The health of the royals has been a subject of fascination for some time now, and it’s no wonder their illnesses (and deaths!) can have such far-reaching consequences.
In the past, the death of a monarch could spark deadly family feuds, civil wars and revolutions – a far cry from what we experienced after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
It’s unclear whether Buckingham Palace, which is tight-lipped, will ever reveal the Queen’s official cause of death.
But it is reasonable to assume that the queen enjoyed relatively good health, as she lived to the ripe old age of 96.
These other royals weren’t so lucky…
King Henry I: An excess of stings
Lived 1068/1069-1135, died 66/67
The myth of Henry I’s death has endured longer than many facts about his life.
The king is said to have died from eating too many stings – a jawless, eel-like fish that apparently tastes more like beef than barramundi.
The lamprey has a long history as a delicacy among the royal family. It was even baked into a cake for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953.
It is unlikely that this theory of the king’s death had to be taken as fact.
Chroniclers of the time may have been more interested in the moral of the story than in its truth.
Still, it’s a memorable takeaway on the importance of moderation.
Before his death from alleged food poisoning, King Henry I was credited with achieving peace in England and Normandy.
The family feud over who should succeed him culminated in an 18-year civil war known as The Anarchy…and presumably all because of one man’s uncontrollable hunger for an old fish.
King Edward II: A Brutal Ending
Lived 1284-1327, died aged 43
The death of King Edward II is also under discussion. However, his poor leadership is not. The official royal website states that Edward II had “few of the qualities” that make a successful king.
He angered the powerful barons of England by bestowing high offices on his father’s (Edward I) adversaries, as well as his own favorites, including his alleged lover Piers Gaveston.
Edward II was also blamed for granting Scotland its independence from England by losing the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) to Robert the Bruce.
King Edward II’s wife, Isabella of France, eventually gave up trying to wrangle any form of influence.
In 1326, she and her exiled lover Roger Mortimer led an invasion against her husband.
Edward II was imprisoned at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.
According to legend, he was killed by sticking a red-hot poker in his anus.
That year Edward III ascended the throne.
Shortly afterwards, he ordered Mortimer’s execution in a show of force.
Isabella joined an order of nuns until her death.
Queen Mary I: Phantom Pregnancies
Lived 1516-1558, died at age 42
England’s first reigning Queen was known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants while she sought to restore Roman Catholicism to the country.
Determined to produce a Catholic heir, Mary came close in 1555.
Doctors were gathered and a delivery room was put together, but to the surprise of many, the birth never took place (we’ll get there, don’t worry).
The second and final false alarm came when she was 42. She wrote to her husband King Philip II to share the news. He replied that the pregnancy was “of the utmost importance to the cause of religion and the well-being of our empire”.
Again, Queen Mary did not give birth.
Instead, she developed a fever — possibly a sign of the circulating flu — and died a few months later.
Before she died, Mary admitted that the rightful heir to the throne was her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth.
It is believed that Mary suffered from pseudocyesis, a condition that mimics the symptoms of pregnancy.
Had she not died childless, the history books would have told a very different story about England.
King George III: A Reign of Disputed Diseases
Lived 1738-1820, died at age 81
King George III ruled Britain for 60 years and it was six turbulent decades for both the monarch and the monarchy.
Nothing seemed amiss when he ascended the throne at the age of 22.
But five years later, King George III had his first bout of illness – a chronic infection of the chest that brought with it the first signs of mental illness.
Between this episode and his death in 1820, King George III lost both the American colonies and his mental faculties (played in the 1994 British film, The Madness of King George).
He went through periods of acute mania and remission before the death of his daughter sent him into a final relapse.
The cause of King George III’s illness has long been debated.
In the 1960s, it was suggested that he suffered from a hereditary condition called porphyria, which can cause skin problems, abdominal pain, muscle weakness, and psychological distress.
Whatever his condition, it’s possible that the king’s diligent doctors may have accidentally made it worse.
An analysis of King George III’s hair found high concentrations of arsenic.
It is thought that the drugs he was given were contaminated.
Queen Victoria: History-Making Mutation
Lived 1819-1901, died at age 81
Queen Victoria is known as the grandmother of Europe.
She had nine children, 42 grandchildren and 87 great-grandchildren, many of whom married in royalty.
Queen Victoria was also the unwitting carrier of the blood clotting disorder hemophilia B.
Through her, the mutation was passed on to various royal houses.
This included the last Imperial dynasty of Russia – the Romanov family. In 1917, it was decided that the ailing heir, Alexei Nikolaevich, could not take the helm.
His hemophilia set in motion a series of events that ended their centuries-long rule.
In Spain, King Alphonso married Princess Victoria Eugenie, despite being warned against the union.
Two of their sons are said to have haemophilia. The British were accused of defiling the royal blood of Spain, and the marriage was discredited.
At the time, there was no effective treatment for hemophilia.
The disease rarely affects female carriers, while male patients (even heirs to the throne!) rarely survived into young adulthood.
They often bled to death after falls or accidents that a healthy person would have survived.
Queen Victoria herself enjoyed the longest reign of her time.
She died of a stroke at age 81, having shaped the politics of the 19th and 20th centuries with a single, spontaneous mutation.
King George VI: A Line of Chain Smokers
Lived 1895-1952, died aged 56
A tendency to smoke was also passed down the royal line.
King George VI (father of Queen Elizabeth II) was a heavy smoker and the habit led to his untimely death at the age of 56.
King George VI was diagnosed with carcinoma before it was widely believed that smoking even caused cancer.
His doctors kept the diagnosis for him and the public.
It has been suggested that he burned up to 30 cigarettes a day in the weeks before undergoing major lung surgery — his daughter Princess Margaret would eventually exceed that total, reportedly smoking up to 60 cigarettes a day.
In the movie The King’s Speech, Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (who helped George with a speech impediment he had had since childhood) warned him against chain smoking:
Lionel Loge: I believe you will die if you suck smoke into your lungs.
King George VI: My doctors said it relaxes the throat.
Lionel Loge: They’re idiots.
King George VI: They have all been knighted.
Lionel Loge: Then make it official.