Mad Kings & Queens

by Alison Rattle, Allison Vale

This frank and fascinating book ransacks the remarkable history of forty of Europe's most dumb, deluded, and downright dangerous monarchs, to reveal a legion of kings and queens who have sat upon the pedestal of power and abused it in spectacular style.

The respectability of the royal position is well and truly tossed aside by the whimsy and the wanton depravity of generations of mad European monarchs, including:

The queen who murdered her husband with a red-hot spit. The bloodthirsty monarch who impaled tens of thousands of his subjects. The vampiric ruler who bathed in the blood of young women. The king of excess who beheaded his wives. Mad Kings and Queens is a spectacular celebration of seven hundred years of royal eccentricity, detailing a catalogue of madness and exploring the finer intricacies of royal breeding that lay at its root.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Royalty, Historical, Politics, European History

114 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Alison Rattle grew up in Liverpool, and now lives in a medieval house in Somerset with her three teenage children, her partner - a carpenter - an extremely naughty Jack Russell and a ghost cat. She has co-authored a number of non-fiction titles on subjects as diverse as growing old, mad monarchs, how to boil a flamingo, the history of America and the biography of a nineteenth-century baby killer. She has worked as a fashion designer, a production controller, a painter and decorator, a barmaid, and now owns and runs a vintage tea room.

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alison Rattle & Allison Vale’s Mad King’s & Queens: History’s Most Famous Royals is a major disappointment. As one who reads and studies histories of royalty, I am totally disheartened that a book although a very small book could be published about real people and their lives without a footnote or bibliography. The language used by the authors is sensational as if one is reading a tabloid. In the introduction-the first paragraph begins with the statement “They don’t come more appalling than aristocrats.” The intro continues to discuss the last 500 years of European Monarchy, but the intro concludes stating that the “book examines ............ royals from Europe’s last seven hundred years.” What happened to those 200 years? The authors’ use the word ‘monarchs’, but have included some people who were from noble families but did not rule or reign. For example, Erzsébet Bathory of Hungary may have been from a noble family, but she was not a queen (monarch), but a countess. Sensational, yes. She was the model for Bram Stoker’s Dracula as she drank blood among doing other vile things. Also included are three rulers of Turkey which, I believe, is in Asia not Europe although Istanbul is considered to be in two continents, Europe and Asia. In addition, Royal Lineages for these ‘monarchs’ are found at the back of the book, and the way they are printed, these lineages are impossible to comprehend.

There were ‘mad’ monarchs in history: Charles VI of France, Juana of Castile, and Ivan ‘The Terrible’ of Russia as well as some others. This happened because of the inbreeding through marriages. First cousin would be allowed to marry another first cousin, and if this book is to be believed at all, a niece married her own uncle. If you want facts, please do not read this book. This is just sensationalism in top form.

[Anna Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I give this book points for its idea, for its attempt (keyword: attempt) at a varied selection of personages, and for being a quick read. However, that's absolutely all I can give it points for.

First of all, many of the subjects of the character vignettes were not mad. For me, to be part of this list of "raving royals", you should be either so genetically inbred that you aren't capable of rational thought, insane and are unaware of your actions, or you could even be psychopathically foaming-at-the-mouth maniacal. Yet some of the royals included here made me shake my head.

- Henry VIII of England? Misogynist egotistical fatass bastard, yes. Mad? No. He knew exactly what he was doing, and with extreme intention.

- Christina of Sweden? Abusive childhood, looked kinda manly, enjoyed cross-dressing, perhaps bisexual. Not mad.

- Louis XIV may have liked his women and Catherine the Great might have liked her men (a lot), but I don't think that necessarily qualifies them for this book.

- At least from the info gleaned from this book, I don't see why they included Barbara of Portugal. They basically just said that she was intensely stingy with her money and hoarded a ton of it. Okay.

- Caroline of Brunswick. Smelly and vulgar? Yeh. Mad? Nah.

