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Curated playlist

Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary

  • NapoleonNapoleon crowned himself emperor with a replica of Charlemagne's crown. The pope had just anointed him.
  • 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…
  • 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…
  • Hermann GöringHermann Göring swallowed cyanide the night before his hanging in October 1946. He had asked for a firing squad.
  • 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…
  • Maximilian I of MexicoFacing a firing squad in 1867, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico handed each executioner a gold coin.
  • Ferdinand I of the Two SiciliesFerdinand I of the Two Sicilies was raised on purpose to be an unfit king. His regent kept power that way.
  • Victor Emmanuel IIItalian politicians called Victor Emmanuel II an imbecile, yet he became Italy's first king.
  • Joseph II, Holy Roman EmperorEmperor Joseph II issued over 6,000 edicts and 11,000 new laws, yet many subjects came to loathe him.
  • Alexander III of RussiaAlexander III of Russia answered an Austrian ambassador's threat by twisting a silver fork into a knot.
  • Leopold II, Holy Roman EmperorLeopold II abolished the death penalty in Tuscany in 1786. Historians call it the first permanent abolition.
  • Joachim von RibbentropJoachim von Ribbentrop sold champagne before he became Nazi Germany's foreign minister.
  • 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…
  • 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.
  • Paul von HindenburgPaul von Hindenburg left retirement in 1914 and destroyed a Russian army. The battle became known as Tannenberg.
  • Napoleon IINapoleon II was Emperor of the French for only two days. He was three years old and never ruled.
  • Alfonso XIIIAlfonso XIII was carried on a silver tray to Spain's prime minister, already a king.
  • Otto von HabsburgOtto von Habsburg, born to be emperor, spent nearly half a century in exile from Austria.
  • Otto von BismarckIn 1889, Otto von Bismarck was recorded on an Edison phonograph, quoting the opening verse of La Marseillaise among other lines. That recording is the only known capture of his voice. One biographer argues that he chose the French song to…
  • Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-PérigordNapoleon called his own diplomat "shit in a silk stocking." Talleyrand had secretly worked against him.

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