He Let Them Rot In King John's day, even in warfare, nobles generally treated each other with respect. Aristocratic captives still received comfortable treatment—that is, unless John happened to be your captor. Through early victories, John managed to capture dozens of the rebel force's key leaders. These men expected to receive just treatment—but they didn't know King John.

John completely ignored his prisoners, allowing them to rot in horrific conditions. Things got so bad that 22 of his prisoners quickly succumbed to illness. A lifetime of struggle had turned John into a merciless tyrant—and it cost him everything in the end.

]]> 42. He Started Losing John's treatment of his prisoners absolutely horrified even his closest allies. Several of his key regional supporters deserted him and allied with King Philip of France. To make matters worse, John's campaign was starting to drag on, and he was running out of money fast. Philip, on the other hand, had plenty of resources to keep this fight going as long as he wanted.

John's foes were backing him into a corner—and it led him to one of the most disturbing acts of his life.

]]> 43. He Eliminated His Nephew With his allies abandoning him left and right, John grew desperate. He knew he had to act fast or he risked losing everything. His biggest problem was that his nephew Arthur was still kicking around, a rival claimant to the Angevin throne. So he decided to take young Arthur out of the equation. He had his nephew captured, locked him up, and threw away the key.

No one ever saw Arthur again—but one source reveals the boy's dark fate.

]]> 44. He Ended Him Personally Trying to hold onto his empire was beginning to wear on John, and he grew irritable, cruel, and paranoid. He began drinking heavily, and one night, three sheets to the wind, he did the unforgivable. After far too many drinks, John allegedly stumbled into his nephew's cell and ended the boy himself. He then snuck the body out to the Seine, tied it to a heavy stone, and threw it beneath the waves.

The cunning Prince John of his youth had disappeared, and only a twisted, impulsive tyrant remained—but unfortunately, he couldn't sink all of his problems to the bottom of the Seine.

]]> 45. He Lost Almost Everything Everything began falling apart after John slew his nephew. His losses started piling up, and he had to retreat back across the Channel to England. From there, he received devastating news: His mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, finally passed on at the ripe old age of 82. Losing his mother was hard enough, but her steely grip on Aquitaine was essential to his rule.

King Philip went for the jugular. In one fell swoop, he invaded and claimed Normandy, Anjou, and Poitou. Now, all that remained of the once-formidable Angevin Empire was England and Aquitaine. John's empire was falling apart—but at least there was one bright spot.

]]> 46. At Least His Kids Turned Out Alright John's messed-up marriage to Isabella cost him greatly, but at least he got a lot of children out of it. Within just a few years, Isabella had given him two sons and three daughters, including the future King Henry III of England. Extremely rare for medieval royals, all five of the kids survived to adulthood and became powerful nobles in their own right.

This is a miracle, considering the total mess their father left them with...

]]> 47. He Made A Mess In England King John kept losing territory left and right, but at least he still had England, right? Well, about that...While John had been making a mess of things over on the continent, he'd been doing an equally bad job in England. He allowed his cronies, a bunch of uncivilized mercenaries, to take up important positions in the English court. This made the English barons absolutely furious, watching John give all of their lands and titles to a bunch of brutes.

Yet again, John's complete and utter lack of tact was going to come back and bite him.

]]> 48. His Barons Despised Him John's barons already hated him—but his cruel treatment made them want him dead. He distrusted any baron who seemed powerful enough to challenge him, but instead of trying to gain their respect, he tried to make their lives as miserable as possible. Pretty soon, almost every baron had a good reason to despise him, but the worst example by far was William de Braose, one of the most influential men in the British Isles...

]]> 49. He Ruined A Whole Family For no good reason, King John demanded that de Braose give him 40,000 marks. When the baron refused to pay, John exiled him, then imprisoned his wife and son. The atrocious conditions John kept them in cost them their lives before long, and De Braose himself passed on while still in exile. After this nightmare, even the most loyal barons realized that John might turn on them at the drop of a hat. Something had to give.

]]> 50. They Wouldn't Help Him John expected his barons to support him no matter how he treated them—they had other ideas. In 1214, he began one more campaign to try and take his homeland of Normandy back from King Philip. He had the money, an experienced army, and several strong alliances on the continent. What he didn't bank on, however, was that many of his barons back in England just flat out refused to go with him.

Without the support of his own people, John's invasion turned into a disaster. Philip defeated his force, and John had a sign a humiliating peace treaty, putting the final nail in the coffin of his hopes of regaining Normandy. But once he made it back to England, things went from bad to worse.

]]> 51. He Gave Up His Power Rebel barons, well and truly fed up with the tyrannical King John, raised a force of their own and marched on London. They easily took the city, and several nobles loyal to John betrayed him and joined forces with the rebels. Completely out of options, John had to wave the white flag and sign one of the most humiliating deals in the history of England.

The barons forced John to sign the Magna Carta, which completely hamstrung his power and gave the barons untold freedom. Signing such a deal should have been rock bottom for the miserable King John—and yet he still had further to fall.

]]> 52. He Had One Last Fight While the Magna Carta is one of the most infamous charters in history, it didn't actually accomplish much. Neither John nor the barons abided by it, and it was only a matter of time before they ripped it up and decided to settle things the old-fashioned way. The rebels gathered a new army and planned to oust John by force. In a shocking move, they actually invited the French Prince Louis to lead them.

Even a French king would be better than King John at this point. John, now approaching 50, had to fight for his throne one last time—but after a lifetime of conflict, this infamous king was finally out of juice.

]]> 53. He Fell Brutally Sick The First Barons War was a miserable end to a miserable reign. The two sides fought each other to a stalemate that showed little sign of letting up. Stubborn old John still insisted on leading his men from the front lines—and that eventually proved fatal. He contracted dysentery, yet still, he trudged on through the countryside, determined to deal with the rebel barons once and for all.

It really seemed like he couldn't possibly fall any lower. But this is King John we're talking about—there was always another rock bottom.

]]> 54. He Lost His Jewels John dragged his army across the Wash, a dreary bay in East Anglia. While trying to cross one of the bay's many soggy estuaries, John lost most of his baggage train. The worst casualty? The English Crown Jewels, which disappeared into the mud along with everything else. Now John, still battling the horrific symptoms of dysentery, had lost not just his empire, but the very symbol of his power.

It was a humiliation beyond any he'd faced so far—but thankfully, his misery was finally nearing its end.

]]> 55. He Could Carry On No Longer Dysentery is an extremely gruesome way to go, so it was a fitting end to John's gruesome reign. He managed to limp into Newark Castle, in Nottinghamshire, before his body finally gave out. He passed on in the night in October 1216, just over a year after he put his pen to the Magna Carta. Yet even with his final act, King John managed to prove he was a truly horrible person.

]]> 56. He Dealt One Final Betrayal For the final decade of his reign, King John had kept his own niece, Eleanor, rotting in a cell. Eleanor technically had a claim to his throne, so he kept her locked up so she couldn't rise up against him. Well, now that he was gone, he shouldn't care about Eleanor anymore, right? Nope. In a final act of spite, John amended his will to state that Eleanor never be released from captivity.

That's just the kind of man King John was.

]]> 57. He Was A Horrible Guy So what went so wrong for King John? Clearly, this forgotten fourth son had the cunning and ambition to become the King of England and more, so how did he screw it all up so badly? Most contemporary sources agree on the reason why: He was just a horrible guy. They called him sinfully lustful and horribly impious. His flippant attitude towards Christianity—once even making a joke about the likelihood of Jesus's resurrection—utterly scandalized the nobles of his court.

But his heresy was far easier to bear than his scandalous personal life.

]]> 58. He Had Scandalous Tastes Remember John's first wife? The cousin whom he couldn't sleep with? Well, it should be little surprise that John took many mistresses during that first marriage. That was to be expected for a medieval king, but John's taste in women was the scandalous part. He just didn't take any woman as his mistress. He preferred noblewoman—married noblewomen.

So John insulted his barons to their face, took their money, locked them up without a care in the world, and slept with their wives? It's no wonder they rose up against him. Today, history remembers King John as one of the most despised monarchs England has ever seen—and I think you'd agree, he earned that title and then some.

You May Also Like:

Nosy Facts About Princess Augusta, The Meddling Royal Mother
42 Wig-Melting Facts About Louis XIV, The Sun King of France
Mega Awesome: Lost Facts About King James I, The Forgotten King

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=38611 <![CDATA[The Sad Truth About Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man]]> 2026-08-21T10:30:00+00:00 2026-08-20T19:10:04+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/joseph-merrick-elephant-man-facts Byron Fast People The Elephant Man Joseph Merrick kept his hideous face hidden behind a burlap sack. Another thing that’s hidden is his actual real life story. Don’t trust the movie—the truth is even more astonishing.

]]> 1. He Was Flawed We all know the story of poor disfigured Joseph Merrick who, as the “Elephant Man” lived a sad existence in Freak Shows. But few people know the entire startling tale. The story goes that unsavory scoundrels put Merrick on display. The true story of Joseph Merrick is far more complicated.

]]> 2. Everything Seemed A-Okay August 5, 1862 marks the birth of Joseph Carey Merrick in Leicester, England. It was a working class existence where Dad toiled in a warehouse, and mom worked as a servant. Mom, however, had a secret. She covered up a physical disability that only affected her and her daughter Marion. As far as Joseph went, he was happy and healthy.

Sadly, his life would soon take a baffling and tragic turn for the worse.

]]> 3. He Began To Change Around Merrick’s second birthday, mom and dad noticed something wrong with their son’s lips. They had become quite swollen. Maybe not such a big deal, but worrying nonetheless. The next thing that happened the parents couldn’t easily explain away. A large disfiguring lump mysteriously appeared on Merrick’s forehead.

But while the Merricks were dealing with little Joseph, a far worse problem was about to catch them completely unaware.

4. He Had A Sad Christmas 

The Merricks didn’t have much time to care for Joseph, because their other son had horrible problems of his own. In December, 1870, Merrick’s younger brother William came down with scarlet fever. It was a sad holiday season for the Merrick family. They buried William on Christmas Day.

Maybe the Merricks hoped that Joseph would grow out of his mysterious ailments. Nope, his brutal transformation was just beginning. 

5. He Got Worse

Sister Marion Merrick's physical disability was going to have to take a back seat as Joseph’s situation deteriorated. By the age of five, his skin became thick and lumpy. Worse still, it even changed color. Some people described it as looking like the skin of an elephant.

This gave mom and dad a bizarre idea. They suddenly knew exactly what was causing their son’s terrible condition—and it was not what you think.

]]> 6. It Threw Her To The Ground Their child was transforming into something they didn’t recognize, and the Merricks now had an explanation. Mom remembered that she had been at a fairground when she was pregnant, and an elephant had frightened her and knocked her to the ground. Okay, it’s not exactly scientific, but it did help the Merricks cope.

What it didn’t help was Merrick himself. His bizarre transformation seemed to have no end.

]]> 7. They Watched In Horror The Merricks watched in horror as their son continued to disfigure. Let’s start with his feet. They were both growing out of proportion with the rest of his body. Bizarrely, his arms were out of whack, too. One arm was growing out of control, while the other one seemed normal. Their son was looking less like a boy and more like a monster. Joseph himself was starting to fear his own body, and could only look to his mother for comfort.

Sadly, this sole source of comfort would soon be a distant memory.

]]> 8. She Went Quickly In 1873, tragedy struck the Merrick family once more. Mom came down with pneumonia and quickly passed. In just a couple of dismal years, Merrick had lost a brother and his mom. Dad now had two children with physical problems to care for, and he clearly needed help. In 1874, Mr. Merrick married Emma Wood Antill, who was his landlord and a widow with her own children.

If fairy tales have taught us anything about stepmothers, we know Merrick was in for a world of pain.

]]> 9. He Was In Misery Life in Merrick’s new home was pure misery. His new stepmother couldn’t muster up an ounce of affection for the odd looking boy and mercilessly taunted him. It was, however, even worse than that. His own father was as cold as ice to him, too. Merrick attempted to run away from home, but every time his father dragged him back to his gloomy existence.

Maybe school would be a break from his ruthless parents. Nope, not a chance.

]]> 10. His Hands Wouldn’t Work Life at school was no better than at home, so Merrick quit when he was 13 years old. Unfortunately, his dad figured if he wasn’t in school, he had to earn money. In spite of his gruesome appearance, Merrick did find a job in a factory. He worked there diligently until the sad truth became obvious. His deformed hands could no longer do the intricate work. After three years in the factory, he was out on the street.

Now unemployed, Merrick would be back with his horrible parents 24/7.

]]> 11. They Slammed The Door Dad wasn’t about to let his son do nothing, so he put him to work. Mr Merrick was operating a hat store and sent Merrick out to sell the products door to door. Cold sales calls are hard enough as they are. Imagine doing them when you look like the Elephant Man. Merrick got a lot of slammed doors in his face, and then had to go home with a grand total of zero sales.

And after that, he had to face the wrath of his hot-tempered father.

]]> 12. He Had To Get Out When dad saw Merrick arrive home with nothing to show for his day selling hats, he lost it. He mercilessly beat his son, and Merrick saw no other choice. He had to get out of that house and get out forever. He did just that but made himself homeless in the process. Merrick had no one to care for him, and all he got on the streets were stares and taunts.

If no one stepped up and cared for Merrick, this would surely be the end.

]]> 13. He Tracked Him Down Luckily, Merrick’s uncle Charles tracked his nephew down and welcomed him into his house. Merrick now had a roof over his head, but still he wanted to work. He tried door-to-door sales again, but his now-even worse appearance made customers retreat in horror. The final nail in his coffin was the city taking away his sales license. Merrick now had absolutely no way to make a living.

Well, at least he had a place to sleep. Well, guess what: That was going, too.

]]> 14. It Was His Last Resort When Uncle Charles started a family, Merrick felt the squeeze and had to leave the house. At 17 years of age, Merrick approached a place he’d hoped he would never have to resort to: The Leicester Workhouse, where poor souls with no hope did labor in exchange for a place to live. Before that could start, however, Merrick had to have a physical examination.

There was a glimmer of hope here. Surely the doctor would see that Merrick didn’t need to work, he needed medical care. Right?

]]> 15. They Worked Him Hard After the doctor saw Merrick’s physical abnormalities, he shockingly put him in the “able bodied” class. This was not good news for Merrick. It meant that the work was going to be mercilessly hard. The hours were long, and the chores were the kind of labor that no one else wanted to do. This new "life" was more like prison.

As if this weren’t bad enough, there was something downright evil about the workhouse.

]]> 16. It Was Deplorable The conditions in 19th century workhouses were shameful. In addition to the long hours, there was a shortage of food and malnutrition was common. Worse yet, there was punishment. Residents who didn’t work hard enough—or misbehaved—received a harsh beating. Merrick was in a horrible situation, and his body was still transforming.

In fact, the latest mutation was close to lethal.

]]> 17. He Couldn’t Eat Merrick now had a protrusion from his mouth which, like the rest of him, looked quite hideous. But it was actually much worse than that it even looked. You see, this new protrusion made two simple things very difficult for Merrick. He spoke unintelligibly and, worse still, he could barely eat. With little communication and no nourishment, it looked like a sad end for Merrick. Nothing short of a miracle could save him.

]]> 18. He Went Under The Knife By some miracle, a doctor at the workhouse saw Merrick’s pitiful situation and showed him some mercy. With surgery, doctor Clement Frederick Bryan was able to remove a good portion of the protrusion from Merrick’s mouth. Once the operation was complete, Merrick could speak better and, more importantly, eat. With that problem solved, Merrick resolved to get himself out of the workhouse.

His only option, however, would put him at the mercy of some very sketchy people.

]]> 19. He Faced Evil Merrick had heard that there were human exhibitions called freak shows, and he thought he was freaky enough to join one. He contacted a comedian named Sam Torr, who took one look at Merrick and saw dollar signs. To best exploit Merrick for all he was worth, Torr assembled a trio of managers: J Ellis, George Hitchcock, and Sam Roper.

We’ll soon see how these three men became Merrick’s axis of evil.

20. He Hit The Road

Hitchcock was the first of the trio to take over Merrick’s life. When he met Merrick for the first time, he put on his thinking cap and came up with a name for his new oddity. He called him, “The Elephant Man”. Hitchcock was a born salesman and soon came up with this clever slogan: “Half-a-Man and Half-an-Elephant”.

Yes Merrick was out of the workhouse, but as a member of a touring Freak Show he was about to expose himself to a cruel and dangerous world.

]]> 21. He Got Dumped Merrick’s tour as “The Elephant Man” was a success, so it was time to hit the more lucrative London market. Hitchcock dumped Merrick onto a man named Tom Norman, who agreed to take on Merrick sight unseen. When Norman did eventually meet Merrick, he staggered backward in disbelief. 

He was sure there would be no audience for such a horrid looking creature. Boy was he wrong.

]]> 22. He Horrified Them In London, Norman set Merrick up on a simple metal cot in a vacant store. He would then assemble a crowd around Merrick’s drawn curtain. Norman carefully explained that the Elephant Man was not there to scare them but to enlighten them. Norman would then pull the curtain back with a flourish. Let’s just say there was more horror than enlightenment.

This was Merrick’s new miserable life, but if there's one thing he had learned, it's that it could always get worse. And right on cue, his still morphing body was about to throw him yet another heartbreaking obstacle.

]]> 23. Even Sleep Was A Huge Risk Believe it or not, Merrick’s head was still growing. In fact, it was so large now that he could only sleep sitting up with his large head resting on his knees. When Norman asked Merrick about his sleeping position, he got this sad answer: If he didn’t rest his head on his knees, his huge heavy head would likely break his neck. Surely, someone would soon have pity on this poor man.

As it turned out, help was just across the street.

]]> 24. He Was The Real Thing The location of Merrick’s exhibit was pleasantly fortuitous—for once. It was right across the street from London Hospital. Some medical students paid their penny and took a look, likely expecting that the famous Elephant Man was a hoax. When they saw that Merrick was the real thing, they hurried back to the hospital and sounded the alarm.

A modern day hospital would be a great thing for Merrick—but this wasn’t modern. It was Victorian, and those lurking inside didn’t always have the best intentions.

]]> 25. He Called Him Names Dr. Frederick Treves of London Hospital couldn't believe his eyes. He spent 15 minutes looking at Merrick and then went to his office to quickly write down his notes—and they were merciless. He called Merrick a “disgusting specimen” and a “degraded…perverted version of a human being”. Once he’d written down his cruel description of his patient, Treves returned to Norman with a request to examine Merrick.

There was, however, a logistics problem. Treves needed to get Merrick across the street without his appearance causing a riot.

]]> 26. He Was Too Terrifying The obvious solution for getting Merrick to the hospital was a taxi. Merrick’s appearance, however, was so terrifying that even getting from the store to the taxi could cause a major uproar. Together Merrick and Norman made a cap with a burlap sack which could completely cover Merrick’s face. To hide his disfigured body, he wore a huge black coat. Merrick was now ready to roll.

He said goodbye to the vacant store and hello to a complete stranger—who now held his vulnerable life in his hands.

]]> 27. He Was Under The Microscope Dr Treves got started by measuring Merrick’s strange body. His head and right wrist were both much, much larger than a typical man’s. Merrick also had a strange and unpleasant odor surrounding him. At the end of the first examination, Treves also made a conclusion about Merrick’s intelligence. He unkindly called him an “imbecile”.

The doctor had his facts and figures. What he would do with them, would seal the fate of poor Joseph Merrick.

]]> 28. It Was More Of The Same Much like Merrick’s other handlers, Dr Treves wanted to make a show of Merrick. To Merrick, being on display at a meeting of a bunch of doctors must have felt the same as being back at the Freak Show. Maybe this doctor was no better than the showman who had been exposing Merrick in the first place.

Merrick had to choose between two men, and both of them had very suspicious intentions.

]]> 29. It Was A Tug-Of-War The thing is, we don’t know exactly how Norman treated Merrick. Treves wrote that Norman was a drinker who beat Merrick mercilessly, which Norman denied. But let’s remember, it was the doctor who called Merrick “disgusting” and an “imbecile,” while Norman called Merrick “the most remarkable human being ever to draw the breath of life”.

What was clear was that Merrick was in demand. What was not clear was whether either of these guys would ever come to Merrick’s rescue.

]]> 30. He Slipped It In His Coat Merrick eventually decided to stay with Norman and the Freak Show. Apparently, Merrick had said that at the hospital he felt like “an animal in a cattle market”. At least in the Freak Show his humiliation earned him money. Merrick, contrary to what the doctor thought, was no ombecile. For safekeeping, he kept the doctor’s business card in his coat for a rainy day—one that was just around the corner.

]]> 31. He Was Vulnerable Merrick’s time with Norman was about to come to a grinding halt. Londoners had come to their senses and turned their backs on the cruel and humiliating Freak Shows. That, however, didn’t mean the rest of the country had. Merrick’s trio of managers decided that it was time for another tour, and Sam Roper stepped in to arrange it.

Again Merrick was at the mercy of yet another man trying to make a buck from his sad condition.

]]> 32. They Didn’t Want Him Merrick’s tour of the British countryside continued—until the tide turned once again. The entire country had now decided that Freak Shows were in bad taste. This was good and bad news for Merrick. On the plus side, the public now cared about the dignity of people they once called “freaks”. The downside was that Merrick now had no way to make a living at all.

Once again, Merrick’s manager decided on the next move. Sadly, it was one that would take Merrick into an entirely new kind of danger.

]]> 33. It Was A Terrifying Place Merrick’s managers’ new idea was a European Tour. For his entire life, Merrick had known only England, so Europe was going to be a new and terrifying place. The hope was that the taste for freaks in Europe had not changed, but they were wrong. Freak shows were out of favor there too. At least Merrick had a manager to help him get back to England.

Well, it didn’t quite turn out that way.

]]> 34. He Was All Alone Yes, Merrick had a new manager, but this guy suddenly felt stuck in a strange country with a ghastly looking man and no way to make a buck. This enterprising manager did two things to fix his situation, and neither of them were good for Merrick. First, he robbed Merrick of his hard earned savings. Next, he completely abandoned poor Merrick in Brussels.

Merrick was in a foreign land where he didn’t speak the language. He had no way to make money and no way to get home.

35. They Refused Him

Things were not looking good for Merrick. Through his own sheer determination, he managed to get on a train to a city where he knew there were ferries to England. The train trip went off without a hitch. The ferry...not so much. Because of his horrifying appearance, they wouldn’t even let him on the boat.

England was just across the water, but it might as well have been a million miles away. There was only one other option, and if that failed, it was game over.

]]> 36. It Was His Last Chance Merrick knew there was just one nearby city that had ferries to England. Of course, his fear was that they wouldn’t let him on there either. He had to put those doubts aside and just go for it. He got another train and arrived in Antwerp. Here he had some luck for once and managed to get onboard. Of course, getting back to England was just the first step.

He had no idea what kind of reception to expect back at home.

]]> 37. He Got Tossed Out The truth was, England was only going to be marginally less frightening than Europe. Merrick had no money, no place to stay, and any moment he spent on the street ended in public harassment or a riot. With rising dread, Merrick approached another workhouse. The London workhouse took him in, but the next morning, Merrick got a rude awakening. They shoved him back on the streets.

The workhouses had a rule. You could only belong to one at a time, so Merrick had to return to his original workhouse in Leicester. Sadly, he had absolutely no way to get there.

]]> 38. They Cornered Him Merrick was in serious trouble now. He managed to get to Liverpool Station where he could catch a train. With no money, his only hope was to beg for money. Sadly, his appearance and suffocating odor prevented him from getting any help. What he got instead was a crowd that quickly grew frenzied. 

But as the mob was cornering Merrick in Liverpool Station, his angel suddenly appeared.

]]> 39. It Was His Rainy Day A kind officer saw the trouble Merrick was in and valiantly swooped in to rescue him. The frantic Merrick couldn’t speak, but he did reach his shaking hand into his pocket and produced a card—the one he’d saved for a rainy day. Later a hansom cab pulled up in front of Merrick, and Dr Treves stepped out. Treves quickly took Merrick to London Hospital, where attendants gave him a much needed bath.

Again, Merrick was under Treves’ complete control. He still didn’t trust the doctor, but all he could do was fearfully wait to see his true colors.

]]> 40. He Got The Worst News As it turned out, Treves was concerned about Merrick—with good reason. Upon examination, it turned out Merrick had bronchitis, which the hospital could easily deal with. There was, however, something more concerning. Treves gave Merrick the terrible news. 

Because of a heart condition, he only had a few years to live. Clearly, the hospital was the best place for Merrick, but with no money this was a complete impossibility.

]]> 41. There Was A Flood With no money, Merrick had nothing to look forward to but more misery and a terrible end to his life. There was, however, some hope. The hospital wrote an open letter informing Londoners of Merrick’s desperate situation. What followed was an astounding flood of donations. Enough to allow Merrick to live in the hospital for the rest of his days. For the first time, Merrick felt what it was like to have someone—a lot of people—care.

Still there was something that was missing from Merrick’s life. Something on his bucket list.

]]> 42. It Was His First Time When the kind-hearted Treves found out that, aside from the nurses, Merrick had never really met a woman, he sprang into action. He had a friend named Leila Maturin who was game to meet Merrick. The meeting went well, and Merrick later said something heartbreaking. She was the first woman who had ever smiled at him.

Merrick had managed to get a first smile from a woman. Let’s see how he does with royalty.

]]> 43. He Charmed Her Socks Off While Merrick was at the hospital, there were some rather important visitors. This was the Prince and Princess of Wales who arrived on May 21, 1887. Against all odds, Merrick managed to charm the Princess, but went even further. With the Princess’ help, Merrick’s next friendship was quite astonishing. He became one of Queen Victoria’s besties.

The next item on Merrick’s bucket list, however, was going to be a little more difficult to pull off.

]]> 44. He Felt Peace Merrick had certainly got around Europe when he toured in a freak show. He had never, however, actually been on a holiday. After a very private train trip—the railway kindly arranged an entire railcar just for him—Merrick arrived at the vastness of an estate called Fawley Hall. While staying in the beautiful countryside, Merrick picked wild flowers and mostly had some peaceful time to himself with no one taunting him.

It was a lovely moment for the almost 30 year old man. Sadly, it was going to be one of his last.

]]> 45. He Risked It In spite of his well earned vacation, Merrick’s health continued to decline. April 18, 1890, was a very sad day. A doctor found Merrick’s lifeless body in his bed. It seemed that he had taken a fatal risk. He’d tried to do something that most of us take for granted: sleeping lying down. When he did this, his enlarged head dislocated his neck.

The end of Merrick’s life, however, was only the beginning of his soar to fame.

]]> 46. It Took Eight Hours In 1980 director, David Lynch took a stab at bringing Merrick’s life to the big screen. The problem was getting an actor to resemble the horribly disfigured Merrick. In the end the makeup artist spent eight hours making John Hurt look like the titular The Elephant Man. With eight hours a day in makeup, Hurt wasn’t having much fun. He even told his girlfriend that doing the movie had made him “hate acting.”

The Elephant Man was a huge hit and thrust Merrick’s story into pop culture. Next, it was the King of Pop who wanted a piece of him.

]]> 47. He Danced With A King In 1987, the late pop star Michael Jackson wanted to get his hands on Merrick—quite literally. A newspaper reported that Jackson actually wanted to purchase Merrick’s bones. The sale didn’t pan out, and Jackson later made fun of the whole thing in his 1989 video for “Leave Me Alone”. In it, Jackson and Merrick’s bones do a dance number together.

Jackson may have wanted a piece of Merrick, but this next star wanted more. He wanted to be him.

]]> 48. He Said No To Makeup The play version of Merrick’s life began in the 1970s but has since seen many actors—including David Bowie—try to get it right. More recently it’s been Bradley Cooper’s 2014 Broadway performance that has caused attention. Playing against type, Bradley Cooper—once called the “sexiest man alive”—said “no” to makeup and prosthetics and simply became The Elephant Man.

Whether it was the stage or on film, Merrick’s story was certainly a somber drama. Not so on British television. Here, Merrick went comedic.

]]> 49. They Went Out On A Limb Merrick’s story took an unexpected turn in 2019’s Year of the Rabbit. A recurring character in this sitcom about detectives in Victorian era London is Joseph Merrick. The writers—and actor David Dawson—decided to go out on a fictitious limb and play Merrick as loud-mouthed, pretentious, and “theatrical”.

It seems that the public has an insatiable appetite for Merrick’s life story. Doctors, on the other hand, just want to know what the heck happened to him.

]]> 50. It’s Still A Mystery As we now know, Merrick’s belief that all his suffering was the result of his mother’s troubling encounter with an elephant was a fantasy. Scientists, however, are still bewildered about the cause. Some doctors think it was Proteus syndrome, some call it neurofibromatosis, and still others call it a cruel “once in a blue moon” combination of the two.

The truth is, until we get another Elephant Man, we’ll probably never know.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=27752 <![CDATA[Charles V held more power than anyone else on Earth—but it slowly corrupted his mind.]]> 2026-08-20T17:39:33+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-charles-v Kyle Climans People Charles V Was The Most Powerful Man On Earth—Until His Brutal Downfall Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor was born into the twisted world of Medieval royalty—and his dramatic life rivaled that of his contemporary, Henry VIII. Though Charles became maybe the most powerful person on Earth, his life was anything but classy. With his scandalous affairs and vicious feuds, the twisted life of Charles V proved one thing: Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

]]> 1. He Had A Handsome Father Charles of Habsburg (yes, those Habsburgs) was born in February 1500 to some truly wild parents. His father, Philip the Handsome, was an Austrian prince. With the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian and the fabulously-wealthy "Mary the Rich" as his grandparents, Charles must have felt pretty darn good about the genes coming from his dad's side.

And how about his mom's genes? Well, that's another story...

]]> 2. His Genes Weren't Perfect Charles V's mother was Joanna of Castile, AKA Joanna the Mad. Though she stood in line two inherit the thrones of Aragon and Castile, Joanna was also infamously, well, mad. Her mental health was questionable even before her son was born, but as Charles grew into a young man, things would get so much worse—and Charles had to pay the price for it.

]]> 3. His Birth Wasn't Glamorous For a man who rose to the height of power and luxury, Charles V came from some pretty darn humble beginnings: He was born on the floor of a bathroom. When momma Joanna went into labor, she wasn't about to let that ruin her evening plans, so despite her contractions, she still dressed up and went to a glitzy ball. But she couldn't keep Charles in forever.

Near the end of the night, Joanna was forced into a bathroom, where she gave birth to Charles right next to the toilets. From the beginning, it seemed like Charles's parents didn't want him getting in the way of their social life—and that didn't change as the boy grew up.

]]> 4. He Had A Tragic Childhood Charles's childhood was cripplingly lonely. Apparently, "parenting" wasn't very high on his mom and dad's list of priorities. Not long after his birth, Philip and Joanna dumped Charles off with his aunt and went cavorting off to Spain. They barely ever came to visit after that. Maybe they thought they'd have plenty of time to spend with little Chucky when he grew up—but fate had other plans.

]]> 5. His Parents Abandoned Him While his parents were off in Spain or Austria—basically, anywhere Charles wasn't—the boy lived out his lonely childhood in the Netherlands. He may have hated his parents, but he loved his homeland. Even when he came to rule some of the most powerful countries on earth, Charles's heart always lay in the Low Countries.

And speaking of Charles's heart: The boy was growing up fast, and that could only mean one thing. Sure, he was still a child, but it was high time to find this little prince a wife.

]]> 6. His First Engagement Was Gross We all have that one friend who got engaged way too young—but medieval royals put those friends to shame. Charles's parents betrothed him to England's Princess Mary (Henry VIII's sister) when he was just seven years old and Mary was only 11. See, Charles's family had their thumb in just about every single one of Europe's royal pies, except for England. They hoped Charles and Mary's marriage would fix that.

It seemed like a good plan, but that didn't stop it from going up in flames.

]]> 7. He Suffered Rejection Early OK, so maybe royals used to get engaged waaay too early, but at least they didn't marry until they were teenagers. Unfortunately, in this case, that gave the King of England lots of time to get cold feet. In a move that infuriated Charles's parents, he called off the betrothal and instead set his girl Mary up with the King of France instead.

Their grand plans gone up in smoke, the Habsburgs were forced to find another bride for little Charles—but if you think they were going to forget this betrayal, you've got another thing coming.

]]> 8. His Parents' Power Grew In 1504, Charles's grandma suddenly passed, making his mother the Queen of Castile. Since everyone figured she was totally insane, they also made sure that his dad became king as well. It was the most power Charles's parents had ever seen, but they didn't get to enjoy it for long. Soon after they took the throne, tragedy struck.

]]> 9. He Knew Loss From A Young Age Being handsome didn't save Charles's dad Philip from a sudden and painful death. Typhoid claimed the newly-crowned king less than a year after he took the throne. Though Charles, who barely even knew his father, probably couldn't have cared less, the news absolutely devastated his mother. But Philip's death was only the beginning—things were about to get so much worse.

]]> 10. His Mother Went Off The Deep End Joanna was mentally unstable to begin with, but the loss of her husband pushed her to her breaking point. Now the sole Queen of Castile, she completely lost control of her people, and the country quickly fell into chaos. It was a dark and frightening time for Castile. Plague and famine ravaged the land, and the country seemed on the brink of complete collapse.

But this is where our boy Charles comes into the picture.

]]> 11. He Was A Savior By this point, Queen Joanna had basically become a recluse. While her country fell apart around her, she took her husband's corpse and fled to the isolated town of Tordesillas. Some nobles set up a regency to try and rule in her absence, but things didn't get much better. The country needed an actual monarch—but don't worry. One was coming. And his name was Charles.

]]> 12. He Wanted Power Castile floundered with effectively no monarch for nearly a decade. Then, to make matters worse, in 1516 Joanna actually inherited the crown of Aragon as well. That made her the Queen of all Spain, but as we've heard, she was in no state to rule. However, by now, her boy Charles was 16 years old and ready to take the reins himself.

Charles had himself proclaimed King Charles I of Spain and took control of the country—but not everyone was happy about it.

]]> 13. His Own Granddad Hated Him Charles was just 16 years old and had spent almost his entire life hidden away in the Netherlands, yet he still had enemies. Even worse, those enemies were his own flesh and blood! His maternal grandfather, Ferdinand II of Aragon, absolutely hated the idea of Spain falling into the hands of a foreigner—even if that foreigner was his own grandson.

He did everything he could to make sure the throne of Aragon went to anyone other than Charles V. But he was in for a rude awakening.

]]> 14. Rivals Tried To Keep Him From The Throne Ferdinand hated the idea of Charles becoming the King of Spain, and he had one extremely important ally on that front: Cardinal Jimenez de Cisneros, the regent of Castile. As regent, Cisneros hoped to rule Castile with an iron fist, and he didn't want this kid from the Netherlands coming in and spoiling all his fun. But even at just 16, Charles was clever, and there was nothing Jimenez could do to stop him from taking the throne.

If only Jimenez had fallen in line quicker—because people who crossed Charles had a strange habit of winding up dead.

]]> 15. His Enemy Met A Suspicious Fate Cardinal Jimenez finally backed Charles as king, but by that point, it was too late. When Charles finally arrived in Spain, the Cardinal rushed to meet him to pay respects—but he never made it. He fell suddenly ill on the trip and passed before he ever laid eyes on the new king. Does that seem a little suspicious to you? You're not the only one. From the moment Jimenez gave his last breath, people started to wonder.

Who knows how Jimenez really died, but everyone assumed it was poison—revenge for challenging Charles's rule.

]]> 16. He Couldn't Be Stopped Charles's grandfather Ferdinand passed in 1516, and he could do nothing to stop Charles from swooping in and taking his throne. Forced to see the writing on the wall, Ferdinand finally accepted Charles as his heir. But shortly before his end came, Ferdinand wrote to his grandson and made one final, desperate request.

]]> 17. His Grandpa Made A Last Request Though he could be a shrewd political manipulator, Ferdinand was still a big softie at heart. He deeply loved his queen, Germaine of Foix, and shortly before passing he wrote to Charles and begged him to make sure that Germaine was taken care of. Well, Charles did indeed make sure that Germaine was taken care of—but probably not in the way that Ferdinand had in mind...

]]> 18. He Needed A Wife OK, so now Charles was the King of Spain. That could only mean one thing: He needed heirs to continue on his legacy. So, years after his first engagement went up in flames, Charles hit the town again looking for a wife. Pretty soon, his advisors settled on someone: Isabella of Portugal. Sure, she was his cousin, but if you're a Habsburg, being a blood relation is basically a requirement.

Isabella was perfect, but there's one thing those advisors didn't count on...

]]> 19. He Was Uncontrollable The first time people picked out a bride for Charles V, he was basically a toddler. This time he was a full 18 years old, and the new King of Spain wasn't one to be pushed around. He was enjoying single life too much to settle down and marry. Charles undoubtedly caused plenty of hand-wringing when he refused to marry Isabella and live that single life instead.

The way Charles saw it, he was the king, so he could do whatever he wanted—but quickly, he'd come to regret turning down Isabella. He didn't know how good he had it...

]]> 20. His Next Engagement Was Seriously Messed Up Charles couldn't outrun his advisors forever. He had a kingdom to run, and that meant he needed to secure a wife. But by 1521, the Isabella ship had sailed. So they picked out a truly disturbing bride-to-be instead. Remember when Charles was engaged to an English princess at seven years old? Turns out, these royals could get a lot weirder.

This time, the 21-year-old Charles became engaged to a six-year-old English princess: Mary, Henry VIII's daughter. Oh, and of course, she was also his cousin. Yes, Charles's love life was a total mess. But don't worry—the rest of his life was a total mess too.

]]> 21. He Fought Rebellion Throughout his rise to power in Spain, Charles also had his lands back home in the Netherlands to keep an eye on, and almost as soon as he left, things went south fast. A peasant's revolt threw the region into conflict for several years. But the rebels were about to learn that while Charles was young, he was still someone you didn't want to cross.

]]> 22. He Made A Chilling Statement After nearly a decade of fighting, Charles's forces finally put down the peasants' rebellion. So, do you think Charles was a "forgive and forget" kinda guy? Not even close. He rounded up all of the rebellion's leaders and beheaded them to make an example. The message was clear: If you crossed Charles, you were going to pay the price.

He was already that ruthless at 20 years old—and he'd only get worse as he grew older.

]]> 23. He Played Dirty In 1519, Charles added Austria to his ever-increasing empire. That meant he was Lord of the Netherlands, King of Spain, and King of Austria. It was only a matter of time before he added an even greater title to his repertoire: Holy Roman Emperor. Though names as powerful as King Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England challenged him for the spot, nothing was going to stop Charles from claiming the power he craved.

Charles became Holy Roman Emperor in 1519. So how did he manage to beat out both the kings of France and England? Simple: He bribed the pants off of the entire electoral committee. Easy as that.

]]> 24. He Had An Infamous Deformity Austria isn't the only thing Charles inherited from his grandfather. A member of the Habsburg royal family, Charles got land, influence, and power...and the Habsburg jaw, a congenital deformity that years of inbreeding ensured stayed in the Habsburg family line for generations. But the jaw was just the start of Charles's health problems.

]]> 25. He Had A Painful Illness Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was one of the most powerful men in history—but he was still a man. On top of his deformed jaw, he suffered from epilepsy throughout his life, but that wasn't so bad compared to a far worse ailment: Gout. Believe it or not, a medieval king's diet wasn't exactly great. He pretty much only ate red meat, which left him with excruciatingly painful, swollen joints.

Eventually, this agonizing sickness would come back to bite him, but for now, Charles had an empire to run—and his newfound power brought some extremely dangerous enemies.

]]> 26. His People Revolted Running an empire is no picnic, and Charles learned that almost immediately. His grandfather wasn't the only one who didn't like the idea of a foreigner ruling Spain. So, when Charles raised taxes so he could go off and fight wars across Europe, the obvious happened: People revolted. But this time, unlike the revolt in the Netherlands, the rebels had a secret weapon...

]]> 27. They Used His Mother As A Pawn Remember Charles's mom, Joanna the Mad? She was still kicking around throughout all of this. Living in seclusion in the Spanish countryside, no one thought her fit to rule—but the rebels preferred a mad Spanish Queen they could control to a ruthless Dutch King they could not. But the rebels made a mistake they hadn't counted on: They made it personal for Charles.

By bringing his mother into the picture, the rebels made sure their fate would not be pretty.

]]> 28. His Response Was Brutal Spanish rebels fought against the king's forces for the better part of a year, but in the end, the iron will of Charles V was too much for them to overcome. Charles's men absolutely crushed the rebels at the Battle of Villalar and took their leaders captive. And we know what Charles does to rebels at this point. He had all three of the leaders beheaded, and just like that, the rebellion fell apart.

But they had revealed a serious weakness in Charles's rule: His mother. So Charles took drastic measures to make sure it never happened again.

]]>  29. He Gave His Mother A Chilling Fate After a lonely and isolated childhood, Charles held little affection for his parents. Still, what he did to his mother was ice-cold. He locked her up and threw away the key. Sure, her "prison" was the Royal Palace in Tordesillas, but she was a prisoner nonetheless. If you thought Joanna the Mad was unstable before, she really went off the deep end when her own son made her his prisoner.

