Royalty’s Strangest Tales

Extraordinary but True Stories from Over 2,000 Years of Mad Monarchs and Raving Rulers

Geoff Tibballs

Isolated from reality, weakened by inbreeding or corrupted by power, many monarchs have demonstrated cruelty and eccentricity, from Caligula of Rome to Mobutu of Zaire. This collection of royal stories ranges from Charles VI of France, who thought he was made of glass, to the miraculous Kim Jong-il of North Korea, who, according to local sources, scored 38 under par the first time he played golf.