King Killed by Flying Sheep

The bizarre and tragic story of the flying sheep and the French king dates back to 1612. Though it may sound like a fantastical legend or the plot of an absurd tale, this event is rooted in a peculiar and ill-fated experiment in early aeronautics. The king in question wasn’t a reigning monarch of France but was Louis XIII’s younger brother, **Prince Charles, Duke of Orléans**. Known for his adventurous spirit and curious nature, the Duke was fascinated by the developments of science and flight, which, at the time, were topics of growing interest but still largely in the realm of experimentation and wild imagination.

In this specific case, a renowned French inventor named **Jean-Baptiste Labarre** sought to impress the royal family with a daring public demonstration involving a flying contraption. This was during a period when inventors and scientists were increasingly attempting to conquer the sky, and people had become fascinated by the possibility of human flight. The idea of using animals in experiments with flight was not uncommon; after all, hot air balloons would later be tested with animals before humans ever dared to ascend into the sky.

For this particular experiment, Labarre intended to use a sheep to demonstrate the capabilities of his early prototype. The concept was relatively simple but extraordinarily bold: the sheep was strapped into a rudimentary harness attached to a wooden contraption designed to soar through the air like a glider. Labarre had arranged for this spectacular event to take place before an eager crowd that included members of the nobility, one of whom was Prince Charles, who had taken a front-row seat to witness what was expected to be a marvellous feat of science.

As the event commenced, the sheep, firmly secured, was launched into the air. However, the invention was far from perfect, and something went horribly wrong. Whether it was due to poor design, miscalculations in weight distribution, or a sheer lack of understanding of aerodynamics, the flying apparatus malfunctioned almost immediately after take-off. Instead of gracefully gliding through the air as intended, the sheep and its device hurtled uncontrollably towards the crowd below.

In a tragic twist of fate, the flying sheep and its broken apparatus crashed directly into Prince Charles. The force of the impact was devastating, and the prince, unable to recover from his injuries, succumbed shortly after. What had begun as an exciting demonstration of the potential for flight ended in disaster, not only dashing the hopes of early aeronautical success but also claiming the life of a young member of the French royal family.

The story of Prince Charles’ untimely death due to a flying sheep has since entered the annals of strange historical accidents, illustrating the dangers inherent in early scientific experimentation. While human beings would eventually conquer the skies with hot air balloons, gliders, and airplanes, the tragic 1612 incident serves as a reminder of the unpredictability of such endeavours in their infancy.