Angelina Jolie: the new royalty?

I don't know about where you all live, but here in LA, more and more tattoo removal parlors are opening up around town. Which might make you think ink is passé, right? Well, not for celebs. In fact, Heather Locklear, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie all emerged from the summer with new ones. Jolie is known to have at least a dozen, including a Tennessee Williams quote, a large tiger, and her latest: the latitude and longitude coordinates of the countries where her adopted children were born.

So what's the celeb fascination with tats? Here's a hypothesis for you: Maybe this is yet more evidence that Hollywood stars are, indeed, our royalty. Why do I say that? Just dig this list of authentic royalty from the 1800s, all of whom went under the needle!

of England started it all in 1862 with a simple cross of Jerusalem but was so fond of it, he went on to add a Japanese dragon on his forearm. This inspired:

his sons, The Duke of Clarence and The Duke of York to get tattoos, as well as:

King Edward VII

King Frederik IX of Denmark

King Alexandar of Yugoslavia

Czar Nicholas of Russia

And my personal fav: Winston Churchill's mum (!) Lady Randolph, who had a snake inked around her wrist, which eventually inspired her famous son to tattoo himself, as well.

There were many others, too, like Prince George of Greece in the late 1890s and Prince Francis of Teck. For a full list of all the royals, as well as our modern-day versions, check out vanishingtattoo.com.