As Mel Brooks said in his movie
the History of the World Part One, it's good to be the king. And that's because kings
have limitless wealth, power, and time to do pretty
much whatever they want, but with an
extraordinary life often comes an extraordinary end. So today we're
going to take a look at some of the weirdest
royal deaths in history. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel. After that, leave
a comment and let us know what other royal topics
you would like to hear about. OK, time to take a look
at some royal pains. [MUSIC PLAYING] Back in the late
14th century, it's fair to say that medical
knowledge was nowhere close to where it is today. So when King Charles II
of Navarre became ill his doctors prescribed
soaking his sheets in a solution of distilled wine. The theory was that the solution
would draw the sickness right out of the King, which does
make you wonder if those doctors trained at a medical school or
went to an afternoon mixology class at Chili's. Whatever the case,
Charles had faith in them and had a maid sew
him up in the sheets to really make sure the healing
power of the wine would work. This turned out to be
a hot idea, literally. Accounts differ, but an ember
struck the highly flammable king from either
the maid burning the end of the thread
or coals kept on the bed to keep the king warm. In seconds, he
went up in flames, unable to escape
the Cabernet fabric coffin he'd been sewn into. His terrified maid
ran from the room, leaving Charles to
immolate on the spot. We imagine his estate
did not give her a glowing recommendation letter. [MUSIC PLAYING] King Alexander I
of Greece is one of the most recently
deceased kings on this list, having passed away a little
more than a century ago. So good for him. In 1917. Greece was torn over whether to
join World War I. Ultimately, the political climate forced
Alexander's father Constantine I to abdicate, making Alexander
a king at just 24 years old. Alexander didn't play
a huge role in the war, though he intended
to make his mark by expanding Greece's borders. But first, he had
to walk his dog. This walk was in a private
park outside Athens. And apparently, a few of
the palace workers' monkeys were also wandering around. One monkey, a Barbary
macaque, attacked Alexander's German Shepherd. While trying to separate
them, another monkey attacked Alexander,
with the two primates getting some pretty
nasty bites on the king. Servants flocked
to the royal's aide and cleaned Alexander's
wounds, and the King insisted he was fine. Spoiler alert-- he was not fine. By nightfall, the
bites became infected. Doctors proposed
amputating Alexander's leg. But ironically,
every doctor was too afraid to take responsibility
if the amputation went awry. So nobody did anything. The poor young King of
Greece succumbed to his bites 23 days after the
initial attack. A group of monkeys might not
be able to write Shakespeare, but they can take down a
king like a Shakespeare plot. You might not be familiar
with the name Qin Shi Huang, but you've almost certainly
heard of his famous terracotta army. Consisting of over
8,000 delicately crafted life-sized terracotta
soldiers, the army was built during first emperor
of China Qin Shi Huang's rule. These soldiers were
to protect the emperor in his reign of the afterlife. And frankly, we can't
prove that it didn't work. Building an entire army of
afterlife statue soldiers was a big job. But if anyone could do
it, it was Qin Shi Huang, who united a divided
China and introduced common systems for money,
writing, and measuring. But the terracotta
army was actually Qin Shi Huang's backup plan. Plan A was just to
never die, which certainly seems like the way
to go if you could pull it off. And he was convinced
he could pull it off by drinking mercury. Of course, we now know that
mercury is highly poisonous. But Qin Shi Huang learned
that one the hard way. He drank too much honey
and mercury-laced wine, and it killed him. Kings and wine do
not seem to mix. In his burial, his grave-diggers
may have inadvertently put rivers of mercury
into the tomb itself. On the downside, the area
is considered highly toxic. On the upside, the
tomb of Qin Shi Huang has not been
disturbed to this day. It's not the kind of
immortality he was looking for, but it's better than nothing. [MUSIC PLAYING] Based on bits of writing
about his symptoms, scholars had long
speculated that King Herod the Great, ruler
of ancient Judea, passed away due to
a kidney condition. But we imagine Herod
would have gladly traded that for what he really had
because scholars increasingly believe that the king actually
suffered from gangrene. That's a condition where
the lack of blood flow causes necrotic
tissue, which can lead to all sorts
of serious problems, including maggot infestation. Unfortunately for
Herod, his gangrene was located mainly
in his genitals. Don't Google that. It's not worth it. Herod may have gotten
this rare infliction in a few different ways. An infection in his
abdomen could have spread, or the king may have
contracted gonorrhea, which is a thing kings
tended to do in those days. However he contracted
it, the ultimate outcome of Herod's gangrene
was a painful demise. [MUSIC PLAYING] William the Conqueror is known
for, well, conquering stuff. He became the first
Norman King of England after defeating the
Anglo-Saxons in 1066. And he was famous
for his victories on the battlefield, which
is where he met his end. An athletic figure
