Top 10 Crazy / Insane Royal Family Memeber

Top 10 Crazy / Insane Royal Family Memeber

When someone is talked about as being crazy, they usually aren't the ones calling the shots. However, there have been a few notable cases of these mad men or women, all of royal blood, ruling countries, much to the chagrin of their subjects or much to the delight of their parents who act as regents. Luckily it hasn't happened all that recently -- can you imagine the posh padding required to hold an insane royal? Only the finest 1,000 count Egyptian cotton for the cell walls and a straight jacket made of the best royal purple silk and tied with gold roping.

And hopefully these 10 wackos will stay in the recesses of history and not pop up again -- you know the whole history repeating itself?

Coming up:

10. George III of the United Kingdom
9. Peter III of Russia
8. Princess Alexandra Amalie of Bavaria
7. Ludwig II of Bavaria
6. Otto of Bavaria
5. Juana of Castile
4. Charles VI of France
3. Carlos II of Spain
2. Afonso VI of Portugal
1. Charles IX of France

Source/Other reading:

[regszikora]

They are not fair to George III, he suffered a horrible illness but when he had his full capacity he was a very intelligent, observant, the Farmer King, because he understood farming and breeding of live stock, and tried to end Child labour, slavery, and in many ways before his time, He lost America, yes, keep what became Canada, and gained India and the entire sub-continent. He also wanted further Parliamentary reform, and was a serious patron of the Arts. King George III does not belong on this list at all.

[nunyabiznez]

George III suffered symptoms consistent with porphyria.  At one point he recovered and resumed the duties of the crown thus relieving the regent, the prince of Wales from his duties.  Most likely the prince of Wales knew the cause of his porphyria and was in fact responsible because the king suffered two set backs, the last killed him and each time it was the regent that benefited from the king's illness.   Unlike the other royal nutcases, George III most likely was not naturally insane but rather suffered as the victim of poisoning.

[gittepige]

Rather superficial. Interestingly enough quite a few of the rulers on the list was called mad by the people who wanted to rule in their place. Ludvig II, for example was seen as weird because he did not follow his politicians wishes to go to war, but rather concentrated on building castles, protect culture and had a keen interest in how his subjects were living - mad indeed. Interestingly enough king Ludwig died shortly after a large dispute with the same politicians. He drowned on 27 cm of water - despite the fact that he was an excellent swimmer - and his doctor was also found drowned, just a few meters away.

[emmareese]

Also, Juana of Castile wasn't actually insane. While it is true that she adored her husband, and grieved after his death, most of the stories about her were made up by her father Ferdinand so that she would be removed from power and he could have control of Castile

[lybix]

I love history and have read a lot about some of the people on the list. Just talking about Spain, for example, Juana wasn't mad - it was a political power struggle. While Charles II of Spain had health issues, he tried his best. (Read his biography, it's endearing.) Now Phillipe V had true mental problems, possibly PTSD. He stopped taking care of himself after several of his relatives died. For example, he didn't want to change his clothes and servants had to mend the clothes he was wearing. It's sad that after so many years we still get the story wrong.

[AC-zenh]

The title of this video should be re-named "Royals with the Reputation of being Insane" as its impossible to know for sure what was heresay and what was truth

[Elizabeththegreatest]

Joanna of Castile was not crazy, she was depressed!

[melenatorr]

Your information on both Juana and Peter of Russia is incorrect. Juana was not a necrophiliac; Philip died in Burgos, in the north of Spain, and had wanted to be buried in Granada, in the South. Juana was escorting the corpse, in its coffin, along the extremely difficult roads, in very difficult weather from one end of the Iberian Peninsula to the other. She did open the coffin a couple of times, after hearing it might have been vandalized, but she never made love to it. She did her best to maintain her station in disadvantageous circumstances and was set on protecting her inheritance for her son Charles (who repaid her by keeping her shut up in Tordesillas under the guardianship of the abusive Marques de Denia). She was legitimately the queen of Castile for her lifetime, which ended in 1555, only three years before the death of Charles himself and he was obliged to include her name in all legal documents. Her actual mental state was likely exaggerated by Charles himself, Philip, and Fernando, in order to control her and her rights.