- Marie Antoinette? What is she even doing near this list. Flighty, immature and irresponsible at worst. Not mad.

- The one that made me laugh out loud was reading about Isabel of Portugal. Actual quote:

"Alvaro [her husband's lover!] advised when the royal couple should consummate their marriage, and how frequently and upon which occasions they should bed each other. Isabel became jealous and possessive, her insecurities stoked by her husband's devotion to another man. Alvaro's interference in their sex life drove her into alternating bouts of melancholia and rage. Her mental instability became more prominent in these early years of marriage."

OH, so if you're melancholy because your husband seems to prefer men over you and you're enraged because his male lover is dictating every detail of your sex life, you're mentally unstable??? Wow, lock me up then, because I'm pretty sure that's exactly how I'd feel. The entry goes on to describe as evidence for insanity her depression after giving birth (too early for post-partum depression to be recognized then but certainly not now), and how she started hearing voices and stuff after being locked alone in a tower for 42 years. Like, come on. Seriously?

The book as a whole also reads more like a gossip magazine than it does as anything remotely factual. I'm sure some of it did happen (royalty has had some pretty insane people share its privileges). However, some of the claims seem like they are rumors that have persisted through time that have no basis in fact, and rather than try to debunk them, the authors use them in their book to make it juicier. The Erzsébet Báthory entry's subject matter has largely been debunked as well - many historians do not believe she was truly as bloodthirsty crazy as the stories say. The book is almost entirely the type of stuff like, "Hey, did you know Catherine the Great died while trying to have sexual intercourse with a horse?!" (Although thankfully, that is the one scandalous story they do admit is not true).

- And my favorite part, the worst thing I cannot forgive, is that in the Louis XIV entry they say that he married Maria Theresa of Austria (AKA Marie-Antoinette's mom), when he really married Maria Theresa of Spain. Stupid typo, I thought, they typed the wrong country because of similar names and they are dumb. BUT THEN THEY HAVE THE FREAKING PORTRAIT OF MARIA THERESA OF AUSTRIA LIKE THEY LITERALLY DID NO FACT-CHECKING WHATSOEVER LOUIS XIV DIED BEFORE MARIA THERESA OF AUSTRIA WAS EVEN BORN I AM ANGRY

Long story short: don't read this if you like history, unless you want to also be angry. The one use I could see for this is scaring the shit out of some people who don't know any better around a campfire. And then you could just use the campfire to burn it.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the first few pages, I noticed this book was really vilifying everyone to the extreme, and made them seem like truly horrible people. Aside from all the intense negativity, this book was actually an enjoyable read. Very interesting stuff.

One thing I noticed though, was the egregious error made about Louis XIV of France. They claimed that he married Maria Theresa of Austria (aka Marie Antoinette's mother). Louis XIV actually married Maria Theresa of Spain. Maria Theresa of Austria wasn't even born by the time Louis XIV had died! They even proceeded to put a picture of her in this section of the book. I can't believe a mistake this outrageous slipped by the editors, proofreaders, publishers or even the authors themselves!

It makes me wonder how many other mistakes might be in this book.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not usually non-fiction reader but I came across this at the library and it looked interesting. I have always been fascinated with royal history because despite their privileged lifestyles, they have many saucy secrets. This book had some good information but I felt as though it was too brief as it tried to mention so many rulers. It would have been much better if their was more detail on fewer people. However, I wasn't aware of many of the rulers mentioned so I learnt plenty. I became increasingly aware of the fact that many of the issues these historical figures faced was repetitive. It made me upset that so many of them faced mental health disorder that weren't acknowledged by the time. The poor childhoods and neglect seemed another common factor. Overall I am glad to have read this little informative book because it gave me a slight bit more insight to the lives of many royals over history.

