Love eternal, the ideal most people have been brought up with, is the quest most of us take on at an early age to find that one true, special person that will love us forever no matter what for the rest of our existence.
Sounds dodgy, doesn’t it? I’m afraid it’s a bit more complicated than that and those requirements are almost impossible to fulfill.
Still, divorce rates aside, there are those love stories that have evaded classification and beat the odds to be positively considered “successful.”
There are also those historical lovers who ended in tragedy—real and intense but short-lived relationships.
Either way, here are 10 real-life tragic love stories that continue to captivate us.
Marc Antony and Cleopatra
He was a decorated and admired Roman general, she was the last representative of a divine ruling dynasty, a Pharaoh.
They became lovers against a backdrop of political and military intrigues and battles against the most powerful rulers of the known world. They played their cards well in their bid to combine uncommon love and power.
Their love story became a timeless symbol of the sacrifices one makes in the name of passion and ambition.
In the end, they were bested by the one destined to change and rule the Roman world, Octavian, later Augustus. After the defeat, nothing was left for them except suicide.
Marc Antony thrust his sword into his body, as was customary among the Roman military, and Cleopatra teased an asp until it sunk its poisonous fangs in the breast.
The lovers perished, the love lived on.
Helen of Troy and Paris
Even before Antony and Cleopatra there was true, tragic and mad love, mad enough to cause a genocidal war and raze an entire city with all its inhabitants included.
Was it love or the allure of forbidden fruit that led to the downfall of an entire civilization?
Helen was married to King Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, and Paris was the son of Priam, king of Troy. He was promised the most beautiful woman in the world by a goddess and abducted her, causing ruin and death to his family and his people.
Never trust fickle gods or beautiful women.
Simon Atlee & Petra Nemcova
“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”
Khalil Gibran
“Amour fou” has been told and retold to us “moderns” through literature throughout the ages, seemingly with a moral in tow. Sometimes, though, the contemporary accounts fit better.
Take Simon Atlee & Petra Nemcova: she’s a successful Czech model who found success and love in her profession. She was engaged to one of her photographers, Simon Atlee, when they were vacationing in Thailand during the dreadful 2004 tsunami.
Their love story serves as a poignant reminder of the unpredictable nature of life and how quickly circumstances can change.
They were dragged away by the receding waters. She managed to hold on to a palm tree though her pelvis was broken and had serious internal injuries.
Atlee was not so lucky; his body was found months later close to the resort they were staying at. Of course, this has nothing to do with the Greek sense of tragedy, still the outcome was tragic.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
Funnily enough, these two tussling lovebirds met and began their tempestuous journey together on the set of none other than “Cleopatra,” that other fiery lover.
Their love story had all the ingredients of an erotic Molotov cocktail: alcohol, fire, madness, money, jewels and jealousy.
Their roller-coaster romance begs the question: Can love alone sustain a relationship amidst tumult and turbulence?
Two marriages and divorces weren’t enough for these two to find a middle ground for love to grow.
Bonnie and Clyde
Some couples are so tight they do everything together, even robbing banks and killing people.
Bonnie and Clyde, lovers and criminals who traveled the Central United States during the Great Depression leaving a trail of death and plunder.
They exemplify a radical kind of commitment: a love so deep that they became accomplices in crime.
The two lovers and their gang killed at least nine police officers and several civilians.
When Bonnie and Clyde met in the 1930s, Clyde already had a criminal record but that didn’t stop Bonnie from initiating an affair with him.
She decided to join him in his criminal undertakings and stayed with him until the very end. They were ambushed by the police in Bienville Parish, Louisiana in 1934 and killed.
Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal
The ephemeral nature of love, life and happiness, have driven lovers to solidify their sentiments in many ways, to leave a lasting record, a monument of that unique feeling, so that it should not perish with them.
Such was the deed done by Shah Jahan, the Mughal Emperor of India for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz died while giving birth to their 14th child.
Shah Jahan was devastated by his wife’s death and plunged into deep grief and depression that greatly affected him.
