The most passionate love affairs in history

New Delhi: Love is an undefinable feeling. There has been a famous quote” Never underestimate the amazing power of LOVE , Love can even make possible , what seems to be impossible” and there are some couples in the history, who have made this quote trustworthy. Here we present a list of history's ten most passionate love affairs:1. Shah Jahan and Mumtaz MahalThe story is of the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan and his queen, Mumtaz Mahal. It's a saga of passion and love that continued even after Mumtaz's death. Mumtaz Mahal was married to the teenage Emperor, Shah Jahan. She was his favorite wife and bore him 14 children. Upon her death, Shah Jahan built her a mausoleum of white marble on the banks of river Yamuna in Agra.This mausoleum today is known as Taj Mahal and is regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Taj Mahal is visited every year by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims of love. 2. Napoleon and Josephine Marie-Josephe-Rose de Beauharnais was a 32-year-old Paris socialite and widowed mother of two and Napoleon Bonaparte was a 26-year-old guy in the late 18th century. Napoleon was hoping to marry an older, wealthier woman to boost his social status. Josephine also agreed to marry Napoleon because of her own interest.They married in 1796, and fell deeply in love. In 1804, Napoleon was crowned emperor of France. In 1809 Napoleon divorced Josephine because she was apparently infertile and married Austrian Archduchess Maria-Louise, who did bear him a son. Napoleon subsequently suffered numerous military losses, then was exiled to Elba Island in 1814. Maria-Louise fled back to Austria with their son, and he never saw them again. Josephine, still in love with Napoleon, wanted to join him on Elba, but she died, of a broken heart, according to her doctor, before she got the chance. Napoleon eventually escaped back to Paris, where he picked violets from Josephine's garden and wore them in a locket until he died in 1821.3. Prince Edward and Wallis SimpsonPrince Edward was heir to the British throne in 1931 when he met Wallis Warfield Simpson at a party. Two traveled in the same social circles and slowly their attraction grew but Simpson could never be considered an eligible match for Edward, as she was a married American woman. England's prime minister told Edward that even if Simpson divorced, she could never become queen or even his consort—the term for the spouse or companion of a reigning monarch. Pressure on the couple increased when, in 1936, King George V, Edward's father, died. Souvenirs were quickly created for Edward's coronation, but it never happened beacsue Edward loved Wallis so much that he chose her over the crown, abdicating the throne. His younger brother became King George VI, and Edward was stripped of his title of Duke of Windsor. Simpson did get divorced in 1937, and the two married. They lived the rest of their lives quietly in France . While abdicating, Edward said in a radio broadcast: “I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love”.This shows his love was above everything.4. Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett was a lover of literature, and a couple of her early collections of poetry were so well-regarded that she was considered for the position of England's Poet Laureate. Enter Robert Browning. Browning was also a poet, and began reading Barrett's poems in 1844. Intrigued, he began writing to her in 1845, when she was 39 and he was 33. Soon the two were corresponding regularly, and eventually Browning began to visit. The two fell madly, passionately in love. When the couple decided to marry in 1846, Barrett was terrified of her father's reaction as Barrett's father didn't want any of his children to get married. They married in a secret ceremony and then set up house in Italy. Although Barrett subsequently informed her father of her marriage and begged his forgiveness, he never forgave her or saw her again. Nevertheless, Barrett was incredibly happy with Browning. The two had a son, Robert, and remained devoted to one another until Barrett's death, in her husband's arms, in 1861.5. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor Perhaps the most passionate, yet destructive, love affair in history was the one between actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The pair first got to know one another in 1963, on the set of “Cleopatra.” Taylor was 29 and married to Eddie Fisher, her fourth husband, at the time. The Welsh Burton, 38, had been married to his first wife, Sybil, since 1949. Liz and Dick quickly became inseparable, and by March 7, 1964, had divorced their respective spouses and married one another.The Hollywood power couple worked on 11 movies together, received Oscar nominations and made millions. But both also battled addictions to booze and drugs, so despite their passion and devotion, their marriage was stormy. The couple divorced in 1974, remarried in 1975 and divorced again in 1976.But even divorced, they were never far from each other's minds or hearts, keeping in touch via letter or phone. In 1982, shortly before Burton wed his second post-Liz wife, the two agreed to join forces in Noel Coward's play “Private Lives.” Although the play got terrible reviews, people were dying to see the two together, and it was sold out every night. Burton died from a cerebral hemorrhage.6. Antony and CleopatraCleopatra