The most tragic royal couple:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Carolus_I.jpg/262px-Carolus_I.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Sir_Peter_Lely_001.jpg/180px-Sir_Peter_Lely_001.jpg

Charles I and Henrietta Maria (King and Queen of England 1625-1649): Charles was executed in 1649 after the English Civil War. Henrietta Maria wore black henceforth and lived in France until she died.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Louis_xvi.jpg/250px-Louis_xvi.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/03/MarieAntoinette_by_VigeeLeBrun.jpg/200px-MarieAntoinette_by_VigeeLeBrun.jpg

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (King and Queen of France 1774-1791): The French Revolution saw the couple imprisoned, trialed and later executed on the guillotine.

http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/9463/nicholas_portrait.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Empress_Alexandra_Fyodorovna_-1907.JPG/240px-Empress_Alexandra_Fyodorovna_-1907.JPG

Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna (Tsar and Tsarina of Russia 1894-1917): After the abdication the couple became prisoners of the Bolsheviks and the two of them and their children were executed in Yekaterinburg.

You can suggest others too if you like.

I'm lazy but all most of you know the history anyway. But if anyone wants to tell or talk about the history, go ahead!

A little trivia: did you know that Alexandra Fyodorovna on her state visit to France slept in the same room in Versailles that Marie Antoinette occupied? :creepy:

Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna. The murder was simply barbaric, and on top of that to be committed by hypocritical socialist wannabes made it more tragic.

Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna. The murder was simply barbaric, and on top of that to be committed by hypocritical socialist wannabes made it more tragic.

Adds insult to injury, doesn't it? :mad:

Adds insult to injury, doesn't it? :mad:

Sure does! :mad: One of the most tragic betrayals/murders of all time in my opinion.

Charles and Diana.

Okay, not really. I can't remember the name of the couple. The prince killed his princess and then killed himself. Or possibly they were murdered. Sure wish I could remember their names...I was just reading a book that referrenced them, and I can't even remember what book it was.

Maximillian and Charlotte, Emporer & Empress of Mexico.

They were actually decent people who were puppets of the
French, then left holding the bag when the American Civil War ended and the French left. When Juarez regained power, he had Maximillian excuted, and Charlotte became
insane for the rest of her life (died in early 20s IIRC).

JFK and Jackie O

I definitely think Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandria were the most tragic couple. They genuinely cared for each other, Tsar Nicholas II was completely new to the gig and had to sink or swim, the Tsarina had to constantly worry about her son's hemophilia and try to cope with the fact that she was German and wasn't seen by the people as a real Russian.

Despite that, both the Tsar and Tsarina suck together to the bitter end when the Bolsheviks carried out their execution in 1917.

I do not have much empathy for monarchs.

Of three, Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna is the most tragic.

1 - Entire family murdered

2 - All three royal were eventually replaced by dictators (Cromwell, Napoleon and the Bolsheviks leaders). And the Bolsheviks left the worst legacy.

Anakin Skywalker and Queen Amidala.


:mischief:

I would say Louis and Marie, but my pity is mostly for Louis.

Louis was unable to bear children (for which he was regularly mocked), he was put in a position of power he couldn't possibly have handled with his skillset (Nicholas also qualifies here), Marie's infamous (and false) cake related statement and lavish Vienna lifestyle helped lead to the women's march, and lots more i'm too lazy to present here.

It is a close rase between those two and Nicholas though

Moved to World History

Charles and Diana.

Okay, not really. I can't remember the name of the couple. The prince killed his princess and then killed himself. Or possibly they were murdered. Sure wish I could remember their names...I was just reading a book that referrenced them, and I can't even remember what book it was.

Are you thinking of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his mistress Mary Vetsera? There are still a lot of questions about that (including the murder-suicide and double murder hypotheses).

There are echoes of the story in the movie The Illusionist, although in that one, the mistress is replaced by a prospective fiancee.

Yeah, that's the one. It was the Mayerling that caught my curiosity about it. I think it was in the Presidential Agent series by W.E.B. Griffin. Might not have been those books, but it was him who was writing about it.

Thanks for jogging my memory.

Nick: their kids had diseases and that rasputin jazz, and man their lives sucked for being royalty.

Nicholas had it coming.

edit: and Louis & Marie too, of course

I wouldn't call the fates of Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette tragic. They were so inept & disassociated from French society that they didn't even know there was a problem until the mobs were storming the gates of their palace.

Nicholas II has to take allot of blame for his fate as well. He got Russia into WWI despite it's military being in no shape for the conflict. Then he took direct control of the fight which was ruinous because of his lack of military expertise. He ignored the nobility's pleas to eliminate the astrology & mystical philosophies his wife was engaging in & offending the Russian people by doing so. By the time the Revolution flared up, his military had been terribly damaged & was in no shape to win that fight, either. Total incompetence.

History has shown time & time again that incompetant monarchs don't last long. They should have known better. Nothing tragic about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Marie-Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se-Charlotte

I know it's Wiki, but it should be considered before just dismissing Marie Antoinette as "she deserved it".

MUCH - certainly not all, she was nobility after all, but much of Marie Antoinette's present day image as haughty and utterly disconnected from reality is selective history (ie, disregard all the good, keep only the bad), in great part the product of revolutionary agitators (let's keep in mind, the revolution was not the spontaneous movement it's been depicted as) and XIXth century french historians, whose boundless hatred of the monarchy is no secret.

I can't say it's easy to shed many tears for Charles I. I'm sure it's easy to think of more tragic royals than him.

Bad, but vaguely relevant, joke:

First the dodo died. Then Di and Dodi died. Then Dando died. Dido must be really worried...

