Free Republic

The new king of England will reign as King Charles III – a moniker he once reportedly considered rejecting to avoid links to the bloody and turbulent history of his two royal namesakes. His majesty considered being called George VII to honor his grandfather — a beloved royal figure — and to avoid Charles, a name considered “jinxed” in some royal circles, The London Times reported in 2005. His “Charles” predecessors ruled over some of the bloodiest periods in UK history. King Charles I led the country into a civil war — and remains the only English monarch to be...

An amateur treasure hunter struck gold — literally. Kevin Duckett was hunting for treasure with his metal detector in a field near Market Harborough, Northamptonshire, England, when he unearthed a solid gold figurine that experts believe is part of a long-lost part of the crown of Henry VIII. “At first I wondered if it was a crumpled foil dish from a 1970s Mr. Kipling product, or even a gold milk bottle top,” Duckett told the Sun. “I got a very loud positive signal from my detector and started to dig down before spotting something … It was lodged in the...

...One of the most disputed stories of extreme age belongs to a 17th century man named Thomas Parr, who claimed to be 152 years old at the time of his death... Most of what historians know about the life of Tom Parr comes from John Taylor’s pamphlet, published the year of Parr’s death, “The old, old, very old man or the age and very long life of Thomas Parr.” Parr lived most of his life as a farm laborer in the county of Shropshire, and married his first wife when he was 80 years old... Parr, at some point, started...