I’m No King Henry V111: For Better Or For Much Worse

Imagine the mess he would’ve made if the King had Tinder?


Marriage is a beautiful union between two people who think they can stand being around each other for the rest of their lives. Many people get wed. Some do it twice it’s that good. Any more than that and you’re just being greedy. Granted, life expectancy during the 20th Century increased rapidly, so now it’s easy to cram a couple of marriages in there. But back in the Middle ages, you were lucky if you hit your 30th birthday. So it’s impressive that King Henry VIII had 6 wives in 55 years. His claim to fame is being a polyamorous screwhead that it coined this famous rhyme. “King Henry VIII, to six wives he was wedded. One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded.”

Catherine Of Aragon

The first victim was once divorced from Henry’s brother, Catherine Of Aragon. I mean, already this is off to a bad start. You don’t date your brother’s ex, even if he is dead. Have some respect. But the King doesn’t have any as he was having coitus all over the place, while poor Catherine had years of multiple miscarriages and stillborn births. You’d think the disrespect he displays to his wife would be a sign of what kind of man he is to the next wife, who happened to be one of the women he was having an affair with.

How Size Doesn’t Matter: Take Napoleon for Instance

Every French man knows that like all good wines, women mature with age, in both beauty and brains.


There’s a general consensus that women love tall men, or at the very least taller than them. I am not sure what the benefits of being lanky are; my legs hurt in economy, the game limbo where people judge how low I can go is 15% harder and my career as a professional jockey is not where I’d like it to be. And yet, that hasn’t held us gargantuan men back from conquering the hearts of the opposite sex.

Conquering may be an inappropriate word, but it leads me nicely onto one of the most famous short men, Napoleon Bonaparte. Although listed as 5 feet 2 inches, those were the old French units which in the modern equivalent would make him 5’7”. (Same height as Tom Cruise. Coincidence? Yes.)

Napoleon not only wanted to conquer land for Lady Liberty of France, but also needed to conquer the heart of a potential empress to have by his side. Young Napoleon was in charge of older men who loomed over him and the only way he thought he’d have the respect of his men was by marrying a cougar. Meeeow. How’d you get this total babe? Oh you know, just invading multiple countries. No biggie.

Napoleon fell head over heels for Marie-Joseph-Rose de Meauharnais, later renamed Josephine because Napoleon didn’t like her name. We all give our lovers nicknames after all. The only problem with the relationship? She despised Napoleon. He was too much of a nerd.

Every French man knows that like all good wines, women mature with age, in both beauty and brains. (Cheese is also great the more mature it is, but not the best comparison for a lady). Josephine may have been a desirable decanter of Dom Perignon when it came to motherhood, but a Two Buck Chuck chardonnay with a crazy straw when it came to ROMANCE with Napoleon. She had no desire whatsoever to marry Napoleon, but was informed by a friend the only way for her to keep her lavish lifestyle and keep her two children safe was to marry Napoleon, whom was oblivious to her hatred for him.

They married and a few days later, it was a romantic honeymoon to Italy, without her. Alas, he had to go to work, and every day, the besotted general would write his wife love letters, while she was back home in Paris, Netflix and chilling with other men.
She made many excuses as to why she could not join him in Italy, and went as far as telling him she was pregnant and thus could not travel. She was not with child of course, which is surprising considering the amount of Parisian baguette she gobbled. She just wasn’t interested in giving the general a chance to show her he was worthy of her heart.

When the cuckolded Napoleon found out, angered by the betrayal, he decided to come back to France in a mission to cherish her. Napoleon’s attempt to win her heart lasted too briefly when she arrived and told him the reason she was no longer pregnant was due to a miscarriage. This devastated Napoleon. (I bet you didn’t know all this about the tiny man we mock).

After she cheated on him a few more times, he no longer loved her, but in a twist of fate, she now was falling in love with him. The story goes that Josephine was forever in love with Napoleon from the moment he parted ways with her. As she was dying of diphteria, her last word was ‘Napoleon’. He later re-married the Archduchess of Austria Maria-Louisa, later renamed Marie Louise because Napoleon didn’t like her name.

