Crowns, thrones and sacrifices
Kings who gave up the throne for love and queens crowned after death. From Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson to Pedro I and Inês de Castro, power and passion never got along — and that made them legendary.
Eternal love carved in marble
The Mughal emperor who, when his favorite wife died bearing their fourteenth child, built the Taj Mahal as her tomb and the grandest declaration of eternal love ever raised.
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Love, empire and a double suicide
The queen of Egypt and the Roman general whose romance fused love with imperial politics and ended in a double suicide that sealed the end of an era.
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The queen crowned after death
The lover murdered on the orders of the king's father, whom Pedro — once king — by legend exhumed and crowned queen after death.
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He gave up a throne for love
King Edward VIII signed the abdication on December 10, 1936 to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, declaring he could not reign "without the help and support of the woman I love."
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The burning letters of an emperor
Napoleon's passionate, jealous letters to Joséphine de Beauharnais; he divorced her for lack of an heir, but by tradition her name was on his lips at death.
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Forty years of mourning for love
When Albert died in 1861, Queen Victoria wore mourning black for the remaining 40 years of her life.
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From Hollywood to a royal throne
The Oscar-winning actress who left Hollywood to become Princess of Monaco: the 20th century's fairy tale come true.
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The love that toppled Camelot
The greatest knight of the Round Table and Queen Guinevere, King Arthur's wife: an adulterous love that, once discovered, sinks the ideal kingdom of Camelot.
Read the storyThe poet-cacica and the last Taíno warrior
The cacica of Xaragua, famed for her areítos and her beauty, and the chief of Maguana who led the first Taíno rebellion against the Spanish: two sovereigns of Quisqueya joined in love and resistance, both destroyed by the conquest.
Read the storyEdward VIII of the United Kingdom abdicated on 10 December 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, declaring he could not reign "without the help and support of the woman I love."