26 Rib-Hadda Flooded Akhenaten With Letters
Around 1350 BC, Byblos king Rib-Hadda sent Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten roughly 60 clay-tablet letters, repeatedly pleading for military help. He complained about attacks from Amurru, rebellious subjects, captured ships, assassins, and the loss of cities under his control. His constant appeals irritated Akhenaten, who demanded in Amarna letter EA 117, “Why do you alone keep writing to me?” The pleas largely went unanswered, and Rib-Hadda’s younger brother eventually forced him into exile.
27. When Bulgarian king Boris III died at age 49 during World War II in 1943, his six-year-old son Simeon II inherited the throne, although a regency council exercised power for him. In 1946, official results showed 95.6 percent supporting the abolition of Bulgaria’s 68-year monarchy and the creation of a republic, forcing the royal family into exile the following day. Simeon returned to Bulgaria in 1996 and formed the National Movement Simeon II party, which won 120 of Parliament’s 240 seats in June 2001. At age 64, he became prime minister on July 24, 2001, and led Bulgaria again until 2005.
28. In 1881, Hawaiian king Kalakaua, the last king of the Hawaiian Kingdom, began a world tour to keep Hawaiian culture and its population from disappearing after the 1878 census counted only 44,088 people of Hawaiian ethnicity. During the 281-day journey through Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, he met world leaders and sought immigrant workers, families, and unmarried women willing to build lives in Hawaii. His negotiations jump-started new immigration, with the first arrivals reaching Hawaii less than a year later. Kalakaua completed the journey on October 29, becoming the first reigning monarch to circumnavigate the globe.
29. On January 20, 1936, dying British King George V asked his secretary, “How is the Empire?” and smiled after hearing that all was well. His final recorded words came later when he muttered, “God damn you!” at a nurse administering a sedative. After George lost consciousness, royal physician Lord Dawson injected fatal doses of morphine and cocaine into his jugular vein, claiming he wanted to preserve the king’s dignity and spare his family a prolonged death. Dawson’s journal revealed that he also timed the death for 11:55 p.m. so The Times could announce it in its morning edition instead of leaving the story to the evening newspapers.
30. From 1780 to 1790, Habsburg emperor Joseph II tried to transform the Habsburg monarchy into an ideal Enlightened state through policies known as Josephinism. He abolished serfdom, removed many restrictions against Jews, granted greater religious freedom to Protestants and Orthodox Christians, and weakened the Catholic Church’s political power. His rapid reforms provoked fierce resistance, forcing him to withdraw many measures shortly before his death in 1790. His brother and successor, Leopold II, reversed several more reforms but preserved parts of Joseph’s program.
31 Taejong’s Horse Fall Entered History
From 1392 to 1865, Korean court historians kept meticulous records of the Joseon Dynasty that eventually filled 1,893 volumes. On March 18, 1404, King Taejong fell from his horse while shooting arrows at a deer, escaped injury, and ordered those around him not to tell the historians. The historian present ignored him and recorded both the fall and Taejong’s attempt to hide it, demonstrating the recorders’ independence from the king.
32. In 1948, Tswana monarch Seretse Khama married a white English woman named Ruth Williams, prompting the British government to exile him from his homeland. Britain allowed the couple to return in 1956 after Khama renounced his claim to the Bangwato chieftainship and returned as a private citizen. He founded the Botswana Democratic Party, led the country toward independence, and became Botswana’s first president in 1966. Under his leadership, Botswana used its diamond wealth to build one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.
33. King James I of Scotland enjoyed playing tennis at Blackfriars Monastery in Perth, but so many balls rolled into an old drainage passage that he ordered workers to block it. Three days later, on February 20, 1437, assassins entered the monastery to murder him. James tried to escape through the drain, but his own blockage trapped him, allowing the assassins to find and kill him.
34. In 1797, Persian king Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ordered a Georgian servant named Sadegh Gorji and a valet named Khodadad Esfahani executed after their loud quarrel angered him. Because it was Friday evening, the Islamic holy day, he postponed their executions until Saturday and ordered them back to their duties unchained. Knowing the king would carry out his order, the two men joined another valet and murdered Agha Mohammad Khan with daggers and knives as he slept.
35. On November 15, 1316, French king John I, known as John the Posthumous, was born in Paris as the posthumous son and successor of Louis X. He became the youngest person to rule France, the only French king to hold the title from birth, and the only one to remain king for his entire life. John died four days later, giving him the shortest reign of any undisputed French king, and his uncle succeeded him as Philip V.
