Art, obsession, and identity
When the line of succession dictates that a close relative must die in order for you to take power, family loyalty becomes a little blurry. Many power-hungry rulers in history only got to the top by taking out members of their bloodline. Others simply killed off their closest competitors as a precautionary measure. In certain parts of the world, murdering your siblings to secure your crown was commonplace!A surprising number of the most famous leaders in history are guilty of executing their family members. Click through the gallery to learn about these cruel and tragic circumstances.
Henry VIII is famous for killing two of his wives for questionable reasons, namely unproven allegations of adultery. He was a paranoid ruler who seemed unable to trust anyone around him, whether they were his wives or other family members.
Henry went through so many wives because he was desperate to produce a male heir. He split from the Catholic Church and created his own version of Christianity simply so he could divorce his wife and try again with a new one! It’s not a surprise to learn, then, that he had several cousins and relatives executed for trumped-up reasons because he felt they had too strong a claim to the throne.
Wu Zetian is remembered as the only female ruler of China. She started out as concubine to Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. When he died and was succeeded by Emperor Gaozong, she became his concubine too, and later his wife. No woman had ever been in a relationship with two emperors before!
Emperor Gaozong suffered a stroke and was unable to rule. Wu Zetian stepped up to rule in his place as Empress of China, and she had no intention of giving up this position of power. She even killed her sons because they were heirs to the throne. She ruled for 23 years before finally being unseated in her seventies.
Cleopatra became Queen of Egypt after her father, Ptolemy XII, died. What most people don’t know is that Ptolemy demanded in his will that Cleopatra marry her 11-year-old brother so they could rule together as king and queen. As creepy as it sounds, this was common practice at the time so royalty could keep the power in the family.
They refused to marry each other or share power, which led to a civil war. Cleopatra won with the help of Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, and killed her brother. However, Julius Caesar ordered her to marry her youngest brother. She grudgingly complied with his wishes, but after Caesar was assassinated, she killed her husband and her other treacherous siblings.
Did you know that Attila the Hun had a brother called Bleda with whom he ruled the Hunnish Empire? If not, it’s probably because Bleda mysteriously disappeared 10 years into their reign and was never mentioned again.
Attila and Bleda inherited the throne from their childless uncle, whose last wish was that his nephews rule together. It started out this way, but at some point Bleda is no longer mentioned in any historical texts. One Roman historian who acted as an envoy to the Huns wrote that Bleda’s widow claimed Attila had killed him.
Catherine the Great was born a princess of Prussia. She was married to her second cousin, Peter III, who was heir to the Russian throne. Unfortunately, Tsar Peter was extremely unpopular as ruler. Peter was soon assassinated, and Catherine became Empress of Russia.
She never admitted to playing a role in Peter’s demise, but it is widely believed that she plotted to overthrow him and seize power. To add to the theoretical kill list, Catherine’s son, Paul, claimed that she plotted to have him killed, too. It’s known that she didn’t want Paul to take the throne and tried to secure a different heir, but she died before completing the task.
Herod the Great was the King of Judea and is frequently referenced in the Bible. He was given his place on the throne by aligning himself with powerful Romans. This made him unpopular in Judea, so he married Mariamme, the granddaughter of a Judean High Priest, to win over the people.
Unfortunately, his plan didn’t work. The Judeans were still against him and he believed that his own family members were plotting his downfall. As such, he decided to have Mariamme and their two sons executed, as well as a third son he had with one of his other nine wives.
Elizabeth also killed another of her cousins for his association with Mary. Thomas, 3rd Duke of Norfolk was involved in multiple attempts to take down Queen Elizabeth, who eventually had him executed in 1554.
Shah Jahan of the Mughal Empire had four sons with his wife, Mumtaz Mahal (the Mughal Empire contained parts of modern-day India and Afghanistan). As the Shah grew older, his sons began to fight about who would take the throne.
The second youngest brother, Aurangzeb, convinced his younger brother, Murad, that the two older brothers would make terrible leaders. Aurangzeb and Murad made a plan to kill their older brothers and put Murad on the throne. It turned out that Aurangzeb wanted the throne for himself all along, as he killed Murad once their plan was complete and became emperor himself.
