Have you ever had a crush / fallen in love with an historical figure?

[NegroniLover]

This has happened to me in the most unexpected manner. I'm in my early 50s (old enough to know better) & I've developed a massive obsession / crush on a long dead writer. It's so weird & had never happened to me before.
Please tell me someone else has experienced this?

You just know John was great in bed.

Totally. I don’t think his poor wife benefited much though - she spent most of her life pregnant and had 12 children of whom 6 died, then died in childbirth herself. 🙁

Hopefully we will find out soon. Apparently King Charles III has said he is in agreement for a dna test on the bones of the bodies found in the tower (The Queen always refused).
I don't believe he killed them either.

I got a bit of a flush over Thomas Cromwell after reading Wolf Hall.
And I read a biography of Richard Burton by Melvyn Bragg and developed a thing for him Ritchie not Melv - there are limits. Gorgeous man.

I agree... I studied WO at O Level... He had such a profound affect on me that I named my ds2 after him... 💙
I hope one day to take my Wilfred to see his grave in France......

Does young Marlon Brando count? I blame my mum for us snuggling up to watch Guys and Dolls one afternoon (I was 14). I thought he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen.

I had a huge crush on Oliver Cromwell when I was 15. We were studying the Civil War and for some reason I was besotted.

This thread is amazing, I may have a little crush on you now OP 😁

@Jellytots1840 big yes to Sandy Irvine, bizarrely mainly based on a photo where a hat covers most of his face!

Absolutely Jean Plaidy/Victoria Holt is responsible for so many.

If I could go back in time to pick one historical figure to poke through the eyeballs with a rusty knife it would be Cromwell, Oliver.

I looked up those books - they do chime a vague memory! I admired his rebelliousness on behalf of something more democratic.

I've read today that he was very anti-semitic , so I'll have to take him off the crush list.

@MsMcGonagall Yes sadly he was extremely antisemitic, even by the low standards of the time. Sharon Penman kind of skates over this in Falls The Shadow, but tbh it’s impossible to exonerate him.

Elderflower14 I have a dark haired sensitive looking middle son called Richard (What else) and my elder son's middle name is Dante after Rossetti 😊

@DontbesuchanarseGlenda I agree. I'd like to think they might find his body one day but I hope they don't find a camera, it's much more intriguing hoping they made it than finding out they didn't make it if you see what I mean!

Byron ! Mad, bad and dangerous to know, sigh !

I completely agree. Last seen ‘going strong for the top’. Yes, let’s leave them on that note 🤞🏻

And riddled with syphilis!

Jasper Tudor, not a looker but I still would.

Any of the Brontés except Bramwell, but mostly Emily.

I just googled him. He looks a bit like Ben Miles.

Oops. I see someone else beat me to it.

Love William Marshal so much. My favourite historical crush!

@EdieLedwell ohhh yes Michael Collins and that West Cork accent. In my mind, I replace Lady Lavery😆
Anytime I go home, I visit Béal na Bláth and lay a single rose

@Andylion no I think you are the only googler of HG-B. Although I think the pencil sketch may have been slightly more flattering than reality seeing that!

Loving this thread. I haven’t had a crush since I hit peri menopause and turned into a man hating (except for dh mostly) witch. Hoping that passes soon as it’s not much fun.

Mine used to last a few weeks or a month or two while I read everything I could lay hands on, and then suddenly I’d lose interest completely.

It’s embarrassingly vivid. I expect that I’ll have forgotten which relationships were real and be telling people all sorts in my dotage.

That's so lovely. It's less than 5 miles from my house.

Alexander the Great