was queen of Egypt in the 1st century B.C. An ambitious woman, she had an engaging personality that men found intriguing, despite her plain looks. Hence, she was able to become the mistress of Julius Caesar, king of Rome.In 44 B.C., Caesar was assassinated and three men uneasily joined forces to rule Rome: Gaius Octavian, Caesar's grandnephew; Marcus Lepidus, an army general; and Mark Antony, a Roman politician and general. Antony invited Cleopatra to visit in 41 B.C., hoping to forge a strategic alliance with Egypt. It was love at first sight for both, and a romance ensued. But the trio ruling Rome often fought with each other—and with outsiders—so eventually Antony married Octavian's sister to help keep the peace and secure his power.In 36 B.C., Antony returned to Egypt, and he and Cleopatra resumed their romance. The two definitely loved one another, yet they also used each other to their respective political advantage: Cleopatra had money, and Antony had power. So Antony could help Cleopatra fend off any invasion of Egypt by the Romans, while Cleopatra could help finance Antony's armies.But the world didn't like these two political powerhouses joining forces. Octavian stirred up animosity against the couple, partly because Antony decided to divorce Octavian's sister to marry Cleopatra. During Antony's final battle against Octavian and his forces, he was told Cleopatra had committed suicide by getting herself stung by a poisonous snake. Devastated, he killed himself with a sword and the two were buried next to each other. .7. Catherine the Great and Grigory PotemkinCatherine was a smart and ambitious empress and Grigory Potemkin was a soldier. Catherine immediately was smitten by Potemkin. Both of them fell in love with each other and Catherine rewarded Potemkin by having him declared a Russian statesman, count and commander of her armies. Although the two split in 1776 and Catherine had numerous otheraffairs, Potemkin was her true love. When he died, Catherine fell into a deep depression. Although she eventually recovered, historians say she was never quite the same. 8. John Lennon and Yoko OnoYoko Ono was an avant-garde artist and musician with a turbulent past and Lennon was a member of the world-famous musical group. Yoko Ono met Lennon at one of his art shows and later two fell in love, though both of them were married before. They divorced their spouses, and eventually married in 1969. Together, the couple began working to spread a message of world peace, a cause Ono had been pushing for a while. Ono introduced Lennon to experimental layered music too. In 1973, they separated andLennon began an affair with his assistant, May Pang, with Ono's knowledge and blessing. Yet the two called each other daily, sometimes numerous times, and got back together a year later. Not too long after they reunited, they had a son, Sean.Unfortunately, their newfound happiness wasn't to last long. In 1980, Lennon was shot by a deranged fan outside the New York City apartment building where the family lived. He died in Ono's arms. She hasn't remarried.9. Henry VIII and Anne BoleynHenry VIII is famous for many things, one of which is the fact that he had six wives. And even though he had wife No. 2, Anne Boleyn, beheaded, she's said to have been his favorite. Henry had been married to Catherine of Aragon for 16 years when he caught a glimpse of Anne around 1525. Instantly smitten, he begged her to become his mistress. Despite his power, Anne refused. She wanted to be queen or nothing. If he'd marry her, she said, she'd provide him with the male heir he coveted.Seven years later, Anne and Henry were both still holding out. But now Anne worried Henry would eventually look elsewhere, so she had a dalliance with the king and became pregnant. In 1533, he secretly married her but Anne delivered a baby girl, not the promised boy, then had a string of miscarriages, much to Henry's chagrin. The two began to quarrel. Henry had always been attracted to Anne because she was different than most women—assertive, lively and smart. Now these qualities angered him. He fell in love with another woman, Jane Seymour, then manufactured a story about Anne committing adultery so that in 1536, he had grounds to have her head lopped off. Although Henry eventually did fall out of love with Anne, the hold she had had on such a powerful, headstrong man—and for such a long time—is considered incredible.10. Salim and AnarkaliSalim, who late became the Mughal emperor Jehangir, and a courtesan Anarkali fell in love during emperor Akbar's rule. Their affair earned them the wrath of mighty Mughal Emperor. Akbar tried everything that was in his power to dissaud Salim from falling in love with Anarkali. However, his efforts went in vain and Salim declared a war against his father.But the army of the Emperor proved too much for the young king and he was defeated in a battle and captured and was sentenced to death.The prince was saved from death, when Anarkali made the ultimate sacrifice and was entombed alive. There is a slightly different version of Anarkali being secretly externed from the borders of Mughal empire. The sad ending to Salim and Anarkali has made the saga eternal , with Bollywood director K Asif making the magnum opus, Mughal-e-Azam, on celluloid and filming the famous song “Pyar kiya koi chori nahin ki, chhup chhup aahen bharna kya, Pyar kiya to darna kya” (why be afraid of love, we haven't committed a theft) .