- Royal families are no strangers to scandal, with queens themselves sometimes causing the stir.
- Irene of Athens, empress of the Byzantine empire, gouged out her son's eyes to take over the throne.
- Mary, Queen of Scots, is believed to have orchestrated the death of her second husband Lord Darnley.
Throughout history, royalty around the world has dealt with its own scandals, controversies, and drama-filled stories. But these queens took the cake, whether they were indulging in numerous affairs, like Queen of England Catherine Howard, or conspiring to kill their kings to take the thrown themselves, like Irene of Athens.
Keep scrolling to take a walk through history, and learn about the most scandalous queens of all time.
Marie Antoinette was hated by the people for her love of opulence and glamour.
Marie Antoinette was the queen of France from 1774 through 1792. In fact, she was the last queen before the French Revolution.
The queen's penchant for expensive things turned many of the commoners against her, and probably contributed to her eventual beheading. But her most famous instance of excessive spending was the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.
A young woman called the Countess de La Mott entered the French court in 1785, and pretended to be a close friend of Antoinette's. She was able to con a member of high society into believing the royal was in love with him, hired a prostitute to pretend to be Antoinette, and convinced the man that Antoinette was interested in purchasing a giant diamond necklace for $1,600,000 livres (approximately $12,000,000 today). Of course, this money was never paid, because the queen had no knowledge of the conspiracy, but the jewelers were almost bankrupt.
Even though she was eventually proven innocent in court, public opinion still was swayed against Marie Antoinette. The queen was all but despised when she was executed at the end of her reign.
Irene of Athens, empress of the Byzantine empire, gouged out her own son's eyes to take over the throne.
Irene ruled Byzantine in some capacity from 780 to 802 AD. But her biggest power grab came after her son, Constantine VI, had overthrown her and attempted to gain power for himself. Eventually, the two reconciled and co-ruled together, but that wasn't enough for Irene.
In 786, Constantine turned public opinion against him when he divorced his wife to marry his mistress, and Irene took advantage of the situation by conspiring against her son. She had her supporters arrest and blind Constantine by gouging his eyes out. By most accounts, he died soon after, though some speculate he and his wife Theodote lived a private life in exile.
Marguerite of Valois was exiled from court and later publicly opposed her husband, which was unheard of at the time.
Marguerite was the queen of France and Navarre (parts of present day Spain and France) from 1572 to 1599. She had a difficult relationship with her husband, brother, and mother, forcing her to think outside the box in order to survive.
When the queen was unable to provide her husband (the king) with an heir, she was sent to live with her brother, Henry III. A scandal followed her — it was rumored that during her time away from her husband, she became pregnant with her lover's son. This infuriated her brother, and led to her exile from both his castle and her husband's.
Marguerite eventually was able to convince her husband to let her come home long enough to realize their marriage would never be a happy one. This led her to do something unheard of — she abandoned her husband and her family, fled to an entirely new area, and appealed to the Holy Catholic League as a leader in her own right. Even more scandalous? Her husband was a Protestant, and the two factions of Christianity had been warring.
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