6 Most Ridiculous Accidents That Led to the Death of Past Kings

The Darwin Award is not given retroactively, but many historical figures could have earned one. Kings, tsars, dukes and emperors mostly died on the battlefield, from disease and during coups, but some managed to die in strange and senseless ways.

The Spanish King Philip III loved order and discipline, which is quite possible why the country fell into decline and almost completely lost its foreign policy influence. He suffered from superstition, adored luxury and did not want to know that the country was becoming poor and that the debts of the royal family and the entire country were growing. However, when he finally found out, he quickly found the culprits: first he expelled all the Moriscos from the country - hard-working and wealthy Spaniards of Arab origin, then all the gypsies. At the same time, he issued a memorandum on the importance of purity of blood.

As for everyday habits, His Majesty created a very complex court etiquette and strictly monitored its implementation. According to the rules established by them, the king did not even have the right to pour himself a glass of wine - this had to be done by a specially appointed person.

According to the memoirs of the court marshal Bassompierre, one day Philip III fell asleep while sitting in a chair by the fireplace (and probably had a lot to drink before that, otherwise what happened next cannot be explained). The chair caught fire from a random spark, and the courtiers rushed to look for a grandee who had the right to move the king's chair. While they were looking, there was nothing and no one left to move.

At the time of his death, Philip III was 43 years old.

The French king Charles VIII of the Valois dynasty ascended the throne at the age of thirteen. The sweet boy obeyed his elder sister Anne de Beaujeu, who was his regent, and did not bother anyone. From time to time he would start a war with someone, according to the customs of his time. But that is not why he died.

Already being a man of almost thirty, Karl, either due to absent-mindedness or short-sightedness, did not notice a low door frame on his way, crashed into it with his forehead at full speed, fell into a coma and died.

That is, you see, everyone around was dying of the plague - for example, Charles's faithful servant, the Duke of Montpensier - and he was walking and crashed into a doorframe.

Not a king, of course, but still an outstanding ruler. The first US President George Washington was a strong and ruddy man at 67 years old. But he was unlucky enough to get caught in the snow and rain, he did not change into dry clothes and eventually caught a cold. Worried about the president's health, his relatives called doctor after doctor. Each doctor immediately let a little blood out of the president - in those days, bloodletting was considered an almost universal treatment. By the time the next doctor came, the president's blood ran out and he died.

If they had let Washington cheer normally, he would have cleared his throat and would have gone back to work on government papers.

The Greek king Alexander I was, like many kings of Europe, of German descent. It is not surprising that during the First World War he took a pro-German position. However, no one cared. The king had no real power in Greece.

Perhaps out of protest, Alexander married Aspasia Manos, the daughter of a simple colonel. The wedding caused a scandal, but eventually the Greeks reconciled.

A year after the wedding, the handsome 27-year-old king was walking his shepherd dog in the palace garden. The dog was attacked by one of the macaques living in the garden. A fight ensued. The king rushed to separate the animals, and the macaque bit his leg.

Since the macaque's teeth were not sterile and the wound was not properly treated, Alexander ultimately died of sepsis. What's especially stupid is that he could have been saved by simply amputating his rotting leg. But no Greek doctor wanted to go down in history as the man who sawed off the king's leg, so the king himself went down in history as the victim of a tame macaque's bite.

The legendary German king and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa died quite suddenly and at the height of his glory.

At nearly 70, when Barbarossa set out on the Crusade, he was a robust man, in every way the image of a perfect knight: pleasant in conversation, cruel in politics, generous after battle. Behind him stood perhaps the most powerful army in Europe.

On the way from Byzantium to Palestine, the emperor's army was attacked by Muslim cavalry and suffered a lot. This only encouraged Barbarossa, and he moved forward even more decisively.

The path of his army was blocked by a turbulent mountain river. The king's confidants suggested going around the dangerous place, finding a ford or a bridge, but Barbarossa insisted that the river must be crossed immediately, on horseback.

After a heated argument, he decided to set an example personally and, in armor, on a knight's horse (probably also in armor), he threw himself into the river. And this abyss swallowed him up in an instant.

King Martin the Humane of Aragon was apparently a very funny man. Although there is no historical evidence to support this, it is believed that the king died of laughter and gluttony. When a jester approached him and said that he had seen a deer hanging upside down in a vineyard, like a thief, Martin could not help but burst out laughing. Unfortunately, he had just eaten a whole goose (a fairly large bird even when plucked and roasted). The king's stomach could not withstand the test of both goose and laughter and literally burst. The humane king died.