Monarchs, Murders and Mistresses E-Book

David Hilliam

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Leseprobe

MONARCHS, MURDERS & MISTRESSES

A BOOK OF ROYAL DAYS

DAVID HILLIAM

First published in 2004

This edition first published in 2009

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2011

All rights reserved

© David Hilliam 2000, 2004, 2009, 2011

The right of David Hilliam, to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 6907 2 MOBI ISBN 978 0 7524 6908 9

Original typesetting by The History Press

Cover illustrations: (left) detail from Roy 15 E IV f.236 Coronation of William I, Vol I, by Jean Batard de Wavrin, c. 1470–80, Anciennes Chroniques d’ Angleterre (15th century), (British Library, London, UK/Bridgeman Art Library); (right) detail from The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, 9th–18th July 1553 (finished study) by Hippolyte Delaroche (Paul) (1797–1856) (Guildhall Art Gallery, Corporation of London UK/Bridgeman Art Library).

CONTENTS

Preface

Chronology

ROYAL CALENDAR, January 1 to December 31

Longest Reigns

The Twenty-four Princes of Wales

Assassination Attempts on Queen Victoria

The Present Order of Succession

Charles II’s Mistresses and Bastards

The Monarchs Britain Never Had

Dates of Saxon and Danish Kings before the Conquest

Dates of Monarchs: William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II

Dates of Queens and Consorts from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II

Genealogical Chart of the English Monarchs

Sources

PREFACE

This book presents a royal event for each day of the year, drawing on a thousand years of English history. It is an anthology of anniversaries: a book for browsers. The events vary considerably, but the overall picture shows the recurring occupational difficulties of being royal. As Henry IV so memorably sums it up in Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part II, ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.’

Kings and queens have often been remarkable and fascinating individuals. But what makes them different, and what they they all have in common, is that they are constantly placed in extraordinary situations. Even the ordinary processes of life, such as birth and death, have to be carried out in public. Charles II urbanely apologised to the crowd of onlookers for being so long in dying (see FEBRUARY 5), while the ‘warming-pan’ rumours attached to the birth of the Old Pretender led to official witnesses being required for every subsequent royal lying-in (see NOVEMBER 14).

But kings and queens also have to cope with situations which are astonishingly different from the humdrum events of our own lives. Some have been beheaded (see FEBRUARY 13 and MAY 19); many, including Queen Victoria, have suffered assassination attempts (see FEBRUARY 29); others have had to beat off rivals, either in battle or even by signing deathwarrants for their own relatives (see FEBRUARY 1 and JULY 15). No wonder that the pressures of circumstance have led so many monarchs, even in the twentieth century, to consult soothsayers and magicians (see AUGUST 9).

Here, then, is a series of close-ups, showing how flesh-and-blood men and women have found themselves caught up in the strange webs of history.