]]> 30. Her Madness Got Much Worse Joanna became intensely paranoid, utterly convinced that the nuns who looked after her were secret assassins coming to take her life. She barely ate, struggled to clothe herself, slept fitfully, and almost never bathed. She was still Queen Joanna in name, but she had fallen just about as far as anyone could fall. You'd hope that maybe, Charles would hear what had become of her and find some level of mercy.

Nope. Not even close. When Charles V heard about his mother's state, his response was chilling.

]]> 31. His Response Was Cruel When caretakers wrote to Charles and updated him about his mother's condition, his heartless reply was cruel, even for him. He wrote, "It seems to me that the best and most suitable thing for you to do is to make sure that no person speaks with Her Majesty, for no good could come from it." He doomed his own mother to a life of utter isolation and madness so he could go off and play emperor.

But some historians claim the story of Joanna the Mad is even more twisted than it appears.

]]> 32. It All May Have Been A Lie Queen Joanna of Castile's madness has echoed through history even to today, but some historians think it was all a terrible lie. Reports claim she was keenly intelligent in her youth, and rumors of her insanity only began after she married. It's possible that Joanna was merely a threat to her husband and son's rule, so they each claimed that she was mad so they could cast her aside and rule alone.

If that's the case, it makes what Charles did to her so much more disturbing.

]]> 33. One Man Changed Everything Maybe it was just a "right place right time" thing, but Charles was emperor for some of the most important events in modern human history. Chief among them was the matter of a certain monk named Martin Luther. Luther's Ninety-five Theses threatened to completely upend Christianity as the world knew it, and they came out just around the time that a youthful Charles came to power.

Charles was still a teenager at the time, but even he realized this probably needed addressing. Unfortunately, he only succeeded in making a horrible mess of things.

]]> 34. Charles Made A Plan To deal with Martin Luther, Charles did something no one expected: He invited Luther to come have a chat. While thousands across Europe were calling for Luther's blood, Charles thought he could discredit the man. He invited Luther to come to the city of Worms and make his case. Charles even promised that no harm would come to him, and he could leave a free man.

Luther couldn't pass up a deal that good, so he agreed. Charles didn't realize it yet, but he'd made a terrible mistake.

]]> 35. It Blew Up In His Face Charles hoped that Luther would simply renounce his Theses and call it a day. Instead, Luther gave an impassioned defense of his work, denouncing the Pope and mainstream Christianity. Even though his plan completely backfired, young Charles was still forced to keep his word and let Luther walk away from Worms a free man.

Charles hoped that he'd nip the Protestant Reformation in the bud with this conference—instead, he only made it stronger. And you know it would come back to bite him in the end.

]]> 36. He Looked Incredibly Weak Even though Charles let Martin Luther go free, he still issued the Edict of Worms declaring Luther and anyone who shared his views a heretic. Still, it's hard to call the whole fiasco a success. Charles had given Luther a platform and lent his preaching legitimacy. His allies considered the whole thing a disaster—and some of them decided to take matters into their own hands.

]]> 37. His Own Man Disobeyed Him The local lord, Frederick of Saxony, was particularly furious that Charles had let Luther go free. Against Charles's wishes, he had his men kidnap Luther and lock him away in an isolated castle. Sure, Luther ended up surviving the ordeal, but the whole mess made Charles look absolutely terrible. Not only had he completely failed in his attempt to stop the Reformation, but now his own lords were disobeying his direct orders, making him look weak and ineffective.

It seems like Charles learned a valuable lesson though. For the rest of his reign, he made one thing frighteningly clear: If you cross Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, you're going to pay a terrible price.

]]> 38. He Was Behind Atrocities For most people, locking up your mother for years would probably be the worst thing you ever did. For Charles, that was nothing. What about Hernan Cortes and the conquistadors' utterly horrific domination of the Americas? Yeah, they did all of that in Charles's name. Charles was completely OK with the massacre of thousands as long as it meant he could add more territories to his ever-expanding empire.

But the conquistadors weren't the only ones in the New World on Charles' orders.

]]> 39. He Loved Gold Charles V is proof that no matter how rich you are, you could always be a little richer. In 1529, Charles funded an expedition by a German banking family to find a legend: The mythical El Dorado. Enticed by legends told by Indigenous peoples, Charles hefted over a huge chunk of change in the hopes his men would find the city of gold and make him rich beyond his wildest dreams.

Sure, they didn't find it, but I don't think Charles had to worry too much. He was doing just fine without El Dorado—though for a despicable reason.

]]> 40. He Caused Untold Suffering We have Charles V to thank for the Atlantic Slave Trade, one of the most evil enterprises in human history. Charles was the first ruler to authorize his men to transport slaves directly from Africa to the Americas. The charter made him unbelievably rich—and caused unspeakable human misery for generations. I bet that Charles liked to think of himself as a pretty good guy, but his legacy speaks for itself.

]]> 41. His Empire Was Like No Other People usually connect the phrase, "The empire on which the sun ever sets" with the British Empire, but they just stole that title from Charles. With lands stretching across the entire globe, Charles V's Holy Roman Empire was the original empire under the sun. It was an amazing accomplishment—but it couldn't last forever. Before long, Charles would see everything he built start falling apart around him.

]]> 42. He Spent His Life Fighting Charles V had enemies in every corner of the globe, but one foe was greater than the rest: France. See, with territories in Germany, Austria, Spain, and Italy, Charles's empire completely surrounded France. Understandably, that made the French nervous—and it led to a fierce rivalry. Charles would spend nearly his entire reign struggling against France, with each side resorting to truly twisted measures to try and gain the upper hand.

]]> 43. He Had A Mortal Enemy Charles started his reign by putting down some petty rebellions, but in 1521, he hit the big time: War with France. Specifically, with King Francis I, the man who would become Charles's mortal enemy. To say they hated each other would be an understatement. These two kings utterly despised one another, and it would take them to some dark and disturbing places.

]]> 44. He Wanted A Fight Charles V hated King Francis I of France so much that he actually challenged his nemesis to single combat many, many times. Don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely love to see two pompous kings awkwardly take up swords and swing them at each other, but maybe that wouldn't be the smartest decision.

Obviously, Francis refused Charles's ridiculous challenges every time, but don't worry—Charles would find plenty of ways to make his rival suffer.

]]> 45. He Took His Nemesis Hostage Charles V and Francis were the two most powerful monarchs in Europe for many years, and they made Italy their battleground. The Italian Wars became the focal point of their rivalry, and soon enough bloodshed broke out all across the country. Then, in 1525, the Battle of Pavia changed everything. Not only was it a massive victory for Charles, but there was an extra cherry on top:

Charles managed to take Francis, his mortal enemy, captive. Oh, you know this is going to be good.

]]> 46. He Rubbed It In Francis's Face Sure, Francis wouldn't duel Charles face to face, but at least Chuck got to utterly humiliate his rival. Charles eventually let Francis go free—but you know he didn't release his rival for nothing. First, Charles forced Francis to give up Burgundy, one of the richest and most important French territories. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. Charles's other demands were far more brutal.

]]> 47. He Took His Rival's Sons Burgundy wasn't enough for a man as ruthless as Charles V. No, he needed a way to make sure Francis didn't back out of their deal. So, he hit Francis where it hurt most: Charles let Francis return to France...in exchange for his two sons, who became Charles's prisoners in his stead. He hoped that would make sure Francis would stay in line—but Charles underestimated just how heartless Francis really was.

]]> 48. His Enemies Wanted To Destroy Him In the end, King Francis wasn't about to let something as small as his children's safety get in the way of his rivalry with Charles V. The second he made it back to France, he announced his deal with Charles was bogus and refused to give up Burgundy. But that was just the beginning. Next, he formed a massive alliance with the Pope, England, Venice, Florence, and Milan.

This alliance, the League of Cognac, had a single goal: Destroy Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. If the fighting had been bad before, it was about to get so much worse.

]]> 49. He Still Wasn't Married Keep in mind, all of this happened before Charles was even 25 years old. He was fighting rebellions left and right, challenging kings to duels, and taking mistresses who were far older than him. His life seemed plenty busy, but there was one huge problem he'd put off for too long: He still didn't have a wife. He was still technically engaged to Princess Mary of England, but between her being a child and him being at war with England, there wasn't much of a "spark."

He called off the engagement and set his eyes on a different wife—someone no one expected.

]]> 50. He Married The Woman He'd Rejected After many affairs and failed engagements, Charles finally settled on a wife. The lucky lady was...Isabella of Portugal! Don't remember her? She was actually the woman he was supposed to marry when he was 18 and living that bachelor life. Apparently, she didn't take that first rejection too hard, because she agreed to marry him. I guess the fact that he was the freaking Holy Roman Emperor didn't hurt his chances.

But there was one problem: They hadn't actually met yet. But that was about to change.

]]> 51. He Loved Her So Much After years of "will they/won't they," Charles and Isabella finally decided they would. They met for the first time in 1526, and nobody, not even the couple themselves, expected what happened next. The marriage was almost entirely political in nature, but when Charles and Isabella first laid eyes on each other, the sparks flew. It was love at first sight.

Most political marriages at the time were cold and calculated, but Charles and Isabella actually loved each other. Unfortunately, that only made what happened to them all the more devastating.

]]> 52. He Went On Vacation So far, Charles V's reign had been anything but relaxing. Beheading rebels, searching for gold cities, capturing kings, it could really take it out of you, ya know? Well, after his marriage, Charles decided he'd earned a well-deserved vacation. He and Isabella traveled to Granada for a long and lavish honeymoon. It was a blissful time in an otherwise exhausting life, but it couldn't last forever.

Though Charles V left a legacy of destruction, pain, and scandal behind him, at least his marriage was a bright spot. He and Isabella loved each other deeply for their entire marriage, and they both remained faithful the entire time. In a world of Kings like Henry VIII, that's almost unheard of. But marital bliss or no, Charles still had an empire to run.

Soon after his marriage came one of the darkest moments of his entire reign.

]]> 53. He Ignored His Empire As much as Charles would like to enjoy his honeymoon and pretend the world outside didn't exist, it was a fantasy. The Italian Wars were still raging, and things were only getting worse as Charles and his wife vacationed. In fact, his negligence ended up having disturbing consequences. His soldiers in Italy went months without being paid, so is anyone surprised that they eventually snapped?

Since Charles wasn't paying them, they took matters into their own hands, and the fallout was brutal.

]]> 54. His Men Committed An Atrocity Charles's men mutinied and directed their anger at the holy city of Rome. Thousands of men descended on the capital, massacred the troops inside, then ravaged the city. They pillaged churches and monasteries, looted palaces, and slaughtered civilians. It was one of the darkest days in Roman history. It's safe to say, the Italian Wars had gotten out of hand, and it was high time someone put a stop to it.

So who finally got Charles and Francis to bury the hatchet? Why, their mommies of course.

]]> 55. The Ladies Had To Step In This phase of the conflict came to a close with the "Ladies' Peace." Why do we call it that? Because Francis's mom and Charles's aunt negotiated the truce. Apparently, it took a feminine touch to get the two pouty kings to finally lay down their swords. And after all that bloodshed, what did Charles and Francis accomplish? Basically nothing, really.

Charles and Francis had fought over Italy for years. Thousands perished. And in the end, pretty much nothing changed. Wonderful.

]]> 56. He Couldn't Stop So Charles spent almost a decade fighting a pointless conflict that claimed thousands of lives and accomplished nothing. What's the only thing he could do that was even stupider? Do it all again! It turns out, just because mommy and auntie told them to play nice, Charles and Francis weren't about to set aside their hatred that easily. In 1536, they started fighting in Italy yet again, this time over Milan.

Thankfully, this conflict wouldn't last quite as long as the earlier one, but there is one notable thing about it: It ended in the most awkward way imaginable.

]]> 57. He And His Rival Were Incredibly Childish In 1539, Charles and Francis signed a peace treaty ending hostilities once again. So what made it so awkward? Well, Francis hated Charles so much that he literally refused to be in the same room as him! Though at the end of the day, both of them signed the treaty, the pouty Francis made Charles sign it in a different room, then had a servant bring the paper to him to seal the deal.

These were two of the most dangerous men in all of Europe, and they fought like 10-year-olds.

]]> 58. He Started Fighting Again As always, the truce between Charles V and Francis didn't last long. In 1542, the two of them started fighting yet again, but this time, things were different. Though Charles and King Henry VIII of England had been enemies plenty of times before, they both decided they hated Francis more, so they teamed up. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as they say.

It seemed like Francis was completely outgunned, but Charles wasn't the only one who found new allies. Francis teamed up with someone too—a more dangerous enemy than any Charles had faced so far.

]]> 59. He Faced An Enemy Unlike Any Other This time around, Francis joined forces with Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. With the combined strength of the French and Ottoman Navies, the two of them made major gains along the Mediterranean. But Charles wasn't about to go down without a fight. Realizing that Francis had made himself vulnerable, Charles decided to hit him where it hurt most.

]]> 60. He Entered Enemy Territory In 1544, the combined forces of Charles V and Henry VIII attacked France itself. After years of fighting proxy battles across Europe, Charles was finally done messing around. He personally led the forces as they ravaged across the French countryside. With Charles in Northern France and Francis winning in the Mediterranean, the two of them had reached a stalemate.

Once again, after years of fighting and thousands of casualties, Charles and Francis called a truce. By now, the truth had become abundantly clear: This was a game to them, and the lives lost meant little.

]]> 61. He Started Losing Charles V had spent most of his reign outdueling his enemies at every turn, but the tide was starting to turn. Not only was Charles a shell of his former self after losing Isabella, but there was a new figure on the scene: Suleiman the Magnificent. The Ottomans and their corsairs had been devastating the Spanish and Italian coasts for years, but after his alliance with Francis, Suleiman saw his opportunity and took it.

Maybe Charles was just too beaten down to keep fighting, or maybe Suleiman was simply too smart for him, but either way, the Sultan would deliver Charles one of the most devastating losses of his reign.

]]> 62. He Suffered A Humiliating Defeat Suleiman and his corsairs pushed Charles V to the breaking point. It was only a matter of time before something had to give. Charles was at least smart enough to realize that Suleiman could destroy everything he'd built, so in 1547, he waved the white flag. He was forced to give Suleiman complete control of Hungary—but that was just the beginning.

Charles also had to pay Suleiman a massive tribute in gold every single year.  This sent a message to the world: The ruthless Charles V was no longer the man he used to be. It was the beginning of the end.

]]> 63. His Old Sins Came Back To Bite Him Remember when Charles was young and he made a complete mess of things with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation? Well, decades had passed, and it was finally time to pay the piper. Protestantism had only grown and grown, and by now, it was a serious political and military force. In 1552, Protestant lords teamed up with the new king of France, Francis's son Henry II, and went to war with Charles yet again.

For Charles, fighting with France was nothing new, but this time was different. Charles was old and tired—and a devastating betrayal all but sealed his fate.

]]> 64. His Ally Betrayed Him Duke Maurice of Saxony had been an invaluable ally for Charles in his conflicts with France, but even he could tell that Charles was not the man he once was. So, he did the unthinkable: He stabbed Charles in the back and joined the Protestant cause against him. His forces turned and cornered Charles in the city of Innsbruck.

The turncoats had one goal: Capture the Emperor. For the first time in his life, Charles V found himself in genuine danger—and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

]]> 65. The Betrayal Came At A Terrible Time Charles suffered from gout for most of his life, but by now, it left him almost completely unable to move under his own power. With Maurice of Saxony's men knocking on his door, the ailing Charles was forced to desperately flee the city. He barely made it out alive, his men carrying him in a litter as he fluttered in and out of consciousness.

He survived, but he couldn't keep doing this forever. Charles was finished.

]]> 66. He Called It A Day Charles had spent the last 40 years jet setting across Europe, fighting battles and scheming against his enemies, but it was time to go home. He retreated back to the Netherlands and did something absolutely no one expected: He retired. After playing the game of thrones so ruthlessly for so long, Charles decided he'd rather fade away than burn out.

The reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was finally at an end, but he was at least going out on his own terms.

]]> 67. He Gave It All Away Thoroughly defeated, Charles began the humiliating process of dividing up his massive empire. He gave territory to his sons, cousins, and brother, then retired to a monastery to live out the rest of his days. Say what you will about Charles, but he knew when to fold them. While many kings leave crises of succession when they pass, Charles settled all of his affairs and lived out his final years in comfort and luxury.

At first, it honestly seems like a pretty classy move—but as always, the truth is darker than how it appears.

]]> 68. His Final Speech Was...Something Charles's abdication speech has gone down in history. Here was a man who had ravaged the world for decades, and when he finally called it quits, he had this to say: "I know that I made many mistakes, big mistakes, first because of my youth, then because of human error and because of my passions, and finally because of tiredness. But I deliberately did no wrong to anyone, whoever it was. Should injustice have arisen, it happened without my knowledge and only out of inability: I publicly regret it and ask forgiveness to everyone who I might have offended."

Allow me to remind you, this is the guy who beheaded rebels, locked up his mother, funded the conquistadors, and created the Atlantic Slave Trade. Sorry if we don't forgive you that easily, Chuck.

]]> 69. He Left Things In A Terrible Place By the end, Charles had to give up his throne because he could no longer pretend that he was doing a good job running his empire. He let the Protestant revolution tear Germany apart, he'd pretty much bankrupted Spain, and he'd lost countless men in his unending feud with France, which, we should point out, he was now on the losing side of.

Yeah, things were pretty bad, but when his son Philip took over the reins, he realized they were even worse than they appeared on the surface.

]]>  70. It Was Worse Than Anyone Realized Everyone knew Charles played it pretty fast and loose with his royal funds, but Philip was in for a rude awakening when he became King of Spain. Charles had left the country in debt to the tune of 36 million ducats, and they were losing another million every single year. In fact, Charles's mismanagement of money in Spain led to over half a century of economic turmoil.

At the end of the day, I think I would have tried my luck with the "mad" Queen Joanna over her spoiled son.

]]> 71. He Was A Smart Aleck Give Charles V one thing: He could talk the talk. Literally. He could speak French, Dutch, Spanish, Basque, German, and a little Italian. In fact, Charles allegedly once said, "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse." We see what you did there, Charles.

]]> 72. His Life Was A Journey The last thing Charles V ever said in public was this: "My life has been one long journey." Certainly, no one could argue that point. With his Empire stretched across the continent and beyond, Charles spent almost his entire life on the road. But all journeys must come to an end—we can only hope that we don't cause as much damage along the way as Charles.

]]> 73. He Lived In Agony Charles V lived out his final years in luxury, surrounded by paintings of his wife Isabella. It seems too good for a man who caused so much strife, but at least we can say that Charles's end wasn't comfortable. His gout had become completely crippling, and he spent pretty much every day in agony. He couldn't walk, and had to have servants carry him around in a sedan chair everywhere he went.

Within just a year of giving up his throne, the end drew near—but Charles still had one utterly bizarre act left in him.

]]> 74. He Threw His Own Funeral Sure, Charles knew his time was coming—everyone knew that—but what he did is still completely bananas: He held his own funeral while he was still alive. Maybe he just wanted to hear people say nice things about him, but he planned out the whole shindig. He even sat in his own coffin while friends and family eulogized him, before rising and withdrawing to his room as the end.

If nothing else, at least Charles had a flair for the dramatic.

]]> 75. His Slept With His (Step)Grandma Charles had many affairs and mistresses in his youth, but his first was by far the most twisted. In 1517, Charles finally left the Netherlands behind and landed in Castile. In accordance with his grandfather's final request, he brought his stepgrandma Germaine over from Aragon to live with him. The two of them hit it off immediately—as in, they almost immediately started an affair.

That's right. When Charles was 17, he had an affair with his own grandma. Let that sink in.

]]> 76. He Flaunted His Affair Ok, fine, maybe Germaine of Foix was only Charles's stepgrandma, and yeah, she was only 29 at the time, but still, it was weird. The two (understandably) tried to keep their fling on the down-low, but they couldn't keep their secret under wraps forever. The fact that Charles kept throwing lavish banquets and tournaments for his hot grandma didn't help either.

But if people thought those were scandalous, just wait til they saw what came next.

]]> 77. He May Have Had A Scandalous Child Germaine of Foix didn't marry for years after her husband Ferdinand died. So obviously, it raised a lot of eyebrows when she gave birth to a child just two years after he passed. It raised even more eyebrows when she named her girl, "Infanta Isabel," a title that usually would have been reserved for the daughter of the King of Spain.

And who was the King of Spain? Oh right, Charles, her stepgrandson. Awkward.

]]> 78. His Wife Got Sick Sure, Charles took a long time to choose a wife, but you can't say he didn't pick a good one. He and Isabella loved each other madly, and as soon as they were married, they made like bunnies and started popping out little princes and princesses. It seemed like the rare happy royal marriage—but then, in 1539, tragedy struck.

Isabella came down with a fever while pregnant with their seventh child. Even with modern medicine, such a complication can be extremely dangerous. But Isabella didn't have modern medicine. Charles's wife had medieval soothsayers who could do nothing to help her. Yet still, the result was even more devastating than they ever imagined.

]]> 79. Everything Fell Apart In 1539, a deteriorating Isabella miscarried, losing the child. The couple was devastated, but even still, they had more pressing concerns. Isabella continued to get worse and worse, and nothing the doctors tried seemed to have any effect. Everyone knew when it was coming, but still, nothing could have prepared Charles for the inevitable.

Isabella succumbed to her illness at 35 years old. Charles loved his wife more than anyone else in the world—so obviously, his reaction to her loss was utterly deranged.

]]> 80. He Spiraled Downward The loss of Isabella sent Charles into a horrible spiral. Though he had a massive empire to run, he shut himself away in a monastery for two whole months. He grieved alone while his empire fell into chaos. Even when he finally emerged, he had changed. He never stopped mourning Isabella, and wore grim, black clothing for the rest of his life.

Losing his wife would be a turning point in Charles's life. While his youth had been spent crushing his enemies and amassing his power, once Isabella was gone, he was never the same again.

]]> 81. His End Finally Came Maybe holding your own funeral is bad luck? Just a few months after the brutally awkward ceremony, Charles contracted malaria. He gave his last breath in the early hours of the morning on September 21, 1558. He was 58 years old. In his very last moments, he paid a heartbreaking tribute to the love of his life, Isabella, who he'd been mourning for nearly 20 years.

]]> 82. He Made A Tribute To His Wife When Charles finally left this world, he was carrying a cross. This was pretty normal for any good Christian of the time, but this wasn't just any cross. It was the exact same cross that his beloved Isabella had held when she passed, all those years earlier. Charles had kept it with him all that time, in the hope that he could finally join her when the end came.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=30534 <![CDATA[Rebekah Harkness was the most infamous heiress of the 50s. If she’s not well-known today, maybe that’s because of her dark end.]]> 2026-08-20T15:16:33+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-rebekah-harkness Dancy Mason People Harkness Ballet, Wikimedia Common1. She Grew up Spoiled Rebekah Harkness was practically destined to become a spoiled little rich girl. Born in 1915 in St Louis, Missouri, her father Allen Tarwater was a powerful stockbroker, while her mother, also named Rebekah, was a perfectly turned out trophy wife. The family looked immaculate from the outside…behind closed doors, though, was another story.

]]> 2. Her Family Was Totally Dysfunctional Little Betty had a horrific childhood. For one, her “emotionally frigid” parents wanted absolutely nothing to do with raising her. Instead, she was reared by a series of nannies—and that’s not even the worst part. Rebekah’s parents hired one nanny specifically because the woman had worked in an insane asylum before. Aw, how sweet. And the dysfunction didn’t end there.

]]> 3. Her Parents Humiliated Her Rebekah’s parents might not have cared a whit about loving their daughter, but they sure as heck cared about what she looked like. When she was still just a young girl, the Harknesses noticed that their Betty was putting on weight, so they signed the “pudgy” girl up for dance and figure skating lessons to help her shed those unsightly pounds. But Rebekah made the most of it…

]]> 4. She Was Hard on Herself Eager to please her emotionally unavailable parents, young Rebekah worked incredibly hard at her dance and ice skating lessons. She applied herself with a rigid, frightening discipline that would become her trademark later in life. Did Mommy and Daddy notice? Not really. Sheesh, it’s not wonder Rebekah turned out to be a nightmare when she grew up.

]]> 5. She Was a Rebellious Teen Harkness started acting out early in her adolescence, and her antics would put any other mean girl to shame. While at her fancy finishing school, Harkness didn’t seem to care that her classmates were people with last names like “Roosevelt.” Instead, she scrawled in her scrapbook that she wanted to “do everything bad.” Well, she certainly achieved her goal…

]]> 6. She Was a Mean Girl While at school, Harkness fell in with a fast crowd of like-minded women—that is, emotionally damaged drama queens looking to get revenge on their parents. If that sounds like a recipe for disaster, it really was. They dubbed themselves the “[W]itch Pack” and, after graduating in 1932, set about trying to wreak havoc on the socialite scene, one gala at a time. Their antics soon became legendary.

]]> 7. She Pulled a Cruel Prank The most famous “Pack” story from around this time is when, during one particularly boring and respectable soiree, the group decided to spike a punch bowl with laxatives. But most people don’t know the most chilling part. Harkness pulled this prank at her own sister’s debutante ball. Oh, but they had more tricks up their perfectly-tailored sleeves.

]]> 8. She Took It All off The Pack didn’t stop at putting poisonous substances into punch bowls; they also got very rowdy at these gatherings. At least once, Harkness and her friends got up on a banquet table and performed a strip tease for the distinguished guests around them. Hey, all publicity is good publicity—and Rebekah’s need to be in the spotlight soon grew to disturbing proportions.

]]> 9. She Was Intolerable One day, Harkness’s antics were so extreme that they got her kicked off a cruise ship. Styling herself as the life of the party, Harkness did things like throw plates at the ship’s Filipino orchestra, swim in her birthday suit in full view of other passengers, and send out strings of swears so loudly that the ocean liner eventually had no choice but to kick the beautiful, foul-mouthed socialite off the boat.

]]> 10. She Was Calculating When Harkness was 24 years old, she decided it was high time to marry, and she chose Dickson W Pierce, an upper-class photographer, as her first husband. Pierce was the descendant of Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States, and seemed like a good match for the ambitious girl…except really, he was just a starter husband.

]]> 11. She Was an Ice Queen Socialite circles are infamously tight-lipped about their marriages, but there’s almost no doubt that Rebekah’s union with Pierce was a dismal affair—and one day, she made a disturbing confession. Harkness later admitted that she married the poor schmuck because she “had nothing else to do.” In fact, Rebekah had a much loftier—and extravagant—destiny in mind for herself.

]]> 12. She Married for Money Rebekah divorced Pierce in 1946 after an excruciating seven-year marriage, and it wasn’t long before she set her sights on William Hale Harkness, the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. If you hear “oil” and think “Russian Oligarch rich,” you’d be pretty much right. William was rolling in money, which made him the perfect candidate for Rebekah’s expensive tastes. Still, when you marry for money, you earn every penny…

]]> 13. Her Marriage Was Embarrassing Although William Harkness came from a well-respected family that was supposed to give Rebekah even more of the status she craved, William himself was…a total fool. The New York Times described him as an “embarrassing sort of man,” and his hobbies completely back this up. For example, he liked to vanity-publish nonsensical books that even he admitted were awful. Only his other flaws were far darker than this silly hobby.

]]> 14. Her Husband Controlled Her Friends who knew Rebekah and William said that although the oil tycoon was a bit of an idiot, the new Mrs. Harkness was actually “scared of him”—and for good reason. William, 15 years her senior, saw Rebekah as a “naughty child” in need of a spanking. Much of their marriage dynamic was about his domineering presence setting her on the straight and narrow. Ugh.

]]> 15. She Was the Height of Fashion Rebekah had always been well-off as a child—as you might guess from the string of nannies who raised her—but marrying William Harkness thrust her into an entirely different tier of high society. By 1956, she had even snagged a photo spread in Vogue, appearing in a neat, black Mainbocher dress with a white satin apron at her back. In a matter of years, her life would go from classy to just plain messy.

]]> 16. She Was a Trophy Mom From the outside, Rebekah and William Harkness’s marriage looked immaculate. Rebekah had already had two children with her first husband, Allen and Anne “Terry” Pierce, and she then had one more child with William, a daughter named Edith. It was shaping up to be a white-picket fence brood—until, that is, Rebekah proved herself to be an utterly horrific mother.

]]> 17. She Repeated Her Parents’ Mistakes When Rebekah decided to renovate her Rhode Island mansion, she demanded that it have a whopping eight kitchens and 21 baths. The reason behind this is pure cruelty. Reportedly, she wanted these updates so that she could see as little of her children as possible. All the extra rooms would give the nannies plenty of space to feed and bathe the babies without Rebekah having to know a thing about it. As we’ll see, Rebekah’s “love” only devolved from there.

]]> 18. She Became Obscenely Wealthy In 1954, something curious happened to Rebekah Harkness: Her oil tycoon husband passed. Suddenly, Rebekah was a rich widow—one of the wealthiest women in America, in fact. She had a newfound freedom to do whatever she wanted with the piles of money in her bank account. So what did she do? Oh my God, the question here is: What didn’t she do?

]]> 19. She Was Incredibly Eccentric Almost as soon as William Harkness kicked the bucket, Rebekah turned into one of the most tasteless, gaudy eccentrics the Western hemisphere had ever seen. Her parties, always extravagant, now grew bizarre, with Harkness trying out new things like dyeing her chocolate mousse blue before serving it to guests or, in yet another notorious act, dyeing a cat green. And she was just getting started.

]]> 20. She Was a Prima Donna In 1961, Harkness decided she wanted to become the next great ballet master, so she sponsored actual master Robert Joffrey’s artisanal ballet troupe. Yet while there, Harkness gave new meaning to the word “prima donna.” The socialite, fancying herself a dance expert, started writing her own ballets. When Joffrey refused to perform the schlock, Rebekah’s revenge was brutal.

]]> 21. She Betrayed Her Friends Harkness had no problem dropping Joffrey like a hot potato when he wouldn’t support her dismal vanity projects. She all but fired him from his own company, then twisted the knife by taking most of his dancers with her to form her new, solo Harkness Ballet. Unfortunately for Rebekah, the endeavor ended in national embarrassment and disaster.

]]> 22. Society Scorned Her This is where Rebekah really started getting a tarnished reputation, and things got so bad that no amount of money could fix her downfall. People already thought she had betrayed Joffrey, but they now watched in horror as she ran her ballet into the ground. Without any real studio space, her dancers often practiced on her front lawn. After that, Rebekah really let it all hang out.

]]> 23. She Had Bizarre Bedroom Habits If Harkness’s lovers are anything to go by, she was a wildcat in the bedroom. One of her conquests, producer Bertrand Castelli, described one rendezvous they had in her office as like “two camels in the desert who suddenly know that the only way to make an oasis is to really talk sense.” This…actually doesn’t make sense, which probably means it was a really wild night.

]]> 24. She Talked Dirty Apparently, Harkness liked to reward her boy-toys, because she soon made Castelli the artistic director of her ballet company. While he was under her employ, she would often order him around romantically. She once demanded Castelli to, “Kiss me. The others, they just know how to bite.” Wow, I’m getting the sense that these two really liked dirty talk. I want to look away, but I just can’t.

]]> 25. She Had Expensive Tastes One of Harkness’s signature moves was to use vastly expensive products for everyday, mundane things. She loved to pour Dom Perignon into her pool and let guests swim around in the bubbly. She would also fill her lavish fish tanks with Scotch, even as living goldfish swam in them. Obviously, Rebekah was completely out touch with reality—so her next move makes sense.

]]> 26. She Assumed a False Identity Around this time, Harkness fancied herself a composer. Equipped with a ludicrous amount of self-confidence, she did something supremely stupid. See, Rebekah thought that notoriously reclusive writer JD Salinger had the perfect stories for her music, so one day she disguised herself as a cleaning lady, knocked on his door, then tried to convince him to let her use his fiction. He was not convinced.

]]> 27. Her Third Marriage Was a Disaster In 1961, Harkness gave love another shot, marrying the prominent celebrity doctor Benjamin Harrison Kean. Yet like so much of Harkness’s life, what seemed beautiful on the outside was rotting on the inside. Though Kean consulted with multiple US presidents, he also had big-time mafia ties. The lovely pair only made it four years before divorcing.

]]> 28. She Was a Clingy Grandmother Just after 1966, Harkness became a grandmother when her daughter Terry gave birth to a little girl. Yet this came with great tragedy: The baby, named Angel, was severely brain-damaged. Nonetheless, Harkness actually doted on the babe, and for a time it seemed like she was going to be a better granny than she was a mommy. Surprise, surprise, this phase didn't last long.

]]> 29. Her Love Was Viciously Fickle According to one story, Harkness’s adoration for her grandchild vanished almost overnight. Her reason was chilling. Reportedly, the baby Angel innocently pulled a ribbon from Harkness’s perfectly coifed hair. With that, Rebekah’s “unconditional” love evaporated. Sadly, the socialite’s seemingly bottomless cruelty would soon hit even greater lows.

]]> 30. Her Children Were Tormented To zero people’s surprise, the Harkness family was utterly dysfunctional. Rebekah’s daughter Edith was clinically depressed for much of her life (wonder why), and spent scores of years in and out of mental institutions following near fatal attempts at self-harm. The most tragic detail? Edith often used her mother’s many, many pills to perform these attempts—and Rebekah was anything but empathetic.

]]> 31. She Wanted Her Daughter to Die Faced with Edith’s grim drive to end her life, Harkness was coldly philosophical. Besides taking pills, the poor girl also jumped off a roof on at least one occasion, and in response, Harkness only mused at her daughter's various attempts. “How should she do it?" She wondered. "Is there a chic way to go?” One day, Rebekah would find out that question for herself.

]]> 32. Her Jealousy Knew No Bounds Harkness was jealous to an absolute fault, and even to her own detriment. Though the Harkness Ballet was floundering, there was one brilliant choreographer, Larry Rhodes, who received good press. Reviewers agreed he was one of the company’s only shining lights. Well, Harkness couldn’t bear to be upstaged, so she unceremoniously fired Rhodes and doomed her own precious ballet company in the process.

]]> 33. Her Fourth Marriage Was Doomed In 1974, Harkness married again, this time to another doctor named Niels H Lauersen. She hoped that the fourth time would be the charm, but the socialite had no such luck. The pair was horribly mismatched, with Lauersen a whopping 20 years younger than his bride. The couple divorced in 1977…but Rebekah’s life was about to take a much darker turn.

]]> 34. She Had a Brutal Downfall One of Harkness’s final acts in her role as ballet maestro was also her most embarrassing. She shoved $5 million into building the Harkness Theater, a lavish studio complete with marble staircases and a chandelier, and it was all for nothing: The company collapsed in 1975. As it turned out, this was the beginning of her ignominious end.

]]> 35. She Had Bad Taste For all her money, Harkness did not have good taste. She was notorious along the eastern seaboard for her tacky, campy, “new money” sensibilities, and her Harkness Theater was the epitome of her gaudy aesthetic. While a kinder critic likened it to “a lavish ladies’ powder room,” less-generous experts compared it to a “Staten Island beauty parlor.” Ouch.

]]> 36. She Took Dangerous Injections As she aged, Rebekah started to live off of “champagne and injections,” including testosterone and an assortment of pain medications. This had devastating consequences. People reported that Harkness’s lavish marble bathrooms were often splattered with blood, and that her muscles had begun to calcify. The train wreck was now chugging along, and it wouldn't stop until Harkness took her last breath.

]]> 37. She Was a Frankenstein Though Harkness took those nasty testosterone injections to strengthen her body for dance, the “medicine” actually had the opposite effect. Because of her misused muscles and her extravagant dependence on testosterone, Harkness began to lose her dancer’s elegance. Near the end of her life, one friend noted that she “walked like Frankenstein.”

]]> 38. She Ran With the Wrong Crowd Rebekah’s son Allen once confessed how truly disturbing and sycophantic his mother’s social circle was, describing “the blackmailing lawyers, the weirdos, the people in the trances.'' Harkness also knew how to keep all of her adoring public in competition with each other, with each one of her lackies vying to become the “favorite.” Before her passing, she picked up her most dedicated—and most heartless—fan yet.

]]> 39. She Took a Controversial Lover In the 1960s, Harkness took Bobby Scevers, a dancer who was 25 years her junior, as her lover. Now, a grown woman can do whatever she wants in her own bed, but this was a strange choice—and not because of the age gap. Scevers, as it turned out, was a self-identified gay man, and couldn’t have been in the relationship for romance. Though Harkness didn’t seem to care that he was using her, she probably should have…

]]> 40. She Had Horrible Taste in Men Scevers and Harkness brought out the worst in each other. Besides despising Rebekah’s children, Scevers also hated her disabled granddaughter Angel. When Harkness planned to put Angel’s nursery over top of his room, Scevers snapped, “Let the little creature die!” Unfortunately, he was one of the few people still by Harkness’s side when the end came.

]]> 41. Her Health Started Failing By 1980, many of Harkness’s old friends had dropped off, and she was left with only her most sycophantic hangers-on. Her body had been slowly falling into disrepair—those injections hurt far more than they helped—and she started complaining of a mysterious stomach ailment. When she went to the doctor’s office, they found a frightening problem.

]]> 42. She Got a Dark Diagnosis Doctors told Harkness that she had one ailment that no amount of money could cure: She was dying of stomach cancer. No matter what she did or who she tried to pay off, the great American heiress had a terrifyingly short time to live. Everyone advised her to get her affairs in order, but as we'll soon see, things didn’t work out so neatly for Rebekah Harkness in the end.

]]> 43. She Branded Herself In the art world, the shade “International Klein Blue” is famous, and was custom-mixed by renowned artist Yves Klein in 1960. Well, Rebekah Harkness was not to be outdone by anyone, and she commissioned her own “Harkness Blue,” which she used to upholster the velvet Louis XIV-style chairs she had placed in her dance studio.

]]> 44. She Was Hopelessly Vain In addition to her dancing career, Harkness also fancied herself something of a composer, and would often perform her original songs to “polite reception” at famed places like Carnegie Hall in New York. In other words, these pieces didn’t exactly do justice to their surroundings. As her own biographer put it, “The only reason her works were ever played in public was because she subsidized the performances.” Harsh, but true.

]]> 45. Her Neighbors Hated Her When she was still desperately clinging to her ballet dreams, Harkness decided to install an enormous, blue plastic Geodesic dome right smack dab in the middle of her front lawn as a formal practice space for her failing dancers. Her wealthy neighbors had other ideas, and scornfully forced her to remove the unsightly object.

]]> 46. She Was a Narcissist When publicizing her ballet, Harkness became notorious for refusing to showcase any of her talented dancers in the promotional photographs. Instead, she put herself front and center, natch, and the pictures were often just of her doing lift after lift and living out her Dirty Dancing dreams. And that wasn’t the only ill-advised thing she did…

]]> 47. She Was Strangely Generous Harkness was surprisingly generous when it suited her, but also unpredictably bizarre. She would pay for dancers’ nose jobs at the drop of a hat, and buy office desks for her administrators that cost months’ worth of New York rent, a generosity that often made her middle-class secretaries supremely uncomfortable—not that Harkness noticed.

]]> 48. She Performed Bizarre Acts Harkness definitely wasn’t the most fiscally-responsible business woman, but she does have the distinction of being the strangest girl-boss in history. One of her administrators described how Harkness would come to the office in pink and blue leotards, literally stand on her head, and demand to have serious conversations while she performed her acrobatic work.

]]> 49. Her Son Never Forgave Her By 1982, the end was near for Harkness, yet tragically her son Allen wasn’t there. Why? He was in prison. As yet another troubled member of the family, Allen had gotten into a fight, slain a man, and was eventually sentenced with manslaughter. For what it’s worth, Allen called the years he spent in the clinker—and away from his mother—the “happiest of his life.”

]]> 50. Nobody Mourned Her The end came swift, fast, and brutal for Harkness. Though her children Edith and Terry rushed to her bedside along with her “lover” Bobby Scevers, the scene was anything but heart-warming. According to Scevers, ''It was complete chaos…everybody running around signing wills and trying on different wigs.'' And when Rebekah actually passed on June 17, 1982, things only got weirder from there.

]]> 51. She Made Herself a Monument Harkness had to do everything in style—even when it came to moving on to the next life. Before she passed, the socialite spent $250,000 to commission a bedazzled urn from none other than Salvador Dali. Ironically nicknamed “The Chalice of Life,” the morbid monument stood right at the intersection between tacky and lavish, just like Rebekah herself. And when the time came to put Harkness into the Chalice of Life, the plot thickened.

]]> 52. She Was Self-Absorbed Until the End Salvador Dali put one touching—and classically narcissistic—detail into “The Chalice of Life.” The urn spun on its base so that Harkness could “always be dancing,” even beyond the grave. Uh, how sweet?

]]> 53. Her End Was Embarrassing Money can’t buy sense, and apparently Harkness’s designer urn was far too small for her actual remains. As Rebekah’s friend said, “Just a leg is in there, or maybe half of her head, and an arm.'' So instead of giving her mother a dignified end, Rebekah’s daughter Terry had to carry the rest of her ashes home, bound up loosely in a humble supermarket bag.

]]> 54. Her Legacy Is Haunted Harkness only left death in her wake wherever she went. Not only did her ballet collapse, her whole family did as well. Not long after Rebekah’s passing, her daughter Edith finally managed to succeed in her attempts. Perhaps most tragically, Rebekah’s little granddaughter Angel had passed just before Rebekah herself; she was just 10 years old. The last great American dynasty, indeed.

