Long before modern politicians posted photos "healing" the masses, French and English monarchs performed the ultimate PR stunt: the "Royal Touch."

Starting in the 11th century with kings like England's Edward the Confessor, monarchs claimed a divine right to cure the sick by simply laying hands on them. Their main target? Scrofula, affectionately called the "King's Evil." This was a grim form of tuberculosis causing swollen lymph nodes in the neck.

Why did the kings look like such successful healers? Scrofula naturally went into remission most of the time. The king touched you, the swelling eventually subsided, and voilà—a miracle!

Louis XVI, the king that lost his head during the French Revolution, actually touched around 2,400 people when he was crowned, as it was standard coronation protocol! Sadly, his magic hands couldn't cure political unrest, and the guillotine sharply ended his healing career. The practice largely died there, though Charles X awkwardly tried to revive it in 1825.