Royals
The Royal Mistress: Often the Most Powerful Person in a King’s Court
Diplomats who wanted to get to the King Louis XV in the mid-18th century had to go through Madame de Pompadour, who would meet with them while applying her makeup in public. Though Pompadour’s official title was as the French king’s mistress, she only slept with him for the first ...read more
How a Scandal Over a Diamond Necklace Cost Marie Antoinette Her Head
It is a story whose characters and actions are so implausible that at times it seems like the wild invention of a work of fiction. But the Diamond Necklace Affair was a scandal that was all too responsible for the eventual execution of Marie Antoinette—the last Queen of France ...read more
Why the Romanov Family’s Fate Was a Secret Until the Fall of the Soviet Union
Czar Nicholas and his family waited patiently in the basement. For much of 1918, the Romanov family had been the captives of the Bolsheviks who overthrew Nicholas II in the bloody Russian Revolution, and they were used to moving from place to place. They had no idea they had ...read more
The Romanov Family Tree: Real Descendants and Wannabes
On the night of July 16, 1918, a Bolshevik assassination squad executed Czar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their five children, putting an end to the Romanov family dynasty that had ruled Russia for more than three centuries. The murder of the Romanovs stamped out the ...read more
Thieves Steal Swedish Crown Jewels, Then Escape By Speedboat
It’s a scene worthy of any Nordic Noir: On a quiet Tuesday morning this week, thieves made off with a selection of Swedish crown jewels, housed in an ancient cathedral—then made their getaway on bicycles and a speedboat. Strängnäs is a small town west of the country’s capital. ...read more
Could Anyone Have Saved the Romanovs?
On July 16, 1918, imprisoned Czar Nicholas II, his wife, and their five children were awoken in the middle of the night and led down to a basement room. Bolshevik secret police stormed in, an order of execution was read aloud, and a storm of bullets fired toward the family. ...read more
Why Peter the Great Tortured and Killed His Own Son
Many monarchs throughout history have killed family members. England’s Henry VIII, for example, beheaded two wives and several cousins. Cleopatra engineered the murder of two siblings (one of whom was also her husband). And Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, ordered the execution ...read more
How Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking Helped Cause World War I
If you were a royal in the late part of the 19th century, there’s a good chance you were related to Queen Victoria—and if Victoria was your grandmother, you were pretty much guaranteed a glamorous royal wedding to a prince or princess of her choosing. “Victoria’s descendants ...read more
7 Images That Changed Royal History
Throughout history, royal families have carefully crafted their images, using artists and photographers to portray them in a majestic and iconic light. Sometimes these images had serious consequences—whether they were the ones intended or not. Here are the stories of some of the ...read more
The Tragic Austrian Empress Who Was Murdered by Anarchists
On April 25, 1854, a shy and melancholy bride married into a major European royal house. Trembling and overcome with emotion, 16-year-old Elisabeth, known by her childhood nickname Sisi, was wed to the 23-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, the absolute monarch of the ...read more
This King Hated Coffee So Much He Tried to Kill Someone With It
There are 92 references to coffee in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, whose protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, wreaks bloody revenge in Stieg Larsson’s Swedish crime thrillers. Indeed, people in the Scandinavian country drink the equivalent of 18 pounds of coffee every year, making ...read more