– Henry II rode his horse so frequently that he was bow-legged.
To celebrate the coronation of king Richard II on July 16, 1377, fountains of wine were opened across London.
– The first king of the House of Lancaster, Henry IV was the first king since the Norman Conquest to be a native English speaker.
In 1520, Henry VIII challenged the king of France, Francis I, to a wrestling match. Henry lost.
– Charles I remains the only English monarch ever to be executed.
– The Vikings sacked Paris in 845 and did not leave until King Charles the Bald paid them 5,670 lbs of silver and gold.
– King Henry V was struck in the face by an arrow in his first battle while leading soldiers.
– The Danish King Harald Blatand ate so many blueberries that his teeth stained blue. “Bluetooth” is named after him.
– The Korean script was a deliberate invention by a king, and is often considered the most scientific writing system in the world.
– King Leonidas was actually 60 years old when he fought king Xerxes.
– In the 19th century when Napoleon III invited the King Siam to a dinner, he gave himself Gold Cutlery, his troops Silver & the King of Siam Aluminum.
– The President of France is also the Co-Prince of Andorra. Therefore, Andorra is the only country in the world that has a democratically elected monarch.
– Emperor of Japan, Akihito, is the only remaining monarch in the world reigning under the title of “Emperor”.
– Genghis Khan wasn’t exactly known for being kind and merciful.
– Timur the Turkic conqueror is said to have beheaded 90,000 people and built towers out of their rotting skulls in Baghdad.
– During his reign, Murad IV, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire killed his siblings, banned smoking and coffee (making their use punishable by death).
– Emperor Sun Hao of China forced his aunt to commit suicide, executed his cousins, and became obsessed with conquering the rival Jin state.
– King John, brother of Richard the Lionheart had his nephew Arthur murdered to remove his most likely competition for the throne.
– Egypt’s last King had an odd habit. Not only was he into partying and gambling, he was also a pickpocket.
– Emperor Qin Shi Huang of China distrusted anyone with an education and not only burned books but buried several hundred scholars alive.
– Ranavalona I of Madagascar kept her country free from British rule by being so ruthless that she managed to cut the country’s population in half.
– In China’s history, there has only been one woman to rule China by herself and that woman was the sadistic murderess Wu Zeitan.
– King Leopold of Belgium enslaved the people of the Congo killing and torturing between 8 and 12 million people in the late 1800s.