Peter III of Russia was brought up under abusive circumstances and this affected his mental and emotional stability. Though he and Catherine began in a positive space, the political atmosphere of the Russian court as well as Peter's instability led to an acrimonious situation; Peter took to threatening Catherine publicly. It is true that his own political leanings were going to veer Russia away from the state that his predecessor, Elizabeth of Russia, had been steering them, and this greatly facilitated Catherine's coup. We won't know if Peter's political direction would or would not have paid off, but contemporary witnesses do attest that he was emotionally immature and unstable.

[esmeraldagreen]

Vlad of Romania was not crazy, but probably had severe PTSD, his whole family was murdered by nobles, trying to take his father's throne, he and his younger brother were given as hostages to the Ottoman Turks, while in their court both boys were abused and brainwashed into becoming muslims. Vlad resisted but his brother converted. Later in life the brothers became bitter enemies. When Vlad freed due to treaties between the sultan and th holy Roman emperor, he lived in many eastern European courts, barely tolerated, but she's to his military skills he was able to gain support and regain his throne. He then took revenge against those who had murdered his family. Vlad hated the Turks with a passion and vowed that they would not conquer the rest of Europe and that his country would remain Christian. His knowledge of turkish language and battle tactics, and the fanatical loyalty of his soldiers allowed him to defeat the ottomans over and over. He also waged a war of terror, killing and impaling ottoman prisoners as a warning to their countrymen. Vlad is considered a hero in Romenia.

[dylanthompson]

No Henry VI of England? He was the cause of the War of the Roses, and inherited his madness from Charles VI of France.

[valmarsiglia]

I think it's been pretty well established that George III suffered from porphyria, not arsenic poisoning.

[philsaspiezone]

I thought George III had porphyria which caused symtoms of biplolar disorder.

[christinaj.jensen]

I'd say you forgotten Christian VII of Denmark. Also a mad king, with what was believed to be schizophrenia. His story is really sad, because he was betrayed first by his wife, who had an affair with his Doctor (Struense) and had a child with him. Then Struense basically manipulated the King to have him (Struense) act as regent. He did set forth a number of reforms, that were for the better of the Danes, but it was only for a short time, when the King's stepmother led a coup and removed the Queen and Struense. The King lived the following years in seclusion with worsening health and mental state, until his son, the future Frederik VI, staged another coup, which was successful. Frederik acted as regent with his father's consent, when the King was not well and many of those reforms that Struense had instated, were reinstated.

[TheAmazingLucas]

What's wrong with people? How hard is it to follow simple commands. To scream at the top of your lungs and then go limp like a child??! Have some damn respect for yourself.

[MissLizaMay]

I was waiting for Caligula. That guy was just plain bonkers.

[adena]

Where is Queen Elizabeth II's mother in law, Princess Alice of Battenberg?? The poor Princess's schizophrenia was so intense she believed she had a sexual relationship with Jesus... Lack of mental health treatments made it worse

[layla]

It has been suggested that King Otto of Bavaria was suffering from severe P.T.S.D after fighting in some war or another, an unrecognised condition until quite recently.

[sabrinanascimento]

Ludwig wasn't really insane, they wanted Bavaria as a state of Germany, Dr Gudden examined him and realized he wasn't insane, so they had to murder Ludwig and kill Dr Gudden because he would have witnessed the plot to kill Ludwig.

[JamesCook-tjfq]

Ludwig might have been nuts but gave us Oktoberfest!

[aaronpaul]

All of Charles IX siblings were weak kings with bouts of insanity. The valois dynasty in general was always rather cursed. Charles VI of france was also known for being convinced that he was made of glass, and would shatter if touched. He also reportedly thought he was a bird, and had to be placed in a giant bird cage. The irony, is that he was a pretty good king during his times of lucidity, and was known as "the beloved" before his madness took over.

And Britian/england did not defeat france alone under George III. In both wars the english played a minor role, with the germans and later russians fighting the vast majority of the french army. at no point was england stronger than france until the industrial revolution.