Saddest Royals

[Biri]

Queen Mother Halaevalu Mata'aho mourning the loss of her son, King George Tupou V:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/03/27/article-2120923-125291E5000005DC-477_470x606.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/03/27/article-2120923-125291E5000005DC-477_470x606.jpg

She lost also her second son few years earlier.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

I'm sorry but some of these suggestions just to be on a whim. Somebody who had something sad happen to them does not equate to being the saddest royal ever.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Totally agree.

Just because someone bawls their eyes out at the funeral of a loved one, or a national tragedy, does not make that person chronically sad.

 

[WreathOfLaurels]

My picks for sad royals:

Most Royal women of the past - your lot was to have no real control over your life. Sadly this could also describe a number of Royal women today.

Monarchs who had to rule during the world wars - one mistake and it could be curtains for you

Royals who were murdered or executed - enough said

Royalty who ended up in exile - this may not seem as bad as being killed but can still be a hard burden to live with.

 

[Curryong]

Katherine of Aragon had a sad life overall. She was married young to a groom who didn't long survive. Then she was married off to a youth who became more tyrannical with each year that passed and in the end just wanted her to die so he could be rid of her. She lost baby after baby. Yet she also gained great consolation from her religion, from her loyal supporters and most of all she had the joy of the love of her only surviving child, Mary. Was she a sad Royal? Yes, but she would probably say she also had compensations.

What about Victoria of Hesse? She had a happy marriage and four loving children, she lived to see her grandson married to the heir to the British throne, but her life was just shot through with sorrow and death from the time of her mother and little sister's demise. (Her little brother had died in an accident earlier.) There wouldn't be too many women whose beloved sisters were murdered, one ended up at the bottom of a mine shaft into which she'd been thrown alive, and the other killed with her husband and children in a cellar in Siberia. Also a sister in law and nephew/grandson in law, granddaughter and great grandchildren killed in a terrible plane crash. Victoria survived it all, but I'd say she was a sad Royal.

 

[Denville]

Among the saddest of all time must be Tsar Nicholas II and his entire immediate family. Many of the Romanovs who were caught in the Revolution came to a sad end too.

Queen Victoria was certainly the most lachrymose, as anyone who's seen the innumerable photographs of her in mourning gazing at busts of the dead Prince Albert can testify to! However she did lose the love of her life at 42 years old and spent almost 40 years of her life as a widow, so that's pretty sad.

hmmm I suppose the Romanovs were sad but I have litlte sympathy. As for Q Vic, yes her losing Albert was a great sadness but she indulged in it, and while she certianly had a lto of sad times in her life, I think that she had a lot of gusto and enjoyed things as well. I'd say that Her daughter Victoria, Empress of Germany, had a pretty hard time.. as a foreigner in the Prussian court, never trusted, then losing her husband when she and he finally had the chance to be Emperor and Empress and make the changes they wanted to make, and then a painful death with her son hostile to her.

 

[WreathOfLaurels]

iIalways thought Vicky's daughter Sophie got it bad too along with her husband Constantine

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Princess Mary, born on October 14, 1690 lived for about two hours. Prince George, born on April 17, 1692, lived but a few minutes. Both were children of Queen Anne of England. How sad for Anne.

 

[Countessmeout]

Catherine of Braganza certainly never had it easy. A Portuges catholic raised in a convent, coming to a protestant country speaking little to no English. Add to that she was unable to have babies, and suffered such post pardum illnesses that she imagined she gave birth. Her husband stood by her, refusing a divorce and insisting she be treated with respect. It could not have been easy watching his mistresses with all their kids. She did eventually learn English and become liked if not loved by the people for her kindness and devotion.

 

[duke of poliganc]

Princess Mafalda of Savoy
she was a prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp during WWII and On 24 August 1944, the Allies bombed an ammunition factory inside Buchenwald. Some four hundred prisoners were killed and Princess Mafalda was seriously wounded: she had been housed in a unit adjacent to the bombed factory, and when the attack occurred she was buried up to her neck in debris and suffered severe burns to her arm. The conditions of the labour camp caused her arm to become infected, and the medical staff at the facility amputated it; she bled profusely during the operation and never regained consciousness. She died during the night of 26–27 August 1944; her body was reburied after the war at Kronberg Castle in Hesse.

