Expanding a bit on this thread from two years ago:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/most-mentally-unstable-leader-monarch.384463/
I feel like Kings and Emperors and other absolute rulers affected by severe issues in mental health could make for some very interesting PODs as their unpredictability could lead them to take actions going against the mainstream of their era, dragging their country along in the process. Of course that’s quite a broad term that covers a spectrum ranging from Mildly Mercurial to Consistently Erratic, along with Straight Down Psychotic and Defensively Paranoid.
Another related yet distinct category of rulers that I would also like to consider are the highly suggestible ones, the kind of rulers that would take highly unlikely decisions based on the whimsical or strategic thinking of another person (priest, mistress, relative etc…) , a person who would have an exclusive relationship of influence to the ruler and thus could pretty much dictate the laws and actions applied to the country.
So, considering either aspect, who do you think could fit in there?
Now it’s not necessarily fair to pin the responsibility for unpredictable decision making solely on the rulers themselves as they were sometimes put in a very challenging context of contradictory requests, conflicting influences and unsolvable problems… so I guess a corollary question would be: what were the most challenging situations that rulers have found themselves in, the kind that could drive any perfectly balanced person mad in the long run?