The most tragic royal couple:
You can suggest others too if you like.

Nothing tragic about the death of tyrants.

Ive noticed that most people picked the tsar and the tsarina. Most of you are probably frogetting what the tsar was liked before the revolution. Lot of masacres. Exiles. Royal family living in massive,expensive palaces while most of their subjects had little food. I think there was even a masacre at their wedding.

Nothing tragic about the death of tyrants.

If you've read Marie Antoinette's biography, you wouldn't be saying that.

In those times, majority of population died as young/old as those monarchs did. And they had a miserable life. Monarchs on the other hand....

"in those times"? Do you mean the seventeenth century, the eighteenth, or the twentieth? The royals we're being asked to vote about all lived at completley different periods of history...

If you've read Marie Antoinette's biography, you wouldn't be saying that.



Which one? Biographies are often biased and idolize their subjects. Marie Antoinette slept around, spend a huge pile of money and lived life in luxury while her subjects were starving.

Tsar and Tsarina, they were Romantic, as were the Frecnh Monarchs, The English ones though? never heard of them being Tragic :(((((
Yeah but the Simple people did not leave a legacy, the Monarchs did and they are Romantic

The Louis and Marie along with Nicholas were both completley and utterly incompotent and it was due to their incompotence and incapbality of ruling that they brought their nations to collapse and civil war. I have no pity for fools they deserved what they got.

The prince who was killed at the start of WWI he married for love and was shunned for his short life.

What's more, Archduke Ferdinand was a relatively liberal man, who wanted the Slavs to have the same rights in Austro-Hungary as the two "main" nations had... And he was killed by a Serb.

And about "Massacre" the marriage of Nicholas and Alexandra. (Hodinka affair). It was more of a tragic event, for which, hovewer, all the authorities need to take the blame, including the royal couple themselves.

And, BTW, I voted Nickolas and Alexandra - simply 'cause as a Russian (half-Russian, half-Jew, actually) I know much more about them, then about Charles and Louis.

Another BTW: do you know, that when the leader of the Vremennoe Pravitelstvo (Temporary Russian Goverment wich formed after the Revolution and was overthrown by the Bolsheviks) Kerensky wanted to transport the former Tsar with his family to the Great Britain, the goverment of Britain REFUSED, despite the king George II being a cousin to Nicholas? Rather dastardly, isn't it?

silver - yay for not reading previous posts, uh?

Louis and Marie-Antoinette were not nearly as black or evil or stupid as they often get presented in "conventional" western history.

Nothing tragic about the death of tyrants.

All the three royal couples were not tyrants. Tyrants usually live long and happy lives. It is their weak and incompetent sucessors that get abducted and killed.

Napoleon! that was terrible! and the betrayal resulting in pretty pointless death of so many people!!

Charles I??? who can dare mention this? Charles I left at least 2-300 illegetamite children! hahaha

Which one? Biographies are often biased and idolize their subjects. Marie Antoinette slept around, spend a huge pile of money and lived life in luxury while her subjects were starving.

Marie Antoinette: The Journey (http://www.amazon.com/Marie-Antoinette-Journey-Antonia-Fraser/dp/0307277747/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6961580-5535238?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174307954&sr=8-1) by Antonia Fraser. This biography was very well reviewed and Antonia Fraser has a reputation for writing unbiased and thorough historical biographies. She doesn't have an agenda.

Napoleon! that was terrible! and the betrayal resulting in pretty pointless death of so many people!!

Charles I??? who can dare mention this? Charles I left at least 2-300 illegetamite children! hahaha

Never heard THAT about him. Charles II, on the other hand, I've heard called the Father of his Country, or half of it.

I've always felt sorry for Queen Anne of the UK. She had 18 children - 12 of those stillborn. 5 dying before the age of 2 and the other died at 11.

What about Frederick III and Victoria?

Maximillian and Charlotte, Emporer & Empress of Mexico.

They were actually decent people who were puppets of the
French, then left holding the bag when the American Civil War ended and the French left. When Juarez regained power, he had Maximillian excuted, and Charlotte became
insane for the rest of her life (died in early 20s IIRC).

That was my write in vote. Why thier story hasn't been turned into a fantastic historical movie is beyond me...

That was my write in vote. Why thier story hasn't been turned into a fantastic historical movie is beyond me...

True, true. But I've concentrated on the more famous pairs. But that's why I've left an "other" option so we could talk about these cases.

Definately Nicholas and the tsarina.

Loius and Marie Antoinette are a close second.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Their whole story was a tragedy.

Nicholas II. Takes the cake. For those who make the comments about the "deaths of tyrants", what about the deaths of every one of their children?

Honorable mention:
Wilhelm the II, simply for being disgraced at his funeral. Only von Mackensen had the decency to respect his wishes.

Pu-Yi: I don't think it was possible for one man to be so symbolic of every one of China's problems in the 20th century without being responsible for any of them.

Actually, Masako Owada, the wife of the crown prince of Japan, would be a good candidate for Most Tragic Royal today. She was basically forced to marry the crown prince, made to give up her promising career as a diplomat, virtually imprisoned in the palace and put under enormous pressure because it took her many years to produce a child, and when she did, it was a girl. All pretty miserable stuff.

...Nicholas II has to take allot of blame for his fate as well. He got Russia into WWI despite it's military being in no shape for the conflict...


He didn't get himself into WWI, he got pushed into it, because Russia had a duty to protect Serbia from Austria-Hungary.

"in those times"? Do you mean the seventeenth century, the eighteenth, or the twentieth? The royals we're being asked to vote about all lived at completley different periods of history...

Well, Russians in 1910's didn't live any better as French in 1780's, did they?