From personal grief emerged an iconic symbol of love that continues to enchant the world today.
His grief inspired him to build one of the world’s greatest architectural masterpieces to serve as the final resting place for his beloved wife—the Taj Mahal.
The Shah was eventually overthrown by his eldest son, who had him placed under house arrest for the rest of his days.
At his death, he was buried next to his wife, but Shah Jahan had originally requested to have an exact copy of the Taj Mahal in black marble built on the opposite bank of the river Yamuna as his final resting ground, opposite his beloved with, but that never occurred.
Ines de Castro and King Pedro
“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”
Aristotle
“Until the end of the world” is a fitting time frame for true love, and one that few are prepared to promise. In 1345, Constance of Castile, wife of Prince Pedro of Portugal died. I
t would have been a sad occasion for the prince had he not been madly in love with another—Ines de Castro, one of Constance’s maid.
The Portuguese heir and his defunct wife’s maid had already had three children together and his father, King Afonso IV had opposed his son’s affair, though he had tolerated it for a while.
Between a crown and a heart, which weighs heavier? Pedro's choice leaves us pondering.
Push came to shove when Pedro sought to make Ines his lawful wife and queen of Portugal. His father opposed the union, and after much plotting had her assassinated.
Pedro was finally crowned and sought revenge for his murdered lover, starting a civil war, killing her assassins and making all of Portugal swear allegiance to Ines.
Diana, Princess of Wales & Dodi Al Fayed
A billionaire playboy and a princess fall in love to the dismay of nearly all those who surround them, but the romance sparks the interest of the media.
Dodi Al Fayed and Diana Spencer kindled a relationship that grew intense.
They were vacationing in Paris when they were besieged by paparazzi, who dogged and chased them wherever they went.
All the attention killed them.
In their quest for a private moment, did they ever imagine their love story would end with such public heartbreak?
They were chased one night by the tireless photographers into one of Paris’ many tunnels until they crashed into a pillar.
Both Al Fayed and Lady Diana died that night, in the city of love.
Natascha McElhone and Dr. Martin Hirigoyen Kelly
The ravishing English actress fell in love with plastic surgeon Dr. Martin Hirigoyen Kelly and lived happily and comfortably in London with their two children and a third on the way until tragedy struck.
Kelly was found slumped in the doorway of his home by another doctor friend and was rushed to hospital where he died of dilated cardiomyopathy one day after the couple’s tenth wedding anniversary.
Between the lines of her letters, one wonders: can words truly encapsulate the depth of loss?
In grief and anguish, McElhone has written letters to him documenting her daily existence without him and how their children are dealing with the loss.
The letters have been compiled in a book entitled “After You: Letters of Love, and Loss, to a Husband and Father.”
Brittany Murphy and Simon Monjack
“Life is too short to be anything but happy.”
Brittany Murphy
Actress Brittany Murphy had finally found the love of her life in 2007 in British screenwriter Simon Monjack, and decided to tie the knot.
In 2009, Murphy died in the couple’s West Hollywood home of acute pneumonia, severe anemia and multiple drug intoxication.
Love's flame burns bright, but can it also burn out, leaving behind a chilling darkness?
Monjack was devastated after losing Murphy and, within six months of her death, he was found dead in the couple’s home of the same causes!
Tragic Love Tales of Famous Couples
The grand tapestry of love, woven with threads of passion and splattered with the ink of tragedy, occasionally set ablaze by the fires of heartache!
From the illustrious liaisons of Antony and Cleopatra to the notorious escapades of Bonnie and Clyde, love has danced through the annals of history, leaving behind tales of fervor and sorrow.
It seems the pursuit of eternal love is akin to chasing the elusive butterfly of happiness through a field of thorny roses—beautiful, but oh, the pricks!
Whether it’s the monumental love that built the Taj Mahal or the fiery, tumultuous love of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, it’s clear that love is the sweet symphony that plays the music of our souls, even if sometimes it hits a few sour notes.
So, here’s to the epic, bittersweet dance of passion and pain, and may we all find our rhythm in this waltz of the heart!
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