Voting Station

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth

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Royalty

The Resume

    (April 9, 1649-July 15, 1685)
    Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands
    Birth name was James Crofts
    Eldest illegitimate son of King Charles II
    Held the titles Duke of Monmouth, Earl of Doncaster, Earl of Dalkeith, Baron Scott of Tindale, and Baron Scott of Whitchester and Eksdale
    Led an unsuccessful rebellion against King James II (May-July, 1685)
    Beheaded for treason

Why he might be annoying:

    He claimed his mother, Lucy Walter, had been secretly married to Charles II, but never produced the evidence he said he had.
    He may not have been Charles' kid anyway, since Lucy Walters was also carrying on an affair with Colonel Robert Sidney (whom some people said Monmouth more closely resembled).
    He had three children out of wedlock with mistress Eleanor Needham.
    He went into exile in Holland after being implicated in the Rye House Plot to assassinate both Charles and James (1683).
    After his rebellion failed, he tried unsuccessfully to escape disguised as a shepherd.
    A rumor claimed that another man was executed in his place and he was sent off to France to become the Man in the Iron Mask; however, the earliest records of the Man in the Iron Mask date to 1669, well before the Duke's ill-fated rebellion.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was described as 'strikingly handsome.'
    He was the favorite of King Charles' children. (At least until the kid tried to off dad during the Rye House Plot.)
    During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, he earned a reputation as one of England's finest soldiers.
    His execution was badly bungled, requiring five blows from the axe to remove his head.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 29 Votes: 58.62% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 37 Votes: 32.43% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 130 Votes: 57.69% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 21 Votes: 90.48% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 97 Votes: 43.30% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 112 Votes: 51.79% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 30 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 41 Votes: 53.66% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 24 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 24 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 32 Votes: 68.75% Annoying