David Hilliam

CHRONOLOGY

899The ghost of King Alfred walks in WinchesterOct 26924A king gains all: the coronation of King AthelstanSept 4946The fourth coronation at Kingston upon ThamesAug 16955A useful sum to buy off the DanesNov 23973The first coronation at which a king is anointed takes place in Bath AbbeyMay 11978A murdered teenage king becomes a saintMar 18978Coronation of Ethelred II (‘The Unready’), at Kingston upon ThamesApr 111016Edmund Ironside is stabbed in the bottomNov 301035Death of King Canute at ShaftesburyNov 121042Hardecanute dies ‘with a horrible convulsion’Jun 81043The last coronation other than in Westminster AbbeyApr 31045Edward the Confessor marriesJan 231052Emma’s queenly recordMar 61060Edward the Confessor attends the dedication of Waltham AbbeyMay 31066Death of King Edward the ConfessorJan 51066Harold II is crowned within hours of the Confessor’s funeralJan 61066William the Conqueror gives his daughter to a nunneryJun 181066King Harold wins the Battle of Stamford BridgeSept 251066Harold marches south from victory at Stamford BridgeOct 41066The Battle of HastingsOct 141066William the Conqueror is crownedDec 251086William the Conqueror’s great oath-swearing ceremonyAug 11087William the Conqueror is stripped naked on his deathbedSept 91087Coronation of William RufusSept 261094Rufus is rebuked for sodomy by a saintFeb 231100The Red King is found dead in the New ForestAug 21100Henry I becomes the first post-conquest usurperAug 51114Eleven-year-old Matilda becomes an empressJan 71120The White Ship disasterNov 251120Henry I learns of the death of his childrenNov 271133Birth of the future Henry IIMar 51134Death of Robert Curthose, after twenty-eight years of imprisonmentFeb 31141Bishop Henry of Blois receives the Empress MatildaMar 31141The Empress Matilda is declared ‘Lady of the English’Apr 71141The Empress Matilda is routed and Winchester goes up in flamesSept 141141Stephen is released from captivity and becomes king againNov 11152Eleanor of Aquitaine marries the future Henry IIMay 181154King Stephen promises the throne to Henry of AnjouJan 131155Eleanor of Aquitaine gives birth to a sonFeb 281164Henry II and Thomas Becket attend the consecration of Reading AbbeyApr 191167The future King John is born in OxfordDec 241170Murder in the cathedralDec 291173Henry II captures his wife, Eleanor of AquitaineMar 231174Henry II does penance for the murder of Thomas BecketJul 121186A Scottish king marries in an English palaceSept 51191John takes controlOct 81192King Richard Lionheart is captured by Duke Leopold of AustriaDec 201194Richard Lionheart is crowned again, in WinchesterApr 171199King Richard I dies of a gangrenous arrow-woundApr 61199King John is crownedMay 271200King John marries a teenage brideAug 241204Death of Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of Henry IIApr 11213King John is absolved from the ban of the ChurchJul 201215King John sets his seal to Magna CartaJun 151216King John still struggling against the baronsFeb 291216Peaches and new cider, or was it poison?Oct 181216Nine-year-old Henry III is crowned in GloucesterOct 281220Young King Henry III has a second coronationMay 171236Marriage of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence in CanterburyJan 141239A comet marks the birth of the future Edward IJun 171246Isabella of Angoulême dies in a ‘secret chamber’ at FontevraultMay 311258Henry III and Queen Eleanor attend the consecration of Salisbury CathedralSept 201264Henry III loses the Battle of LewesMay 141265Simon de Montfort is hacked to pieces at the Battle of EveshamAug 41274Grand junketings at the coronation of Edward I and EleanorAug 191284Birth of the first Prince of WalesApr 251290Eleanor Crosses mark the Queen’s last journeyNov 281290Burial of Eleanor of CastileDec 171292Thirteen competitors for the throne of ScotlandDec 261301A new title is created – ‘Prince of Wales’Feb 71305The end of Sir William Wallace (‘Braveheart’)Aug 231307The king’s gay partner is created Earl of CornwallAug 61308Edward II’s disastrous coronationFeb 251327Edward II bursts into tears as he is forced to abdicateJan 241327The murder of Edward IISept 211327Embalmed, Edward II is buried at GloucesterDec 211328The young King Edward III marries Philippa of HainaultJan 241346The Prince of Wales wins a battle and his spursAug 261348King Edward III founds the Most Noble Order of the GarterJun 241356The Black Prince captures the King of France at PoitiersSept 191369Nosey Parker spreads gossip about Queen PhilippaAug 