During the turbulent times of the English Restoration, King Charles II of England had an unexpected and peculiar habit. He kept a pet dwarf named Jeffrey Hudson, whom he would use to surprise his guests in an unusual and theatrical way. Hudson was not only a dwarf but also an accomplished musician who played the lute.
Charles would invite his guests to dine and, as the meal reached its conclusion, he would instruct Hudson to emerge from a hollowed-out pot filled with flowers, mist, and fragrance. The audience would gasp and stare in disbelief as Hudson emerged from the blossomlike container, barely taller than a pillow. The king usually adjudged the dinner in the dwarf’s favor, emphasizing his guests’ lucrative entertainment rather than their cuisine.
Jeffrey Hudson was a talented musician who played the lute and accompanied the king in his serenades to his lady loves. King Charles II further indulged in an unusual fetish by requesting his mistresses to walk on his face while he lay on the ground, prompting laughter and titillation.
King Charles VI of France, popularly known as Charles the Mad, officially suffered from the illness of folie de grandeur, a mental condition causing him to believe that he was the grandest of his realm’s occupants, surpassing even the King of Spain, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the Pope. He sometimes falsely perceived that he was constructed entirely of glass and would go to incomprehensible lengths to shield himself from detrimental impacts.
On one famous occasion, Charles ordered the royal palace’s entire roof and floors to be removed, causing atrocious noise, and hiring additional workers to make new floors for him in crystal, so he could sleep on glass from head to toe without the humdrum stresses of the floor’s wood. The effort drained the country’s resources significantly.
There is also a peculiar history surrounding King Charles II of Spain in the 17th century. He was born with a physical and mental disability attributed to the immoral acts of his educational forbearers, who had been consanguineously associated with each other for generations. His condition primarily consisted of complex motor problems.
Charles constructed a secret chamber in his palace for clandestine activities with animals, exuding a preposterous elegance for the taboo enterprise. Although little information is ultimately available on the king’s zoological interests, according to estimates, a royal extravaganza of a bestial character took place during the reign.
The eldest son of King George III of England, George Augustus Hannover, who later ascended to the throne as King George IV, was renowned for his extravagant lifestyle and excessive spending habits. One absurd anecdote details how he once paid an exorbitant price for a pair of artificial teeth built from original molars of deceased slaves obtained from the graveyards of Barbados through an intimate brokerage. Such extremes over simple matters reflected his compulsive and attention-grabbing character.
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