36 Farouk Pickpocketed Winston Churchill’s Watch
Egyptian king Farouk became notorious for pickpocketing after pardoning a thief in exchange for lessons in the skill. In August 1942, he stole a pocket watch belonging to British prime minister Winston Churchill during a meeting, then returned it and dismissed the theft as a practical joke. After a military coup forced Farouk to abdicate and leave Egypt in 1952, authorities examined his abandoned possessions and discovered a large collection of pornography.
37. The so-called Golden Age of Piracy lasted less than 50 years, from the 1680s to the 1720s. Rival European powers authorized privateers to attack enemy shipping, but valuable Caribbean cargoes encouraged some sailors to continue raiding during peacetime. In the 1720s, governments deployed naval forces, offered pardons, and executed captured crews, making piracy increasingly dangerous and less profitable. The Royal Navy killed Welsh pirate Bartholomew Roberts in 1722, helping bring the era to an end.
38. Upon ascending the throne in 1595, Mehmed III, the Ottoman Empire’s 13th sultan, ordered royal executioners to strangle all 19 of his brothers. Such fratricidal successions had occurred before because Ottoman sultans often fathered dozens of children with their concubines, creating numerous potential claimants. Mehmed eliminated every immediate rival and ruled until his death in 1603, when his 13-year-old son Ahmed I succeeded him.
39. According to 1 Kings 11:3, ancient Israelite king Solomon had a harem containing 700 wives and 300 concubines. Solomon, the third king of Israel, reportedly reigned from around 968 to 928 BCE. His wives included Pharaoh’s daughter and women of Moabite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite origin, many of whom refused to adopt Israelite culture and religion.
40. Japan’s monarchy is the world’s oldest continuous hereditary monarchy, officially recognizing 126 sovereigns from Emperor Jimmu to the current emperor, Naruhito. Tradition dates its founding to February 11, 660 BCE, although scholars consider Jimmu and the first 25 emperors mythical, while the historically verifiable line begins with Emperor Kinmei in 539 CE. The main dynasty now has no name, and its members have no family surname, so it is simply called Koshitsu, meaning the Imperial House.
41 Charles II’s Mistress Circled Bestwood
At Bestwood hunting lodge in 17th-century Nottinghamshire, King Charles II and his guests often teased his mistress, English actress Nell Gwyn, for sleeping late and avoiding hunts. Charles reportedly offered her all the land she could ride around before breakfast. The next morning, he found Gwyn already sitting for breakfast after she had ridden out early and dropped handkerchiefs to mark her route around the area that became Bestwood Park. Charles later granted the estate to Gwyn and their son, Charles Beauclerk.
42. On June 30, 1559, French king Henry II entered a jousting tournament in Paris celebrating his daughter Elisabeth’s marriage to Spanish king Philip II. During a match, a lance wielded by Gabriel Montgomery, captain of Henry’s Scottish Guard, splintered against the king’s helmet and drove wood into his eye. Royal surgeons could not cure the wound, and modern analysis suggests that a retained fragment caused an infection inside his skull. Henry died ten days later, and his death significantly accelerated the decline of jousting in France.
43. Before becoming King Edward I of England, Prince Edward became a prisoner of his rebellious uncle, Simon de Montfort. Edward asked his guards for permission to race their horses, then spent the day riding them one pair at a time. When he reached the final fresh pair, Edward mounted one horse and fled, while the exhausted animals could not carry his guards after him. Shortly after escaping, Edward defeated Simon in a bloody battle in 1265.
44. Byzantine emperor Justinian II, nicknamed “the Slit-Nosed,” was overthrown in 695 and had his nose cut off to prevent him from seeking the throne again. Byzantine tradition barred mutilated people from imperial rule, and his enemies exiled him to Cherson in Crimea. Justinian replaced his missing nose with a solid-gold prosthesis and returned in 705 with 15,000 Bulgar and Slav horsemen. He entered Constantinople through an unused water conduit and retook the throne, breaking the tradition meant to exclude him.
