The world of monarchs is full of drama, but few stories are as dark as those of the top 10 rulers who turned on their own spouses. From medieval tyrants to legendary emperors, these leaders took marriage to a murderous extreme, leaving a trail of blood, intrigue, and legend that still fascinates us today.
Why the Top 10 Rulers Became Murderous
Power can corrupt, and when it comes to kings, emperors, and even mayors, the desire to control extends to the very heart of their households. Whether driven by political ambition, personal vendettas, or superstition, each of these ten figures found a reason—real or imagined—to eliminate the women they were bound to.
10 King Henry VIII
King Henry VIII stands out as the original celebrity on this grim roster. He earned the dubious honor of being the OG monarch who dispatched not one, but two of his wives, all while juggling six marriages and a parade of mistresses.
The 16th‑century English sovereign famously broke from the Roman Catholic Church after Pope Julius II refused his request to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Henry’s solution? He founded the Church of England, a bold move that gave him the freedom to pursue his matrimonial ambitions.
His first queen to meet a tragic end was Anne Boleyn, a woman he courted for six years. She initially sparked Henry’s desire for a divorce, but after giving birth only to a daughter, Elizabeth, Henry grew disillusioned.
Anne’s failure to produce a male heir, combined with accusations of treason and infidelity with five men, led to her beheading on May 19, 1536, when she was just 35.
The next royal victim was Catherine Howard, a cousin of Anne Boleyn. She reigned as queen from 1540 to 1541, only to be executed on February 13, 1542 after being charged with adultery.
Catherine’s final words on the scaffold were chillingly defiant: “I die a queen, but I would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpeper,” a nod to the king’s close confidant who had allegedly been involved with her.
9 King Herod the Great
King Herod the Great, who ruled Judea from 37 BC to 4 BC, earned infamy for the brutal murder of his wife Mariamme—granddaughter of a former High Priest—along with their two sons, her brother, grandfather, and mother.
Herod’s extensive family included eight other wives and fourteen children by six of them. In 29 BC, he ordered Mariamme’s execution on charges of adultery and an alleged plot to assassinate him, a grim reminder of his ruthless approach to perceived betrayal.
8 Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
From AD 54 to AD 68, the Roman Empire was under the flamboyant and infamous rule of Nero, whose original name was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. He rose as the fifth emperor, stepping into power as the adopted son of Emperor Claudius.
Initially hesitant to sign death warrants, Nero’s reign quickly turned dark when he ordered the murder of his mother Agrippina in AD 59, citing her overbearing influence as justification.
But the real domestic horror came when Nero, after a series of violent outbursts toward his wife, decided to kill her in favor of the young, charismatic Poppaea Sabina, a former senator’s spouse.
Beyond his marital cruelty, Nero also eliminated his stepbrother, his stepbrother’s wife, and his mother, while being blamed—rightly or not—for the Great Fire of Rome, a tragedy he allegedly shifted onto the Christians.
His legacy remains one of tyranny, religious persecution, and personal brutality, culminating in his own suicide in AD 68.
7 King Claudius
Turning to fiction, Shakespeare’s King Claudius—Hamlet’s treacherous uncle—offers a textbook case of unintended spousal death. In his desperate attempt to poison Prince Hamlet, Claudius prepares a lethal cup that his own wife, Queen Gertrude, unwittingly drinks.
Although Claudius protests, his hesitation is half‑hearted; he does not intervene to stop Gertrude from consuming the poison, sealing her fate.
Thus, Gertrude’s death becomes a pivotal moment in the tragedy, illustrating how political scheming can have fatal domestic repercussions.
6 Mayor Barry Waites
Even a modern‑day mayor can earn a spot on this list. Barry Waites, the mayor of Lanett, Alabama, in the 1990s, was convicted of murdering his wife, Charlotte, in 1998.
Initially, Waites claimed he was at work when his daughter called to announce his wife’s death, a story that misled investigators for three years. It wasn’t until a re‑election campaign that allegations surfaced, accusing him of strangling Charlotte, beating her, and delivering a fatal head injury.
Financial troubles, deceit toward his daughters, and mounting evidence eventually led to his conviction, resulting in a 40‑year prison sentence in 2006.
5 King John of England
Often remembered from Robin Hood folklore, King John (1199–1216) was far more ruthless than the legends suggest. While his brother Richard the Lionheart fought abroad, John colluded with France’s Philip Augustus, seeking to usurp the English crown.
Under pressure from rebellious nobles, John was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, limiting royal authority. Yet his cruelty extended to personal realms: he allegedly raped his wives and, in a particularly gruesome episode, starved his own wife to death alongside twenty‑two knights within Dorset’s Corfe Castle.
John’s death is shrouded in myth—some say he succumbed to a peach‑induced illness, but most historians attribute it to dysentery, leaving him in a pitiable state covered in his own excrement.
4 Afzal Khan
Although not a sovereign, Afzal Khan was a formidable general in 17th‑century India, commanding the Sultan’s army and boasting sixty‑three wives—an impressive, albeit terrifying, tally.
Superstitious to a fault, Khan consulted astrologers before a campaign against the Maratha ruler. The ominous forecast warned of doom, prompting Khan to order the execution of his wives, fearing they might remarry if he fell in battle.
While the exact method remains unclear—whether they were pushed into a well or slain by Khan’s own hand—the astrologers proved correct: Khan met his end on the battlefield.
3 King Shahryar
In the realm of fiction, King Shahryar from the Arabian Nights saga becomes infamous for his nightly execution of brides, a habit sparked by a single jilting that left him distrustful of women.
His cruelty persisted until the clever storyteller Shahrazad, daughter of his vizier, volunteered to marry him. Each night she spun a captivating tale, ending on a cliff‑hanger, compelling Shahryar to spare her life to hear the conclusion.
After a thousand nights of storytelling, Shahryar transformed, his faith in women restored, though not before he had already slain countless brides.
2 Caligula
Gaius Caesar Germanicus, better known as Caligula, ruled Rome from AD 12 to AD 41 and epitomized tyrannical excess. Declaring himself a living god, he enacted gruesome spectacles, including feeding spectators to wild animals.
His background was marred by tragedy: his mother and two brothers suffered imprisonment and death under his predecessor, Tiberius, fostering a deep‑seated ruthlessness.
Caligula survived an illness that allegedly altered his temperament, leading to a reign marked by four marriages, public executions of children before their parents, and a brief yet chaotic rule.
His downfall came after a public sporting event; a mob of Romans stabbed him thirty times, then proceeded to murder his fourth wife—still married to him at the time—and his daughter.
1 Wu Zetain
Our final ruler flips the script: Wu Zetain, the sole female emperor of China (655–690), began as a concubine to Emperor Taizong before maneuvering her way to power by seducing his son, Li Zhi, during the former’s death throes.
After the new emperor took her to a monastery, she impressed Li Zhi with her intellect and vigor, prompting his recall of her as a trusted advisor. She soon rose to become the de facto ruler.
Zetain proved both brilliant and merciless. She ordered the execution of two opposing princes, forced her own grandchildren into suicide, eradicated members of the Tang clan, and is believed to have poisoned her husband, Li Zhi, to cement her authority.
Her calculated cruelty ensured her dominance, cementing her legacy as a ruler who would stop at nothing—including spiking her spouse’s drink—to maintain control.