Some
of the most famous romances that truly changed the face of the world and the
course of history were love triangles of powerful people.
This
becomes rather dangerous when it involves the most powerful people in history.
Some of the most infamous love triangles have brought nations to their knees,
caused the deaths of thousands, and inspired great works of art.
Love
is one of the driving forces of human nature. It inspires us to make unwise
decisions, and sometimes completely change our lives. If it's passionate,
dramatic, and painful, it's all the more addictive, but wreaks even greater
havoc.
It takes a hell of a woman to be in the
middle of a love triangle. It’s not every female who can handle being at the
center of an intense game of tug of war with hearts (and sometimes lives!) at
stake. There were plenty of other real-life love triangles throughout history
that were just as scandalous. Here we count down our top five…
(1) The Love Triangle That Formed a New
Church
(Henry VIII the King of England. Catherine
of Aragon, Anne Boleyn.)
Known
as the Lord of Love Triangles, Henry VIII was the King of England.
King of love triangles, Henry VIII was
bound to be the first person in this historical list. As King of England, Henry had many wives, inspiring movies, shows, and countless works of art. But,
it is perhaps the lengths he went to in order to be able to marry his second
wife, Anne Boleyn, that are truly astounding.
 |
| Henry Vlll King of England |
Henry
VIII pretty much formed a new Church just for the sake of getting away from his
first wife. Catherine of Aragon was a Spanish princess who was married to
Henry’s late elder brother.
 |
| King Henry viii if England |
Catherine
married her first husband’s little brother. Historians tell us that despite
multiple miscarriages, stillbirths, and Henry’s numerous affairs, Catherine
remained a devout loving wife.
 |
| King Henry Vlll with Anne Boleyn --Shooting Deer |
Things
changed quickly when the King fell in love with Catherine’s assistant, Anne
Boleyn. Poor Catherine hadn’t given birth to a male heir to the throne. Boleyn
didn’t just want a cheap fling; she wanted Henry to marry her.
Anne was extremely smart and political; she
didn’t just want to be the King’s mistress, she wanted to be Queen!
 |
| Catherine De Argon |
Henry turned to the Pope of the Roman
Catholic Church and sought and divorce but the Pope simply refused. That’s when
Henry broke off from Rome and formed a new Anglican Church.
 |
| Anne Boleyn |
Now
being the head of the new Church, he could arrange a divorce, which he
ultimately did. Catherine was disheartened. Henry and Anne got married and had
the future Queen Elizabeth I. So that’s how a love triangle formed a new
Church.
2. King Louis XIV of France And His Two Lady
Loves.
(Louis XIV, Madame de Montespan, and Madame
de Maintenon.)
Louis
XIV (1638–1715), also known as Louis the Great or the Sun King ,was King of
France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110
days is the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in history.
Like many people with too much time and money on their hands, the royals that occupied Versailles in the 18th century are reputed to have indulged in complete debauchery. They were the forerunners of excess, establishing the principals of overindulgence. Louis XIV, the Sun King, was particularly known for his behavior with women.
 |
| King Louse lv of France |
Throughout his life, he had a myriad of affairs before, during, and after his marriage to Queen Marie Thérèse.
Louis’s first marriage was with his first cousin Maria Theresa of Spain. He cheated on her all the time.
 |
| Queen Maria Thresa ,King Louise lv king of France with Family |
It was commonly known and accepted that the French kings had mistresses, in addition to their official wife, the queen. Mistresses were much more put forward at the Court than the queen even was. The latter only had two roles at the Versailles Court: ensure the king had descendants, and act in charity work.
 |
| Queen Maria Thresa if Spain |
For
all the rest, including the common Court life and the king’s entertainment, the
role bestowed upon the royal mistresses.
 |
| Madame de Maintenon |
Among the many, three main mistresses
dominate Louis XIV’s long reign: Louise de
Lavallière, the Marquess of Montespan and
Madame de Maintenon.