]]> 55. She Has a Connection to Taylor Swift In recent years, Harkness has gained new fame—or infamy—because of her connection to Taylor Swift. Swift bought Harkness’s Rhode Island “Holiday House” in 2013 and used the near-palatial estate to throw her own lavish parties, notably her “Taymerica” July 4th bashes. In 2020, Swift then penned the song “the last great American dynasty,” which tells Harkness’s twisted story for the world.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62620 <![CDATA[Duchess Joanna Elisabeth was played by Gillian Anderson in The Great—but her true story was far darker than the show.]]> 2026-08-20T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-19T16:27:13+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-joanna-elisabeth Sammy Tran People The Mother Of Catherine The Great Wasn’t So Great Herself Duchess Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp had no chance of rising to power herself. Instead, she schemed to become the mother of a great emperor. Ironically, she wouldn’t live to see her daughter, Catherine the Great of Russia, fulfill her dreams.

]]> 1. She Had Titles—But No Treasure Joanna Elisabeth was born in late October of 1712 at Gottorp Castle in Schleswig. As a member of the German House of Holstein-Gottorp, she was born into nobility—but it wasn’t as glamorous as it sounded. She came from the kind of nobility that had more titles than treasure. Her family name carried weight from Denmark to Russia, but it didn’t have the bank account to match it.

]]> 2. Her Father Was A Prince-Bishop Joanna Elisabeth’s parents had titles longer than a scroll. Her father was Christian August, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and Prince-Bishop of Lübeck. Her mother, Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach, came from a minor branch of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. 

Titles were great—but they didn’t keep 11 children fed.

]]> 3. Her Family’s Duchy Was A Pawn Holstein-Gottorp didn’t have much land or wealth—but it had something better. The duchy sat on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, wedged between Denmark and Germany, in the exact spot where competing powers wrestled for control of Northern Europe. Every map of the Baltic put Holstein-Gottorp in its crosshairs.

And Joanna Elisabeth would learn to play that map like a lyre.

]]> 4. Her Father Gave Her Away With 11 mouths to feed and not enough coin to do it, Joanna Elisabeth’s father made a calculated decision. He sent her away to be raised at the court of her godmother, Duchess Elisabeth Sophie Marie, who had no children of her own. If little Joanna Elisabeth missed her parents, she at least had a feather bed to fall on.

]]> 5. She Grew Up In Luxury Joanna Elisabeth’s new home was far better than her old one. Growing up in her godmother’s house, she was raised in one of the most extravagant courts of Northern Germany, alongside the three daughters of her godmother’s husband, Augustus William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Her days were filled with balls, hunts, and plays.

The high life suited her well.

]]> 6. She Was A Blonde Beauty Joanna Elisabeth might not have had much money or power on her own, but she had something even better: good looks. Contemporary accounts say that, in her youth, she was beautiful with curly, blonde hair that turned heads at every banquet. In a time when marriages were brokered based on portraits and first impressions, her looks were a currency she could spend.

]]> 7. She Was Amiable—But Easily Agitated Beauty alone, Joanna Elisabeth knew, was not enough to get ahead in life. Thankfully, she had other strengths. Additional contemporary reporting says that Joanna Elisabeth easily befriended people with overt kindness, made constant efforts to charm others, and talked a great deal. Beneath the warm exterior, though, was a temperament that could turn on a dime as she was easily agitated.

That agitation would cost her dearly.

]]> 8. She Married At 15 On November 8, 1727, Joanna Elisabeth’s pampered childhood came to an abrupt (and unpleasant) end. At Vechelde, the 15-year-old was married off to the 36-year-old Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst. He was a general in the Prussian Army under Frederick William I, and an heir to the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. Despite his titles, however, the marriage was a step down.

]]> 9. She Was Miserable In Stettin After the wedding, Joanna Elisabeth and Christian August settled in the small city of Stettin in Pomerania (now called Szczecin in modern Poland). The move wasn’t upwards. At the time, Stettin was a little rougher around the edges than Joanna Elisabeth had grown accustomed to. With little entertainment in the town, she grew unhappy, but stayed loyal to her husband.

It was just never going to work.

]]> 10. The Marriage Was A Mismatch It wasn’t just Stettin that wore Joanna Elisabeth down—it was her new husband as well. The marriage was a terrible match from the start, thanks to the age gap and clashing personalities. Christian August was serious and quiet, but knew how to take charge when needed. Joanna Elisabeth, by contrast, was a social butterfly.

But that wasn’t even her biggest issue with him.

]]> 11. She Couldn’t Even Get A Real Palace Marriage didn’t exactly give Joanna Elisabeth the financial relief she had hoped. Christian August’s pay was modest, and he could only afford a small townhouse—a quaint setup for a junior officer’s family. Joanna Elisabeth had gotten accustomed to the splendor of a ducal court, and the downgrade was hard to stomach.

Luckily, she was about to get an upgrade.

]]> 12. She Finally Got A Castle Joanna Elisabeth got a small upgrade in January of 1729. When her husband was appointed commander of Stettin, Joanna Elisabeth eagerly moved her family into the castle in the middle of the city. It wasn’t her godmother’s Brunswick court, but it was a castle. Still, it wasn’t enough for Joanna Elisabeth—and no castle could rein her in.

]]> 13. She Hit The Road Even a castle couldn’t keep Joanna Elisabeth happy for long. Still dissatisfied with provincial life in Stettin, she began travelling constantly, escaping to Brunswick, her childhood home, whenever the chance arose. She also made a point of paying her respects to the King of Prussia every February during carnival season. The trips weren’t just social.

]]> 14. She Was Treated Like A Charity Case The Prussian court wasn’t impressed with Joanna Elisabeth’s constant traveling. During her visits, the other nobles treated her like an impoverished family member, pitying her for her marriage to a man so below her station. For the social-climbing young Duchess, the treatment she received was worse than any insult could be.

But she was already building a dynasty of her own.

]]> 15. She Almost Passed On Giving Birth In April of 1729, Joanna Elisabeth’s life nearly ended in her own bedroom. After enduring a difficult and dangerous labor, she delivered her first child—a baby girl named Sophie Auguste Friederike, the future Catherine the Great. Even with the best 18th-century doctors and medicine, the Duchess had to spend the next 19 weeks in bed recovering.

True to form, Joanna Elisabeth was disappointed.

]]> 16. She Wanted A Son Joanna Elisabeth’s reaction to motherhood? Disappointment. Having married so far beneath her station, the Duchess hoped that one of her offspring might become a respected and powerful leader. And, in the 18th century, great rulers were usually boys. Having had a girl as her first child, Joanna Elisabeth was disappointed and handed the infant off to nurses and servants.

She would just have to try, and try again.

]]> 17. She Filled The Nursery After Sophie, the babies kept coming. Joanna Elisabeth gave birth to three more children in quick succession. William Christian Frederick in November of 1730, Frederick Augustus in August of 1734, and Auguste Charlotte Christine in November of 1736. Of the four, William Christian became her favourite. Auguste Charlotte, sadly, passed on just two weeks after birth.

Joanna Elisabeth was racking up children—and tragedies.

]]> 18. She Was Cruel To Her Eldest The future Catherine the Great never forgot how her mother treated her. According to Sophie’s own memoirs, Joanna Elisabeth directed a special wrath toward her eldest child—and even more bizarrely, for no known reason. Sophie further wrote that her mother “did not bother much about me”. The neglect was bad enough, but Joanna Elisabeth’s version of mothering was even worse.

]]> 19. She Used Her Daughter As Bait Joanna Elisabeth had more ambition than love for her children. Even while treating Sophie poorly at home, the Duchess knew the girl could land an advantageous marriage—and that was worth nurturing. From the age of eight, Sophie began accompanying her mother on tours across the European courts as Joanna Elisabeth sought out potential suitors.

She thought she found the perfect match.

]]> 20. She Spotted A Royal Catch In 1739, Joanna Elisabeth and Sophie paid a visit that would change the world. The destination was the home of the Duchess’ brother, Adolf Frederick, Prince-Bishop of Lübeck and guardian of an 11-year-old orphan named Charles Peter Ulrich. The boy was the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and the only living grandchild of Emperor Peter the Great of Russia.

Joanna Elisabeth had just laid eyes on her ticket to history.

]]> 21. She Got Lucky In Russia Joanna Elisabeth’s luck took a sharp turn in 1741. That year, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Petrovna ascended to the Russian throne as empress—and the new Empress had a personal connection to her family. Elizabeth had once been engaged to Joanna Elisabeth’s brother, who passed on shortly before their wedding. Per the historical record, Elizabeth carried a small flame for him for the rest of her life.

Joanna Elisabeth saw an opening she couldn’t afford to miss.

]]> 22. She Wrote An Important Letter Joanna Elisabeth wasted no time. She fired off a congratulatory letter to the new Empress and, with it, sent Elizabeth a portrait of her late sister, Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna. The gesture worked. Elizabeth wrote back, sending Joanna Elisabeth a valuable portrait of herself in return. The Duchess had just gotten her foot in the imperial door.

]]> 23. She Dangled Her Daughter One portrait deserves another. To strengthen her newfound bond with Empress Elizabeth, Joanna Elisabeth sent along a portrait of Sophie—the same neglected daughter she had handed off to nurses years before. The Empress, according to the record, was impressed by the girl's beauty. The Duchess’ scheme was beginning to take shape.

But before Joanna Elisabeth could fully celebrate, tragedy struck.

]]> 24. She Lost Her Favorite Child Joanna Elisabeth’s beloved William Christian had been sick from the start. Despite years of seeking out regular “cures," his rickets continued to deteriorate his small body. Then, on August 27, 1742, the boy finally passed on. Joanna Elisabeth—who rarely displayed affection for any of her children except him—was described as “inconsolable”.

But the Duchess didn’t have long to grieve.

]]> 25. She Named A Baby After An Empress Just a few months after losing her favourite son, Joanna Elisabeth was pregnant once again. In December of 1742, she gave birth to her fifth and final child, a daughter. The Duchess saw an opportunity in the baby’s name. She asked Empress Elizabeth to allow the child to be named after her, and the Empress agreed—going so far as to become the little girl’s godmother herself.

The flattery was paying off.

]]> 26. She Watched A Rival Rise While Joanna Elisabeth buttered up the Empress from afar, the Empress was busy at home. In January of 1742, Elizabeth brought another relative—Peter Ulrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and son of her late sister Anna Petrovna—to Saint Petersburg and adopted him as her heir. The boy was suddenly the most important child in Europe.

And Joanna Elisabeth happened to have a daughter who was just his age.

]]> 27. She Got A Royal Promotion Joanna Elisabeth’s family was suddenly everywhere. At the same time the Empress was crowning a new Russian heir, she also appointed Joanna Elisabeth’s brother, Adolf Frederick, as the new heir to the Swedish throne. Overnight, the Duchess’s rank shot up—and her chances of getting Sophie into the Russian court along with it.

The wheels were turning faster than Joanna Elisabeth could have hoped.

]]> 28. She Finally Moved Up For Joanna Elisabeth, the good fortune kept pouring in. In November of 1742, Christian August inherited the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst alongside his brother John Louis. After years stuck in the provincial backwater of Stettin, the family packed up and moved to the much trendier Zerbst. And that’s where she got a letter that would change everything.

]]> 29. She Got The Letter She Had Been Waiting For On New Year’s Day in 1744, a letter arrived at Zerbst that changed everything. It came from Otto Brümmer, Grand Marshal of Grand Duke Peter’s court—and the message was direct. By the Empress's demand, Joanna Elisabeth was to come to Russia with her eldest daughter as quickly as she could. After years of scheming, the invitation was finally on her doorstep.

But there was another twist waiting for her in the mail.

]]> 30. She Heard From The King Of Prussia Hours after the Russian letter, a second envelope landed in Joanna Elisabeth’s hands. This one came from Frederick II of Prussia, and the timing was no coincidence. Frederick II informed her that he saw a possibility to arrange a marriage between Grand Duke Peter and Sophie. All of a sudden, she was right in between the two most powerful courts in Europe.

She was about to play a dangerous game.

]]> 31. She Became A Spy Joanna Elisabeth’s first stop wasn’t, as the Empress wanted, Russia. Instead, on January 10, 1744, she, Christian August, and Sophie travelled to Berlin to meet Frederick II in person. The King had something more than a wedding to discuss. He secretly asked Joanna Elisabeth to serve as a Prussian agent in Saint Petersburg, 

Sources say Joanna heartily accepted this request.

]]> 32. She Travelled Under Disguise Joanna Elisabeth had to conceal her departure from Berlin to avoid arousing suspicion before arriving in Russia. To help cover her tracks, the Duchess traveled under a pseudonym, assuming the identity of “Countess von Reinbeck”. She was about to learn, however, that the road to Russia and the power it promised wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

]]> 33. She Roughed It On The Road The reality of espionage was less glamorous than Joanna Elisabeth might have hoped. The journey to Russia was rough, and she often had to sleep in dingy hotels infested with cockroaches. Still, Joanna Elisabeth and her retinue arrived in Moscow just in time for Grand Duke Peter’s 16th birthday celebrations. The court was as glamorous as the road had been grim.

]]> 34. She Lost Another Child From Afar Joanna Elisabeth’s triumph in Russia was almost immediately undercut by news from home. Shortly after arriving, she learned that her youngest daughter, Elisabeth Ulrike—the baby she had named after the Empress herself—had suddenly passed on in Zerbst. The child’s passing might have been an omen of Joanna Elisabeth’s changing fortunes in Russia.

]]> 35. She Crossed The Empress Joanna Elisabeth started off on the right foot with Empress Elizabeth, often expressing gratitude for her kindness toward the family. Then Sophie fell ill. When doctors wished to bleed her, Joanna Elisabeth refused, and the Empress took it personally. Elizabeth removed Joanna Elisabeth from her daughter’s presence and tended to Sophie herself.

It was the first crack in their relationship.

]]> 36. She Couldn’t Stop Complaining Joanna had one bad habit that had the unfortunate power of turning the Russian court against her: she loved to complain. And while she was busy alienating her hosts, she was also working on her secret mission—actively trying to sabotage Vice Chancellor Bestuzhev. The double game was getting harder to play.

It was only a matter of time before Bestuzhev struck back.

]]> 37. She Was Caught Spying Vice Chancellor Bestuzhev was a step ahead the whole time. He intercepted Joanna Elisabeth’s letters between the Prussian and French ambassadors and the Prussian and French courts, and presented copies of the lot to Empress Elizabeth. The Empress was chillingly angry with her former friend.

The Empress declared that Joanna Elisabeth must leave Russia immediately after the wedding.

]]> 38. She Lost Her Son-In-Law Too Joanna Elisabeth’s little act of espionage cost her her friendship with Empress Elizabeth and jeopardized her daughter’s marriage to the future emperor. Between Sophie’s betrothal and the wedding itself, the Duchess’s relationship with her future son-in-law, Grand Duke Peter, deteriorated. Joanna Elisabeth was running out of allies at the very court she had schemed for years to enter.

She had one job left—get Sophie to the altar.

]]> 39. She Was Kicked Out Of Russia Joanna Elisabeth got her wish when Peter and Sophie tied the knot on August 21, 1745. True to her word, however, Empress Elizabeth showed Joanna Elisabeth the door the moment the ceremony ended. The Duchess left Russia immediately, without even saying goodbye to her daughter, now titled Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeievna—the future Catherine the Great.

Joanna Elisabeth would never see her daughter again.

]]> 40. She Was Humiliated In one final act of retribution, Empress Elizabeth sent Joanna Elisabeth back to Prussia in a humiliating way. Although the Empress had given the Duchess many parting gifts, not all of them were well-intentioned. Joanna Elisabeth was forced to carry a letter back to Frederick II of Prussia, asking the Prussian king to recall the ambassador who'd been embroiled in the conspiracy against Bestuzhev.

]]> 41. She Buried Her Husband Two years after returning from Russia in disgrace, Joanna Elisabeth lost her husband. Christian August passed on in March of 1747, and the couple’s son Frederick Augustus inherited his father’s title to become the new Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst. The boy was still too young to govern, however, so the Duchess herself stepped in as regent.

For the first time in her life, Joanna Elisabeth was actually in charge. But this wasn’t really a good thing.

]]> 42. She Built A Palace No One Visited The Duchess wasted no time using her new authority. During her regency, Joanna Elisabeth commissioned architect Friedrich Joachim Stengel to build her a new palace at Dornburg. The place was meant to be grand enough to host her brother, King Adolf Frederick of Sweden, and her now-famous daughter, the Grand Duchess of Russia.

The sad irony? Neither of them ever bothered to show up.

]]> 43. She Lost Her Power Again Joanna Elisabeth’s stint at the top didn’t last forever. In 1752, her son Frederick Augustus came of age, and the regency was over. After five years calling the shots in Anhalt-Zerbst, the Duchess had to step aside for her own son. What happened next, however, was an indignity unlike any she had ever faced before. She was about to lose it all.

]]> 44. She Was Driven Into Exile In 1758, the Seven Years’ War caught up to Joanna Elisabeth. Prussia—the same kingdom whose secrets she had once carried as a spy—marched on Anhalt-Zerbst and seized it. The Duchess and her son Frederick Augustus couldn’t seek refuge in Russia and had nowhere left to go. In a panic, the pair fled to Paris and settled into exile.

She would never make it back home.

]]> 45. She Never Made It Back Home Joanna Elisabeth never made it back to her home. The Duchess passed on in Paris in May of 1760, at just 47 years old, still living in exile. Her son Frederick Augustus would never return to Zerbst either. The greatest irony of her life, however, would be one that she would never actually live to see. She would get her wish after all.

]]> 46. She Missed The Coronation Of A Lifetime If Joanna Elisabeth had lived another two years, she would have witnessed her crowning achievement. In 1762, the same Sophie whom Joanna Elisabeth had handed off to nurses, neglected, and shopped around as a child became Empress Regnant of Russia under the name Catherine II. The Duchess’ lifelong scheme had paid off in full.

Catherine the Great would rule for 34 years—and her mother never knew.

]]> 47. She Got A Hulu Makeover More than 250 years after her passing, Joanna Elisabeth got a second life on screen. Hulu’s series The Great—a “loosely historically based” comedy-drama starring Elle Fanning as Catherine—cast Gillian Anderson in the role of the Duchess. The show’s version of Joanna Elisabeth arrives at court after Catherine’s coup against her husband.

The real story, however, was nothing like that.

]]> 48. She Wasn’t Quite The Matchmaker TV Made Her The Great’s Duchess Joanna Elisabeth has a second daughter she plans to marry off to Louis XIV of France, billing the Duchess as a self-styled “maestro of marriage”. The reality is much sadder. As the historical record shows, by that point in history, Catherine the Great was Joanna Elisabeth’s only surviving daughter.

That wasn’t all the series got wrong.

]]> 49. She Was Not Allergic To Peanuts Spoiler alert: Joanna Elisabeth did not meet her end in a bowl of peanuts. In the Hulu version presented in The Great, Joanna Elisabeth bites the dust when she has an allergic reaction to peanuts. Not only is that version of events wrong on the facts, but doctors didn’t even truly understand allergens until the mid-19th century.

The real Joanna Elisabeth passed on in exile, never knowing her daughter would be called Catherine the Great.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62549 <![CDATA[Elisabeth Christine And Frederick The Great Had The Worst Royal Marriage In History]]> 2026-08-19T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-18T13:31:06+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-elisabeth-christine Byron Fast People Her Marriage Was A Sham Before envying the lives of members of royal families, consider the life of Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern. Sure it’s fun to have a super long and hard to pronounce name, but imagine getting married off to a prince who is completely neglectful. People called her husband Frederick the Great, but as a husband he was definitely not-so-great.

As it turned out, Elisabeth’s husband had a secret that made this marriage doomed from the start.

]]> 1. She Had Nobility In the Family Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern was born on November 8, 1715. Her father was Duke Ferdinand Albert II, and her mother was Duchess Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. She also had a famous uncle and aunt. They were the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and his wife Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

But little Elisabeth risked getting lost in the shuffle.

]]> 2. It Was A Busy Household Elisabeth’s parents had 14 children in all. Now, that doesn't mean the house was full to the rafters. This was a different time, and only 12 of the children lived to be adults. Elisabeth was the third born but managed to outlive most of her siblings.

But this household was just as important as it was full.

]]> 3. Her Family Was Important The household where Elisabeth grew up was not only full of kids, but it was also full of prestige. They were among the families that had the most influence in all of Europe. While this sounds like a great way to grow up, it also had its disadvantages. For one thing, growing up with this much influence meant one thing: Elisabeth would not be getting married for love.

]]> 4. It Was No Fairy Tale Wedding In 1733, Elisabeth Christine of Austria married Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia. If you think this was a fairy tale wedding, hang on to your tiara. This was anything but. First off, the prince had no desire whatsoever to marry Elisabeth. She was nothing like what he was looking for in a spouse.

But there was a terrible reason why he had to marry her.

]]> 5. Her Husband Was Gentle Elisabeth’s new husband had a very scary father. He wanted his son to be all man, but his son seemed to be more interested in softer pursuits, like art and music. While Dad kept trying to get his son interested in military strategy and battles, Prince Frederick kept resisting.

As it turned out, this Prince had a secret.

]]> 6. He Did Not Want To Marry Her When Prince Frederick found out he had to marry Elisabeth, he wrote a letter to his sister. In it, he said that "There can be neither love nor friendship between us". But things were much worse than that. He said he would end his own life rather than marry Elisabeth.

It couldn’t have been easy for such a young bride—and her ego.

]]> 7. She Was A Young Bride Elisabeth Christine knew she had a duty to fulfill for her family. But that probably didn’t make it any easier to enter this marriage of convenience to a man who clearly didn’t like her, all in the name of creating an alliance. Elisabeth was just a teenager on her wedding day, and she probably had little idea about what to expect.

Well, it didn’t get off to a good start.

]]> 8. It Wasn’t Your Typical Wedding Night The wedding took place at Elisabeth’s father’s palace, Schloss Salzdahlum. After the ceremony, Elisabeth spent one hour with her new husband—and what they did was anyone’s guess. What we do know is that after the hour was up, Frederick spent the rest of the night walking around the palace.

This was not a great start to a marriage.

]]> 9. She Got An Icy Welcome Everyone at court knew that Frederick was not keen on the marriage, so when she entered the Berlin court, courtiers followed his lead and gave her an icy reception. One person who did take a liking to Elisabeth was her new father-in-law. Likely, he was just happy to see his son grow up in some small way.

Now Elisabeth had to start making friends.

]]> 10. She Didn’t Get Any Help If Elisabeth Christine was going to win over the court, she was going to have to do it on her own. You see, it was glaringly obvious how Frederick felt about his wife. His aloof behavior was palpable. This didn't help when it came to Elisabeth attaining any authority she would need to be the head of court.

But then, in an unexpected turn, Frederick saw how Elisabeth could be of use.

]]> 11. He Used Her When Frederick saw how his father liked Elisabeth, he got an idea into his head. He could win favor from his father—something he’d always struggled to get—through Elisabeth. He used Elisabeth to get things like money and permission to travel. But there was a dark side to his attention. All the while, he had no intention of being in a true relationship with her at all.

Elisabeth could only hope that things would change when her husband became the king.

]]> 12. She Moved Up In The World In 1740, Elisabeth’s father-in-law, the king, passed and her husband assumed his role. Things certainly did change. But they changed for the worse. She’d lost an ally, and suddenly, Frederick didn't need Elisabeth to help him win favor from his father. Since he felt no love for her, he basically did whatever he wanted.

And what he wanted didn't involve Elisabeth at all.

]]> 13. He Left Her On Her Own One of the most important things for royalty is participation in court. But Frederick wasn’t like most royals. He didn’t care much for court life. He also didn’t seem to want many women around, including his wife. In fact, Frederick spent summers and winters away from Berlin.

This left Elisabeth Christine on her own at court.

]]> 14. She Had To Learn Elisabeth had to quickly learn the ropes of her role in court. Luckily, she had her mother-in-law to teach her. She spent 17 years learning about court life from her. Then, in 1757, her mother-in-law passed on. Now, Elisabeth was the head of one of the most celebrated courts in Europe.

This had to go well.

]]> 15. She Was An Entertainer To keep Elisabeth Christine busy, her husband created a collection of people to become her court. They were there to keep the routine of the court going. With this entourage of people at her side, she welcomed visitors from foreign countries and members of the Prussian aristocracy and had to entertain them.

But she also paid attention to herself.

]]> 16. She Loved Fashion During her time as queen consort, Elisabeth got a reputation as a style icon. She managed to follow trends in fashion, and so did her husband. Even though their marriage was more or less in name only, they did manage to coordinate their outfits on some occasions. This drove the crowds frantic with delight.

Against all odds, Elisabeth was slaying when it came to holding court. And the rest of Europe was starting to notice.

]]> 17. She Was Among The Best As Elisabeth Christine got better and better at throwing parties, people couldn't help but compare her to other royals. You see, each court had its own reputation. The London court was famous for being boring, and Versailles for being strict. The court in Vienna was apparently chaotic, and Saint Petersburg was cutthroat. Elisabeth’s court at the Berlin Palace seemed to be winning and became known for its lavish and ostentatious parties.

But there was something missing.

]]> 18. She Did It By Herself Elisabeth had really taken to her duties as the head of court. But beside her, there was something missing: her husband. Frederick didn’t usually attend court, and he had his own summer and winter homes. So Elisabeth was on her own hosting, and presenting operas, dinners, balls, and other celebrations.

Some of the things he missed were downright scandalous.

]]> 19. She Had To Celebrate Alone Between 1741 and 1762, Elisabeth Christine certainly had her share of birthdays. I’m guessing one per year. Well, her husband wasn’t as good at calculating, as he only managed to show up for two of her birthdays during this period. Worse still, he sometimes didn’t even show up for his own birthday celebration.

But Frederick wasn't the only AWOL member of the royal family.

]]> 20. She Had The House To Herself The strange thing was, Elisabeth was actually the only member of the royal family living in the huge Berlin Palace. If that wasn’t big and lonely enough, she also had a summer place called Schönhausen Palace just outside the city. Frederick had kindly restored this building from its previous use as offices.

Clearly, this was not a typical marriage.

]]> 21. They Led Separate Lives So, Elisabeth had her summer home, and Frederick had his. You’d think they could spend some good quality time in each other’s opulent places. But no. Frederick never bothered to visit Elisabeth at Schönhausen Palace. Worse still, he never even invited her to visit him at his summer home.

But there could be a very good reason she never got the invite.

]]> 22. She Wasn’t Welcome Frederick liked to keep Elisabeth far from his private residences, and there is evidence of a good reason. Apparently, his taste in art had a racy slant to it. So, it might be a little awkward for Elisabeth to be walking around his collection of paintings of scantily clad figures on the walls.

Keeping Elisabeth away from his private homes is one thing, but Frederick did something even worse.

]]> 23. She Didn’t Make The Guest List When Frederick had a new wing built at Charlottenburg Palace, he organized an inauguration. Apparently, tickets were hard to come by, and even his dear wife didn’t manage to score one. The same goes for Frererick’s celebration for his mother. The organizers didn’t even put Elisabeth on the guest list.

Frederick had always been fairly generous when it came to handing over the cash needed to throw a decent party. But then this changed.

]]> 24. She Had To Make Do As time went on, Frederick was not so forthcoming with the cash that his wife Elisabeth Christine needed for her over-the-top events. As the cash for parties dried up, so did the grandeur of the events. People started gossiping about how the glamor had gone out of Elisabeth’s galas.

It got so bad that Elisabeth was the brunt of a rather cruel joke.

]]> 25. They Teased Her Elisabeth was trying to keep up appearances while sticking to her husband’s more frugal budget. But people started to notice that things weren't quite up to Elisabeth’s usual standards. A joke started circulating that went like this. If you saw an old lamp shining on the staircase, it meant the queen was throwing one of her parties.

Well, Elisabeth was about to have more to worry about than parties.

]]> 26. He Went Away For a Long Time In 1756, a battle started that involved many countries. For Prussians, it meant they were battling with Great Britain against France and Austria. Of course, this meant that Frederick would have a great excuse to stay away from Elisabeth. The thing was, this battle lasted seven long years.

Elisabeth was going to have to hold down the fort.

]]> 27. She Was A Beacon Of Hope Because Frederick was out of the capital for so many years, the citizens of Prussia turned to her for support. They needed to see that they still had a monarch. They also wanted to feel assured that they would survive this ordeal. When she went out for a public appearance, she received cheers from her citizens.

And then things got scary.

]]> 28. She Faced A Dilemma At one point in the battle, it looked like the Holy Roman Empire would take Berlin. As it turned out, Elisabeth’s husband had left the city vulnerable. More than 5,000 men were heading to Berlin to take it by force. Frederick was off fighting other battles, and suddenly Elisabeth found herself responsible for the people around her.

Her career as a party planner wasn’t going to help her now.

]]> 29. She Was Under Attack The invaders arrived at the gates of Berlin on October 16, 1757. It looked as though the attackers outnumbered the people inside the gates. Everyone looked to Elisabeth Christine for a way out of this predicament. Usually, her husband would be handling the difficult decision, and now the country all looked to her for an answer.

It was a lot of pressure.

]]> 30. She Decided To Flee Elisabeth had to think quickly, and what she came up with was an evacuation. The entire royal family would flee to Spandau, where they would be safe. The invaders then asked for a ransom. They wanted cash and, strangely enough, 12 pairs of gloves for Empress Maria Theresa. Elisabeth paid up and diverted a disaster.

You’d think that her husband would be proud of her. Not a chance.

]]> 31. She Was Loyal To A Fault If Elisabeth did get revenge on her husband for his rudeness and neglect, there’s no record of it. She was completely loyal to her country and to her husband. People saw her as pious, kind, and a hard-working queen for her country and court. She also had a kind heart.

]]> 32. She Gave To Charity Elisabeth Christine had a pretty hefty allowance, but she was not one to keep it all to herself. At one point in her life, she actually gave more than half of her allowance away. She said that she gave her money away because "God has graciously kept me”.

And then she focused her charity on one very needy person.

]]> 33. She Was Motherly While Elisabeth Christine never had any children of her own, she did have a nurturing spirit. When young Princess Frederica Charlotte’s mother ended up behind bars for infidelity, Elisabeth came to the rescue as a replacement mom. Apparently, Frederica Charlotte had a happy childhood with Elisabeth, and the two stayed in contact over the years.

Elisabeth also had a literary side to her.

]]> 34. She Was A Writer Elisabeth was a fan of political literature, and she wanted the texts in her own language. She took it upon herself to do translations of these books. Sadly, she had to use a pseudonym—Constance—as writing was an activity fit for a queen. Some of her titles even found their way to the royal library.

With all these things going for her, her husband still showed no interest in her.

]]> 35. They Never Got Together As the years went on, nothing much changed as far as Elisabeth’s relationship with her husband went. They rarely saw each other. As he aged, Frederick became more isolated from even his friends. He seemed to prefer the company of his Italian greyhounds. He even called them his “marquises de Pompadour,” referring to the famous French royal mistress.

As he aged, he suffered from asthma and gout. It looked like Elisabeth would outlive her husband.

]]> 36. She Received A Final Insult In the summer of 1786, Frederick passed sitting in a chair at his summer residence. His final insult to his wife Elisabeth Christine was a doozy. He wanted his resting place to be next to his dogs. And he didn’t stop there. It would be at Sanssouci, a home that he had never invited Elisabeth to.

It would take a very humble person not to take these insults to heart.

]]> 37. She Felt His Loss You wouldn’t blame Elisabeth for harboring a grudge against her husband. After all, she’d stood by him, and he chose to go to eternity next to his dogs instead of her. But after his passing, Elisabeth did indeed feel his loss. When she spoke about him, she called him "this dear prince whom I love and adore” or sometimes simply “Our dear king”.

With the king gone, Elisabeth’s role would be uncertain.

]]> 38. She Remained Popular Remember, the only thing that connected Elisabeth to Prussia was the man she’d married, and we know how he felt about her. Once the king was gone, there was no telling what the public would feel about Elisabeth. Luckily, Elisabeth remained popular, and the people openly displayed their sympathy for her loss.

But Elisabeth still needed to get something off her chest.

]]> 39. She Aired A Complaint In her comments after his passing, she spoke of her husband’s assets. That he was “the true father of his people”. She had some complaints to air as well—but not about his attitude, his temperament, or his treatment of her, surprisingly enough. Even though he’d been awful to her, her complaints were in defense of him: She complained about the false friends her husband had.

The ones who “separated him from those who were devoted to him heart and soul”. It was her last chance to complain about having an absent husband. And, equally as surprisingly, it turned out that Frederick had appreciated his wife’s loyalty.

]]> 40. She Was Set For Life With the king gone, Elisabeth now had to think about her future. She was the queen dowager, but what did this mean for her finances? The king’s will left her her usual allowance—plus 10,000 thalers extra. She would also be able to live in whichever royal palace she chose. Frederick made sure that she would always have firewood, games, and something to drink. She was set for life.

But then her husband’s replacement came along.

]]> 41. She Dealt With His Replacement The man who replaced her husband as king was Frederick William II, who was the king’s nephew. It couldn’t have been easy for Elisabeth to watch as he was a very different man compared to her husband. He was a wild one who married twice and had multiple mistresses.

But this king would turn to Elisabeth in his hour of need.

]]> 42. She Was A Consultant During the reign of her nephew, Elisabeth still had some influence. It seemed that Frederick William II needed some pointers on how to run a country. When he was in need of sage advice, it was Elisabeth that he turned to. As it turned out, he turned to her a lot.

Maybe too much.

]]> 43. She Was Still Number One It soon became clear that Elisabeth Christine remained an important part of the Prussian Empire. Her vast experience as a queen consort and dowager had given her great knowledge. Some believe that she held even more influence than the queen at the time. She certainly continued to be the center of the royal family.

Elisabeth’s hard work had earned this position, but her husband had actually helped make this happen.

]]> 44. He Had Her Back Elisabeth’s husband, Frederick, was probably up there amongst the most neglectful husbands in history. But when his life was coming to an end, he didn't forget his wife. In addition to the financial rewards, he also put something else in writing. He insisted that his nephew, the new king, respect her and her position.

Now, Elisabeth was living her last days. They would not be easy.

]]> 45. She Lived Through Some Hard Times Elisabeth outlived her husband by more than a decade. During these years, she had to face some tough times. She lived through the French Revolution, and she had to endure the horrible days of Napoleon Bonaparte. All this added up to a long life. By the end of it, she was ready to go.

]]> 46. She Didn’t Want To Live 1796 marked the passing of the King’s nephew, Prince Louis Charles. It was also around the time that Elisabeth seemed to give up on life. She was old and getting ill. She said that she had lived long enough, and it would be “better with me above”. On January 13, 1797, at the ripe age of 81, she passed on. Her last words were to her attendants. She said, “I know you will not forget me”.

To keep her memory alive, they sang her praises.

]]> 47. She Was Truly Majestic When it came time to remember Elisabeth, there was a grand outpouring of kind words. At her funeral, these sentiments included words like "truly majestic” and “noble”. They praised her for her charitable acts and “active exertions both for the religion, education, hearts, manners, and happiness of all classes.”

She was a class act to the end. But then, why had her husband detested her so?

]]> 48. She Wasn’t the Problem As it turned out, the problem between Frederick the Great and Elisabeth wasn’t really with Elisabeth. The problem was that Frederick preferred men over women. And beyond his close relationship to his sister, there’s no evidence he ever even had a female friend, let alone lover. He just didn’t have it in him to befriend his own wife.

And because of his predilection, Frederick would be coming to this marriage with a considerable amount of PTSD.

]]> 49. She Was Walking Into a Mess Elisabeth’s husband-to-be had lived through an extraordinarily violent episode. In his youth, Frederick had decided to run off with his male lover, and his father found out. Dad was beyond angry, and his punishment was unbearably cruel. Frederick had to watch as executioners beheaded his lover. It was this kind of family that Elisabeth walked into—when she was just 17 years old.

She never stood a chance to share a life with her husband—and absence certainly did not make the heart grow fonder, in his case.

]]> 50. She Received An Insult During the Seven Years’ War, Frederick was dealing with the battle, and he did not see Elisabeth Christine even once. When he returned and saw her for the first time in six years, he only had an insult for her. He told her she had gotten fat: “Madame has become more stout”.

Worse still, that was the only thing that he said to her before going to talk with his sisters. Ouch.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62647 <![CDATA[The Bloody Truth Behind James Bowie’s Legend]]> 2026-08-14T15:55:53+00:00 2026-08-14T15:55:53+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/interesting/james-bowie-rl Byron Fast Interesting He Lived A Hollywood Story  James Bowie lived a life ripped straight out of a Hollywood western. His lawless life in the wild west had equal amounts of horse riding, land speculating, and even searching for lost treasure. Bowie had almost an uncanny sense of luck in many battles until he selflessly rode off to save the Alamo. Bowie brought his entire family into the mission and waited for the rapidly advancing Mexican army. 

But hopelessly outnumbered, all James Bowie could do was hope that his luck had not run out. 

]]> 1. He Was Born To Battle  James Bowie was born on April 10, 1796, in Logan County, Kentucky. His parents, Reason and Elve Ap-Catesby, had met when Elve nursed Reason back to health after he received a wound while fighting during the American Revolution. Much like his father, battles and wounds ultimately defined Bowie's life as well.

]]> 2. They Were A Busy Bunch There were 10 children in the Bowie family, and James was the ninth. All the kids had to work the land they had purchased in Opelousas, Louisiana. They also learned essential survival skills like fishing, butchering animals, and how to be in charge of a plantation. Perhaps more importantly, though, he also learned some far more combative skills. 

]]> 3. He Was Fearless  As a growing child, James Bowie had the chance to become a master marksman and became lethal with a blade. These skills he could use for hunting and for protection. You see, there were ferocious alligators in the area, and Bowie received valuable life lessons from a Native American friend on how to rope these brutal beasts. Sporting these skills, Bowie earned a reputation for being fearless. 

But there was also time for some more cultured activities. 

]]> 4. They Had A Bond Two of the Bowie children, James and his older brother Rezin, received lessons in languages. In fact, the two boys learned to speak both French and Spanish fluently. There was an intensely strong bond between these two brothers, who were born just three years apart. In 1814, when General Andrew Jackson was looking for volunteers to fight against the British, the brothers enlisted together. 

Now, Bowie would have a chance to see if his skills would measure up in battle. 

]]> 5. He Was Too Late  James Bowie and his brother Rezin arrived in New Orleans ready to rumble with the British. But to their surprise, the battle was already over. Bowie decided to stay away from home and carved out a new life in Rapides Parish. Of course, he had to earn a living, and he did it by floating lumber down the river and selling it. 

But Bowie still wanted to fight in a battle. In 1819, he found one. 

]]> 6. He Had A Second Chance  One battle that James Bowie was not too late for was the one against the Spanish. At that time, Texas was under Spanish rule, and there were people who wanted that to change. This was not an official US conflict, but rather a group of battle-angry men who wanted to take Texas for their country. Bowie read about the expedition to take Texas in the newspaper and joined the 200 other men. 

Once again, Bowie was ready to fight. 

]]> 7. He Left In Search Of Food  If Bowie was looking for action in battle, this excursion into Texas would be a crushing disappointment. The group of men, known as the Long Expedition because its leader was James Long, received little to no resistance, and they easily declared Texas as independent from Spain. Bowie then left the excursion the moment they ran low on food. 

As it turned out, he left at just the right time. 

]]> 8. He Narrowly Escaped James Bowie had no idea at the time, but the Long Expedition was on a collision course with disaster. After a secret spy named Jean Lafitte secretly passed information to Spanish authorities, the Spanish troops showed up and squashed the expedition. The Spanish captured many members, and Bowie certainly could have been one of them. But lucky Bowie was safely back at home. 

Safe and sound, he turned his attention to making some cash. 

]]> 9. He Received A Gift Just before his father passed, he gave out some essential things that Bowie would need to find success. He and his brother Rezin received cattle, horses, and ten servants. And with that, James and Rezin had an idea to get rich. Louisiana was enjoying a huge population increase, and the brothers thought that if they acted fast, they could cash in by buying and selling land at a profit. 

The problem was that they needed money to buy the land right away. Their solution was diabolical. 

]]> 10. They Found A Loop Hole At this time, trading in enslaved people was a common practice, but in 1807, the government passed a law making it unlawful to import new slaves. To make this new law work, the government made an offer. If anyone snitched on a slave trader, they would receive as a reward, half of what the slave would get at an auction. The Bowie brothers saw an ingenious loophole in this system and were ready to reap the rewards. 

]]> 11. He Partnered With the Enemy  James Bowie then went into partnership with the spy and pirate Jean Lafitte. The plan was brutally simple. Bowie bought slaves from Lafitte and turned them into the authorities. When the slaves were put up for sale, Bowie would purchase them and then get his reward as well. Bowie and his brother performed this diabolical plan on three separate occasions.

They were making oodles of cash. Now, what would they do with it? 

]]> 12. He Flipped Land James Bowie and another brother, John, used the money Bowie had earned in the slave trade and began buying and selling property. But back in 1803, something had happened that would have a massive impact on these two “property brothers”: the US government bought the Louisiana Territory. 

