- They're not all evil queens, but they sure are strange.
Henry VIII, Caligula, Ivan the Terrible… History is full of weird and, frankly, insane kings. But what about the queens?
Although they tend to play a smaller role in history books, queens were incredibly important figures alongside their husbands. And they could be every bit as eccentric, cruel, and crazy as any man.
Here are seven examples of the oddest and/or craziest queens in history, for various reasons.
1. Margaret of Anjou
Despite what her name might make you think, Margaret of Anjou was the Queen of England, married to King Henry VI. She was a very assertive and determined woman and an effective ruler—which made her pretty darn strange by the time’s standards.
When Henry suffered a mental breakdown, Margaret flouted protocol by assuming direct control of the English realms as the Wars of the Roses broke out in 1455. She personally commanded House Lancaster’s armies in the field to defend both her husband’s and infant’s claims to the throne.
Her unbridled aggression in both politics and battle gave her a reputation as unwomanly and almost monstrous. To which she probably responded by sieging and burning the castle of whoever called her that.
You go, Margaret.
2. Empress Elisabeth of Austria
While Margaret of Anjou eschewed traditional femininity, Elisabeth of Austria was the complete opposite. Reigning as the Empress of Austria from 1854 to 1898, she enjoyed skin- and haircare, fashion, and gymnastics to keep her in shape.
A bit too much so.
Elisabeth was a gorgeous woman, and she wanted to keep it that way. She became utterly obsessed with exercising, dieting, and cosmetic care to maintain her youthfulness.
To illustrate, she slept only a few hours a night, trained exhaustively to keep herself at exactly 110 pounds as a 7-foot-8-inch woman, and would go days without eating if it looked like her weight wasn’t in check. Her haircare routine took several hours, and she tortured herself with ridiculously tight corsets.
To top it all off, she carefully cultivated an isolated, extremely theatrical persona. It’s not all bad, though. Although she was certainly a handful, he husband, the Emperor, was madly in love with her and allowed her to live as she wished.
3. Marie Eleonora of Brandenburg
Marie Eleonora of Brandenburg was the Queen of Sweden in the early 17th century. As the wife of the famed King Gustavus Adolphus, she was a courteous, if temperamental, queen.
Then she gave birth to a daughter, Princess Christina.
Not giving her husband a male heir pushed Marie Eleonora off the rails. She loathed her daughter so much that she not-so-subtly attempted to kill her several times in her infancy.
As if her mental state wasn’t already shaken enough, Gustavus died in 1632, sending Marie Eleonora tumbling into insanity. She refused to bury the King for more than a year and forced her daughter to live with her in a pitch-black room where they slept in a bed above which was suspended Gustavus’ heart.
For the rest of her life, she was incredibly depressed, sometimes crying for days on end. She finally died in 1655, never truly recovering.
4. Christina of Sweden
But what became of Marie Eleonora’s daughter, Christina? Well, she inherited the Swedish crown from her father and a fair dose of eccentricity from her mother.
Perhaps due to the abuse she suffered at the hands of Marie Eleonora, Christina was always a little odd by the standards of the time. She was extremely studious and well-read, she preferred to dress in male clothing, and didn’t groom herself like the other ladies. In fact, her permanent bedhead became her permanent look.
It’s almost like she might’ve been trying to make up for the crime of not being born a man.
Then, in 1649, Christina did something unthinkable: she converted to Catholicism and abdicated. Yet, having stepped down as the queen, her life didn’t get any less unusual.
She began traveling internationally and causing various political scandals. Among them was cultivating a love affair with a cardinal (despite her newfound Catholic faith) and executing at will a servant of the French King, whom she was visiting.
5. Maria I of Portugal
The story of Maria I of Portugal is similar to that of Marie Eleonora. She started off in 1777 as a good, efficient, and religious queen, earning herself the nickname Maria the Pious.
It was a little bit weird that her husband the King was also her uncle, but it’s how they did things at the time.
Then her husband and son died. The dual tragedies struck Maria only a few weeks apart, and she couldn’t handle the grief.
Maria spiraled into a major depressive episode and completely lost her marbles. She would scream and wail nonstop through days and nights, to the point that her palace staff became unnerved and scared of the constant noise.
When she wasn’t screaming, Maria was shaking in religious terror. Her previous piousness had turned into a crippling fear of damnation, rendering her unable to do much anything.
It probably doesn’t surprise you that Maria was sidelined as the ruler. By the time she died in 1816, she had become known as Maria the Mad.
6. Ranavalona I of Madagascar
Many male rulers are infamous for the endless butchery of their enemies and servants alike. Ranavalona I of Madagascar shows that women can be just as bloodthirsty.
The reign of Ranavalona, between 1828 and 1861, was characterized by an extreme isolationist policy. She wanted nothing to do with the encroaching Western powers and instead focused on uniting the island of Madagascar—through force and brutality.
She persecuted anyone, whether foreign or Malagasy, for not following her political, religious, and economic edicts. In particular, she was fond of the judicial practice of tangena.
Let’s say you were accused of a crime. Sentenced to tangena, you would be forced to drink a specific poison. If you died, you were obviously guilty; if you lived, you were innocent (but could still be killed for something).
Between 1833 and 1839, Ranavalona I’s policies, combined with famine and slave trade, reduced Madagascar’s population from 5 to 2.5 million. She was directly responsible for killing off half her subjects in a six-year period.
7. Anna Ivanovna of Russia
Finally, we have Anna Ivanovna, the Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. She is known for continuing her predecessor, Peter the Great’s work on modernizing Russia and solidifying the imperial rule.
She is equally well known for her bizarre and sadistic sense of humor. Crossing Anna would likely make you the butt of one of her practical jokes, which really wasn’t a laughing matter.
Her most infamous victim was the disgraced Prince Mikhail Golitsyn. To begin with, Anna officially appointed him a court jester and then forced him to marry a lowly maid.
For their wedding night, she constructed an enormous palace where everything was made of ice, down to the logs in the fireplace. Prince Golitsyn and his new wife had a choice—they could spend the night on the icy bed or risk upsetting Anna.
Oh yes, this wasn’t Anna being upset. This was her pulling a prank.
We’d hate to see her upset.
If you want to read about more royal craziness, check out our list of 5 kings and princes who went bats*** insane.