45. In 1890, American minister, politician, and historian George Washington Williams traveled to the Congo Free State after meeting Belgian King Leopold II and initially admiring him. Instead, he found Leopold’s private militia enforcing rubber production through slavery-like conditions, physical mutilation, and widespread brutality against the Congolese. On July 18, Williams wrote an open letter from Stanley Falls condemning Leopold and later described the atrocities as “crimes against humanity” in a letter to the United States secretary of state. His writings helped generate international outrage against Leopold’s regime.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 Hassan II Faked Death Midair
On August 16, 1972, four Royal Moroccan Air Force pilots attacked a Boeing 727 carrying Moroccan King Hassan II home from France during a coup attempt. The fighters riddled the aircraft with gunfire, killing eight passengers and injuring 40. Hassan, himself a pilot, reportedly grabbed the radio and declared, “Stop firing! The tyrant is dead!” The rebels believed him and broke off the attack, allowing the damaged jet to land safely and ending the coup attempt.
47. Spanish King Charles II died in Madrid on November 1, 1700, at age 38 after years of poor health. His autopsy described a heart the size of a peppercorn, corroded lungs, rotten and gangrenous intestines, one coal-black testicle, and a head filled with water. The final observation suggests hydrocephalus, although researchers still debate the causes of Charles’s illnesses. His childless death ended Habsburg rule in Spain and helped trigger the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701.
48. At age 48, English King Henry VIII expressed disappointment after meeting 24-year-old German noblewoman Anne of Cleves, but their political alliance required him to marry her in 1540. After their wedding night, Henry claimed they had failed to consummate the marriage and complained that Anne was “nothing so fair as hath been reported.” Six months later, Henry and his supporters testified that the union remained unconsummated and lacked his consent, while Anne received no invitation to testify. Officials annulled the marriage, and Anne accepted the decision in exchange for property, an annual income of 500 pounds, and the title “the King’s Sister.”
49. According to a popular legend, English King Charles I believed black cats brought good luck and adopted one as a pet. When the cat died, Charles reportedly lamented that his good fortune had disappeared. Authorities arrested him for high treason the following day and later executed him.
50. During English King Henry VIII’s reign (1509-1547), the royal household created the position of Groom of the King’s Close Stool to monitor and assist with the monarch’s bowel movements. The groom carried a portable commode, water, towels, and a wash bowl while tracking Henry’s meals to predict when he would need them. Although the duty sounded menial, noblemen and members of the gentry sought the position because it brought private access to the king, high pay, palace lodgings, and other benefits. The royal household retained the office until King Edward VII abolished it in 1901.
RE: Fact #30 (Joseph II’s Reforms Triggered Resistance) – He was a big supporter of the arts and Mozart, and he’s quite prominent in the movie Amadeus. He was described as a wildly ambitious, expansionist despot who wanted to grow Austria’s power through foreign conquest. Frederick the Great even said he was the type of man who could ‘set the world on fire.’ Heavy resistance from the nobility eventually crushed his reforms, and by the end, he was so broken that he wanted his tombstone to read, ‘Here lies Joseph II, who failed in all he undertook.’
Haha, I had no idea the king in Amadeus was so progressive. I love that character and the movie in general.
It’s a fantastic movie. There is this one scene with Mozart, Emperor Joseph II, and other composers that is just mesmerizing and hilarious. Mozart unintentionally humbles Salieri while showing off his brilliance, and the Emperor is fascinating to watch in that moment.
RE: Fact #45 (Leopold II’s Atrocities Inspired Condemnation) – > “” The Congo Free State was Leopold II’s personal property. Belgium only annexed it in 1908, after which it became the Belgian Congo.
It’s wild to think the King’s “private ranch” was thousands of times bigger than his actual country. It still happens, though. The Sultan of Brunei owns a ranch in Australia that’s bigger than the entire country of Brunei.
RE: Fact #18 (George VI Technically Fought Himself) – There’s a hilarious quote from the game Crusader Kings 2: “My Liege, I write to you with shocking news! Roger a Muirebe tried to have me assassinated to make sure I wouldn’t discover his plot to kill Roger a Muirebe. -Your humble Spymaster, Roger a Muirebe.”
After the Russian revolution, a British spy infiltrated the Bolsheviks in what is now Uzbekistan. Once they realized there was a mole, they actually assigned him to track himself down.
During the Troubles in Ireland, British intelligence had an informant inside the IRA known as “Stakeknife, ” who was eventually revealed to be Freddie Scappaticci. His job in the IRA was in the “Internal Security Unit, ” which was responsible for hunting down moles, meaning he was hunting himself. It’s believed he killed or allowed up to 40 people to die to protect his cover, with MI5 and the Royal Ulster Constabulary helping him.
