Bruce Wilson Jr.

Royal Life Images
Kings and queens fascinate us. See the luxurious portraits and images that showcase royalty.

Marie Antoinette was only 14 years old when she left Austria to marry the heir to the French throne. She's been called the unluckiest queen in history.

Anthony van Dyck painted a portrait of King Charles I of England on a hunt. The king strikes a noble pose that enhances his power.

An ancient mace head shows a king next to a scorpion. Scholars believe it represents King Scorpion, who may be the first king in recorded history.

Egyptian rulers stopped building massive pyramids in the 27th century BCE. But royal building projects continued. The Karnak temple complex in Thebes spoke to the power of New Kingdom rulers like Hatshepsut.

The Tablet of Shamash, c. 9th century BCE, shows a Mesopotamian sun god bestowing power on the king of Sippar.

From the earliest days, emperors had to cultivate a particular appearance. This 1889 tarot card of an emperor depicts him as a military and religious leader

A statue of Augustus created in the 1st century depicts him as the ideal Roman leader. Augustus purposefully never wore a crown or other royal symbols to maintain the fiction that he was simply the "first among equals."

A fragment from "The Deeds of the Divine Augustus" found in the Temple of Roma and Augustus in Ankara, Turkey.

An 18th-century portrait of Qin Shi Huang captures the emperor's reputation centuries later as slightly unstable.

A portrait of Genghis Khan in the Chinese style, created during the Yuan Dynasty, the era when Genghis Khan's descendants ruled China.

Although he was known as Mehmed the Conqueror, the sultan portrayed himself as a scholarly, wise ruler rather than a military leader.

The Merovingians tied their strength to military might and religious favor. But before converting to Christianity, Merovingian rulers claimed descent from a sea dragon.

Charlemagne, in the middle, holds symbols of his military strength and religious power. The sword represents his leadership on the battlefield, while the orb and cross represent his Christian leadership.

By the 15th century, Charlemagne had become the paradigmatic Christian king. Later popes pointed to the coronation as proof that Charlemagne had bowed to Pope Leo III.

A portrait of France's Queen Marie Antoinette from 1775 emphasizes her wealth. The rich fabric, crown, and background sculpture speak to the queen's riches. So does her confident position with a hand resting upon the world, as if she owned it.

The 14th-century Catalan Atlas depicted Mansa Musa as a wealthy king holding a ball of gold. The map, created in Iberia and later owned by the French kings, testifies to Musa's widespread reputation.

The Sun King used opulence to project his power. In this famous portrait of King Louis XIV, he surrounds himself with proof of his wealth.

The coronation of Czar Nicholas II in 1896 showed the royal family's wealth. In contrast, the czar's subjects suffered from famines and outbreaks of disease.

In 1729, a Portuguese princess crossed into Spain at the moment a Spanish princess crossed to Portugal. The double marriage closely linked the two royal families.

Empress Theodora in the Ravenna mosaics, shown with imperial robes and all the trappings of imperial power. She looks out at Emperor Justinian on the opposite wall.

The wedding portrait made in 1469 to commemorate the union between Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon.

An allegory of the Tudor succession, created during the reign of Elizabeth. The painting shows Henry VIII with his three royal children: Edward VII, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.

Her father disinherited her before adding her to the line of succession. And Mary I of England spent her short years in power fighting for her throne.

For a brief year, Mary Stuart of Scotland was Queen of France––until her husband, King Francis II, died from an ear infection.

A 1592 portrait of Queen Elizabeth shows her standing on the world, her skirts covering England and Wales. The image represented the queen's claim to rule over the land.

A 19th-century engraving showing the death of Saint Canute IV in 1086. The king's death in a monastery transformed the ruler into a religious figure.

In the 19th century, artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema painted Proclaiming Claudius Emperor, capturing the moment the future emperor begged for his life while Praetorians named him emperor.

After fleeing Paris with her family, Marie Antoinette's hair turned white––even though she was in her mid-30s. The queen spent the rest of her life in prison.

The "wild men" burning during the Bal des Ardents, or "Ball of the Burning Men," in 1393. The traumatizing event scarred Charles VI, who already struggled with mental health issues.

A portrait of Joanna made between 1496-1500, during the time when she became heir to Castile and Aragon.

Portraits of George III portrayed him as an ideal 18th-century king–– refined, charismatic, and ready for battle, if necessary.

The picturesque Neuschwanstein Castle, from a 1900 photochrom image taken around 10 years after the castle's completion.

Centuries after John ruled France for five days as a newborn, an engraver minted a coin for the child king. John became known as "John the Posthumous."

An image of Tutankhamen, depicted as a mummy on the left, being welcomed by the gods. Howard Carter discovered the mural on the wall of King Tut's tomb.

A 19th-century depiction of Elagabalus's banquet, where he reportedly dropped thousands of flower petals on his guests.

A 19th-century painting of Edward V and his younger brother, Richard, awaiting their fate in the Tower of London.

A Congolese rubber collector finds himself in the grip of King Leopold II of Belgium in this 1906 image from Punch.

A portrait painting of Henry VIII made after Hans Holbein the Younger. The image dates to the 1530s, the height of Henry's reign of terror against his own subjects.

Catherine was deeply aware of her public persona and her personal goals. In the 1760s, Vigilius Eriksen painted this portrait of Catherine before a mirror, emphasizing the two personas.

Kings presented themselves as strong military leaders––and so did Catherine the Great, as seen in this 1782 equestrian portrait. While the queen drew from philosophy, she also considered the importance of knowing how to hold a sword.

In the 1770s, Denis Diderot visited Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg, a journey that made an impression on both the empress and the philosopher.

Louis-Charles disappeared into prison in 1792 and few ever saw him again––fueling rumors that he did not actually die in 1795

The artist Edward Bird painted a portrait of Princess Caraboo in 1817. The image depicted the princess as a foreign beauty.

A dollar from the "Bank of Poyais" signed "by order of his highness Gregor, Cazique of Poyais." MacGregor had 70,000 scam bills printed to con people.

Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's last queen, lost her throne when a group of white plantation owners overthrew the government.

A fresco painted by Niccolò di Tommaso shows Pope Celestine V during his five short months as head of the Catholic Church.

King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson during a trip to Yugoslavia in 1936. The British press agreed to keep the relationship quiet early in the king's reign.

Napoleon styled himself on earlier conquering generals like Alexander the Great and Hannibal. But he also adopted symbols of kingship.

A photograph of Queen Elizabeth II from 1959. The young queen wears the Queen Victoria Jubilee Necklace, a celebration of 50 years of ruling. Elizabeth would break that record.

The future Queen Elizabeth II first appeared on Canadian banknotes in 1935, when she was eight years old. She has appeared on Canadian currency ever since––though the monarch has little power in Canada.
