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(In Pics) King for a Day? Five Monarchs with Very Brief Reigns

by Joseph Green
by Joseph Green
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This last weekend, the United Kingdom crowned its first new monarch in 75 years. King Charles III was awarded all the pomp and circumstance of any such new monarch, in an extraordinarily lavish ceremony paid for by the public purse.

It would be a foolish gambler indeed who would expect Charles to rule for as long as his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. However, we hope Charlie gets to be king for longer than these poor souls.

1. Yuan Shi-kai

Yuan Shi-kai made a name for himself amidst the faltering imperial regime of the Qing dynasty in China. After the fall of the dynasty he was made first President of the Republic of China in 1912. However he attempted to make himself Emperor of the restored imperial court, delaring himself duch in 1915. He lasted 83 days before being forced to abdicate, dying shortly afterwards (Rio V. De Sieux / Public Domain)

2. Edward V

Edward V of England was king by hereditary right, the son of Edward IV. However he was also a minor when his father died in 1483, and he was placed in the Tower of London alongside his younger brother Richard for safekeeping. Edward’s reign would last only 78 days before the brothers both went missing, either killed by their scheming uncle who would go on to become Richard III or their rivals in the House of Lancaster, who would go on to become supporters of the Tudors (National Portrait Gallery / Public Domain)

3. Lady Jane Grey

In truth, the dynastic wars that started with the Wars of the Roses and which involved Edward V carried on far beyond his disappearance. A century later the death of Edward VI at a young age left a succession crisis, exacerbated by the lack of a male heir and a religious crisis caused by Henry VIII’s break with Catholicism. Jane Grey was installed as monarch to prevent Henry’s daughter, the Catholic Mary, from becoming queen. But the plan failed and Jane was executed for treason by the new Queen Mary (Unknown Author / Public Domain)

4. Dipendra of Nepal

Dipendra was the crown prince of Nepal, but that is not what he is remembered for today. In 2001 he walked through the royal palace during a party with several guns and killed most of the Nepalese royal family is what became known as the Nepalese Royal Massacre. Despite attempting suicide after killing his parents and siblings, he survived for three days, during which time he was the King of Nepal. Finally, on 4 June 2001, he died and his surviving uncle Gyanendra became king (Nabin K. Sapkota / CC BY-SA 4.0)

5. Emperor Mo of the Jin

With the 13th century Jin dynasty on the verge of collapse and Mongols at the gate of Bianjing, the Chinese Jin emperor Aizong sensed that things were not going well. He therefore decided to quickly abdicate and pass his title on to one of his generals, Wanyan Chenglin, who unsurprisingly did not really want the title. Eventually Aizong persuaded him to take the throne, arguing that he could escape on horseback better, and he became Emperor Mo. However the enemy attacked in the middle of the abdication ceremony: Aizong committed suicide, and Mo died in the fighting, lasting less than a day (Jin Shangjing Museum / Public Domain)

Top Image: The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, killed after a brief reign of only nine days. Source: Paul Delaroche / Public Domain.

By Joseph Green

References

Joseph Green is editor for Historic Mysteries, which combines his background in English Literature with a lifelong fascination for the strange and the unexplained. Read More

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