So with the Bowie name showing up on many of the land deeds in the territory, it soon became clear that the Bowies had been up to no good. 

]]> 13. He Got Found Out When the government purchased Louisiana, they made a promise. They would honor the land claims of the former owners. This was great news for Bowie. Except for one thing. When the government started examining the claims, they found that Bowie and his brother had, on multiple occasions, sold land that wasn't theirs to sell. 

In other words, the Bowie brothers were in some serious hot water.

]]> 14. The Evidence Disappeared  Most of the deeds that the owners of the land held were forgeries. This made the Bowie brothers look even worse. The landowners that the Bowie’s had duped got together and raised chatter about filing a lawsuit against James and John Bowie. But as they were building their case, all the documents that would prove Bowie's guilt miraculously disappeared. 

So he escaped that mishap, but Bowie's troubles were still far from over. 

]]> 15. He Faced Off With A Sheriff  Around this same time, James Bowie had a heated clash with Norris Wright, who was the sheriff of Rapides Parish. Bowie didn't like Wright because he rejected his application for a loan. Wright didn’t like Bowie because he had stood behind his opponent when he ran for sheriff. Remember, these were the times of the Wild West, and disagreements like this almost always turned violent. 

This was no exception. 

]]> 16. He Had A Close Call  When Bowie and Wright had cross words in Alexandria, Louisiana, Bowie heard a loud bang. It was Wright who had fired. Lucky for Bowie, he’d missed. But this terrifying encounter changed Bowie. He made a promise to himself that he would never walk around unarmed. This promise would soon save his life. 

]]> 17. They Wanted Blood  The next year, James Bowie came face-to-face with Wright again. This time, they were both in attendance at a duel between two enemies. When the duel ended with no injuries, the crowd still seemed to want to see blood. A chaotic brawl erupted, and Bowie quickly suffered an injury. To retaliate, he reached for his blade that he now never travelled without. 

What happened next was bloody awful. 

]]> 18. It Was A Bloody Battle Wright still had a grudge against Bowie, so when Bowie’s blade failed to injure his opponent, Wright took advantage. There was a loud bang, but Wright missed. His plan B was to go for Bowie with his sword cane. Bowie still had his trusty blade and used it for a truly gruesome feat: he disemboweled Wright. 

At the end, Bowie had multiple injuries, and Wright was ready for the grave. This fight would go down in history.

]]> 19. He Was A Hero  Even though Wright's sword had brutally impaled him, James Bowie somehow survived. The newspapers reported Bowie’s astonishing survival, and this turned him into a hero. What made him look even better was that he had not instigated the brawl. Even more, his skill with a blade turned Bowie into a feared man.

And his weapon was also getting famous. 

]]> 20. His Name Is A Legend  There’s been endless speculation about the blade that Bowie used in the fight that became known as the Sandbar Fight. More than one person has claimed to be the one who designed it. The popularity of the blade grew and eventually appeared as far away as Great Britain. To this day, it’s still called a Bowie Knife. 

But at the time, all that really mattered was that Bowie had survived the Sandbar Fight. It was time he got religious. 

]]> 21. He Got Baptized  After the Sandbar Fight, Bowie had to recover from his long list of wounds. Once he was able, he made the move to Coahuila y Tejas, which was then part of the Mexican Federation. Since that federation banned any religion besides Catholicism and favored granting land to Mexicans, Bowie got himself baptized as a Catholic.

This was the first step of Bowie’s unusual plan. 

]]> 22. He Gave Up His Citizenship  The second part of Bowie’s plan was to become a Mexican citizen. This allowed him to buy up land in the area that would one day become Texas. To get even more land, he had to persuade other Mexican citizens to make an application for land and then transfer it over to him. With this underhanded tactic, Bowie managed to acquire 280,000 ha (700,000 acres). 

And with that con underway, he now needed a wife to settle down with. 

]]> 23. This Romance Was Cut Short Bowie’s first attempt at romance was a crushing failure. In 1829, he met and proposed to Cecilia Wells. They set the wedding date for mid-October. But two weeks before the wedding, Bowie had to watch as life passed out of Wells. Bowie was a single man once more. But he wasn't one to give up easily. 

]]> 24. He Tried Marriage Again  One of Bowie’s business partners, Juan Martin de Veramendi, had a 19-year-old daughter named Maria Ursula de Veramendi. Bowie set his sights on her for a wife, so he lied about his age. He said he was 30 when he was 35. Then he made a promise to pay a dowry of $15,000, which would be about $450,000 today. He promised the dowry within two years of the marriage. 

But before the two years were up, this family wouldn’t exist. 

]]> 25. He Was Living The Dream Bowie was pretending to be worth a lot of money, but when he and his new wife moved in with her parents, it seemed that wasn’t true. He was now living in a grand residence called the Veramendi Palace. Bowie’s father-in-law even paid for Bowie’s spending money. Bowie was living the dream. He lived in a palace, had a young wife, and someone else was paying his bills. 

But he still needed one more thing. 

]]> 26. He Loved Adventure  The one thing that Bowie’s life was missing was adventure. To fulfill this restless desire, Bowie grabbed his brother Rezin and a few other men. Their goal was to find the lost Los Almagres Mine. En route, they met up with 160 hostile Native American men, and it looked like Bowie was a goner. There were 14 enemies for every one of Bowie’s men.

Bowie would need more than his usual luck. 

]]> 27. It Was A Miracle The story goes that the battle lasted 13 hours. Against all odds, the clash was fatal for 40 Indigenous men and 30 left more injured. Bowie only lost one. When he returned home, he found his wife dressed as a widow. She was just that sure he wouldn’t survive. Bowie wrote the story of the battle in Spanish, and the story appeared in newspapers. 

Bowie's reputation was spreading. 

]]> 28. He Wanted To Register A Complaint  In 1832, the commander of the Mexican army, José de las Piedras, required that all citizens hand over their arms. Bowie had promised himself never to be without his weapon, so he made a beeline straight for Texas to complain. He got together a group of like-minded men, and the plan was to present their opposition to this new demand. 

As you might imagine, they didn’t quite get a chance to complain. 

]]> 29. It Was A Huge Battle  Just as Bowie and his men were approaching the office in Nacogdoches, where they wanted to complain, 100 Mexican cavalry members descended on them. A fierce battle began. In the end, the Cavalry lost 33 men, and Bowie and his gang forced the remaining Cavalry members back to Nacogdoches and released them. The battle of Nacogdoches was another glorious win for Bowie. 

But he was about to face a horrible loss. 

]]> 30. He Worried About A Disease When Cholera broke out in the area, Bowie packed up his pregnant wife and their one child, and also his father and mother-in-law. He sent them to Monclova, where he was sure they would be safe. Sadly, Cholera found its way to Monclova, and in one tragic swoop, all of Bowie’s relations there passed. This devastated Bowie, and he started drinking. 

But there was more bad news already on the way.

]]> 31. He Was A Fugitive  In the spring of 1835, a presidential order came down from Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He threw out the government of Coahuila y Tejas and, worse yet, called for the arrest of any Texan who was involved in business deals in Monclova. As a land owner, this included Bowie. Bowie wasn’t about to wait around for authorities to take him in. 

He escaped the area and started working on a plan to fight back. 

]]> 32. He Started Amassing Fighters Bowie and the other Anglos in Texas reacted with rage to the President’s announcement. Bowie joined forces with William B Travis and planned a battle against President Santa Anna. Bowie went to the Native American villages and tried to get more support for the movement. When Santa Anna got wind of this rebellion, he sent more men to the area. 

It was now called The Texas Revolution, and it was looking bad. 

]]> 33. He Went On A Mission On October 28, Bowie and some men came across Mission Concepcion and thought it would be an ideal position of defense. To his horror, 300 Mexican infantrymen, led by General Domingo Ugartechea, descended on the mission ready to fight. An outnumbered Bowie launched a brave offensive and took one of the two cannons they had. The Mexicans, having lost 10 men, retreated. Bowie only had one fatality. 

Bowie was enjoying the thrill of battle, and he wanted more. 

]]> 34. He Signed Up To stay near the battle, Bowie enlisted as a private in the army. It didn’t take long for him to stand out for his cunning and bravery. In November, Bowie proved his mettle by attacking General Martin Perfecto de Cos’ 187 men who were collecting grass for the horses. Two of Bowie’s men received injuries, but there was a reward. Bowie took all their horses and mules. 

Next, Bowie would face the ultimate battle. 

]]> 35. He Had To Defend It Word got to Bowie that Santa Anna had his army heading to San Antonio. Bowie quickly put together 30 men who volunteered to get to San Antonio and retrieve their artillery from the Alamo. When he and his 30 men got there, they found that there were only 104 men ready to defend the mission. Bowie conferred with James C Neill, who was the commander at the Alamo. 

They decided to stay put rather than retreat. It was a risky decision. 

]]> 36. He Begged For Help In the 1800’s, there was no “GoFundMe”, so Bowie had to resort to old-fashioned letter writing. He desperately appealed to anyone nearby who could donate arms, money, or even cannon powder. Anything that would help defend the Alamo. Bowie had put it out there that he needed help. 

His own life and many others depended on the answer. 

]]> 37. He Got his Answer Davy Crockett was the first to answer Bowie’s plea for help. He brought 30 men from Tennessee. More men followed. But then Commander Neill decided to leave to see his family. When he left the younger, less experienced William B Travis in charge, Bowie was as far from happy as he could get. 

He thought he should be the leader, and he made his displeasure known. 

]]> 38. He Had Reason To Celebrate Bowie simply refused to take orders from Travis, which led Travis to make a foolish decision. He was going to let the men decide who should lead them. When the vote went decidedly in Bowie’s direction, Bowie wanted to celebrate his victory. This would turn out to be a huge mistake.

]]> 39. He Celebrated Too Much Most of us would forgive Bowie for drinking too much to celebrate his victory over Travis. But what Bowie did really went too far. He was so out of it that he harassed San Antonian residents, and then he went to the local penitentiary. Once there, he opened the cells and freed everyone inside. 

The next morning, he awaited his punishment. 

]]> 40. He Went Down A Notch  Bowie had certainly come down a notch in the view of Travis and the other men. As such, they agreed to a joint leadership between Bowie and Travis. No matter, Bowie threw himself into filling the Alamo with provisions and cattle. His thoughts then turned to the rest of his family. He had to keep them safe. 

]]> 41. He Brought Everyone to Safety Remember, most of Bowie’s in-laws had perished in the cholera epidemic, but he still had cousins to think about. He rounded them up and got them safely inside the Alamo. He also brought some of the servants from the Veramendi Palace. 

Meanwhile, the Mexican army was on its way to destroy it. 

]]> 42. He Got Sick At the worst possible moment, Bowie became gravely ill. To maintain morale, the obviously unhealthy Bowie continued to appear to the residents of the Alamo. Their morale really needed lifting as the approaching Mexican army had raised a red flag. This meant that they planned to heartlessly take the lives of anyone who defended the Alamo. 

Everyone who was in the Alamo was at risk of perishing. 

]]> 43. He Crossed A Line According to legend, the situation of those holed up in the Alamo seemed so dire that at one point, Travis took a stick and made a line in the sand. Anyone who was willing to give their life for this battle should step over it. Bowie was in his hospital bed, but asked Crockett and some others to carry his bed over the line. 

Even in his sick bed, Bowie was ready to risk everything. 

]]> 44. It Was A Slaughter  March 6, 1836, was a sad day. Bowie and all the other Texans who were actively defending the Alamo lost their lives. It was a brutal slaughter. The only bright spot was that the Mexican army let those not fighting, including Bowie’s relatives, live. Of course, because of Bowie’s celebrity, everyone wanted to know how Bowie actually lost his life. 

Well, that depends on who you ask. 

]]> 45. There Were Rumors  One story goes that the Mexicans used their bayonets on Bowie while he was still in his bed. Another story said that Bowie ended his own life. A more imaginative tale has Bowie castigating a Mexican in his perfect Spanish, and then having his tongue brutally cut out as punishment. 

This was a time of exaggerated stories, but there’s one that many believe is actually the truth. 

]]> 46. He Went Down In His Glory Because Bowie’s demise at the Alamo is so important in history, there have been countless theories about it. The most popular one has Bowie sick in his cot, but with his back against the wall. He was firing with one hand, and in his other hand, he held his iconic Bowie blade. Sadly, there were just too many Mexican fighters, and they took his life in his bed. Regardless of who's story you believe, Bowie’s luck had finally run out. 

But he lives on in legacy. 

]]> 47. He Was Humble Hearing about Bowie’s shady business dealings and his amazing battle record, it’s easy to picture him as a loud braggart. Captain William Y Lacey spent quite a few months living with Bowie in the wilderness. Lacey said that Bowie never used vulgar words or profanity. Apparently, he was also humble about his life successes.

As it turned out, he may have had a very good reason to be humble. 

]]> 48. He Wasn’t Worth Much From all the land he bought, it sounded like Bowie was swimming in cash. When he passed, his possessions went to auction. They brought in less than $100. Even accounting for inflation, this is a minimal amount. But it was really the battlefield where Bowie excelled. 

And while many elements of hist story lie in legend, it seems clear that he was a courageous leader who put his men first. 

]]> 49. He Put His Men First In business, Bowie was as brutal as they come, but in battle, this wasn’t the case. One man under his command remembers him as being a “born leader” who hated to risk the lives of his men. Many remember him calling out during battle, “Keep under cover boys, and reserve your fire; we haven't a man to spare”. 

Bowie’s life would go on to inspire many people with his courage and valor. He’d even inspire a rock star. 

]]> 50. He Influenced Music History  Many people struggle with the pronunciation of Bowie, and rock star David Bowie only adds to the confusion. The musician pronounced his stage name differently, but there was still a surprising connection between the two men: David Bowie took the name from James Bowie and his famous knife. More than a century after James Bowie made his name on the American frontier, his legend had reached a young David Robert Jones all the way in Britain.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62457 <![CDATA[The Siege Of Leningrad Forced The City To Make Horrific Sacrifices]]> 2026-08-17T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-14T12:57:20+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/things/facts-siege-of-leningrad David O'Shea Things A Determined City The Siege of Leningrad is one of the great under-recognized tragedies of WWII and, indeed, of history. Lasting almost two-and-a-half years, the heroic people of the Soviet city held on against a relentless onslaught from German forces. 

And though their survival is the stuff of legend, life under siege was far from easy, and it forced the Leningrad residents and defenders into drastic and grisly measures to survive…

]]> 1. The Setting The Axis powers, namely Germany and Finland, carried out the Siege of Leningrad against the city today known as Saint Petersburg, on the Eastern Front of WWII within the borders of the then Soviet Union. Leningrad was the second-largest city in the USSR, and as the battle for the Eastern Front raged on, it was clear that the Axis powers were closing in on this strategically important metropolis.

]]> 2. The Axis Closes In Preparations for the siege began in 1941, as the Germans were barreling through Russia, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake. By August of that year, Germany’s Army Group North had finally reached Leningrad’s suburbs. From the other side, their allies in the Finnish forces were encircling the city from the North, leaving little option for the residents but to stand and fight. They would face an enemy determined like no other.

]]> 3. The German Plan Operation Barbarossa was the name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and the capture of Leningrad was one of the three main strategic objectives of the operation. 3.8 million Axis troops deployed for the mission, making it the largest and most costly military offensive in human history. But why was Leningrad, in particular, so key to the Germans’ goals?

]]> 4. Stamping Out A Threat There were several reasons that motivated the Germans’ strategy as it regarded Leningrad. For one, the city held high political status as Russia’s former capital. Furthermore, it held military and industrial importance as the main base of the Soviet Baltic Fleet and the location of several key arms factories.

Most crucially, however, was its political significance: Leningrad had been the birthplace of the Russian Revolution and the ideological center of Bolshevism, the current of political thought that proved the biggest threat to Nazism, fascism, and, indeed, capitalism at large. So, it was no wonder that the German leader was overly enthusiastic about the project…

]]> 5. German Hubris Reports claim that Germany’s despotic leader was excessively confident that the attack on Leningrad would be successful. So strong was his faith that he planned a victory celebration in the city’s Hotel Astoria for a specific date, before the siege had even begun, and went so far as to have flyers printed. This would not come to pass, but what were the Führer’s plans beyond a lavish party?

]]> 6. Theories Of Expansion Some historians have theorized that the Führer had expansionist plans for Leningrad after the Germans finished with the takeover. A few have suggested that Germany planned to incorporate the city as the new capital of the Ingermanland province of the Reich, part of Generalplan Ost. There is little evidence to back up this theory, however. The reality is much grimmer.

]]> 7. Genocidal Plans The Führer’s actual intentions for Leningrad were completely insane: he wanted to level the city to the ground and wipe out its entire population. The German High Command laid out the plans for their occupation, intending, once they had captured the city, to “lead those still alive into inner Russia or into captivity [and] wipe Leningrad from the face of the earth through demolitions”.

Unfortunately for the Germans, however, they suffered a shaky start.

]]> 8. Cracks In The Offense Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb led the German forces marching toward the city, with the siege of Leningrad being his primary objective. But in early August, Leeb’s confidence was shook: the German forces found themselves seriously overextended after their eventful march through the USSR. To achieve his objectives, Leeb believed he needed 35 divisions of men; he currently had only 26.

Meanwhile, spirits on the other side remained cautiously high.

]]> 9. Heroic Mobilizing Despite the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union following Lenin’s demise in 1924, the city legislature, the Leningrad Soviet, still enjoyed considerable influence among the city’s population. Upon learning of the German advance, their Council of Deputies organized civilian groups of first responders, and the citizens of the city heroically mobilized to construct fortifications. The defenses were impressive.

]]> 10. The Best Offense Is… The Leningrad civilian resistance constructed several lines of defense along the city’s north and south perimeters. Many fortifications, which had fallen into disrepair from misuse, got restored, and other defensive measures included timber barricades, wire entanglements, anti-tank ditches, reinforced concrete weapon emplacements, and open trenches. The Germans, however, had their own tactics.

]]> 11. Derailed Beginning their systematic tactics of cutting Leningrad off from all outside help, the Germans severed rail links to the city, crucial supply lines that connected the inhabitants with other industrial centers like Moscow. The final rail connection to Leningrad got severed on August 30, 1941. The Germans hoped this would crush the morale of the Soviet people, but they didn’t know what they were dealing with.

]]> 12. Soviet Grit With Soviet supply lines now seriously hindered by early September, Leeb was confident the Red Army would surrender or abandon the city entirely. This never materialized, however, which made the German commander nervous—despite the Germans’ success in isolating Leningrad, Leeb was not confident he had the forces to actually take the city. His boss insisted he press on, however.

]]> 13. Phase One Despite the Soviets’ refusal to capitulate, the Führer was adamant that the mission continue. Indeed, the German leader saw Leningrad as the first significant chess piece in the larger goal of taking Russia entirely. He repeated his orders in no uncertain terms: “Leningrad first, Donetsk Basin second, Moscow third”. Nothing less would suffice.

]]> 14. No Prisoners Despite the Führer’s genocidal ambitions, there were practical reasons why the Germans did not want to take Leningrad too. With their forces and resources already stretched pretty thin, the idea of occupying the city was out of the question because, in the words of one German High Command officer, “it would make us responsible for food supply”.

To that end, the Army Group North was ordered once again to accept no capitulation from the residents of Leningrad. With orders crystal clear, the siege finally began.

]]> 15. Opening Shots With the final severing of all remaining land routes on September 8, 1941, the Siege of Leningrad officially begun. The Germans proceeded to shell the city relentlessly, with a debatable (more on that below) level of support from the Finns. The bombardment had begun, and the Soviet response was swift.

]]> 16. Assembly Line Of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov led the Leningrad forces and took desperate measures to halt the final German push into the city’s outskirts. As mentioned, Leningrad was an industrial center, and they put the power of that productive might to full use. The Soviet forces manned heavy tanks as they rolled off the assembly lines! It was enough to hold off ground troops, but the siege carried on relentlessly.

]]> 17. Endless Terror From Above While the Soviets successfully prevented the Germans from pressing their offensive home, the Axis armies nevertheless laid siege to the city—for a very, very long time. Most accounts of the event lament the Axis shelling that lasted “900 days and nights”. That number is pretty accurate.

]]> 18. The Long Haul In total, the Siege of Leningrad lasted from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944. This totaled a jaw-dropping two years, four months, and 19 days. The intensity of the siege varied across its almost two-and-a-half-year span, and there were some days that were far worse than others…

]]> 19. A Dark Day September 19, 1941, a day relatively early in the siege, was particularly brutal for the Soviets. The Germans launched a devastating air raid, the heaviest suffered by Leningrad during all of WWII. 276 bombers hit the city, costing the lives of 1,000 civilians. It was not just the weapons that were brutal, however, but the tactics too.

]]> 20. Horrific Targets During the September 19 air raid, the Germans deployed deplorable tactics intending to wipe out the Leningrad residents. Many of those lost in the attack were recuperating from battle wounds in hospitals—which the Germans shelled indiscriminately. In total, five hospitals were hit over six air raids that day. With such horrific tactics, were Germany’s allies growing uneasy?

]]> 21. Holding Back For the almost three years of lead-up, and during the siege itself, the German’s Finnish allies allegedly did little to contribute to the battle. Their participation largely involved recapturing lands lost in a previous conflict with the Soviets, though they also greatly assisted the Führer’s efforts by breaking Soviet military codes. The Germans appealed for further help, of course.

]]> 22. Reluctant Allies German envoys pleaded with the Finns to offer aerial and ground support against Leningrad, but Finnish leaders rejected the requests. The fact of the matter was that the city was simply not a strategic goal for the Finns, whose forces largely remained at the border previously established before their earlier conflict with the Soviets. Some have questioned this narrative, however.

]]> 23. A Cover-Up? While most historians agree that the Finns’ participation had its limits, some have speculated that this is false, and that their active role in the siege of Leningrad underwent a cover-up following improved Soviet-Finnish relations after the conclusion of WWII. And while we may never know the truth, we cannot deny the heroics of the opposing forces.

]]> 24. Soviet Heroism Commanded by Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, the Leningrad Front bravely defended the city for the seemingly never-ending duration of the siege, with only minimal reinforcements at irregular intervals. Their efforts were nothing short of heroic, and it wasn’t just the fighting.

]]> 25. Civilian Safety Alongside defending the city from the German onslaught, the Leningrad Front assisted in the defense of the civilians that the Soviets managed to evacuate from the city. It was no easy task, considering the Germans had cut off most land routes from the city, but astonishingly, the Leningrad Soviet successfully smuggled 1.7 million noncombatants out of harm’s way. For the ones that stayed, however, it was a grim existence.

]]> 26. Life From Above Food shortages in the winter led to intense rationing—which quickly took a dark turn (more on that later). However, eventually, the Soviets finally managed to deliver relief in the form of supplies to the city, easing the burden somewhat. The Soviets delivered these via air and ship over Lake Ladoga. This lake, in particular, soon became the site of another feat of Soviet ingenuity.

]]> 27. Daring Rescue The Red Army desperately needed to establish a supply route for Leningrad, and they came up with an ingenious idea. Soviet forces established a highway built on the frozen Lake Ladoga, which allowed them to get food and defensive supplies into the city. The highway became known as the Road of Life. In the warmer months, they shipped the provisions by watercraft, and traffic on the Road went both ways.

]]> 28. Road Of Safety After the initial chaos of the siege’s first winter, no further civilian evacuations were possible with the ongoing German bombardment. The Germans completely isolated the city until November 20, when the Road of Life became operational. Finally, the Soviets could evacuate more civilians from Leningrad. Meanwhile, the Germans were removing things from the city themselves.

]]> 29. Stolen Culture The Germans did not just take lives and infrastructure from Leningrad. The invading forces looted many homes and museums, with valuable art collections seized and moved to Germany. As for the history that they couldn't move, the Germans affected a scorched earth policy.

]]> 30. Erasing History Leningrad was also home to a number of imperial palaces from Russia’s pre-Soviet era. The Führer commanded the German forces to loot and destroy the palaces, along with other historic landmarks. The German onslaught was truly on all fronts, with the goal of complete erasure of Leningrad, physically and culturally. But the city held firm.

]]> 31. Holding Steady Despite the German siege lasting a staggering 872 days, with all the accompanying horrors inside the city, they never captured Leningrad. It was a truly heroic accomplishment for the residents, especially given the uphill battle against the Germans’ systematic tactics of destruction and starvation. All the credit belongs to the heroic people of the city.

]]> 32. Spirited Citizens The fighting spirit of the people of Leningrad got summed up perfectly by historian Lisa Kirschenbaum. Writing about the near-insurmountable obstacles they faced and emphasizing the starvation caused by lack of supplies, she cheered that “the majority of Leningraders managed to maintain their cultural norms in the most unimaginable circumstances”. Nowhere was this more evident than one inspiring event.

]]> 33. Musical Morale On August 9, 1942, almost one year into the siege, an amazing thing happened in Leningrad: in the face of an endless German onslaught, the Leningrad Radio Orchestra debuted Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad” in the besieged city. They broadcast the concert on speakers around town, with some even aimed at enemy lines. And as if that wasn’t spirited enough, the day chosen for the performance was significant too: it was the day the Führer had planned his victory party in the Astoria Hotel.

It was an inspiring moment that traced a direct line to the Soviets’ final push.

]]> 34. The First Attempt The autumn of 1942 saw the beginning of the Sinyavino Offensive, the first major Soviet attempt to break the siege. It began with small-scale attacks on the Leningrad front, which forced the Germans to redirect troops from a planned attack elsewhere on the Eastern Front. The counteroffensive ended in something of a stalemate: the Soviet forces got encircled and destroyed, but the German offensive also had to be abandoned.

However, it set the stage for phase two of the Red Army’s plan.

]]> 35. The Germans Rattled Following the Sinyavino Offensive, the Soviets launched a full-scale offensive on January 12, 1943, known as Operation Iskra. A series of fierce battles across the USSR saw the Red Army make some significant advances, and they even managed to open a narrow land corridor to Leningrad. The residents still had a while to wait, however.

]]> 36. Victory After a long and arduous offensive, the Siege of Leningrad finally broke on January 27, 1944. The Soviets managed to expel the German forces in the Leningrad-Novgorod offensive with support from the Baltic Fleet. They didn’t know it yet, but it was the beginning of the end for the German forces in Europe.

]]> 37. The First Domino Western propaganda has long held that the capitalist forces were the ones who defeated the Germans in WWII, but the truth is that the Soviet Union were some of the real victors. The breaking of the siege of Leningrad and the subsequent pushing back of German forces were among the first steps in the Soviets’ eventual march on and liberation of Berlin, the final knell for the Führer’s dominance in Europe. But this victory came at a great cost to the USSR.

]]> 38. It Was Leveled While Leningrad held on for nearly two-and-a-half years, and the spirits of its citizens never broke, the siege had nonetheless completely devastated the city. The destruction was widespread, rendering the city unrecognizable and prompting historians to name the Siege of Leningrad as the most destructive siege in history. But they paid a higher price still.

]]> 39. There Was Massive Loss Though there is debate on this, the Siege of Leningrad is quite possibly the deadliest siege in history too. There were nearly 2 million casualties—though some estimates, which include non-civilian casualties, put the loss of life at 3.4 million—which completely devastated a city whose pre-conflict population was 3.2 million.

It was the largest loss of life ever recorded in a modern city, and the numbers were unmatched anywhere else.

]]> 40. Incomparable The Soviet losses from the siege were astonishing, and no other country experienced anything similar. Indeed, the conservative estimates of between 1.6 and 2 million souls lost amount to a whopping six times more than the United States’ total casualties for the entirety of WWII. Taken with the entire conflict as a whole, the Germans had truly decimated the Soviets.

]]> 41. The Cost Under German occupation, approximately 40% of the Soviet population fell, a devastatingly tragic number and a great injustice of history. Alongside that, the occupation cost the nation many of its most productive and agricultural regions, leaving it at a disadvantage for the following decades-long conflict with the West. The people of Leningrad would never forget the sacrifices their fellow citizens made.

]]> 42. Remembrance To this day in Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, has erected countless monuments and tributes to the heroic defense. As well as that, the Leningrad Defense Museum serves as a space in which modern-day residents and tourists alike can learn about and reflect on the heroics of the brave citizens of the siege. Keeping the memory alive has faced some challenges over the years, however.

]]> 43. A Petty Leader By the time of the Siege of Leningrad, the Russian Revolution, initially heroically led by Lenin and Trotsky, had undergone a degeneration under the dictatorial rule of Joseph Stalin. Stalin’s unfitness for leadership was never more evident than when, during the late 1940s, he reportedly grew jealous of the praise the Leningrad leaders had rightfully received and staged show trials to prosecute them.

It was just one of many of Stalin’s crimes, but they still paled in comparison to the crimes of Germany.

]]> 44. The Hunger Strikes During the worst of the siege of Leningrad, life was unsurprisingly difficult, but most of the trials faced by the residents were all part of the Germans’ plan. The biggest obstacle was hunger: because of the cutting-off of supply chains, the city quickly ran out of food and rationing had to be implemented. This was completely intentional on the Germans’ part; starving the city into surrender was, horrifically, part of their strategy. It had devastating consequences.

]]> 45. Devastation The widespread hunger within the city hit devastating proportions during the first winter of the siege. Over the cold closing months of 1941 and early 1942, thousands of residents starved in extreme famines. And with rationing now at extreme levels, perhaps those that perished were the lucky ones…

]]> 46. Desperate Measures During the worst stages of the winter famine, the rationing of food within Leningrad hardly made life worth living. From November 1941 to February 1942, they gave each resident only 125g of bread a day. As if this wasn’t bad enough, this ration consisted of 50-60% sawdust and other admixtures. With such grim prospects facing the residents, the horrors that followed were inevitable.

]]> 47. Worst-Case Scenario With the horrific systematic starvation inflicted by the Germans, the residents of Leningrad, emaciated beyond recognition, turned to the grisliest option imaginable. There are numerous reports from the siege of instances of cannibalism among residents, speaking to the sheer severity of the circumstances in which the invading German forces had placed the beleaguered Soviets.

Given the scope of the mass starvation, however, the rates of cannibalism were relatively low, speaking to the collective spirit of the Leningrad residents.

]]> 48. Off The Hook Despite the disgusting tactics and murderous intent of the Germans during the Siege of Leningrad, a United States court, convened to prosecute German leaders after the conflict ended, ruled that the siege did not constitute a war crime. It was a disgusting though unsurprising decision, as the US was gearing up for a political conflict with communism. The charges against the siege should have gone much further.

]]> 49. Way Worse Many historians agree that, because of the Germans’ intentional destruction of the city and systematic starvation imposed on its residents, the Siege of Leningrad meets all the requirements to be classed as a genocide. Indeed, this certainly seemed to be the Führer’s intent, based on his writings at the time.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=32867 <![CDATA[History’s Naughtiest Queen]]> 2026-08-14T11:30:00+00:00 2026-08-12T17:51:38+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-maria-luisa Alicia B. People Spain’s Naughtiest Queen Maria Luisa of Parma was many things, but she was never boring. She wasn’t just one of Spain’s many Queens, Maria Luisa remains unforgettable for being the most naughty and scandalous. Tragedy, love affairs, betrayals, poison, and revenge followed her wherever she went. Fittingly, the life of this Real Housewife of Spain ended with a shocking deathbed confession that could rewrite history.

]]> 1. She Had A Crazy Family Tree Maria Luisa of Parma was born on December 9, 1751, into a ridiculously royal family. Her dad, Philip, Duke of Parma, was the son of Philip V of Spain. On mom Louise Elisabeth’s side was King Louis XV. So Maria Luisa called not one, but two kings grandpa. With this pedigree, her parents naturally wanted to do some matchmaking—but it ended tragically.

]]> 2. She Lost Her Future Husband Louise Elisabeth had her matchmaking sights set on Louis, Duke of Burgundy and heir to the French throne for her daughter’s future mate. One day, a friend pushed him off a toy horse, as kids do. Louis didn’t tell anyone about this incident to avoid getting his playmate into trouble—not knowing he was in dire danger.

His health took a nosedive after this tumble and he died from extra-pulmonary tuberculosis at only nine years old. France lost their future King and Maria Luisa lost a potential husband. Louise moved on quickly, zeroing in on another suitor. Europe would never be the same.

]]> 3. She Moved On At only 11 years old, Maria Luisa and 14-year-old Charles, Prince of Asturias found themselves engaged. He was the future King Charles IV of Spain. But at the time, he was just Charles to her. At least the pair were close? Well…by close, I mean he was also her cousin. But royals loved to keep it in the family, so they happily made agreements and plans.

But remember what they say about best-laid plans? In the lead-up to the wedding, everything went wrong for Maria Luisa.

]]> 4. She Dealt With Tragedies First, her mother Louise Elisabeth succumbed to smallpox at only 32 years old. She never got to see her youngest tie the knot—but the heartbreak didn’t stop there Not long after, her father Philip died after sending Maria Luisa on her way to marry Charles. All these tragedies didn’t exactly set the most positive tone for Charles and Maria Luisa’s marriage. Did it place a curse on it? That would explain a lot.

]]> 5. She Dominated In Marriage Charles IV was two years Maria Luisa’s senior. He was her husband (and cousin). He was Spain’s future King. But Maria Luisa didn’t care about any of that—and definitely not in a romantic way. This force of nature dominated the passive Charles IV. Still, it wasn’t enough: Maria Luisa lusted for power beyond her marriage and princess title—and she’d stop at nothing to get it.

]]> 6. She Was Too Ambitious They say opposites attract. Well, in Charles IV and Maria Luisa’s case, opposites end up in arranged and incestuous marriages. Charles contented himself with hunting and other hobbies. On the other hand, Maria Luisa longed to have more power. It didn’t take long for people to notice—and become concerned—over this ambition. This included her father-in-law, King Charles III of Spain. Let’s just say he wasn’t Maria Luisa’s biggest fan.

]]> 7. She Had A Pesky Father-In-Law Countless wives have nightmare mothers-in-law, but Maria Luisa had a nightmare father-in-law. Unstoppable force, meet immovable object: this is the story of Maria Luisa and Charles III. The current King didn’t just stop at blocking the newlyweds from influencing state affairs—he went to disturbing lengths to bring Maria Luisa down. 

King Charles III attempted to control and stalk Maria Luisa’s personal life. Well, stubborn as she was—this ended in disaster.

]]> 8. She Didn’t Trust Her Husband Maria Luisa had many things, but none were fierier than her hair trigger. All it took to set her off was a woman simply approaching Charles IV. Maria Luisa wasn’t just dominant, she was also possessive and jealous. It didn’t help that even in her prime, people viewed her as the shorter and less attractive sister. This makes the next fact even more deliciously ironic.

]]> 9. She Had Affairs Was Maria Luisa projecting her jealousy? Turns out, she was hiding a scandalous secret. Maria Luis was notoriously unfaithful. While she expected nothing but submission, loyalty, and respect from Charles IV, she clearly didn’t think she owed him the same.

And Maria Luisa didn’t just have countless lovers, it’s been said that she found “a succession of lovers—preferably two or three at a time—” to be “an absolute necessity”. Charles IV’s response was unbelievable.

]]> 10. She Had A Clueless Husband There is no evidence that Charles IV ever suspected Maria Luisa of infidelity. Not even once. He allegedly even remarked that princes were luckier than other men because their wives were more faithful. In response, Charles III shook his head in despair and informed his clueless son that he was an absolute fool.

Maria Luisa’s husband may have been none the wiser, but the same couldn’t be said for her father-in-law.

]]> 11. She Had A Suspicious Father-In-Law King Charles III went into battle, but it was far from a normal one. He wasn’t fighting against a foreign power. He was up against his clueless son and wayward daughter-in-in-law. Charles III made full use of his powers to monitor and control Maria Luisa—but she refused to surrender. Maria Luisa avoided going with the royal court (and having to leave her lovers behind) by claiming she was too ill to travel.

Charles III responded by arranging her travel in a chair for the sick and injured. She magically recovered by then. Charles III knew he didn’t have much longer but he refused to go down without a fight. And boy did he give her one.

]]> 12. Her Father-In-Law Meddled One day, Maria Luisa found herself inconsolable—and it was all her father-in-law’s fault. The King became suspicious of a lover and banished him to the other side of Spain. Maria Luisa demanded her husband get him back. Somehow, this didn’t arouse Charles IV’s suspicion, and he asked his dad. It didn’t work.

This wasn’t the last of Maria Luisa’s affairs to end up in flames.

]]> 13. She Got Revenge When Maria Luisa hooked up with Count Pignatelli, things took an unexpected turn. Maria wasn't the only noblewoman warming his bed, and the count fell head over heels for the Duchess of Alba. Maria Luisa didn’t hate the game, she just hated the player—and her revenge was diabolical. 

She used her father-in-law’s spite in her favor and got him to send her former lover to France. Charles III agreed. But Count Pignatelli’s departure devastated the Duchess of Alba. From that point on, the two women became sworn enemies. As the Duchess struggled to move on from the Count, Maria Luisa already had her eyes set on someone else.

]]> 14. She Was Charmed Maria Luisa was charmed…or seduced, depending on who you ask. Enter Manuel Godoy. Before he became one of the most powerful people in Spain, he was rumored to be just one of Maria Luisa’s many lovers. But he emerged as the most notorious and important. Manuel and Maria Luisa fell in lust… or something more. Their correspondence revealed an unexpected side.

]]> 15. She Was An Oversharer Maria Luisa’s letters to Manuel revealed her softer and more vulnerable side. She shared personal matters, such as her menstruation, menopause, and depression. Was it oversharing? Manuel didn't seem to mind. In response, he comforted Maria Luisa and promised her everything would be okay. But it wouldn’t be. Her life was about to become even more complicated.

]]> 16. She Became Queen In 1788, Charles III—Spain’s King and Maria Luisa’s pesky father-in-law—kicked the bucket. Charles IV and Maria Luisa finally ascended the throne. This didn’t come as a surprise. After all, Maria Luisa knew what she was getting into after marrying the heir all those years ago. And it didn’t take long for Maria Luisa to take advantage of her greater power and freedom.

]]> 17. She Set The Tone Tradition? Maria Luisa didn’t know her. She attended the first meeting between Charles IV and his ministers. Let’s just say this move raised a lot of eyebrows. Maria Luisa sent a message and set the tone for Charles IV’s reign. Correction: their reign. Charles IV wasn't in charge. She was. But was she really? Not if Manuel had anything to do with it.

]]> 18. She Gave Her Lover A Leg Up There was far more to Maria Luisa’s affair with Manuel Godoy than met the eye. In just a few years, Manuel went from penniless palace guard to Spain’s de facto ruler. It didn’t take long for the new Queen to lavish her rumored lover with titles, wealth, and power. Manuel even managed to charm Charles IV, who trusted him, and never suspected a thing. There’s clueless, and then there’s Charles IV.

]]> 19. She Was Dominated The tables turned against Maria Luisa without her even noticing. She famously dominated Charles IV, and Spain by extension. But Manuel now dominated her. And by extension, he also dominated Charles IV, and Spain. Who knew an affair could get this messy? Now, Maria Luisa and Manuel found themselves entangled with her husband, government, and politics. Basically, they were doomed.

]]> 20. She Was Jealous Meanwhile, Maria Luisa’s old enemy Maria Teresa, the Duchess of Alba was living the dream. She inherited a title, married a wealthy guy, and became part of Spain’s wealthiest power couple. Maria Teresa also enjoyed lovers, which reportedly included legendary painter Francisco de Goya. The artist even painted a scandalous piece many believed was her.

What does this have to do with her rival Maria Luisa? You see, Manuel commissioned it. Run for cover.

]]> 21. She Got Revenge On Her Enemy There’s nothing Maria Luisa did better than revenge. But this time, she took it too far. Maria Luisa exiled the Duchess of Alba hundreds of miles away. Francisco begged the Queen for mercy. Maria Luisa took pity and agreed to pardon her. The Duchess finally returned to Madrid, but it was too late. She died shortly afterward—and it gets even worse.

]]> 22. She Became A Suspect Spain’s rumor mill was ablaze, and Maria Luisa was at its center. Her rivalry with the Duchess of Alba wasn’t exactly a secret. So when Maria Teresa passed shortly after returning from exile, people were suspicious. Many believed she poisoned her longtime enemy and rival. This suspicion haunted Maria Luisa for the rest of her life.

]]> 23. She Was Exposed To Maria Luisa, nothing tasted better than revenge. José Moñino, 1st Count of Floridablanca and a key minister, learned this lesson the hard way. He accused Manuel of an affair with Maria Luisa. Their faction didn’t just kick him out of power, they charged the respected statesman with embezzlement. Then, they took it even further—arguably too far.

]]> 24. She Went Too Far Maria Luisa’s vengeance had no bounds, and José found himself imprisoned for three years. It took a desperate plea by his brother to get him out. The King eventually acquitted José, but the statesman was never the same after this years-long nightmare. He never stepped foot into the halls of power again—but while he was gone, the suspicions about Maria Luisa and Manuel Godoy were still there.

]]> 25. She Faced Gossip When there’s smoke, there’s fire. Countless contemporaries reported on the same rumors José found himself ruined over. This even includes diplomats and ambassadors. They wrote letters and documents filled with suspicions that Maria Luisa’s relationship with her husband’s right-hand man wasn’t quite right. But she was no stranger to controversy and had a lot more on her plate than gossip.

