Author Topic: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II  (Read 39451 times)

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Offline Grace

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #30 on: July 18, 2008, 05:11:42 AM »
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8. Prince Eddy of Great Britain: he was a slow and imbecile man

If the prince was "slow" and an "imbecile" (which is disputable anyway), are these reasons enough to actually dislike him?  If he did suffer from these unfortunate traits, surely he would be classed as disabled or "special needs", wouldn't you think?

Offline Luc

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #31 on: July 18, 2008, 06:12:41 AM »
I agree with you, Grace. These aren't good reasons.

StevenL

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #32 on: July 18, 2008, 07:40:02 AM »
Quote
8. Prince Eddy of Great Britain: he was a slow and imbecile man

If the prince was "slow" and an "imbecile" (which is disputable anyway), are these reasons enough to actually dislike him?  If he did suffer from these unfortunate traits, surely he would be classed as disabled or "special needs", wouldn't you think?

The above reason for Emperor Paul being disliked also surprised me. Surely one should not end up on a "most disliked" list because of perceived or actual mental illness.
Ivan the Terrible, on the other hand, was almost certainly mentally ill, but I would put him on the list of most disliked because of the terror and countless miserable deaths
his reign brought to so many hapless people swept up by his paranoia.

StevenL

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #33 on: July 18, 2008, 07:57:00 AM »
3. Catherine the Great: she had an immense art collection, but she was a brute of a woman.

I agree, but because she was an enlightened brute, for which there is no excuse.
I condemn her for conspiring to murder her husband, the harsh treatment and
murder of innocent child-Emperor Ivan VI, her cruelty to Ivan's family, as well
as her possible role in the deaths in childbirth of Paul's first wife and also royal
cousin Augusta of Brunswick, both of whom ended up on Catherine's sh... – list.

Offline jehan

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #34 on: July 18, 2008, 01:07:12 PM »
1. King Leopold II of Belgium: because he had a lot of relationships with several women and was a sex maniac.


I find it a bit odd that he would be more disliked for his unfaithfulness than for the fact that he personally allowed the torture, killing and enslavement of thousands of people in the Congo!  But YMMV.  (He's top of my list too!) ;-)
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in. 
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Eric_Lowe

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #35 on: July 22, 2008, 08:41:32 PM »
I don't think any body loved Leopold II anyway...maybe his mistress Cleo ?

tom_romanov

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #36 on: July 24, 2008, 06:03:34 AM »
prince eddie because of his 'secret' and poor may was non the wiser!

Offline Eddie_uk

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #37 on: July 24, 2008, 06:58:49 AM »
 ???

What secret exactly?
Grief is the price we pay for love.

FREE PALESTINE.

tom_romanov

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #38 on: July 24, 2008, 07:04:04 AM »
he visited many male brothels where he codename was 'victoria' and rumored to be jack the ripper

Offline mcdnab

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #39 on: July 24, 2008, 07:33:58 AM »
That's sadly how he has been portrayed but its not actually true - firstly a reading of the court circular would be enough to prove that he couldn't have been jack the ripper.  The suggestion relates to a number of 20th Century films and novels which were devised to imply the crimes were a cover up for a secret liaison between Eddy and an unkown woman.  As to the male brothel - the suggestion was that he visited Cleveland Street which was indeed a male brothel - however if he did make the visit it might have been in ignorance.  More likely it has been suggested recently that some of those involved in the scandal Lord Arthur Somerset (equerry to the future Edward VII - Eddy's father) for example may have tried to involve the Prince in the scandal to help ensure they evaded prosecution.  Whilst i don't think its possible to prove whether Eddy had any bisexual leanings - we certainly know that he was fairly interested in women. He was initially very keen on his cousin Alix of Hesse (the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna) however she didn't return his affections as she was already smitten by the future Nicholas II, next he fell for Helene D'Orleans - which seems to have been a definite love match on both sides - in fact it was the romance of it that convinced Queen Victoria (a sentimentalist at heart) to approve the idea despite Helene's religion (her father and the Pope refused to countenance her conversion though) - finally he seems to have decided to please his grandmother and propose to May of Teck.  Much of the denigration of Eddy is late 20th Century (largely it seems to emphasise " a lucky escape" for the nation that we got George V instead of his brother).  Both boys had a poor education and in fairness it should be pointed out that their mother wasn't the sharpest or most intelligent of women although both of them along with the British public adored her!

