Claudius's will was never read in public, and Nero poisoned Claudius's son Britannicus four months after taking the throne

The emperor Claudius had a son, Britannicus, born on the 22nd day of his reign. He later married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero. Suetonius says that late in life Claudius regretted the marriage and the adoption. He embraced Britannicus and said he would give him the toga of manhood so that the Roman people might at last have "a genuine Caesar." He made his will and had it sealed by all the magistrates. Then he died. Tacitus says the poisoner Locusta prepared the dose, the taster Halotus served it on a mushroom, and when it was slow the doctor Xenophon finished it with a poisoned feather. The death was concealed. Agrippina kept Britannicus close inside the palace. At midday on 13 October AD 54 Nero came out and the praetorian guard hailed him. Some soldiers asked where Britannicus was. Tacitus says the will was not read, so that the preference of the stepson over the son would not upset the people. At the Saturnalia, Britannicus, almost 14, sang a song about being driven from his father's house and throne. Nero had Locusta make a poison. The first dose failed. The second was put in cold water added to a drink already tasted, and Britannicus died at the table. Nero called it an epileptic fit. The boy was cremated that night and his ashes buried in the Field of Mars in heavy rain. Neither historian says what became of the will.