Christopher Hitchens

[Preety_India]

Famous monarchs, kings and queens. 

William I (‘William the Conqueror’), r1066–87

William I conquered England. This brave, brutal, illiterate but clever Norman warlord attained at the battle of Hastings (14 October 1066) the most durable victory of any monarch in English history. At the head of 5,000 knights, he made himself master of a kingdom with perhaps 1.5 million inhabitants. The English ruling class was wiped out, its lands taken over by the invaders, and French replaced English as the language of government.

William the Conqueror, as he became known, was able to pass on the throne to his sons and his more remote descendants, who hold it to this day. Yet his origins were not as grand as his later achievements might lead one to suppose. He was the bastard son of Duke Robert of Normandy, also called ‘Robert the Devil’, and of Herleve (also known as Arlette), whose father, Fulbert, was a tanner: a trade deemed disgusting and carried out by despised people.

When William was just eight years old his father died and Normandy descended into anarchy. But the boy grew into a formidable warrior who first regained control of Normandy and then mounted a successful invasion of England. And he knew how to hold onto what he had taken: Norman castles, many of which survive to this day, were erected at all the most strategic points in his new kingdom. Arguably, no king of England has ever possessed a more unwavering ability to enforce his own will.

 

 

Richard I (‘Richard the Lionheart’), r1189–99

Richard I was the most famous knight-errant of his age – perhaps of any age. He sought adventures in which he could prove his military skill, chivalric virtues and generosity. Indeed, Richard was called Coeur de Lion, or ‘Lionheart’, in recognition of his dauntless valour, and he looked the part: more than six feet tall, immensely strong, with blue eyes and reddish-gold hair. He spent only 10 months of his 10-year reign in England, where he complained about the weather, but he became one of the great English heroes.

 

The Third Crusade (1189–92), the aim of which was to retake Jerusalem, presented Richard with an impeccably religious motive for glory, fighting and pillage. His only use for England was to raise money for this venture. In July 1191 he captured the port of Acre, after which he had 2,700 Muslim prisoners – men, women and children – put to death. As Scottish philosopher, historian and economist David Hume later put it, Richard “was guilty of acts of ferocity, which threw a stain on his celebrated victories”.

Richard fell out with his fellow crusaders, and although he got within 12 miles of Jerusalem, was not strong enough to recapture the city. Upon his return through mainland Europe he was himself captured, and a ransom of 34 tonnes of silver had to be paid for his release. From 1194–99, he campaigned with success in Normandy and Aquitaine, only to die on 6 April 1199 from gangrene contracted after being hit by a crossbow bolt while besieging a minor fort.

 

Edward I, r1272–1307

Edward I became known as the Hammer of the Scots, but he actually conquered the Welsh. Before ascending the throne of England, he crushed the rebellion led by Simon de Montfort against his father, Henry III.

Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, refused to do homage to Edward, and believed he could always take refuge from the English in the mountains of Snowdonia. But Edward rendered those mountains uninhabitable by building a chain of castles along the coast of north Wales, which prevented supplies of grain getting through from Anglesey. Llewelyn saw his cause was hopeless, and perished in battle. Edward made his son Prince of Wales – a title still borne by the heir to the throne.

While Edward was campaigning in Wales, one of his mounted knights was hit by an arrow fired from a longbow. This pierced the thick hauberk (or chain mail) protecting the knight’s thigh, drove through the upper leg – including the bone – penetrated the hauberk inside the thigh, forced its way through the wooden saddle and went deep into the horse. The English had never come across this fearsome weapon – one that was to make their armies almost invincible

c1264, Edward I (1239-1307), known as ‘Hammer of the Scots’. 

 

Henry V, r1413–22

By defeating the French at the battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415, Henry V united the English. He was the last great warrior-king of the Middle Ages, and Shakespeare drew an immortal picture of him as a leader who on the way to victory at Agincourt inspired his followers not just by his courage, but by mingling with them in the dark hours before the battle. Here is English patriotism in its most cheerful form: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”

In 1420, Henry achieved the still more astonishing feat of combining the English and French crowns. He married the daughter of the French king, but his luck had run out, and soon afterwards he died of an illness, probably dysentery, contracted while besieging the town of Meaux.

Historians tend to draw Henry as a less sympathetic figure, who looked and behaved more like a monk than a happy-go-lucky first among equals.

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

 

Henry VII, r1485–1509

Henry VII won his crown at the battle of Bosworth (22 August 1485), but ruled with the efficiency of an accountant rather than the panache of a warlord. He was born in Wales and imposed peace on England by establishing a strong new dynasty, the Tudors. When he died, he left to his son, Henry VIII, a united country, a submissive nobility, and a vast amount of money

Henry’s most disagreeable characteristic was his avarice: he was good at forcing even his grandest subjects to pay tax. By this means he brought to an end the Wars of the Roses, the 32-year struggle between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists in which much of the nobility had perished.

Efficiency in collecting taxes is a somewhat uncharming characteristic, and by the end of his reign Henry was deeply unpopular. The current chancellor, George Osborne, has, however, named him as his favourite king of England. 

Henry VIII, 1509–47.. The most notorious. 