Never was the role of the mistress to ever replace the queen: she was always supposed to only be his companion. Of the three, however, the latter, Madame de Maintenon, will know a fate that none other had.
 |
| Marquess of Montespan |
From mistress to wife
Originally, Madame de Maintenon was supposed to be the nanny of the children Louis XIV had with his previous mistress, Madame de Montespan. As he gets older, and tired of Madame de Montespan’s personality, Louis XIV slowly turned to Madame de Maintenon who became his confident, his lover. The death of queen Marie-Thérèse, marked a turning point in the mistress’s life.
 |
| Madame Maintenon |
Despite
all usages and the fact that Madame de Maintenon was not part of the higher
nobility, the king decided to marry her, less than three months after the
passing of his wife.
 |
| Louise de Lavallière |
 |
| Louise de Lavallière with children |
The
wedding took place in high secrecy, which means she only became the king’s
wife, but not the queen. Madame de Maintenon thus benefited from a very special
place at the Court and in the king’s life and heart, until the very end of his
reign.
This is the first time in
French history that a king married one of his mistresses.
3. The Love Triangle That Rome became the new super power of the world.
(Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavia)
Cleopatra
VII, the last Ptolemaic pharaoh of Egypt enjoyed her romances with both Julius
Caesar and his pupil Mark Antony.
However,
the actual love triangle included Cleopatra, Antony, and Antony’s wife,
Octavia. Octavia was Caesar’s great-niece.
Antony
abandoned Octavia and that’s why Augustus (Octavia’s brother) and Antony went
to battle and as a result, the Roman Empire was formed.
There
is no denying that by the time Cleopatra came into power, Egypt was in steady
decline. The only way she could help save her empire was by gaining an external
support — that’s when Julius Caesar entered the picture.
The strengthening of Egyptian-Roman ties with an affair
After Cleopatra became the Egyptian ruler,
her brother turned husband tried sabotaging her.
He
wanted the entire Egyptian empire for himself and went to great lengths to win
the trust of the council members of the kingdom. Still burning with the desire
to save her empire, Cleopatra decided to approach the mighty Caesar and
convince him to help keep her empire.
After Caesar defeated Pompey, he was in
Alexandria. During this grand celebration, Cleopatra hatched a plan to convince
the Roman dictator before he too would fall prey to her brother’s tactics. She
smuggled herself into the royal palace and perfectly landed in Caesar’s room.
Caesar
was taken by the Egyptian Pharaoh at first glance. After coaxing him to sleep
with her, Cleopatra revealed the distress she had faced back in Egypt. Caesar
immediately agreed to help her by providing her with all the support she
needed, and thus Cleopatra got what she came for.
That affair didn’t end there.
Soon
Cleopatra discovered that she was pregnant with Caesar's child. She bore
Caesar, his only son and named him Ptolemy Caesar or Caesarian (meaning: little
Caesar). Hearing this news, the Romans were outraged. Having an heir with
semi-Roman blood from the ‘uncivilized’ Egyptian society was unacceptable to
them.
The
situation only escalated after Caesar died. Cleopatra was convinced to raise
his son as the heir to Rome. On the other hand, Caesar passed on his legacy to
his grandnephew Octavian or Augustus.
However,
Roman general Mark Antony was also in competition for power. With Cleopatra
around, Augustus set his eyes on the Egyptian empire to expand his governance.
Cleopatra, once again, found her kingdom at the brink of danger.
The second affair to save the empire
When Cleopatra was in Rome, she became
friends with Mark Antony. With her authority in danger once again, she
requested to meet Antony in Tarsus (present-day Turkey). Just as she seduced
Caesar into the deal, she planned to try similar but grander tactics to attract
Antony towards her and gain his trust.
This
goes without saying: Antony was so taken with Cleopatra that he forgot why he
came in the first place. Instead, he left his wife in Rome and spent maximum
time with this lady Pharaoh at Tarsus. Within a year, Cleopatra gave birth to
Antony’s twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II.
However, this happy love story didn’t last
for long.
At
the other end in Rome, Augustus went on a rampage to assert that he deserved
the sole power. When the news of the recent affair of Antony with Cleopatra
reached Augustus, he declared war against the Egyptian empire. Wanting to save
his lover’s pride, Antony too participated in the war — that didn’t end well
for the lovers.
Augustus
was successful at defeating the Egyptians and overtook the empire. Through this
long and bloody battle, not only did Augustus win over the Pharaoh, but he was
also successful at defeating Antony — and thus became the first sole ruler of
the Roman Empire.
Humiliated
and defeated, Antony tried killing himself by falling on his sword — an old
Roman tradition — but he was unsuccessful at that as well. His wounded body was
then taken to Cleopatra, who was hiding in a mausoleum.
