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Curated category

Monarchs who abdicated

  • NapoleonNapoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica on the 15th of August 1769 to Carlo Maria Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino.
  • Charles V, Holy Roman EmperorThe year 1500 marked the arrival of Charles in the Prinsenhof of Ghent, a Flemish city within the Habsburg Netherlands. A poet at the court reported that…
  • Philip V of SpainPhilip was born on the 19th of December 1683 at the Palace of Versailles in France. He entered the world as the second son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, and his…
  • Mary, Queen of ScotsOn the 8th of December 1542, a baby girl was born at Linlithgow Palace in West Lothian. Her father, King James V, died six days later on the 14th of December.
  • Henry IV, Holy Roman EmperorHenry IV entered the world on the 11th of November 1050 within his father's palace at Goslar. He was the third ruler of the Salian dynasty, which governed…
  • DiocletianIn the year 284, an army gathered on a hill outside Nicomedia to choose their new leader. The soldiers had just discovered that Emperor Numerian was dead…
  • Carol II of RomaniaCarol was born in Peleș Castle as the son of Crown Prince Ferdinand and Crown Princess Marie. He spent his early years under the thumb of King Carol I, a…
  • Louis BonaparteLouis Bonaparte entered the world on the 2nd of September 1778 in Ajaccio, Corsica. This island had been conquered by France less than a decade before his…
  • Charles IV of SpainCharles IV of Spain was born on the 11th of November 1748 in Naples. He entered the world as the second son of Charles III and Maria Amalia of Saxony.
  • Joseph BonaparteGiuseppe di Buonaparte entered the world on the 7th of January 1768 in Corte, the capital of the Corsican Republic. His parents were Carlo Buonaparte and…
  • Alfonso XIIIThe Royal Palace of Madrid held a newborn on the 17th of May 1886. Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, the prime minister, received the infant king naked and placed upon…
  • Louis Philippe ILouis Philippe was born in the Palais-Royal on the 6th of October 1773. He grew up as a Prince of the Blood within the House of Bourbon.