How Many Of These Less Memorable Monarchs Do You Know About?

Not every emperor can be like Queen Elizabeth II. Sprinkled within the annals of time, there are countless rulers who barely had time to warm the throne before being exiled, assassinated, or bullied off of it. Many were just the victims of poor timing, ascending to the throne at particularly tumultuous times in history. These monarchs found their time in power to be astonishingly brief, sometimes comically so. Others, however, met their end in tragic circumstances, as the vy for power is often a fight to the death. Here are 20 monarchs with ridiculously short reigns. 

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1. Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême

Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême was the eldest son of Charles X of France. He became King Louis XIX of France in 1830, a title he kept for about 20 minutes because of the July Revolution which pressured him to abdicate.

Thomas Lawrence on Wikimedia

2. King Edward V of England

King Edward V of England became king at just 12 years old after his father passed away suddenly. He was king for about 2 months before his uncle took the throne for himself, becoming King Richard III, by claiming Edward and his brother were both illegitimate. Edward mysteriously disappeared shortly after, presumably murdered by order of his uncle. 

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3. Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey was Queen of England for just nine days. She inherited the crown from her cousin Edward VI but was soon overthrown by Mary I who put Lady Jane Grey in Prison and executed her when she was only 17.

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4. Emperor Goshirakawa of Japan

Emperor Goshirakawa of Japan only ruled Japan formally for two years. However, instead of a tragic tale of overthrow and execution, he gave up the throne to become a cloistered emperor, meaning he became a Buddhist monk, a move that actually gave him considerably more power behind the scenes.

Fujiwara no Tamenobu on Wikimedia

5. Dipendra of Nepal

Dipendra of Nepal was crowned king while in a coma after assassinating his parents, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, along with seven other members of his family in 2001. He reigned for only three days before succumbing to his injuries. 

Nabin K. Sapkota on Wikimedia

6. Emperor Mo of Jin

Emperor Mo was the last emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin Dynasty of China and the shortest-reigning monarch in Chinese history. He ruled for less than one day before being killed in action by Mongol forces.

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7. Michael II of Russia

Michael II of Russia was given the throne by his brother, Tsar Nicholas II, but Michael only held onto it for less than 24 hours. He knew that keeping the throne would've plunged Russia into a full-blown civil war, given the deeply divided political climate at the time. He called for a manifesto stating he would only accept the throne if he was voted in by the Russian people, but this effectively ended the Romanov dynasty's 300-year rule.

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8. Emperor Duzong of the Southern Song 

Emperor Duzong's reign was characterized by immense corruption and hedonism. He inherited the throne from his uncle. Though he ruled for 10 years, he didn't have any real interest in politics and quickly abandoned his duties, delegating power to his corrupt chancellor.

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9. King Umberto II of Italy

Umberto II was the last king of Italy whose reign lasted only 34 days before a referendum was held and the Italian people voted in favor of abolishing the monarchy. He lived the rest of his life in exile in Portugal. 

Alfred Reuben Tanner on Wikimedia

10. Jean I of France

Jean I, the son of King Louis X, was immediately proclaimed king at the time of his birth as his father passed away while his mother was pregnant with him. Unfortunately, his reign only lasted five days as he died in infancy, most likely of illness. 

Phidelorme on Wikimedia

11. King Frederick Charles of Finland

Frederick Charles was a German prince who was elected King of Finland during the tumultuous period after Finland declared independence from Russia. The Finnish conservative nationalist party which held the most power thought it would be best to establish a monarchy with ties to Germany for military support against the threat of Russian Bolsheviks. The Fins appointed him king, but he ruled for just two months before Germany lost WWI and became a republic. 

T. H. Voigt on Wikimedia

12. King Luís Filipe of Portugal

King Luís Filipe of Portugal's reign lasted only around 20 minutes and had a tragic end. During a time of severe political instability and anti-monarchist sentiment in Portugal, the royal family's carriage was intercepted by assassins, ins and his father, King Carlos I, was shot and killed. In an attempt to save his family, Luís Filipe drew his revolver to fend off the attackers before receiving a gunshot to the head, but in those 20 minutes or so when his father was dead and he was still alive, he was technically king.

Unknown photographer on Wikimedia

13. Antipope Philip

Philip held office for just one day in 768 AD as antipope, a Bishop of Rome and leader of the Holy Roman Empire in opposition to the pope. Philip, a priest at the Monastery of St. Vitus, was randomly proclaimed pope by a Lombard priest called Waldipert who needed a quick replacement for the recently deposed Constantine II, but the act was deemed illegal and he was quickly replaced. 

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14. Sultan Mehmed VI of the Ottoman Empire

Sultan Mehmed VI ruled the Ottoman Empire for just a few years from 1918 to 1922 before the empire's collapse. The Ottoman Empire was on the losing side of WWI and deposed and exiled by the Turkish Nationalist movement.

Sebah & Joaillier on Wikimedia

15. Emperor Reizei of Japan

Emperor Reizei inherited the throne from his father when he was 18 in 967 AD. His reign only lasted two years because his mental health was so unstable. He abdicated and gave them to his younger half-brother, Emperor En'yū.

明治天皇聖徳奉讃会 on Wikimedia

16. Min Shin Saw

Min Shin Saw ruled the Ava Kingdom in what is now Myanmar during the early 15th century, but his reign only lasted two days. It was cut short due to his sudden death, possibly due to illness or foul play. 

Sir Richard Carnac Temple on Wikimedia

17. Pope Urban VII

Pope Urban VII holds the record for the shortest tenure in papal history, lasting only 12 days. His rule was cut short because he contracted malaria and died. 

Jacopo Bassano on Wikimedia

18. Vira Bahu I

Vira Bahu I was the son of Nissanka Malla who became king of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa in what is now Sri Lanka when his father died. However, he held the throne for less than 24 hours because he was assassinated by an army official. 

Dan Lundberg on Wikimedia

19. Michael Megas Komnenos

Michael Megas Komnenos was emperor of the Byzantine Greek successor state Trebizond, which existed from the 13th to 15th century. He was living in Constantinople but was invited by the ruling aristocracy of Trebizond to become their emperor as they were dissatisfied with the current one. However, he was immediately imprisoned by the nobility upon his arrival. 

Άγνωστος/Unknown on Wikimedia

20. Alexander IV of Macedonia

Alexander IV of Macedonia, the posthumous son of Alexander the Great was born into immense political unrest amid a falling empire. He was proclaimed emperor upon his birth but he was merely used as a pawn and assassinated at the age of 14.

ArchaiOptix on Wikimedia