Considering that kings are rulers, it's a wonder that government has survived so long.

Maybe kings aren't any weirder than the rest of us. Their oddities just worry us more.

A few quick answers about some unusual kings.

1. Why did George I need a tutor after being named King of England? He needed to learn English.
2. What did King Mongkut of Siam offer to US President Abraham Lincoln as a handy means of personal transport? Elephants. (The answer was 'No, thanks. Really, thanks, but no.')
3. What strange delusion made France's King Charles VI move very carefully? He thought he was made of glass.
4. What modern technology takes its name from the peculiar appearance of Denmark's King Harald Blatand? Bluetooth. (Ask a Scandinavian Researcher.)
5. King Louis XIV gets bad press, but what did he do when a scientist showed up at court and offered him a bioweapon? Paid him a pension to keep quiet about it.
6. King James VI and I had a pet elephant. What did he give it to drink? Wine.
7. When he granted his toadies a charter for the Carolina Colony – a huge land grant – what proposal did King Charles II of England make concerning the new colony's archbishop? He offered them a spaniel. (Which he happened to be holding. He was saying they were a bunch of hypocrites.)
8. What did King John of England do when his brother Richard was captured by the German Emperor? Tried to buy him.
9. Did Egyptian pharaohs play Dungeons and Dragons in their free time? No, but they played Senet, a board game. (Wifi was terrible back then.)
10. Alexander the Great was kind of self-important: he named 70 cities after himself. What close companion did he also name a city after? His horse. (Bucephala in India.)

Do you think you're nutty enough to be a king or queen? Who knows, there are a lot of planets our there...

Dmitri Gheorgheni

25.04.16 Front Page

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