Historical inspirations for characters?

[A Highborn Maid]

Daenerys - Mary Queen of Scots. Mary had a birthright to the throne, but things never quite came together thanks to Elizabeth I. Her impracticality and sense of entitlement for monarchy is similar to Dany's.

Margaery Tyrell - Catherine The Great. Both are ruthless, charming and intelligent. Catherine and her cohorts conspired to have her man-child husband Peter III killed so she could seize the throne of Russia for herself, which she did. Similarly, the Tyrell's organized lovely Joffrey's purple wedding.

Brienne of Tarth - Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) Apart from the religious visions and piety, Joan of Arc's courage and nobility reminds me of Brienne's. Even their names are similar.

Qyburn - William Hare/William Burke - these freaks of nature smothered people in their sleep in order to experiment on their anatomy. Reminds me of Qybrun.

Stannis Baratheon - Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) Bloody Mary reminds me of Stannis - humorless, entitled, sterile character who hated her siblings and burnt many, many people to death. She seized the throne by force and her subsequent rule would have been something like Stannis' had he won the Blackwater battle.

King Tommen - Louis XVI of France - Chubby, weak-willed and indulgent. Tommen will end up like the headless French monarch if he's not careful.

Lysa Arryn - Maria ! of Portugal & Brazil. Also known as Maria the mad...both these ladies suffered from bona-fide mental illness. Maria withdrew from court and went mad. Visitors would complain of terrible screams that would echo throughout the palace.

Tywin Lannister - Leopold II of Belgium. Evil. Evil. Evil. Never say die imperialism at its worst.

Joffrey Baratheon - Caligula. As Emperor of Rome, Caligula made it illegal for anyone to look him in the face, an offence that was punishable by being thrown into a lions’ den. Psychopath in the extreme.

Cersei Lannister - Anna of Russia. Anna loved humiliating others and she was known to ridicule her underlings by making them marry one another while dressed as clowns. She was a bizarre freak of nature who made people do weird things.

[thehandwipes]

I only came here because I assumed you were starting another troll thread. I feel ripped off.

[Rawhead]

Stannis is(according to GRRM) an amalgamation of Henry VII of England, Emperor Tiberius, and Louis XI of France.

His story is, in my opinion, most similar to Henry VII's though: known as "son of prophesy", he failed in a naval invasion to take the English throne, spent years after his defeat assembling a ragtag band of mercenaries, Welshmen, and French, succeeded in taking the throne in his second attempt, ended the War of the Roses, married his 2nd cousin to reunite the Kingdom of England, and finally began rebuilding an economically devastated England/changed the crown laws to effectively neuter the power of his vassals so a War of the Roses situation wouldn't happen again.