[Jill H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This little book can be read in one sitting. It covers the lives of 40 European rulers whose behaviour ranges from slightly eccentric to full blown psychopathy, with 2 0r 3 pages reserved for each one. I would agree with the author's statement that the in-breeding that occurred among royal families spawned a tragic historical heritage; however, at least two of the rulers who are profiled were, in my opinion, not mad (whatever the author's definition of mad). They were Henry VIII of England and Marie-Antoinette of France.....that former was a despot yearning for a male heir, and the latter was a silly, frivolous woman whose actions were that of a spoiled child. The rest of the kings/queens profiled here had various degrees of madness, some quite horrendous while others did no harm except to themselves. This is a quick read that is a time-filler while in the waiting room at the dentists' office. Nothing special. And I don't know why this review is prefaced with *spoiler alert* which I can't seem to delete!!!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute, and very brief, look at mental illness amongst some of the proverbial crowned heads of Europe. Each monarch has a few pages devoted to him- or herself, and there is generally a portrait of some sort to show the individual.

The monarchs ranged from Ivan the Terrible to Marie Antoinette, with many stops along the way. The one factual inaccuracy I saw was in the section on Louis XIV, which said he was married to Marie-Therese of Austria; he was married to Marie-Therese of Spain.

Otherwise, a short and entertaining read.

[Meghan · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was good but seemed to take the absolute worst possible scenario of every monarch. Sure, it's called Mad Kings & Queens, but I've read about some of the people mentioned and it never made them seem quite as horrible as this book makes it seem. It was a quick and easy read, though, and quite enjoyable. I read it in one sitting.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impulse buy from the bargain shelf at B&N.

A very quick read with each monarch getting on average 3-4 pages devoted to him or her. (Some, like Henry VIII or Marie Antoinette, got more pages.)

Don't come into this book expecting anything too detailed on each monarch. The book only hits the high points (ok, actually that should be the low points) or each one's reign, but it is a good introduction to some of the world's more colorful rulers.

A great deal of the people featured were rather distasteful, yet some I found to be quite sad like, Ivan VI of Russia, and others quite interesting, like Christina of Sweden.

I was also curious as to how this book would handle some of the persistent rumors about things such as Catherine the Great's death (by horse) and Marie Antoinette's alleged 'let them eat cake' statement. Happily, the authors dismissed both of those allegations as falsehoods. (I've read books in the past that swear the thing about Catherine the Great is true.)

All-in-all, I found this to be a fascinating (if brief) look into the lives of some members of royalty.

[Charlotte Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and fun little book about some of the crazy royals of the time.
Very quick synopsis and some I didn't realize were a little crazy.
I was given this book by a friend as a birthday gift. She knows how much I love royals.
Quick and informative little book if you love the crazy royals.

[Chantal E. R. H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give 2.5 if I could, a very quick/fast paced read. A bit too sensationalist with a lot of rumors and not many sources. Still, I finished the book in two days and would probably read another book by the author.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I few years ago I bought this book at Barnes and Noble in the bargain section. I didn't read it until now because I recently saw I documentary about Catherine the Great. Yes, she's featured in the book.

This is a rather quick book. It features several monarchs, famous and others not well known. Mad Kings & Queens has quick sketches on each monarch. They don't try to write a huge detailed biography on each monarch, it's quick and simple. It gives you a taste of each monarch so you can explore them yourself later. That's how I looked at it anyway. If you look at this book as incredibly detailed, pure fact and perfect.

This book does have its problems though. Like all the photos are not properly labeled (although you can sometimes assume what the pictures are). A lot of the monarchs aren't exactly 'crazy'. There's quite a few who just acted strangely during their time or were just depressed because their husband/wife sucked or even had a short life due to political circumstances.

I'd recommend this book to people who are interested in learning about monarchs. More of an introduction, really. If you want to read this book and expect to learn everything about forty monarchs... this isn't for you.

[Katrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved Michael Farquhar's "Treasury of Royal Scandals," so I figured that "Mad Kings & Queens: History's Most Famous Raving Royals" would also be an interesting read. It wasn't. There was barely any information on each of the nobles, and some weren't actually insane, but just 'eccentric.' There are many informational mistakes in the book- dates, illustrations with no description, and as mentioned earlier, the labeling of "insane" where behavior was simply just out of place for its time period (and not really mental instability). This is really unfortunate for people who are not history buffs, and won't realize the extent of misinformation in this book.

In addition, the grammar was HORRID, making the book almost unreadable! There must not have been an editor on this book. The book is rife with run-on sentences (there is such thing as a comma!), more advanced vocabulary is often misused, pronoun usage is terrible and confusing. I'm not sure how this got published, as these mistakes are usually unacceptable even at a high-school level.

In short, a book of such low quality it should be removed from bookshelves and circulation.

[Virág · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mad Kings and Queens was a buy for about $4 from by bookstore's discount section. History fascinates me, and even though this book is really short, I thought it was worthwhile as it'll probably be something that I'll be able to flip through a lot for years to come.

There was one really egregious error - it stated that Louis the XIV of France was married to Maria Theresa of Austria, when he was actually married to the one from Spain. Besides that, some of the sentence structre was quite awkward, and I honestly felt that several of the people mentioned didn't deserve the title "Mad". Yeah, a lot of them were sex-crazy and had depression, but that doesn't make them insane (examples are Catherine the Great and Louis the XIV).
So this book is not magnificent, but it provides a short, decent account of the lives of these rulers. I'm looking forward to reading it again.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading about history, and this book was laid out so nicely. Each royal got a page or two about them so you could see what lead up to their demise. Interesting history like this makes me want to continue reading! I could not put it down when I was reading, I just wanted to know everything. It even lead up to me researching the various royals even deeper to learn more about them. It is one of those books I could just read over and over and spout off info learned to my friends.
What an interesting and intriguing way to tell history!

[Marsha Altman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, fun book about various monarchs, major and minor. Not all of the information was correct but I learned a lot about some people I'd never heard of. Price was right. Most annoying thing: the colored paper it was printed on had distracting backgrounds to the text.

[Zezee · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! When I read this book, I was so drawn to it that I read it all in one night. I don't think this book should be read in one go because you start to feel a bit crazy afterwards. There's definitely something off with these kings and queens.

[Tricia Rawnsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a hilarious account of loony rulers of the world. I loved it and my husband did too. Definitely a great break from all the WWII books I've been reading!

[Chequers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il Bignami dei re e le regine con una rotella fuori posto.Da leggere solo poi per approfondire con libri piu' completi.

[KatjaReads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book a long time ago and I loved it, but since I've studied more history...this book sucks. I know this is a short quick read, but good grief! Like another reviewer already stated this is more sensational and not everyone featured was a monarch. It's also not entirely truthful. The first monarch is Isabella "She-Wolf" of France, Queen of England and wife of Edward II. Edward was a terrible king and husband and possibly a homosexual; key word possibly. Why is this important?

Because we DON'T know. We can only guess. Personally, I DO think he was as do the authors, but because they are writing about real people in a time where not everything was documented and people didn't talk openly about sex, the authors are revealing themselves of being dishonest.

From the book: Her reign could have been remarkable, but her husband's homosexuality, encroaching mental instability, and poor judgment-

It is very probable Edward II was homosexual, but again, you can't definitely state it due to lack of official documents and eye witness accounts of more than Edward paying more attention publicly to his favorite. Historians talk about it, but they don't definitely say with certainty. Also, why isn't Edward II featured in this book? There's more of a case against his sanity than Isabella in my opinion.

