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Ancient History

Deadly Family Spats Through the Centuries

Canterbury Cathedral - Archbishop of Canterbury
The death of Thomas Becket. Encyclopedia Britannica

15. Daddy Issues Wrecked This Prince and Turned Him Into a Monster

Still from a movie depicting a young Prince Sado and his father King Yeongjo. YouTube

Between Sado’s daddy issues, perceived lack of affection, lack of fatherly supervision, indulgence and flattery by courtiers, and other deep-seated neuroses, something broke inside Sado. He was a troubled young man, given to extremely violent and erratic mood swings. One day, he would behave with such decorum, dignity, and probity, that he was all that his father had ever wanted in a son and heir. The next, he would undergo a transformation, and give free rein to violate outbursts during which he would turn rapist and murderer. Historians are unsure just what exactly ailed him, but he was clearly mentally unstable. Today, many think that he was schizophrenic.

Although alcohol was forbidden at court, the Crown Prince routinely downed copious amounts of wine and spirits, and became a raging alcoholic. When a depressive mood fell upon him, murdering servants brought Sado relief. On many a day, several dead bodies were carried out of the palace. He also enjoyed raping court ladies. His depravities extended to his own family: after murdering his concubine, he started sexually harassing his own sister.

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A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.

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