Royal Deaths from Firearms Accidents

compiled by Susan Flantzer

This does not purport to be a complete list. All images are from Wikipedia unless otherwise indicated.

James II, King of Scots

  • Born: October 16, 1430 at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland
  • Parents: James I, King of Scots and Lady Joan Beaufort, a great-granddaughter of King Edward III of England
  • Married: Mary of Guelders in 1449
  • Died: August 3, 1460, aged 29 at Roxburgh Castle in Roxburgh, Scotland
  • Buried: Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland
  • Unofficial Royalty: James II, King of Scots

In 1460, James II besieged Roxburgh Castle near the English border in support of King Henry VI of England. On August 3, 1460, James II was accidentally killed when a cannon nearby where he was standing exploded.

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Hercule Grimaldi, Marquis of Baux

  • Born: December 16, 1623 in Paris, France
  • Parents: Honoré II, Prince of Monaco and Ippolita Trivulzio
  • Married: Maria Aurelia Spinola in 1641
  • Died: August 2, 1651, aged 27, in Monte Carlo, Monaco
  • Buried: Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate (St. Nicholas Cathedral) in Monaco
  • Wikipedia: Hercule Grimaldi, Marquis of Baux

Hercule was the heir apparent to the throne of Monaco. Along with his family, he went on a visit to the Convent of Carnoles in Mentone, then in Monaco but now in France. After the visit, he engaged in some recreational shooting with some guards in the garden of the convent. Hercule was interested in how the gun worked and asked one of the guards to show him. The guard mishandled the gun and accidentally shot it toward Hercule and two other guards. All three were wounded. Fatally wounded in the spine, Hercule died the next day. Hercule’s son Louis became heir apparent and succeeded his grandfather Honoré II as Louis I, Prince of Monaco.

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Infante Alfonso of Spain

  • Born: October 3, 1941 in Rome, Italy
  • Parents: Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona and Princess Maria Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
  • Died: March 29, 1956, aged 14, in Estoril, Portugal
  • Buried: Municipal Cemetery in Cascais, Portugal, reburied in 1992 at the Pantheon of Princes in the Royal Crypt of the Monastery of El Escorial in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain
  • Unofficial Royalty: Infante Alfonso of Spain

While on Easter vacation from school, Infante Alfonso, the youngest of the four children of Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, was killed in a gun accident. The Spanish Embassy in Portugal issued an official statement: “While His Highness the Infante Alfonso was cleaning a revolver last evening with his brother, a shot was fired hitting his forehead and killing him in a few minutes. The accident took place at 20.30 hours, after the Infante’s return from the Maundy Thursday religious service, during which he had received Holy Communion.”

The brother mentioned in the statement was the future King Juan Carlos of Spain. Only Juan Carlos and his brother were in the room and it remains unclear how Alfonso was shot.  Several people close to the family said Juan Carlos pulled the trigger unaware that the pistol was loaded.

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