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Curated playlist

Grand Crosses of the Order of Christ (Portugal)

  • NapoleonNapoleon crowned himself emperor with a replica of Charlemagne's crown. The pope had just anointed him.
  • Edward VIIIEdward VIII, King of the United Kingdom, ended his reign with a voice on the radio. On the night of the 11th of December 1936 he spoke to listeners around the world. He told them he had found it "impossible to carry the heavy burden of…
  • George VIGeorge VI, known to his family as Bertie, wrote an anguished line in his diary about the day before his brother gave up the crown. He had gone to London to tell his mother, Queen Mary, what had happened. His entry read: "When I told her…
  • Nicholas IINicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, carried a large dragon tattooed on his right forearm. The artist was Hori Chiyo, and the tattoo was a souvenir of the young heir's visit to Japan. That same journey nearly ended in disaster. At…
  • George IVIn April 1830, the Duke of Wellington wrote down what King George IV had eaten for breakfast. There was a pigeon and beef steak pie, most of a bottle of Moselle, a glass of dry champagne, two glasses of port and a glass of brandy. A large…
  • Francis II, Holy Roman EmperorOn August 6, 1806, Francis II ended the Holy Roman Empire with a single signed declaration. He was its last emperor.
  • Ferdinand VIISpain's people called Ferdinand VII "the Desired One" before they came to call him the Criminal King.
  • Wilhelm IIWilhelm II, the last German Emperor, spent much of his adult life holding a pair of white gloves in his left hand. The gloves made that arm look longer than it was. He reigned from 1888 to 1918 over a country that had become Europe's…
  • Napoleon IIINapoleon III escaped a life sentence by walking out of prison dressed as a laborer.
  • Louis XVIIILouis XVIII spent twenty-three years as a king without a kingdom. He took the French throne in 1814.
  • Edward VIIEdward VII was barely a month old on the 8th of December 1841 when he was created Prince of Wales. He would carry that title until the 22nd of January 1901, a span of 59 years and 45 days. No heir in British history had waited so long, and…
  • Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and GothaPrince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha never wore a crown, yet the clerk of the Privy Council, Charles Greville, once wrote of him: "He is King to all intents and purposes." Albert was the husband of Queen Victoria, and Greville's line…
  • Carol II of RomaniaCarol II of Romania fled in 1940 as gunmen fired on his train. It carried 30 truckloads of his fortune.
  • Aga Khan IVAga Khan IV, born Shah Karim al-Husseini, never appeared in gossip columns. Yet in 2013 Vanity Fair estimated his fortune at over US$13.3 billion. Forbes placed him among the world's fifteen richest royals, even though he held no political…
  • Alexander III of RussiaAlexander III of Russia answered an Austrian ambassador's threat by twisting a silver fork into a knot.
  • Konrad AdenauerObservers said Konrad Adenauer became West Germany's first chancellor by one vote, his own. He was 73.
  • Alexander I of RussiaAlexander I of Russia died in 1825, but a legend says he faked it. The story claims he became a Siberian hermit.
  • Frederick William IIIFrederick William III, King of Prussia, was born in Potsdam on the 3rd of August 1770 into a dynasty celebrated for iron will and military genius. He had neither. A boy so reticent that he habitually omitted personal pronouns from his…
  • Nicholas I of RussiaOn his first full day as tsar in 1825, Nicholas I ordered troops to crush a revolt.
  • Leopold II of BelgiumLeopold II of Belgium was the second king of the Belgians, and in 1908 he lost the Congo. The entire archive of the Congo Free State was then burned. Leopold told an aide that, although the colony had been taken from him, "they have no…
  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand of AustriaArchduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was shot in Sarajevo wearing a coat that his own aides could not open. When they tried to loosen it, they discovered that they needed scissors. The outer lapel had been sewn to the inner front of the…
  • Charles IV of SpainNapoleon forced Charles IV of Spain and his son to abdicate at Bayonne in 1808.
  • ChulalongkornKing Chulalongkorn of Siam abolished slavery without a civil war. He avoided the bloodshed he linked to America's.
  • Alexander II of RussiaOn the morning a bomb killed him, Alexander II signed a step toward representative government.
  • Haile SelassieIn 1992, the bones of Haile Selassie I were found beneath a concrete slab on the grounds of a palace. The man buried there had been born Tafari Makonnen. He had ruled Ethiopia as emperor from 1930 to 1974. How does a ruler of such rank end…
  • Leonor, Princess of AsturiasLeonor, Princess of Asturias, turned 18 on the 31st of October 2023 and spent the day swearing allegiance to the Spanish Constitution and to her father, King Felipe VI. She took the oath before a joint session of the Spanish Parliament.…
  • Michel NeyMarshal Michel Ney gave the order to fire at his own execution. Napoleon had called him "the bravest of the brave."

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