]]> 26. She Aged Badly Turns out, money and power can’t buy everything. You see, everyone thought Maria Luisa aged prematurely, and badly. A Russian ambassador even wrote, “Repeated childbirths, indispositions and maybe some inheritable diseases has caused her to wither entirely”. He even wrote that her skin had turned yellow and that she’d lost all her teeth. Ouch.

]]> 27. She Lost Many Children Sadly, we know the Russian ambassador was right on at least one count: Maria Luisa’s many pregnancies and childbirths took a dark toll on her. She had 24 pregnancies: 10 miscarriages, and 14 births. But only half survived into adulthood, including heir Ferdinand VII. Perhaps the “Felon King” was always destined for infamy, but Charles IV and Maria Luisa’s parenting—if we can even call it that—didn’t help.

]]> 28. She Wasn’t The Best Mom Did the man who became “Spain’s worst king” ever stand a chance? On one hand, Charles IV was an absent husband and father. On the other hand, Maria Luisa picked Manuel over her family every time. To make matters worse, Manuel didn’t just exclude him from state affairs, he even threatened disinheritance. Ferdinand VII’s anger and resentment festered, but Maria Luisa didn’t notice. She’d pay the price for this.

]]> 29. She Spoiled Her Lovers Despite her many rumored lovers, Maria Luisa and revenge were the true match made in heaven. One day, she was furious with Manuel and wasn’t afraid to show it. Maria Luisa got back at him by taking on another lover, Mallo. Like Manuel, she spoiled this boy toy with the finest things. But this time was different. 

Everyone noticed Mallo’s sudden change in fortunes—including, for once, Charles IV.

]]> 30. Her Husband Noticed King Charles IV once noticed Mallo arriving at the palace in the finest carriage and horses. The King asked Manuel, “Who is this Mallo? Every day I see him with a new turn-out. Where does he get his money”? Manuel looked at the Queen and replied “Mallo has not a penny of his own, but they say he is kept by some toothless old woman who robs her husband to enrich her lover”.

]]> 31. She Kept Getting Away With It Charles IV laughed, also turned to Maria Luisa, and asked "Do you hear that, Luisa? What do you think of that, eh”? She laughed it off, "Oh, it is probably one of Manuel's jokes”. Unbelievably, the King still didn’t suspect a thing. And perhaps even more unbelievably, Maria Luisa forgave Manuel for his ruthless insult—but she might’ve had no choice.

]]> 32. She Got Sick Of Her Boy Toy Maria Luisa had looked into the future—and noticed disaster heading her way. While Maria Luisa had decided that she was done with Mallo, she couldn’t just throw him out like the trash. Turns out, she sent the boy toy countless incriminating letters. Maria Luisa needed to destroy the proof of her infidelity, but she couldn’t go to anyone for help. Enter, Manuel.

]]> 33. She Had To Destroy The Evidence In the middle of the night, Mallo woke up to a nightmare: intimidating men surrounded his house. But these weren’t petty criminals committing a robbery. It was on the orders of the government. Mallo had no choice but to surrender the priceless letters. But Manuel didn’t arrange the operation out of the goodness of his heart. He reportedly kept these letters, and basically blackmailed Maria Luisa. How romantic.

]]> 34. She Slandered Her Daughter-In-Law Maria Luisa was no stranger to rumors of poisonous plots, but there was one that caught the queen by surprise: people thought her daughter-in-law, Maria Antonia was out to get her. The Queen likely knew these rumors were baseless. But Maria Luisa also knew she hated Maria Antonia. So she added more fuel to the fire. Maria Luisa even had aides inspect her books and clothes for poison. She wasn’t getting any mother-in-law of the year awards, that’s for sure. Then, one day, they flipped the script on Maria Luisa.

]]> 35. She Was Suspected of Wrongdoing At only 21, Maria Antonia unexpectedly succumbed to tuberculosis—and the reaction was wild. It didn’t just set the rumor mill ablaze, it burned it to the ground. Courtiers shared conspiracies that Maria Luisa had poisoned her.

While there is no evidence supporting this, Maria Antonia’s mom genuinely believed it. It didn’t help that her troubled son Ferdinand VII went off the rails afterward.

]]> 36. She Had A Rebellious Son It was during this era that Ferdinand VII earned his notorious nickname. He hated his parents (and Manuel), and lashed out, as many young adults do. Let’s just say he took it a bit too far. They discovered the heir was involved in a conspiracy against the throne. After raiding Ferdinand VII’s apartment, they found out it was so much worse than they thought.

]]> 37. Her Son Plotted Against Her The most disturbing discovery of all? Ferdinand VII didn’t just participate in this plot, he led it. They also discovered incriminating document after incriminating document, which ranged from plans to ally with Napoleon to even assassinating Maria Luisa’s life.

Even worse, Ferdinand VI didn’t just sign off on these documents. He wrote them. Maria Luisa found herself in every mother’s worst nightmare.

]]> 38. She Forgave Her Son Ferdinand VII realized he was in seriously hot water, and scrambled to save himself. He wrote Maria Luisa and Charles IV unbelievable letters. Ferdinand VII confessed, begged them for forgiveness, and asked to beg on his knees in front of them. Ferdinand VII may have tried to overthrow and end them…but he was still their son. They forgave him, but boy did they regret it.

]]> 39. She Lost Everything In 1808, Maria Luisa was part of a royal delegation to negotiate peace with France. She should’ve just stayed home. Turns out, France and Spain weren’t on the same page. They weren’t even reading the same book. Napoleon forced both Charles IV and Ferdinand VII to surrender the throne. The French emperor then declared his brother the Spanish king. This plunged Spain into a long and bloody conflict. Once again, Maria Luisa found herself involved.

]]> 40. She Was Blamed The people of Spain needed a scapegoat and explanation for their predicament. In response, many blamed Maria Luisa, a Queen that they already disliked. This was in no small part thanks to all the rumors, especially the ones concerning her affair with Manuel—who they probably hated the most. Somehow, her ordeal became even worse.

]]> 41. She Was Imprisoned Living in a French chateau on an emperor’s dime sounds like a dream—only it was a nightmare for Maria Luisa. After Napoleon basically ordered Charles to give up the throne, they went from power to prison. They languished there as Spain fought for her life and liberty. Years later, they finally received what seemed like amazing news. But if it sounds too good to be true…

]]> 42. She Became A Wanderer Even though her son, Ferdinand, now controlled the Spanish throne, Maria Luisa's sense of freedom was short-lived. In a surprising act of betrayal, Ferdinand exiled his parents. He also gave Luisa's lover, Manuel, the boot. Maria Luisa, Charles, and Manuel could now go anywhere but home. The world was their oyster, but their hearts burned for Spain. The trio ended up wandering around Europe. Talk about going from riches to rags! They finally settled in Rome, where the former King and Queen of Spain spent their final days miles and miles away from where they truly wanted to be. And it got even more tragic.

]]> 43. Her Time Was Up On January 2, 1819, Maria Luisa died, reportedly from consumption. 18 days later, Charles IV followed his wife into the afterlife. It was the end of a reign that was many things, but never boring. So in true Maria Luisa fashion, the drama didn’t end when her life did. If anything, her passing may have raised even more eyebrows, thanks to all the shocking revelations about her.

]]> 44. She Wrote An Interesting Will Maria Luisa left behind several children, including one rebellious son—but she dealt them a heartbreaking blow from beyond the grave. As it turns out, she made Manuel the universal heir in her will. Basically, he got everything. Her children were paid dust. The official rationale was Manuel deserved it the most, since he’d joined Maria Luisa and Charles IV in exile, and lost property.

Still, one can’t help but continue wondering about Maria Luisa and Manuel Godoy’s relationship, especially after her last words came to light.

]]> 45. She Had Shocking Last Words According to Fray Juan Almaraz, Maria Luisa’s last words were Earth—or at least Spain—shattering. He claims that as the former Queen lay on her deathbed, she confessed that out of all her many sons and daughters, none were legitimate. Zilch. Nada. This included King Ferdinand VII. Was it true? Can we really trust Fray Juan? Well, it’s complicated.

]]> 46. She Might’ve Been Innocent Maria Luisa had countless affairs. In other news, water is wet. But some aren’t so sure and reject narratives about her infidelity. They suggest these claims were exaggerated, or even invented by the many, from Spaniards to foreigners, who were out to get Maria Luisa. After all, Charles never doubted his wife. Maybe he wasn’t clueless. Maybe she really was faithful. Unfortunately, the truth—whatever it was—perished alongside Maria Luisa.

]]> 47. She Was Played Maria Luisa kept all of her lovers on a short leash but in the early days of her marriage, she met her match in Count Pignatelli. She fell for him, but it was all an act. Turns out, he already had a lover, the Duchess of Alba. Count Pignatelli played both women and enjoyed their gifts. After Maria Luisa realized the truth, she wanted nothing more than revenge. Count Pignatelli and the Duchess of Alba had no idea a storm was hurtling toward them.

]]> 48. She Heard Rumors About Her Daughter In Law Maria Luisa was always at the center of poisoning plot rumors—but there's one time where the tables had turned. People speculated that Ferdinand VII’s wife, Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, planned on poisoning the Queen.

Maria Luisa could’ve put these rumors to rest and repaired her daughter-in-law’s reputation. Naturally, she did the complete opposite.

]]> 49. She Was Duped Maria Luisa was a participant and witness to a historic moment, but not in a good way. In April 1808, Spain’s who's-who traveled to attend a meeting with Napoleon. This group included Maria Luisa, Charles IV, Manuel, and Ferdinand VII. The Spaniards hoped to make nice with their country’s biggest threat. Instead, it went horribly wrong. Napoleon took the Spanish throne and exiled Maria and her family.

]]> 50. She Had A Vicious Son In 1814, after years of imprisonment, Maria Luisa and Charles IV finally received good news: Napoleon had fallen and the people of Spain wanted Ferdinand as King. Yay…right? It didn’t take long for Charles and Maria Luisa’s celebration to turn into devastation. Instead of welcoming his forgiving parents home from exile, their vengeful son banned them—along with Manuel—from stepping foot in Spain again. The trio were on their own.

 

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=25119 <![CDATA[The Shadiest Attempted Cover-ups In History]]> 2026-08-13T10:30:00+00:00 2026-08-12T16:51:48+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/things/facts-shadiest-attempted-cover-ups-history Theresa Di Mauro Things History's Shadiest Cover-Ups As much as we don’t want to admit it, every once in a while, the conspiracy theorists get it right and a massive government cover-up is revealed—or revealed, and then immediately debunked. In many cases, it’s understandable that certain operations have to be performed secretly to protect those involved, but many of the examples here that were ultimately exposed showed some pretty shady activity that probably shouldn’t have been happening in the first place.

]]> 24. Sleeper Agents It was when the Cold War was at its peak that the US considered using mind-controlling substances to infiltrate communist Russia with sleeper agents. In a project named MK-Ultra, the CIA began testing this possibility by getting government scientists to experiment on human subjects using psychedelic substances, methamphetamine, and barbiturates, in combination with hypnosis, to break the subject down. They would then rebuild them with qualities specific to their spy missions. The Project was determined to be a failure and scrapped, with CIA Director Richard Helms ordering the destruction of all documents related to the project.

]]> 23. Whatever Happened to Do No Harm? In 1931, Dr Cornelius Rhoads set off to Puerto Rico to infect its citizens with cancer cells, presumably to study the effects. Thirteen of them died. Regarding the events, Rhoads allegedly wrote the following:

"The Porto Ricans [sic] are the dirtiest, laziest, most degenerate and thievish race of men ever to inhabit this sphere... I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off eight and transplanting cancer into several more... All physicians take delight in the [misuse] and torture of the unfortunate subjects."

Despite these horrendous remarks and actions, Rhoads later received a seat on the United States Atomic Energy Commission. He was also elected by the US to be put in charge of chemical warfare projects. Furthermore, he somehow even became vice-president of the American Cancer Society.

]]> 22. Trading Trama Considered to be one of the biggest coverups of recent history, the Iran-Contra affair took place during Ronald Reagan’s Presidency. The deal which facilitated the sale of firearms to Iran began in order to free seven American hostages being held captive in Lebanon. After the sale was made, a portion of the money ended up funding anti-Sandinista and anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua. Reagan’s involvement in the deal remained classified, and the convictions of minor political players were either overturned or pardoned by President George H W Bush during the final year of his presidency.

]]> 21. Collateral Damage During the Vietnam War, there was a mass killing of approximately 500 unnamed civilians which was initially reported as a routine battle. It wasn’t until a helicopter gunner sent a letter to Congress asking for an investigation that the facts became apparent and it came to be known as the My Lai massacre. Despite the devastation, many still consider the massacre to be part of the collateral damage of war.

]]> 20. Higher Powers Still one of the most widely-contested government coverups, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) was initiated as an ionospheric research program jointly funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Its original purpose was to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance. Theorists debate both the function and necessity of having a High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program at all, claiming that it can be used to “weaponize” weather and be used to trigger floods, major power outages, and thunderstorms.

]]> 19. The Real X-Files The Majestic 12 (or MJ-12) was purported to be a secret committee made up of scientists, military leaders, and government officials. The committee was formed in 1947 by President Harry S Truman to facilitate recovery and investigation of an alien spacecraft. The alleged cover-up was brought to light in 1984 due to a series of supposedly leaked secret government documents first circulated by ufologists. The FBI investigated and determined that the supposed documents were “completely bogus”, however the legend of the Majestic 12 lives on in the minds of serious conspiracy theorists.

]]> 18. Sounds Innocent, But Isn’t Regarded as the “greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics”—prior to the Watergate Scandal—the Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place during the administration of Warren G Harding, from 1921 to 1922. Albert Bacon Fall, Secretary of the Interior, had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming, along with two other locations in California, to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. The leases were investigated, and Fall was convicted of accepting bribes and became the first Cabinet member to go to prison.

]]> 17. Deal With the Devil Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII. As head of this unit, Dr. Ishii was responsible for carrying out violent human experimentation on tens of thousands of “logs” as he called them. He would perform vivisection (experimental surgery) on unwilling prisoners, without the use of anesthesia; force pregnant women to terminate their pregnancies; and induce strokes, heart attacks, frostbite, and hypothermia. The facility and remaining prisoners were destroyed in 1945, and Ishii was apprehended. Then, the respected General Douglas McArthur allegedly struck a deal with Ishii: The US would grant Ishii immunity from his crimes, if he exchanged all germ warfare data based on his human experimentation.

]]> 16. Involuntary Testing In the 1940s penicillin was established as a cure for syphilis, but its effectiveness was still being researched. The US experimented on the citizens of Guatemala by using infected working girls to spread the infection to unknowing prison inmates, insane asylum patients, and soldiers. When this was ineffective, they turned to inoculating unsuspecting patients by pouring syphilis bacteria onto the men’s manhood, forearms, and faces. Although the intention was for all subjects to receive the treatment of penicillin, as many as 1/3 never did, which likely spread to further generations. Hilary Clinton apologized for the events on October 1, 2010, and new research began to determine if anyone affected was still alive and suffering with the infection.

]]> 15. Experimental Dermatology Dr Albert Kligman set out to use human subjects to test the effects of Agent Orange on the skin, which was deemed as “dermatological research”. He not only injected his subjects with dioxidin, the main component of Agent Orange, but he was rumored to have done so in 468 times the amount he was authorized to. The US Army oversaw the testing to “learn how the skin protects itself against chronic assault from toxic chemicals, the so-called hardening process.”

]]> 14. Post-War Push Operation Paperclip was a program that the US government covertly instituted following WWII. This program secretly brought more than 1,500 German scientists, technicians, and engineers from Nazi Germany and other foreign countries to the United States for employment. This was partly done to prevent German scientific expertise and knowledge from leaking to the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom; additionally, there was the intent to keep post-war Germany from redeveloping its military research capabilities. The scientists were “bleached” of their Nazi ties, and all documents tying them to the party were altered or destroyed.

]]> 13. Report Card It took five years of preparation, but in 2014 the Senate Report on the CIA Detention Interrogation Program was finally released. It was shown that the CIA had been using illegal and “enhanced” interrogation techniques, and that they yielded very poor results. If that’s what was left in, one can’t help but wonder what the five years of “preparation” may have left out.

]]> 12. Side Effects In the 1960s the US Department of Defense performed a series of irradiation experiments which were targeted to non-consenting, poor, African-American cancer patients. The subjects were told that they would be receiving radiation treatment, however, they were not informed that they would be receiving extremely high doses in order to determine the effects on the human body. The consent forms were only signed with initials in order to avoid litigation and to prevent the patients from receiving any compensation for the government. It was reported that the radiation doses equaled 7500 x-rays to the chest, which caused intense pain, vomiting, and bleeding from the nose and ears. At least 20 of the subjects died.

]]> 11. Not Just Imagined The ex-Beatle John Lennon became very well known for his protests against war and advocacy for peace. Fearing that he might disrupt the 1972 National Republican Convention, the FBI placed Lennon on its “watch list.” They terminated his visa and even began deportation proceedings against him. When Lennon and his family were not found to be doing anything “suspicious,” the FBI closed its investigation a month after Nixon’s re-election. After his demise in 1980, historian Jon Weiner fought and won a 14-year legal battle to force the FBI to release its Lennon files under the Freedom of Information Act.

]]> 10. Multi-Generational Toll Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device that the US ever set off. It was detonated in 1954 over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands as part of the ongoing response to increased Soviet explosive activity. Although originally meant to be kept a secret, there was a massive fallout from the blast which affected the citizens of nearby islands. The effects included birth defects and radiation sickness. The effects continued to be felt later on as many children whose parents were exposed to the blast developed thyroid cancer and neoplasms. In response to this, Project 4.1 was launched in order to examine the effects of radiation fallout on humans.

]]> 9. War of the Worlds In 2010, newly-released files showed that the UK government took the threat of UFOs in the 1950s so seriously that UK Intelligence Chiefs met to discuss the issue. The ministers went on to commission weekly reports on UFO sightings from a committee of intelligence experts. Perhaps most intriguing, however, is a wartime account claiming that Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered a UFO sighting be kept secret to prevent “mass panic”. The sighting he was referring to was the bizarre incident off the Coast of England where a renaissance plane and its crew were returning from a mission over occupied Europe and encountered a metallic UFO which shadowed them. It left both the crew and the experts consulted afterward so confused and uncertain that Churchill ordered it to remain a secret for at least 50 years.

]]> 8. The Secrets of Area 51 There are many who still theorize that the famed Area 51 is the site of a downed UFO and/or alien bodies and artifacts. While this is the most popular theory, the much more likely explanation for Area 51 is that it is a restricted area where new/emerging technologies and weapons are developed and tested. CIA veterans who have been relieved of their secrecy vows surrounding Area 51 have said that the site was the testing ground for spy planes like the A-12 and its record-breaking speedy successor the SR-71 Blackbird in the 1960’s. So while the site is still considered to be a cover-up of sorts, it is doesn’t seem likely that the government is hiding aliens out there.

]]> 7. The Smithsonian Coverup Recently, The Smithsonian became entangled in a great alleged conspiracy of its own. On April 5, 1909, the Phoenix Gazette carried a front page spread about a great archeological dig in the Grand Canyon. The story went into great detail about recovered objects of Egyptian origin being discovered by Professor S A Jordon from the Smithsonian. This discovery indicated migration of ancient peoples. The Smithsonian had adamantly rejected this narrative, denying any knowledge of the dig or the people supposedly involved. Many believe that the cited article may just be a great example of old “fake news,” however, others remain intrigued by the many “Egyptian” names given to sites surrounding the Grand Canyon.

]]> 6. Nessy Revealed Most are familiar with the famous sighting of the dark, brontosaurus shaped image in the water of Loch Ness, captured in what is now known as the “surgeon’s photograph”. Referring of course to the Loch Ness Monster, this tall tale sent the public into a whirl in 1934 and has since inspired many other “sightings.” Often rebutted by skeptics, believers may have a new glimmer of hope. Newly published documents reveal that a former Scottish Police Chief named William Fraser remarked, "That there is some strange creature in Loch Ness seems now beyond doubt, but that the police have any power to protect it is very doubtful." The existence of the famed monster has not yet been confirmed, but there continues to be a possibility, and that is more than enough to keep looking!

]]> 5. Weaponized Seashells It has been reported that from 1960 to 1965, at least 8 plots to take out Fidel Castro were brainstormed by the CIA. A report that was drafted in 1967 (and declassified 36 years later) listed several possibilities to carry out this proposed idea, including using smokes, contaminated air, poisoned pills, and syringes. The one plot that really caught people’s attention was the booby-trapped seashell. Castro was known to be an avid diver, so the CIA planned to plant a beautiful seashell in a reef that he was known to frequent. The idea was to make the shell so beautiful that Castro would have to pick it up, triggering an explosion. However, the elaborate scheme was deemed to be impractical.

]]> 4. Bon Appetit In August 2008, the United States National Archives released an incredible number of former personnel files of those who had worked for the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA.  Included in the list of former employees was Julia McWilliam—better known as Julia Child, the famous chef and master of French cuisine. Although her work in Intelligence was never deemed to be a secret, it was not publicized either. After the release of these files, many more people became aware of her service during WWII.

]]> 3. Dark Days Nine stories below the lowest floor of Grand Central Station in New York sits a bunker known as M-42. There was a fear of sabotage while the station’s trains were being used to transport soldiers in and out of New York during WWII, therefore the bunker was rumored to be secured by armed guards with shoot-to-kill orders. Also located below the Station is Track 61, which was built for wealthy travelers arriving to NYC on private trains. The track has a freight elevator that rises up to the garage level of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Its most frequent user was President Franklin D Roosevelt, who suffered from mobility issues due to polio.

]]> 2. Quite the Trip The CIA set out to building safehouses in New York and San Francisco for the sole purpose of studying the effects of psychedelic substances on non-consenting subjects. One outfit was called Operation Midnight Climax: In order to lure people into these safe houses, the CIA had several working girls on their payroll—yes, you read that correctly—who would entice their “clients” to come back to the houses. Once there, the women would dose them with psychedelic substances. The subjects were then monitored behind a two-way mirror. It is alleged that the officials who ran the experiments described them as "fun, fun, fun." Where else could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, [expletive] and pillage with the sanction and bidding of the All-highest?

]]> 1. The Potemkin Village A “Potemkin Village” has become known as any deceptive or false construct, conjured often by cruel regimes, to deceive both those within the land and those peering in from outside. This is said to reference the story of a dashing 18th Century Russian nobleman, Grigory Potemkin, who endeavored to show Catherine the Great the best face of his empire. To accomplish this, it is said that pasteboard facades of pretty towns were set up at a distance on riverbanks, and whole populations of serfs were moved around and dressed up in fanciful garb to flaunt a prosperity that didn't exist. Recent historical work has determined that this origin story is likely exaggerated, but real examples Potemkin Villages have nonetheless occurred. The kicker to all this? Catherine the Great and Potemkin had once been lovers, and enjoyed a tryst of "laughter, [intimacy], mutually admired intelligence, and power." Why you gotta do me like that, Grigory?

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62401 <![CDATA[Clarence Darrow was the most famous lawyer in America—but his notoriety came with a chilling dark side.]]> 2026-08-14T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-12T14:50:04+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-clarence-darrow Byron Fast People He Was The Real Thing Old movie fans will recognize the stock character of the small-town lawyer, who dollops out equal amounts of wisdom and goodwill. Well, Clarence Darrow might have been the prototype of this familiar trope, but his speeches were way too long for any motion picture. Darrow made a name for himself as the long-winded champion of underdogs. Then, in one stunning moment, he found himself facing a judge for his own misdeeds.

]]> 1. His Parents Fought The Good Fight Clarence Darrow was born on April 18, 1857, in Farmdale, Ohio. Mom was Emily Darrow and she fought for women’s rights and getting women the vote. Dad was Amirus Darrow, and he fought against slavery. Dad was also seen as a free thinker, especially when it came to religion.

With parents like these, it was going to be tough for Darrow to make a name for himself.

]]> 2. He Didn’t Finish College While Darrow enrolled in both Allegheny College and the University of Michigan Law School, he didn't graduate from either. You see, in 1873, there was an economic panic in North America and Europe. Times were tough, and Darrow didn’t want to make things even tougher by draining his family’s finances while at school.

But Darrow wasn't about to give up on the law yet.

]]> 3. He Didn’t Like School Clarence Darrow got it into his head that he could teach himself about law. He did this for three years until his family insisted that he go to an actual law school. He went to Ann Arbor and stunned his family by quitting after just one year. He still wasn’t on board with law school, so he just self-studied until he felt he was ready to take the bar exam.

This seemed like a recipe for disaster.

]]> 4. He Won His First Case In 1878, Darrow surprised everyone and passed the Ohio bar exam on his first attempt. The following year, he was living in the tiny town of Harvard, Illinois, and got his first case. This was a winner for Darrow, and it prompted him to move to Andover, Ohio, and open up his own law office. Here, Darrow mostly dealt with small complaints, which were typical of the countryside.

Darrow knew he had to go somewhere bigger.

]]> 5. He Found A Wife Well, he didn’t go much bigger. Darrow’s next home was in Ashtabula, Ohio: population 5,000. But this move did see Darrow taking part in politics and serving on the town council. It also helped him find a wife. In 1880, he married Jessie Ohl. The two had a son and were soon making a move that would change their lives.

]]> 6. He Was A Speaker Clarence Darrow, his wife Jessie, and their son Paul made the move to the big city. They chose Chicago, and at first it seemed like a terrible mistake. He didn’t have much work in the Windy City, but he managed to make a name for himself. He became known not for practicing law, but for public speaking. This worked, and he finally got himself a job at the city’s law department.

But this was not going to last.

]]> 7. He Had A Conflict Of Interest After just two years with the Chicago law department, Darrow got a big break. The Chicago and North-Western Railway Company needed a lawyer, and he jumped ship and signed on. But there was soon trouble. The head of the American Railway Union needed a lawyer, and he turned to Darrow.

Darrow had a problem. He couldn’t take a client from the railway union when he worked for a railway company.

]]> 8. He Chose The Underdog Clarence Darrow chose to represent the union head, and this began Darrow’s reputation as a man who would valiantly help the underdog. So, Darrow represented Eugene V Debs, who was in court as one of the leaders of the Pullman Strike. He got Debs off in the first trial but failed in the second. Debs ended up serving a six-month sentence.

But a much more complex case was up next.

]]> 9. He Was Headed For The Gallows On October 28, 1893, Patrick Eugene Prendergast entered the home of the Chicago mayor and opened fire. The mayor, Carter Harrison III, did not survive, and Prendergast was soon behind bars. Prendergast's attorneys failed to get their client off with an insanity defense, and their client was soon facing the noose.

That’s when Darrow stepped in.

]]> 10. He Couldn’t Help Clarence Darrow did not sign on to the Prendergast case to free him. He just wanted to avoid a hanging. Darrow and his associates believed that Prendergast’s mental state at the time of the incident made him unfit for capital punishment. Darrow and his team could not convince the judge, and Prendergast faced the noose on July 13, 1894.

Darrow had failed, but he was now very certain what he wanted to fight for.

]]> 11. He Ended His Marriage In 1897, Darrow decided to end his marriage. Divorces were not common back then, so Darrow had to consider what this would do to his career. They decided the best tactic would be for him to make the petition for divorce, and the reason he gave was that Jessie had “absented herself" from her husband. This wasn’t true, but the divorce went through anyway.

Darrow would soon regret his decision.

]]> 12. He Made A Mistake In the divorce, Jessie Darrow received the house and a monthly allowance of $150. A year after the divorce, Darrow came to Jessie with tears in his eyes, saying they had made a mistake. It was too late, and to make sure Darrow understood that, Jessie later married a judge—one whom Darrow had faced in court on more than one occasion.

Darrow dealt with his sadness in the arms of a younger woman.

]]> 13. He Met A Woman In 1899, Claence Darrow met journalist Ruby Hammerstrom through a mutual friend. While Darrow was in his early 40s, Hammerstrom was just 26 years old. But it certainly was true love. When Darrow went on a two-week trip to Quebec, Canada, he wrote that he would “give the whole world to have my darling sweet heart with me”.

Darrow was in love, and he had to do something about it.

]]> 14. He Tied The Knot In July 1903, Darrow and Hammerstrom walked down the aisle and became husband and wife. That same year, he seriously considered running for the mayor of Chicago, but instead focused on his firm: Darrow, Masters and Wilson. While with this firm, Darrow faced one of his biggest and most infamous labor cases.

The case of Frank Steunenberg combined two of Darrow’s passions: labor politics and manslaughter.

]]> 15. It was A Case Tailor-Made For Him On December 30, 1905, Frank Steunenberg left his house in Caldwell, Idaho, and there was a sudden and very loud blast. As it turned out, someone had set an explosive device at a side gate. Steunenberg, who had been the Governor of Idaho and an enemy of labor unions, lost his life that day. When accusations targeted union leaders from the Western Federation of Miners, Darrow stepped in.

]]> 16. He Helped Them Walk What came out in the Steunenberg trial was that a man named Harry Orchard had set the explosive device that ended Steunenberg’s life. But what was important was that Orchard said that the men who had hired him to do it were all leaders of the Western Federation of Miners. With Darrow’s expert help, all three members of the union walked away with no sentence. Without Darrow’s defense, Orchard spent the rest of his life behind bars.

While this trial was explosive, his next would be positively nuclear.

]]> 17. It Was An Explosive Case On October 1, 1910, an explosion in an alley in Los Angeles started a horrible inferno. The fatal fire ended the lives of 21 people. The fact that the explosion was near the Los Angeles Times building made one thing clear. This was part of a campaign by unions to silence the newspaper for its anti-union stance.

It also meant that Darrow would come to the rescue of the accused.

]]> 18. He Had A Hard Decision To Make Brothers JJ and JB McNamara stood accused of causing the fatal inferno, which was the result of a bitter battle between unions and union busters. The union president came to Clarence Darrow, as he was now the hero of the unions. But Darrow had a problem. He thought the McNamara brothers were probably guilty.

He had to decide if he could defend two men whom he believed had committed a terrible deed.

]]> 19. He Wanted To Save Their Lives Darrow reluctantly took the case of the McNamara brothers. Because he knew they were likely guilty, Darrow began to consider a plea bargain. His reason was to help the brothers escape the gallows. Darrow would do anything to save the lives of these two brothers. It’s possible he went a little too far.

]]> 20. He Risked His Reputation During the trial of the McNamara brothers, one juror made a stunning revelation. He told authorities that Darrow and the defense team had offered him money to change his vote. Officers detained Darrow’s employee Bert Franklin and charged him with attempted bribery of jurors.

Darrow's reputation was now at risk, and so were the lives of the McNamara brothers.

]]> 21. He Was No Hero The plea deal that Clarence Darrow was working on for the McNamara brothers was now in serious jeopardy. To make it work, the brothers agreed to plead guilty in court. JJ McNamara ended up with a sentence of 15 years. His brother JB, who had set the explosives in the alley, spent the remainder of his life behind bars. The labor movement did not see Darrow as a hero in this case.

And Darrow still had to face a judge over his alleged jury tampering.

]]> 22. He Was In An Uncomfortable Position Darrow was certainly comfortable in a courtroom, but now he was joining the ranks of the accused. Prosecutors were ready to charge him with paying off jurors, and Darrow hired Earl Rogers—who was the prototype for the character of Perry Mason—to defend him. During the trial, the worst thing happened. Rogers became ill and could not continue with the case.

Darrow was suddenly stuck without representation.

]]> 23. It Was Right Out Of A Movie The good news was that one of the best lawyers was available to replace Rogers. It was Darrow himself. In something right out of a Hollywood movie, Darrow replaced his own lawyer and began defending himself. Darrow did such a great job that the jury could not agree if he was guilty or not. This would normally lead to a retrial.

But Darrow seemed intent on avoiding this.

]]> 24. He Struck A Deal To avoid a retrial, Darrow promised never to practice law in California again. Of course, the mystery was still unsolved. Had Darrow actually tried to pay off a juror? Darrow’s lawyer, Earl Rogers, had a daughter. She later wrote that she knew that her “father's private conversations with Darrow included an admission of guilt to his lawyer”.

Darrow was a free man, but his reputation had taken a stunning hit.

]]> 25. He Made Them Cry With the McNamara case ending in controversy, Clarence Darrow lost what had become his bread and butter: defending union cases. He turned his focus to his other passion, which was helping the accused avoid capital punishment. His eloquent speeches on these cases often brought jurors—and in some cases judges—to tears.

But he’d need more than tears to save his next clients.

]]> 26. It Was A Bizarre Case When Jacob Franks’ 14-year-old son Bobby went missing, it seemed like a typical abduction for ransom scenario. But this was not the case at all. People soon learned that teenagers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb carried out the abduction, and the promise of ransom never motivated them. Franks did not survive the ordeal, and this incident now had capital punishment written all over it.

When Darrow joined the case, people started calling it the trial of the century.

]]> 27. They Were Monsters People soon learned that Leopold and Loeb committed their macabre deed for one reason only: They wanted to prove they could do it without getting caught. Both men were from wealthy families and were well-educated. Public opinion could not have been worse for these two.

Darrow had his work cut out for him.

]]> 28. He Shocked Everyone Both Leopold and Loeb had confessed, so what everyone expected was for Clarence Darrow to go with an insanity defense. He shocked everyone by going for a guilty plea. In Darrow’s mind, a life sentence for each boy was the best-case scenario. He thought that a guilty plea was their best defense. Of course, Darrow wasn’t sure it would work.

And then there was a courtroom revelation that changed everything.

]]> 29. There Was A Shock In The Courtroom Darrow was trying to find anything that could count as a mitigating circumstance for Leopold and Loeb. He even tried saying that being rich had led them to the heinous act. Then, in the middle of the trial, a letter came out. The letter made it clear that the two accused men were more than friends—they were lovers. Cue the courtroom gasp.

This changed the way Darrow saw the case.

]]> 30. He Changed His Tack Now remember, this was back in the 1920s, and being gay was not common and, in fact, even criminalized in the US at the time. Darrow was now very clear that his clients were insane and not responsible for their act. He brought in “expert witnesses” to list the abnormalities of Leopold and Loeb. Soon it was time for the end of the hearing.

Darrow had something ready that the jury could not have seen coming.

]]> 31. He Gave A Long Speech Clarence Darrow was ready to make his final speech and make sure that neither Leopold nor Loeb ended up receiving capital punishment. His speech became known as his “masterful plea” and it lasted a staggering eight hours. In it, he referred to WWI and how life became cheap to Americans, and he blamed that for the boy’s heinous behavior. In the end, both of the accused received life sentences plus 99 years. This was what Darrow had hoped for.

What Darrow hadn’t anticipated was an outcry from the public.

]]> 32. He Was Over Paid While he was fighting for the lives of Leopold and Loeb, some newspapers claimed that Darrow was earning a cool million for his efforts. Average Americans were upset and horrified at Darrow’s greed. Darrow needed to cool the bad publicity and got the accused families to issue a statement that this was not the case. In the end, Darrow only got $30,000 for saving the boys’ lives.

Next, Darrow would take religion on the stand.

]]> 33. He Fought For Science In 1925, teacher John T Scopes was facing a strange trial. He was simply teaching what he was supposed to be teaching and got into trouble. You see, the textbook he had to use explained evolution, but the state made teaching evolution against the law. When anti-evolutionist and former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan joined the case, Clarence Darrow saw a chance for a good old-fashioned debate.

But things were not what they seemed.

]]> 34. It Was A Theatrical Trial As it turned out, this trial was a sham and was only a scheme to bring attention to Dayton, Tennessee. Worse still, Scopes didn't even remember if he had in fact taught evolution at a school. Darrow didn’t care and enjoyed the theatrics of a trial not about a teacher breaking the rules, but about science in general.

To up the drama, Darrow did something unheard of.

]]> 35. He Brought His Opponent To The Stand Bryan was working for the prosecution, but Darrow surprisingly called him to the stand. Darrow wanted Bryan to be an expert witness about the Bible. It didn’t take long for Darrow’s clever questioning to make the public turn away from Bryan’s way of seeing the case. After spending a lot of the jury's time arguing about evolution, the judge threw it all out.

It was now up to the jury.

]]> 36. He Sent Him To His Grave In the end, Scopes’ paid his $100 fine and then appealed it. But the real drama was with Darrow and Bryan. The two men had fought bitterly in the courtroom, and it had a macabre outcome. Just five days after the trial, Bryan surprisingly passed from apoplexy— now known hemorrhagic stroke. However, ironically, back then apoplexy was seen as having a connection to anger…which indirectly pointed toward Darrow.

Darrow didn’t have time to wonder if he had played a part in Bryan’s passing. He had a family to save.

]]> 37. They Needed His Help On September 9, 1925, a mob gathered around a family home in Detroit, Michigan. They wanted the family out of the neighborhood. The issue was that it was a white neighborhood and the family in the house was Black. When shots rang out, and one of the mob members outside was fatally wounded, Darrow stepped up to defend the Black family.

This was going to be a trial that would stun America.

]]> 38. He Changed The World While there had been 11 people in that house that day, it was Ossian Sweet, a doctor, and three of his family members who were on trial. Clarence Darrow had another speech ready, and it lasted for seven long hours. It was vital for the civil rights movement, and it landed Darrow in the book Speeches that Changed the World. It was also vital for Ossian and his family members. They all walked away with their freedom.

Darrow’s next case would see him defending someone very different.

]]> 39. There Was A Case in Hawaii In 1932, an interesting case came across Darrow’s desk. A socialist named Grace Fortescue, who lived in Hawaii, had taken the law into her own hands. You see, a man had forcefully violated Fortescue’s daughter, and a trial had not found the suspect in the case guilty. There was going to be a retrial, but Fortescue couldn't wait. She gathered together a small team and decided to force Joseph Kahahawai Jr to confess.

What happened next brought Darrow to the case.

]]> 40. It Wasn’t His Usual Type Of Case Sadly, Fortescue and her helpers went too far, and Kahahawai didn’t survive the ordeal. Because Kahahawai was Hawaiian and Fortescue was white, this case was another charged event. But this time, Clarence Darrow wouldn’t be defending the underdog; he would be on the side of the wealthy Fortescue.

It didn’t sound like the sort of case Darrow would take, but he did, and he had his reasons.

]]> 41. He Went South At this time, Darrow was 68 and feeling the need for retirement. But the Depression had wiped out his finances, and he simply needed money. The offer to defend Fortescue was too good to give up, and Darrow made his way to Hawaii. He was going to be at the center of another outrageous trial.

]]> 42. He Had A Plan Since officers had caught Fortescue and her abettors with the body of Kahahwai, there was little doubt about her guilt. Once again, Clarence Darrow was working on making sure the sentence for his client was not too lengthy. Darrow’s tactic was to frame the macabre incident as a necessary stage in the family’s effort to preserve their honor.

Most Americans thought that this was the right way to look at it. But they were forgetting one simple fact.

]]> 43. He Knew What He Had To Do The thing was, no one was sure that Kahahawai was guilty of the original assault. In fact, there was evidence that Kahahawai could not have been where it occurred because he was in a car accident in another part of the island. Darrow didn’t seem to consider this at all. He knew what his job was: to keep Fortescue from ending up behind bars.

Well, he did his job and then some.

]]> 44. He Was A Celebrity Much like the 1995 OJ Simpson case, Americans were on edge to find out which way this case would go. In Hawaii, they feared a race riot and considered imposing martial law. Darrow, in true form, had prepared a four and a half hour speech for his closing arguments. He was now so well-known that they broadcast his oration across America.

In just 48 hours, the jury came back with a verdict.

]]> 45. He Had Succeeded Clarnece Darrow had done his job well. The verdict came back with the lesser charge of manslaughter, and a recommendation that the judge be lenient on Fortescue and her accomplices. In Hawaii, courts normally imposed ten years of hard labor as punishment. It was tense in Hawaii, as white citizens were angry, and it seemed that they would take to the streets in protest.

]]> 46. He Quickly Left To avoid a riot, the Navy put pressure on the Governor of Hawaii to reduce the sentences of not just Fortescue but also her accomplices. They each served just one hour, and it wasn't behind bars but in the Governor's office. Darrow quickly left the island, which was descending into a chaos that he had helped create.

This was Darrow’s final major trial, but he was still planning for the future.

]]> 47. He Planned For the Afterlife In March 1938, Clarence Darrow knew that he was not long for this world. The story goes that he made plans in case there was an afterlife. He said if there was an afterlife, he would appear on a bridge in Chicago on the exact date of his last day alive. This plan seems strange for a man who did not believe in an afterlife.

As it turned out, Darrow was playing a macabre joke.

]]> 48. He Didn’t Return Apparently, Darrow only promised to go to the bridge in the afterlife to prevent so-called mediums from pretending to talk to him from beyond the grave. He passed on March 13, 1938, and no one has claimed to see him on the bridge. It’s not surprising, as Darrow had very little belief in things like god and the afterlife.

]]> 49. He Questioned Religion In 1929, Clarence Darrow went against public opinion and made a speech declaring that he was an agnostic. He even said that he “questioned the doctrines of Christianity and the Bible”. In 1931, he went head-to-head with English writer GK Chesterton on the topic “Will the World Return to Religion?”. Unlike his court appearances, he lost this debate by a mile.