RE: Fact #49 (Charles I’s Lucky Cat Legend) – The cat probably just faked its death and turned him in. Black cats are basically just sneaky double agents.
RE: Fact #31 (Taejong’s Horse Fall Entered History) – And then, I assume, a later recorder wrote down that King Taejong had the first recorder fed to bears?
Seriously, that idiot hiding behind the screen… I can see his hat over the top and I can hear the scratching of his pen.
RE: Fact #10 (Richard Faced Brother’s 80, 000-Mark Betrayal) – Funny enough, the name John Lackland was just his dad Henry II being a jerk because John was the youngest and had no land left to inherit. Henry II was a chaotic guy, and his family was always rebelling against him. His eldest son, Henry the Young King, even rebelled with his other brothers and Eleanor of Aquitaine, but they left John out of it. The revolt was crushed, Eleanor was imprisoned for decades, and John became the favorite just for staying loyal. After Henry II got involved in that Archbishop murder, he conquered Ireland and made John Lord of Ireland, which he immediately regretted because John was such a disrespectful brat that he was pulling on the chieftains’ beards at his own welcome feast. When the older brothers died off and Richard got killed by an arrow during a minor siege, John finally took the throne. His reign was just as messy as his time in Ireland, and he ended up losing most of the Norman lands in France. He was also the reason the Magna Carta was written because he was so miserable to deal with. He even managed to die in a total disaster, losing the crown jewels in the process. Long story short: King John was a petty, awful ruler. And when Richard finally got free, he didn’t even kill him; he just treated him like a misguided kid led astray by bad company and kicked him out.
RE: Fact #10 (Richard Faced Brother’s 80, 000-Mark Betrayal) – Funny enough, I never put it together until this fact that the king in the Robin Hood cartoon is a lion specifically because his historical inspiration, Richard, was known as The Lionheart. King John has been a joke since 1216, so casting him as a thumb-sucking, greedy lion with an ill-fitting crown is actually a pretty perfect take.
RE: Fact #39 (Solomon Had Seven Hundred Wives) – It’s interesting that the Bible viewed this as a boost to his prestige but a failure of his morals. God had already warned them in Deuteronomy 17 not to take many wives so their hearts wouldn’t be led astray. That passage was clearly foreshadowing Solomon’s eventual fall. Solomon is remembered for his wisdom, like the case with the two women fighting over the baby, and building the Temple. He started off strong in his faith, but the story ends poorly because he ignored the warnings about his wives. 1 Kings 11 spells out how his foreign wives turned him toward other gods and away from the Lord, which led to the kingdom eventually being torn away from his son.
I always wondered why, if God supposedly gave him all that wisdom, he couldn’t figure that part out. It made zero sense to me when I was a kid.
I think the takeaway is that even if you have the wisdom to know right from wrong, the temptation of sin is powerful. Even wise people can fall for lust, especially if they start justifying small compromises. Solomon knew his proverbs and had all that knowledge, but when he saw a beautiful woman, he could just toss it all out the window.
So if I’m getting this right, his son was going to be punished for the father’s crimes because of the father’s good deeds? And the son pays for the sins of his father? That seems totally fair. /s
RE: Fact #24 (Felipe VI Owned No Property) – If I’m not mistaken, when someone gives the king a present, it actually belongs to the state, not the king himself.
RE: Fact #46 (Hassan II Faked Death Midair) – I’m Moroccan, and I find it hard to believe this is 100% accurate. People have a tendency to glorify the King. While losing him at that time might have caused chaos, he was also the one setting up the economic platform for his successor.
RE: Fact #21 (Charles II Chartered Royal Society) – A few of my colleagues are Fellows of the Royal Society. During the induction, you have to sign the same membership book as Charles II, all the UK monarchs, and all the previous fellows. You do it with a fancy quill, and apparently, it’s pretty nerve-wracking because you really don’t want to be the one to mess it up.
RE: Fact #13 (Henry II Imprisoned Eleanor Instead) – What people forget is that once Henry died, Eleanor basically ran the show. She served as regent for both Richard and John. Even after 16 years of house arrest, she managed to outlive and outmaneuver almost all of them.
I didn’t realize she held power for that long. It’s wild that John had to sign the Magna Carta just 10 years after she died.
I mean, considering King John’s reign was a total train wreck that lost Normandy to the French, being his regent isn’t exactly a huge flex.
