When someone is said to be crazy, they are usually not the ones calling the shots. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened recently—can you imagine the lavish padding needed to keep a mad king? For the cell walls there is only the finest 1000 Egyptian cotton and a straight jacket made of the finest royal purple silk and tied with gold thread.
And I hope that these 10 wagons will remain in the recesses of history and will never be seen again – you know how all history repeats itself?
10. George III of Great Britain
King George III ruled Great Britain and Ireland for about 59 years of his life. Although somewhat gifted in the military campaign aspect, defeating France in protracted battles once during Napoleon’s reign and once during the Seven Years’ War, his biggest loss other than his marbles was the American colonies. Born in 1738, he probably did not begin to lose his mental health after arsenic poisoning. If someone wanted to kill him, he would have to try harder.
9. Russian ruler Peter III
Lesser known than his wife, Peter III, was Emperor of Russia for about six months in the mid-1700s. But he at least questioned his loyalty to the court nobles, and his wife, Catherine II, met with those nobles and took the throne in a bloodless coup. It is said that he was mad, but relieved that he no longer held the throne – perhaps he really was. Whether he was insane is debatable; however, Peter was mysteriously found dead a few months later, along with several others who might have questioned Catherine’s ascension to the throne.
8. Princess Alexandra Amalie of Bavaria
Although not clinically insane, he exhibited OCD tendencies and thought he had swallowed a piano bottle. It’s probably the crinoline underneath the mid-1800s period dress that made her hips look big, not the piano.
7. King Ludwig II of Bavaria
Madness runs in the family, just ask Princess Alexandra’s nephew, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Although he was declared clinically insane by cabinet members in 1886, it was questioned whether he was actually insane. He had problems with shyness, childish behavior and flights of fancy, including building many castles such as Neuschwanstein Castle. Although his sanity was questioned, his common sense was definitely lacking when he decided that running was not the best option when cabinet members tried to remove him from office not once, but twice.
6. Otto Bavaria
However, Otto was sentenced to Fürstenried Palace for his actual mental illness; meanwhile a regent ruled in his stead.
5. Juana of Castile
Crazy Joan was crazy about her husband, Philip the Handsome. She was known to be attached to her husband even after his death. Maybe that’s why he never ruled Castile – because he was insane and a necrophile. In the 1500s, father and son wanted to rule for her while she was busy mourning her husband, whom she had brought with her on a tour of Spain, and constantly caressing his decaying corpse.
4. King Charles VI of France
Known as Mad Charles, many historians believe that King Charles VI of France suffered from schizophrenia. Shortly after an attempted assassination of a friend in 1392, Charles led an army after the supposed criminal to attack his knights, killing one and wounding others before being dragged from his horse into a coma. For acting insane, he was later removed from power, but not dethroned because he lived nearly 30 years after the first insane.
3. King Carlos II of Spain
Consanguinity can only exacerbate genetic and mental defects, as in the case of King Carlos II of Spain, a descendant of Mad Juana. He was severely disfigured from birth, with a giant elongated head, a misshapen body, and a jaw that could not close so he could eat. Meanwhile, he was born stupid because he was not taught anything, and only in his old age did he go from childish to stupid. Carlos’s relatives all died, leaving him with the throne and an overbearing mother to rule in his place. However, he considered himself magical because of his sufferings, whereas in today’s world.
2. Afonso VI of Portugal
“Belly” became ill at the age of three and remained partially paralyzed on the left side as well as mentally unstable for the rest of his life. In his final days, like many of the other monarchs on this list, he was confined—he was said to wear a groove on the ground from walking because he couldn’t do anything else.
1. King Charles IX of France
Unlike Afonso, King Charles IX of France actually practiced his cruelty against others in his court, including once his sisters, as well as other people and animals. Due to a disfigurement, he was called the Snotty King, and despite being a Mama’s Boy, he was gripped by rage and sadism. In 1561, at the age of 10, Charles ascended the throne after all other eligible heirs had died – through no fault of his own. Like Carlos, it was his overbearing mother who ruled long after her regency had ended when he came of age.
