Supposedly, Leopold II was actually quite nervous about dying and used to move restlessly from place to place in his last years, saying (partly as a joke) that if Death came knocking on his door, he wouldn't be 'at home.' But when death did finally come, he faced it straight on.
Congratulations! I find your blog to be quite interesting and resourceful. I am a monarchist as well, do you happen to have the statistic of "bad" kings vs "bad" presidents? I think that would make a powerful argument.
I would think he probably had reasons to be nervous -and aside from the usual Congo business I'm thinking more of his private life. Hopefully he got his affairs in order (so to speak) before he had to face St Peter.
Yes, he did have reasons to be nervous. But he married his last mistress--Mme. Vaughan-- on his deathbed (if not earlier), and requested and received the Last Rites.
Anonymous, As far as I know there are no such statistics, nor would I expect any since "good" and "bad" are such relative terms. I can honestly say that those U.S. presidents I regard as the worst of all are probably the very same most widely held to be the "best". Similarly with monarchs it would be very difficult for most to agree on standards for 'good' and 'bad' and harder still to put aside ethnic, national or religious prejudice in judging them. The numbers would also be off balance since presidents have only become commonplace in the last century so there would be far more kings of both varieties than presidents.
R.I.P. Sa Majeste! Even in death Leopold II seemed to look quite fierce.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly, Leopold II was actually quite nervous about dying and used to move restlessly from place to place in his last years, saying (partly as a joke) that if Death came knocking on his door, he wouldn't be 'at home.' But when death did finally come, he faced it straight on.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I find your blog to be quite interesting and resourceful. I am a monarchist as well, do you happen to have the statistic of "bad" kings vs "bad" presidents? I think that would make a powerful argument.
ReplyDeleteI would think he probably had reasons to be nervous -and aside from the usual Congo business I'm thinking more of his private life. Hopefully he got his affairs in order (so to speak) before he had to face St Peter.
ReplyDeleteYes, he did have reasons to be nervous. But he married his last mistress--Mme. Vaughan-- on his deathbed (if not earlier), and requested and received the Last Rites.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know there are no such statistics, nor would I expect any since "good" and "bad" are such relative terms. I can honestly say that those U.S. presidents I regard as the worst of all are probably the very same most widely held to be the "best". Similarly with monarchs it would be very difficult for most to agree on standards for 'good' and 'bad' and harder still to put aside ethnic, national or religious prejudice in judging them. The numbers would also be off balance since presidents have only become commonplace in the last century so there would be far more kings of both varieties than presidents.