Apr 13
These guys enjoyed themselves a bit too much
Pleasure and luxury are hard to resist, especially if you’re rich and powerful. Throughout our history, certain monarchs have taken advantage of their privileged positions and enjoyed a life of excessive grandeur. Rather than living an honorable lifestyle, the following monarchs prioritized gluttony, greed, entertainment, and desire. All these years later, they are still considered to be some of the most lavish individuals who ever lived.
1. Emperor Nero
Emperor Nero was the fifth ruler of the Roman Empire, and he came to power in 54 AD. To secure his position, he killed his mother and his wife because he thought they were plotting against him.
Leaving aside his fondness for murder, Nero also enjoyed artistic pursuits. In addition to performing music and drama in front of large crowds, Nero established his own literary club, where he would compose poetry with his friends. The group also attended lavish banquets and gorged themselves on rich dishes.
After the Great Fire of Rome (which may have been caused by the emperor in the first place), Nero blamed the Christians, and he persecuted them by imposing a variety of brutal executions. Some were torn apart by animals, while others were crucified or burned alive.
Nero then built a new palace in the area cleared by the fire. He raised taxes in order to pay for this large and luxurious building, which was full of precious stones, mosaics, pools, fountains, and paintings.
Following a rebellion led by a senator called Gaius Julius Vindex, Nero was forced to leave Rome, and he took his own life soon after.
2. King Henry VIII
King Henry VIII is the most well-known monarch in British history. He had an unquenchable appetite for pleasure and luxury that seriously damaged his health in later life.
Following his father’s death in 1509, Henry spent his inheritance and turned his royal residencies into pleasure palaces. He regularly hosted jousting tournaments, went on hunts, played tennis, and feasted with his many guests.
At Hampton Court (Henry’s preferred home), the kitchens were vast, and the staff who worked there produced many dishes for the king. Henry loved to eat excessive amounts of food, including oxen, sheep, deer, calves, pigs, boar, swans, and peacocks, as well as a variety of condiments, such as butter, ginger, marmalade, and cream.
The king also enjoyed an abundance of lovers throughout his reign. He married six times and had many mistresses to satisfy his high libido. But despite his overactive sex life, Henry only had one legitimate male heir.
Due to a lack of exercise in later life, Henry was massively overweight by the end of his reign and died at the age of fifty-five. Indeed, he was so large that his coffin burst open in the middle of the funeral!
3. King Louis XIV
King Louis XIV is the longest-reigning monarch in history. He became King of France in 1643 when he was four years old, and his reign lasted seventy-two years.
Louis experienced many things during his time on the throne, including the War of Devolution (1667–1668) and the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678). But he is most well-known for the construction of the Palace of Versailles, a vast royal residence to the west of Paris.
The palace cost a fortune, and there were more than 30,000 workers involved in the construction at any one time. Versailles contained grand apartments and suites, tapestries, oriental rugs, paintings, bronze and marble vases, silk chairs, crystal chandeliers, a silver throne, and beautiful gardens spanning hundreds of hectares.
Louis’s palace became a hub for entertainment and festivities. Singers, playwrights, painters, composers, and the French nobility were all invited to Versailles, and many of them became permanent residents. Alongside the king, they enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle involving balls, feasts, hunts, concerts, operas, and theatrical performances.
Louis died at this magnificent palace at the age of seventy-six. Even today, Versailles is still regarded as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.
4. King Edward VII
King Edward VII was the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Though he didn’t become Britain’s monarch until 1901, he developed a notorious reputation during his youth.
Even as a child, Edward rebelled against his parents. He had many tantrums and loathed his academic work. This unruly attitude didn’t falter as he grew up, and he spent much of his higher education smoking, hunting, eating, drinking, and gambling with his friends.
As for his sexual appetites, Edward got himself into plenty of scandals over the years, the most prominent of which was his affair with Harriet Mordaunt, who was the wife of a politician. Edward was also a regular at several brothels in Paris, and he entertained many prostitutes inside his rooms at the Cavendish Hotel in London.
Edward’s pleasurable pursuits didn’t stop during his kingship. He continued to cheat on his wife with an array of mistresses and enjoyed an active social life full of debauchery.
Though Edward wasn’t a particularly honorable man, his colorful lifestyle was popular with the British public. Following his death in 1910, his reign was collectively known as the Edwardian era.
5. King Farouk I
King Farouk I became Egypt’s new monarch in 1936. Due to his childish behavior, he has gone down in history as one of the worst kings of all time.
Ironically, he was rather popular when he first obtained power. The press and the public were fascinated by their young sovereign and his luxurious lifestyle. Indeed, Farouk enjoyed himself by living a privileged lifestyle inside his many palaces and spending vast amounts of money on cars, gambling, eating, and drinking.
But Farouk’s greatest vice was women. He claimed to have slept with thousands of women during his lifetime, and if any of them ever refused his advances, he resorted to blackmail or kidnap in order to satisfy his sexual urges.
Bizarrely enough, Farouk was also a kleptomaniac. Despite all the wealth he owned, he was an avid pickpocket who stole wallets, lighters, and jewelry. He even managed to steal Winston Churchill’s watch at a dinner reception!
In 1952, Farouk was overthrown and sent into exile. He spent the remainder of his life in Italy and continued to live a luxurious lifestyle until his death in 1965.
Sources
A Brief History of British Kings & Queens (2002) by Mike Ashley
A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors (2000) by Anthony Blond
Henry VIII: A Biography (1990) by John Bowle
The World’s Greatest Royal Scandals (1999) by Nigel Cawthorne
King Louis XIV (1991) by Pierre Horn
The Pocket Guide to Royal Scandals (2011) by Andy Hughes
How Fat Was Henry VIII? (2008) by Raymond Lamont-Brown
The Life and Times of Edward VII (1993) by Keith Middlemas
Royal Follies: A Chronicle of Royal Misbehavior (1988) by David Randall
Monarchy: From the Middle Ages to Modernity (2007) by David Starkey
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5 Monarchs Who Loved Pleasure and Luxury | by Jacob Wilkins | Apr, 2022 - History of Yesterday
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