No English monarch has treated those close to him with such ruthlessness as Henry VIII. The older he got, the more he behaved like a petulant, self-obsessed teenager with a loaded revolver. But although he degenerated from a Renaissance prince into a tyrant, casting off wives and servants with merciless finality, he did make England independent.

By breaking with Rome in 1534 when the pope refused to annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, Henry created the sovereign English nation, living under its own laws and guarded by its own ships. Parliament became his junior partner in this venture, and in the dissolution of the monasteries. 

The difficulty Henry’s wives had in providing him with the longed-for male heir helps to explain why Henry got rid of them. Catherine of Aragon gave birth to a girl, Mary. She was replaced by the much younger and prettier Anne Boleyn, who likewise gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth, before Henry wearied of her and had her beheaded on trumped-up charges.

Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, had a son, Edward, but died two weeks later. Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, was considered so unattractive that Henry was unable to consummate the marriage. The fifth, Catherine Howard, was young and ‘sexy’, but took lovers, so was executed. The last of Henry’s wives, Katherine Parr, was an amiable widow from the Lake District who looked after him in his declining years.

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

 

Elizabeth I, r1558–1603

Elizabeth I’s reign developed into a love affair with her people, and with every eligible man, conducted in many different moods: teasing, flirtatious, romantic, haughty, procrastinating. In 1588 it reached its ecstatic climax when together they defied the Armada sent by Philip of Spain to subdue them.

France descended at this time into the horrors of religious civil war. England did not, because Elizabeth steered a successful course between Roman Catholicism and puritanism. She promoted the Church of England as a compromise between religious extremes, and she was herself tolerant of private differences of belief. For 20 years she resisted entreaties to have her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, put to death: only Mary’s flagrant plotting to seize the throne with a foreign, Catholic force rendered her execution unavoidable.

Elizabeth had amorous friendships, but never married. She employed outstanding ministers, but never allowed herself to be dominated. In her speech in 1588 to her army at Tilbury she showed she understood how to rally the nation against the threat of invasion, and turn weakness into strength: “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.” She is, in my view, England’s greatest monarch. 

 

Charles II, r1660–85

Charles II is, in my view, the wittiest monarch in English history. He was courageous, tolerant, lazy, duplicitous and pleasure-loving: his return from exile in 1660 inaugurated the most conspicuous change in manners – from extreme puritanism to unbridled licentiousness – this country has seen. But he conducted the restoration of the Stuart dynasty with such tact, and rode every later crisis with such skill, that he was never in serious danger of being unseated.

His father, Charles I, was executed after refusing to reach a compromise with his opponents. The same fault led to the downfall of Charles II’s successor – his younger brother, James II and VII, who was in 1688 chased out of England for attempting to impose his personal, Roman Catholic, preferences.

James on one occasion warned Charles II not to go for a walk without guards, to which Charles replied, with characteristic humour: “You may depend upon it that nobody will ever think of killing me to make you king.”

 

William III and II, r1689–1702

William III is one of the greatest kings of England and yet one of the least remembered. No one could have been more skilful at deposing James II, or at negotiating the terms for a monarchy more acceptable to parliament. But even in his lifetime, this bold, cold, asthmatic Dutchman was not popular. Only by Loyalists in Northern Ireland is King Billy remembered as a hero; the victor of the battle of the Boyne (fought in 1690 between the Catholic James II and the Protestant William III who, with his wife, Mary II, had overthrown James in England in 1688).

William had timed to perfection his arrival in England in 1688, landing in Devon with a printing press as well as an army. His grasp of the need to present himself as a reasonable king for a reasonable people was as strong as James II’s was defective. But for him, the Glorious Revolution, as the constitutional settlement reached in 1688–89 came to be known, might not have been very glorious at all.

 

Victoria, r1837–1901

 

Queen Victoria reigned for longer than any of her predecessors. She rescued the monarchy from the contempt in which it was held for several decades before 1837, and became the grand unifying figure, at once majestic and domestic, in a Britain that dominated the globe.

Here was an empress who had a startling affinity with the middle class: the class to which even the aristocracy felt it must now defer. Her views about politics, and especially about foreign affairs, were so strong, and expressed with such partisan sincerity, that it was impossible to kick her upstairs, to the less exciting region above politics that her successors came to occupy.

Her personality was of “irresistible potency”, as her greatest biographer, Lytton Strachey, put it. But though Victoria was passionate, she possessed also a devout desire for self-improvement, fully shared by her husband, Prince Albert, who was from Coburg. His early death on 14 December 1861 led her to retire for many years from public life.

Benjamin Disraeli, the most theatrical of Victoria’s prime ministers, lured her out of this mournful seclusion in 1868. Victoria proceeded to rout incipient republicanism by establishing an emotional link with her subjects that no anti-monarchist could rival.

 

George V, r1910–36

During the reign of George V, an alarming number of royal families, including the Romanovs, the Hohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs, were overthrown. George helped to avert that fate by welcoming the Labour party into power.

