Not long ago I was reading about young Prince Harry and it started me thinking about the history of the British monarchy. I immediately took my medication, but to no avail…the thought was stuck in my head.Anyway, long before they started using numbers, you know, Henry II or Henry VIII, it was common for kings to be known by a nickname. As you might have guessed, some of these nicknames were of the self-aggrandizing variety, like Alfred the Great, Richard the Lion Hearted and so on.
However, some kings didn’t do as well in the nickname department. Take for example, Ethelred the Unready, Sweyn Forkbeard or Harold Harefoot. Now, I thought those were pretty interesting, but I was certain there had to be more. So after a little digging, I compiled this list of not so illustriously nicknamed kings…
Ulrod the Incontinent
Caldor the Pigeon Toed
Harold the Queasy
Fredric the Emaciated
Edward the Squishy
Henry the Nutless (perhaps not surprisingly, he left no heirs to the throne)
Charles the Lice Ridden (was actually called that for only a short while before it was realized that everyone at that time was lice ridden)
Richard the Bootylicious
Ok, don’t quote me on that last one…I’m fairly certain it was at that point that the medication finally kicked in.