Tall men don’t necessarily make better men. Neither do ‘bad boys’. Ladies, give the not so tall nerds a chance, they might surprise you and go above and beyond to swoon you off your feet. And if they seem to try hard like Napoleon, it might just be because they’re really besotted by you. My wife told me she wasn’t sure about getting with me because I was too weird, but luckily one of her friends convinced her to give me a chance, and now we’re happily married. Give the nerds a chance.

A Man Grapples About What to Give on Valentine’s Inspired by an Emperor

Why isn’t the Kama Sutra laminated?


Valentine’s Day is upon us. And whether you’re single, in a relationship or it’s complicated, many of us ironically hate the day dedicated to love. You’re either made to feel awful that you don’t have anyone to share 24 hours with, or angry that a calendar is dictating you spend money to prove the affection you have for your partner. If you need a specific day to show someone you care, then maybe give your other half the gift of being more attentive.

I am far from perfect, but I try to be a good husband. I remind myself it’s the little things that count. It doesn’t come naturally for me, or most men, to do regular little things as we generally aim for one grand gesture every now and then. The bigger gesture the better. That’s genuinely how most of us think.

Royal Love

But no matter how hard we try, us men are put to shame when it comes to Shah Jahan and his relationship to Arjumand Banu Begum. Shah was the fifth prince Mughal Emperor of India; a country famed for the Kama Sutra, so I imagine they know a thing or two about love. Probably why Apu was chosen to be the quixotic character during a Simpsons Valentine’s Day special.

On a separate note; why isn’t the Kama Sutra laminated?

Different Strokes for Different Times

If we put aside the fact that she was betrothed to him, which is a nice way of saying given as property, and that he was also married to two other women, aside from that, his relationship to Arjumand was special. And it’s kind of cute when I tell you this happened when they were 14 & 15 years of age. Aaaaww. Now that’s different and magical and not at all creepy.

Ladies, Why You Have to Spell it Out for Us Men

Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen, seemed to have an almost supernatural way with women. He was a divisive figure, what with his mystical influence over Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, but also with his womanizing of Mother Russia. He resembled an evil creature akin from a Tim Burton movie, and yet, managed to charm any beautiful devushka that came in contact with him, including the tsarina, as if he had access to their brains.

Thankfully, men don’t have this uncanny ability to control the minds of women. Other than Rasputin and Professor Xavier, us men struggle to read women’s thoughts, let alone control them. The majority of arguments I have with my wife is because I haven’t done something she wished I did. And herein lies the problem, wish. Perhaps you’ve said this to your husband, or you’ve heard your girlfriend surprise you with it; “I wish you…”

Women seem to have this natural ability to sense what their other half wants or needs. They just know, call it intuition, but women know. A lady doesn’t have to wish for her sister to do something. They just know. How do you do it? I once saw a pentagram of five women having separate conversations and being able to understand and respond to each other. All at the same time! I trembled as I witnessed this quintuple communion. I can’t even understand my own thoughts. How are you multitasking conversations? Maybe that’s why you ladies were mistaken for witches and burned at the stake. You freaks us men out with your supernatural powers.

Most men don’t have this ability to just know when their lady partners need them or want something. We need to be asked. And that’s where a lot of arguments seem to seed. Women expect men to have this intuition and we simply don’t, which understandably frustrates you because it seems like we don’t care about you. My wife has often become angry and betrayed by my actions, because I simply didn’t know. To me, she inexplicably gets angry at something I didn’t know about which therefore seems a little irrational. To her, I am insensitive idiot for not being attentive when she needs me. As George Carlin once said, “Women are crazy, men are stupid, and the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.”

To you lovely ladies, we seem stupid, and to be honest, we often are. So maybe, if we’re as stupid as you say we are, try and not be so angry at us. And instead teach us, show us, spell it out for us. We’ll slowly learn, very slowly; I must emphasize how slow this process will be. But we will learn. I adore my wife. She is everything to me. I try my best to be a good husband. But some days, she looks at me like a brain damaged ape who’s looking at a Jackson Pollock painting.

Please, ladies, don’t expect us to read your mind. We are not Rasputin. Both in his telepathic ability to read and with his, it is rumored, his 13 inch penis.