While Darrow didn't believe in things like god or the afterlife, he does have a way of living forever.

]]> 50. He Has An Afterlife While Clarence Darrow may be gone forever, he lives on in popular culture. Darrow, or some version of him, has appeared in plays, movies, and on TV. Orson Welles played a version of Darrow in 1959’s Compulsion. Kevin Spacey played him in a 1991 episode of American Playhouse. Some believe that Spencer Tracy was the actor who best portrayed a fictionalized version of Darrow in 1960. He received an Academy Award nomination for taking on the role in Inherit the Wind. 

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=31855 <![CDATA[Eng and Chang Bunker were the original “Siamese Twins,” but their rise to fame was so messed up—it’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach.]]> 2026-08-12T10:30:00+00:00 2026-08-11T15:55:49+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-eng-and-chang-bunker Melissa Gervais People The Original “Siamese Twins” Chang and Eng Bunker led extraordinary lives. Born as conjoined twins, they lived in poverty in Siam before coming to the West to be showcased as “freaks.” And even though they ultimately found success as the famous “Siamese Twins,” it was never easy: They endured great prejudice, exploitation, and an incredible loss of their bodily autonomy. Still, they eventually found their voices and soared up the American social ladder…but at what cost?

]]> 1. Their Appearance Was Startling As one could imagine, the twins’ debut into the world was a bit of a shocker. Chang and Eng Bunker were born on May 11, 1811, in Meklong, Siam (now Thailand), to their mother, Nok, and their father, a Chinese fisherman named Ti-eye. Although their mother claimed that their birth wasn’t any more laborious than those of her other children, the sight of the twins reportedly horrified the midwives.

]]> 2. Their Mother Saved Them Distressingly, both Chang and Eng were connected at their sternums by a band of flesh. Even worse, the band was twisted, forcing the infants into a dangerous face-to-face position. Fortunately, while the midwives were presumably busy staring at each other in confusion, Nok’s instincts kicked in—and she did something jaw-dropping. 

In a move that likely saved the twins’ lives, she reportedly untwisted their band, which connected to just one umbilical cord, and repositioned the twins so they could instead lay staring into each other’s eyes. Still, there were more challenges to come.

]]> 3. They Lived As Normally As Possible Nok was adamant that her babies would live regular lives. So, as Chang and Eng grew older, she urged them to exercise to try to stretch their connection, and as a result, their band eventually extended just long enough to allow them to walk alongside each other. After that, there was no stopping them. The twins were energetic, happy-go-lucky kids who endlessly ran around and played with their friends.

But sadly, the joys of their youth were short-lived.

]]> 4. They Suffered A Heartbreaking Loss Chang and Eng’s carefree childhood all but came to an abrupt end when a smallpox epidemic hit their community hard in 1819. Although both boys caught the sickness and miraculously survived, their father, Ti-eye, wasn’t nearly as lucky. He died from the illness when they were only eight years old. Naturally, losing their father was devastating for the twins in more ways than one.

]]> 5. They Fell On Hard Times Because Ti-eye was the household’s breadwinner, Chang and Eng’s family struggled financially without him. Unfortunately, their mother’s solution to the problem was devastating. You see, shortly after they lost their father, the twins somehow wound up employed in the cocoa bean oil industry. But remember: They were eight years old when their dad passed, meaning that (by today’s standards, at least) these poor tykes were working as child laborers. Not cool.

Still, the universe ultimately had other plans for the twins.

]]> 6. They Caught Someone’s Eye After a few years, Chang and Eng abandoned the oil business to help their mother raise ducks for eggs and travel as merchants. Then, a chance encounter changed their prospects forever. While out for a sunset swim in the Menam River in 1824, the twins accidentally scared the pants off a Scottish merchant named Robert Hunter, who was floating in a fishing boat nearby.

At least, until he looked a little closer…

]]> 7. He Mistook Them For Something Inhuman At first, the wide-eyed merchant assumed he’d just seen some sort of “strange animal” swimming in the river (ahem—not cool). However, Robert quickly realized his mistake upon meeting the conjoined twins and discovering that, yup, the boys were actually human after all. Fortunately, there’s no indication that Chang and Eng were offended by the identity error, so I imagine they all got a good chuckle over it.

But then, Robert’s previously startled eyes suddenly turned into dollar signs.

]]> 8. He Convinced Them To Travel West For Robert, his serendipitous encounter with the conjoined twins must have felt like winning the lottery—imagine the riches he could fetch with them! Of course, it took Robert almost no effort at all to convince the nearly destitute Chang and Eng of their potential worth. He told them of his ingenious plan. All they had to do was follow him back to the West, where they could earn a quick and easy fortune simply by putting themselves on display.

It’d be super easy peasy, right? Well, actually, no...

]]> 9. Their Mother Was Hesitant Although Chang and Eng agreed to the too-good-to-be-true proposition straightaway, the twins weren’t the only ones Robert had to persuade, and naturally, Nok didn’t want to let her sons go. Not only did she love her boys, but she needed them to work to help support their super large family. They had seven siblings in total, four older and three younger.

So, thinking fast, Robert came up with a solution.

]]> 10. They Negotiated An Agreement To help put everyone’s minds at ease, Robert proposed that they all sign a contract stating that Chang and Eng’s tour would be limited to five years (ha, fat chance). Robert also offered Nok $500 to financially compensate for the loss of income she’d have to endure due to the twins’ absence. It did the trick: Feeling more reassured, they all signed the contract together, and then it was a done deal.

Unfortunately, that deal later sparked a nasty rumor.

]]> 11. Their Contract Stirred A Lot Of Gossips Although the agreement was probably well-intentioned at the time, Chang and Eng’s contract eventually fell under fierce scrutiny when the public learned about it. You see, because money technically exchanged hands between Robert and Nok, a terrible rumor spread. People whispered that the twins’ mother had essentially sold them to Robert…as slaves. Oof.

Naturally, the outcry against their mother profoundly hurt the twins, and they categorically denied any wrongdoing on Nok’s part. But that wasn’t even the worst of their problems.

]]> 12. They Caught The King’s Eye Eventually, the King of Siam became aware of Chang and Eng’s unique existence and immediately forbade them from leaving the country. However, the reason why isn’t clear. While some speculate that the king wished to show the conjoined twins off at court, Robert Hunter later claimed that it was due to a far more sinister reason.

]]> 13. Their Lives Were In Danger According to Robert, the king ordered Chang and Eng to remain in Siam because he ultimately intended to execute them. Now, whether or not this version of events is accurate may never be known. Still, there’s no question that it took Robert and his American sea captain partner, Abel Coffin, five long years to persuade the monarch.

They claimed to have bribed him with a telescope and a temple dancer troupe to allow the twins to leave. If only the twins had known what lay ahead of them...

]]> 14. They Became Media Curiosities On April 1, 1829, Chang and Eng, now 17 years old, finally boarded a trading vessel to Boston, Massachusetts. Though the trip was grueling—138 days!—the twins kept busy along the way by learning English. And when they finally landed on August 16, they were in for a shock. They arrived to a media storm intent on hyping them up.

]]> 15. They Gained The Public’s Attention It all started the very next day when the Boston Patriot reported that the conjoined twins would “probably be exhibited to the public.” After that, other news organizations were quick to hop on their bandwagon, so to speak…just not necessarily in a good way. A lot of the articles viewed the twins through a very sensationalized and, well, prejudiced lens.

In fact, most of the articles were wrought with ethnic stereotypes—and even outright lies—about them. But that was only a smidgeon of what was to come.

]]> 16. They Went On Display Robert and Abel promptly hired a manager named James W. Hale to help get the twins’ exhibit going. Before long, American gawkers could gaze upon the wonder that was “The Siamese Double Boys” for a mere 25 cents—though Chang and Eng actually preferred to be called “The Siamese Youths.” James even ensured that pamphlets or drawings of the twins would be available for their audiences to purchase as souvenirs.

Excitingly, their show started to gain traction. However, it wasn’t exactly in good taste…

]]> 17. The Show Crudely Emphasized Their Heritage Apparently, someone at some point lost sight of the fact that it was Chang and Eng’s conjoined status—and not their ethnicity—that was supposed to be their primary audience pull. Regardless, the show seemed to purposely exploit and capitalize on the twins’ Asian background by dressing them in “Oriental” garb and styling their hair into pigtails to accentuate their “exoticness” (ugh).

And that wasn’t all…

]]> 18. They Performed Like Show Ponies For four hours a day, six days a week, Chang and Eng displayed themselves as “public curiosities” at various theatres and venues across the United States. Although showcasing their physical connection always remained a key feature of their exhibit, the duo soon took to performing parlor tricks, acrobatics, and feats of strength—together, they could carry a 280-pound man—to make their “freak show” all the more entertaining.

Unique as they were, Chang and Eng became an instant hit. Unfortunately, they soon found themselves in demand for more than just amusement.

]]> 19. Physicians Demanded To Examine Them Following the success of their show, Chang and Eng quickly drew the medical community’s attention. Before long, some of the greatest doctors in America began gathering to see the twins for themselves, and upon realizing that the brothers were the real deal, they begged for permission to examine them. But some doctors had more sinister intentions. Some wanted to experiment on them.

]]> 20. The Medical Community Coveted Them You see, the doctors were practically drooling over Chang and Eng because (at the time) few conjoined twins ever survived into adulthood. Yet, here they were: the shiniest of medical marvels. With their connecting band now approximately the size of a child’s arm, Eng stood at 5’2” tall, while Chang (who was attached to Eng’s left, from their perspective) was an inch shorter than his brother and wore lifts in his shoes to keep from pulling Eng down.

But surely, the doctors would never be allowed to experiment on them, right? Nope, wrong…

]]> 21. The Offers Intrigued Their Managers Even though Chang and Eng earned a profit from all their performances, Abel Coffin supposedly once boasted to a group of people that he and Robert Hunter “owned” them, thereby signaling that he probably didn’t care very much about the twins’ personal rights and freedoms. Especially since, as it turned out, the doctors’ offers actually piqued his interest for one majorly selfish reason.

]]> 22. They Had To Tolerate Multiple Medical Examinations The twins’ handlers wanted to use the medical community’s seal of approval to bolster the show even further. In fact, Chang and Eng’s promoters later decided to actually mention in their showcase posters that, according to the doctors, even women and children could watch the twins “without harm or offense.” Yes, really.

Regrettably, such ringing medical endorsements came at the expense of the twins’ bodily autonomy, not to mention their comfort…

]]> 23. They Endured Weird Experiments Honestly, Chang and Eng put up with such annoying medical studies that, as far as I can tell, the only thing the doctors truly tested was the twins’ patience. One doctor kept sneaking into their room at night to see if touching one brother would wake the other, while another repeatedly pricked at their connecting band with needles just to test who it would hurt more.

The doctors also fed the twins sour foods and subjected them to tickle tests…You know, for science. Fortunately, Chang and Eng’s endless patience paid off in the end.

]]> 24. Their Tour Went International In time, Chang and Eng grew so popular that their handlers decided to take their show overseas. In 1830, the twins set sail to meet their British audiences—and also, unfortunately, meet with British doctors. Nevertheless, their trip was a success, and by the time they returned to New York in March 1831, they’d turned a large profit.

But then, things started to change…

]]> 25. They Lost Their Original Advocate By this point, the twins were older, wealthier, and much more experienced in the biz…and they were finally starting to find their voices. Whether that factored into what happened next is unclear, but one thing remains for certain. Chang and Eng’s initial supporter, Robert Hunter, called it quits. He sold his portion of the show to Abel Coffin and then walked away for good.

It should’ve given them a fresh start—but instead, it was the beginning of a downward spiral for the twins.

]]> 26. They Got Caught In A Mob That summer, while out on a hunting retreat with their manager in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, a group of more than a dozen local men randomly approached Chang and Eng. Believing that the men were there to mock and intimidate them, the situation quickly flew out of hand when one of the twins suddenly used the end of their firearm to hit a man named Elbridge Gerry.

Of course, Elbridge didn’t like that and was quick to retaliate…

]]> 27. They Defended Themselves Elbridge responded by grabbing a large rock and heaving it toward the twins, hitting one of them in the head. With one twin now bleeding, Chang and Eng fired back at him with their weapon, though (thankfully) their shot turned out to be blank. Even so, it was enough to scare the locals; they scattered, and the twins most likely figured that was the end of it.

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.

]]> 28. The Locals Blamed Them The next day, Chang and Eng learned the hard way that one of the men had filed charges against them. Uh-oh. Even though officers ended up detaining the twins for disturbing the peace, Chang and Eng quickly regained their freedom after appearing before a special court and paying a bond for good conduct. Still, their troubles weren’t over…

]]> 29. The Incident Hit The Newsstands Somehow, the media caught wind of the brawl between the twins and the townspeople, with the Salem Mercury and other news outlets initially characterizing Chang and Eng as the victims, but Elbridge Gerry wasn’t having it. Two weeks after the incident, Elbridge penned an open letter entitled “To The Public” that got published in the press, claiming it was the twins—not him—who’d started the fight.

Then, Chang and Eng’s manager found out.

]]> 30. Their Manager Was Furious When their manager at the time, James Hale, learned that the Lynnfield incident could potentially tarnish the twins’ prestige, the consequences were devastating. He hit the roof and quit. Fortunately, James’s successor turned out to be his friend, Charles Harris, whom he could advise with all sorts of helpful hints, like how to avoid paying exhibition taxes in Virginia.

And it looked like poor Charles would have his work cut out for him, too: As Chang and Eng struggled to deal with the fallout from their last incident, a whole new controversy erupted...

]]> 31. They Got Involved In Another Public Quarrel In the middle of a performance in Alabama, yet another physician demanded that Chang and Eng Bunker allow him to examine their connecting band (oh, sigh). But this time, Chang and Eng said no: They hadn’t allowed doctor examinations for over two years by this point because they’d grown tired of getting poked and prodded by strangers.

Also, the pamphlets for their show included the results of the studies already conducted on them by renowned medical professionals, so why should they agree to yet another exam just to placate some rando? But frustratingly, the twins’ logic was lost on this doctor, a male Karen who didn’t understand the word “No.” Whew, boy…

]]> 32. Their Audience Turned On Them Rather than respecting Chang and Eng’s wishes, the doctor became enraged and screamed, “You are all a bunch of pickpockets and impostors!” He then incited an uproar, causing audience members to throw things at the twins from across the room. Amidst the chaos, Chang and Eng understandably bolted, but unfortunately, running away turned out to be the wrong move…

]]> 33. They Wore The Blame Once again, the twins were in hot water. Officials needed someone to blame for the mayhem—and it wasn’t about to be the jolly old doctor. Instead, Chang and Eng’s rapid exit off the stage made them appear extremely guilty in the eyes of the law, prompting the investigating officers to believe “they probably were the first ones to disturb the peace.” So, for the second time that year, the twins wound up paying a good-behavior bond.

Then, just like after the last incident, yet another close relationship of theirs broke down.

]]> 34. Their Needs Got Ignored Abel Coffin frequently traveled, leaving his wife, Susan, responsible for the twins...and Susan was a total nightmare. In fact, Susan rapidly became a source of great distress for the twins, as she tended to neglect their needs, even rejecting their pleas for an extra $3 a week so they could afford to feed their horse. Growing desperate, Chang and Eng eventually begged their manager, Charles Harris, to intervene, hoping that he’d write letters to Susan on their behalf.

After some initial reluctance, Charles finally agreed. Still, his letters didn’t help, for one blood-boiling reason…

]]> 35. They Weren’t Considered Equals Sadly, even though Chang and Eng perceived their business with the Coffins as a partnership of equals, the Coffins only ever saw the twins as their subordinates. Indeed, the Coffins forced the twins to perform when they were unwell, care for Susan whenever Abel was away, and once, while traveling, the Coffins even booked the twins into steerage as servants…and lied to their faces about it.

Needless to say, Chang and Eng were utterly miserable. So, they began plotting their exit strategy…

]]> 36. They Planned Their Escape Because Abel once guaranteed the twins could be “their own men” when they turned 21, Chang and Eng became 100% determined to be free of the Coffins forever the moment they reached adulthood. But there was a problem: Abel had set sail for Asia in late 1831 with plans to come back to America in January, and he still hadn’t yet returned by the time the twins’ 21st birthday rolled around in May.

So, desperate for their freedom, Chang and Eng took drastic measures.

]]> 37. They Took Off On Their Own Increasingly anxious at the thought that if Abel never came back, they’d be stuck working for the Coffins forever, Chang and Eng decided to split—rather unceremoniously, I might add. As a result, when Abel Coffin finally did return to Massachusetts in July 1832, it shocked him to his core to learn that Chang and Eng had gone AWOL. And, boy, was he ever mad.

]]> 38. They Got Tracked Down With his prized cash cows on the run, Abel went nuts. He even falsely accused the twins’ former manager, James Hale, of “exciting his subjects to rebellion,” which I doubt James appreciated. After a frantic search, Abel eventually located the twins in Bath, New York, where he supposedly found them “whoring, gambling, and drinking.” Infuriated, Abel saw red.

]]> 39. Their Former Friend Confronted Them Abel confessed to James that when he finally found Chang and Eng, he flew into a disturbing rage. He proceeded to give them the biggest “thrashing they ever had in their lives,” which definitely isn’t the way to go when you’re trying to win your friends back. Sure enough, the twins refused to return with Abel. Interestingly, Abel later downplayed the entire encounter with the twins in a letter to his wife, writing: “We have had much talk; they seem to feel themselves quite free from me.”

And free, they were…

]]> 40. They Took Control Now that Chang and Eng had regained control of their lives, they could finally run their show the way they wanted. In a bit of a shakeup, they contracted their own crew, began dressing in American attire, and they even took to conversing with their audiences in English. Perhaps most tellingly, they stopped presenting themselves as “boys” and instead began referring to themselves as “The Siamese Twins.”

Still, things didn’t feel quite right. Ultimately, Chang and Eng needed to make an even more drastic change…

]]> 41. They Quit Having devoted nearly 10 years of their lives to getting gawked at by strangers, Chang and Eng’s excitement for the spotlight began to wane. They’d grown weary of being labeled as “human oddities,” and now that they’d accumulated a nice chunk of wealth, all they wanted was to live as normally as possible. So in October 1839, the twins quit the biz (sort of) and retired to North Carolina, where they acquired a 150-acre farm in Wilkes County.

But that’s not to say their fame didn’t still come in handy from time to time…

]]> 42. They Wanted Citizenship Status Fame has its perks, and in Chang and Eng’s case, their celebrity allowed them to rub elbows with the members of the elite Wilkes society while in North Carolina. This later proved quite useful because if it weren’t for those same introductions, they might never have achieved the next step in their plan for normalcy. They wanted American citizenship.

You see, they had an obstacle: Thanks to a 1790 federal statute, only “free white individuals” could apply to become naturalized citizens in the USA...which they were not. So, the twins were going to need help from someone higher up…

]]> 43. They Became Naturalized Americans Despite the federal statute, local governments tended to handle their citizenship cases according to the ideologies of their constituents, meaning that Chang and Eng could still potentially achieve their American dream if they talked to the right people. Fortunately, they were now acquainted with the members of the Wilkes society—including the county’s superior clerk, James W. Gwyn Jr., who agreed to administer the twins’ oath of allegiance.

Naturally, Chang and Eng were over the moon. But then, yet another predicament emerged.

]]> 44. They Needed A New Name When the brothers arrived at the office to formalize their American citizenships, a revelation quickly came to light: Chang and Eng had no last name. Obviously, this would’ve caused a major pickle with their paperwork, so they hastily named themselves “Bunker” in honor of a lady they’d met in New York—although some sources say they actually just borrowed the surname of the man standing in line behind them.

Either way, mission accomplished: The twins officially became naturalized US citizens. But before you feel too happy for them and their American dream, hang on, because their story takes a bit of a twist…

]]> 45. They Became Slave Owners Chang and Eng were eager to emulate the affluent lifestyles of their fellow 19th-century Southerners, which unfortunately meant participating in horrific acts that you wouldn’t think they’d want to engage in—such as slaveholding. Yet, they willingly purchased 30 slaves to labor on their farm, which must have made for some fascinating mental gymnastics given the level of offense they’d taken to past rumors about their own enslavement.

Still, as much as they tried to “fit in,” some hurdles were just too high.

]]> 46. They Fell In Love Chang and Eng met their neighbors, the Yates family, shortly after establishing their farm, and their gaze quickly fell on two of the Yates daughters, Sarah and Adelaide. While Sarah was allegedly the “simple” and “more portly, fair one,” Adelaide, who “excelled in personal beauty,” was younger, taller, and thinner than Sarah and was also said to have more refined taste.

To Chang and Eng, it seemed like a match made in heaven. But alas, love can be complicated…

]]> 47. They Both Desired The Same Sister The Bunker’s courtship of the Yates sisters was unusually dramatic because both Chang and Eng fell in love with Sarah, tossing poor Adelaide aside to kick rocks. Of course, despite their unique circumstance, the two brothers couldn’t possibly marry the same woman, so Chang eventually settled for Adelaide—or maybe Sarah just liked Eng better, who knows. Either way, the twins soon announced their intentions to wed.

And the public didn’t take the news very well.

]]> 48. Their Relationships Caused An Uproar The happy couples declared their intent to marry by riding in an open wagon together. It should’ve been the happiest moment of their lives—but instead, it turned into a nightmare. The media insulted them, the entire town flew into a tizzy, and a few local men even went as far as to shatter the Yates’ windows the night before the wedding.

They even threatened to destroy the Yates’ crops if Sarah and Adelaide’s father refused to “manage his daughters.” Sheesh. Still, the hate didn’t stop the lovebirds.

]]> 49. They Got Married Anyway It must have felt like the world was against them, but it didn’t matter. On April 13, 1843, Chang and Eng Bunker married Adelaide and Sarah Yates. While they all shared a home at first—and a colossal bed—the twins eventually built two separate houses for their respective families and traded off between them every three days.

And their unique home dynamic, er, paid off pretty well…

]]> 50. They Had A LOT Of Babies As a whole, the number of Chang and Eng’s children could have filled an entire classroom. Their first babies arrived just six days apart, with Sarah giving birth on February 10, 1844, and then Adelaide on February 16. Although other sources cite different numbers, Chang and Adelaide had ten children altogether, while Eng and Sarah had eleven, which…is a lot of diapers.

If only there was a grandmother around to help. Oh, wait…

]]> 51. Their Mother Thought They’d Passed On Remember poor Nok, the mother the twins left behind? The woman to whom everyone promised that Chang and Eng would only be gone for five years? Um, yeah, it turned out that she 100% thought her sons were dead this entire time. She hadn’t seen nor heard from them in 15 years by this point, and only learned through Christian missionaries in 1845 that not only were her boys still alive, they were also happily married with families of their own.

Sadly though, she ended up dying just four years later. PSA: Always call your mom, guys.

]]> 52. They Wanted To Separate As Chang and Eng grew older, the sinister reality of their condition set in. They began to worry about what would happen if one of them fell ill, or worse, passed. So, whenever the twins traveled for the odd performance, they were now the ones who’d seek out the physicians, hoping that someone would be willing to perform a surgical separation.

Unfortunately, each visit always proved to be a letdown, as every surgeon warned them that the operation would be lethal. Regardless, the twins clung to their optimism and continued seeking medical advice for a potential procedure until they were more than 60 years old. But as depressing as that sounds, don’t worry; their lives really weren’t all that bad...

]]> 53. They Became Ridiculously Wealthy Chang and Eng became incredibly money-savvy over the years and successfully generated a lot of income in the late 1840s and early 1850s. Indeed, their investments performed so well that they could afford to acquire more than one residence while still living in the lap of luxury as plantation owners. Nevertheless, the twins’ business acumen never seemed to garner much respect from the public.

On the contrary, the media continued to criticize them for a horrifying reason…

]]> 54. They Used Child Labor By 1850, 10 of Chang and Eng’s 18 slaves were younger than seven years old, meaning that the vast majority of the Bunkers’ laborers were actually very young children. Worse, the twins didn’t even keep some of the kids to work their plantations, oh no. Instead, they later flipped them for profit, which was really just a different kind of horror.

Even so, Chang and Eng disputed any wrongdoing on their part.

]]> 55. They Defended Their Actions Of course, the twins denied all allegations of mistreatment. First, the twins claimed that their spouses oversaw the children and treated them very kindly, even raising cash for their schooling. Secondly, because their farms cultivated food and not tobacco, this apparently meant that their plantations served only to feed the people who lived there and didn’t exist for profit, which somehow was supposed to make the whole situation seem better. Sure, sure.

Despite their excuses, the media continued to portray the Bunkers’ treatment of their slaves as being unusually severe. And the negative press was just getting warmed up, too.

]]> 56. They Became Unwilling Political Symbols With the Civil War looming on the horizon, citizens in the United States soon began splitting into two factions. And because the press loved to use Chang and Eng as media fodder, journalists chose to unfairly exploit the twins’ conjoined condition as a metaphor for the divide in political opinion, which probably didn’t help Chang and Eng’s dwindling public image.

But the twins were already focused on other problems…

]]> 57. They Began To Struggle Financially Chang and Eng both had huge families to support, and despite their many business ventures, it started to look more and more like they’d have to come out of their semi-retirement from the exhibition industry. So, the twins resumed touring and even occasionally featured their own children in their acts. They also scored a brief contract with P.T. Barnum, which undoubtedly gave them a nice boost, too.

Still, Chang and Eng’s finances were about to take a major hit.

]]> 58. They Lost Their Bread And Butter Chang and Eng quickly found themselves in dire straits when the Civil War ended in 1865. A lot of their money was in Confederate currency (now worthless), and following the Emancipation Proclamation, all of their slaves had to be set free. Now suddenly down a good chunk of their money and unable to run their farmland alone, the twins would again have to showcase themselves as freaks to make ends meet.

But disastrously, Chang and Eng’s exhibition wasn’t as well-received this time around…

]]> 59. They Lost Their Spectatorship Calamitously, because Chang and Eng were former Confederate slaveholders, a large chunk of their audiences suddenly turned sour. So in desperation, the twins decided to change up their act by playing the sympathy card. They were just two elderly men with large families to support…They’d only grudgingly backed the Confederates; none of it was for realsies, and…Oh! They both had sons injured or captured in battle! And, and…

Needless to say, their performance didn’t elicit a whole lot of compassion from the crowds. Then, to make matters even worse, the unthinkable happened…

]]> 60. Chang’s Health Deteriorated After finding success in Europe once more in 1870, the twins were traveling aboard a ship on their way back home when terrifyingly, Chang’s right side suddenly went paralyzed. He’d suffered a devastating stroke, and it was damaging enough to Chang’s system that his right leg had to remain in a sling for the rest of his days. Sadly, this effectively ended the twins’ freakshow performances once and for all.

And Chang—who was much moodier than Eng—didn’t cope with the situation very well…

]]> 61. Chang Grew Sicker Unhappy, Chang promptly took to drinking. Heavily. But, as horrible as Chang’s condition was, I can only imagine what it was like for Eng to have to perpetually care for an inebriated guy tethered to his side. Then four years later, Chang’s health deteriorated even further when he caught bronchitis in January 1874. Concerned, their doctor advised the twins to remain indoors to allow Chang to heal.

Except, the twins had an agreement to switch houses every three days, remember?

]]> 62. Their Worst Fear Came True On January 15, the Bunker brothers made the trek through the wintery cold from Chang’s house to Eng’s house. Sadly, it was a fatal mistake. Though Chang’s health appeared to improve the next day, his breathing had become so much more difficult by the evening that the twins had to spend the night resting upright in a chair by the fireplace.

However, this was uncomfortable for Eng, who was having trouble sleeping, so he requested that they return to their bed. Then, the following morning, one of Eng’s sons woke him with the devastating news: Chang had died. And understandably, Eng panicked.

]]> 63. Eng Refused To Leave His Brother Upon hearing the horrifying news that his twin brother was gone, Eng’s response was heartbreaking. He cried: “Then I am going!” And for the next hour, he suffered in great agony and misery. He broke into a cold sweat, and at one point, he even moved Chang’s body to be closer to him. Although the family quickly sent for a doctor, Eng died on January 17, a little over two hours after Chang passed. They were 62.

But still, the brothers couldn’t be left in peace…

]]> 64. The Doctors Performed An Autopsy The public demanded an autopsy after learning of Chang and Eng’s passing. Although rumors floated that the doctors paid the Bunker widows for permission to examine their husbands’ remains, it’s more than probable that they just coerced Sarah and Adelaide into allowing it in the name of science. Either way, Chang and Eng’s bodies were kept cold for two weeks before finally being transported to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

And the autopsy results, while scientifically fascinating, were also incredibly heartbreaking…

]]> 65. Eng Suffered A Terrible Ending While the autopsy results revealed various facts about the twins’ condition, including that they shared a liver through their connecting band, they also disclosed what ultimately ended their lives. Distressingly, the examination showed that, while Chang passed from a cerebral blood clot, Eng’s subsequent demise wasn’t actually the result of any physical ailment.

Despite alternative theories, Eng likely passed from the brutally intense shock of having his worst nightmare realized…remaining connected to his deceased twin brother. What a horrible way to go.

]]> 66. Their Legacy Lives On Before finally laying Chang and Eng to rest, physicians photographed the twins’ connective tissue, had their conjoined livers preserved in a jar of fluid, and commissioned an artist to make a plaster cast of their bodies. Chang and Eng’s liver and plaster casts are now on permanent display at The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.

And finally, decades after their sad end, the twins’ bodies were ultimately buried at the White Plains Baptist Church cemetery outside Mount Airy in North Carolina in 1917.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, , , 6

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62376 <![CDATA[The image of Davy Crockett in his coonskin cap is iconic. But the cap wasn’t even his. Who was the real Davy Crockett?]]> 2026-08-13T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-11T14:37:43+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-davy-crockett Brendan Da Costa People Davy Crockett Was A Folk Legend With Controversy Davy Crockett was the American statesman, militiaman, and frontiersman who became famous for his fateful final stand at the Alamo. However, his legacy has become a tangled tumbleweed that weaves together fact and fiction, man and myth.

]]> 1. He Wasn’t Born On A Mountaintop Forget the song. David “Davy” Crockett was born on Aunullgust 17, 1786, in a valley in what is now Greene County, Tennessee—nowhere near a mountaintop. Nevertheless, the frontier was in his blood from the start. His father, John Crockett, had fought as one of the Overmountain Men at the Battle of Kings Mountain during the American Revolution and later dabbled in local politics.

Even as a child, Davy pushed the frontier forward.

]]> 2. His Family Pushed The Frontier Davy was one of nine children—the fifth son—born to John and Rebecca Hawkins. But John could never quite outrun his debts and dragged the family from Lick Creek to Cove Creek to Mossy Creek and finally Morristown, where he opened a tavern. That constant movement to new frontiers in search of fortune was part of the Crockett DNA.

But it came at a terrible cost.

]]> 3. His Ancestors Paid The Price Crockett’s lineage went all the way back to French-Huguenot and English settlers who arrived in Virginia in the mid-17th century. And his ancestors paid a brutal price. In 1777, Crockett’s grandfather and grandmother were slain near modern Rogersville by Creeks and Chickamauga Cherokees. One great-uncle was wounded; another was captured and held for 17 years.

The frontier took as much as it gave.

]]> 4. He Was Sent Away As A Boy Struggling to pay off his debts, Crockett’s father handed the 12-year-old Davy over to a cattleman named Jacob Siler to work off what the family owed. Davy showed a knack for cowboy work, accompanying Siler’s herd on a grueling 400-mile trek to Natural Bridge, Virginia. Siler treated him well and even paid him, but Crockett eventually made his own way back to Tennessee.

He was already learning to fend for himself.

]]> 5. He Ran Away From Home School was no place for a future frontiersman. Crockett regularly skipped school, and when his father tried to discipline him, the 13-year-old bolted. Out in the world on his own, he got the education that no school—or parent—could ever give him. When he finally returned home in 1802, he’d grown so much that his own family didn’t recognize him.

But they recognized what they could get out of him.

]]> 6. He Wanted To Marry The Boss’ Niece Crockett came home, but not to a warm welcome. He spent months paying off his father’s $36 debt to Abraham Wilson and a separate $40 debt to a man named John Canady. Curiously, even after clearing both ledgers, Crockett stayed on at Canady’s employment. Though there was a likely explanation. While there, Crockett had fallen for Canady’s niece, Amy Summer.

Unfortunately, Summer was already engaged to Canady’s own son, Robert. Then Crockett found another match.

]]> 7. His Bride Chose Someone Else Crockett didn’t cry many tears over Summers. While serving in her wedding party, he met a woman named Margaret Elder and talked her into marrying him. The two drew up a marriage contract on October 21, 1805 and seemed set for their “happily ever after”. But Elder had been hedging her bets—she’d gotten herself engaged to another man at the same time.

In the end, Elder married the other suitor and left Crockett standing alone.

]]> 8. He Refused To Take No For An Answer After two failed marriage attempts, Crockett wouldn’t take no for an answer a third time. He met Mary “Polly” Finley and her mother Jean at a harvest festival and set his sights on her immediately. Jean Finley wanted nothing to do with the match and even insulted Crockett, but Crockett declared he’d marry Polly regardless—wherever and however it had to happen.

He would have his bride, no matter what her mother said.

]]> 9. He Showed Up Ready For Anything On August 12, 1806, Crockett took out a marriage license and rode to Polly’s house with a “wedding party” in tow—prepared to take his bride away if necessary. Polly’s father, seeing the entourage, pleaded with Crockett to hold the ceremony at the Finley home instead. Crockett agreed—but only after Jean apologized for the way she’d treated him.

Being a husband would be harder than he thought.

]]> 10. His Family Grew Faster Than His Fortune Crockett got his wish and married Polly on August 14, 1806, in Jefferson County, Tennessee, and the couple settled on a small rented farm near her parents. The marriage proved fruitful, and the couple quickly produced three children—but no money. As Crockett himself put it: “In this time, we had two sons, and I found I was better at increasing my family than my fortune”.

But he could put meat on the table.

]]> 11. He Took Down Bears By The Dozens—Or Hundreds Crockett kept up his family tradition, moving his family around the frontier before eventually settling on Beans Creek in Franklin County. There, Crockett built a little homestead that he named “Kentuck,” but he was never a good farmer. Though he didn’t need to be. In a single season, Crockett brought down 105 bears.

The flesh was dinner, the furs and skins were cash, and the shots were training for what came next.

]]> 12. He Joined The Fight After Fort Mims On August 30, 1813, Creek Indians stormed Fort Mims near Mobile, cutting down roughly 500 settlers. The news rippled through the frontier, and Crockett answered the call. Less than a month later, Crockett enlisted as a scout in Francis Jones’ Company of Mounted Riflemen, riding under Colonel John Coffee. No amount of bear-hunting could have prepared him for what he saw.

]]> 13. He Witnessed Something Unspeakable On November 3, 1813, Crockett took part in the storming of Tallussahatchee—and the memory sickened him. “We now shot them like dogs,” he later wrote, “and then set the house on fire, and burned it up with the forty-six warriors in it”. More than 200 Creek men, women, and children perished. The conduct of his fellow militiamen turned his stomach.

He would only take aim at something else after that.

]]> 14. He Preferred Hunting To Heroism After the butchery at Tallussahatchee, Crockett realized he was better suited to tracking game for his fellow servicemen than to fight alongside them. He served until Christmas Eve in 1813, leaving the moment his 90-day enlistment expired. By walking away when he did, he missed  decisive victory at Horseshoe Bend the following March.

But his time on the front wasn’t over yet.

]]> 15. He Paid Someone Else To Serve Crockett re-enlisted on September 28, 1814, signing on as third sergeant with the Tennessee Mounted Gunmen under Captain John Cowan. His unit scouted through the West Florida swamps but saw little action as they were days behind the frontlines. But Crockett wanted real adventure. So, in December he headed back home and hired a young man to finish out his service for him.

He was needed at home anyway.

]]> 16. He Lost The Love Of His Life Crockett came home to joy and sorrow in equal measure. Polly had given birth to their third child, Margaret. But shortly after, she fell suddenly ill and passed on in 1815—an event Crockett called “the hardest trial which ever falls to the lot of man”. Left alone with three young children, he asked his brother John and sister-in-law to move in.

He was already devising a plan to solve his predicament.

]]> 17. He Was Like A Fox In A Hen House As a recent widower, Crockett turned his attention to Elizabeth Patton. Patton was, herself, a widow whose husband had fallen in the Indian conflicts. But it wasn’t that he loved her. Crockett admitted he had his eye on her "snug little farm,” and, as he put it, “began to pay my respects to her in real good earnest; but I was as sly about it as a fox when he is going to rob a hen-roost”.

Regardless of the motives, Crockett and Patton got married in 1816 and had three more children of their own.

]]> 18. He Climbed The Ranks Fast With his new, larger family, Crockett relocated to Shoal Creek in Lawrence County, Tennessee, and Crockett’s public career took off like a bushfire. He served as magistrate, justice of the peace, and town commissioner in quick succession. Then, on March 27, 1818, he topped it all by winning election as lieutenant colonel of the Fifty-seventh Regiment of Tennessee Militia.

Politics was supposed to be his way out of poverty.

]]> 19. His Timing Was Spectacularly Bad In 1821, Crockett won a seat in the Tennessee General Assembly, rousing voters with his newfound gift for storytelling. Less than two weeks after sweeping into power, however, a flood of the Tennessee River swept away his businesses. His father-in-law had to give him 800 acres to start over, but Crockett had to sell most of it just to cover his debts.

Ruin seemed to follow him like a shadow.

]]> 20. He Fought For The Little Guy Despite—or because of—his own troubles, Crockett approached politics differently. Throughout his time in the legislature, he championed land reform and the rights of poor settlers who risked losing their property under Tennessee’s tangled grant system. As Crockett himself explained, the government should “at least occasionally, legislate for the poor”.

That principle would eventually cost him dearly.

]]> 21. He Lost Before He Won Crockett’s first run for a US House seat in 1825 ended in disaster and defeat at the hands of incumbent Adam Rankin Alexander. Crockett might have given up on politics altogether had it not been for a chance encounter with the Memphis mayor Marcus Brutus Winchester, who convinced him to try again. The backwoodsman was headed for the capital—in style.

]]> 22. He Took His Opponent’s Speech Crockett’s second campaign became a turning point in American political history. Perpetually short on cash, he had to rely on his storytelling ability to make up the difference. On one particularly notable occasion, Crockett memorized his rival’s entire stump speech and delivered it, mockingly, word-for-word. The crowd, predictably, responded with uproarious laughter.

]]> 23. He Didn’t Impress Everyone Fame came fast once Crockett reached Washington. The American people lumped him in with Andrew Jackson’s “age of the common man”—though, not everyone found that flattering. French observer Alexis de Tocqueville met Crockett in 1831 and sniffed that the congressman “has no education, can read with difficulty, has no property, no fixed residence, but passes his life hunting, selling his game to live, and dwelling continuously in the woods”.

In other words, you can take the man out of frontier, but you can’t take the frontier out of the man.

]]> 24. He Tried To Shut Down West Point Crockett won re-election in 1829 and promptly picked fights with the establishment. On February 25, 1830, he introduced a resolution to abolish the United States Academy at West Point, arguing it funneled public money to men born into rich families. He also spoke out against granting $100,000 to the widow of naval hero Stephen Decatur.

He made enemies as easily as friends.

]]> 25. He Made A Presidential Enemy When President Jackson pushed through the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Crockett was the only member of the Tennessee delegation to vote against it—and make an enemy out of the president. “I believed it was a wicked, unjust measure,” he wrote. “I voted against this Indian bill, and my conscience yet tells me that I gave a good honest vote, and one that I believe will not make me ashamed in the day of judgement".

While Cherokee leaders thanked Crockett for his support, others condemned him.

]]> 26. His Conscience Cost Him His Seat Jackson’s political apparatus went after Crockett with everything it had. His vote against Indian removal was deeply unpopular back home, and Jackson mobilized his political machine to deliver a narrow victory for their man, William Fitzgerald, in the 1831 race. However, by that time, Crockett had a reputation to uphold.

]]> 27. He Became A National Sensation By 1831, Crockett’s fame had outgrown his congressional seat anyway. One newspaper called him “an object of universal notoriety” and declared that visiting the capital without seeing him “betrayed a total destitution of curiosity”. That same year, actor James Hackett debuted as Colonel Nimrod Wildfire in the play The Lion of the West—a character everyone immediately recognized as a Crockett caricature.

Crockett was taking it all in good humor.

]]> 28. He Bowed Back In December 1833, Hackett brought The Lion of the West to Washington for a benefit performance. Sitting in a reserved box seat for the occasion, he demonstrated his own amusement with his national notoriety. When Hackett appeared onstage in his buckskin costume, he turned and made a deliberate bow toward Crockett. Crockett courteously rose and bowed right back.

The whole audience went wild.

]]> 29. His Iconic Cap Was Borrowed The image of Davy Crockett in his coonskin cap has become synonymous with the American frontier. But here’s the catch: the cap wasn’t Crockett’s. It was Hackett’s. Before 1835, no contemporary portrait or written account placed a coonskin cap on Crockett’s head. Sources say that the first drawing of Crockett wearing a fur cap—actually a wildcat skin—appeared on the cover of Davy Crockett’s Almanack in 1837, and it was based on a sketch of Hackett in character.