141376Edward, the Black Prince, is exorcised on his deathbedJul 81376The Black Prince is buried near Thomas Becket’s shrineOct 51377Coronation of the ten-year-old Richard IIJul 161382Wedding of Richard II and Anne of BohemiaJan 201387Mary de Bohun gives birth to a son at MonmouthSept 161394Richard II hits the Earl of Arundel for being late at the queen’s funeralAug 31395Richard II orders Sheen Palace to be demolishedApr 91396Richard II marries his second wife – a seven-year-old princessNov 41397The new Queen of England is crowned, aged eightJan 81399The funeral of John of GauntMar 181399Abdication of Richard IISept 291399Henry IV is crowned and anointed with special oilOct 131399Hal becomes Prince of WalesOct 151403‘Hotspur’ is killed and Prince Hal wounded at the Battle of ShrewsburyJul 211403The Earl of Northumberland submits to Henry IVAug 111403Henry IV sends a gift to Hotspur’s widowNov 31405Henry IV meets the rebellious Archbishop ScropeJun 61413Henry IV dies ‘in Jerusalem’Mar 201415‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!’Oct 251418Henry V and the English goddons lay siege to RouenJul 301419Surrender of Rouen to Henry VJan 191421Catherine of Valois disobeys her husband Henry VDec 61422A nine-month-old baby becomes King of EnglandSept 11432King Henry VI receives a rapturous welcome in LondonFeb 211437Death of Henry IV’s widow, the ‘Witch Queen’Jul 91441Henry VI lays the foundation stone of a new school at EtonJuly 51457Birth of Henry VIIJan 281461The Lancastrians beat the Yorkists at St AlbansFeb 171461The Yorkists enter LondonFeb 261461Towton – the bloodiest battle ever fought in EnglandMar 291464King Edward IV marries a commoner in great secrecyMay 11465Edward IV celebrates a Yorkist triumphJul 181466Birth of Elizabeth of York, future wife of Henry VIIFeb 111470Edward IV quells a rebellion in StamfordMar 131470Henry VI is crowned again, in St Paul’s CathedralOct 131471The bloody Battle of BarnetApr 141471Battle of Tewkesbury: the Prince of Wales is killedMay 41471The murder of King Henry VIMay 211482Margaret of Anjou, widow of Henry VI, dies in FranceAug 251483Edward IV’s corpse is exposed, nude to the waistApr 201483A wicked uncle lures his royal nephew into his protectionApr 281483King Richard and Queen Anne enjoy a great reception at YorkAug 291483Richard III signs a death warrantOct 191484Richard III moves Henry VI’s bonesAug 121485A crown is lost – and found under a hawthorn bushAug 221485Henry VII invents the BeefeatersOct 301486Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York: the Tudor Rose is bornJan 181486Prince Arthur is born in ‘Camelot’Sept 201499Execution of ‘Richard IV’Nov 161501‘Señora Princess Catalina’ is given a grand reception at PlymouthOct 21501Henry VII inspects Catherine of AragonNov 71502Death of Arthur, Prince of WalesApr 21503Death of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VIIFeb 111503Prince Henry is betrothed to his widowed sister-in-lawJun 231509Death of Henry VIIApr 211509Death of the last Lancastrian, Margaret BeaufortJun 291511Henry VIII mourns the death of his son, Prince HenryFeb 221516Catherine of Aragon gives birth to a daughterFeb 181518Catherine of Aragon has a stillborn daughterNov 181521Henry VIII becomes the ‘Defender of the Faith’Oct 111530Death of the ‘Other King’ – Cardinal WolseyNov 291533Henry VIII secretly marries his concubineJan 251533Archbishop Cranmer declares Henry VIII’s marriage null and voidMay 231533Coronation of Anne BoleynJun 11533Birth of Elizabeth I, at Greenwich PalaceSept 71536Catherine of Aragon diesJan 71536Anne Boleyn infuriates Henry VIII by having a miscarriageJan 291536Anne Boleyn is arrested and taken to the Tower of LondonMay 21536Anne Boleyn is charged with high treasonMay 101536Anne Boleyn is beheaded at the Tower of LondonMay 191536Henry VIII’s third marriage: Jane Seymour becomes queenMay 301537At last, a legitimate son for Henry VIIIOct 121537Death of Queen Jane SeymourOct 241540Henry VIII marries Anne of ClevesJan 61540Henry VIII marries Katherine Howard at Oatlands, SurreyJul 281540Thomas Cromwell is beheaded on Tower HillJul 281542The ghost of Katherine HowardFeb 131542Birth of a Scottish princess, six days later to be queenDec 81545Henry VIII watches his flagship Mary Rose sink in the ChannelJul 191547Death of Henry VIIIJan 281547Coronation of Edward VI, aged nineFeb 191548Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s last queen, gives birth to a daughterAug 301553Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed queenJul 