In January 1924 the first, short-lived Labour government was formed. Its members proved as anxious to demonstrate respectability as George was to confer it. He wondered what his grandmother, Queen Victoria, would have thought, but was himself favourably impressed: “I must say they all seem to be very intelligent and they take things very seriously. They have different ideas to ours as they are all socialists, but they ought to be given a chance and ought to be treated fairly.”Here was the king as the upholder of the national idea of fair play. Like a cricket umpire, he could be depended upon to remain impartial. He also became, through his Christmas broadcasts, extremely popular.

George V set a pattern of conscientious monarchy that his eldest son, Edward VIII, felt unable to uphold – hence the abdication of 1936. But George’s second son, who at the end of that year became George VI, was just as determined to be a dutiful monarch.

So too was George VI’s elder daughter, who upon his death in 1952 became Elizabeth II. She had learned from her father and grandfather how a constitutional monarch should behave, which is one reason why even leftwing Labour politicians show no real desire to overthrow her.

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

 

List of Royal Ghosts

Anne Boleyn

King Henry VIII’s second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, was beheaded by sword in the Tower of London on May 19, 1536 after she was accused by her husband of adultery and incest with her brother. Perhaps innocent of her crimes, Anne’s restless spirit has been rumored to roam by the Queen’s House, near where she was executed. She has also been spotted at the head of a procession of Casper-like lords and ladies at the Chapel Royal of St. Peter and Vincula. She is buried beneath the Chapel’s altar. Her headless body has also been spotted gliding across the corridors of the Tower. And according to HistoricUK.com, on the anniversary of her death, Anne has made an appearance at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, where she may have been born. Read more about famous ghost stories with logical explanations.

 

Queen Elizabeth I

Anne Boleyn’s daughter never married and ruled Britain for 44 years and has never really left. The Virgin Queen has been spotted in Windsor Castle floating from the royal library to an inner room. Other members of the royal family have said to have interacted with this most famous monarch’s spirit. Both King George III and King Edward VII, said they saw a woman dressed in a black gown who may have been the Queen. In fact, King George III supposedly spoke to the most royal of ghosts where she told him she was “married to England.” But King George vi, father to Queen Elizabeth II, has them both beat as he has claimed to have seen the Tudor Queen eight nights in a row upon the onset of WWII. Most recently, Steve Wesson, in an investigation with UK Ghost Hunts, visited Strelley Hall, in Strelley, Nottinghamshire and claimed to have captured Queen Elizabeth I hovering in a cellar archway on film. Supposedly she’d slept in Strelley Hall at one time. 

Catherine Howard

Not be outdone by her executed predecessor and second cousin, Anne Boleyn, Queen Catherine was only a teen when she became King Henry VIII’s wife and only a mere 19 years old when she was killed for the same reason as Anne: Adultery. Although she may have been cheating on her very much older and sickly sugar daddy of a King, and affairs are no stranger to the modern royals as well, it was considered treason. Young Catherine begged to speak with Henry VIII after escaping her apartment in Hampton Court where she’d been imprisoned, only to be dragged back by the guards. She never did get to plead her case to her husband. Perhaps that is why she has been spotted running down the “Haunted Hallway” screaming and crying.

Prince Edward V and Prince Richard, Duke of York

These two young boys were taken to the Tower of London in 1483 because King Richard III did not want his nephews to usurp him as king. Only 12 and 9 years old when they were locked away, no one really knows what became of them, although some believe they were likely killed. Their apparitions can be spotted staring from the windows of the ghostly tower. According to Haunted Places in the World, “the princes have been spotted in the Bloody Tower wearing white nightgowns and holding hands. They never make a sound and can only be seen for a few fleeting moments before they fade into the stonework.” Read on for chilling real ghost stories that will make a believer out of you.

King Edward VII’s Secretary

The royal family is no stranger to stories of scandal (even Queen Elizabeth has her share), you need a thick skin to survive—or not. Although it may not seem like a big deal, back during King Edward VII’s reign from 1901 to 1910, his private secretary, Major John Gwynne, caused quite a stir when he divorced his wife. Conscious uncoupling may be a thing today but back in the 1900s divorce was a big no-no. Major Gwynne couldn’t handle the scrutiny and rumors. After being shunned by his upper-crust peers the pressure got to him and he took a bullet to his own head in the first-floor office of Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s official workplace staffers have reported a strange aura in that room and supposedly a single gunshot has been heard coming from that room.

Dame Sybil Penn

As nurse and servant to Prince Edward and Queen Elizabeth I, it is likely that Dame Sybil Penn would have been exposed to lots of germs in Britain. In 1562, she succumbed to smallpox and died, but as a faithful servant and caregiver, she continues to visit the Victorian family at Hampton Court Palace—although according to palace officials she didn’t start appearing until the 1800s when Hampton church, where she was buried, was taken down. Since then, she is said to frequently appear among the various rooms within the 16th-century palace. Onthetudortrail.com notes that “after Sybil’s resting place was disturbed, people began hearing the sound of a spinning wheel from behind a wall of the southwest wing of the palace. Upon further investigation, an old chamber was discovered and inside lay an antique spinning wheel.”

