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Royal facts

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Royal facts

Royal facts

  • King Alexandros I of Greece, became king in 1917 but died three years later from blood poisoning after being bitten by his pet monkey.


  • King George VI competed at Wimbledon. He took part in the 1926 Championships, playing in the men's doubles ten years prior to ascending the throne.

  • Boudicca, the famous Iceni warrior queen who nearly defeated the Romans on British soil, is believed to be buried on a site now covered by the number 10 platform of King's Cross Station.

  • "Old King Cole" was a real person, better known as Coel. He was a fourth-century British prince who is said to be the father of St. Helen, who was the mother of Roman emperor Constantine. Coel loved music, which may be why the nursery rhyme makes mention of "his fiddlers three".

  • English King Canute, who ruled over England, Denmark and Norway during the Eleventh Century AD, did not order the sea to halt because he thought that he could stop the tide; he did it to demonstrate to those who sucked up to him that he was not omnipotent.

  • Louis XIV of France hated washing so much he only took three baths in his whole life.

  • The largest king's ransom in history was raised in 1194 by Richard the Lionheart, to buy his release from Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI. The English people were forced to contribute almost 150,000 marks to free their king who ironically didn't speak a word of English and hated being over here.

  • When King John took the English throne in 1199, he threw the mother of all Christmas parties. It is recorded that 200 gallons of various wines, 400 oxen, 1,000 capons, 1,000 eels and 200 lampreys were devoured by his hungry guests.

  • John I of France became king at his birth in 1316 but died five days later.

  • Possibly the most decadent of all rulers was the Moghul Emperor Jahangir from the Seventeenth Century AD. He serviced a harem of 300 royal wives, 5,000 women and 1,000 young men.
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