The English Queen, and daughter of Henry VIII, is generally remembered as “Bloody Mary” because of her brutal persecution of the Protestants.

But her reign was also marred by a phantom pregnancy in 1555. She became visibly pregnant and she and her husband, Philip II of Spain, rejoiced at the possibility of truly solidifying their political alliance. They prepared the nursery, hired the appropriate servants, and ordered the birth announcements.

The news even spread that Mary had given birth to a healthy son.

But she did not. It was likely that she was never pregnant and instead suffered from pseudocyesis, or “phantom pregnancy.” It still happens today, though we don’t understand why – the woman can even feel a fetus moving inside her and shows a visible belly.

For Mary, this ultimately meant the failure of her reign (and the rise of Queen Elizabeth I).

We generally think of hemophilia as an inherited trait, but it can result from a genetic mutation during someone’s lifetime and THEN be passed down through the generations.

And that’s precisely what happened with Queen Victoria of England.

Because of her, hemophilia became known as “the royal disease” because she passed down hemophilia B (or factor IX deficiency) to 3 of her 9 children. Some of them went on to marry other royals in order to form political alliances and then passed it on to their children.

In the end, Queen Victoria’s gene for hemophilia had an effect on the monarchies of Germany, Russia, and Spain as well as England’s. But after 3 generations, the bleeding disease – that can drastically shorten a lifespan – disappeared from royal bloodlines.

In order to be Pharoah, you had to be of pure, royal blood. Of course, the problem with needing both of your parents to have royal blood is that in order to accomplish that, they probably have to be related to each other.

As the result of inbreeding (his parents were actually siblings), the famous Tutankhamen (aka King Tut) was riddled with genetic diseases and deformities, including a bone disorder that left him hobbled.

“He was not a very strong pharaoh. He was not riding the chariots,” said geneticist Carsten Pusch. “Picture instead a frail, weak boy who had a bit of a club foot and who needed a cane to walk.”

King George VI is probably better known to most of us today as Queen Elizabeth II’s father. And like many in his day, he was addicted to tobacco. In fact, he was a chain smoker, lighting up over 20 times a day.

And we all know now that a habit like that will put you on the short path to lung cancer. In fact, he had to have surgery to remove one of his lungs.

As a result, he became weak and easily tired and ended up dying at the age of 56.

A bent spine is a painful condition. Nevertheless, no one knew King Richard III had the condition except his closest servants and his medical staff.

It was probably wise to keep it a secret, but one has to wonder how well he did it since Shakespeare portrayed him as a hobbling man with a withered arm.

Still, he seemed to show no fear at the Battle of Bosworth, despite it being his last.

Gout was actually pretty common among the royal and wealthy since it can be brought on by a diet rich in meat. After all, who else could afford that kind of diet?

Well, it turns out it ended up costing Piero “The Gouty” as well. Some say the 15th-century ruler of Florence had the condition since childhood.

He was of ill health in general, as well, and used to need to take political meetings from his bed due to weakness. He died of gout and lung disease at age 53, which is pretty impressive considering all of the coups and wars launched against his power.

Ruthless and irritable, at least some of King Herod’s reported misery may have come from the wicked case of gangrene affecting his genitalia.

According to the ancient historian Josephus, Herod “had a terrible craving to scratch himself” as a result, but scientists now say that his death was likely caused by chronic kidney disease.

Clearly, the bacterial infection that caused this specific kind of gangrene (Fournier’s gangrene) didn’t help his health or his mood though, as he died in agony, scratching at himself.

Ferdinand I was born in 1793 as the result of the inbreeding of first cousins.

As a result, he suffered from a condition common in the Hapsburg royal line – hydrocephaly, or water on the brain. This often leads to brain damage, and he was such a feeble king that while he was technically the ruler of Hungary, Austria, Bohemia, Lombardy, and Venetia throughout his life, he had very little say in the matters of state. Instead, he relied on counselors.

Despite the madness his maladies caused, he managed to rule for 18 years!

Alfred the Great, the 9th-century king of the West Saxons, likely had Crohn’s disease or a super-wicked case of hemorrhoids. Not such a fun time for the greatest leader in Anglo-Saxon history.

What we know of his disease comes from a biography written during his life by Bishop Asser. Asser referred to the illness as “ficus,” which would be piles or hemorrhoids, and claims they were the result of the king praying to God for a distraction from his carnal desires. (That’s not the solution we would have hoped for!)

A medical text written during Alfred’s lifetime, called Bald’s Leechbook (man, we are SO glad to have 21st-century medicine!), describes “ficus” in more detail, however, and researchers now recognize the condition as something more similar to Crohn’s Disease.

The Hapsburg royal line is rife with inbreeding.

Charles was born in 1661 to Philip IV of Spain and his niece Mariana of Austria (Philip’s niece). He had a wide jawline common in the family line, but his was so bad that he could hardly speak and was an infamous drooler.

He likely had a kidney ailment and suffered from seizures and sterility. His inability to produce an heir ended his part of the family lineage.

Women have always faced unreasonable expectations about their appearance. And royals are no strangers to the pressure to be perfect.

Sadly for Elisabeth of Austria, her quest to stay thin relied on anorexia and a corset so tight that it affected her circulation.

In the 1860s, the 20-something empress developed serious edema (or swelling) in her feet. Enough so that she needed assistance walking.

As a baby, the future emperor fell ill with cerebral meningitis, a swelling of the brain and spinal cord.

While he would still grow up to become emperor of Japan in 1912, poor health plagued him throughout his life as did neurological issues.

So in 1921, the Japanese government named his son as regent, just in case.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was born breech. And in 1859, that often meant invasive maneuvers were used to retrieve the baby.

In the process of saving his life, the doctor damaged the nerves in his arm, resulting in a withered limb that was difficult to use throughout his life.

He went to great lengths to hide his deformity as the leader of Germany.

Peter the Great was Czar of Russia from 1682 until his death in 1725 and worked tirelessly to bring the country into the modern era and make it a world power.

He was also a cruel, violent alcoholic.

It probably didn’t help that he suffered from bladder issues throughout his life, which can be quite painful. In fact, uremia is what killed him and he died after screaming in agony for days as a result of the painful ailment.

During an autopsy, doctors discovered he also suffered from gangrene in his bladder.

Famed for her beauty as well as her political prowess, Queen Elizabeth I refused to believe she had smallpox when she was first diagnosed in 1562. She called her doctor a fool and sent him away, only to have to call him back when she became more ill.

Luckily, the pox didn’t kill her and it didn’t entirely disfigure her (unlike her lady-in-waiting). But the thick, white makeup she wore after that was likely meant to cover her scars.

At the end of her life, as she suffered from hair and tooth loss, she removed all the mirrors from her view.