Special Sub-Topic: Famous Beheadings Click Here To Play: Famous Beheadings

Second wife of King Henry VIII of England and mother of the future Queen Elizabeth, this person was beheaded on May 19, 1536, after being convicted of adultery.

Anne Boleyn. Anne was beheaded by a swordsman rather than an axeman her execution was delayed because an executioner specialising in this method had to be delivered from France.

Former king of France and married to Marie Antoinette, this monarch was guillotined in 1793 after being found to conspire against the First French Republic (proclaimed four months earlier)

Louis XVI. His dignified bearing right up until the moment of execution was said to have awed many, including the executioner himself.

English adventurer, knighted by Elizabeth I in 1585. Immediately fell out of favour with her successor James I and was accused of treason and (almost) executed in 1603. He did eventually suffer this fate, however, carried out in 1618.

Sir Walter Raleigh. His last words were purported to be "tis a sharp remedy, a sharp remedy".

Executed in 1554 after a nine-day reign as Queen of England. Installed as monarch contrary to the line of succession and executed under Mary I?

Lady Jane Grey. There was a lot of confusion at the time of her execution about where she should place her head. The excutioner is said to have whispered apologies to Lady Jane before striking the blow.

Beheaded in 1587 for treason, her beheading is regarded as one of history's most gruesome?

Mary Queen of Scots. Accounts differ, but allegedly it took the executioner 15 strikes with the axe to completely remove her head.

Leader of the Committee of Public Safety during much of the initial phase after the French Revolution. Increasingly dissatisfied with the direction the country, he himself was arrested and guillotined in 1794?

Maximilian Robespierre. Tried to shoot himself prior to his execution but failed. Spent his last hours with much of his jaw hanging off.

In which of the following countries are public beheadings still carried out?

Saudi Arabia. Figures vary slightly, and on average about 100-150 people are executed in this manner each year in Saudi Arabia.

Illegitimate son of King Charles II of England, leader of a failed rebellion against James II after his father's death.

The Duke of Monmouth. Beheaded July 15,1685.

Fifth wife of Henry VIII of England.

Catherine Howard. Catherine Howard was the second of Henry VIII's wives to be beheaded.

King of England from 1625 to 1649 and sentenced to death in the trial that followed the defeat of his royalist forces in the English Civil War.

Charles I. Not wanting to shiver in the morning cold and thus appear to be shaking with fear, the former king is reputed to have worn three or four upper body garments. A tremendous groan came out from the crowd at the crucial moment - as if they had realised their wrongdoing.