20 Historical Figures Who Went Too Far for the Wrong Person

We know her from history classes as a formidable ruler, but she put her entire kingdom at risk to live alongside a demanding and paranoid soldier. She financed his massive armies and organized extravagant orgies that drained her coffers. She is the perfect example of what not to do: entrust the resources of an empire to just anyone.

This man literally broke away from the Catholic Church and changed the course of European history. All because he wanted to marry a particular woman at any cost. He spent years writing passionate love letters, overthrowing his government, and banishing his first wife—who had been faithful to him—so that Anne would agree to marry him.

After her husband’s death, this British monarch mourned so deeply that it completely paralyzed her ability to carry out her royal duties for decades. She wore nothing but black for forty years. Her staff and subjects were exhausted by this endless display of grief.

This Spanish queen was nicknamed “Joan the Mad” because she refused to part with her unfaithful husband, even after his death. She traveled the country with his coffin, regularly opening it to kiss his remains and ensure that no other woman could come near him.

This infamous Roman emperor was willing to do anything to please his alluring wife. He even went so far as to order the execution of his own mother when she disapproved of their relationship. He showered Poppaea with extravagant luxuries, such as when he assembled a personal guard of five hundred donkeys, solely so that she could take daily milk baths.

While France was literally starving and preparing for a full-scale revolution, this queen was secretly supporting a charming Swedish diplomat who had won her heart. She spent astronomical sums from the royal coffers to buy him luxury horses, custom-made uniforms, and sumptuous apartments near her palace.

The famous Roman leader actually put his dictatorship on hold to go on a cruise down the Nile with Cleopatra. Caesar had political enemies in his own country because of his actions. He undertook this Herculean task for a woman who, in any case, was mainly using his military power to secure the throne for her own family.

The longest-reigning Russian ruler gave her lover gifts of staggering value to please him. Among these were several palaces, official titles, and literally thousands of serfs. Even after they broke up, she continued to allow him to influence her political decisions.

Lord Byron was the ultimate seducer, but this woman took her obsession with him far too far. After they broke up, she set fire to a doll she had made herself in his likeness. She even showed up at his house disguised as a servant, just to see him.

Peter loved this King of Prussia so much that he sabotaged his own country’s war effort just to please him. Just as Prussia was on the verge of defeating Russia during a hostile invasion, Peter intervened as the new tsar and literally surrendered all the territories his army had fought for.

Desperate to cure her son’s illness, Russia’s last empress allowed a strange, unkempt mystic to run virtually her entire household and influence government appointments. She defended his bizarre behavior before the entire nation, disregarding the furious warnings of her advisors and public opinion, which pointed out that he was ruining the monarchy’s reputation.

The Virgin Queen kept her childhood sweetheart under her thumb for decades, financing his costly military expeditions and tolerating his unpredictable behavior. She nearly sparked a major political revolt by hinting that she might marry him. She constantly bailed him out of enormous financial debts and disregarded her advisors.

Nicknamed the “Mad King” of Bavaria, Ludwig II spent his country’s entire budget on building fairy-tale castles and subsidizing his favorite opera composer. Wagner took full advantage of this devotion. He constantly demanded money to finance his lavish lifestyle, while treating the king as his personal piggy bank.

She was one of the wealthiest women in medieval Europe, but she ceded her vast territories to a young English king who treated her very badly. Henry constantly cheated on her. He even locked her away in a tower for fifteen years when she complained, and used her lands to finance his own wars.

This brilliant 18th-century spy spent decades navigating foreign courts, disguising himself, and gathering top-secret intelligence for King Louis XV. Although he devoted himself body and soul to the crown, the French government continually cut his budget, threatened him with arrest, and ultimately forced d’Éon into permanent exile.

Nicknamed Sisi, this empress subjected herself to outrageous beauty rituals. She spent hours lacing her corset to the extreme and washing her long, ankle-length hair with raw eggs and brandy. All of this to please a husband who, in any case, was constantly preoccupied with politics and other women.

This famous Enlightenment philosopher spent decades with a laundress whom he constantly despised. He forced her to give their five newborn children to a notorious orphanage, claiming that they would disturb the peace and quiet of his writing. Despite the abuse he inflicted on her and the public humiliation he subjected her to, she remained by his side.

England’s first reigning queen completely alienated her entire country, solely to please her young Spanish husband, with whom she had a distant relationship. She dragged her nation into a costly and disastrous war against France. That is how England lost its last continental territory—all because Philip had asked her for military aid.

The legendary conqueror would regularly interrupt his campaigns for world conquest to spare the feelings of his favorite general. When Hephaestion finally succumbed to a fever, Alexander completely lost his mind. He took out his anger on the doctor who had failed to save him and banned all music throughout the empire.

This 20th-century monarch actually abdicated not once, but twice—all because his country refused to accept his scandalous mistress. He renounced his royal duties, leaving his young son to face a political landscape in rapid decline, and fled the country to live a life of luxury with her abroad.