**Photo description**
Standing, from left to right: King Haakon VII of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of the Bulgarians, King Manuel II of Portugal and the Algarve, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Prussia, King George I of the Hellenes and King Albert I of the Belgians.
Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George V of the United Kingdom and King Frederick VIII of Denmark.
tsar_nicholas: Why was I not invited to this?
certifiedpornwatcher: Nine were given to the race of men, who above all, desire power
eatmyshortsjabronis: “You want Ring Waiths? Cause this is how you get Ring Wraiths!”
Zero_1: I’m sure they were like, “Gentlemen, how about we get together in 4 years for a round of golf and shooting”. Unfortunatley, there was no golf.
Ndq21: Weren’t most or all of them closely related?
fraghawk: The climax of a whole era, close to 1000 years, of Western imperialism.
So weird to think that none of them knew that in 4 short years, a war of unprecedented magnitude would unravel centuries of tradition and bring their empires to the brink of (and in the case of Russia, complete and utter) collapse. The old monarchies that ruled for hundreds of years would be utterly destroyed by the decisions made in the few years following this photograph.
The 20th century is so facinating.
Terence_McKenna: King Albert thinking: *Which one of these bastards farted?!*
DecoyOne: Jealous guy on the right is all, “I need to give myself more medals.”
DownvoteIfuLuvHitler: They spoke French together, right?
BigBossREX: “And nine. Nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else, desire power.”
ShootingPains: King Alphonso of Spain seems to be having trouble keeping up with the super-power moustache race.
spacemanspiff30: The number of self congratulatory medals is too damn high.
Biz_Major: What’s the context of this photo?
FrankManic: This is going to show up on fakehistoryporn as “The Nazgul assemble to receive their rings of power”.
Najd7: If anyone hasn’t listened to Dan Carlin’s podcasts on WW1 (Hardcore History – Blueprint for Armageddon), it’s really awesome and he touches on the relationship between the kings in this photo.
Buyniceorbuytwice: How do you summon the colorizer bot? It would be interesting to compare their uniforms & medals.
IridiumIodide3: It’s sad that you don’t see men with mustaches like that anymore
CaptainCrape: “9 leaders of the world conference of mustaches meet – Circa 1910”
ChristJones: This looks like an album cover for funk band. “We are… EUROPEAN ROYALTY!.”
r_giraffe: What is that thing on the table?
bandicoot1007: Someone definitely poisoned dinner that night
agwe: That one king sitting left with the whispy little mustache looks shell-shocked by the majesty around him.
WolfilaTotilaAttila: Its really amazing how “generic” all of them look, you would think kings, fucking kings from so many countries would look completely different, but well…
lycanreborn123: Three Rings for the Elven Kings under the sky.
Seven for the Dwarf Lords in their halls of stone.
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die.
alasdairgray: Now, our life has changed [a bit…](https://i.imgur.com/DtXrRdQ.jpg)
BleachedMind: Picturing each of these guys in today’s clothing really brings them out of their royalty status. Now I just see casual men dressing up.
Starfire013: I thought sashes are generally worn from the right shoulder to the left hip but apart from two guys, the rest of the kings in the photo are wearing it from the left shoulder to the right hip. Is there a reason for this?
SkankHunt70: These outfits are designed to exude an image of power and strength. The uniform tells us “this man is the decision maker”. Ironically, when you put them all in a room together it reveals that they are confined by convention and lack individual agency. Here, the uniform tells us “this man had no choice”
Lets_Go_Why_Not: A prime opportunity to sit them in order of mustache length ruined!
TheUglyBarnacle42: Kind of disapponted it wasn’t the Nazgul
justreadmycomment: King Albert looks like he just realized he should have a mustache.
hasib121: How did they decide who would sit and who would stand?
randomusername_815: Pretty sure these nine became ring-wraiths.
SwedudeOne: Bottom left must be a new king, he has a bit of mustache growing to do
fenpy: I was late for this photosoot, my horse broke his leg!
electrophile91: The original Suzuki Nine Royals competition. Pretty sure King George landed a sw mute 720.
berb9: And nine, nine rings were given to the race of men, for they above all desire power.
rexsingh: The dude on the bottom looks like that Russian Czar that popped .
Pattriktrik: I would do bad things to become a King!
I mean that way of life must be amazing. You have your own army. You have more money then you know what to do with it! You can make up ridiculous laws. Besides people wanting to kill you to take over the throne, that life must of been amazing
fusion0608: Top right looks like he’s plotting something.
hurt_ur_feelings: Cool. In a few years they’ll be fighting each other.
Whaddaya Say?