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

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  (#1) Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden

  • Dec. at 60 (1710-1771)

  King Adolf Frederick of Sweden reigned from 1751 to 1771, and he had to share most of his power with the Swedish parliament. On February 12, 1771, Adolf Frederick sat down for a meal of caviar, lobster, champagne, and more, before ordering his favorite dessert, the Nordic pastry semla.

  But he was not satisfied with one serving of the decadent dessert. Oh no. Adolf Frederick downed 14 portions of the sweet treat. This binge literally cost the king his life, and he died that night after complaining of severe indigestion.
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  (#2) Sigurd Eysteinsson

  • Dec. at 783 (874 BC-91 BC)

  Sigurd Eysteinsson was a prominent Viking leader who ruled Scotland's Orkey Islands in the late 9th century. Eysteinsson was a fierce warrior who battled his way into the Scottish mainland. Though he agreed to a peace meeting with Maelbrigt Earl of Scots, the conference soon devolved into a fight.

  Eysteinsson handily defeated Maelbrigt, severed his head, and attached it to his saddle as he fled the battlefield. The motion of the horse's galloping, however, caused one of Maelbrigt's long teeth to scratch Eysteinsson's leg. However, the wound soon became infected, which ultimately led to the Viking's untimely death.
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  (#3) Henry I Died After Going Against His Doctor's Orders And Feasting On Eels

  King Henry I ruled England with an iron fist. One of his weaknesses was lampreys, an eel-like bloodsucker. Henry's physician expressly forbade him to eat lampreys, but the king paid no mind. In 1135, he indulged in them while on a hunting trip and died soon after, likely as a result of the feast.
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  (#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.
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  (#5) George II of Great Britain

  • Dec. at 76 (1683-1760)

  George II reigned as king of Great Britain from 1727 until 1760, a period of tremendous growth and development for both the British nation and empire. Though George was the last British monarch not born in Britain—he spoke English with a heavy German accent—he was also the last monarch to personally fight in a battle.

  But his death was decidedly less regal than his tenure as British king. On October 25, 1760, the 76-year-old king visited the toilet, and while using this un-royal throne, George overstrained himself and died.
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  (#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.
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  (#7) James II of Scotland

  • Dec. at 29 (1430-1460)

  James II's tenure as King of Scotland began when his father was murdered. The remainder of his reign would be defined by his attempts to manage rival clans - and these attempts were downright bloody. Prominent Scots were killed before his eyes, and his own mother orchestrated the bloody downfall of a rival faction.

  Indeed, both his reign and his random death were marked by violence. In 1460, James had laid siege to Roxburgh Castle in the Scottish Borders and wanted to celebrate by firing a salute with giant cannons - James had long been fascinated with the new technology of war. When it was lit, the cannon did not fire like it was supposed to; it backfired, killing the king.
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  (#8) Alexander of Greece

  • Dec. at 27 (1893-1920)

  The 23-year-old Alexander succeeded to the Greek throne in an entirely political move in 1917. Europe was shoulder-deep in World War I, and Alexander's father, King Constantine I, refused to drag Greece into the disastrous war. The Allies then forced Constantine to abdicate in favor of his son, who more or less became a puppet of the Allies; thus, Greece entered the war.

  On October 2, 1920, Alexander was walking on his estate when his dog got into a fight with a monkey that belonged to a member of his staff. While attempting to break up the fight, a second monkey bit Alexander on the leg. The wound became infected, and the infection spread. While he suffered for weeks, royal doctors debated whether to attempt to amputate the bitten leg, unsure whether it would solve the problem or if they would be blamed should it make things worse. The young King Alexander finally died age 27 on October 25, 1920.
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  (#9) William the Conqueror

  • Dec. at 59 (1028-1087)

  King William I of England was a Norman duke who led the last successful invasion of England in 1066, thus ending Anglo-Saxon rule and ushering in a period of elite Norman dominance. He crushed Anglo-Saxon resistance to William's French style of rule and erected stark and oppressive castles to demonstrate Norman might. To his friends, he was known as William the Conqueror. To his enemies, he was William the Bastard. 

  Though William is still known as the "conqueror," death would ultimately conquer him. In 1087, William was doing what he loved best: leading men into battle, sitting astride a horse. The horse bucked in the heat of battle, and William was thrown forward into the saddle's pommel, rupturing his organs. Six weeks passed before William finally died on September 9, 1087.

  But the conqueror's body would undergo further indignities. As monks prepared his body for burial in Caen, they had to stuff William's over-large body into a small sarcophagus. In pushing the body into the box, William's bowels burst, unleashing a sickening smell throughout the building.
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  (#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.
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  (#11) Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

  • Dec. at 55 (1685-1740)

  As the head of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles VI was one of the most powerful individuals in the world during his reign. But power did not make him immortal. In October 1740, Charles died suddenly after eating what may have been poisonous mushrooms.

  His death led to major warfare throughout Europe and its colonies: though he named his daughter Maria Theresa as his heir, she would be forced to defend her inheritance when rivals refused to recognize the succession of a woman to the Austrian throne.
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  (#12) Henry II of France

  • Dec. at 40 (1519-1559)

  Henry II of France inherited one of the most powerful thrones in Europe when he was crowned king in 1547 at the age of 28. He was an active king and loved a good joust. In June 1559, Henry participated in a jousting tournament against a young Scotsman, the Count of Montgomery.

  As the two riders rushed at each other, Montgomery's lance went through Henry's eye and punctured his brain. He suffered for weeks and finally died on July 10, 1559, at age 40.
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  (#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.
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  (#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.
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  (#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.

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