1 Mary Stewart
The surname Stuart was created by Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots, to ensure that the French said her name correctly since they tend to pronounce “w” like “v”.
2. The Queen Mary of Scotland became queen when she was only 6 days old.
3. During the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, she kept a small dog under her skirts without the knowledge of the spectators.
4. According to legend, in 1845, Ottoman rulerAbdulmejid I declared his intention to send £10,000 to the victims of the Irish potato famine but was instructed to send only £1,000, so as not to donate more than Queen Victoria, who had sent £2,000. He sent £1,000 along with three or five ships full of food.
5. Originally it was suggested that the scroll on the Victoria Cross, Britain’s most prestigious military award should bear the legend ‘FOR THE BRAVE’ but Queen Victoria herself changed this to ‘FOR VALOUR’ as the former implied that not all soldiers were brave.
6 Pope Leo XIII
Before Coca-Cola, there was Coca Wine which consisted of 10% alcohol and 8.5% cocaine extract by volume and was endorsed by Queen Victoria and Pope Leo XIII.
7. Alexander Graham Bell committed a social faux pas when he unintentionally touched Queen Victoria’s hand when he demonstrated the telephone for her. Others in the audience gasped in horror but the Queen only noted how impressed she was with the telephone.
8. Over 5.5 million people died in a famine under the British rule in India. Around the same time, Lord Robert Bulwer Lytton, the viceroy of India was engaged in a fabulous celebration with over 60,000 guests to be wined and fed for the coronation of Queen Victoria as the Empress of India.
9. In the 19th century England, a man named Jack Black was an expert rat catcher. When he caught rats of unusual color, he would breed them and sell the well-bred rats to nobility. Even Queen Victoria kept a pet rat or two.
10. During Queen Victoria’s adult life, she has estimated to have written 2,500 words a day.
11 Queen Victoria’s thoughts
Queen Victoria hated being pregnant, viewed breast-feeding with disgust, and thought newborn babies were ugly.
12. Queen Victoria was raised under a strict set of rules called the Kensington System. This rule included being isolated from most people, never being allowed an hour to herself, and having each of her every action planned beforehand.
13. In 1999, one of the Queen Elizabeth’s royal footmen was demoted from the Buckingham Palace for his party trick, “pouring booze into the corgis’ food and water” and watching them “staggering about” with relish.
14. Empress Catherine the Great founded an orphanage in Moscow to turn Russia’s thousands of abandoned children into model citizens. Over 40,000 were admitted in her reign, but it failed disastrously due to 87% of them dying of disease.
15. Queen Elizabeth has owned more than 30 Corgis over her reign.
16 Chainmail umbrella
Queen Victoria owned a bulletproof chainmail-lined umbrella.
17. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch to be photographed.
18. In July 1878, William McGonagall walked from Dundee to Balmoral, a distance of about 60 miles (97 km) over mountainous terrain and through a violent thunderstorm to perform for Queen Victoria. When he arrived, he announced himself as “The Queen’s Poet”. The guards informed him “You’re not the Queen’s poet! Tennyson is the Queen’s poet!” (Alfred Lord Tennyson was the poet laureate). McGonagall presented the letter but was refused entry and had to return home.
19. Despite being “Bloody Mary”, Queen Mary I of England didn’t kill nearly as many people as her father, Henry VIII. Her inflated infamy was mostly Protestant propaganda.
20. The Egyptians, not Julius Caesar, were the fathers of the modern calendar. The Roman calendar was lunar and had 355 days. Egyptians knew it was 365 days because the river Nile would peak on the same day each year. Caesar learned this from his affair with Cleopatra and created the Julian calendar.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Mark Antony
Cleopatra and Mark Antony formed their own drinking club in 41 B.C. and were known to take part in elaborate games, contests and walk the streets of Alexandria in disguise, pranking the residents.
22. Due to inbreeding amongst the Ptolemies, Cleopatra had only two pairs of great-grandparents. One of those pairs was the son and daughter of the other.
23. Despite the story that Cleopatra killed herself by letting an asp bite her, she most probably killed herself using a mixture of opium and hemlock.
24. Cleopatra was 18 when she married her 10-year-old brother named Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator to become co-ruler of Egypt.
25. Cleopatra was not perceived as very beautiful. Plutarch states that it was her wit and charm that drew people to her.
RE: Fact# 22 – Cleopatra’s Inbreeded Ancestry:Nearly all members of the nobility and royal families from ancient to the early modern era were highly inbred.
What’s truly scary is that it makes you question how much of history was shaped by people who were so intellectually stunted due to generations of inbreeding.
The purpose of a dynasty is to maintain the alliances that keep the ruling elite in power. The aristocracy, senior ministers, and other members of society’s upper crust looked to the king to settle disputes, guard their interests, and coordinate security measures to keep out threats to their power and status (foreign invaders, in other words). In the event of the king’s untimely demise, a struggle for control would ensue, and some of the current elites may be disadvantaged in the new order since the new king might bear a grudge against them or have different demands and desires. So the ruling class strikes deals with the royal family. The king’s heir will continue his father’s ties because they are essential to the family’s financial and physical well-being. Loyalty is paramount in autocracies, whereas competence is merely a bonus.
Better decisions are made in meritocratic democracies than in autocratic ones. Consider the current status of authoritarian regimes, which are rife with problems like poverty, corruption, and incompetence. Unfortunately, democracies are significantly more complex systems that necessitate extensive bureaucracy and specialized knowledge to manage well. Compared to democracies, autocracies are much less complicated.
what do yoy mean, history WAS shaped by people who WERE intellectually stunted… I see no difference whatsoever
Just wanted to note that 75 & 87 are about the same person, the author has just used her Gailic name and the English version.
#95 is misleading, hemp was used to make fabric, ropes, and papers. While it is in the cannabis family, it was not commonly used in the same manner as other cannabis plants, most notably marijuana.
#43. They were introduced at that age, they did not start courting till years after
#99 The Queen (Princess Elizabeth then) got extra ration coupons from members of the public; they wanted her to have a dress befitting of a princess, and they could not afford to spend them all anyway, if there was any fabric to buy! They had to be returned because folk were allowed to give them to someone else!
#1-#100 : most sounded like they fighting to be known as the Worst of the Worse.Except the rare few, like the one intended to donates £10000 but because some Queen just donates £1000 he had to only give lesser than that as not to insult the Queen. It’s defines the attitude of some people’s of th
The list should be named The Worst of the Worse instead. As if they are fighting to be known as one.
And #4 shouldnt be in since this the only times it warms my heart reading the list. Applaud the act by the Ottoman ruler, but the Queen acts of arrogant, careless and hypocrisy reflects in some of her people’s attitude even today. Living the life feeling They r above the Rest privileged fantasy. While the truth is, their minions tries countless ways just to maintains the quo.
Get real, grown up and stop fantasizing