The King of the Wild Frontier wore a borrowed crown.

]]> 30. He Came Back Swinging After two years out of office—spent, naturally, hunting bears in the frontier—Crockett stormed back into politics and defeated Fitzgerald in the 1833 election. But he was still holding a grudge. During his third term, Crockett drifted from Jackson’s orbit entirely. He joined the Whig Party and even garnered talk as a potential presidential candidate for 1836.

He just had to get his story right first.

]]> 31. He Wrote His Own Story During his final congressional term, Crockett teamed up with Kentucky Congressman Thomas Chilton to pen his autobiography, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, Written by Himself, published in 1834. But it wasn’t a vanity project. Crockett said he’d been compelled to write the book to set the record straight against an unauthorized 1833 publication called Sketches and Eccentricities of Col Crockett.

Clearly, people preferred the myth to the man.

]]> 32. He Lost To A Man With A Wooden Leg Despite his autobiography, speaking tours, and two ghostwritten Whig books, Crockett couldn’t hold his congressional seat. In August 1835, he fell to Adam Huntsman—a peg-legged lawyer—in a narrow defeat. But Crockett hadn’t done himself any favors as, by that time, the Whig Party had largely turned its back on him for stubborn refusal to submit to their control.

No one could control Crockett. Not even his voters.

]]> 33. He Told His Voters Where To Go Crockett’s exit from politics produced one of the most quoted lines in American history. “I told the people of my district that I would serve them as faithfully as I had done,” he said after his defeat, “but if not, they might go to hell, and I would go to Texas”. Of course, Crockett had no way of knowing that he would be going to his destiny—and history.

]]> 34. He’d Been Eyeing Texas For Years Crockett’s march toward Texas wasn’t as impulsive as the legend suggests. He’d been mulling the move since at least December 1834, writing to friends about heading south if Martin Van Buren won the presidency. By October 1835, he wrote that he was “on the eve of Starting to the Texes” and planned to “explore the Texes well before I return”.

He had no way of knowing that he was about to make his last stand.

]]> 35. His Daughter Watched Him Leave Personal matters delayed Crockett’s departure, but he finally left his home near Rutherford on November 1, 1835, with three companions. His youngest daughter Matilda later recalled the moment: “He was dressed in his hunting suit, wearing a coonskin cap, and carried a fine [shooting iron]…He seemed very confident the morning he went away that he would soon have us all to join him in Texas”.

She never saw him again.

]]> 36. He Drew Crowds Everywhere He Went Crockett’s party swelled to 30 men as they traveled through Tennessee. By the time his party reached Little Rock, Arkansas in November of 1835, hundreds swarmed the town, and leading citizens threw a dinner in his honor at the Jeffries Hotel. Eyewitness accounts seem to suggest that Crockett had accepted his folk hero status at this point.

James D Davis later recalled that Crockett “wore that same veritable coon-skin cap and hunting shirt”—the first recorded sighting of the famous cap on the actual man.

]]> 37. He Insisted On His Own Terms Crockett arrived in Nacogdoches, Texas, in early January 1836 and signed an oath to the Provisional Government of Texas, alongside 65 other men with the promise to receive roughly 4,600 acres of land—each. Crockett, as it turns out, was instrumental in shaping Texas’s identity. He refused to sign the oath until the word “republican” was added.

He believed he'd found his new home./

]]> 38. He Was Full Of Hope On January 9, 1836, Crockett sat down in San Augustine and wrote to his daughter Margaret. “I have but little doubt of being elected a member to form a constitution for this province,” he told her. “I am rejoiced at my fate. I had rather be in my present situation than to be elected to a seat in Congress for life”. He would get his wish.

Just not the way he imagined.

]]> 39. He Arrived Like A Celebrity In early February 1836, Crockett and his companions—calling themselves the “Tennessee Mounted Volunteers”—rode into San Antonio de Bexar. The crowd demanded a speech, and Crockett obliged, delivering a real barnburner. “I have come to aid you all that I can in your noble cause,” he said. “I shall identify myself with your interests, and all the honor I desire is that of defending as a high private…the liberties of our common country”.

He would give his life for those liberties.

]]> 40. He Danced While Danger Approached Crockett reached the Alamo Mission on February 8, 1836—with no idea of what the near-future held. Two days later, the garrison threw a grand fandango in his honor, but mid-celebration, a scout burst in with a report: the Mexican forces had crossed the Rio Grande, just 150 miles away. Everyone agreed that the Mexicans couldn’t possibly be that close.

The dancing went on and on.

]]> 41. He Prepared To Defend The Alamo The scout had been right: General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s forces arrived at the Alamo on February 23, 1836, catching the garrison off guard. Crockett and the other defenders scrambled into the Alamo as the Mexican forces hoisted a blood-red flag, indicating they would not show any quarter. And neither would Crockett.

]]> 42. He Was Everywhere At Once During the siege, Alamo commander William Barret Travis noted in his written reports that Crockett seemed to be everywhere—rallying the defenders, bolstering morale. Even when 200–300 of Santa Anna’s men crossed the San Antonio River to establish a new position, Crockett and his men were there, providing suppressive cover while the Alamo’s heavy ordnance roared.

Crockett put up a good fight—but it just wasn't enough.

]]> 43. He Wanted To Face His Fate As the siege dragged on and the munitions ran as low as the morale, Crockett tried to keep spirits up with his fiddle. But he wasn’t fooling anyone—least of all himself. Crockett allegedly told fellow defender Susannah Dickinson: “I think we had better march out and [perish] in the open air. I don’t like to be hemmed up”. By the time Crockett and others called for reinforcements, it was too late.

]]> 44. He Made His Last Stand The final attack came in the early morning hours of March 6, 1836. Santa Anna hurled roughly 1,500 men at the Alamo’s walls, with 100 of them headed straight for Crockett and his men. But Crockett wasn’t sweating it. According to one account, the frontiersman paused briefly in the chapel to pray before sprinting to his post.

The battle raged for over an hour, and when their long arms became useless, Crockett’s men swung them as clubs and reached for their blades. In the end, however, no defender survived. Not even Crockett.

]]> 45. His Ashes Were Never Found After the battle, Santa Anna had Crockett’s and his fellow defenders’ remains carried to a nearby grove, stacked with timber, and set alight. It wasn’t until February of 1837—almost a year later—that forces returning to the area uncovered the ashes. A local carpenter built a simple coffin for the ashes and carved only the names of Travis, Crockett, and Bowie on the lid.

The exact location of the coffin today remains a mystery. As do the actual events of Crockett’s last stand. 

]]> 46. He May Have Gone Down Fighting How Crockett met his end remains one of the most contested questions in American history. One tradition comes from a man named Ben—a formerly enslaved man who served Santa Anna’s officers. Ben reported that Crockett’s remains were found in the barracks with "no less than sixteen Mexican corpses".

Santa Anna’s own account, that no defender “showed signs of desiring to surrender” seems to back up this claim. But questions linger.

]]> 47. He Was Just A Tourist A rival account tells a very different story. In 1955, Jesús Sánchez Garza uncovered the memoirs of José Enrique de la Peña, a Mexican officer who was present at the Alamo. According to de la Peña, Crockett pretended to be a tourist who had only “taken shelter” in the Alamo. Despite pleas from his own generals, Santa Anna had Crockett and the other defenders executed anyway.

]]> 48. His Legacy Sparked A Paper Chase The de la Peña diaries were in doubt from the moment they surfaced. Historian William Groneman III argued that inconsistencies in the journal’s paper raised doubts about its authenticity. Others noted that the timing of the discovery was too convenient, coinciding with the peak of the 1955 Walt Disney Davy Crockett craze.

But the evidence was not in their favor.

]]> 49. He Got The Last Word—Sort Of In 2001, archivist David Gracy published a forensic analysis that quieted many skeptics of the de la Peña diaries. Lab results confirmed that both the paper and the ink were consistent with what the Mexican army would have used in the 1830s. Handwriting analysis further confirmed a match to de la Peña. The diary, it seemed, was real.

But the debate was not over.

]]> 50. His Fans Took It Personally Carmen Perry—the English translator of the de la Peña diary and former librarian of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas—learned the hard way that some legends are not to be questioned. Crockett loyalists bombarded her with anonymous letters and intimidating phone calls, treating the mere suggestion that their hero might have surrendered as outright blasphemy.

But the diaries did little to actually diminish Crockett.

]]> 51. He Reportedly Faced His End With Dignity However Crockett met his end, he met it as any frontiersman should. In his diaries, de la Peña described Crockett as a man “in whose face there was the imprint of adversity, but in whom one also noticed a degree of resignation and nobility that did him honor”. The captives, de la Peña wrote, met their ends “without complaining and without humiliating themselves before their torturers”.

]]> 52. His Motto Outlived Him Whether he was deep in the frontier hunting bears, fighting for the poor in Washington DC, or making his final stand at the Alamo, Crockett lived by one motto. Circulated in almanacs between 1835 and 1856, Crockett’s philosophy can be summed up in his most famous and unforgettable words: “Always be sure you are right, then go ahead”.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3

]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=28685 <![CDATA[Queen Nzinga Defied An Empire—But She Paid A Terrible Price For Victory]]> 2026-08-12T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-11T14:36:59+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-queen-nzinga David O'Shea People An Overlooked Queen For most of history, Queen Nzinga hardly ever got a mention alongside the titanic figures that shaped the world since the dawn of civilization. Recently, however, historians have concluded that the Angolan conqueror is, in fact, one of the Old World’s most consequential rulers, who changed the course of European and African history forever.

But while her status as a female ruler is almost certainly the reason for historians’ past ignorance, Nzinga herself was much more complex, responsible for changing the way the world thought about female rulers for the better—but also for a number of horrific atrocities.

]]> 1. She Was Royalty Nzinga was born in central West Africa around 1583, in a Mbundu kingdom in modern-day Angola. She was no mere commoner, however; the young queen-to-be was born into the royal family of Ndongo, during the reign of her grandfather, Ngola Kilombo Kia Kasenda. She did not come from completely royal stock, however.

]]> 2. Her Mother Was Lowborn Nzinga’s father was Kilombo of Ndongo, son of the king, and as a “perk” of his position, the prince kept many slave wives. His favorite concubine was Kengela ka Nkombe, and it was she who birthed Nzinga in 1583. She couldn’t have known just how significant her daughter would be, but there were immediate signs that the infant would excel.

]]> 3. She Was Born In Struggle Legend has it that the process of birthing Nzinga was extremely difficult for her mother. In fact, it was this very struggle that gave the future queen her name. Nzinga’s face was upturned, with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck; after surviving birth, they named the infant after a variation of the word kujinga, which means “to twist or turn”. Those present at the birthing took it as a sign of things to come.

]]> 4. Her Success Got Foretold Mbundu culture viewed difficult and unusual births as more than just medical incidents; many believed that children of the royal family who survived such births possessed spiritual gifts, and some even viewed birthing struggles as a sign that the baby would grow to be a proud and powerful figure. In Nzinga’s case, this prediction nailed it. But first, it was her dad’s turn.

]]> 5. Her Father Ascended  When Nzinga was 10 years old, her grandfather passed, meaning it was her father’s turn to serve as king or, as they called the position within the kingdom, Ngola. This word, in fact, is where the country of Angola got its name—the Portuguese misunderstood the meaning, thinking it was the name of the kingdom itself. Being a girl, however, Nzinga was not the first in line to succeed her father.

]]> 6. She Had An Obstacle Nzinga was not an only child. She had two sisters, Kambu and Funji (also known as Lady Barbara and Lady Grace, respectively), and, unfortunately for her ambitions, a brother named Mbandi, who was, of course, the heir to his father’s throne. Just because Mbandi was next in line, however, did not mean he was the favorite.

]]> 7. She Got Doted On During childhood, Nzinga was her father’s clear favorite. The King lavished attention on her, amused by her obvious strength and intelligence. The fact that Nzinga was not considered an heir probably helped her in this regard: because she was no (obvious) threat to her brother’s position, no one was offended by her receiving the bulk of the King’s attention. This came with many advantages.

]]> 8. She Was Groomed For Power Because of his favor, Nzinga got many opportunities from her father rarely afforded to female Ndongan children. She received combat training and political education, both of which she showed a great aptitude for. She took to one instrument in particular.

]]> 9. She Was A Natural The traditional weapon of Ndongan warriors was the mighty battle axe, and Nzinga not only received training in the art of its use—she excelled at it. The young princess displayed considerable skill with the axe and put many of her fellow male students to shame. In fact, she had a habit of excelling in male-dominated fields.

]]> 10. She Was A Presence Nzinga’s competence and capability meant that she became a prominent presence in her father’s court. Her political acumen allowed her to participate in many of her father’s governing duties. The young queen-to-be attended both legal and battle councils and took part in important rituals vital to maintaining her father’s power. She became a go-to for some visiting Europeans, too.

]]> 11. She Was Accommodating The incursion into Africa by the Europeans had ramped up by Nzinga’s time, and the Kingdom of Ndongo was not spared. It was the Portuguese Empire that set its sights on modern-day Angola, and like many colonizing forces, it began with a trickle of missionaries. Nzinga was accommodating to these visitors, even letting them teach her to read and write in Portuguese. This would come in handy later, but not before things got difficult.

]]> 12. Her Visitors Overstayed Their Welcome As Portugal’s colonization efforts ramped up, Ndongo fell into multiple crises. After years of peace between the two parties, relations soured when the colonizers began doing what colonizers do: they brutalized the region, burning villages, taking hostages, and seizing resources. Most consequentially of all, the Portuguese began taking slaves. Nzinga and her family watched on in horror. Unfortunately for them, however, this only led to cracks in their power.

]]> 13. Her Foundations Shook In 1590, Ndongo rallied against the European invaders and defeated the Portuguese at the Battle of Lucala. The damage had been done, however: Nzinga’s family had lost much of their territory, a fact which eroded the King’s power. Devastatingly, many Ndongan noblemen (known as sobas) began siding with the Portuguese, seeing them as the more reliable regional power. The King’s efforts to rectify the situation through diplomacy failed. It was time for new blood.

]]> 14. Her Brother Rose To Power 1607 only saw things get worse for the Ndongo kingdom as they faced invasion by the Imbangala, a fierce and religious local tribe of warriors. The Portuguese even exploited this position by siding with the Imbangala at times, in an effort to destabilize Ndongo. It proved too much for Nzinga’s father, who passed in 1617. Her brother, Ngola Mbandi, ascended to the throne, and a grim bloodbath followed.

]]> 15. Her Family Split Ngola Mbandi, the new king, felt insecure in his power, given the unstable situation in Ndongo. To secure his position, he engaged in months of political bloodletting, taking out any rival claimants to the throne that he could get his hands on. His victims included his own half-brother and, brutally, the rest of that brother’s family alongside. Mbandi also turned his sights on his sister’s family, slaying Nzinga’s young son. Nzinga herself got spared, but at great cost.

]]> 16. She Was Brutalized Though she kept her life, Nzinga did not get off lucky. After slaying her young son, Mbandi turned on his sisters in brutal fashion: Nzinga and her two sisters got forcibly sterilized, ensuring they could mother no potential threats to Mbandi’s rule. It was a despicable move by her brother, and one that may have been years in the making.

]]> 17. She Got Out Of Dodge Some sources believe the King singled Nzinga out for particularly harsh treatment. The reasons given for this were an apparent long-time rivalry with her brother, likely stoked by her father’s preferential treatment for his daughter. Regardless of her brother’s motivation, Nzinga still feared for her life and fled Ndongo at the first opportunity, settling for now in the Kingdom of Matamba. Her brother would come to regret his actions.

]]> 18. Her Brother Pleaded Mbandi quickly learned that ruling was difficult, and he did not possess the political and tactical skills that Nzinga had been blessed with. He continued the fight against the Portuguese but struggled greatly. Finally, in 1621, he swallowed his pride and contacted his sister, requesting her diplomatic assistance. It was the first smart thing he did.

]]> 19. She Became A Diplomat Nzinga’s brother requested she serve as his emissary to Portugal, and she was certainly a great fit for the job: the princess had the royal lineage, diplomatic acumen, and fluent Portuguese required of a competent ambassador. She negotiated a stipulation with the King that he allow her to lead the diplomatic mission and speak in his name. There was no better woman for the job.

]]> 20. She Was Good At Her Job In this mission, and throughout her storied life, Nzinga showed great aptitude for defusing political crises. She was not afraid to make compromises—for example, she asked her brother for permission to be baptized, knowing it would serve as an important diplomatic tool with the Portuguese. But while she excelled at compromise, she was not afraid to establish her identity either.

]]> 21. She Stood Up For Her Culture When other Ndongo leaders met with Portuguese diplomats, they would typically dress in European clothing, in a desperate appeal to European power. Nzinga was different, however; the King’s sister-emissary opted to dress in opulent traditional Ndongo clothing, adorned in feathers and jewels, to communicate to the colonizers that her culture was not inferior to theirs. It was a bold and admirable move, and it wasn’t even her most daring one.

]]> 22. She Asserted Herself One popular story recounts a meeting between Nzinga and the Portuguese where the colonizer officials sat on chairs but only provided a mat for the Ndongan emissary. This was classic European condescension: the Portuguese employed tactics like this often to display, according to one historian, a “subordinate status, a status reserved for conquered Africans”.

Nzinga and her chosen diplomatic convoy would not stand for such insults—quite literally. Seeing this sign of disrespect, one of her attendants immediately formed herself into a chair for Nzinga to sit on, establishing the ambassador as an equal and displaying her people’s devotion. Of course, being a skilled diplomat, Nzinga knew when to soften her stance too.

]]> 23. She Buttered Up While she insisted on asserting herself as an equal, Nzinga was not afraid to concede to the Portuguese on her own terms. As part of her diplomatic skillset, she would often strategically employ flattery, particularly to contrast her decorum with her brother’s fiery belligerence. Her methods led to results, though the outcomes were a mixed bag.

]]> 24. She Brokered Peace Nzinga’s chief diplomatic goal was to secure peace with the Portuguese, and she did so, though at some cost. She promised an end to hostilities with the colonizers, blaming her brother’s mistakes on his youth but, controversially, allowed Portuguese slave traders to remain in operation in Ndongo. She even agreed to return escaped slaves of the Portuguese to their oppressors.

In exchange, she got the invaders to agree to remove forts they had built within Ndongan territory, and refused to pay tribute to the colonizers, remaining adamant that only conquered peoples did so. The Portuguese were skeptical of her desire for peace, however, so she had to pull another move.

]]> 25. She Played The Enemy’s Game Faced with Portuguese cynicism, Nzinga deployed another diplomatic maneuver: she offered to undergo public baptism. Portuguese Christians met the offer with delight. Adding to the flattery, the Ndongan diplomat adopted the Christian name Donna Anna de Sousa, in honor of the Portuguese governor’s wife. This led directly to a peace treaty between the two nations, and Nzinga returned home in triumph, where she launched her next plot—this one against her brother.

]]> 26. She Played Her Brother While Nzinga had successfully brokered peace with the Portuguese, the conflict between the Ndongo and the Imbangala continued. The Ndongan royal family appealed to their new Portuguese “allies” for assistance against the Imbangala, but the colonizers refused to do so unless the King would also agree to baptism.

Mbandi was already distrustful of the Europeans and, seeing an opportunity, Nzinga manipulated her brother. In a possible political ploy, she convinced him not to get baptized, warning him that the act would offend his traditionalist supporters. It worked like a charm, but as a result, things kept getting worse for the Ndongo against the Imbangala. For Nzinga personally, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

]]> 27. She Took Soft Control All the while, Nzinga was increasingly gaining power at court. This culminated in 1624 when, faced with the Imbangalan crisis and bubbling tensions with the Portuguese, King Mbandi fell into a deep depression. Confining himself to his quarters, the King ceded many of his duties to his sister, placing Nzinga in her most powerful position yet. Her proximity to the King paid off.

]]> 28. She Ascended Later that year, Nzinga’s brother suddenly perished of mysterious causes. Some sources claim the King took his own life; others say he got poisoned. Either way, the path was now clear for his capable sister, whom the King had named his successor, and Queen Nzinga ascended to the throne of Ndongo. But she had to make sure she held onto it.

]]> 29. She Dug In Being a female ruler, Nzinga found herself in an unprecedented position, and had to move quickly to consolidate her power. She took numerous measures to do so: she had her supporters seize monarchy-associated ritual objects to prevent their use by potential rivals and began systematically eliminating her rivals from court. She had good reason to be worried.

]]> 30. She Was Threatened Nzinga’s ascension did indeed face severe opposition, mostly from male claimants of other noble families. It was not just her gender that was used against her, however; many believed that Nzinga (and her brother, for that matter) should never have ascended to the throne because she and her siblings were the children of their father’s slave wives, not his first wife.

Nzinga countered this with the fact that, through her father, she was a proper descendent of the kingdom’s main royal line, a fact that was not the case for any other rival claimant. All this aside, however, Nzinga was clearly the best choice for leadership.

]]> 31. She Was Capable The Ndongan kingdom could have done a lot worse than Nzinga. It was as if the Queen was born to rule; she showed incredible acumen for every aspect of leadership. Many remember Nzinga for her diplomatic wisdom, intelligence, political savviness, and even battlefield tactics. And with times as they were, the Ndongan people needed someone like her to weather the historical storm brewing.

]]> 32. She Met Her Moment Nzinga’s capability as a leader was especially evident because of the era she presided over; she didn’t exactly have an easy job. Her rise coincided with the rapid expansion of the African slave trade, which caused ripples of crisis across the continent.

Despite the tepid peace she had brokered with the Portuguese, the colonizers continued their encroachment into West Africa. Indeed, relations strained with the Europeans as Nzinga’s rule continued, culminating in a complete breakdown.

]]> 33. Her Friends Turned On Her Nzinga’s policies as ruler threatened the income of the Portuguese nobles pillaging the region, which caused grumbles within the country’s halls of power. In an effort to destabilize her rule, the colonizers recognized Hari a Kiluanje, a rival claimant, as King of Ndongo.

Nzinga was furious, but kept her cool for now, negotiating with the Portuguese while she secretly built her forces to move against them. The Portuguese caught on, however, and, feeling deceived, declared a campaign against Nzinga on March 15, 1626. It would prove disastrous for the hard-pressed queen.

]]> 34. She Turned Heel The conflict with the Portuguese did not go well for Queen Nzinga. She was already rebuilding her forces from a previous battle when the colonizers declared against her, and after facing the full-scale invasion, her forces were severely depleted by 1628 (with some estimating she was down to only 200 men). With the walls closing in, the situation forced Nzinga to flee her kingdom. That didn’t mean she was giving up, however.

]]> 35. She Sought An Alliance With essentially no army left, Nzinga desperately needed to bolster her forces—and desperate times called for desperate measures. She received a message from Kasanje, an Imbangalan warlord who had previously fought the Ndongan.

Kasanje suggested an alliance, but it came with a price: Nzinga would have to marry him. Seeing little other choice, the Queen made the political decision to do so. Now finding herself in a new culture, she exercised her characteristic diplomacy to great effect.

]]> 36. She Adapted Without Concession Ever the skillful political player, Nzinga quickly adapted to her new culture. To win the hearts and minds of the Imbangalan people, she adopted many of their religious rites (including one in which she had to drink human blood!), which ingratiated her as a leader with her new people.

Crucially, however, she did not abandon her own cultural roots; instead, she competently weaved together her people’s beliefs with those of the Imbangala, which resulted in the rebuilding of a highly capable army. With such a force behind her, she turned her sights home again.

]]> 37. She Pressed Forward By 1631, Nzinga had amassed a big enough force to engage the Portuguese again. Over the next four years, she waged a guerilla campaign in the neighboring Kingdom of Matamba, eventually deposing the rulers there and claiming the land as her own. It was a long and arduous fight, and she had to get the funds somewhere.

]]> 38. She Compromised Her Morals Complicating Nzinga’s legacy as a just and trailblazing woman was the odious practices she engaged in to retake her homeland. Having captured Matamba, the Queen began extensively expanding the slave trade within her new kingdom, sacrificing the people of Matamba to fund her campaign to recapture Ndonga. It was a shameful act by a desperate queen, and she began changing in other ways too.

]]> 39. She Masked During the 1630s, Nzinga, previously unashamed of her femininity, began adopting more masculine traits. She adopted male titles and dressed in male clothing; she also established an all-female bodyguard. She took many lovers too and, hilariously, ordered that her male concubines dress in women’s clothing and address her as king. This was the least of the male concubines’ worries, however.

]]> 40. She Made Them Fight Nzinga’s harem of 50-60 cross-dressing male concubines enjoyed the luxuries of royal association, but that didn’t mean their lives were always comfortable. Legend has it that Nzinga would select two of her lovers and make them fight until one of them slayed the other for the privilege of spending the night with her.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Nzinga would put the winner to the sword the next morning too. The 1630s were a strange decade for the Queen, but she got back on track with the dawn of the 1640s.

]]> 41. She Saw Another Chance In 1641, the chess pieces shifted again in West Africa, after forces from the Dutch West India Company captured the Ndongan city of Luanda in a massive hit to Portugal. Nzinga sensed an opportunity and quickly sent an emissary to broker an alliance with the Dutch, offering to open the slave trade to the Company. They accepted her terms, and Nzinga eyed a dramatic return home.

]]> 42. She Took It Back Now backed by the powerful Dutch West India Company, Nzinga launched an all-out assault on Portuguese-occupied Ndongo, reclaiming large parts of the territory in a series of dramatic battles between 1641 and 1644. Things seemed to go well, but when the dust settled, it would leave Nzinga with only consolation gains.

]]> 43. Her Allies Abandoned Her Despite numerous defeats of the Portuguese, Nzinga and her forces never successfully captured the Fortress of Massangano, a key defensive fixture that secured the colonizers’ longevity in the region. To make matters worse, the Portuguese recaptured Luanda in 1648; seeing the writing on the wall, the Dutch no longer viewed Angola as a safe investment and evacuated their forces. Nzinga adopted increasingly desperate measures to pacify the Europeans.

]]> 44. She Christianized Throughout the 1640s, Nzinga began tentatively implementing more Christian cultural traditions within her kingdom, hoping to secure closer relations with any potential European allies. These efforts were not without controversy among her people, however, with a number of Ndongan conservative religious figures pushing back against her policy shifts. It was no wonder Nzinga was returning to diplomacy, though—the fighting had gone on too long.

]]> 45. She Was Tired By 1650, Nzinga and the Portuguese had been in constant conflict for nearly 25 years. Both sides were exhausted and peace finally seemed to be on the table. Negotiations for this peace began in earnest in 1651, and lasted five long years, finally culminating in a peace treaty in 1656. The Queen looked around at what remained of her kingdom and decided it was time to secure her legacy.

]]> 46. She Rebuilt With peace secured, Nzinga now turned her efforts to rebuilding her kingdom, hoping to leave it a little more intact than it was for her successor. The Queen established many changes at court as well.

She developed Matamba as a trading power, reformed the legal code to align more with Christianity (hoping to gain status as an internationally recognized Christian kingdom), and abolished concubinage, opting to marry her favorite boytoy in a Christian ceremony. A health scare convinced her to finally look to the future too.

]]> 47. She Named An Heir After suffering from a serious illness in 1657, Nzinga bluntly faced her immortality; it was time to name a successor. Fearing her demise would cause a succession crisis, she appointed her sister, Kambu, as her heir, feeling she would be the best candidate to carry on her work. She settled into her final years as ruler.

]]> 48. She Departed Queen Nzinga fell ill with a throat infection in October 1663, which confined her to her bedchambers. By December, the illness had spread to her lungs, and she would never recover. Nzinga passed in her sleep on the morning of December 17. She was around 80 years old and lived an astonishingly long and eventful life. Her impact rippled for centuries thereafter.

]]> 49. She Changed The Game Many today remember Nzinga today as the Mother of Angola. Her success as a ruler normalized female rule in the region, and she got succeeded by many women leaders. Even today, women in Angola demonstrate a remarkable level of social independence and occupy many positions of power across numerous sectors, all thanks to Nzinga’s influence. Of course, her legacy had its negative sides too.

]]> 50. She Was Complicated Western historians largely ignored Nzinga’s legacy for centuries, but modern historians have reassessed her as a major figure in Angolan, Atlantic Creole, and, indeed, world history. Her legacy gets complicated by some of what appear, in retrospect, to be major transgressions, namely her support for and expansion of the African slave trade. Queen Nzinga was a complex figure who, regardless of her net impact, deserves our attention and fascination.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=27988 <![CDATA[Queen Jadwiga may be a saint, but she lived a truly cursed life.]]> 2026-08-11T10:30:00+00:00 2026-08-10T20:54:35+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-jadwiga-poland-queen Kyle Climans People Marcello Bacciarelli, Wikimedia Commons 1. Long May She Reign Jadwiga’s reign as Queen of Poland lasted just under 15 years, from October 16, 1384 until her death at the tender age of 25.

]]> 2. Welcome to the World Jadwiga was born in the city of Buda (now part of Budapest), which used to be the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary. She was the third and youngest child of Elizabeth of Bosnia and Louis I, King of Hungary and Poland. Her family was incredibly wealthy and powerful, but their sad plight proves that money and status can't buy happiness.

]]> 3. High Prize Within the Patriarchy Louis I, Jadwiga’s father, was a fierce warrior, but there was one battle he couldn't win. Louis just couldn't seem to produce a male heir. Instead, he had three daughters and made the best of an awkward situation. Already seen as beautiful potential brides for any European prince, the Polish princesses only became more popular when Louis revealed his controversial plan. He made it clear that he wanted his daughters to inherit his titles and lands.

]]> 4. Tragedy in Childhood Most people don't realize that Jadwiga was never supposed to be Queen. Instead her older sister Catherine of Hungary should have inherited the throne. Catherine's parents were so certain that they even engaged her to be married at just four years old. But all these plans were for naught. Tragedy struck when Catherine tragically died at the tender age of seven. As Louis grieved, he also struggled with his reign. When the engagement fell through, the united kingdoms that Louis built started to crumble.

]]> 5. Getting Hitched Early Evidently, in the Polish royal family, being single at four years old made you a spinster. After Catherine's death, Jadwiga's father had her engaged to William of the Habsburg family before she was even a year old. Her fiance William was just four years old, but a very eligible baby bachelor. He as the eldest son of Leopold III, the Duke of Austria.

]]> 6. Best Laid Plans After Catherine's early death, Polish lords flocked Jadwiga's eldest sister Mary with elaborate oaths of loyalty. She probably felt complimented, but these pledges didn't exactly happen organically. Instead, King Louis demanded that Polish royals praise his daughter and her fiance Sigismund of Luxembourg. But after Louis' death, everything came crumbling down. In the end, Mary took over Hungary while Jadwiga reigned over Poland.

]]> 7. Lost in Translation While history remembers the Polish Queen as Jadwiga, her name could also be spelled and pronounced much more magically. For Hungarians, Jadwiga would look a lot more like “Hedwig.”

]]> 8. Elizabeth's Choice When Jadwiga was a young child, the Polish nobility insisted that their ruler actually live in the country. Jadwiga’s mother Elizabeth was heartbroken. She desperately tried to make a deal where Jadwiga would spend three extra years in Hungary, hoping to hold onto her daughter. Sadly, this deal fell apart as contenders for the throne rose up. The Polish nobles threatened to elect the popular and charismatic Duke of Masovia.

]]> 9. Goodbye, Mommy Elizabeth eventually conceded defeat in 1384. Ten-year-old Jadwiga was taken to Poland and crowned, while Elizabeth had to stay behind and look after her other daughter’s ascension in Hungary. She would never see Jadwiga, her own beloved daughter, again.

]]> 10. Cruel Twist of Fate Soon after Jadwiga went to Poland for her coronation, her mother Elizabeth and her sister Mary faced a terrifying situation. They rapidly lost ground in Hungary when a powerful enemy, Charles III of Naples, attempted to take it for his own. Elizabeth knew she had to do something extreme or lose her territory forever. She had Charles murdered, thinking this would mean victory. Tragically, she was so, so wrong. 

]]> 11. Heartbreaking News Just three years after Jadwiga went to Poland for her coronation, she received utterly heartbreaking news. Her mother died, and not just that, she died a truly horrible death. After Elizabeth had Charles murdered, his furious allies captured her and her daughter Mary. When the enemy forces heard that Mary’s husband, Sigismund, was approaching with an army to save them, they did the unthinkable. They strangled Elizabeth to death before Mary’s eyes.

]]> 12. I Can Never Remember Her Birthday! We’re not actually sure when Jadwiga was born, but historians have narrowed it down to somewhere between October 3, 1373, and February 18, 1374.

]]> 13. Dear Old Dad Jadwiga’s family drama was barely confined to her cut-throat mother. Her father was Louis the Great, the King of Hungary. But one country wasn't enough for Louis: He also became the King of Poland when his uncle tragically died without a son. When Louis took the throne,  he was determined to make his uncle and his people proud. He led fierce military campaigns to restore Hungary's glory. After decades of defeat against chilling enemies like the Golden Horde, Louis became Hungary's most powerful and ruthless monarch.

]]> 14. Ill-Fated Sister Jadwiga’s older sister Mary would survive her imprisonment thanks to the rescue by her husband, Sigismund. She would rule Hungary as its queen for nearly ten years, beginning in 1387.

]]> 15. Dark Day In 1395, Mary was out riding in a forest when her world came crumbling down around her. Her horse tripped and threw her to the ground. Mary was terribly injured, but her mind wasn't on her own pain: it was on her unborn baby. Mary was pregnant at the time, and the horse's throw made her go into premature labor. While Mary managed to give birth, she died of her injuries soon after. Tragically, her son perished as well.

]]> 16. For Education One of Jadwiga’s most lasting achievements as Queen was bringing education to her people. The monarch restored the esteemed University of Krakow. After falling into disrepair, Jadwiga used her powers of persuasion to get Pope Boniface IX to sanction a new faculty. She even made sure to put her money where her mouth was, personally buying property for the new school. If only this was where the story ended.

]]> 17. Straight A Tragically, Jadwiga didn’t live to see her crowning glory. She died before the university started up again, but even in death, she made sure to take care of her brain child. In her heartbreaking will, she asked that her jewelry be sold with proceeds funding the university that was so near to her heart. Because of Jadwiga's generosity, the institution is still open today.

]]> 18. King in Name When Jadwiga and Mary were crowned the rulers of Poland and Hungary, respectively, they weren’t actually crowned as queens. Instead, they were both crowned “king” of their respective kingdoms. This fancy title hid a dark secret: the girls were crowned "King" so that their spouses couldn't seize power from them after marriage. Sadly, such intimate betrayals weren't uncommon in European royalty.

]]> 19. Wasn’t She Named After an Owl? Jadwiga was named after her ancestor Saint Hedwig of Silesia. While Hedwig may have died in a monastery, her life was full of drama. She got married at 12 years old, then risked her life to save her husband from a rival duke. After her husband died, poor Hedwig was dealt another heartbreaking blow as she watched her only son die.

]]> 20. Hail! All the strife that was brought about with the death of Jadwiga’s father ended when the young girl-king was finally brought to Poland. She was crowned on October 16, 1384.

]]> 21. A Polish Lyanna Mormont? Given how young Jadwiga was when she began her reign over Poland, historical records disagree over how many decisions made were actually her own. Most sources insist that Jadwiga depended on her advisors for everything, but one historian suggests otherwise. Oscar Halecki says that Jadwiga was wise beyond her years, and quickly adapted to ruling from a very young age.

]]> 22. A Bad In-Law Relationship With the death of her sister, Mary, Jadwiga made a claim on the throne of Hungary, since she claimed to be Mary’s heir by blood. However, Mary’s husband, Sigismund, refused to give up his own crown to Jadwiga. The relationship between Jadwiga and her power-hungry brother-in-law would, er, not improve.

]]> 23. Talk About an Awkward Thanksgiving Sigismund keeping Poland looks like chump change when you compare it to what he did next. Jadwiga's brother-in-law quickly dealt her another profoundly ruthless betrayal. next to his most ruthless betrayal. Jadwiga was shocked to learn that he was plotting against her family with the Teutonic Knights. It turned out that Sigismund didn't want to keep Poland for himself. He wanted to divide it up and reap the profits.

 

]]> 24. What a Great Guy  And that's not even the worst part. Jadwiga learned that Sigismund was scheming to ravage Poland long before Mary's untimely death. While it would take too long to sum up all the backstabbing that went on while Jadwiga tried to resolve the conflict with the Teutonic Knights, in the end, the Queen conquered. A peace treaty was finally signed in 1398.

]]> 25. The Call Is Coming From Inside Your Marriage One of the first conflicts that Jadwiga had to deal with was her own fiancé, William. The Polish nobles weren't exactly happy with the idea that a teenage Austrian would be their queen's significant other. Instead, they offered their own contender: Jogaila of Lithuania. As an enthusiastic pagan, Jogaila was a controversial choice, to put it lightly. The fact that the highly Christian Poles chose him tells you a lot about how much they hated the idea of William.

]]> 26. Battle for the Bride Two men enter the marriage arena. One man leaves with a bride. Jogaila of Lithuania sent elaborate envoys to Jadwiga in Poland and her mother in Hungary to get them to choose him. Meanwhile, William and his father, Duke Leopold III of Austria, traveled east to plead their case with Elizabeth and Jadwiga. Historians argue over exactly what happened, but we do know that someone sent William away from Krakow before he could marry Jadwiga. Looks like Jogaila won this time.

]]> 27. Pass the Tissues The story of Jadwiga's marriage to Jogaila is shrouded in mystery. One tragic version of events says that William managed to sneak into Jadwiga's bedchamber to declare his love. When Polish noblemen realized what William had done, they chasted him out of the castle. A tearful Jadwiga tried to run after him, but was restrained by the nobles.

]]> 28. I’m Too Old for This One person who could have been a dangerous enemy of Jadwiga during her lifetime was her great-uncle, Wladyslaw. Known as Wladyslaw the White, he challenged Jadwiga’s father for the kingship of Poland. But by the time Louis died, Wladyslaw had undergone a shocking change of heart. The once-brutal challenger took monastic vows and lived as a humble monk. Even when Louis’ enemies used a doctrinal loophole to release Wladyslaw from his vows, he refused to leave his home within the monastery.

]]> 29. Not the Happiest Wedding Ever Jadwiga married Jogaila of Lithuania on February 18, 1386. Under all the pomp and circumstance, the ceremony hid a dark truth: The groom was 35 while the bride was just 12. As part of the marriage agreement, Jogaila promised to convert himself and his followers to Catholicism, and took the new name Wladyslaw-Jogaila.

Jogaila also promised a fortune of 200,000 florins to compensate William for the broken engagement. The heartbroken William refused the payment.

]]> 30. Is “Mantle” an Old Name for CPR? Jadwiga wasn't just a queen. She was also a canonized saint. A legend states that when Jadwiga attended a Corpus Christi Day procession, she saw the young son of a coppersmith fall into a nearby river and drown. However, when Jadwiga threw her mantle over the boy, he came back to life. Let's see another queen pull that!

]]> 31. From One Holiness to Another On June 8, 1979, Jadwiga’s sarcophagus was visited by Pope John Paul II, the first Polish Pope in the history of the Catholic Church. John Paul led a prayer at her sarcophagus in honor of the deceased queen and was also responsible for the process which led to her canonization in 1997.

]]> 32. Love Triangle Shortly after all the marital paperwork between Jadwiga and her new husband was settled, the couple was plunged into catastrophe. Jogaila's home country of Lithuania was invaded by Teutonic Knights. Three guesses who they supported? Jadwiga's rejected suitor, young William of Austria. The Knights began a vicious propaganda war to support William and discredit Jogaila.

]]> 33. For the People During her reign, Jadwiga became well known for her humanitarian and philanthropic actions. Hospitals, churches, and schools all received her support and blessings, whether they were already established or whether they were built during Jadwiga’s reign. She also translated religious texts into Polish for the first time, allowing regular people to read their religious books and sing their hymns in their own language.

]]> 34. Jadwiga’s Foot If you travel to the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Krakow, you'll see a footprint embedded in the floor of the church. According to legend, that footprint belongs to Jadwiga. One day, she was approached by a poor stonemason who begged for help from his queen. Jadwiga took some jewelry from her foot and gifted it to the man.

This act of charity was said to have caused her foot to be imprinted into the dry plaster of the floor. Years later, this was one of the miracles that helped Jadwiga become a saint.

]]> 35. Jadwiga’s Cross Jadwiga was known to frequently pray before a large black crucifix at Wawel Cathedral. Allegedly, the figure of Christ on this crucifix spoke to her during one of her regular prayers. The crucifix has since become known as Saint Jadwiga’s Cross.

]]> 36. It’s a Girl! Like her parents before her, Jadwiga had a terrible time when it came to motherhood. She and her husband spent years as a childless couple despite any and all efforts. Historians report that this put a severe strain on their relationship. Finally, in either 1398 or 1399, Jadwiga was with child. Her daughter, Elizabeth Bonaficia, was born on June 22, 1399.

]]> 37. The Queen is Dead Sadly, history has a way of repeating itself. Poor Jadwiga would live out her sister Mary's awful fate.  Jadwiga's baby Elizabeth Bonaficia passed away three weeks after being born. Jadwiga would follow her tiny daughter four days later. Though Jadwiga died at just 25 years old, she had seen enough pain to fill dozens of lifetimes.

