History Main / KingOnHisDeathbed

* UsefulNotes/JosefStalin's death was very much like this, as even as his magnates surrounded his bedside they were plotting against each other, but particularly everyone was terrified of Beria. When Stalin finally expired, Beria sprung forward, making sure he was the first to kiss Stalin's hand, an act one historian called the equivalent of "wrenching a dead King's ring off his finger," before sweeping out of the room and triumphantly calling for his car. Historians to this day debate whether it was Beria who had actually poisoned Stalin. One magnate said to another, "He's off to seize power," and they all quickly followed after him, calling for their own limousines.
** Later this resulted in everyone joining forces agaist Beria; Khruschev and Bulganin, two of the less pro-Stalinist magnates won with help of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the Soviet Union's top military commander (of questionable competence as a strategist, but with exactly zilch political ambition).

* This trope is vital in ''Manga/AnatoliaStory''. The male lead Prince Kail Mursili is one of the biggest candidates to succeed his father, King Suppilinuma of the Hitite Empire, who is not expected to live for long; Kail's WickedStepmother Nakia is desperately trying to install her own child Juda in the throne and won't stop at ''anything'' to do so. In comes Yuri, the female lead, who becomes Kail's lover ''and'' [[GuileHero one of his strongest supporters]].\\
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And later [[spoiler: the one who actually reigns is Kail's half brother Arnuwanda, who then makes Kail his succesor. Few later, he ''does'' die and that kicks off ''another'' succesion crisis...]]

* ''{{Exalted}}'' has an interesting variation; the Scarlet Empress is merely missing, rather than dying, and speculation among her Dynasty includes factors not only related to the possibility of her confirmed death but also of her potential entirely healthy return (which would include her easily resuming control of the empire's superweapon network).

* In ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', Emperor Marcus Aurelius isn't literally on his deathbed, but knows he's old and dying, and so names the hero his heir. This, combined with telling his psychotic son before telling anyone else who could confirm it, leads to him passing the deathbed stage and going straight to [[KilledOffForReal all the way dead]].

* When Edward the Confessor died childless in 1066, the throne of England passed to his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson, who'd likely been pulling the strings for years. However, Edward also had ties to Duke William of Normandy via his mother and may have promised the throne to William during a falling-out with the Godwinsons. Meanwhile, Harold had recently driven out his brother Tostig, who sought the aid of King Harald Hardrada of Norway who could claim the throne based on his predecessor's deal with Edward the Confessor's predecessor to inherit each other's kingdoms if either died without heirs. In the [[MightMakesRight ensuing war]], Harold Godwinson defeated Harald Hardrada but was defeated at the Battle of Hastings by William, who went on to become William the Conqueror.

* Edward the Confessor.

* UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat: The story goes that when asked who rule of his empire would fall to, he responded "tôi kratistôi." ([[AsskickingEqualsAuthority "To the strongest."]] Unfortunately, there was [[SuccessionCrisis severe disagreement to as to who this meant]]. An alternate theory is that he said "To Craterus." Craterus, one of Alexander's generals, was not present, and those who were conveniently misheard. Another version holds that he was unable to speak and thus did not actually give the iconic response, but that he gave his [[PersonalSeals signet ring]] to another general, Perdiccas, which would seem to imply endorsement of his claim to succession.
** The reason there was any question of who would rule was that Alexander had no legitimate heir. But since his wife was pregnant, some of his generals proposed to wait and see if the child would be male (as it turns out, it was), at which point succession would become obvious...with the generals ruling as regents, naturally. Others rejected this because they wouldn't be in on the deal, and thus Alexander's might empire fragmented into warring factions.

* ''FinalFantasyTactics'': This situation kicks off the War of The Lions.

