royalty

Some people just weren't born to rule—and Henry VI was one of them. From his tragic childhood to his tumultuous reign and violent end, the feeble and weak-minded Henry managed to send England into a complete tailspin, starting one of the most brutal conflicts in the country's history. So where did it all go wrong? Why was Henry such a terrible king? Discover the dark history of England's most unfortunate monarch.

Seductress. Schemer. Poisoner. Such words (and worse) have often described Lucrezia Borgia, one of the scandalous children of Pope Alexander VI. Though Lucrezia is known as a Renaissance femme fatale, when we cut through the rumors and myths, the truth is much more complicated and somehow even more jaw-dropping than her already-spicy reputation.

Arthur, Prince of Wales was the Tudors' great golden hope. The elder brother of the notorious King Henry VIII, Arthur was supposed to lead his country into glory. Instead, fate dealt him one of the most infamous twists in history, changing the future forever. Here’s the tragic story of Arthur Tudor, the king who never was.

When Henry VIII finally met Anne of Cleves, he claimed she was unthinkably ugly—but modern historians suggest a more disturbing reason for his disgust.

When American heiress Mary Curzon married the Viceroy of India, it was supposed to be a fairy tale—but it was really a horror story.

The United States was ostensibly founded on the rejection of the rule of royalty. Despite this, many Americans over the centuries have married into royal families and brought something of the royal lifestyle to American shores.