Antony took his last breath in his lover’s
arms and met his tragic ending. Unable to face the embarrassment of losing her
kingdom, Cleopatra too soon died.
With Cleopatra’s death, Egypt became
part of the Roman Empire. Augustus (Octavia’s brother) erased all traces of the
once glorious couple, but he did make one concession. Honoring her last
request, he had Cleopatra and Antony buried side by side.
Thus came an end to the age of Pharaohs, and Rome became
the new super power of the world.
4. A King, An American Lover, and Her
Husband
(Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, and Ernest
Simpson.)
When love is more important than the crown.
Edward,
the handsome Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, changed the course
of his life, as well as that of British history, when he fell in love with
Wallis Warfield Simpson—a woman who was not only American, but also married.
Wallis
Simpson is perhaps one of the most famous women in modern history thanks to her
involvement in one of the 20th century’s most shocking love triangles. Simpson
was the reason why King Edward VIII abdicated the throne and Elizabeth II
eventually became Queen.
When he was Prince of Wales, Edward
(called "David," after one of his many middle names) took lots of
mistresses, but it was Mrs. Simpson who finally captured his heart. Why didn't
he marry her right away?
She was divorced (as future head of the
Church of England, Edward technically couldn't marry a divorcée, although his
great-nephew, Prince Charles, changed that). Also, she was technically still
married to the American Ernest Simpson.
Edward
met Simpson at a party in 1931, hosted by Lady Thelma Furness, a viscountess
with whom Edward had conducted a long relationship.
Edward
was not instantly smitten, but he and the upwardly-mobile Mrs. Simpson traveled
in the same social circles, and after many society balls and dinner parties he
was slowly captivated by her charm and poise.
By
1934, Wallis was separated from her husband, and British Parliament grew
increasingly nervous over the relationship. Then, in 1936, Edward's father
died, and he was forced to take his position as king. But his brief stay on the
throne only created media frenzy due to his relationship with Simpson.
Miserable, Edward abdicated the throne in a famous radio broadcast in which he told the world that he "found it impossible to carry the heavy burden" of being king without the support of "the woman he loved."
Edward's
younger brother, Albert, became King George VI and his niece Elizabeth the
future Queen. Since the title Prince of Wales can only be held by the eldest
son of the sovereign, Edward was made the Duke of Windsor.
King George made sure that his brother kept the courtesy title of
His Royal Highness, but he also pointedly decreed that should he marry Wallis,
she (and any children they produced) would be denied royal status.
After
Simpson's divorce in 1937, Edward and Wallis were married in a small ceremony
with only 20 guests present. The nation vilified Wallis for her manipulation of
a monarch and, most understandably, hanging out with Nazi officials.
But
some theorize that she did England a favor by taking David off the throne, as
he was reportedly quite unstable. They spent most of the rest of their lives in
France.
(5) U.S. President Who Killed a Guy For
Chivalry’s Sake
The 7th President of the United States,
Andrew Jackson killed a guy who insulted his loving wife, Rachel.
Andrew Jackson took the life of a guy who
insulted his beloved wife, Rachel. Technically, they weren't married for a long
time, as Rachel was still legally wed to her first husband, who would get
physical (although she believed herself to be divorced). The Jacksons
re-married in 1794, three years after their first union, once Rachel was free.
Andrew
was notoriously devoted to Rachel and was furious when his political opponents
insulted her as a religious country bumpkin. One guy, Charles Dickinson, dared
to mention the bigamy scandal and accused Jackson of not paying up on a bet.
He
even published an essay dissing his rival. Outraged, Andrew challenged
Dickinson to a duel. Jackson wrote, "Your conduct and expressions relative
to me of late have been of such a nature and so insulting that requires, and
shall have my notice…I hope, Sir, your courage will be an ample security to me,
that I will obtain speedily that satisfaction due me for the insults
offered."
In 1806, the two met for a duel.
Jackson was hit during the first round (meaning he technically lost). But this
was part of his strategy.
He re-loaded and shot again, killing
Dickinson in a technical violation of duel rules. Jackson wasn't prosecuted for
taking Dickinson's life, as dueling was considered a legitimate form of
settling grievances at the time.
When reading about these stories, one can’t
help but think about how history could have been written differently if they
did not take place. How much of our world would be different? How much of our
culture and mores would change? We probably will never know, although it is
still important to recognize how much these love affairs have affected the
course of our known history.
The End
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