Each of our own love story is unique. Some have multiple stories to tell...romantic, funny, tragic, painful...unique stories that we mostly treasure in our hearts and memories...that tend to put a smile on our faces when remembering them.
Here are some famous love stories in history:
Romeo and JulietTragic love between Romeo and Juliet whose families despise each other and prevent the lovers to be together.Romeo committed suicide for mistakenly believing that Juliet is dead. Juliet followed her lover in death upon discovering his dead body.
Cleopatra and Mark AntonyEgyptian queen seduced a powerful (and already married) general, into a romantic and tenuous political alliance between their territories. Both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide during the war rather than be captured when the alliance went sour when future emperor Octavian convinced the Roman senate that Antony was power-hungry and bewitched by Cleopatra and declared war.
Shah Jahan and Mumtaz MahalHe was so grief-stricken when she died during childbirth that he immediately began work on the Taj Mahal. It took 23 years to complete the homage, where he joined her at his own death in 1666.
Ines de Castro and King Pedro Ines de Castro became a lady-in-waiting for Princess Constance of Portugal in 1340 and quickly stole the heart of her prince Pedro, the heir to the Portuguese throne. When Constance died in 1349, Pedro tried to make Ines his lawful queen — they already had three children together — but his father the king intervened, banishing Ines and ultimately having her murdered when geographical distance couldn't keep Pedro away. The act sparked a civil war between father and son and, when the latter claimed victory, Pedro exhumed his lover, built her a royal tomb, and had all of Portugal swear allegiance to Ines as their queen.
Queen Victoria and Prince AlbertThe love that Queen Victoria felt for her husband Prince Albert was as genuine as her 63-year reign was long, say historians, and his untimely death in 1861, 40 years before hers, devastated the otherwise powerful monarch. Victoria favored the color black for the rest of her life and spent much of the last decades of her reign in relative seclusion. When she finally passed away in 1901, she was interred in their common mausoleum and had these words inscribed over the door: "Farewell best beloved, here at last I shall rest with thee, with thee in Christ I shall rise again."
Paris and HelenThe story begins with the Trojan prince Paris being chosen to decide which of three goddesses – Hera, Athena and Aphrodite – is the fairest. He chose Aphrodite because in return she promised him the most beautiful woman in the world. And the most beautiful woman was Helen of Sparta who, however, was married to King Menelaus. A few years later, Paris went to Sparta and took Helen to Troy by which he triggered the Trojan War.
Bonnie and ClydeBonnie and Clyde, lovers and criminals who traveled the Central United States during the Great Depression were not considered as romantic back then as they are today. Their gang was responsible for at least nine police officer and several civilian deaths. It is unsure how the couple met but it is thought that it was love at a first sight. When Bonnie and Clyde met (probably in 1930), the latter already had a criminal record but that obviously did not bother Bonnie. 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. The couple wanted to be buried together but Bonnie’s family did not allow it.
What's your story?