Philip IV

Philip IV inherited an empire where the sun never set, but he would spend most of his reign watching it slowly burn down around him. When he became King of Spain in 1621, his dominions stretched from Peru to the Philippines, yet within decades he had managed to bankrupt the wealthiest nation on earth not once, but multiple times.

The king who controlled more silver than any human in history fell under the spell of a cloistered nun named María de Ágreda, whose mystical visions convinced him to drain Spain's treasury on impossible military campaigns. Sister María claimed to receive direct communications from God about military strategy, and Philip — desperate for divine guidance as his empire crumbled — listened. He poured millions into wars that existed only in her fevered imagination, while real threats like Dutch pirates systematically dismantled Spanish trade routes.

But perhaps most bizarre was Philip's adoption of the standing sleep ritual that swept through European courts in his later years. Convinced by court physicians that royal blood would curdle if allowed to settle horizontally, Philip spent his final decade sleeping upright in specially constructed chairs, even as his empire collapsed from chronic insolvency. His courtiers, terrified of appearing less royal, followed suit, creating a palace where the nobility stumbled through their days in sleep-deprived stupors.

When Philip died in 1665, Spain had fallen from global hegemon to a nation so broke it couldn't afford to defend its own colonies. The king who had started with infinite wealth left behind a treasury so empty that his successor had to borrow money just to pay for the funeral.