* The deathbed of [[LetatCestMoi King Louis XIII]] is a classic example as the courtiers and his devious brother Gaston of Orléans were wondering whether first minister Cardinal Mazarin would manage to retain his position (in the end, the answer was yes) and who would become the regent during the successor's minority (Louis' widow, Anne of Austria). The deathbed is also well remembered because St. Vincent of Paul was on hand to lend his spiritual support and for the exchange that occurred when the five-year-old Dauphin was brought to see his dying father:

* ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Cordelia's Honor]]'': [[MagnificentBastard The Emperor]] is terminally ill, but still as lucid and conniving as ever. He actually uses his own illness and rumors about it to draw out and counter various attempted power plays, in order to ensure that the Empire will be in good shape for his grandson.

* ''[[Literature/{{Chalion}} The Hallowed Hunt]]'': The king falls ill before a successor has been elected. Everyone in the kingdom plots to advance themselves or their candidate, all the while [[spoiler: the ''true'' immortal king of the Weald, at last completes his incredibly complex GambitRoulette to reclaim the hallow kingship]].

* In the backstory of TanyaHuff's ''Sing the Four Quarters'', the young princess-protagonist wants to become a bard. Against her older brother's wishes (he wants to marry her off to a neighboring monarch) she asks her father on his deathbed to release her from her royal obligations. He does so, and the moment he dies her brother banishes her.

* In the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek 3}}'', Fiona's father, the king of Far Far Away, is on his deathbed (in frog form), and is trying to get a message about an heir to the throne to Shrek and Fiona. He seems to die three times before [[IncrediblyLamePun croaking]] out the end of the message, then finally dying.
* Kicks off the plot in ''Film/{{Stardust}}''. The King of Stormhold summons his four remaining sons to his deathbed, watches approvingly as one of them kills another, and tells the three who are left that he's sending his magical ruby flying off into the land and whoever finds it is his heir. He expires immediately, with an earlier line implying that he was keeping himself alive through sheer willpower.

* Kicks off the plot in ''Film/{{Stardust}}''.

* The end of [[SocietyForCreativeAnachronism Cariadoc of the Bow's]] first 'William Marshal' poem take place at the deathbed of King Henry II.

* A major part of the second season of ''{{Slayers}}''. The king of Saillune is an old man (Who never actually appears on screen), and various members of the Royal Family are trying to kill off Prince Philionel, the Heir Apparent so that they can claim the throne.
* This trope is vital in AnatoliaStory. The male lead Prince Kail Mursili is one of the biggest candidates to succeed his father, King Suppilinuma of the Hitite Empire, who is not expected to live for long; Kail's WickedStepmother Nakia is desperately trying to install her own child Juda in the throne and won't stop at ''anything'' to do so. In comes Yuri, the female lead, who becomes Kail's lover ''and'' [[GuileHero one of his strongest supporters]].\\

* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIQuestForTheCrown''.

** Something similar played out with his rebel son Konrad Curze, whose descent into crippling madness tore his legion apart long before he died. His assassination by a Calidus assassin was more of an excuse for the NightLords to dissolve than an actual reason to do so.

* King Guslav in ''TheFirstLaw''.

* This happened in the long and lingering final illness of [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI Elizabeth I]] of England, as she hesitated to name a successor. Finally, some gestures she made were interpreted as naming James VI of Scotland, who succeeded her as [[TheHouseOfStuart James I of England]].

-->-- '''AlexanderTheGreat''''s chosen successor...

* The Skeksis emperor in ''TheDarkCrystal'', leading to TrialByCombat for his succession.
* In ''{{Gladiator}}'', Emperor Marcus Aurelius isn't literally on his deathbed, but knows he's old and dying, and so names the hero his heir. This, combined with telling his psychotic son before telling anyone else who could confirm it, leads to him passing the deathbed stage and going straight to [[KilledOffForReal all the way dead]].

* The second ''{{Redwall}}'' book, ''Mosseflower'' has Lord Verdauga the wildcat in this state, while his son [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch Ginguivere]] and daughter [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Tsarmina]] tend to him. It doesn't end well, because [[spoiler:Tsarmina is secretly poisoning him to frame her brother.]]