Queen Victoria

King Edward VIII let his brother take the crown instead of him—for love. Quite the scandal in 1936, his romance with the still married Wallis Simpson from the United States was the reality TV of its time. Ms. Simpson had grand ideas for Windsor Castle and attempted to remove spruce trees planted by her lover’s great-grandparents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. As the story goes, the trees were never removed as the workers were scared away by the clearly unhappy spirit of Queen Victoria waving her arms and moaning loudly. Read on to learn more about the most haunted hotels in America.

Saint Henry Walpole

Anmer Hall in Norfolk is part of the Queen’s Sandringham estate and was a gift to her grandchildren, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Besides a complete overhaul to bring the house back to its Georgian-era roots, Kate and William were also given its ghostly occupant,  Saint Henry Walpole. The Walpole family originally owned the estate, but Henry’s life did not end well. He was tortured at the Tower of London for his Catholic conversion and finally hung in 1595. His spirit is said to haunt the grounds of his old home. According to Express.co.uk, the royal couple didn’t have an issue with sharing their home with a ghost and instead said, “No old home would be complete without its ghost.”

King Henry VIII

Said to be Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite place to live, Windsor Castle must also be the favorite of King Henry VIII as he hasn’t seemed to have left even though he died hundreds of years ago. Many witnesses have spied his spirit wandering amidst the rooms of the castle looking despondent and agitated, specifically, “a large man pacing furiously and shouting loudly.” Since he beheaded two of his wives and had many others executed on his orders, this may be one majestic spirit to avoid.

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

The worst Monarchs 

King John (1199–1216)

The reign of King John is a salutary reminder that murder and treachery may possibly be forgiven in a monarch, but not incompetence.

John was the youngest and favourite son of Henry II, but he had not been entrusted with any lands and was mockingly nicknamed John Lackland. He tried unsuccessfully to seize power while his brother Richard I was away on crusade and was sent into exile upon Richard’s return.

On his accession John had his own nephew Arthur murdered, fearing Arthur might pursue his own, much better, claim to the throne, and he embarked on a disastrous war with King Philippe-Auguste of France in which he lost the whole of Normandy. This singular act of incompetence deprived the barons of an important part of their power base, and he alienated them further with arbitrary demands for money and even by forcing himself on their wives.

Was King John murdered? 

In exasperation they forced him to accept Magna Carta; no sooner had he sealed it, however, than he then went back on his word and plunged the country into a maelstrom of war and French invasion. Some tyrants have been rehabilitated by history – but not John.

King Richard II (1377–99)

Unlike Richard III, Richard II has good reason to feel grateful towards Shakespeare, who portrayed this startlingly incompetent monarch as a tragic figure; a victim of circumstances and of others’ machinations rather than the vain, self-regarding author of his own downfall he actually was.

Learning nothing from the disastrous precedent of Edward II, Richard II alienated the nobility by gathering a bunch of cronies around him and then ended up in confrontation with parliament over his demands for money.

His reign descended into a game of political manoeuvre between himself and his much more able and impressive uncle, John of Gaunt, before degenerating into a gory grudge match between Richard and the five Lords Appellant, whom he either had killed or forced into exile.

Richard might have redeemed himself by prowess in war or administration, but he possessed neither. Henry Bolingbroke’s coup of 1399, illegal though it no doubt was, brought to an end Richard’s disastrous reign. Richard II has his defenders nowadays, who will doubtless take issue with his inclusion in this list, but there really is very little to say for him as a ruler.

Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–67)

We are so familiar with the drama and tragedy of Mary’s reign that it is easy to overlook the blindingly obvious point that she was absolutely useless as queen of Scotland. Admittedly, ruling 16th-century Scotland was no easy task, and it was made harder still for Mary by the stern Presbyterian leader, John Knox, and her violent, boorish husband, Lord Darnley.

Nevertheless, Mary showed none of her cousin Elizabeth’s political skill in defusing religious or factional conflict, and she headed into pointless confrontation with Knox and the Presbyterians. At a time when female rule was generally regarded with suspicion in any case, she played up to the stereotype by appearing to live in a cosy world of favourites – including her unfortunate Italian guitar teacher, David Rizzio.

Mary’s suspected involvement in the spectacular murder of Darnley on 10 February 1567 was a political mistake of the first order; her marriage three months later to the main suspect, the Earl of Bothwell, was an act of breathtaking stupidity. It is hardly surprising that the Scots overthrew Mary and locked her up.

Having escaped, she was mad to throw away her advantage by going to England, where she could only be regarded as a threat, instead of to France, where she would have been welcomed with open arms.

 

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Royal bloodlines and trees. 

