Britannicus

Born 12 February AD 41 to Claudius and Valeria Messalina, Britannicus was in line to inherit the throne until his mother's scandal in 48, when her secret bigamous marriage came to light. The following year Claudius married Agrippina the Younger, who brought her own son into the family: Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, renamed Nero and adopted as heir. Britannicus was shunted aside, his sister Octavia married off to his stepbrother. When Claudius died in October 54, Nero took power. Three months later, on 11 February 55 - one day before his fourteenth birthday - Britannicus died suddenly at dinner. Every surviving account names poison, ordered by Nero, who saw Claudius' biological son as a living threat. Suetonius adds a motive both petty and strange: Nero couldn't bear that the boy sang better than he did.