RE: Fact #14 (Mswati III Violated Underage-Sex Ban) – I feel pretty dumb for not realizing Eswatini is just Swaziland renamed eight years ago. I really need to check maps more often.
RE: Fact #11 (Juan Carlos Accidentally Shot Alfonso) – The former King of Thailand likely did something similar, but they just pinned it on the housekeeper.
The Nepali king did the same thing. He killed the king, his brother, the queen, the crown prince, and other family members, then blamed it on a drugged-up crown prince. Only his son and wife survived. His two sisters also died in a weird helicopter crash a few months later.
RE: Fact #26 (Rib-Hadda Flooded Akhenaten With Letters) – Yikes. That is brutal.
That is such a cold burn. It’s right up there with telling someone, “Why are you even here?”
RE: Fact #5 (George III Approved Slave-Trade Abolition) – The British government paid slaveholders to compensate them for their lost ‘property, ‘ resulting in a massive debt of 20 million pounds. British taxpayers didn’t finish paying off the interest on that loan until 2015.
RE: Fact #13 (Henry II Imprisoned Eleanor Instead) – Eleanor had two daughters during her 15-year marriage to the King of France. But after that marriage was annulled and she wed Henry II, she had five sons. I remember reading a chronicle that claimed she did it on purpose to spite her first husband, which I find hilarious.
They had three daughters too, for eight kids total. That’s pretty impressive considering she didn’t have the second batch until she was 29. Safe to say Henry and Eleanor were pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing.
RE: Fact #33 (James I Blocked His Escape) – Interesting side note: The tennis he was playing isn’t the same as the modern game. When a lawn version of racquets was created later, they called it ‘Lawn Tenis’ just to make it sound fancy.
RE: Fact #6 (Henry II Fathered Five Sons) – Eleanor was an incredible figure. She went on a crusade, ran England while Richard was away, and lived to a remarkably old age for the time. She’s easily one of the most fascinating characters from that era, right alongside William Marshal, the legendary knight who rescued her, tutored her son, and eventually saved the Plantagenet dynasty and helped draft the Magna Carta.
William Marshal feels like the inspiration for so many Game of Thrones characters. He was a legendary tournament knight, traveled with the prince, and was still fighting on the battlefield well into his 80s. Total legend.
RE: Fact #25 (George III Restricted Appalachian Settlement) – It wasn’t about empathy; it was about money. Britain couldn’t afford a large enough military presence to defend pioneers from Native tribes, so they tried to contain westward expansion to keep things peaceful.
RE: Fact #16 (Robert Bruce Killed Bohun Instantly) – It wasn’t regret, it was a boast. He was on a pony with only an axe while de Bohun charged him, so he likely expected to die. He dodged the lance and hit him with such force that it killed him right through his helmet. Killing an armored knight in one-on-one combat was a legendary moment that inspired his men to fight like they had divine favor. When he got back, saying it was a waste of a good axe was definitely meant as a joke and a flex. I doubt he had any regrets about that fight at all.
RE: Fact #20 (Baldwin IV Fought Through Leprosy) – The director’s cut of “Kingdom of Heaven” is one of my favorites, and I think it portrays Baldwin IV really well. It definitely made me want to look into the real man’s history, such a tragically short life.
RE: Fact #38 (Mehmed III Strangled Nineteen Brothers) – At least there was a job for everyone!
RE: Fact #19 (Sennacherib Impaled Royal Road Blockers) – – So how’s your cousin? – He got a death sentence and was impaled in front of his house. – I see. Parking ticket? – No, he didn’t rewind the scroll before returning it.
RE: Fact #26 (Rib-Hadda Flooded Akhenaten With Letters) – It’s comforting to realize that human nature really hasn’t changed at all.
You might have already seen this, but behold the oldest example of a bratty person I’ve ever encountered. Same energy as “kids these days.”
RE: Fact #8 (Croesus Destroyed His Own Empire) – The Oracle at Delphi was famous for its cryptic wordplay, which often goaded powerful people into ruining themselves through hubris. Another great example is the birth of the Roman Republic: when the sons of Tarquinius Superbus asked the Oracle who would rule Rome next, they were told the first to kiss his mother would be the victor. While the princes rushed home to find their birth mother, Brutus, who was with them, realized the meaning and kissed the Earth, the “mother” of all people. He ended up leading the revolt to topple the monarchy, showing that a clever interpretation always beats brute force.
