BOWELS OF STEEL

The King of Southern England, Edmund Ironside, was murdered in 1016 whilst sitting on the toilet. He sat down on the wooden box, blissfully aware that an enemy knight, Eric Streona, was lurking in the pit below. Streone thrust his sword with such force up the royal back passage that it became firmly embedded in his bowels.

The King, thinking the agony was a result of constipation, strained so hard that he burst a blood vessel in his brain, and died as a result. The sword shot out of his bowel, hitting the hapless Eric on the head, knocking him senseless. He spent the rest of his life having conversations with inanimate objects and displaying a morbid fear of toilets...

THRONE ROOM TRAGEDY

Straining to move his stubborn bowels, George II fell off the toilet and smashed his head on a cabinet. He died from his injuries. His son succeeded him in 1760. It is not documented as to whether he suffered from constipation or whether his succession to the throne was trouble-free.