Real-life Red Weddings
Plots, poisonings and massacres – when the joining of royal houses go wrong
Roman emperor Caracalla and a princess of Parthia
According to Herodian, Emperor Caracalla proposed marriage to a daughter of King Artabanus V of Parthia in 216 CE. The father of the bride was suspicious but, legend has it, ended up agreeing to the match only to see his new son-in-law’s troops attack the wedding party as the vows were being said. The poor bride was killed so quickly that her name has been forgotten by history.
Saint olga of Kiev and Prince Mal of the Drevlians
Olga’s beloved husband, Igor, was killed by the Drevlians in 945. The story goes that when the offending tribe sent messengers to Olga proposing a marriage to a prince called Mal, she had them buried alive. A cohort sent to accompany her to the wedding was burned to death. Olga then organised a massacre that killed thousands of people before setting fire to a city using sparrows.
Mary, Queen of Scots, and James, earl of Bothwell
This royal relationship brought a disastrous end to not one but two royal weddings. In 1567, the Earl of Bothwell was accused of murdering Mary’s second husband, Lord Darnley. Days after being acquitted of the killing, he abducted Mary and married her. The union was hugely unpopular and weeks later, Bothwell fled Scotland while Mary was imprisoned and forced to abdicate.
King henry III of Navarre and Margaret of Valois
Protestant Henry’s marriage to Catholic Margaret on 18 August 1572 in Paris arguably led to the infamous Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Their wedding was part of a peace pact but on 24 August, thousands of Protestants in the city to celebrate the marriage were killed. Rumours swirled that Margaret’s mother, Catherine de’ Medici, had poisoned Henry’s mother, Jeanne, earlier that summer.
Prince Amadeo of Savoy and Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo
This royal wedding, on 30 May 1867, has gone down in legend for its endless tragedies. The bride’s wardrobe mistress allegedly hanged herself and on the wedding day and the palace gatekeeper was found with his throat slit. The best man apparently shot himself while firing his gun in celebrations for the wedding, and the couple’s honeymoon train reportedly ran over the stationmaster.