RE: Fact #36 (Farouk Pickpocketed Winston Churchill’s Watch) – It is wild to think that what was once the largest porn collection in the world is now available ten thousand times over to anyone with an internet connection. That has to have some kind of effect on society.
RE: Fact #47 (Charles II’s Autopsy Catalogued Decay) – When he saw a portrait of himself, he supposedly teared up and said, “You’ve made me beautiful!” And no, I’m not kidding.
RE: Fact #12 (Sancho I’s Obesity Cost Kingship) – It isn’t surprising that Queen Toda of Pamplona sent her grandson, Sancho I, to Cordoba to be treated by the caliph’s physician, Hasday ibn Saprut. He put Sancho on a liquid diet, but it didn’t work until they realized Sancho was sneaking food. They actually had to tie him up and sew his lips shut with just a straw-sized opening. He also had to exercise daily, take hot baths, and get massages to deal with the skin sagging from the weight loss. He ended up dropping over 100 kilograms in forty days. Good grief.
Sancho I died in 966. One chronicle says he was poisoned by a rebel count who gave him a poisoned apple. It’s pretty likely he didn’t stop at just one. Come on, you didn’t have to do him like that.
Imagine the count worrying about whether he put enough poison in each apple, only to watch the king reach for another one.
RE: Fact #8 (Croesus Destroyed His Own Empire) – Good to know! I’m definitely not asking the Oracle for any stock market advice.
RE: Fact #15 (Alexander’s Monkey Bite Destabilized Greece) – This is a perfect example of why having all-powerful monarchs is a bad idea. Stability becomes far too reliant on just one person.
RE: Fact #41 (Charles II’s Mistress Circled Bestwood) – Nell Gwyn was quite a character. She started as a child prostitute and an orange seller, became a famous actress by 17, and ended up dying rich with a son who became a duke. There is a story that when a mob in Oxford mistook her for her rival, the Duchess of Portsmouth, and started yelling insults, she leaned out of her coach window and said, “Good people, you are mistaken; I am the “Protestant” whore.”
RE: Fact #5 (George III Approved Slave-Trade Abolition) – Thanks for sharing this, especially after that ridiculous claim that American textbooks are all pro-British. It’s wild how ignorant some people are about their own history.
RE: Fact #14 (Mswati III Violated Underage-Sex Ban) – If the only penalty for a crime is a fine, then that law is basically just for poor people.
RE: Fact #42 (Henry II Died After Jousting) – This is a lot like why dueling went out of style. Young officers kept getting themselves killed over petty arguments, and since people don’t like losing their kids to pissing contests, the practice eventually faded away.
RE: Fact #47 (Charles II’s Autopsy Catalogued Decay) – He was quite a guy, that chin was definitely a result of all that inbreeding between uncles and nieces.
RE: Fact #41 (Charles II’s Mistress Circled Bestwood) – The legend of Queen Dido in Carthage feels pretty similar: Dido bargained with the locals, promising them a fortune for whatever land she could fit inside a bull’s hide. They thought they had the better end of the deal, but Dido was smarter than them. She sliced the hide into tiny strips and laid them out in a semi-circle around a hill, with the sea serving as the border. That’s how she ended up ruling Carthage.
RE: Fact #2 (Charles I’s Blood Promised Protection) – It’s wild that people really believed monarchs could cure diseases like scrofula just by touching them. Even after the King was executed, people still viewed his blood as a holy relic. Apparently, the idea of divine right doesn’t just vanish because you lose your head.
RE: Fact #28 (Kalakaua Circumnavigated Globe Seeking Immigrants) – A few more points: ” Kalākaua’s reign is known as the “Hawaiian Renaissance.” ” The ukulele actually arrived via Portuguese immigrants during this time. ” He was coerced under threat of assassination to sign a constitution that restricted voting to wealthy landowners, effectively shutting out most native Hawaiians and explicitly banning Asians from the polls. ” Queen Liliuokalani’s attempt to overturn that constitution is what eventually led to the coup and annexation.
RE: Fact #40 (Jimmu Founded Japan’s Mythical Dynasty) – A lot of that history is just legend without any outside evidence besides the imperial records. The first emperor we actually have proof for lived around 600 CE, not BCE.