* In ''TheBelgariad'', Emperor Ran Borune XXIII began the process of slowly dying of old age. Since he had no sons, the various great houses of Tolnedra [[SuccessionCrisis started squabbling over the throne in advance in anticipation of the latest Borune dynasty dying with him]]. This mainly is relevant in one section of the second book, but the matter keeps cropping up until the Emperor finally dies in the first book of the sequel series, [[spoiler:by which time the Emperor had resolved the succession issue by adopting a very competent General from an lesser house aligned with the Borunes as his son and heir.]]

* Generalissimo Francisco Franco of Spain. His death was so prolonged and important to Spain that ''SaturdayNightLive'' constantly joked that he was still dead for years.

* HenryVIII's death was so protracted that the courtiers surrounding him had time to rewrite his will completely. Unfortunately they didn't finish in time for Henry to sign it himself so they used a signature stamp on it, which caused all kinds of headaches for both Edward VI and Mary I.
* This happened in the long and lingering final illness of [[TheVirginQueen Elizabeth I]] of England, as she hesitated to name a successor. Finally, some gestures she made were interpreted as naming James VI of Scotland, who succeeded her as [[TheHouseOfStuart James I of England]].

* AlexanderTheGreat: The story goes that when asked who rule of his empire would fall to, he responded "tôi kratistôi." ([[AsskickingEqualsAuthority "To the strongest."]] Unfortunately, there was [[SuccessionCrisis severe disagreement to as to who this meant]]. An alternate theory is that he said "To Craterus." Craterus, one of Alexander's generals, was not present, and those who were conveniently misheard. Another version holds that he was unable to speak and thus did not actually give the iconic response, but that he gave his [[PersonalSeals signet ring]] to another general, Perdiccas, which would seem to imply endorsement of his claim to succession.

* Joseph Stalin's death was very much like this, as even as his magnates surrounded his bedside they were plotting against each other, but particularly everyone was terrified of Beria. When Stalin finally expired, Beria sprung forward, making sure he was the first to kiss Stalin's hand, an act one historian called the equivalent of "wrenching a dead King's ring off his finger," before sweeping out of the room and triumphantly calling for his car. Historians to this day debate whether it was Beria who had actually poisoned Stalin. One magnate said to another, "He's off to seize power," and they all quickly followed after him, calling for their own limousines.

* The inbred King Carlos II of Spain was so sickly that arguably his entire ''life'' was spent close to the deathbed. When he was clearly fading, it spawned an international crisis, since Carlos II as the very last of his dynasty had no clear heirs. Both the Hapsburgs in Austria and the Bourbons of France had strong claims, while King William III of England and others, afraid of France and Spain being united under one monarchy, wanted to at least make sure that Spain and its territories in Italy and the Americas were split among the various claimants. Carlos II willed everything to his Bourbon grand-nephew, Philippe, and to ease tensions King Louis XIV of France passed a decree barring Philippe from inheriting the French crown, but a thirteen-year long war, the War of the Spanish Succession, broke out anyway.

* The inbred King Carlos II of Spain was so sickly that arguably his entire ''life'' was spent close to the deathbed. When he was clearly fading, it spawned an international crisis, since Carlos II as the very last of his dynasty had no clear heirs. Both the Hapsburgs in Austria and the Bourbons of France had strong claims, while King William III of England and others, afraid of France and Spain being united under one monarchy, wanted to at least make sure that Spain and its territories in Italy and the Americas were split among the various claimants. Carlos II willed everything to his grand-nephew, Philippe, and to ease tensions King Louis XIV of France passed a decree barring Philippe from inheriting the French crown, but a thirteen-year long war, the War of the Spanish Succession, broke out anyway.

* In the beginning of {{Shrek}} 3, Fiona's father, the king of Far Far Away, is on his deathbed (in frog form), and is trying to get a message about an heir to the throne to Shrek and Fiona. He seems to die three times before [[IncrediblyLamePun croaking]] out the end of the message, then finally dying.