Strange World: Some Odd Ruling Tales

When the Hapsburg Emperor, Rudolf II, went mad, he allowed lions, tigers and other exotic animals and birds to run free in the empty galleries and corridors.

King Louis IX of France “died” of the Plague at the age of twenty nine in 1244. But the King had other ideas for, to everyone’s horror, during his funeral service he sat up in his coffin. He lived for another twenty six years, fought a crusade and was eventually declared a saint!

‘New Amsterdam’ was the first name New York was given by Dutch colonists, after their principal city in Holland. The English took over in 1664 and renamed  the city after James, Duke of York, the brother of King Charles II.

King Frederick William of Prussia had a mania for repeatedly scrubbing his hands, washing them countless times all day and night.