Secondly, when Isabella was incarcerated by her son Edward III, the books says it was because he didn't forgive his mother in her role for assisinating his father. Um...maybe? But not likely. Edward III arrested his mother because she and her lover were ruling England even though he was the king. Her lover was actually regent and calling all the shots and loyal men to Edward III risked their lives to overthrow Mortimer (lover) and Mortimer is likely the one responsible for Edward II's death and not Isabella. She might have known about it, but to my knowledge it is not known, but knowledge versus creating the plan and making it happen isn't the same.

I'm not saying Isabella didn't have any screws loose, she made bad decisions, but there are too many details missing in this little book that don't paint a fuller picture and might even mislead readers who are not as familiar with some of these historical figures and how historians interpret history.

This could still be a short fun read if the authors just reworded a few things and wrote extra sentences that went down to the page. There is space for more details.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting look at history and some of the horrible things that happened. Some monarchs did terrible things, others had terrible things done to them.

This book is an interesting, fairly quick read. Each "raving royal" has a section that's a comprehensive look at their life from early to death. Rattle and Vale do an excellent job of summarizing what makes the man or woman qualify as mad in an interesting and real way. History came alive as I read this book, and I learned a lot about European monarchs and monarchies.

This is a great reference book for fiction writers, especially historical or fantasy novels.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these are a bit jarring in how horrific some of the details are (Ivan alone!) and some you knew. It's basically paparazzi capturing what happens to stars when they do something wrong type of style. You won't see this in history books, and it's understandable as to why! Well except one, Louis married Maria Theresa of Spain, as Maria Theresa of Austria hadn't even been born. Only downside was there weren't any notations on research and it abruptly stops - there are certainly more until recent (1900's).

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and interesting read. I like that each ruler got their own separate chapter, some books make the mistake of jumbling all the royals together, which can be confusing, given the similar names and incestuous tendencies, of the royal families of Europe.

Some of the facts were extreme and some have been disproved but one cannot expect too much from a short quick read and it introduces you to some crazy monarchs you may not have ever heard of, which you will want to research more.

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was surprised so many monarchs were of an incestuous background, as well as poorly mistreated children. The book had a good amount of historical background but it also gave me a deep understanding of the psychology of their core humanity. The book revealed, in real time, the inner turmoil brought about by gender roles vs self identification, sexuality vs religion and nature vs nurture. I really couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it.

[Autumn]

The information was interesting - though, I probably would have enjoyed the book if it was longer and more informative- but most of the individuals didn't quite qualify as mad. There was one woman who was noted as being included because her peers probably considered her mad despite not fitting the modern definition. There was no such disclaimer for other persons who were not mad, just not neurotypical.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this series of thumbnail biographies of royalty who were...not well. Not well at all. This isn't a comprehensive account of any of their lives, of course, but might be a good way to discover people to read more about. I also felt sad for many of them - their mental/emotional struggles were not their fault, and it's not like their conditions were understood; nor was effective treatment available. Still, it was an interesting read.

[Alexandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I figured it would be more a, "oh my goodness scandal!", type book. But this wasn't even historically accurate. It was all they were either sex addicts, religious mania, torturers, or for a change of pace you got all three. The book forgets that they were people, it lacks the humanity just going for shock value. This book honestly makes me sad.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of profiles on various monarchs. I do feel the definition of “mad” was a bit loose in some interpretations such as Caroline of Brunswick and Catherine the Great. Caroline was brash and eccentric but I wouldn’t include her in the same group as George III. Catherine the Great is another I have a hard time including.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay for the condensed information it was, but it read more like a gossip magazine. I was hoping for something that focused more on the mental health issues of these people and the results of that. This book spent more time on who they were sleeping with.

[Tiffanie Alexis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was interesting and to the point, which I liked. However, I agree with some other reviews that some of the people noted in the book weren't necessarily mad, moreso just assholes. And then some others seemed vilified to a disproportionate extent. There were a few times I felt uncomfortable by the wording used in relation to some of the female and gay male monarchs.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I needed something different than my usual read, and this was a great escape. Man, people were seriously insane.. and got away with a heck of a lot because they were royalty.