 

The House of Windsor 

 

 

 

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Houses of Royals

House of Wessex

House of Denmark

House of Wessex (restored, first time)

House of Denmark (restored)

House of Wessex (restored, second time)

House of Godwin

 

House of Normandy

 

House of Blois

House of Anjou

House of Plantagenet

House of Tudor

House of Stuart

House of Stuart (restored)

 

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Kings of England

Dates Ruler House

757-796 Offa House of Mercia

802-839 Egbert House of Wessex

839-856 Aethelwulf House of Wessex

856-860 Aethelbald House of Wessex

860-866 Aethelbert House of Wessex

866-871 Aethelred I House of Wessex

871-899 Alfred the Great House of Wessex

899-924 Edward the Elder House of Wessex

924-939 Athelstan House of Wessex

939-946 Edmund House of Wessex

946-955 Edred House of Wessex

955-959 Edwy House of Wessex

959-975 Edgar House of Wessex

975-978 Edward the Martyr House of Wessex

978-1016 Aethelred II the Unready House of Wessex

1016 Edmund lronside House of Wessex

1016-1035 Cnut (Canute) House of Denmark

1035-1040 Harold I Harefoot House of Denmark

1040-1042 Harthacanut House of Denmark

1042-1066 Edward the Confessor House of Wessex

1066 Harold II House of Wessex

1066-1087 William I House of Normandy

1087-1100 William II House of Normandy

1100-1135 Henry I House of Normandy

1135-1154 Stephen House of Blois

1154-1189 Henry II House of Angevin

1189-1199 Richard I House of Angevin

1199-1216 John House of Angevin

1216-1272 Henry III House of Plantagenet

Kings and Rulers of Wales

Dates Ruler House

825-844 Merfyn Frych (Merfyn the Freckled) Lord of Gwynedd

844-878 Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great) Lord of Gwynedd

878-916 Anarawd ap Rhodri Lord of Gwynedd

916-942 Idwal Foel (Idwahl the bald) Lord of Ceredigion

942-950 Hywel Dda ap Cadell (Hywel the Good) Lord of Ceredigion

950-974 Iago ab Idwal Lord of Ceredigion

974-985 Hywel ab Ieuaf (Hywel the bad) Lord of Gwynedd

985-986 Cadwallon ab Ieuaf Lord of Gwynedd

999-1005 Maredudd ap Owain Lord of Gwynedd & Dehuebarth

1005-1018 Aeddan ap Blegywryd Lord of Gwynedd & Dehuebarth

1018-1023 Llywelyn ap Seisyll Lord of Gwynedd & Dehuebarth

1039-1063 Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Lord of Gwynedd

1081-1137 Gruffydd ap Cynan Lord of Gwynedd

1135-1137 Gruffydd ap Rhys Lord of Gwynedd

1137-1170 Owain Gwynedd ap Gruffydd Lord of Gwynedd

1170-1194 Dafydd and Rhodri ap Owain Lord of Gwynedd

1194-1240 Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) Lord of Gwynedd

1240-1246 Dafydd ap Llywelyn Lord of Gwynedd

1246-1282 Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (Llywelyn the Last) Lord of Gwynedd

Kings and Queens of Scotland

Dates Ruler House

843-858 Kenneth MacAlpin House of Alpin

858-862 Donald I House of Alpin

862-877 Constantine I House of Alpin

877-878 Aedh House of Alpin

878-889 Eochaid House of Alpin

889-900 Donald II House of Alpin

900-943 Constantine II House of Alpin

943-954 Malcolm I House of Alpin

954-962 Indulf House of Alpin

962-966 Dubh House of Alpin

966-971 Culen House of Alpin

971-995 Kenneth II House of Alpin

995-997 Constantine III House of Alpin

997-1005 Kenneth III House of Alpin

1005-1034 Malcolm II House of Alpin

1034-1040 Duncan I House of Dunkeld

1040-1057 Macbeth House of Dunkeld

1057-1058 Lulach (The Fool) House of Dunkeld

1058-1093 Malcolm III Canmore House of Canmore

1093-1094 Donald III (Donald Bane) House of Canmore

1094 Duncan II House of Canmore

1094-1097 Donald III (Donald Bane) House of Canmore

1097-1107 Edgar House of Canmore

1107-1124 Alexander I House of Canmore

1124-1153 David I House of Canmore

1153-1165 Malcolm IV House of Canmore

1165-1214 William I House of Canmore

1214-1249 Alexander II House of Canmore

1249-1286 Alexander III House of Canmore

1286-1290 Margaret ('Maid of Norway') House of Canmore

1290-1292 Interregnum  

1292-1296 John Balliol House of Balliol

1296-1306 Interregnum  

1306-1329 Robert I (The Bruce) House of Bruce

1329-1371 David II House of Bruce

Aug-Dec 1332 Edward Balliol (also for periods 1333-1346) House of Balliol

1371-1390 Robert II House of Stewart

1390-1406 Robert III House of Stewart

1406-1437 James I House of Stewart

1437-1460 James II House of Stewart

1460-1488 James III House of Stewart

1488-1513 James IV House of Stewart

1513-1542 James V House of Stewart

1542-1567 Mary, Oueen of Scots House of Stewart

1567-1625 James VI (James I of England 1603-1625) House of Stuart

Kings & Queens of England and Wales

Dates Ruler House

1272-1307 Edward I House of Plantagenet

1307-1327 Edward II House of Plantagenet

1327-1377 Edward III House of Plantagenet

1377-1399 Richard II House of Plantagenet

1399-1413 Henry IV House of Lancaster

1413-1422 Henry V House of Lancaster

1422-1461 Henry VI House of Lancaster

1461-1483 Edward IV House of York

1483 Edward V House of York

1483-1485 Richard III House of York

1485-1509 Henry VII House of Tudor

Kings & Queens of England, Wales and Ireland

Dates Ruler House

1509-1547 Henry VIII House of Tudor

1547-1553 Edward VI House of Tudor

1553-1558 Mary I House of Tudor

1558-1603 Elizabeth I House of Tudor

Kings & Queens of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland

Dates Ruler House

1603-1625 James I (King of Scotland as James VI 1567-1625) House of Stuart

1625-1649 Charles I House of Stuart

1649-1653 Commonwealth Commonwealth

1653-1658 Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector) Commonwealth

