Random Stupidest, Least Dignified Ways Royals Have Died (15 items)

(#14) Alexander III of Scotland
- Dec. at 44 (1241-1286)
In his nearly four decades as king of Scotland, Alexander III maintained Scottish autonomy in the face of English and Norwegian aggression. But this most dignified king did not get a dignified death. In 1286, the monarch set out from Edinburgh to meet his new French wife at Fife. The royal party decided to ride through the night, and the weather quickly turned treacherous.

Alexander became separated from the rest of the party and was found dead the next morning. It was believed the king fell from his horse.
(#6) Béla I of Hungary
- Dec. at 47 (1016-1063)
King Béla I of Hungary was a warrior-king praised for protecting the sovereignty of Hungary against the ambitions of the Holy Roman Empire. But Béla's literal seat of power proved his undoing. In September 1063, the throne's wooden structure collapsed under the Hungarian king, injuring him so badly that he died of his wounds.
(#4) Charles VIII of France
- Dec. at 27 (1470-1498)
In 1498, King Charles VIII of France hit his head on the lintel of a door while walking out to watch a tennis match. He hit it so hard, in fact, that he subsequently died from the accident. Today, doctors believe he likely sustained cranial trauma when he hit his head, which is what caused his quick death.

He's remembered for this unfortunate and unlikely cause of death—and for his troops, who spread syphilis across mainland Europe.
(#13) Catherine the Great
- Dec. at 67 (1729-1796)
The death of Catherine II of Russia, AKA Catherine the Great, is one of the most gossiped-about and outlandishly mythical royal deaths in history. Why? Because her servants spread a rumor that she died while having sex with a horse. The truth was far less scandalous.

In reality, Catherine had a stroke in 1796. The royal is recorded as having passed in her bed, though rumors abound she actually died on the toilet—a most unfashionable place for one's death knell to sound.
(#15) William II of England
- Dec. at 44 (1056-1100)
William II, nicknamed "William Rufus," succeeded to the throne of England after the death of his father William the Conqueror in 1087. Like his father, William was not what you would call a popular king. So when he died while hunting in August 1100, suspicions pointed to murder. The arrow that killed William was shot from one his own men, after all.

Walter Tirel fired the arrow that killed William Rufus. Whether the shot was on accident or purpose, Tirel panicked and fled the scene. There have also been suspicions that the king's own brother, the future Henry I, orchestrated the assassination.
(#10) William Adelin
- Dec. at 17 (1103-1120)
William Adelin was the oldest male heir of his father King Henry I of England, so the future of the English monarchy rested on his shoulders. He would die senselessly before ever getting the chance to take up that responsibility.

On November 25, 1120, the royal family was heading back to England from Normandy. The king had gone ahead in his own ship. William Adelin, his illegitimate half-sister Matilda, and their half-brother stayed behind and planned to return in a separate vessel, the White Ship, the fastest ship in the fleet. But by the time the ship set sail, the crew and most of the passengers were rip-roaring drunk, and the revelry only continued onboard the vessel.

When the prince drunkenly urged the captain to catch up with Henry's ship and beat the old man back to England, disaster ensued: the ship slammed into a rock and began to sink. Though William Adelin made it into a lifeboat, he heroically turned back to save his sister. However, other survivors of the shipwreck scrambled to get into his boat, pulling William under and drowning him.

The king lost three children that night and was heartbroken. Henry had no choice but to make his other, legitimate daughter Matilda his heir. Though a civil war would break out challenging her legitimacy as a female ruler, her son—also named Henry—would eventually ascend the throne as Henry II of England and bring stability to a fractured monarchy.