Royalty

For many women over the centuries, marriage to a royal consort has not been the fairytale we believe it to be. They battled drunk husbands, loveless marriages, led coups, killed off husbands, or sometimes quietly waited for good fortune to come their way. These women took fate ...read more

Fashion has always played a role in politics. Monarchs and heads of state have used clothing to cultivate an image, and in some cases their styles became so iconic that they filtered into the mainstream. From Julius Caesar to Nelson Mandela, check out 10 of history’s most ...read more

In passing legislation to allow Emperor Akihito to leave his throne, Japan’s parliament acted in response to the emperor’s own wishes. Last August, Akihito made a rare televised address to the nation, saying his health problems and advancing age would make it hard for him to ...read more

According to Bedell Smith, the trouble started even before they were married. Charles, it seems, stumbled into the marriage—press speculation of their affair reached such fever pitch that his father, Prince Philip’s, advice to either end the relationship or propose, forced ...read more

The color purple’s ties to kings and queens date back to ancient world, where it was prized for its bold hues and often reserved for the upper crust. The Persian king Cyrus adopted a purple tunic as his royal uniform, and some Roman emperors forbid their citizens from wearing ...read more

1. The Yorks and Lancasters were descended from the same family. The Houses of York and Lancaster both traced their lineage to the sons of Edward III of the House of Plantagenet, who ruled as England’s king from 1327 until 1377. The Yorks were descended from the female relatives ...read more

1. Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (604-562 B.C.)The granddaddy of all mad kings is King Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian ruler whose first-person account of a seven-year descent into animal-like insanity is one of the most fascinating sections of the Old Testament book of Daniel. ...read more

1. Christian Gerhartsreiter: A murderer who pretended to be a RockefellerBorn Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter in 1961 in Germany, this faux Rockefeller arrived in the Unites States on a tourist visa as a teen and by the early 1980s was living in San Marino, California. There, he ...read more

There are many advantages and responsibilities that come with being the reigning monarch of England, but one surprising perk is getting two birthdays each year. This year Saturday, June 11 marks the Queen’s official birthday, and will be celebrated around the Commonwealth. ...read more

Wild rumors and speculation have always surrounded the life of Anne Boleyn, the young noblewoman who became King Henry VIII’s second wife in 1533 only to be cast aside and beheaded three years later. But among the many mysteries concerning the doomed queen, perhaps the most ...read more

Born in 849, Alfred is the only English monarch known as “the Great.” He succeeded his older brother as king of Wessex at age 21 in the midst of a Viking invasion that had already subdued every other Anglo-Saxon kingdom in England. Alfred was able to hold out by retreating to the ...read more

Britain’s monarchy dates back to the 10th century, when the great Anglo-Saxon ruler Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, defeated the last of the Viking invaders to consolidate control of the island nation. The last 12 centuries have seen more than 50 men and women assume the ...read more

1. She was barely five feet tall. Queen Victoria’s outspoken nature and imposing reputation belied her tiny stature–the monarch was no more than five feet tall. In her later years, she also grew to an impressive girth. Some accounts claim she had a 50-inch waist by the end of her ...read more

1. Anna Anderson as Anastasia RomanovIn 1918, Bolshevik revolutionaries murdered the Russian princess Anastasia, along with the rest of her family. However, rumors persisted of her alleged survival for decades and, over the years, several different impostors claimed to be ...read more

Everyone wanted a piece of Richard I after his death in 1199 at age 41. Nicknamed the Lionheart for his battlefield bravery and military shrewdness during the Third Crusade, the medieval king met his end while inspecting a French castle he’d besieged. A crossbow bolt pierced his ...read more

The British ritual of afternoon tea originated when the Duchess of Bedford decided, sometime in the early 1840s, that she was tired of feeling peckish in the middle of the afternoon. A little snack would be just the thing, she thought. Within a generation, the practice of taking ...read more

According to longstanding rules of royal succession in Britain, a first-born princess may only inherit the throne if she has no younger brothers. As a result, some 40 kings have ruled Britain since the Norman Conquest in 1066, but only seven queens. Queen Elizabeth II, who took ...read more

Catholicism in England was heavily repressed under Queen Elizabeth I, particularly after the pope excommunicated her in 1570. During her reign, dozens of priests were put to death, and Catholics could not even legally celebrate Mass or be married according to their own rites. As ...read more