These very famous people all died at the dinner table – 24/7 Wall St.

Pablo Picasso, rapper Prodigy and the Fourth President of the United States have something in common: They all died while eating.

There’s an old Catalan proverb that goes “The table kills more people than war” – and there are certainly plenty of famous food-related deaths throughout history. Monarchs seem particularly sensitive: it is said that the English king Henry I of the beginning of the 12th century died of an overabundance of lampreys (a fish resembling an eel); one of his successors, King John, was made by an overabundance of underripe peaches. 18th century Swedish king Adolf Frederick was put down by digestive issues after swallowing a meal of caviar, lobster, herring and sauerkraut, accompanied by champagne and ended with a supposed 14 servings of semla, a cream-filled bread bathed in hot milk.

However, none of those deaths occurred at the table. And the deaths of Picasso, Prodigy, and President James Madison cannot be directly blamed on eating too much food. Neither those of anyone on the list (with one exception). A few of these unfortunate diners choked to death, one was shot and one was undeniably poisoned – but most of them simply died of heart attacks or natural causes while sitting down to eat.

The people on this list were often sitting with family or friends when they left, and assuming they were enjoying their meals, it’s tempting to think that there must be worse ways to go.

Click here to see the 16 famous people who died at the table.