1. Samantha Smith

   

   Known as “America’s Youngest Ambassador” during her lifetime. This schoolgirl became famous at age 10 for writing a letter to the Soviet leader Yuri Andropov during the Cold War and subsequently receiving a reply including an invitation to visit the Soviet Union. She died in an airplane crash in 1985 at only 13 years of age.

2. Alexei Romanov

   

   The only son and heir of Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra of Hesse, officially known by the title “Grand Duke and Tsarevich of Russia.” He, along with his parents and sisters, was executed on July 17, 1918, a month shy of his 14th birthday, by the Bolshevik secret police.

3. Edward VI

   

   King of England (1547-1553), the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England’s first Protestant ruler. Though sickly, this son of King Henry VIII by his wife, Jane Seymour was a very bright child who was able to fluently speak Latin, French and Greek by age 13. The cause of his death at the age of 15 is indefinite but is thought to be due to tuberculosis or arsenic poisoning.

4. Mattie Stepanek

   

   An American poet, who wrote five books that included “Heartsongs,” and “Journey Through Heartsongs,” three of which made the New York Time’s Best Seller list. He began writing at age 3 to cope with the loss of his older brother, who suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy. He would eventually die at age 13 from the same disease that also took his sister and one other brother.

5. Anne Frank

   

   German-born Jewish girl, best known of her diary that chronicled her experiences while hiding with her family in Amsterdam during the German occupation in World War II and her confinement in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, providing a very intimate examination of daily life under Nazi era. She died of typhus at age 15 in the aforementioned camp in 1945.

6. Ritchie Valens

   

   A pioneer of rock and roll. This very first Mexican-American rock and roll star’s hits included “Come On, Let’s Go,” “Framed” and “La Bamba.” His death in a plane crash at age 17 on February 3, 1959 inspired singer Don McLean’s 1971 hit “American Pie” that immortalized February 3 as “The Day the Music Died.”

7. Tutankhamun

   

   The best known of all Egyptian pharaohs, since his image and associated artifacts are among the world’s most exhibited. The discovery of this 18 or 19-year-old ruler’s well-preserved tomb in 1922 by British archeologist Howard Carter (employed by Lord Carnarvon) in the Valley of the Kings launched an era of modern Egyptology.

8. Ryan White

   

   An HIV-infected boy, who drew national and worldwide attention because he was a heterosexual white middle class boy as opposed to homosexual men and intravenous drug users who are normally associated with the disease. He died in 1990 at age 18 after being infected with HIV from a blood product that was part of his treatment for hemophilia.

9. Joan of Arc

   

   The national heroine of France and a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. She led the French army in an astounding series of victories that reversed the tide of the Hundred Year’s War after years of humiliating defeat against the English. She was burnt at the stake at age 19 in 1431 for heresy but was declared innocent in 1456.

10. Jane Grey

    

    Henry VII’s devout Protestant great granddaughter who succeeded Edward VI as Queen of England in 1553. She would rule England for only nine days before being put to trial for treason that led to her execution in 1554 at age 17 or 18 by her cousin Queen Mary, and thus became known as “Nine Days’ Queen.”

Click on the following for more interesting history articles:

• 10 Bizarre Deaths in History
• 10 (More) Bizarre Deaths in History
• 10 (Ultimate) Bizarre Deaths in History
• Unusual Wills and Testaments
• Premature Obituaries 1
• Premature Obituaries 2
• Birthday Deaths
• Historical People with Amusing Nicknames