A History of Tragic Queens

A History of Tragic Queens:
Cleopatra, Empress Myeongseong and Anne Boleyn

This is a tribute to the lives of these three fascinating women in history, showcasing their triumphs, loves, and sorrows. All were queens, one by blood and two by marriage, and though they lived centuries apart they had many things in common. They loved and lost. They were mothers. They were powerful and passionate and defied everyone's expectations. They each died under tragic circumstances while still in the prime of life. They left their mark on history.

Footage:
Anne Boleyn - The Tudors television series - played by Natalie Dormer
Cleopatra - television movie Cleopatra - played by Leonor Varela
Empress Myeongseong - television series The Last Empress and movie The Sword With No Name - played by Lee Mi-yeon, Moon Geun-yeong and Su-Ae

Music:
Dantes Prayer by Loreena McKennitt
Ebla by E.S. Posthumous
~ ~ ~
I'm not gonna lie, this video took forever. XD More than once I felt like quitting or changing to an easier, slower paced song. But I finally got it done! It's not perfect - there are parts where I think the timing is a bit off. However I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
If anyone doesn't understand the basic story going on in the clips (which is understandable if you aren't familiar with these three women) here are some bare bones summaries to help you out:

Empress Myeongseong, or Min Ja-yeong, married the heir to the Korean throne when she was very young. He hated her and she was miserable. When they were older they learned to love each other and actually became quite close. She asserted herself politically and kicked the Emperors father out of power (hes the older guy you see in the video that shes giving this triumphant look to as he walks up to her). She advocated Korea's independence and tried to throw off Japanese influence, becoming a thorn in their side. They assassinated her in 1895. Koreans today refer to her as Mother of the State. She's also sometimes called Queen Min (Myeongseong is her posthumous name).
I wish I'd had more clips to work with for her but unfortunately I couldn't get any DVDs of The Last Empress. So I had to make do with what I could find online.

Cleopatra was the rightful heir to the throne of Egypt but her half siblings usurped her. She seduced Julius Caesar when he came to Egypt and with him as an ally she got her throne back. (In the vid I show her having her sister Arsinoe killed because she was too much of a threat.) Cleopatra loved Caesar and had a son with him, but he is eventually assassinated back in Rome. Afterwards Egypt is threatened by Caesar's nephew, Octavius, who doesn't like the existence of Cleopatra's son. Cleopatra goes to Marc Antony for help and they fall in love (she also has children with him but the movie I used clips from didn't show that unfortunately). They fight back against Octavius but they lose. After he dies from his injuries in battle, Cleopatra doesn't want to become Octavius' prisoner so she takes her own life.

Anne Boleyn catches the eye of King Henry VIII, who breaks England away from the Catholic Church in order to divorce his wife and marry her. They loved each other passionately but after she could only give him a daughter and no living male heirs the love soured. He turned on her and eventually found another woman, Jane Seymour, and had Anne charged falsely with adultery and sentenced to death.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Cleopatra
• Queen
• Min
• Empress
• Myeongseong
• Anne
• Boleyn
• Henry
• VIII
• Marc
• Antony
• Julius
• Caesar
• tragic
• queens

[dralockhart]

Which version of Dante's Prayer is this? It's not the original... that choir was made up solely of men. This version is beautiful!

[Minxie18]

@dralockhart It's the same version. I just tweaked it with the MAGIX Movie Edit software. I think I made the pitch higher and increased the tempo.

[Dysgyzed]

Oh, noooo! Has this been disabled? It was one of my favorite videos, and I can't play it! Thanks for your great work ... decapitated AGAIN? *sigh* ANgEliQUE

[Minxie18]

@Dysgyzed Seems to be working fine for me... :)

[uworonuk]

shouldn't the last quote at the begining belong to cleopatra not Anne?

[Minxie18]

@uworonuk You might think so, but no :). The quote is from a poem written by Thomas Wyatt about Anne.

[avalon2468]

i think what makes it truly tragic was how young they were these women never even made it to 50 not one! we forget how young these women were thrown into situations that girls today could never handle! thats what makes the powerful in my mind

[doda]

wow, the woman playing Cleopatra is so beautiful. Actually, they all 3 are beautiful. I love Natalie Dormer, it's how I found this video, and it was beautifully done. I had never heard of Empress Myeongseong before this, but I love history, so this will have me researching her. Amazing.

[0125park]

yeah... I'm a Korean but.. Mostly I don't see her around like this.

[Freeyyaaa]

I love Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) great/amazing actor!

[jamesduccan]

you are a beast

[LenuHuegel]

I love Cleopatra ! So much regardless of anyone's thoughts of her . As for the others , I will have to brush on some knowledge of them before I can form a proper opinion but I am intrigued to learn more . But this proves Queens are Stronger than Kings because we are females against a world ruled by men , history made us twice as fast and twice as strong , that's why we females are smarter :p

Girl POWER and this also prove that Men just mess everything up .

[eurotrash12003]

Great.! But you should have included who I think is the most Tragic but Greatest Queen Marie Antoinette.???