We’d like to imagine that all love stories end well, but sadly, some of them end with prison, exile, executions, and worse.
An arrival in Tarsus
Cleopatra arrived in Tarsus, modern-day Turkey, in 41 BCE on a decorated barge. Mark Antony had called her in to explain Egypt’s position in Rome’s politics, and one thing led to another. The pair spent a winter together in Alexandria.
Unfortunately, everything fell apart after the pair’s forces lost to Octavian, and Antony committed suicide after hearing that Cleopatra had died. She wasn’t dead, though, and he was taken to her tomb to die in her arms. Cleopatra ended her own life shortly after.
A room at the Tower
The love story between Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII of England involved a lot of waiting, mostly because the king couldn’t annul his marriage to his then-current wife, Catherine of Aragon. He actually created the Church of England to do so and married Anne in January 1533.
However, their relationship soon turned sour, with rumors of Anne’s adultery and plots against Henry’s life. He had her taken to the Tower of London on May 2, 1536, and she was executed nearly two weeks later. He married his next wife, Jane Seymour, eleven days after.
A lesson in Paris
Originally, French scholar Peter Abelard was meant to teach Héloïse, but he soon became the entire reason her life changed. The two began a secret relationship after he became her tutor, and she became pregnant. The pair married soon after.
However, Héloïse’s uncle felt insulted by the entire event, and he sent men to attack Abelard, then castrate him. Abelard then became a monk, and Héloïse, a nun. The pair wrote letters to each other, and you can still read those letters today.
A choice at Coimbra
Inês de Castro came to Portugal in approximately 1340 as part of Constanza Manuel’s household. Constanza married Prince Peter of Portugal, but Peter was actually in love with Inês and took her as a mistress. Constanza herself died in 1345.
Shortly after, Peter and Inês lived together, even having children, but the relationship wasn’t meant to be, mostly because King Afonso IV of Portugal was worried about Inês’s family. King Afonso had her executed in 1355.
A card left at the club
In 1891, writer Oscar Wilde met Lord Alfred Douglas, and the pair began a secret homosexual relationship. But this was a time when homosexuality wasn’t allowed. When Douglas’s father found out, he left a nasty card for Wilde at the Albemarle Club. Wilde sued him for libel.
But Douglas’s father was a British nobleman, and he had lawyers who brought evidence to prove that his claims were true, so Wilde dropped the case. Wilde himself was arrested shortly after and convicted of gross indecency. He served two years of hard labor.
A studio in Montparnasse
Camille Claudel met Auguste Rodin around 1884 and became his student. It was the start of a very challenging relationship. She worked, she modeled, she sculpted, and Rodin eventually fell for her, but chose to stay with his partner, Rose Beuret.
Rodin and Claudel’s relationship fell apart, with Claudel’s family committing her to an asylum in 1913. She stayed there until she died in 1943, even though she kept asking to be allowed to leave.
A party that didn’t stay bright
F. Scott Fitzgerald met his future wife, Zelda Sayre, in 1918 in Alabama. He was a young officer, she was the girl people noticed, it was like the stuff of a movie. The pair got married in 1920 following the success of his first novel, but then came the parties and the spending.
Everything became a bit too much, and Scott himself developed an addiction to alcohol, while Zelda was hospitalized. Scott died in 1940, and Zelda died eight years later in a hospital fire.
A grave by the river
During Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s relationship, the pair had fourteen children together. Yes, that’s right, fourteen. They married in 1612, and they traveled together, including being during a military campaign in the Deccan, part of modern-day India.
Sadly, Mumtaz died in 1631 due to heavy bleeding following childbirth, and the Shah was devastated. He had her body moved to Agra and started construction on the Taj Mahal in 1632 as a monument to her.
A lodge in the woods
Mayerling, Austria, was the site of a royal hunting lodge. It was also the site of a murder. In January 1889, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Crown Prince Rudolf, was found dead there with his seventeen-year-old mistress, Mary Vetsera.
It’s not exactly clear what happened, but historians generally agree that it was a murder-suicide pact between the two. Rudolf allegedly learned that he had syphilis and had infected his wife, so he proposed that he die with his mistress.
A door at Christiansborg
Caroline Matilda married Christian VII of Denmark when she was only fifteen years old. Things got complicated when Johann Friedrich Struensee arrived as the king’s doctor after traveling with him, and he became very close to the queen.
He gained political power through the king before the affair came out. In 1772, Caroline was arrested and sent to Celle without her children, while Struensee was executed.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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