Eugen Kogon, author of The Theory and Practice of Hell – The German Concentration Camps and the System Behind Them (1950), page 131; adds more details of Mafalda's death — some of it in conflict with the previous account. After the air raid of 24 August 1944, the princess was wounded in the arm and Dr. Schiedlausky, camp medical office, performed the arm amputation, but his patient did not survive due to loss of blood. Her naked body was dumped into the crematorium, where Father Joseph Thyl, dug it out of the body heap, covered her up, and arranged for speedy cremation. Thyl cut off a lock of the princess's hair, which was smuggled out of camp to be kept in Jena, until it could be sent on to her German relatives. Her death was not confirmed until after Germany's surrender to the Allies in 1945

 

[duke of poliganc]

Princess Fathia Fuad of Egypt
In 1948, she travelled with her sister Faika and her mother to the United States because her mother needed to undergo a kidney surgery . After her mother's surgery succeeded, Fathia settled in the United States for a long time, and in 1949, her sister Faika married Fuad Sadek. After a while and in 1950, she herself married Riyad Ghali, their Royal Advisor, who was 11 years her senior, and was a Christian. In 1950, queen Nazli and Fathia both converted from Islam to Catholicism. She married at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California, USA on 25 April 1950 . King Farouk was shocked and humiliated by the scandal and sacrilege, Farouk, in effect, excommunicated the two women, confiscating their extensive lands and banning them from Egypt forever. Faika went back to Egypt in 1951 to get back her title, and she did, and her husband Fuad Sadek got the "Bekdom" or held the title "Fuad Bek Sadek". Fathia and her mother settled in the United States for the rest of her life, having many troubles that made her reach to living in a small flat in California. Later in 1973, she divorced Riyad Ghali because of bad investments that made them lose almost everything they owned. Later, her mother's jewelry was sold for $1,500,000. Fathia also worked as a cleaning lady to pay her debt. Some time later, her mother sent a request to President Anwar El-Sadat to retrieve their Egyptian passports, which he granted. However, some days before them two going back to Egypt, Fathia was killed by her husband, On 10 December 1976, the day she was returning to Egypt, she went to her ex-husband's house by the excuse of "taking Ghali's mother's (Galila) clothes". When she went, she found Ghali drunk, and not wanting her to leave, and using his revolver, he shot her with 6 shots in her head. Then, Ghali tried to kill himself but he survived. He went to prison. Some reports say he only served a year in prison, due to ill health.

 

[duke of poliganc]

Princess Soraya of Iran
Soraya married the Shah of iran at the Marble Palace in Tehran, on 12 February 1951
but the imperial couple's marriage had disintegrated by early 1958 owing to Soraya's apparent infertility. She had sought treatment in Switzerland and France but with no results . The Shah suggested that he take a second wife in order to produce an heir, but she rejected that option The Queen, however, citing what she called the "sanctity of marriage", decided that "she could not accept the idea of sharing her husband's love with another woman." . She left Iran in February and eventually went to her parent's home in Cologne, Germany, where the Shah sent his wife's uncle, Senator Sardar Assad Bakhtiari in early March 1958, in a failed attempt to convince her to return to Iran. On 10 March, a council of advisors met with the Shah to discuss the situation of the troubled marriage and the lack of an heir. Four days later, it was announced that the imperial couple would divorce. It was, the 25-year-old queen said, "a sacrifice of my own happiness". She later told reporters that her husband had no choice but to divorce her.
In a statement issued to the Iranian people from her parent's home in Germany, Soraya said, "Since His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi has deemed it necessary that a successor to the throne must be of direct descent in the male line from generation to generation to generation, I will with my deepest regret in the interest of the future of the State and of the welfare of the people in accordance with the desire of His Majesty the Emperor sacrifice my own happiness, and I will declare my consent to a separation from His Imperial Majesty." she was Granted the royal title Princess of Iran after her divorce, she moved to France where she launched a brief career as a film actress and became the companion of Italian director, Franco Indovina After Indovina's death in a plane crash 1972 , she spent the remainder of her life in Europe, succumbing to depression, which she outlined in her 1991 memoir, Le Palais Des Solitudes (The Palace of Loneliness). Princess Soraya died on 26 October 2001 of undisclosed causes in her apartment in Paris, France; she was 69. Upon learning of her death, her younger brother, Bijan, sadly commented, "After her, I don't have anyone to talk to." Bijan died one week later.

