Russell Crowe claims to be descendent of last man to be beheaded in England
Hollywood icon Russell Crowe, best known for his leading performances in Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, has claimed that he is a descendant of the last man to be executed by beheading in England – a man said to have lived with “devious intrigue.”
Crowe revealed to his followers on X that he’d looked into his ancestral history and discovered he is directly related to Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, who died by beheading in 1747 at the Tower of London.
Fraser had been executed for high treason, and the event saw King George II provide additional stands for the public to bear witness. However, one of the stands collapsed and led to the death of nine people.
Reportedly, Fraser began laughing at this incident while the axe fell to his head, which bore the phrase “laughing my head off.”
“I’ve been on the hunt to track down my Italian forebears for quite some time. Folkloric family tales and misspelling had seen me travel on a number of wrong tracks,” Crowe, who was recently confirmed to star in James Vanderbilt’s new drama Nuremberg, wrote on the social media platform.
“On my father’s mother’s side, via John (Jock) Fraser (arrived in NZ in 1841) we directly connect back to Simon Fraser. 11th Lord Lovat. Look him up. He’s quite the character. The Old Fox they used to call him,” he added. “Seems his Machiavellian ways caught up to him at the age of 80, and he has a claim to infamy as the last man to have the head chopped off his living body in the Tower of London.”
The actor continued, “His death even coined a phrase. Apparently, they set up temporary stands for the gentry to watch him die. One of these stands collapsed which resulted in the death of nine onlookers. Being told this just before he was put to death made him laugh. He was still laughing when the blade struck his neck, thereby ‘laughing his head off’. Fascinating.”
See Crowe’s post below.
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