101553Mary Tudor is crownedOct 11553Mary Tudor solemnly swears to marry Philip of SpainOct 271553Mary I dissolves her first Parliament, having become legitimate againDec 51554Lord Guilford Dudley is beheadedFeb 121554The execution of Lady Jane GreyFeb 121554Mary I releases Elizabeth from the Tower of LondonMay 221554Marriage of Queen Mary and Philip of SpainJul 251555‘Bloody Mary’ burns Dr Ferrar, the Protestant Bishop of St David’sMar 301556A King of England becomes King of SpainJan 161556Archbishop Cranmer is burnt to death on the orders of Queen MaryMar 211558Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the French DauphinApr 241558Mary Tudor burns her last victimsNov 101558‘Queen Elizabeth’s Day’Nov 171559Coronation of Elizabeth I, following a soothsayer’s recommendationJan 151559Elizabeth I becomes the Supreme Governor of the Church of EnglandApr 291559Nostradamus is proved correct, and Mary, Queen of Scots, becomes Queen of FranceJun 301561Queen Elizabeth I sees Old St Paul’s in flamesJun 41565Mary, Queen of Scots, marries her cousin Lord DarnleyJul 291566Mary, Queen of Scots, sees her secretary stabbed to deathMar 91566Mary, Queen of Scots, gives birth to the future King James VI and IJun 191567Mary, Queen of Scots, marries for the third timeMay 151567Mary, Queen of Scots, abdicates in favour of her sonJul 241567James VI of Scotland is crowned, aged eleven monthsJul 291573Elizabeth I spends her 40th birthday with Nosey ParkerSept 71579‘A Frog he would a-wooing go’Aug 171581Queen Elizabeth I honours Sir Francis DrakeApr 41587Elizabeth I steels herself to sign a death warrantFeb 11587Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at FotheringhayFeb 81588Elizabeth I reviews her troops at TilburyAug 81588Elizabeth I in triumph and griefSept 171588Queen Elizabeth attends a thanksgiving service for the defeat of the ArmadaNov 241589James VI is married by proxy and then braves the witches to marry his wife in OsloAug 201591King James VI of Scotland escapes murderDec 271598Death of Philip of Spain, former King of EnglandSept 131599Birth of the first Lord Protector of EnglandApr 251599The Earl of Essex invades the queen’s bedroomSept 281603Dr Dee casts Elizabeth’s horoscope and she leaves Whitehall for everJan 211603Death of Queen Elizabeth IMar 241603James VI of Scotland learns that he is now King of EnglandMar 261604James I invents the name ‘Great Britain’Mar 221604King James I officially declares the name ‘Great Britain’Oct 201605‘Remember, remember, the fifth of November’Nov 51612Mary, Queen of Scots, reaches her final resting-placeOct 31612Death of the Prince of WalesNov 61613An important St Valentine’s Day marriageFeb 141618James I orders the execution of Sir Walter RaleighOct 291625Charles I, on his way to meet his bride, suffers a sad eventJun 51626The coronation of Charles I, the ‘White King’Feb 21638Birth of Catherine of Braganza, queen of Charles IINov 151640King Charles I dissolves ParliamentMay 51642Charles I enters the chamber of the House of CommonsJan 41642A king makes war on his peopleAug 221642Worcester, the ‘Faithful City’Sept 231642The ghostly aftermath of the Battle of EdgehillOct 231644Queen Henrietta Maria has her ninth childJun 161644Royalist defeat at the Battle of Marston MoorJul 21645Charles I meets disaster at the Battle of NasebyJun 141645Charles I sees his army defeated at Rowton Heath near ChesterSept 241646King Charles I is taken prisonerMay 51648Charles I is taken from the Isle of Wight back to the mainlandDec 11648Charles I arrives in Winchester on his way to his trialDec 191649Parliament sets up a special court to try Charles I for treasonJan 21649King Charles is sentenced to death – ‘Farewell Sovereignty!’Jan 271649Execution of King Charles I at WhitehallJan 301649Secret burial of the ‘White King’Feb 91649Parliament abolishes the monarchy and the House of LordsMar 171651The Scottish coronation of King Charles IIJan 11651A king loses all: Charles goes into hiding after the Battle of WorcesterSept 41651Charles II hides in an oak treeSept 61651Charles II hides among the stones at StonehengeOct 61652The ‘Act of Oblivion’Feb 241653Oliver Cromwell is installed as Lord ProtectorDec 161658Oliver Cromwell dies on his ‘Fortunate Day’Sept 31658Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector IISept 101659‘Idle Dick’ disappearsMay 161660Restoration of the monarchy: Charles returns in triumphMay 291661Oliver Cromwell’s corpse is dug upJan 301661Charles II rides through London on the day before his coronationApr 