Rocky royals

Now, for a very cheesy question: When you die, how would your epitaph read? How would you want those who would come to your burial remember you for? I think this was the question the following kings had in mind when their statues were erected:

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). This is his statue in the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, France. Until the end, he portrayed himself as an emperor, complete with the laurels, the scepter and the orb.


Manuel I of Portugal (1469-1521). It was during his time when Portugal "discovered" Brazil and the sea route to India. He is immortalized in this statue erected in the Castelo de São Jorge in Lisbon.

William the Silent (1533-1584). He is known in French as Guillaume le Taciturne. Judging from this statue in the Sablon area of Brussels, Belgium, he must've been a rather unapproachable guy.


Philip II of Spain (1527-1598). Or, as any Filipino might say, the king in whose honor the Philippines was named as such. During his reign, it is said the the sun never set in the Spanish Empire. Here's his sun-bathed statue in the Plaza Mayor of Madrid.