Infamous Royal Scandals : Part 1: Amy Robsart & Count Philipp Christoph von Königsmark

Royal scandals are nothing new. Recently the History Channel put together a list of 8 Royal Scandals. Since you may be unfamiliar with them, the next couple of blogs will share 2 each!

A crown does not buy immunity from trials of love, loss, and infidelity, though in many cases, it bought immunity from consequences. Most of the kings and queens of Europe claimed rule by divine right, but their very human faults cracked the mystique surrounding the monarchy… while giving their subjects something to talk about. Below are eight royal scandals that undermined the credibility of monarchies across Europe.

(Philipp Christoph von Königsmarck. Credit: Wikipedia) 

8 Infamous Royal Scandals (PART 1) 

These scandals drew public fascination and scrutiny, compromising the mystique of monarchies across Europe.

  BY: JESSICA PEARCE ROTONDI, HISTORY COM PUBLISHED: MARCH 15, 2024

1. The Suspicious Death of Amy Robsart, 1560 Queen Elizabeth I of England never married, though she did have a favorite at court: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, her Master of Horse... and a married man. “Robert Dudley’s fame in Europe rested on his power and influence with the Queen of England,” says Christine Hartweg, author of Amy Robsart: A Life and its End.

Rumors of their alleged affair intensified when Dudley’s wife, Amy Robsart, was found dead on September 8, 1560 at the foot of the stairs in her mansion with a broken neck. She was just 28 years old. The coroner’s report ruled her cause of death to be “misadventure.” Dudley did not attend his wife’s funeral, fanning speculation of foul play, especially after the Spanish ambassador to the English court claimed that in a conversation just months before his wife’s death, Dudley had said he would be “in a new position” in a year—a claim that seemed to substantiate rumors that he killed his wife to free himself to marry Queen Elizabeth. If this was his plan, it backfired. “It is often argued that the scandal surrounding Amy's death prevented Elizabeth from marrying Robert Dudley,” says Hartweg. “Dudley himself seems to have hoped for many, many years that she would eventually marry him.”

2. Count Philipp Christoph von Königsmark Disappears After Royal Affair, 1694

Princess Sophia Dorothea of Celle married her cousin, King George I of England, in 1682. Their marriage was not a happy one, and she soon ran afoul of her powerful mother-in-law and husband. Princess Sophia took a lover, Swedish Count Philipp Christoph von Königsmark, and made plans to run away with him. But on the scheduled day, the count disappeared and was never seen again. George divorced Sophia and she lived out the rest of her days in prison. The count’s body was never found and rumors persist that King George had his wife’s lover executed.