Special Sub-Topic: 10 Women Behaving Badly Click Here To Play: 10 Women Behaving Badly

How did Queen Elizabeth I respond to the national crisis in 1603 when 30,000 Londoners were dying of the plague?

She fled with her court to the country. She fled with her court to Windsor Castle. She then set up gallows and proclaimed that if anyone tried to follow her they would be hanged.

What kind of pet did Queen Henrietta, wife of Belgian King, have?

Llama. She taught it to spit in the face of anyone who stroked it.

Russian empress Anne enjoyed making up interesting new punishments. What did she decide to do with two noble-women who were found guilty of being greedy?

Force fed them pastries until they almost choked to death. Few complained about this treatment. Anne always had their tongues pulled out first.

What was Empress Catharine I of Russia's main character flaw?

She was a chronic alcoholic. The Empress even survived an assassination attempt and was too drunk to even notice.

Messalina, wife of Roman emperor Claudius, claimed an all-time record for marital infidelity when she slept with how many men in 24 hours?

25. She often left the palace in disguise and went to work in a local brothel, under the name Lycisca.

Which Queen tested the effiency of her poisons by feeding them to her slaves?

Queen Cleopatra.

How did Elizabeth de B'athory, the deranged Hungarian countess, believe she could reverse the aging process?

Bathe in warm virgin's blood. In 1612, troops stormed her castle, acting on countless rumours, and literally caught her red-handed. All her servants were executed and burned. The countess herself was sealed in her bedroom and left to die.

How many pregnancies did Queen Maria Luisa of Spain have?

24. None of these were attributable to her husband King Charles IV, who was blissfully ignorant of his wife's adulterous relationships. The king even promoted his wife's regular lover to first minister of Spain.

The vain Russian Empress Elizabeth would not allow anyone at court to wear what colour?

Pink. The naturally blonde empress once dyed her hair black to comply with the fashion of the time. When she wanted to go back to being blonde the dye would not come out. So, in a fit of rage he shaved her whole head. All her ladies-in-waiting were obliged to do the same.

What ended Manuela's, mother-in-law of France's Louis Napoleon, career as head of the household to Queen Isabella of Spain?

A sex scandal. After this, she took to selling sexual favours to British minister's visiting Madrid.