1658-1659 Richard Cromwell (Lord Protector) Commonwealth

1660-1685 Charles II House of Stuart

1685-1688 James II House of Stuart

1689-1694 William III of Orange and Mary II (jointly) House of Orange

1694-1702 William III (alone) House of Orange

Monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland

Dates Ruler House

1702-1714 Anne House of Stuart

1714-1727 George I House of Hanover

1727-1760 George II House of Hanover

1760-1820 George III (Elector, 1760-1815, and King,1815-20, of Hanover) House of Hanover

1820-1830 George IV House of Hanover

1830-1837 William IV (King of Hanover 1830-7) House of Hanover

1837-1901 Victoria (Empress of India 1876-1901) House of Hanover

1901-1910 Edward VII House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

1910-1936 George V House of Windsor

1936 Edward VIII House of Windsor

1936-1952 George VI House of Windsor

1952- Elizabeth II (Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Head of the Commonwealth of Nations) House of Windsor

 

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Rhyme to remember Kings & Queens of England since William I (the Conqueror)

 

British Kings & Queens

Willie, Willie, Harry, Steve

Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three.

Edward One, Two, Three, Dick Two

Henry Four, Five, Six then who?

Edward Four Five, Dick the Bad

Harrys twain and Ned, the lad.

Mary, Lizzie, James the Vain

Charlie, Charlie, James again.

William and Mary, Anne o'Gloria,

Four Georges, William and Victoria

Edward Seven, Georgie Five,

Edward, George and Liz (alive).

 

Mnemonic to remember the Royal Houses of England and Great Britain

 

Never A Plan Like Yours To Study Oral History So Wisely =

Norman, Angevin, Plantagenet, Lancaster, York, Tudor, Stuart, Orange, Hanover, Saxe-Coburg, Windsor.

 

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How did Royal Houses start?

The Royal Family started with William the Conqueror, the Norman Duke who crossed the channel to dominate England. He wasn't the first King to reign in Britain but he established the roots of the modern royals. When William I died in 1087, his eldest son, William II, took the throne.20-Aug-2020

 

How does the monarchy change houses?

The name of a Royal House changes whenever the male line dies out and the crown passes down the female line. The first monarch in the female line would be the first member of the new house - and the house would be named after their father. Example: in 1837 King William IV was succeeded by his niece, Victoria

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

When a particular family comes to power or is selected by the British electorate, it is called a dynasty or simply a house 

These families might be determined on certain traits and genetic blood lines and lineage. 

Certain families in the British Monarchy were true English, some were Welsh and some were German or Scottish. 

There is a lot of German influence in the current house, the House of Windsor. 

The House of Hanover, of which Queen Victoria was a part also carried German influence. 

The Scottish influence was largely seen during the 16th century. 

The most famous house is the House of Tudor. As most kings and queens of this House were quite well known. 

 

 

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So how did the Tudor House or Family come to an end? 

 

The Tudors were a Welsh-English family that ruled England from 1485 to 1603. They came to power as a result of the victory of Henry VII over Yorkist king Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The Tudor dynasty ended when Henry's grand-daughter Elizabeth I died childless.

 

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Who is a Duke and what is a Dukedom? 

A prince is called a Duke once he is married. A Dukedom is a rank assigned to the Duke. This is a peerage system of the British Royal Bloodline. 

Dukedoms are the highest titles in the British roll of peerage, and the holders of these particular dukedoms are Princes of the Blood Royal. ... They are titles created and bestowed on legitimate sons and male-line grandsons of the British monarch, usually upon reaching their majority or marriage.

 

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Extinct Dukedoms 

Duke of Albemarle 

 

Duke of Clarence

Duke of Clarence and Avondale 

Duke of Clarence and St Andrews 

Dukedom of Kent.

Duke of Connaught and Strathearn

Duke of Cumberland

Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn 

Duke of Hereford

Duke of Kendal

Duke of Kent and Strathearn 

Duke of Kintyre and Lorne 

Duke of Ross 

Duke of Windsor 

 

Current existing Dukedoms. 

 

 1 Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip

 

2 Duke of Cambridge

Prince William

 

3 Duke of Sussex

Prince Harry

 

4 Duke of York

Prince Andrew

 

5 Duke of Gloucester

Prince Richard

 

6 Duke of Kent

Prince Edward

 

 

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Ever since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's interview with Oprah Winfrey first aired on Sunday evening, there have been questions surrounding why their son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, is not a Prince. In the interview, Meghan tells Oprah that the protocol was changed for Archie, meaning that he would not have a title ('They were saying they didn't want him to be a prince or princess, which would be different from protocol, and that he wasn't going to receive security,' Meghan said.) She references the George V 1917 Letters Patent, but just what is it, and what does it mean for who is and isn't a Prince and Princess in the Royal Family?

