What will happen in 2024, according to Nostradamus

If you want to be remembered centuries after your death, you don’t need to create great art or make significant contributions to science or society.

All you really need to do is write predictions for the future. Isn’t that right, Nostradamus?

Yes, as another year draws to a close, it’s time to consult everyone’s favourite 16th-century seer and find out what lies in store for us over the coming months.

From a war with China to the defenestration of Britain’s newly-crowned king, it’s set to be an action-packed year, apparently.

And sure, old Michel de Nostredame (to use his birth name) foretold that the world would end in 1999, but he still had some cards up his sleeve for 2024, just in case.

War with China

We should start by pointing out that the legendary French astrologer didn’t come up with some sort of precise calendar of upcoming events.

Rather, the “predictions” attributed to him are merely interpretations of verses he wrote in a 1555 book titled ‘Centuries’.

One such verse, which opens with a vision of “combat and naval battle”, states: “The red adversary will become pale with fear / Putting the great Ocean in dread.”

Inevitably, some people have viewed this as a reference to China and a potential confrontation at sea, with others expanding it to suggest that NATO could get involved, including Sky History.

Given that China boasts the biggest navy in the world, let’s hope they’ve read too much into it.

Fingers crossed for more cordial relations with China(Getty Images)

King Charles gets the boot

Our new monarch has only been in the job for a matter of months but his throne is already at risk, or so Nostradamus supposedly suggested.

In his verses, the soothsayer referred to a “King of the Isles”, who he said would have a controversial divorce and would eventually be “driven out by force”.

What’s more, he said this ruler would be usurped by “one who will have no mark of a king”.

In a book published back in 2006, bestselling Nostradamus commentator Mario Reading said this excerpt pointed to King Charles being forced to abdicate because of “persistent attacks on both himself and his second wife”.

He also suggested that Harry – the man who has “no mark of a king” – would take the crown instead of his brother William, the current heir.

It’s interesting that since Reading’s book was published, Harry has renounced his role as a royal. In other words, he now has “no mark of a king” at all.

Harry embraces his dad, then Prince Charles, back in 2018(Getty Images)

Climate catastrophe

Most of us are painfully aware that the world is facing a climate crisis, especially given that 2023 saw a string of devastating natural disasters.

But Nostradamus nuts claim the 16th-century polymath foresaw all of this centuries ago, and warned things were going to get markedly worse.

“The dry earth will grow more parched,” he predicted in one verse, “and there will be great floods”.

He also anticipated the arrival of a “very great famine through [a] pestiferous wave”, which some have taken to mean that a tsunami will hit agriculture resulting in widespread starvation.

Sadly, and terrifyingly, this doesn’t sound beyond the realms of possibility at all.

Food shortages have already hit communities around the world (iStock)

A new Pope

Let’s face it, Pope Francis isn’t getting any younger (he’s 86) and he’s recently suffered a string of health problems so, again, it’s not wild to imagine that the Catholic Church may soon need to seek a new leader.

Indeed, that’s allegedly what Nostradamus suggested, when he wrote: “Through the death of the very old Pontiff / A Roman of good age will be elected.”

But, for anyone thinking that a young, dynamic replacement might not be such a bad thing, the seer added a caveat. He claimed that the new leader would “weaken his see” and be Pope for a long time, according to Sky History.

What exactly he means by “weaken” here is subject to interpretation, of course. Does he mean that Francis's successor will damage the church’s influence? And, if so, how? Will it be the result of poor leadership or of the diminishing power of Christian institutions more generally?

Pope Francis continues to spread the Christian message around the world(Getty Images)

As with all such prophesies, more questions are posed than they are answered.

Our recommendation for 2024? Look ahead, not backwards: we need to carve out our own futures, not rely on someone long-dead to lay them out for us.

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