Royal Couples Who Lived Unhappily Ever After

ByABC News
July 23, 2001, 3:38 PM

July 26 -- The marital woes and rows of Charles and Diana were played out in the pages of the British tabs. But the warring Waleses looked like lovebirds compared to the nuptial nightmares endured by some of Charles' ancestors. Here's a look at some royal marriages made in hell.

Allies Turned Enemies

Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Married 1152

Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, was the most scandalous woman in Europe when her husband, King Louis VII of France, divorced her. But she was also beautiful and very, very rich. Still, it came as quite a shock (especially to Louis) when she up and married a man 12 years her junior Henry, Duke of Normandy, soon to become King of England. Together, they forged an empire that stretched from Scotland to the Pyrenees.

They produced eight children, but the marriage deteriorated. Henry was notoriously unfaithful, even seducing a French princess who was promised to one of his own sons. When their sons rebelled, Eleanor supported them. Henry responded by bundling her off to a castle, where she was kept under house arrest for 16 years.

But Eleanor had the last laugh. When Henry died, she returned to the world stage, became a major power broker, and saw two of her sons become king. She led the defense of a besieged castle when she was 80, and once signed a letter to the pope "Eleanor, by the Wrath of God, Queen of England." She lived to be 82, quite an accomplishment for the Middle Ages.

The She-Wolf of France

Edward II and Isabella of France,Married 1308

Known to movie buffs as the unhappily married Prince and Princess of Wales in Braveheart, they were just as miserable in real life. "Isabella the Fair" was very young when she married the new King of England, but it didn't take her very long to realize her husband was more interested in his male lovers than in her. Somehow, they managed to produce four children. Edward neglected his wife and lavished all his attention on his favorites, who used the situation to line their own pockets. Finally, Isabella met not Mel Gibson, but a disgruntled nobleman called Roger Mortimer. She raised an army and overthrew Edward, putting their son on the throne in his place. Edward, on Isabella's orders or at least with her blessing was done away with in a particularly gruesome manner.