When Centuries of Royal Lineage Finally End

The Turbulent End Time of some of the Worlds Greatest Civilisations

Dec 11, 2009
Hari Navarro

The Death of Cleopatra - Guido Cagnacci, 1658 - Public Domain

When monarchies are overthrown, living gods are deemed mortal & royal influence becomes obsolete there is always someone for history to call the last, the end of the line

The world’s greatest civilizations are often defined by their rulers; the revered, feared and despised that lived a world apart from the subjects they oversaw. At one time an essential component of society they, in many cases, succumbed to empowered masses who sought to redefine social control. Their demise rarely arrived peacefully and their replacements more often than not struggled under the weight of new power; others twisting it to their own ends. History remembers some, elevating them into the iconic, but others fade and speak nothing of their magnificent ancestry.

Cleopatra the Last Pharaoh of Egypt

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator was not Egyptian but Macedonian, ascending to the throne via the ancient Greek Ptolemaic dynastic thread. She successively co-ruled with her father and then brothers, one of whom she married. Her brother/ husband, Ptolemy XIII shared the monarchy for some years until Cleopatra broke with Ptolemaic tradition and cast herself as sole regent. But her reign was short lived with her jilted brother removing her from power and banishing her into exile.

Cleopatra, not to be defeated, used this time to gather roman support for her claim to the Egyptian throne. The then roman emperor, Julius Caesar, having been angered by Ptolemys insolence sided with the queen and eventually took her as his mistress. Ptolemy ultimately fell in battle to Caesar’s forces and Cleopatra was once again reinstated as pharaoh of all Egypt.

Caesars assassination in 44 BC again swung Cleopatras allegiance and she formed an alliance with roman politician and general, Mark Antony. This ushered in a bitter campaign between Antony and Caesar’s rightful successor, Octavian. Cleopatra’s romance with Mark Antony is now diluted with legend but history does dictate its violent end. Antony committed suicide following his crushing defeat by Octavian’s forces at Actium and Cleopatra would follow in the same manner shortly thereafter.

Her son by Caesar, Caesarean was briefly installed as monarch so it could be argued that he was in fact the last of the Egyptian pharaohs. He was killed by roman troops after the fall of Alexandria and subsequently Egypt was declared a province of imperial Rome. This marked the end of centuries of Egyptian rule and introduced a new age of roman influence. In certain instances ruling roman emperors were cited as pharaohs but the great ‘living gods’ of the Egyptian era would never be seen again.

Romulus Augustus the Last Roman Emperor

Romulus Augustus was arguably the last reigning Western Roman emperor. His father, Orestes, orchestrated his assent to supreme leader following the overthrow of previous emperor Julius Nepos. Orestes had been ‘master of soldiers’ under Nepos and was a barbarian having previously been staff assistant to Attila the Hun.

So it would be that Romulus Augustulus, at the age of just fourteen, was placed as a puppet figurehead to what had been one of the worlds greatest civilizations. Considered by many to be an illegitimate claimant to the throne, his rule was short; lasting just ten months.

Another Barbarian warlord, Odoacer overthrew Orestes’ fledgling attempt at creating a new imperial dynasty in 476 AD. Orestes was executed but surprisingly the child emperor was spared; disposed he was exiled to an imperial estate near Naples. Here he would remain, along with his mother, perhaps sustained by a negotiated allowance that had been promised by Odoacer. Thereafter Romulus all but disappears from record with only scant unverifiable reference to his ultimate fate.

Odoacer never claimed the imperial title but rather kingship of the region to which he now held sway. Thus bringing a less than dramatic end to a far reaching empire that had once been legion.

Pu Yi the Last Chinese Emperor

In the year 1908 supreme leadership over Chinas two thousand year imperial system was placed upon the shoulders of a three year old boy. The child occupant of the Forbidden City’s dragon throne was Pu Yi, the ultimately doomed puppet victor of an internal royal power struggle. His infant reign would last just three years after which time the Xinhai Revolution brought Chinas imperial rule to a stuttering end.

Official abdication was implemented on his behalf yet Pu Yi was briefly reinstated; public opposition was fierce and he was again disposed. Initially he was permitted to remain within the Forbidden City where he resided for some years until 1924.

It was at this time that the now Henry Pu Yi secretly left his childhood fortress and took residence in the Japanese colony at Tianjin. His relationship with Japans occupying leadership was tumultuous yet he was installed in 1934, as the 'emperor' of the Puppet State of Manchukuo.

Following the Second World War he was captured by soviet forces as he tried to flee to mainland Japan. He was repatriated to China in 1949, which was now churning under Chairman Mao Zedong’s communist revolution. Here he was held in detention as a war criminal until his pardon in 1959. Now openly supporting the communist agenda Pu Yi found work at the Beijing Botanical Gardens and subsequently the National Political Library and Historical Materials Research Committee. During this time, with the endorsement of Mao and the ruling communist authorities he began work on his autobiography, ‘From Emperor to Citizen’.

Mao’s 1966 Cultural Revolution saw a new wave of resentment aimed at Pu Yi; he stood for many as personification of Chinas imperial past. He was placed under official protection until finally succumbing to kidney cancer and heart disease in October of 1967. His ashes now lay in a public cemetery not far from the Western Qing Tombs; the final resting-place to his once unquestionably revered imperial predecessors.