tom_romanov

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #40 on: July 24, 2008, 09:49:46 AM »
well to be honest i have never read a biographyon eddie and i said he was only rumored to be jack the ripper ( i dont think he was) aslo to the bisexual thing thats just what i herd and i am quite gullable!

halen

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #41 on: July 24, 2008, 10:05:51 AM »
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, (Eddy), is NOT Jack the Ripper. Evidence shows he could not have been in London at the time of the murders. Whether he was gay or bi-sexual has never been proven one way or another.

Louise

CharlotteSometimes

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #42 on: July 24, 2008, 10:36:47 AM »
he visited many male brothels where he codename was 'victoria' and rumored to be jack the ripper

It is too silly to suggest that he was Jack the Ripper, and there was no proof he visited the male brothels--only gossip.  Anyway, even if he was gay, I don't see how that is a reason to dislike him.  Poor Eddie had a lot of problems--his learning disabilities not the least of them--and it is probably fortunate that he did not become king.  He is more to be pitied than despised.

tom_romanov

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #43 on: July 24, 2008, 10:48:27 AM »
again i said he was only  RUMORED  to be jack and im not homophobic its just a feel sorry for May who was his fioncee back then IF  he visited brothels

Offline mcdnab

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Re: Your Ten Most Disliked Royals and why Pt II
« Reply #44 on: July 24, 2008, 11:59:25 AM »

I think the suggested names are all quite interesting - because we all tend to concentrate on failings of character rather than anything else - and failings of character don't always make a bad monarch.

Not many of the ones mentioned would make my top ten - for what its worth here's a few of my top ten - i've only chosen Royal figures who actually exercised power or who had a significant influence on poltical events..

1) Mary Stuart - more sinned against than sinning perhaps, but a woman who put her own desires above those of her nation, despite a childhood dominated by her uncles and her french in laws did little after returning to Scotland to prove she could be a capable monarch,   her death might lie at English hands but the English didn't depose her, completely undeserving of her "martyr" status, a status she actively sought after her trial and condemnation.

2)  Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) - and not because he married Mrs Simpson (who i believe was the real victim of the abdication), rather spoilt and difficult individual, who had little concept of duty or responsibility, who's rare good deeds were thrown away by his many attempts to steal the spotlight after his abdication, his consistant failure to appreciate the limitations of a constitutional or parliamentary monarchy, for me the one thing that shows his general shallowness is the comment at dinner after visiting poverty stricken Wales (the visit that has prompted many to suggest an establishment conspiracy to get rid of him) telling people he approved of "splendour" - the same day he ordered yet another trinket from Cartier for Wallis - i am sorry his many apologists haven't quite sold him to me.

3) Richard III - again despite his apologist his actions lead to the collapse of his family and dynasty - whatever we think his nephews vanished from view during his reign, his actions in the months following his brothers death - don't suggest a man who wasn't willing to usurp his nephew's throne and his relationships with his brother's wife seem to have been amicable until Edward IV's death so those actions shouldn't be considered an attempt to protect himself from her and her relations whose greed has also tended to be rather exagerated.

4) Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia (consort of Nicholas II) - whilst anyone would sympathise with her for her difficulties and the position she found herself in and particularly her son's illness - she was a rather foolish, selfish woman who made in my opinion a significant contribution to the collapse of Imperial Russia.

Just a few of mine rather than 10 which seems a high number to me!