Anastasija Atanasovska
When the royal family is mentioned, we always have a tendency to connect it with perfection. However, reality is very far away from this imaginary picture that we have in the head. Is it the excess of power and wealth the reason for insanity of the greatest leaders in history? Or, were the incestuous relationships in the royal family the cause for producing mentally retarded rulers? Whatever the reason, these are the 23 craziest leaders who went down in history for their bizarre ways of being and ruling as well.
1. Maria I of Portugal
All of her loved ones died one after another and afterwards she was having delusions followed by shrieks through the corridors.
2. Vlad the Impaler
Vlad the Impaler, nowadays known as Dracula is believed to have drunk blood, being a cruel torturer to all of his enemies.
3. Princess Alexandra Amalie of Bavaria
Her obsession with cleanliness and OCD resulted in her wearing only white clothes. She also believed that she had swallowed a whole glass piano when she was a child that stayed inside her for the rest of her life.
4. King George III of the United Kingdom
King George III had a bipolar disorder going from one extreme mania (euphoria) to another extreme depression (sadness).
5. Caligula
If anyone mentioned the word “goat” in Caligula’s presence he would be punished with death.
6. Erik XIV of Sweden
Throughout his reign King Eric went insane and later was imprisoned by his half brother, John III of Sweden. If someone laughed, coughed or whispered in his presence, he would burst into violent rage.
7. Carlos II of Spain
Being a child of an insectuous marriage, King Carlos was a retarded and also a hypersensitive heir.
8. Otto of Bavaria
Apparently Otto had schizophrenia which was the cause for his depression, anxiety and insomnia, as a result of the traumas that he had on the battlefield in the Franco-Prussian war.
9. Juana of Castile
After the death of her husband, King Philip, she was officially declared to be mentally ill, even though she had been insane since childhood.
10. Feodor I of Russia
Some say that he suffered from intellectual and learning disability and he even formed a five-members council to advise him.
11. Justin II of Byzantine
Justin regularly heard voices in his head so, he used to scream and hide under the bed, while organ music was played in the corridors to soothe his paranoia.
12. Charles VI of France
It all started in 1392 when Charles was diagnosed with suffering from an illness which made his hair and nails fall out. The disease turned into a mental illness when he killed four of his own men.
13. Christian VII of Denmark
Christian’s hallucinations and difficulties in speech were a trauma that he had as a child, being beaten repeatedly, until foam started coming out of his mouth.
14. Mustafa I of Turkey
There are assumptions that Mustafa was mad from birth, but his madness got worse because he was locked in a tower, called “The Cage” which had no windows. He had hallucinations there, begging his murdered nephew to release him.
15. Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg
After giving her husband a daughter, instead of a son, she did everything to kill her female child. “Instead of a son, I am given a daughter, dark and ugly, with a great nose and black eyes. Take her from me, I will not have such a monster!”- were Maria’s exact words. However, her insanity didn’t stop there! After the death of her husband, she kept his body above the ground for 18 months, so she could touch him.
16. Ferdinand I of Austria
The only words that the epileptic Ferdinand had said throughout his reign were: “I am the Emperor, and I want dumplings.” Nevertheless, people say that his personal diary was perfectly written, suggesting that he wasn’t mad, but only a product of inbreeding.
17. The Zhengde Emperor of China
The Zhengde Emperor of China was a true hedonist, travelling over the world, while leaving the state affairs unsolved. He used to make his servants dress like merchants while decorating his palace like the town center, so he would feel like a regular person.
18. Farouk of Egypt
This crazy leader was obsessed with mysophobia, which made him look for dirt that didn’t exist. The Farouk of Egypt was also driving only red cars, banning everyone else to have a red car. You couldn’t even dare to pass him with your car on the road because your tires would have been shot out.
19. Qin Shi Huang of China
Huang was the first emperor of China that had so much power to unify all the kingdoms together. He also unified all these crazy measures that people had to follow, for instance: forced people to use the common written language.
20. Charles IX of France
Charles IX of France used to fly into rage most of the time, having an insatiable thirst for blood. He would even torture domestic animals with a knife, while when it came to prisoners, lashing them until they bled was a regular practice.
21. Murad V
The Sultan reigned for 93 days, after being declared to be mentally ill, which might have been a strategical move by his opponents, stopping him to deliver The Constitution.
22. Ibrahim I
Once his son made a joke that Ibrahim didn’t like, so he took a dagger and thrust it into his son’s face, which resulted in a scar that he had for the rest of his life.
23. The Nepalese Royal Family Massacre
The massacre of the Nepalese royal family happened because of the mad Prince Dipendra who killed ten family members during a family gathering, in order to be proclaimed king.
Comments
Loading…