RE: Fact #50 (Henry VIII’s Groom Tracked Bowels) – Being the King’s bathroom attendant was a highly prestigious job for centuries. You were one of the only people who ever got one-on-one time with the monarch.
Ironically, King George III had an illness that made him lose his grip on reality, and the main way doctors tracked his recovery after ten years was by checking his urine and feces.
RE: Fact #36 (Farouk Pickpocketed Winston Churchill’s Watch) – His ancestor was a legit military genius who went from being an Albanian grunt to the Viceroy of Egypt, taking down the French, Ottomans, and the Saudi Wahhabists. The quality of the dynasty really dipped over the generations until it ended with this loser.
RE: Fact #43 (Edward I Exhausted Guards’ Horses) – > Through such episodes as the deception of Derby at Gloucester, Edward acquired a reputation as untrustworthy. He had actually signed a truce with the 6th Earl of Derby and broke it before he was even held hostage by Simon de Montfort. Some time after he escaped, Simon ran into a much larger royalist force led by Edward at the Battle of Evesham and was killed and mutilated.
RE: Fact #6 (Henry II Fathered Five Sons) – I was listening to CreativeContessa, and she explained that Louis was a stickler for the religious calendar. They abstained for over 100 days a year, which, combined with the biology of the cycle, likely explains why they only had two daughters in 15 years. Eleanor had her first son with Henry within a year, followed by several more kids. Louis didn’t remarry for two years, and it took another four years after that to have a child. It was 13 years after his marriage to Eleanor ended before he finally had a son.
RE: Fact #25 (George III Restricted Appalachian Settlement) – Like the British wouldn’t have crossed that boundary eventually, right?
RE: Fact #17 (James VI Loved Male Favorites) – Back then, that wasn’t seen as gay. It was just two men celebrating each other’s strength.
RE: Fact #3 (Charles I’s Warrant Warns Monarchs) – Isn’t there a ritual where they knock on the door three times and get denied entry by a parliamentary representative, as a way to formally reject unchecked royal power?
RE: Fact #27 (Simeon II Became Prime Minister) – >Simeon is one of the two last living heads of state from the time of World War II, the only living person who has borne the fact “Tsar”, and one of only two former monarchs in history to have become the head of government through democratic elections.
RE: Fact #28 (Kalakaua Circumnavigated Globe Seeking Immigrants) – He also pushed to bring back Hula, Lua, and surfing after they had been suppressed or pushed into the shadows following the islands’ conversion to Christianity.
RE: Fact #16 (Robert Bruce Killed Bohun Instantly) – Helmets are usually near-impenetrable. I’ve seen big, strong guys test them with two-handed mauls and barely leave a scratch. It must have been the perfect timing, massive strength, and the momentum of both horses moving at speed.
The helmet might only have a ding, but a two-handed maul in the right hands could definitely turn the contents of that helmet into soup.
RE: Fact #23 (Eadwig Allegedly Left For Threesome) – I loved the idea of the archbishop storming in to drag him out of a threesome to finish his coronation. That must have been incredibly awkward.
RE: Fact #29 (George V’s Doctor Scheduled Death) – if I were killed just to keep someone else’s schedule on track, I’d be pretty furious too.
“Sir, we have to kill you.” “What? Why?” “We need the announcement to hit the morning papers instead of the evening ones.” “Oh, alright then.”
Just once, I’d like to cough blood into a silk handkerchief and tell a doctor: “End it, hoss.”
RE: Fact #1 (John of Bohemia Died Charging) – They should have just tied him to some stable horses near the action. He could have swung his sword until he wore himself out and walked away thinking he actually accomplished something.
RE: Fact #37 (Bartholomew Roberts’ Death Weakened Piracy) – The Wild West didn’t even last that long! It is crazy how much impact these short periods of history actually have.
RE: Fact #20 (Baldwin IV Fought Through Leprosy) – It’s interesting to note that King Baldwin IV wasn’t one of the Baldwin brothers, and he never actually appeared in a movie.
RE: Fact #29 (George V’s Doctor Scheduled Death) – Why use cocaine? A huge dose of morphine would have done the job much better than the world’s first speedball.
RE: Fact #22 (Henry VII Pardoned Crowned Impostor) – That implies adults were pulling the strings and he wasn’t “leading” anything, which explains the pardon and the kitchen job. Executing a kid was bad PR even back then, but they couldn’t just let him go either, or someone else might have used him to start more trouble. Putting him in the kitchen where he could be watched was a smart move.