The Ultimate Social Escape Artists

We have all been there when a social invitation rolls in and your bed sounds infinitely better than making awkward small talk with a bunch of strangers. While you might just text a fake excuse about not feeling well or pretend your car broke down, some of history's most creative introverts took things to an entirely different level. They deployed actual lookalikes, elaborate mannequins, and trusted body doubles to stand in for them at stuffy galas, tense diplomatic dinners, and high-society parties.

Yousuf Karsh on Wikimedia

1. King Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV loved to be the center of attention at Versailles... but every. Single. Night. became overwhelming. The Sun King hired a body double to occupy his royal viewing box during long opera productions. As guests bowed before him, Louis XIV was snacking in his bedroom.

anonymous  on Wikimedia

2. General George Patton

When he wasn't busy crushing Germany, Patton was forced to endure long dinner parties with foreign generals. To avoid these tedious gatherings, he sent a body double named Richard Jeffenson to take his place. No one ever suspected a thing.

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3. Queen Elizabeth I of England

Tudor dinners were full of gossip and intrigue, and Elizabeth totally dodged them by sending a proxy to take her place. A lady-in-waiting would dress up as the queen and chair the table while Elizabeth ran off to play by herself. Nobody ever knew the difference.

Unidentified painter on Wikimedia

4. Joseph Stalin

While the paranoid Soviet leader avoided public gatherings at all costs, he especially hated late-night dinner engagements. So Stalin made sure to send a body double in his place to wait all night while he slept. It turns out that managing a massive regime is much easier when you can outsource your social calendar.

Unknown, presumably by a government employee as part of official duties on Wikimedia

5. Winston Churchill

This British prime minister loved a good cigar, but he absolutely despised the formal, smoke-free receptions hosted by foreign diplomats who wanted to pick his brain all night. He regularly deployed a former insurance clerk named Norman Shelley. Who possessed a nearly identical voice and build to represent him at crowded cocktail hours and glad-handing events.

Central Office of Information on Wikimedia

6. Howard Hughes

In his later years, billionaire recluse Hughes avoided social situations at all costs. So he sent multiple body doubles out into public to confuse people who wanted to find him. Hughes basically founded the "ghosting" trend we know and love today.

AnonymousUnknown author on Wikimedia

7. Bernard Montgomery

British General Montgomery was known for his signature razor-thin mustache. Popular enough to draw crowds, Montgomery despised formal lunches and would send a body double in his place. An actor named Clifton James served as Montgomery's stand-in often.

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8. Empress Dowager Cixi of China

Whenever China's empress had formal dinners with foreign ambassadors, she sent a servant dressed as her in her place. The ruse worked because no one was even allowed to look at her. Yup, that's still disrespectful if you turn around.

John Yu Shuinling on Wikimedia

9. Saddam Hussein

Like Stalin, Hussein utilized body doubles to avoid certain situations. Unlike Stalin, Saddam used his doubles to skip weddings. You can say what you want about his regime, but his dedication to skipping annoying social obligations was incredibly thorough.

INA (Iraqi News Agency) on Wikimedia

10. King George IV of Great Britain

George hated feeling eyes on him at social events, so he got creative. He commissioned a life-sized wax figure of himself to stand incognito at royal galas he didn't want to attend. Now that's how you ghost your friends.

Thomas Lawrence on Wikimedia

11. Mao Zedong

China's leader notoriously hated long dinners, but still had to attend them to retain his public image. Mao had someone dress up as him and occupy his seat so he could go home early. His secret double even had to applaud along at state productions.

Unknown photographer on Wikimedia

12. Adolf Hitler

The German dictator relied heavily on a double named Gustav Weler to stand in for him. Weler would stand on balconies, wave to adoring crowds, and shake hands with minor local officials while the real chancellor stayed deep inside his mountain retreat. The deception was so effective that many high-ranking officials never even realized they were chatting with a completely different man.

UnknownUnknown on Wikimedia

13. General Douglas MacArthur

General MacArthur loved attention... but not enough to attend boring dinners with troops who worshipped him. So he sent a lookalike stand-in to take his seat at dinner while he knocked out in his hotel room bed. Priorities.

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14. Emperor Hirohito of Japan

Protocol dictated that Japanese royalty sit absolutely still for hours a night. So sometimes Hirohito hired someone to take his seat and take the brunt of it. While everyone else tried not to move, Hiro could do what he wanted incognito.

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15. Chiang Kai-shek

Nothing was off limits to China's nationalist leader... but sleeping. So Chiang Kai-shek would hire a loyal subordinate to take his seat at dinner so he could go home and nap. This brilliant move kept the cash flowing into his campaign while ensuring he got a full eight hours of rest.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), on Wikimedia

16. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria

Ruling an empire and raising 16 kids was a lot for Maria Theresa to handle. So she would frequently avoid royal dinners by sending another noble in her place. She mastered the art of the masquerade party to carve out some much-needed personal time.

Martin van Meytens on Wikimedia

17. Pancho Villa

The Mexican revolutionary was good at evasion and applied those skills to his personal life. Whenever someone tried to throw him a party, Villa would send his double in his stead while he hung out in the hills. It is a fantastic example of a military strategy.

D.W. Hoffman, an El Paso photographer on Wikimedia

18. King Charles II of England

History remembers him as the "Merry Monarch" who loved a wild party. But even this legendary social butterfly eventually hit a wall with his courtiers' constant begging for favors. He created a system where a finely dressed dummy was placed in the window of his private study to make it look like he was hard at work.

After Peter Lely / Mary Beale on Wikimedia

19. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

The Desert Fox was celebrated as a national hero. Which unfortunately meant he was constantly pestered to attend boring dinner parties hosted by high-ranking party officials who wanted to show him off. He regularly used a body double to sit through these tedious social gatherings.

Winkelmann on Wikimedia

20. Emperor Nero of Rome

While he loved performing on stage, Nero absolutely detested sitting through the lengthy, boring poetry readings hosted by his wealthy patrician rivals. He began hiring lookalike actors from the local theaters to sit in the imperial box. They even wore his crown and nodded politely for hours.

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