More Color Me Purple: People "Born in the Purple" Quiz

Answer: Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was born in Rome in 121 AD and lived until 180 AD. He served as Emperor from 161 AD until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Commodus. His father was Marcus Annius Verus, a Roman politician and Praetor, whilst his mother was the wealthy noblewoman Domitia Lucilla.

He wrote extensively and is particularly remembered for 12 books written in Koine Greek, titled "Meditations", following which he was known as "the Philosopher".

Answer: William IV

William IV was born in London in 1765, the third son of King George III and Queen Charlotte. It was not until 1830 that he became King at the ripe old age of 64, succeeding his elder brother George IV. He was to be the last male monarch of the House of Hanover.

In 1837 at the time of his death, he had no surviving children to inherit the throne, and was succeeded by his niece who became Queen Victoria.

Answer: Anastasia

Anastasia Nikolaevna was born in 1901, the fourth daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Her only brother, Alexei, was born three years later in 1904.

Nicholas II lacked effective leadership qualities, and was held responsible for Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05. Further outrage followed with the death of more than 3 million Russians during World War I.

Following the Bourgeois Democratic Revolution in February 1917, Nicholas abdicated and was imprisoned together with his family. In July 1918, Anastasia together with her parents and siblings Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Alexei were executed by the Bolsheviks.

Answer: Robert, Count of Clermont

Robert of Clermont was born in 1256, the sixth and youngest son of King Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence. He married Beatrix of Bourbon in 1272, a granddaughter of Hugh IV Duke of Burgundy, and heiress to the lordship of Bourbon. Their eldest son Louis I became the first Duke of Bourbon in 1327.

Answer: Alexander

At the age of twenty three, Alexander succeeded his father King Constantine I to the Greek throne in 1917. Both his father and elder brother Crown Prince George had been exiled by the Entente Powers, guided by Eleftherios Venizelos the leader of the Greek national liberation movement.

However, Alexander had no political experience and was effectively reduced to the status of a puppet king, leaving prime minister Venizelos to assume overall power. A bizarre event led to the early death of Alexander.

Whilst walking through the grounds of the Tatoi Summer Palace grounds in October 1920, he was bitten by a Barbary macaque. The wound became infected, sepsis set in, and three weeks later he died at the age of 27.

Answer: Edward VIII

Edward VIII was the eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary, and ascended to the throne in January 1936, following the death of his father. Prior to his accession to the throne, whilst Prince of Wales, he had met Wallis Simpson an American socialite and divorcee. Shortly after becoming King he caused political unrest by proposing to her, which was considered totally unacceptable to the establishment as she had by then divorced once and was still married to her second husband. Realizing it was impossible to marry Wallis and remain on the throne, he abdicated in December 1936 after just 326 days, and was given the title Duke of Windsor.

In June 1937, they married in France after her second divorce was finalized.

Answer: Edward V

Born in 1470, Edward was just twelve years old when succeeding his father Edward IV upon his father's death in April 1483. However, he was never crowned and was soon ousted by his uncle the Duke of Gloucester, who replaced him and took the throne as Richard III in June 1483.

Young Edward and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury, the Duke of York were sent for royal shelter in the Tower of London where they soon disappeared. Details of their fate remains unknown to this day, but it's thought they were probably murdered on the orders of Richard III, and they are now widely remembered as "The Princes in the Tower".

Answer: William Henry Harrison

William Harrison was born in 1773, the youngest child of Governor of Virginia and Founding Father Benjamin Harrison V and his wife Elizabeth. Following a successful military career in the army, he was promoted to the post of Major General during the War of 1812. Subsequently he was appointed to various political posts including election to the United States Senate and Minister Plenipotentiary to Gran Colombia. In the 1840 Presidential election, William Harrison defeated Martin van Buren, becoming the first person from the Whig party to win the presidency.

He assumed office in March 1841, and at that time became the oldest person (at age 68) to become President. Unfortunately he then became the first President to die in office, when after a short illness he died of of septic shock due to "enteric fever" in April 1841.

Answer: Louis I

Louis was born in Madrid in 1707, the eldest son of King Philip V of Spain and Maria Luisa of Savoy, the heir apparent to the Spanish throne. His mother died in 1714 when Louis was just seven, and a few months later his father remarried to Elisabeth Farnese, the heiress to the Duchy of Parma.

In January 1724, his father Philip V abdicated, passing the throne to his son who became Louis I. However, just seven months later Louis contracted smallpox and died shortly afterwards, whereupon his father returned to the throne, reigning until his own death in 1746.

Answer: James I of England and VI of Scotland

James Stuart was born in Edinburgh Castle in 1566, the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was also the great-great-grandson of Henry VII, King of England. In 1567 his mother was forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in his favour, so aged just thirteen months he became James VI of Scotland.
When Elizabeth I of England died childless in 1603 he was crowned James I of England and Ireland, becoming the first monarch of the House of Stuart. He reigned until his death in 1625 when he was succeeded by his son who became Charles I.