Strange Bathroom Habits Of Historical Royalty

Royalty might have ruled over vast empires and lived in luxury, but that didn’t mean their personal habits were always elegant, or even hygienic. Across history and across the globe, kings and queens developed some very peculiar bathroom routines, shaped by superstition, vanity, medical advice, and plain old misinformation. Some of them avoided bathing entirely, while others embraced rituals that seem bizarre by today’s standards. Here are some of the strangest habits from royal history.

Queen Elizabeth I refused to bathe regularly.

The Virgin Queen was known for her intelligence and powerful rule, but when it came to cleanliness, she took a very different view than we might today. Elizabeth I reportedly bathed only once a month, and sometimes not even that often. At the time, bathing was thought to open the pores and make the body more vulnerable to disease, so many royals limited their washing to what was seen as just enough.

Instead of bathing, Elizabeth would use scented cloths to wipe down her body and apply perfumes and powders to cover odours. This was quite common among nobility, and while it may have helped preserve the elaborate fashions of the day, it likely didn’t do much for personal hygiene.

Louis XIV conducted court business on the toilet.

The French Sun King was famous for turning daily life into ritual and theatre. Even when it came to using the toilet. Louis XIV held what became known as a “levée,” or waking ceremony, which sometimes included courtiers attending while he relieved himself on a commode chair.

This wasn’t entirely out of place for the time. Toilets, or rather chamber pots and commodes, were often kept in semi-public places in royal palaces, and bodily functions weren’t treated with the same sense of privacy we have today. Still, discussing military campaigns while seated over a chamber pot takes multitasking to a whole new level.

Russian Tsar Peter the Great loved public baths, and enforced them.

Peter the Great was determined to modernise Russia and took a strong interest in hygiene, at least by the standards of his day. He was a fan of communal bathhouses and believed in their health benefits. He even forced his courtiers to wash, and supposedly gave them a scrubbing himself if he felt they weren’t clean enough.

At the same time, Peter also had a taste for the grotesque—he collected deformed body parts and kept them in jars in his palace. So while he championed cleanliness, it was wrapped up in his eccentric and often unsettling approach to rule.

Marie Antoinette had a personalised toilet routine.

At Versailles, Marie Antoinette had a highly specific bathroom ritual, involving scented water, porcelain bowls, and a rotating cast of attendants. Her bidet, known as a bourdaloue, was designed for convenience, and she used a variety of perfumed products to maintain the court’s high standards of presentation.

Privacy was not part of the arrangement—bathroom functions often took place with maids and attendants watching, ready to offer towels or perfumes. The concept of personal space was almost nonexistent for royal women, especially in a palace where appearances were everything.

Emperor Huizong of Song had a fleet of royal wipes.

In 12th-century China, Emperor Huizong was said to be so refined that he had his own paper makers create luxurious toilet paper, long before it became common anywhere else. These weren’t rough sheets, either. Records suggest they were thick, perfumed, and elaborately decorated, suitable for an emperor.

This attention to detail extended to many aspects of the Song Dynasty court, but it also shows how early some cultures developed practical hygiene. While Europe was still relying on rags, sponges, or even hay, the Chinese elite had already refined toilet routines to an art.

Catherine the Great installed one of Russia’s first flushing toilets.

While her reign is often remembered for imperial expansion and scandalous rumours, Catherine the Great was also a moderniser. She had a flushing toilet installed at her residence in the Winter Palace, which was a rare luxury at the time.

The system used a mechanism not unlike modern ones, involving water tanks and valves. Though it wasn’t widely adopted until much later, Catherine’s interest in modern plumbing showed her desire to bring Russia in line with Enlightenment-era innovations. She reportedly took great pride in her bathroom, which was furnished with marble and gilt fittings.

King Louis XI of France was terrified of water in general.

Louis XI, who ruled during the late 15th century, had a deep mistrust of water. He believed it could carry disease through the skin, so he avoided washing almost entirely. Instead, he relied on wearing clean clothes as a substitute for bathing.

This fear wasn’t unique to Louis—many people of the time believed water opened the body to illness. Clean linen was seen as a way to absorb sweat and dirt, with the idea that changing your shirt was just as good as washing. By those standards, Louis thought he was being hygienic, even if he smelled like a medieval locker room.

Historical royalty had access to luxury, but that didn’t always extend to their bathroom habits. From communal bathing to perfume-based hygiene and personalised toilet paper, the rituals of royal cleanliness were shaped as much by superstition and cultural norms as by actual cleanliness. Today, they’re fascinating windows into what passed for high society living in a time before plumbing, privacy, or even soap as we know it.