in his youth, William grew overweight later in life. While riding his
horse into battle, William's belly was thrust
into the saddle's pommel-- the little knobby
thingy at the front. Back then, pommels were wooden
sometimes fused with metal and quite high. History tells us William's
belly struck the pommel with such force that his
internal organs ruptured, and he perished shortly after. That was bad, yes. But it was really
just the beginning of William's problems. His body was quickly looted,
with the thieves leaving the King naked in the dirt. Then fires broke out in the
village, delaying his funeral. And when it was finally time
to lay the king to rest, the body had bloated so
much that it wouldn't fit into the stone sarcophagus. As the monks stuffed
him into the tomb, his bowels burst releasing
a horrendous stench for the grieving
audience in the building. We're told "Candle in
the Wind" was played. [MUSIC PLAYING] King Bela I of Hungary
was doing as well as a monarch in the
11th century could. He waged a successful war
against the Holy Roman Empire to keep Hungary's
independence and was about to begin another
battle to further stake his claim as king. But while Bela was
great at winning wars, he wasn't quite as good
at choosing a contractor. While he and his
men were celebrating for this forthcoming
battle, he sat on his throne and it collapsed. The king sustained
injuries and died. In other words, he
fell from the throne by falling from the throne. Irony is a real
Hungarian B word. [MUSIC PLAYING] They say it's bad luck to get
a nosebleed on your wedding night. But they say it's
worse luck to die from a nosebleed on
your wedding night, or they probably started saying
that after Attila the Hun died. In 453 CE, Attila
took yet another bride and celebrated by
getting absolutely tanked because he was a man
who respected tradition. The next morning, the
soldiers could not find their esteemed leader. As they burst into
Attila's tent, they found his new bride
weeping over his lifeless body. It appeared that
Attila had gotten a nasty nosebleed in his
sleep and in a freak accident had perished as a result. There have been rumors
that there was sabotage connected to his death. But most believe it was natural
and that the Conqueror may have actually suffered
a fatal stroke rather than a runaway nosebleed. And we can't examine a body
because Attila's tomb is lost. Legend says his troops
diverted a river to find the perfect
resting spot for Attila and then released the water
back to its original path to hide his grave forever. But they told that same
story about Gilgamesh in ancient Mesopotamia. So it could be just a myth. In conversations about
health insurance, people often say
how important it is to be able to
choose your own doctor. But George V got to
choose his own doctor, and it didn't work out so great. Long story short-- the doctor
offed him, not by accident, and kept the secret the
remainder of his life. In 1936, George was very
ill, and his doctor, the flawlessly named
Lord Bertrand Dawson, was by his side
in his final days. What exactly led the doctor
to make the, let's say, questionable call of killing
the king is up for debate. It's possible that
the queen or prince asked him to do it so
that the King wouldn't suffer needlessly. But no one really knows. What we do know is that at
least part of the decision came down to Dawson wanting
the news of the king's death to break in the morning
paper rather than the less appropriate evening journals. Yes, that's right. Dr. Dawson took
the king out early in order to catch
the right news cycle. Hey, if it bleeds, it leads. [MUSIC PLAYING] The easiest way to get a
kingdom is to inherit it. The second easiest
way is to have your aunt, Empress
Elizabeth of Russia, win the Russo-Swedish War and
pretty much just plop you down on the throne. And that's how King
Adolf Frederick of Sweden got his kingdom. That being said, Adolf
was more of a figurehead than a real king, and he
didn't have much power. Still, he made the best of
it and spent most of his time hosting lavish parties, which
is nice work if you can get it. In 1771, King Adolf
hosted a grand feast for the holiday of
Fettisdagen, or Fat Tuesday. And this time, Adolf
really went all out, eating lobster, caviar,
fish, sauerkraut, and semla, a type of cream-filled
buns, which were simply to die for, literally. He ate 14 servings of the
semla, and the overindulgence led to digestive tract issues
that ultimately did him in. Sounds like a heck
of a Mardi Gras. [MUSIC PLAYING] By most accounts, Edward
II was not a great king. He lost the land his
father had conquered. He angered the nobility by
giving high-standing roles to his father's enemies, as well
as one of his possible lovers. And he royally
ticked off his wife, which turned out
to be a big mistake because she eventually
overthrew Edward with help from her
lover, replacing Edward on the throne with his own son. But the circumstances around
King Edward II's death have long intrigued
scholars because there are two very different
stories floating around. The more widely
accepted story is that Edward was
imprisoned in a castle and had his ticket punched
in 1327 by a red hot poker. The other story is that
Edward escaped the castle and was still alive
until at least 1330, but this story is
less well accepted. So unfortunately, it's looking
like the poker for you, Edward. So what do you think? Which of these rulers
had the weirdest death? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History. [MUSIC PLAYING]
