Fate has an odd sense of humor

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the sad, but funny fate of the Swedish King who ate himself to death on dessert. So in keeping with our recent themes, I thought we'd explore other rulers who croaked in interesting ways.

I won't include anyone who was killed in battle (a whole lot) or murdered or assassinated in a power play (also a whole lot). It's indeed good to be the king, but only if you survive.

Back in about 600 BCE, there was a Grecian ruler called Draco. Not to be confused with the little twerp from Harry Potter, this Draco was a really great guy. He worked very hard to write up laws that were both fair and just. And to stop people from inventing laws on the go.

So to celebrate his great work, they threw a party for Draco. Wasn't that nice? Unfortunately, they had a custom back then that consisted of throwing your cloak at the guy you were celebrating to show your respect. Odd habit I know, but aren't most customs a bit odd?

Anyway, it turned out Draco was SO popular that they threw way too many cloaks at him, and he suffocated under the mass off cloth they heaped upon him in his honor. At least they liked him, right?

Next up is the Roman Emperor Caracalla. He was as nasty as Draco was nice. Caracalla is known as one of the cruelest Emperors Rome ever had, and that's some stiff competition! Only Caligula was definitely worse.

One day, Caracalla was on his way to continue the war in Parthia (north-eastern Iran), when he had to answer Nature's Call. Even Emperors have to drain the lizard, to borrow a modern parlance. However, as Caracalla stood there contemplating whatever one thinks about at such times, one of his bodyguards stabbed him to death with a sword! Which might be why you've never seen a movie with this Emperor, cause how do you film that without making it into a comedy?

Finally for this week, we'll look at the demise of King George V of England. He died in 1925, after a long illness. I'm not going to go into his life here, follow the link if you're interested.

His death is what's fascinating. You see, although the King died in 1925 we only learned the true cause in 1986. Until then it was assumed natural causes did the job. But as it turned out, he was actually killed by his own doctor, Lord Dawson of Penn with a juicy cocktail of cocaine and morphine. That's right. The royal physician murdered the already dying King. And what was his motive? To save the Royal family the embarrassment of having to announce the King's death in the evening papers, of course!

What can we deduce from the fate of these three rulers?

1. You can be too nice.
2. Even Emperors need a toilet break.
3. If you're going to die, announce it in the morning papers.

That's it for this week. I'll see you all on Monday.