 

[WreathOfLaurels]

Two sad royals are King Peter II and queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia.

Peter became King aged eleven after the assassination of his father, he was was exiled aged seventeen after a coup that overthrew his cousin Paul and brought Yugoslavia into the allied camp in ww2. Peter was dethroned by Tito at twenty five. He married princess Alexandra of Greece in exile and they were the parents of crown prince Alexander, however the marriage was unhappy and Peter was never able to reconcile himself to his dethroned status. He died after a failed liver transplant aged forty, after a life plagued by alcoholism and debt.

Queen Alexandra was the posthumous daughter of King Alexander of Greece, who also spent most of her life in exile, the marriage produced one child, Peter was chronically unfaithful and Alexandra attempted suicide a number of times due to the strain it put on her. She also had chronic problems with eating disorders her whole adult life. She never set foot in the country she was ostensibly queen of, and died of cancer in 1993.

 

[Lee-Z]

While i often disagree with people mentioned here as "sad" vs "had a sad event happen to them", the two mentioned in the previous post indeed had a lot of sadness happening to them...

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt was devastated by the demise of his daughter Princess Elizabeth. Thirty years later when his memoir was being written, he mentioned his little Elizabeth was the sunshine of his life.

 

[EllieCat]

Princess Mary, born on October 14, 1690 lived for about two hours. Prince George, born on April 17, 1692, lived but a few minutes. Both were children of Queen Anne of England. How sad for Anne.

Not to mention Queen Anne's 15 other miscarriages and still births. Poor Anne indeed. Only one of her children lived to the age of 11 which is why Anne's sister succeeded her.

 

[Ish]

Not to mention Queen Anne's 15 other miscarriages and still births. Poor Anne indeed. Only one of her children lived to the age of 11 which is why Anne's sister succeeded her.

Anne succeeded her brother-in-law, William III, and was succeeded by her second cousin, George I.

William had reigned with his wife (Anne's sister) Mary II until Mary's death, and the two were unable to have children - Mary had 1 confirmed miscarriage, and a possible 3 more.

 

[Countessmeout]

You are mixing up sisters, when it comes to successor (on kids yes). It was childless Mary who was followed, after her husband died by her sister. Anne was the end of the Stewarts. The throne passed to George I, his grandmother was the older sister of Charles I, making his mother 1st cousins with Anne's father James II.

 

[EllieCat]

You are mixing up sisters, when it comes to successor (on kids yes).

Whoops, sorry, you are quite right!

 

[MaryTheQueene]

Mary of England

I think Mary II of England had a pretty sad life. She was forced to married William of Orange (Holland) at the young age of 15, her husband deposed her own father (James II who was a Catholic), she didn't have any children, and she died of smallpox at the age of only 32.

 

[MaryTheQueene]

The daughters of Nicholas II of Russia, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia( OTMA) also were had a sad life, they rarely got a taste of "outside life", their brother, Alexei had haemophilia and most of all they were murdered by the bloody Bolshelviks when they were very young, Olga was 22, Tatiana was 21, Maria was 19 and Anastasia was 17. Depending on weather you think she weakend France or not Marie Antoinette is arguably also in the category.

 

[Iluvbertie]

I think Mary II of England had a pretty sad life. She was forced to married William of Orange (Holland) at the young age of 15, her husband deposed her own father (James II who was a Catholic), she didn't have any children, and she died of smallpox at the age of only 32.

