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James Sligo Jameson was heir to the Jameson Whiskey family's fortune, but would have probably preferred everyone call him an adventurer - even if his track record is, uh, controversial. He joined one of the final European exploration trips into central Africa and, while there, allegedly instigated and bore witness to a gruesome, cannibalistic ritual.
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When it comes to the historical record, queens can get the short end of the scepter
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While kings busied themselves waving swords, claiming new lands, and occasionally losing their heads
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metaphorically or literally, queens were often quietly doing the work of running kingdoms
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securing dynastic successions, and surviving their wacky husbands. Except, when they didn't, ruling a country can really take the life out of you
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So, today we're digging up the strangest deaths of queens throughout history
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They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but apparently the Romans hadn't heard it
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Take Roman Empress Fausta, who found herself on the wrong end of a plot involving betrayal, family drama, and something akin to an ancient spa day gone horribly wrong
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While some reports around Fausta's death cite a tarot reading gone sideways, the precise reasons for her demise remain as hazy as her death
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But what is known paints a tragic comic picture of imperial dysfunction
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It seems that her stepson, Crispus, and husband, Constantine, had an unfortunate disagreement
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One that left Crispus dead, Constantine full of regret, and Fausta looking suspiciously
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like the fall gal. The emperor decided that the best way to resolve his guilt was to turn up the heat, literally
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Fausta's death, courtesy of an overheated Roman bath, ensures that she remains one of
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history's least enthusiastic advocates of wellness treatments. What's that metaphor about a frog boiling in water
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Hmm, too soon? Few queens have faced their end with such intestinal fortitude as Queen Caroline of Ansbach
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After 10 pregnancies and a life spent balancing royal duties with political scheming
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Caroline's body finally gave her the royal coup de grace, a bowel obstruction
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Doctors did their best to try and help, but medical procedures of the day were almost worse than any ailment
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Bloodletting? Check. Purging? Of course. Surgery without anesthetic? Naturally. During the surgery, which again was performed with no anesthetic
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her physicians found a decaying bit of bowel they quickly removed. Through it all, Caroline managed to keep her humor intact
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reportedly laughing at her surgeon jokes even as he performed repeated procedures to keep her alive which only lasted a few weeks When she finally passed someone composed a rather scathing epitaph
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Here lies, wrapped up in 40,000 towels, the only proof that Caroline had bowels
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It's not Shakespeare, but it gets the point across. Catherine of Aragon's life was a masterclass in resilience, until it wasn't
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Married to the mercurial Henry VIII, she spent her days enduring courtly intrigues
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infertility, and assaults on her dignity, while her husband invented a new religion just to
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divorce her. It's hard not to take that personally. When Catherine's health failed
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Henry denied her the comfort of her daughter Mary's presence, leaving her to face her end alone
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An autopsy revealed her heart was blackened and hideous, which might explain a lot about
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her final illness. Some whispered it was cancer. Others speculated poison. Still others thought
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the phrase blackened heart wasn't meant to be taken literally and was instead meant as a final
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insult to the queen. Either way, Catherine's heart became a grim metaphor for her life
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Mistreated, resilient, and finally, broken beyond repair. Hey, at least she got a pop musical about
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her. Cleopatra might be the most famous dead queen in this video, as well as the one whose
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cause of death is the most disputed. When the Romans closed in on her and General Mark Antony
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Cleopatra allegedly chose the venomous bite of an asp over a humiliating Roman parade
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But modern historians have pointed out that snake venom does not work that quickly
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It's more likely that Cleopatra drank poison or came into contact with some deadly ointment
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or perhaps Emperor Augustus arranged her demise, since dead queens rarely pose a political threat
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No matter how it happened, her death ensured she would live forever as the queen of melodramatic exits
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an idea we imagine Cleopatra herself could get behind. Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, may have outwitted assassination plots
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Spanish armadas, and nosy parliamentarians during her reign, but her final days were decidedly less triumphant
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Despite her reign and power or maybe because of it Elizabeth was plagued by depression She reportedly spent hours sitting silently on cushions refusing food drink and conversation
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Her mood might have been due to her makeup, a lead-based concoction that probably did more
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for her bloodstream than her complexion. Eventually passing from what most believe was lead poisoning
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Elizabeth left behind a legacy of political stability and cultural flourishing, and some deadly beauty standards
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If there were an award for most unnecessary royal murder, Empress Elisabeth of Austria would be a strong contender
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Known as Sissy to her adoring subjects, she met her end at the hands of an anarchist who, rather inconveniently
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aimed for a completely different royal target. Stabbed with a sharpened file on the streets of Geneva
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Sissy initially brushed off the attack, only to collapse later from internal injuries
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Her assassin, Luigi Lucchini, wanted to make a political statement. Unfortunately for him, the only statement he made was that he was bad at planning and had a terrible aim
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Hatshetsup, one of ancient Egypt's most successful female pharaohs, left behind a legacy of monumental achievements and a mystery surrounding her death
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Her stepson, Thutmose III, seems to have actively attempted to erase her legacy
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which might have included erasing Hatshepsut herself. After her death, Hatshepsut was all but removed from the history books
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I guess they really didn't get along. Adding intrigue, archaeologists discovered a vial belonging to Hatshepsut
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containing various carcinogenic substances, which could mean there was no foul play after all
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Whether it was assassination, accidental poisoning, or the world's deadliest skin care routine
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and whether it had anything to do with Thutmose III, her demise remains a puzzle
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Roman emperors were rarely known for their family values, and Agrippina the Younger's rise allegedly included several mysteriously dead husbands
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But her assassination by her son Nero took family feuds to a new extreme Having decided that their mother relationship had run its course Nero invited Agrippina to dinner and presented her with a collapsible boat for her return journey
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Unfortunately, the boat collapsed, which Agrippina should have seen coming. It was a collapsible boat
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She survived the ordeal and swam to shore. Annoyed that his boat trick hadn't worked
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Nero sent thugs to finish the job. Thus ended Agrippina's reign, which had included some
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positive contributions, including possibly inventing the Roman version of the soap opera
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Queen Zenobia of Palmyra was the kind of ruler who didn't wait around for history to happen
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She made it herself. After a rotating door of leaders and warring factions, Zenobia was tired
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of being left in the dark. Leading a rebellion against Rome, she declared independence and carved
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out an empire of her own. When the Romans eventually defeated her, Zenobia was taken
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captive. One account suggests she starved herself en route to Rome, preferring a self-inflicted
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tummy-rumbling death to the indignities of a Roman triumph. After all, pettiness is technically
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a form of rebellion. Marie Antoinette's downfall was less about her direct actions and more about
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what she symbolized, big hair and even bigger tastes. Accused of everything from high treason to bankrupting France with her fashion choices
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she became the face of royal access during the French Revolution. Her trial was a foregone conclusion, and she was quickly given an appointment with La Vauve
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But most of what is remembered about Marie Antoinette, like her famous catchphrase
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let them eat cake, has been debunked by historians. She was a victim of what we would now call a smear campaign
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A public denouncement that stretched from her life to the history books
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And yet, in her final moments, the until very recently Queen of France displayed remarkable
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composure, apologizing to her executioner for stepping on his foot. All things considered, he was probably willing to let it slide
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History is not always kind to royals. Whether their ends were tragic, bizarre, or downright ridiculous, they often paid the
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price for their power, reminding us that behind every crown is a human being
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Flawed, fascinating, and occasionally very unlucky