Much like his great-grandson, Prince Charles, King George V was intent on a so-called 'slimmed down monarchy'. As such, he issued a new law, a Letters Patent, in 1917, which limited the number of royal relatives that could use the title of Prince or Princess. It reads: 'It is declared by the Letters Patent that the children of any Sovereign of the United Kingdom and the children of the sons of any such Sovereign and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names or with their other titles of honour; that save as aforesaid the titles of Royal Highness, Highness or Serene Highness, and the titular dignity of Prince and Princess shall cease except those titles already granted and remaining unrevoked; and that the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes'.

What this means is that only the children and grandchildren of the monarch through the male line are automatically given the title of Prince or Princess, as well as the first son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (Prince George). This meant that Princess Anne's children, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, were not given a title at birth, but Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, as the daughters of Prince Andrew, were.

However, Princess Anne was reportedly offered the chance to give her children a title, but she refused (as did her husband, Captain Mark Phillips, who had been offered a title on their marriage).

Conversely, Prince Edward's children would also have been Prince and Princess, but he and his wife the Countess of Wessex decided not to give them the title. Instead they are Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, as opposed to Princess Louise of Wessex and Prince James of Wessex.

The Queen issued a new Letters Patent in 2012 ahead of the birth of Prince George to ensure that all the children of the Cambridges would be similarly titled as Prince and Princess, despite the rule usually only applying to the eldest son. This would have meant that, had Princess Charlotte been born before her brother, she would not have been a Princess, but instead Lady Charlotte Mountbatten-Windsor.

So while Archie would not have automatically been a Prince on his birth, the Sussexes are claiming that there was an expectation that the Queen might change the protocol in a similar way as it had been for William's children.

Archie would be granted the title of Prince upon the death of the Queen and the ascension of his grandfather, Prince Charles, to the throne, although Meghan told Oprah that she had been told that this would also no longer be the case ('Even with that convention [that automatically makes all grandchildren of the monarch a prince or princess], they said, "I want to change the convention for Archie." Well, why?').

 

 

 

[Preety_India]

What is Prince Charles called? 

Duke of Cornwall 

 

The main dukes are 

Duke of Cornwall 

Duke of Edinburgh 

Duke of Cambridge 

Duke of York 

Duke of Sussex

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

What is a Prince of Wales? 

The only title that exists and is given to a heir apparent is the second highest title, just below the title of the monarch and reserved exclusively for the next successor to the throne is the Prince of Wales. The corresponding title for a daughter who is in line to the throne is Princess Royal given to Princess Anne. 

 

Queen Elizabeth the Duchess of Edinburgh

Upon their marriage, King George VI granted dukedom status to Prince Philip, making him the Duke of Edinburgh, which automatically made Queen Elizabeth the Duchess of Edinburgh. This was her royal title until she ascended the throne and became queen. 

How is Queen Elizabeth 2 referred? 

HRH

Her Royal  Highness The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh.

What was she called before marriage and before becoming Queen /monarch? 

She was called Princess Elizabeth of York. And later only Princess Elizabeth. 

 

Queen Elizabeth II was crowned on 2 June, 1953 in Westminster Abbey. Her Majesty was the thirty-ninth Sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey. 

 

What is a heir apparent and a heir presumptive? 

An heir apparent is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. An heir presumptive, by contrast, is someone who is first in line to inherit a title but who can be displaced by the birth of a more eligible heir. 

I think the prince or the princess (the son and the daughter of the current monarch) is usually called Prince or Princess before marriage and called Duke and Duchess after marriage. 

Although the usage of the title of Duke or Duchess is highly debatable and changeable depending on the rules of the monarch. 

Not every prince becomes a Duke(prince Edward) , not every princess is a duchess (princess Anne is not a Duchess). 

But the usual tradition is to call the heir to the throne (the daughter or son) as Princess or Prince usually with something associated. Examples are - Princess of York or Prince of Wales. 

 

The Princess of Wales, by virtue of her marriage to the Prince of Wales, takes on the feminine equivalent of her husband's titles. Thus, upon marriage, the wife of the Prince of Wales assumes the styles and titles of Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, and Countess of Chester.

 

The Princess of Wales is known as the Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, and the Prince of Wales is known as the Duke of Rothesay there, the dukedom being the title historically associated with the heir to the Scottish throne. She is known as the Duchess of Cornwall in the far south west of England, and as the Countess of Chester in Cheshire.

The title of the Prince of Wales and the Princess of Wales. 

This is an exclusive title only given to the future male heir to the throne. Either he is the eldest son of the Current king or the Current Queen. His wife upon marriage is called the Princess of Wales. The highest rank given to women in the Royal family after Queen. 

When the male heir becomes the King or monarch, his wife who was known as Princess of Wales, automatically becomes the Queen. 

However this is not applicable when a female heir becomes the Queen, her husband is still a Duke and not a king. 

