Many monarchs and other royals have met violent deaths – on the battlefield, by execution after revolution or their coup, and by assassinations at the hands of terrorists or madmen.  Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were sent to the guillotine in 1793, and the Romanov royal family was massacred by the Bolsheviks in 1918. 

Others have managed to escape with attempts on their lives. In this podcast, we look at some of them, but in particular at two who were not so fortunate, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, shot by firing squad in 1867, and the Austro-Hungarian Empress Elizabeth, better known as Sissi, who was killed by an anarchist in 1898.  We also consider the political motivations that led to their untimely demise, and the repercussions they produced.

Image - Édouard Manet, The Execution of Maximilian (1868) Creative Commons

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