Top 10 Rulers That Were Nuts

When Caligula, a notably eccentric Roman Emperor, was chastised by his grandmother, he fixed her a stern look. “Remember,” he said, “I have the right to do anything to anyone.” Does having absolute power make dictators eccentric, or is it simply that we are all eccentric but lack the power to behave as we would like? Whatever the answer, there have been a sufficient number of eccentric rulers to provide material for a dozen lists. Here are ten of the strangest eccentricities of the (not so) great rulers in history.


Frederick William I, King of Prussia in the 18th century, has gone down in history as the ‘Soldier King’ for his obsession with all things military. Of particular note to those interested in eccentricity is the King’s fondness for tall soldiers. The King’s pride and joy was a regiment of taller-than-average soldiers, which came to be known as the “Potsdam Giants”. All members of the regiment had to be over 6’ 2” in height – and the taller they were, the better. In order to recruit tall people for the regiment, the king would offer bonuses; and if that failed, he would simply kidnap them. Tall men were sent from all over Europe as diplomatic gifts to Frederick William, and visiting dignitaries would be treated to a march by the regiment. The king once commented that although he was utterly indifferent to beautiful women, a tall soldier was his only weakness.


By the 5th century AD, the Roman Empire was split in two. The Western empire was by this time much weakened, and unable to defend itself from the Visigoths. It was a perilous time for the empire – but in 495, a ten year old boy named Honorius became Emperor in the west. The Visigoths invaded Italy and began a siege of the ancient capital, Rome. The emperors had long abandoned the city, but it was still the symbolic centre of the empire. You might expect the emperor of a besieged nation to be obsessed with its defense – but the historian Procopius recorded the (possibly apocryphal) tale of Honorius’ real obsession:
“At that time they say that the Emperor Honorius in Ravenna received the message from one of the eunuchs, evidently a keeper of the poultry, that Rome had perished. And he cried out and said, ‘And yet it has just eaten from my hands!’ For he had a very large cock, Rome by name; and the eunuch comprehending his words said that it was the city of Rome which had perished at the hands of Alaric, and the emperor with a sigh of relief answered quickly: ‘But I, my good fellow, thought that my fowl Rome had perished.’ So great, they say, was the folly with which this emperor was possessed.”


Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, was the first sole monarch to rule over the united kingdoms of modern Spain. As a young lady she was fortunate enough to marry a man nicknamed Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy. Unfortunately, even as a young woman Joanna was noted for a certain mental instability – and her marriage did not lessen this. She became obsessed that her husband was having an affair. She attacked one woman with scissors, in an attempt to cut off her beautiful hair. When Philip died, Joanna was so distraught that she had his embalmed body carried with her wherever she went, and would look at it often. Proclaimed mad by her father, she was placed in a darkened room in a nunnery to calm her down, and remained there for the rest of her life. She was allowed to keep her husband with her. This confinement continued after her son came of age and took over her rule.


Tsar Peter III is best remembered today as the husband of Catherine the Great, who deposed her husband and ruled in place of her son. The stories of Peter’s obsession with toy soldiers come mostly from Catherine and so they may have been designed to discredit him, although there are other sources attesting to it. On their wedding night, the Tsar is said to have pulled a box of toy soldiers from under their bed, and forced his new wife to play with them until two in the morning. When a fort was set up for a mock battle, a rat happened to wander by and knock over several soldiers. The rat was hanged from the wall for a breach of military discipline. Catherine soon tired of her husband and forced his abdication and – many assume – eventually ordered his murder.


Ludwig II of Bavaria ruled in the 19th century, but seems to have dreamed of living in a romantic past which never really existed. Bavaria was one of the most rich and powerful of the German states , but Ludwig was to impoverish the monarchy with his eccentric obsession: he loved to build castles. The building projects he set in motion include the famous Neuschwanstein, the castle on which Disney’s Cinderella’s castle is based. Besides this, he also built palaces and decked out old homes in luxurious new styles. When he could no longer afford to pay for his constructions, he borrowed lavishly. Ludwig was deposed on the grounds of mental incompetency, and removed – to a castle – for treatment. He lamented, however, that he would not be allowed to stay in Neuschwanstein. Not long afterwards, he was found mysteriously drowned, along with his doctor.