Also there is no princess of Wales title reserved for female heir. It's exclusive to male heirs alone. The only female who gets the title of the Princess of Wales is the wife of the Prince of Wales. 

There cannot be two people with the title of the Prince of Wales. Once the Prince of Wales is dead this title goes to the next eldest son of the monarch, heir to the the throne. Thus Prince William will never be Prince of Wales, since his father is already in line. So if Prince Charles dies, Prince William becomes the next in line to the throne, yet he is not a Prince of Wales since he is not the eldest son of the Monarch. The title of the Prince of Wales only goes to the eldest son of the ruling  monarch, as such its a coveted title. 

The other titles given to the siblings of the Prince of Wales are only - Prince. And after marriage, these titles are the Duke of 

Such titles are given directly by the parent monarch. For example if Prince William becomes King (in the event of the passing of Prince Charles) then Prince William can decide the titles to his sons Prince George whether he could be the next Duke of Cornwall or next Duke of York or the Duke of Sussex. 

If Prince William becomes King, then his eldest son Prince George would be the next Prince of Wales. 

The title of the parent is transferred to the children. 

For example, children of Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge have the following titles. 

 

Prince George of Cambridge

Princess Charlotte of Cambridge

Prince Louis of Cambridge

The children of Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex is 

Archie Windsor Harrison. 

Although he does not carry the title of Prince. 

 

What are the titles given to the daughters of the reigning monarch? 

They are simply called princesses with their titles associated with the titles of  Duke and Duchess held by their parents. 

For example, 

Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth). Her father ascended the throne on the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. 

Thus Queen Elizabeth was referred to as Princess Elizabeth of York before any other subsequent titles. 

Why was Queen Elizabeth a heir presumptive and not a heir apparent? 

This is because she is female and any male who is considered appropriate to the throne will be considered for the throne before her. She will become Queen only in the absence of such a male eligible heir.. Males would be given the precedence over the females among the children of the Monarch. 

Why is the eldest or second eldest  daughter of the reigning monarch called Princess Royal? 

This is because she is not a heir apparent. She is only a heir apparent in the absence of any eligible male heir. She could be a heir presumptive in any case. This means she is not considered to be the best for the throne but only better, in the absence of the best which is a male heir. Since she is the second best option, she is called heir presumptive. However if she has elder brother or a younger brother, she immediately loses the right to be considered first in life, she is placed second or third in line. 

Thus she will be called Princess Royal, however, similar to the Prince of Wales, this title is only given to the eldest daughter of the monarch and not all daughters. 

 

 

When Prince William and Kate Middleton married in April 2011, William received an official royal title change and went from prince to duke. However, he could soon go back to prince status and become the Prince of Wales.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

The title of the Princess Royal. 

Both titles of the Prince of Wales and The Princess Royal are highly coveted. 

Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. 

The style Princess Royal came into existence when Queen Henrietta Maria (1609–1669), daughter of Henry IV, King of France, and wife of King Charles I (1600–1649), wanted to imitate the way the eldest daughter of the King of France was styled "Madame Royale". Thus Princess Mary (born 1631), the daughter of Henrietta Maria and Charles, became the first Princess Royal in 1642.

It has become established that the style belongs to no one by right, but is given entirely at the Sovereign's discretion. Princess Mary (later Queen Mary II) (1662–1694), eldest daughter of King James II and VII, and Princess Sophia Dorothea (1687–1757), only daughter of King George I, were eligible for this honour but did not receive it. At the time they respectively became eligible for the style, Princess Mary was already Princess of Orange, while Sophia Dorothea was already Queen in Prussia.

Princess Louisa Maria (1692–1712), the youngest daughter of King James II (died 1701), born after he lost his crown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689, was considered to be Princess Royal during James's exile by Jacobites at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and was so called by Jacobites, even though she was not James's eldest living daughter at any time during her life.

The title is held for life, even if the holder outlives her parent the monarch. On the death of a Princess Royal the style is not inherited by any of her daughters; instead, if the late Princess Royal's parent the monarch has also died, the new monarch may bestow it upon his or her own eldest daughter. Thus, Princess Louise was granted the style of Princess Royal by her father, King Edward VII in 1905; she retained it until her death in 1931, over twenty years into the reign of her brother King George V. Only upon Louise's death did the title become available for George's own daughter, Princess Mary, who was granted the title in 1932, retaining it until her death in 1965. Because Mary outlived not only her father but also her brother King George VI, the title was never available in George VI's reign to be granted his eldest daughter Princess Elizabeth (the present Queen Elizabeth II), though she would have been eligible to hold it.

 

[Preety_India]

The same duke titles are recycled and no new titles are invented. Titles are established positions in the hierarchy to the  throne. 

If Prince Charles becomes King, Prince William loses his title of the Duke of Cambridge, and gets the new title of the Prince of Wales. 

Prince and Princess are the more public titles, or unofficial titles used, generally the more affectionate way of referring the Royals rather than the crude title of the Duke. 

Thus Prince Andrew is called Prince Andrew even though officially he is the Duke of York. 

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

Thus Queen Elizabeth 2 is no longer the Duchess of York.. 

The title has been currently given to Sarah Ferguson Fergie the ex wife of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.