She had a husband who loved her and mourned her the rest of his life. So yes she married young but she did have a loving marriage.

Her husband didn't depose her father - the parliament of England did that. Her husband was the beneficiary only because he was married to her but it wasn't his decision but that of the anti-Catholic parliament of the day.

 

[Denville]

but their marriage wasn't all happy. There were no children. William had a mistress, though I think he did feel guilty about it.. and she died young. And I think she felt guilty about taking the throne, even if she believed it was right....

 

[Denville]

I don't know has anyone mentioned Mary Tudor (Mary I).

 

[Furienna]

As for Q Vic, yes her losing Albert was a great sadness but she indulged in it, and while she certianly had a lto of sad times in her life, I think that she had a lot of gusto and enjoyed things as well.

I don't believe that it's fair to say that Queen Victoria "indulged" in her grief. I would rather say that she was going through a severe depression, and there was no good treatment for it back then.

I'd say that Her daughter Victoria, Empress of Germany, had a pretty hard time.. as a foreigner in the Prussian court, never trusted, then losing her husband when she and he finally had the chance to be Emperor and Empress and make the changes they wanted to make, and then a painful death with her son hostile to her.

But it seems like Vicky wasn't the best mother to Wilhelm either, so I guess that their relationship was bound to go wrong eventually.

 

[Winnie]

Whenever I think of sadness, I remember Princess Soraya's picture when The Shah of Iran signed official papers releasing her as his wife. That photo really upset me. Neither looked happy and I don't personally believed wanted the divorce. But the old guy needed a child and she was brave enough to insist he remain faithful to her and not an additional wife. Still sad. Remember reading when he was undergoing cancer treatment towards end of his life, the Shah talked and reminisced about Soraya. How sad for them both.

 

[JR76]

Whenever I think of sadness, I remember Princess Soraya's picture when The Shah of Iran signed official papers releasing her as his wife. That photo really upset me. Neither looked happy and I don't personally believed wanted the divorce. But the old guy needed a child and she was brave enough to insist he remain faithful to her and not an additional wife. Still sad. Remember reading when he was undergoing cancer treatment towards end of his life, the Shah talked and reminisced about Soraya. How sad for them both.

Mirrors when Napoleon divorced Josephine in a ceremony infront f the court. Josephine was to read a statement about her sacrificing her marriage because her husband needed an heir but broke down in tears so it had to be read by someone else.
As Napoleon lay dying he talked about Josephine even though his rumoured last words "France – armée, tête d’armée – Josephine" doesn't seem to be true.

 

[Lori138]

In more modern times I think that Prince Henrik of Denmark must have been the ultimate sad royal. He was never happy since his wife became Queen of Denmark and I don't believe he had Alzheimer's all that time, so his actions in the earlier years are just the sign of a very unhappy man.

 

[Denville]

Henrik? I don't see why he should be.. he knew when he married Marg that she'd outrank him.. If that bothered him, don't marry...
I cant think that modern royals, as a rule suffer anyting like the pains and problems of royals in the past....

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

In more modern times I think that Prince Henrik of Denmark must have been the ultimate sad royal. He was never happy since his wife became Queen of Denmark and I don't believe he had Alzheimer's all that time, so his actions in the earlier years are just the sign of a very unhappy man.

I think Prince Henrik was a VERY happy royal, who lived life to the max, who enjoyed all the pleasant things of live as a true bonvivant. Indulging in poetry, sculpting, wine-making, enjoying the French sun on his castle in France, feeling the breeze in his hair on the Royal Yacht, doting with his grandchildren as the most devoted grandfather can be.

Yes he openly vented his anger that in titulature, protocol and ceremonial male spouses to Sovereigns are treated differently to female spouses. But the fact that he had his heart out on a sleeve also means he did not swallow it, did not pile it up, but vented his frustration with that and then continued to enjoy the art park at Marselisborg Castle or went to inspect the restoration of a wall a the Château de Caïx. With his dachshunden, of course...

Henrik is the very last one I would ever associate with "sad"...!