Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty

That many members of royalty over the years are mad as cut snakes should be of no surprise to us. Karl Shaw takes us on a journey of mostly European royalty and their eccentricities/stark raving looniness. Often entertaining and you can’t help but feel sorry for poor Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria. He built the famous Neuschwanstein Castle which was seen at the time by many as a symptom of madness, and possibly murdered. Now the castle is one of the most visited tourist sites in the world and brings in large amounts of dosh for the local area. Perhaps he should be known as King Ludwig the visionary.

This is not meant to be an in-depth look at the entire lives of European royals, only at their flaws -- and they had a lot of them. This book was well-researched and deeply absorbing, and in addition to covering the usual suspects in France and England, it went into detail about the more obscure German and Italian royals. It's full of titillating tales that would make for good, if slightly disgusting, cocktail party conversation. I recommend!

Got syphilis? Maybe a little touch of gonorrhea? No problem, you're a king!

Having an adulterous affair are you? Well, if you're the king it's o.k., but if you're just the lowly queen, it's grounds for divorce. Or maybe we'll just ship you off to a convent or an asylum.

Whats that you say? Oh, you're just insane - no biggie, you're still of noble birth.

Um, what do you mean you're a commoner!? Well that, we simply cannot abide!

After all, we must draw the line somewhere...

Therein lies the tone of this witty book. At times quite funny, but mostly just sad, this book is what you might call a "National Enquirer" style full-disclosure article about monarchies in Europe. While entertaining to me, I don't believe this book has mass appeal. show more You really need a strong stomach to finish the book and not throw it across the room.

Three centuries of madness, debauchery, drug addiction, sex and adultery among the kings, queens, lords, ladies, and nobles of Europe are discussed at length. The history between the covers of this book is truly horrific, especially when one considers that it is not a work of fiction! This is a record of inbreeding, serious insanity, mass philandering, spread of STD's, and even Nazi sympathising, the likes of which I hope to never see again!

Now I realize that I am only seeing these things through the narrow lens of my own cultural mores here, but come on! These people were truly sick. And while they were busy with their many psychoses, they were practically ruling the world! It's a wonder anyone survived, royal or otherwise.

Contained within this volume are three thrilling centuries filled to the brim with mass suffering, war, national upheaval and slaughter for the majority of people, while a very privileged minority wallowed in massive excess and madness, for no better reason than a documented history of inbreeding (to preserve the royal lineage, of course) and a fairly savvy sense of self-preservation (and the funds to ensure it). This book certainly presents us with a damning indictment of the divine right of anyone to rule anybody.

In the end however, I must report that Royal Babylon is history lite at it's best. It's gossipy and has a sort of cotton candy consistency. You should not pick it up if you don't have a sense of humor about its subject matter. I cannot recommend it for the serious student of history, but it definitely was an amusing and entertaining, quick summer read. show less

As a history buff, I have to say this book was pretty meh.

Now, it's no secret that royals were just as susceptible (if not more) to mental illness than ordinary people, and being royal meant that one could have the servants be made to indulge in the craziness, or sexual degeneracy, or violence, or whatever else.

But this book is just not... very well-put together, and as a result it comes across as more parodic than anything else. I've heard some of these stories before, and many of them are anecdotes. If you're a history buff, I wouldn't recommend this book. There are better ones out there.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. On one hand, it really describes just how excessive royalty can be, but on the other, the people in this book are sad, most suffering from mental illness, from being inbred, and being put on a pedestal where they are alternately laughed at and then treated like Gods.

The author has no compassion for the people he writes about. There are also a number of characters and he jumps from one person to the next and back again, its hard to keep track. Of course, the royal family that is being described is related to each other in so many different ways that it would be hard to keep each family separate.

The story is also entertaining. It explains so many of the stereotypes that are out there show more about royalty, including the accent and the large lower jaw. There are a number of stories that are truly jaw dropping. show less

Disappointed in this because I love the other Shaw books I've read. I guess I much prefer his list format, as this seemed very dense and long-winded. I also felt his usual dark sarcasm didn't really fit, making the text seems less factual and more like a giant rant about the foibles of royalty, as other reviews have commented on.

This was a really intersting read. It took me many days to finish it, though not for lack of interest in the material, which was fascinating. Rather, I found that so many people where mentioned that it was hard to keep track of who was who and what he/she did. I'm not actually sure how much of this is accurate, but it sure was interesting.