Edward IV and his younger brother, George, worked together to depose King Henry VI during the War of Roses. They were successful, and Edward took the throne. However, his younger brother wasn’t very happy for him.
George linked up with his uncle, Richard Neville, who intended to overthrow Edward and take the throne himself. Neville’s plan failed and George decided to support his brother again. This didn’t last long. When Edward IV found out that his brother was plotting against him for a second time, he put him in the Tower of London and had him executed (by drowning George in a barrel of his favorite wine, if the legend is true).
John the Fearless, also known as the Duke of Burgundy, got into a deadly battle for power with his cousin, the Duke of Orleans. When King Charles VI’s mental health took a serious decline, the two Dukes tried to take advantage of the situation.
They fought each other for greater control of France. Neither was concerned with making it a fair fight, so they resorted to lies, kidnapping, and even going after each other’s wives. Eventually, the Duke of Burgundy hired a gang to beat the Duke of Orleans (pictured) to death in the streets of Paris. He later claimed he did it because the Duke of Orleans was trying to kill the King using black magic.
Richard III is one of the better-known British monarchs thanks to his role as the eponymous hero in one of Shakespeare’s plays. King Richard was just as ruthless and manipulative as Shakespeare described him.
Richard III took the throne when his young nephew, King Edward V, was removed from power due to allegations of bigamy. Better safe than sorry, Richard decided to lock Edward in the Tower of London, along with his other nephew. Neither of the boys were ever heard from again. It’s assumed that Richard had them quietly “taken care of.”
Julia Agrippina was a woman born into Roman royalty. She seemed to have bad luck in marriage, as her husbands kept dropping dead after being poisoned… She had a son called Nero with her first husband. Her third husband was Emperor Claudius. Claudius also happened to be her uncle.
Agrippina convinced Claudius to adopt Nero so that he could be named as heir to the Empire. Soon after, Claudius was mysteriously poisoned, and the teenage Nero succeeded to the throne. It’s assumed Agrippina was involved in Claudius’ death, although it was never proven.
Things didn’t end well for Agrippina, whose attempts to control her son were not successful. He had her exiled, and she began plotting against him. Nero wouldn’t tolerate her attempts to depose him and, eventually, he had his mother executed.
In the Ottoman Empire, it was customary for the heir to the throne to kill his brothers to secure his claim. This was particularly complicated when the Sultans had so many sons! Sultan Suleiman, for example, had sons with his consort, Mahidevran, as well as with some of the concubines in his harem.
Suleiman had a special relationship with one concubine in particular, and broke tradition by marrying her. His new wife, Roxelana, wanted her son to take the throne, instead of his firstborn son from Mahidevran. Roxelana convinced Suleiman that the legitimate son was plotting against him and Suleiman had him killed. In the end, one of Roxelana’s sons inherited the throne. (after killing the rest of his brothers, of course).
A more recent example of a royal turning on their family members occurred in Nepal in 2001. Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah reportedly had a serious disagreement with his father, the King of Nepal, after his request to marry a local aristocrat was denied.
The troubled prince arrived to dinner drunk one night and picked a fight with his family. His brothers put him to bed, but he reappeared later in the evening with an assault rifle. He opened fire on his family, killing his parents and his younger siblings. As soon as his father was dead, he immediately became the King of Nepal. This didn’t last long, as he turned the gun on himself. Technically, he remained the ruler of Nepal for three days while he was in a coma. His surviving uncle took the throne after the prince was pronounced brain dead.
Sources: (Live Science) (Grunge) (ABC)
Historical rulers who killed family members to gain power
Family ties mean little when the crown is on the line
LIFESTYLE History
When the line of succession dictates that a close relative must die in order for you to take power, family loyalty becomes a little blurry. Many power-hungry rulers in history only got to the top by taking out members of their bloodline. Others simply killed off their closest competitors as a precautionary measure. In certain parts of the world, murdering your siblings to secure your crown was commonplace!A surprising number of the most famous leaders in history are guilty of executing their family members. Click through the gallery to learn about these cruel and tragic circumstances.