]]> 38. Rest in Peace On August 24, 1399, Jadwiga and her infant daughter were laid to rest together in Wawel Cathedral, the place where Jadwiga had gone so often in life. They have been entombed there ever since.

]]> 39. From the Ashes Rises the Phoenix After Jadwiga’s death, her husband Jogaila’s position in Poland got very complicated. Before she passed away, Jadwiga recommended that he marry her distant relation, Anna of Cilli. Jogaila heeded his wife's wise words, marring Anna after a proper amount of time had passed since Jadwiga’s death. Wladyslaw-Jogaila would live another 35 years and begin what is often referred to as Poland’s Golden Age.

]]> 40. Watch the Queen Conquer Jadwiga has her mother to thank for the Polish throne. Elizabeth of Bosnia was a loving parent, but in politics, she was cut-throat and utterly ruthless. After the death of Jadwiga’s father, Elizabeth tried her best to make things work, but just couldn't keep Poland and Hungary united. Instead, she made Jadwiga the "King" of Poland while her older sister, Mary, became "King" of Hungary.

]]> 41. Preparation? After baby Jadwiga was engaged to William of Austria while still in diapers, the infant couple took things to the next level. They took part in a “provisional marriage” when Jadwiga was just a toddler and William was just a kid in 1378. While it was basically a temporary confirmation that she and William were a couple-to-be, the ceremony had a chilling final act. Jadwiga was separated from her family and shipped off to spend two years of her life in Vienna.

]]> 42. Maybe They Were Poker Buddies? When archaeologists uncovered the casket of Saint Simeon in the Croatian city of Zadar, they gasped. Who should they see engraved on the ornate sarcophagus, but Queen Jadwiga and her sisters? This detail did more than surprise them: The sad story of Catherine's death also helped them date the casket. After all, the three girls only got to spend a small amount of time together before Catherine was snatched away by death.

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=31020 <![CDATA[From her absolutely scandalous marriage to her disastrous exile, Princess Helen led one of the most tragic and dramatic lives in history.]]> 2026-08-11T10:30:00+00:00 2026-08-10T20:41:10+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-princess-helen Rebecca Wong People The Royal Rebel If you’re looking for a real-life superhero, look no further than Princess Helen, AKA Helen of Greece and Denmark. Helen lived through some of the most horrific times in human history but she always acted selflessly, even at the risk of her own life. A survivor of WWI and WWII, and exiled several times over, Helen’s life was both extraordinary and harrowing.

]]> 1. She Started Out Strong The third out of six royal children, Princess Helen was born on May 3, 1896, in Athens, Greece. Helen spent her childhood getting a good education and spending time with her favorite brother, Alexander. Honestly, as far as female royals go, Helen got a pretty good hand at birth. She was born late enough in history that popping out an endless parade of babies wasn’t her duty, and she wasn’t treated like property. Unfortunately, that’s probably the only bit of luck that life decided to grace her with.

]]> 2. Tragedy Struck Her Early When Princess Helen turned 17, tragedy rocked her quiet life in Athens. Greece suffered a series of unpopular and failed wars, and many put the blame on Helen’s grandfather and ruling monarch, King George I. Tensions eventually snapped, leading to the horrific assassination of Helen’s grandfather on March 18, 1913. Just like that, her father became the new ruling monarch, and Helen became Greece’s new Crown Princess. For Helen, life as a royal was about to get harder.

]]> 3. She Almost Lost Her Father WWI swept over Europe and Helen’s family like an unstoppable tidal wave. At the time, Helen’s father fought to maintain Greece’s position of neutrality, but being the German Emperor’s brother-in-law made it impossible. This eventually threw Greece into chaos, and, as you might imagine, the stress of it all caused Helen’s father to become dangerously ill.

What happened next changed Helen’s perspective on the world forever.

]]> 4. She Witnessed A Miracle With Helen’s father so ill, the royal family decided to send a ship to the Greek island of Tinos to seek the icon of the Virgin and Child, which apparently healed the sick. This led to a series of unbelievable miracles that rocked Helen’s world. Not only did they actually find the icon, but after kissing it, Helen’s father actually partially recovered! Upon witnessing this miracle, Helen “developed a deep religiosity.”

It carried her through some of her darkest days, of which there would be many.

]]> 5. Her Home Came Under Attack When her father recovered, he continued to defend Greece’s right to stay neutral, which royally angered just about everyone on all sides of the conflict. This eventually led to utter catastrophe. The French fleet bombarded Helen’s home, the Royal Palace, on December 1, 1916. As fire and brimstone rained down around her head, no one would’ve blamed Helen for hiding in fear until everything stopped.

However, Helen wasn’t the cowardly type. Instead, Helen did something that nearly ended her life then and there.

]]> 6. She Almost Lost Her Life You see, Princess Helen loved her father. Even with the Palace literally under siege, she had only one thought running through her head: she needed to protect him. So, the young girl got up and ran through the garden of the Royal Palace through a hail of gunfire in an attempt to seek him out. The only thing that saved her was the royal guard, who spotted Helen sprinting through the garden and brought her to safety.

Things eventually calmed down, and Helen found her father and the rest of her family, safe and sound. Tragically, the reunion was short-lived.

]]> 7. Her Family Was Blackmailed Everything came crashing down on June 10, 1917. The Allies threatened to invade the Greek port of Piraeus if Princess Helen and the royal family didn’t make themselves scarce—and quickly. With no other choice, Helen’s family went into exile, and Helen left the only home she’d ever known. And as if it wasn’t enough for Helen to have to lose her home, another tragedy made things about a thousand times worse for the young girl.

]]> 8. She Lost Her Brother Helen’s favorite brother, Alexander, had to stay behind. You see, the Allies weren’t quite ready to establish a people’s republic in Greece, so they needed a legitimate member of the royal family to take the throne. This person needed to be a pliable puppet ruler, and they chose Helen’s brother. As Helen and the rest of the family fled, Alexander became Greece’s new king—and heartbreakingly, Helen never saw her brother, ever again.

]]> 9. Her People Loved Her On June 11, 1917, Princess Helen and the rest of the royal family, sans Alexander, snuck out of the palace—but they did so for a surprising reason. People loyal to the royal family had taken up guard around the palace, refusing to let them leave. Unfortunately, staying wasn’t an option, so the family evaded the mob and soon arrived in Switzerland. There, Helen got another small, hopeful sign that maybe things were about to get better.

]]> 10. She Lived In Exile As it turns out, Helen’s immediate family weren’t the only ones to leave Greece. In a touching display of solidarity, almost everyone in the entire royal family joined Helen in Switzerland, in staunch opposition to the new leadership set up in Greece. Despite the family’s rocky financial situation and her father’s ailing health, being surrounded by her family must’ve given Helen a sense of hope that kept her going.

After a few years, however, Helen met someone that turned her life completely upside-down.

]]> 11. She Met With Disaster In 1920, Helen’s oldest brother, George, got Princess Elisabeth of Romania’s hand in marriage. Extremely happy with the match, Elisabeth’s mother invited George, along with Helen, to visit them in Bucharest, the Romanian capital. Helen accepted the invitation, arriving in early October. A couple of days into her stay, she met their Crown Prince, Carol. The meeting was a disastrous one.

]]> 12. They Were Complete Opposites Princess Helen and Crown Prince Carol couldn’t be any more different if they tried. Helen was every inch the aristocratic princess: kind, graceful, beautiful, and intelligent. Carol liked to party—and bed girls—like a wild animal. Their differences, along with the Queen of Romania’s obvious attempts to play matchmaker, made their initial relationship a frosty one.

Like many things in Helen’s life, however, a tragedy caused their relationship to take an unexpected turn.

]]> 13. Their Love Story Began On October 25, 1920, a telegram bearing devastating news arrived for Princess Helen. Her brother, Alexander, alone in Greece, had lost his life to sepsis. In the face of this tragedy, Helen decided to return to Switzerland. Moved by her sorrow, Carol decided to accompany Helen. On the train ride back, Helen and Carol found out several things about each other that completely changed how they saw one another.

]]> 14. They Fell For Each Other Helen and Carol poured their hearts out to each other. Helen revealed to Carol just how deeply her brother’s passing grieved her, and how Greece no longer felt like home without her brother—her best friend—at her side. Carol told her about a commoner woman named Zizi Lambrino who captured his heart, but who he couldn’t stay with due to their differences in status. Slowly but surely, as the two grew to know each other, they began to fall in love—but not everyone was happy for Helen.

]]> 15. Her Parents Hated Her Fiancé When they arrived in Switzerland, Carol proposed to Helen. Every fiber of Helen’s being wanted to accept Carol’s proposal, but her parents completely disapproved. Carol’s infamous playboy reputation preceded him, and her parents didn’t want him to break Helen’s heart. Helen, however, wouldn’t change her mind. Despite her family’s misgivings, they announced their engagement in November 1920, and for a while, things for Helen started to look up.

]]> 16. She Returned From Exile On November 14, 1920, supporters of Helen’s family won the election against those in power, allowing Helen and her family to return as sovereigns. Helen returned with her new fiancé, taking back her rightful place as Crown Princess. For two months, Helen and Carol explored her homeland, discovering its ancient ruins and seeing the sights of inner Greece. And for Helen, more joy was just around the corner.

]]> 17. She Married Her Prince In a move that must’ve felt oh-so-sweet to Helen, she and Carol married in Athens on March 10, 1921, from where she was once exiled. On top of getting married in the place she called home, Helen also was the first Greek Princess to marry in Athens, and wore a Greek key tiara to commemorate the event. After a short honeymoon, the two returned to Romania, where her life as a Romanian royal began.

]]> 18. Her Married Life Seemed Perfect The two took up residence in chalet Foișor, located just outside of Peleș Castle in the small town of Sinaia. For a while, all seemed well between Helen and her husband. While her husband performed his official duties, Helen used her clout as a royal to become deeply involved in social work and even founded a nursing school in Romania’s capital. However, things started to fall apart, and they fell apart quickly.

]]> 19. Childbirth Almost Ended Her You see, when Helen and Carol returned to Romania, Helen was already pregnant with their son. The pregnancy was a terrible one for Helen, and the birth itself required surgery. This greatly weakened Helen. The doctors forbade her from ever having another child, meaning this baby boy, who she named Michael, would be her only child.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough already, things with her family back in Greece were about to take a nasty turn.

]]> 20. Her Husband Was Unfaithful Another period of unrest in Greece caused her father’s grip on the throne to become tenuous once again. Worried about her father, Helen left to visit him in January of 1922. Tragically for Helen, Carol took this brief period of separation to slip back into his old playboy ways. When Helen returned to Romania, she tolerated his infidelity, for the time being. After all, she had bigger things to worry about.

]]> 21. Her Family Lost Everything In September 1922, a coup ripped the crown away from Helen’s father, forcing him and Helen’s mother into exile in Italy. Devastated by her family’s tragedy, Helen left Romania and stayed with her parents. Things kept getting worse, though. Helen’s father, whose health rapidly declined, passed on in January 1923. Losing her father absolutely broke Helen’s heart, and she was about to lose more than that...

]]> 22. Her Husband Grew Suspicious Helen and Carol’s relationship were already on the rocks—but it was nothing compared to what came next. Several things ended the relationship between them for good. Helen, understandably, wasn’t really in the mood to be a loving partner in the bedroom. Carol, however, was hurt by her rejection and began suspecting her of having an affair.

Their inability to reconcile with each other became too much, and the two began to drift apart. When Carol met a new love, it became the final blow.

]]> 23. She Was Blamed For Everything In the summer of 1924, Carol met and fell in love with a woman named Elena “Magda” Lupescu. Eventually, Carol renounced his right to the throne in order to live out his life with Lupescu, which devastated Helen. To make things even worse, her mother-in-law thought Helen was partially to blame for Carol’s decision to leave. Helen weathered her mother-in-law’s accusations and did everything she could to prove her wrong.

]]> 24. She Tried To Save Her Marriage Despite everything, Helen must’ve believed that she and her husband could turn things around. She wrote to Carol, begging him to return. When that didn’t work, she tried to convince the Romanian politicians to not remove Carol from the line of succession. This didn’t work—if anything, it made the government move things along even more quickly.

Soon, they made her son, Michael, the new heir apparent, and gave Helen the title of Princess of Romania. That title, sadly, turned out to be an empty one.

]]> 25. She Had No Power In July 1927, the King of Romania lost his battle with cancer, meaning Helen’s son, at just five years old, ascended to the throne. Until her son came of age, a Regency Council, headed by Helen’s brother-in-law, led the country. However, Helen was not a part of the Regency Council and held no political power in Romania. She was effectively reduced to being a figurehead, and things were about to get worse.

]]> 26. She Gave Up On Him Helen continued to try and convince Carol to return, but her efforts were in vain. Her futile attempts, along with the dawning realization that Carol’s return put her son’s position as heir in jeopardy, caused her attitude towards him to slowly change. Helen eventually requested a divorce from Carol herself, which he eagerly agreed to.

The two officially separated on July 21, 1928. That, however, wasn’t the end of things between her and her now ex-husband.

]]> 27. Her Husband Returned Despite Carol renouncing the throne, he still had many supporters that wanted to see him take his rightful place as Romania’s ruler. This, along with her mother-in-law’s increasing unhappiness with Helen, put a dark cloud over Helen’s life with her son. In an act of betrayal, Helen’s mother-in-law began orchestrating her son’s return as king, eventually succeeding.

In June 1930, Carol returned to Bucharest to cheers and celebration. Helen was the only one not celebrating.

]]> 28. She Did Anything For Her Son In order to meet with his son, Carol had to go through Helen, and so, he requested an audience with the Princess. Her reaction was surprising. Helen went through with the meeting with about as much enthusiasm as someone finding a slug in their shoe, but, for her son’s sake, she extended her friendship to her ex-husband.

She definitely wasn’t about to forgive him for all that he put her through, but other powers at play certainly did all they could to convince her otherwise.

]]> 29. She Pretended To Be Happy In the weeks following their meeting, Romanian politicians and church officials pressured Helen to resume her life with Carol and to accept the crown alongside him. Helen reluctantly agreed but demanded a separate residence from him. For a while, the two kept up appearances by showing up to events together in public and occasionally taking their meals together.

Helen could almost pretend they were a happy family, but Carol’s shenanigans quickly brought Helen back to reality.

]]> 30. She Couldn’t Be Queen In August of 1930, the Romanian government requested Carol to sign a decree that confirmed Helen as Her Majesty, the Queen of Romania. In an incredibly petty move, Carol struck out the title, replacing it with Her Majesty Helen, refusing to give her the title of Queen of Romania. This infuriated Helen and postponed the coronation. Their strained relationship strained even further, and when Carol’s lover, Lupescu, arrived in Romania, everything went completely sideways for Helen.

]]> 31. She Was Exiled (Again) First, Carol dealt her a heartbreaking act of betrayal. He effectively took her son away from her, only allowing her to see him in exchange for her political silence. Eventually though, he just decided to exile her outright, forcing her to consent to a separation agreement in October 1931. He kept Helen isolated, away from anyone able to lend her a hand. This was a humiliating blow for Helen, but she wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

]]> 32. She Fought Back After a period of negotiations, Helen wrangled a significant amount of money from Carol, got the right to spend four months per year in Romania, and the right to see her son abroad two months per year. It was likely more than what Carol planned to give to Helen, and for Helen, it gave her a small win over her ex-husband.

In November 1931, Helen left for Germany, but the distance between them didn’t make things easier for Helen in the slightest.

]]> 33. She Took Revenge In September 1932, Helen took an opportunity to get a little payback. Carol made two very odd demands of Helen in return for allowing her to receive her son for visits: Michael could not wear shorts in public, and Helen could not be in photographs with her son. Helen made a very public statement by allowing both to happen at the same time during one of Michael’s visits, royally angering Carol. This was exactly what Helen wanted, and she used his anger to begin a violent press campaign against him.

]]> 34. She Angered Her Allies Helen granted an interview with The Daily Mail, hoping to sway public opinion in her favor. To further enrage Carol, Helen returned to Bucharest with Michael and threatened him with legal action. She even tried to get both the Romanian government and Princess Elisabeth involved. Neither party helped much, and in fact, Elisabeth was so scandalized by the interview in The Daily Mail that the two got into a fistfight over it!

This was the last straw for Carol—he banished her from Romania, permanently. This seemed like a loss on the surface, but being banished ended up working out surprisingly well for Helen.

]]> 35. She Was Bribed Now permanently living in Italy, Helen found a sense of stability and still got to see her son for two months out of the year. Unfortunately, the arrival of WWII quickly dashed her dreams of a tranquil life. Germany forced Carol to abdicate the throne, and Helen’s 18-year-old son became King under the watchful eye of the dictator Ion Antonescu.

Antonescu, in an attempt to cozy up to Michael, gave Helen the title Queen Mother of Romania on September 8, 1940, and persuaded her to return to Bucharest. With some trepidation, Helen made the return to Romania but quickly found out that not all was well.

]]> 36. She Put Her Life In Danger Helen arrived in Romania on September 14, 1940, but soon learned that Antonescu had no plans to let her do as she pleased. He controlled her and her son with an iron grip, reducing them to carrying out nothing more than ceremonial duties. Helen would not let this stand though and began to guide her son through this dangerous game of politics.

Helen outwardly supported the regime while undermining their efforts—and this put her in grave danger.

]]> 37. She Saved Others At A Cost During this period of time, Helen pulled off a series of risky political maneuvers—but one was so dangerous, it’s unforgettable. Yup, that’s right, our girl Helen helped protect Jewish citizens during WWII. She personally spoke to Antonescu to halt their deportation, using her political connections to support her appeal.

Eventually, she managed to force Antonescu to emancipate portions of the Jewish population. Although this was a great victory for Helen, it painted a giant target on her back.

]]> 38. She Was Accused Of Treason The relationship between Helen and Antonescu continued to get worse. Helen openly disapproved of Antonescu’s use of the Romanian army, further breaking things down between the two. When Michael organized a resistance against Antonescu, it was the last straw, and it triggered Antonescu’s wrath. He accused Helen of whispering plans for treason into her son’s ear and pulled out the ultimate threat.

]]> 39. She Overthrew A Dictator Antonescu let Helen know, in no uncertain terms, that he would abolish the monarchy if any more treasonous plots cropped up. Despite the threat, Helen and Michael did not back down, and on August 23, 1944, Michael overthrew Antonescu in a royal coup. Things after the coup moved very quickly for Helen. For their safety, Helen and Michael moved in with Princess Elisabeth, despite their tense relationship. Although they won back the crown, the action was just getting started.

]]> 40. She Protected Her Son Helen spent the next several years watching out for attempts on her son’s life. Romania was in political turmoil, and between trying to establish a new government, acts of sabotage all over the country, and the powerful Soviet Union breathing down their necks, Helen had her hands full and then some. Eventually, her son decided that the country needed to establish a democratically elected government.

This greatly displeased the Soviet Union. Despite the danger, Helen supported her son every step of the way.

]]> 41. She Went On Strike In response to the Soviet Union’s disapproval, Helen and Michael essentially went on strike, locking themselves in Elisabeta Palace for six weeks. Their decision left them in an incredibly tough position. In an act that shocked Helen, Western democratic countries refused to support them, and even Princess Elisabeth voiced her support for the communist officials in Romania.

Their positions as sovereign became even more precarious, and the communist officials did not let them forget it.

]]> 42. They Tried To Break Her Throughout the year 1946, the new government gained more and more power, while Helen remained stuck in the palace, which was slowly falling apart. Helen and Michael had no access to running water three hours every day, and didn’t even have electricity most of the time—unsurprisingly, the new government was in no hurry to help.

Eventually, WWII wound down to an end, but peacetime did not turn Helen’s fortunes around. If anything, things somehow got worse.

]]> 43. She Lost It All After the signing of the Paris Peace Treaties on February 10, 1947, Helen and Michael became completely deprived of any royal duties at all. Eventually, an invitation to the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II of England and Prince Philip gave Helen an excuse to travel abroad and escape Romania, even if just for a little while.

She took the time to visit family and even had the opportunity to watch her son fall in love with Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma. Eventually, and despite multiple warnings not to do so, Helen and Michael returned home—and they found themselves far from welcomed.

]]> 44. She Tried To Hang On To Power The new government in Romania had secretly hoped for Helen and Michael to stay abroad, allowing them to abolish the monarchy without fuss. Their return, however, forced the new government to confront the two directly, and they demanded that Michael abdicate. Michael refused, stating that the people should be able to vote upon a decision like this.

Helen and Michael, however, underestimated how desperate the new government was, and did not expect their ominous and chilling threat.

]]> 45. They Threatened Her The new Romanian government presented them with an absolutely disturbing choice. If Michael did not abdicate, they would execute 1,000 student prisoners who disagreed with the new government, without mercy. This piece of blackmail worked. Michael abdicated, forcing Helen and Michael into exile. But because life had more for Helen, it continued to throw her one curveball after the other.

]]> 46. She Barely Scraped By Helen settled with her son in Switzerland, where she had her hands full making sure they had enough money to make ends meet. The Communist Party kicked them out of Romania with no time to take anything with them, so Helen had to scramble for money. She sold off foreign assets when she could, which helped them get by…barely To make things worse, a specter of her past came back to haunt her: her ex-husband.

]]> 47. Her Ex-Husband Returned Carol, apparently hiding in the shadows this entire time, came out of the woodwork to harass Helen, accusing him of keeping Michael away from him. This time, however, Helen didn’t have to face Carol alone. In a shocking twist, Michael finally made one thing clear to Carol: he didn’t want to play nice with the man who openly, and repeatedly, humiliated his mom.

Michael had decided that he didn’t want to see Carol ever again. It was, finally, a victory for Helen, and more small victories were to come.

]]> 48. She Smashed Social Norms The marriage between Helen’s son and Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma was rife with issues, the biggest being their religion. Helen’s son was an Orthodox Catholic, while Anne was Roman Catholic. However, Helen wasn’t about to let religion stand in the way of her son’s happiness, and managed to arrange a wedding between the two in Athens, despite protests from Anne’s family and the Romanian government. Even considering everything else Helen managed to pull off, this was probably one of her proudest moments.

]]> 49. She Fell In Love Once More Towards the end of her life, Helen watched her family grow, now without royal titles or duties. Despite her financial difficulties, she managed to travel frequently to visit family and even began a romantic relationship with King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden. Although the two shared a love of arts, plants, and each other, Helen refused to marry him when Gustaf asked.

Whatever her reasons were, Helen still lived a fulfilling life, right up to when the end loomed near.

]]> 50. She Was A Hero In 1979, Helen became too old to live alone and moved to Lausanne, Switzerland to be near Michael and Anne. One year later, on November 28, 1982, Helen passed at the age of 86. Having lived in relative obscurity, her burial was a quiet one. Eleven years later, for her efforts to save the Jewish population in WWII, the State of Israel awarded Helen of Greece and Denmark, the Queen Mother of Romania, the title of “Righteous Among the Nations.”

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]]> https://www.factinate.com?p=62243 <![CDATA[Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI thought his Pragmatic Sanction would save his dynasty—instead, it became the spark for one of Europe’s worst wars.]]> 2026-08-11T10:55:00+00:00 2026-08-10T12:37:03+00:00 https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-charles-vi-holy-roman-emperor Brendan Da Costa People A Messy Succession Charles VI was like many other , except for one key difference: succession crises seemed to follow him everywhere. From conflicts over his own ascension to the controversy surrounding his heirs, the messy monarch never made things easy for the royal powers of Europe.

]]> 1. He Was Born Royal Carolus Franciscus Josephus Wenceslaus Balthasar Johannes Antonius Ignatius, better and more easily known as Charles VI, was born in Vienna’s Hofburg Palace, on October 1, 1685. With a name as long as his, it was clear that his birth set Charles up for life: the infant Archduke was the second son of Emperor Leopold I and the ruler’s third wife, Princess Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg. Coming from such a powerful family, Charles eyed rule from a young age.

]]> 2. He Took A Shot Being a second son, Charles was not the first in line to succeed his father. The young Archduke yearned to sit upon a throne, however, and in 1700, he saw an opportunity. Following the untimely demise of his cousin, King Charles II of Spain, who had no male heirs, Charles VI decided he was as good a person as any to succeed the monarch, both men being members of the House of Habsburg. He boldly declared himself King of Spain, which caused immediate and long-lasting chaos.

]]> 3. He Launched A Long One Charles’ entitled actions immediately launched a conflict within Spain over the Spanish Succession, and it wasn’t a brief affair. The conflict lasted almost 14 years, during which French claimant Philip, Duke of Anjou (the grandson of the King of France), sought to take the late King Charles II’s throne from the newly declared Charles VI. The Austrian King had his backers, however.

]]> 4. He Had Support Despite his out-of-the-blue claim, Charles VI’s declaration as King had its powerful supporters in Europe. The list of backers included the Kingdoms of England, Ireland, Scotland, Portugal, most of Germany, the Netherlands, and the majority of the Holy Roman Empire, all of whom endorsed Charles’ claim, making him a strong candidate. Such a strong shore of support inspired him to move his stuff in.

]]> 5. He Moved To Spain Though it took him a while, Charles eventually moved to Spain in 1705 to sit his throne. He would stay there for the next six years where, confusingly, he became known as Charles III (for the sake of clarity, this article will continue to refer to him by his later title of Charles VI). Because of the ongoing conflict in Spain, however, Charles was only really able to exercise his rule over the Principality of Catalonia. He also needed to find someone to sit next to him.

]]> 6. His Family Played Matchmaker To secure the family’s hold on the region, Charles’ emperor father and his advisors undertook the task of arranging a marriage for the new Spanish King. Charles’ own interest in marrying a woman was likely limited solely to the political (more on that below), and from a short list of potentially useful alliances, his matchmakers’ attention fell on one clear frontrunner.

]]> 7. He Got Hitched Charles’ family ultimately landed on Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the eldest child of a powerful German duke. With arrangements hastily made, the two were married in 1708, giving Spain a new Queen to go along with its fresh King. At just 23 years old, Charles had done well for himself.

]]> 8. His Wife Was A Smoke Show Charles was well ahead of the curve as a second son. Not only was he now a king, but he had secured a marriage that would shore up his power in the region. He punched above his weight in the looks department, too: her contemporaries said that the very-plain Charles’ new wife, Elisabeth, was strikingly beautiful. But just as Charles started getting comfortable in Catalonia, an unexpected loss in the family pulled him back home.

]]> 9. He Jumped The Queue Despite his heavy hand in arranging the marriage, Charles’ father did not actually live to attend his son’s wedding. Emperor Leopold I passed in 1705, paving the way for the ascension of Charles’ brother, Joseph I. But while Leopold’s reign had been among the longest of any Habsburg’s, Joseph would not be so lucky; the new Emperor perished unexpectedly in 1711, changing Charles’ life forever. He quickly rushed back to Vienna to make an unexpected ascension.

]]> 10. He Became The Top Dog At the time of his brother’s passing, Charles was next in line to succeed the top spot. Upon his return to Vienna in 1711, the King of Spain now ascended to become Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, and ruler of the Habsburg monarchy. It was a dizzying few days for the new emperor, and things hardly calmed down after he took his seat.

]]> 11. He Rocked The Boat It did not thrill some to hear of Charles’ ascension to Holy Roman Emperor. The Kingdom of Great Britain, in particular, was nervous about the prospect of Austria and Spain in personal union (i.e. ruled by the same monarch) and withdrew their support for the Austrian coalition, leading to yet another conflict breaking out in Europe. Luckily, this one didn’t last as long.

]]> 12. He Compromised By 1713, the resulting conflict arising from Charles’ ascension resulted in three different treaties that shifted the balance of power in Europe. They were the Treaties of Utrecht, Rastatt, and Baden. This last one, in particular, came with both costs and gains for Charles.

]]> 13. He Lost A Throne The Treaty of Baden, ratified in 1713, came with strict conditions for Emperor Charles VI. Most devastatingly of all for him was the secession of the Spanish throne to newly recognized King Philip of Spain.

But while he had to give up his crown, Charles received vast swaths of former Spanish territory in return: the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Austrian Netherlands, and the Kingdom of Sardinia were all now ceded to the Austrian monarchy. Despite all these gains, however, Charles was sore at losing his first royal love.

]]> 14. He Missed His OG Kingdom The new emperor was reportedly extremely upset at losing dominion over Spain, having grown attached to the region during his reign there. To honor his time in Spain, Charles adopted ceremonial aspects and rituals of the staid Spanish Habsburg court, keeping the memory alive in Austria. He even dressed the part.

]]> 15. He Adopted An Old Fit As part of his ceremonial plagiarism, Charles also adopted, in his role as Holy Roman Emperor, the dress style of the Spanish monarch. This outfit included a black doublet and hose, black shoes, and scarlet stockings, leaving the emperor looking very dapper as he presided over his vastly expanded empire. With lands secured, Charles could turn his attention to future concerns.

]]> 16. He Was The Last Man Standing The loss of his brother in 1711 left the ascending Charles VI in a unique position: he was now the last male Habsburg heir in his direct line. This left the monarchy in an incredibly precarious position, ensuring a succession crisis was on the menu should something happen to the Emperor. With that in mind, Charles and his wife got to work.

]]> 17. He Had Some Kids Charles and Elisabeth, as all good royal couples do, set to work producing some heirs for the Habsburg throne. In total, the couple sired four children: a son, their first child, Archduke Leopold Johann (born 1716), and three daughters: Maria Theresa (1717), Maria Anna (1718), and Maria Amalia (1724). Tragically, however, not all of their offspring would see adulthood.

]]> 18. He Experienced Unimaginable Loss Devastatingly, only two of Charles’ children survived infancy. His youngest daughter, Maria Amalia, tragically perished at the age of six. And, most significantly for the Habsburg line, Charles’ eldest child, his son and heir Leopold Johann, only lived for about seven months. The only comfort in the face of this unthinkable tragedy came in the form of his two other kids.

]]> 19. His Daughters Made Names For Themselves Charles’ two surviving daughters grew up to become interesting figures in their own right. The younger Maria Anna became Governess of the Austrian Netherlands. His elder daughter, Maria Theresa, had a fascinating life too, detailed here. Despite their successes, however, neither solved the no-male-heirs conundrum, leading the Emperor to take legislative action.

]]> 20. He Secured His Daughters’ Position Habsburg possessions were subject to Salic law, meaning Habsburg women could not inherit in their own right. In anticipation of a male-line succession failure, Charles issued the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, which abolished male-only succession within the monarchy’s realms. With the stroke of a pen, Charles had secured his daughters’ futures—and annoyed a lot of other royals in the process.

]]> 21. He Championed His Own With Charles’ position as the final male heir in the line, it looked certain that a woman would be the next Habsburg monarch following the Emperor’s eventual demise. Charles, however, wanted to make sure it was his direct line that continued. His late brother and predecessor, Joseph I, had also had only daughters, who should have ascended before Charles’ girls. The Emperor did not agree, however, even going so far as to renege on a promise.

]]> 22. He Broke A Pact While Charles’ father, Emperor Leopold I, was still alive, even he could see the upcoming succession crisis, given the serious drought of male Habsburgs. Before his departure for Spain, Charles’ father made both of his sons sign the Mutual Pact of Succession, ensuring the succession rights of Joseph’s daughters over Charles’. With Leopold and Joseph out of the picture, however, Charles reneged on this agreement. To do so, he would need some backup.

]]> 23. He Sought Support With the birth of his first daughter, Maria Theresa, Charles disinherited both of his nieces, ensuring that the succession following his demise would be anything but smooth. To shore up support for his daughter, Charles spent most of the rest of his reign appealing to other European powers for assistance in enforcing his Pragmatic Sanction. He was in a vulnerable position, and the other monarchies knew it.

]]> 24. He Was Disadvantaged The other European powers identified that Charles VI was not in the best negotiating position: in the grand scheme of things, it made little difference to them which Habsburg woman would eventually take over, and so they demanded significant terms from the desperate Emperor. Among these included Britain’s request that Austria close the Ostend Company, a demand that personally stung the Emperor.

]]> 25. He Closed Shop With the steady rise of capitalism in Europe in the 18th century, Charles hopped aboard the gravy train, founding the Ostend Company in 1722, a chartered trading organization that competed with British, Dutch, and French East India Companies. Desperate for his daughter’s succession, however, Charles reluctantly agreed to close the company in exchange for British support. The rest soon fell in line.

]]> 26. He Got His Backers Charles’ appeals were pretty successful (at least for a time), and the list of backers he accrued for his daughter’s claim was impressive. The states that recognized the sanction were Bavaria, Denmark-Norway, the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic, France, Great Britain, the Papal States, Prussia, Russia, Savoy-Sardinia, Saxony-Poland, Spain, and Venice. They decisively stacked the deck against Charles’ nieces, but that didn’t stop the young women from trying.

]]> 27. His Nieces Made Moves The foundations of Charles’ European support began trembling when his nieces both agreed to political marriages. One married a ruler in Saxony, the other a Bavarian noble, and this eventually led those rulers to refuse the bond of the Imperial Diet’s decision on succession. But while his nieces built their base of support, Charles expanded his foothold on the continent too.

]]> 28. He Conquered More Territory Charles VI significantly expanded the Habsburg monarchy during his reign, especially following the success of the Austro-Turkish conflict of 1716-1718. The Austrian victory saw the monarchy add the region of Banat to their territory in Hungary, as well as establishing direct Austrian rule over Serbia and Oltenia, all the way down the lower Danube. Even in compromises, Charles often came out on top.

]]> 29. He Made A Good Trade After the dispute with Turkey came the conflict of the Quadruple Alliance from 1718 to 1720. The Austrian victory in this conflict saw the establishment of the Treaty of the Hague, which resulted in Charles swapping Sardinia to the Duke of Savoy in exchange for the large (though defensively challenging) island of Sicily. Indeed, Charles made a lot of gains, but they presaged a significant loss.

]]> 30. His Support Crumbled Despite his success in shoring up European support for his daughter’s inheritance, Charles’ sanction did not hold everywhere. In total, five European monarchies eventually reneged on the agreement: France, Spain, Prussia, and the two monarchies into which his nieces had married, Bavaria and Saxony-Poland. There were varying reasons for these breakdowns, and some of them shook Europe to its core.

]]> 31. His Allies Turned Following the Treaty of the Hague, Europe enjoyed a period of relative peace. This all shattered in 1733, however, with the outbreak of conflict over the Polish Succession. In the dispute over the throne, Charles threw Austria’s support behind Stanisław Leszczyński.

France took the opposite side, supporting Augustus of Saxony. This proxy conflict between the two monarchies caused France to renege on their previous adherence to Charles’ sanction. Fearing the increasing loss of allies, the Emperor had to bring his daughter into the game.

]]> 32. He Offered His Offspring From her early childhood, Charles considered the potential marriage arrangement for his eldest daughter and heir, Maria Theresa. He first betrothed her to Léopold Clément of Lorraine, but the young man perished unexpectedly of smallpox. In the end, the Emperor settled on Léopold’s younger brother, Francis Stephen. Picking a suitable man was not something Charles limited to just his daughter.

]]> 33. He Slept Around Over the course of his life, Emperor Charles VI had numerous sexual encounters with other men at court. Among these included his Master of Horse, a German/Czech Prince of the House of Schwarzenberg, and a hunter’s boy. He favored one man above all others, however.

]]> 34. He Was In Love The love of Charles’ life was, reportedly, Michael Joseph, the Count of Althann. Althann was a groom of the bedchamber at court, and the Emperor gushed that the Count, whom he regularly slept with, was “my only heart, my comfort [...] my soul mate”. The two enjoyed one another’s company for 19 years until Althann’s untimely demise in 1722, which completely devastated the Emperor. He likely found comfort in his faith.

]]> 35. He Was Pious Charles VI was a devout Catholic his entire life, and he sought to rebuild the religion in Europe following the Reformation. Following the 1718 Treaty of Passarowitz, which saw regions liberated from the Ottoman Empire and incorporated into Habsburg territory, Charles supported the reestablishment of Catholic ecclesiastical structures within these newly conquered lands. He was less tolerant of other faiths, however.

]]> 36. He Limited Others Charles did not have nearly as much enthusiasm for other denominations of Christianity, and he heavily regulated the rights and liberties of other faiths within the empire. He softened somewhat later in life, however, granting old privileges to his Eastern Orthodox subjects. Perhaps he felt he was not long for this world and needed to make amends; he wasn’t far off.

]]> 37. He Went Hunting Throughout his life, Charles was an enthusiastic hunter and often took long excursions to engage in the pastime. In October 1740, he set out on a hunting trip across the Hungarian border. Conditions were treacherous: that month went on record as “the wettest and coldest October in memory”. Those around Charles tried to warn him.

]]> 38. He Ignored Advice The day Charles set out on his hunting trip was a cold one, with pouring rain. By now, the Emperor was frailer than he used to be, and his physicians warned him that he risked his health absconding in such conditions. Eager to hunt ducks on the shores of Lake Neusiedl, Charles threw caution to the wind. His decision would prove fatal for the emperor.

]]> 39. He Got Sick Charles returned from the hunting trip, chilled and soaked to the bone. Staying in his country palace at La Favorita, the Emperor quickly grew feverish and began experiencing colic pain. Charles remained stubborn in the face of illness, however, believing a good meal would fix him up.

]]> 40. He Had His Last Meal Despite his poor condition, Charles insisted that his cooks prepare him one of his favorite dishes: a Catalan mushroom stew. According to Voltaire’s Memoirs, the chefs unintentionally prepared the meal with poisonous mushrooms. Whether true or not, Charles soon found out how they tasted coming back up.

]]> 41. He Purged Whether from the meal, the fever, or a lethal combination of both, Charles was in for a rough evening. His illness worsened significantly, and he spent the entire night between October 10 and 11 vomiting, with little relief. To make matters worse, his attendants employed the best medical practice of the time—which was not a good thing.

]]> 42. His Doctors May Have Hurt Him In a grimly amusing sign of just how little medical practitioners knew about medical practice at the time, some historians believe Charles’ physicians may have treated him with the deadliest go-to cure of the age: arsenic. The dangerous substance was used to cure everything from fevers to stomach aches and many of Charles’ symptoms fit the bill for arsenic poisoning—including the absence of signs of liver failure, which is common with mushroom poisoning.

]]> 43. He Got Moved Whether they used arsenic or not, Charles attendants found their medicinal powers limited this deep into the Hungarian boonies. By the following morning, things did not look good for Charles. His attendants knew they needed better facilities with which to ensure the Emperor received the best treatment. They made arrangements to transport Charles to Vienna in a padded carriage. It was a long, slow journey, and it was all for nought in the end.

]]> 44. He Perished Though he made it back to Vienna in just about one piece, Charles VI succumbed to his illness nine days later, on October 20, 1740. Tragically, he was just 55 years old. Perhaps his untimely demise was avoidable, but contemporaries couldn’t even agree on the cause.

]]> 45. His Loss Is Up For Debate Despite some historians’ belief that Charles’ demise may have been aided by accidental arsenic poisoning, for most others, the two main suspects in Charles’ passing were the cold and the mushrooms. Many simply believed that the sickly emperor spent too long in the harsh, rainy conditions of the Hungarian countryside, and that his immune system was not up to the task.

Still, others blame the potentially poisonous ‘shrooms, with Charles occasionally featured on lists of the fungi’s famous victims. Either way, with the Emperor now deceased, Europe exploded in the face of the shaky condition in which he left his succession.

]]> 46. He Sparked Conflict Upon his passing, Charles’ Pragmatic Sanction, the opus of his life, fell into serious contention. An anti-sanction coalition formed in the weeks following the Emperor’s demise, comprising Bavaria, France, Poland, Prussia, Saxony, and Spain, who all reneged on the agreement and began attacking the Austrian frontier, kicking off the costly conflict of the Austrian Succession. Charles had left his daughter a kingdom, and with it, a massive headache.

]]> 47. His Daughter Came Under Siege Following her father’s passing, the resulting conflict over her succession plagued Charles’ daughter and heir, Maria Theresa, for the next eight years. Speaking to her capability as a leader, she eventually saved her crown and most of her territory. But it came at great cost, and the Empress had her father to blame for some of it.

]]> 48. He Left A Mess The issue of his succession was not the only thing Charles had left unfortified. At the time of his passing, the Emperor left the Habsburg lands saturated in debt, placing Maria Theresa in a difficult position. Indeed, she inherited the Habsburg treasury with only a mere 100,000 florins. And finances were not the only thing she found lacking.

]]> 49. His Army Was Shakey Charles VI had also left for his daughter an Austrian force in bad shape: the sporadic army remained dotted across the empire, located in small, mostly ineffective barracks. As a result, morale was low among the enlisted men and desertion was rife. It was small wonder that Maria Theresa survived, especially after eight years. Her father’s legacy remained largely untainted, however.

]]> 50. He Made The Money In the centuries since his demise, Emperor Charles VI has kept a place as a constant motif on many collectors’ coins and medals. As recently as 2006, Austria minted the Göttweig Abbey commemorative coin, which prominently featured Charles’ portrait in the foreground of the coin’s reverse. It shows that, despite the poor condition in which he left the monarchy, the Emperor still holds goodwill with his people’s descendants.

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