221661The coronation of Charles II: monarchy is restoredApr 231662Birth of the future Queen Mary II to a tub-woman’s daughterApr 301662Charles II meets and marries his brideMay 131662Samuel Pepys hears that the queen is pregnantOct 91663King Charles meets a pretty Quaker womanJan 111665Charles II fathers yet another bastardDec 281666Charles II and the future James II help to put out the flamesSept 21671Death of the Duchess of York, mother of two queensMar 311673Mary of Modena marries a man she has never heard ofSept 301673James meets his wife for the first time and marries her againNov 211675Charles II economises in building the Royal Observatory at GreenwichAug 101681Charles II tricks his Parliament and then dissolves itMar 281682Marriage of the great-great-grandson of Mary, Queen of ScotsNov 221683Birth of Caroline of Ansbach, queen of George IIMar 11685Charles II secretly becomes a Catholic on his deathbedFeb 51685The coronation of James II: monarchy under pressureApr 231685The Duke of Monmouth lands at Lyme RegisJun 111685A second James II is declared at TauntonJun 201685The last battle on English soil: Monmouth is defeated at SedgemoorJul 61685Execution of the Duke of MonmouthJul 151687Death of Nell GwynneNov 131688Birth of the Old Pretender … and the warming-pan legendJun 101688James II has an inconvenient nosebleed in SalisburyNov 191688Princess Anne deserts her fatherNov 261688Queen Mary escapes, disguised as an Italian washer-womanDec 91688James II makes a second attempt to escape from EnglandDec 181689A unique royal double act is declared: WilliamanMaryFeb 131689Ex-King James II tries to regain his kingdomMar 121689Coronation of William and Mary at Westminster AbbeyApr 111695William III stays at Althorp as a guest of Robert SpencerOct 221696‘Dutch William’ escapes a Jacobite plot to assassinate himFeb 151698Destruction of Whitehall by fireJan 21702William III dies, killed by a moleMar 81702Funeral of William IIIApr 101702The coronation of Queen Anne: the Stuart line comes to an endApr 231704Queen Anne rejoices over the victory at BlenheimAug 131708‘James III’ tries to land in ScotlandMar 141714Queen Anne dies at lastAug 11714George I arrives with the Maypole and the ElephantSept 181715‘James III’ arrives in Scotland to seize the throne from George IDec 221718Death in exile of Mary of Modena, queen of James IIMay 71720Birth of ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’Dec 311726Death of ‘Queen’ Sophia Dorothea in exileNov 21737Poor Fred’s wife gives birth between a pair of table-clothsJuly 311743The last English king to take part in a battle – George IIJun 271745Bonnie Prince Charlie lands in the Outer HebridesJul 231745The Jacobite army crosses into EnglandNov 81745Bonnie Prince Charlie reaches DerbyDec 41745The Duke of Cumberland forces the Jacobites in Carlisle to surrenderDec 301746Bonnie Prince Charlie flees from disaster at CullodenApr 161746Lucky Prince Charles finds a cave to hide inJul 141751The Prince of Wales is killed by a cricket ballMar 201761George III blushes to hear the name of his sweetheartSept 81761A popular coronation – but who came to see it?Sept 221764Mozart, aged eight, entertains King George III and Queen CharlotteApr 271765A future king is born in Buckingham HouseAug 211766Death of the ‘Old Pretender’Jan 11776George III and the American Declaration of IndependenceJul 41781George III and UranusMar 131784Prinny commutes from Brighton to London on Maria Fitzherbert’s birthdayJul 261785Secret marriage of Prinny and Maria FitzherbertDec 151788Bonnie Prince Charlie dies in exileJan 301789George III takes a dip in the sea at WeymouthJul 71795Prinny bigamously marries his cousin CarolineApr 81797Nelson is made a knightFeb 201806George III forbids the Prince of Wales to attend Nelson’s funeralJan 91818William and Adelaide – a very low-key royal weddingJul 131819Birth of the future Queen VictoriaMay 241820Prinny becomes king and has to be bledJan 311821Queen Caroline is refused entry to Westminster Abbey for her own coronationJul 191821An ‘offensive’ inscription on a queen’s coffinAug 71821Fighting breaks out in Colchester over Queen Caroline’s coffinAug 181827Prinny says farewell to BrightonMar 71830Victoria promises to be goodMar 111830Death of George IVJun 261831William IV wants to abandon his coronationSept 81834The Palace of Westminster goes up in flamesOct 161837Mrs Fitzherbert, the ‘secret wife’ of George IV, dies, aged eighty-oneMar 271837The young Queen Victoria takes up residence in Buckingham PalaceJul 131838Queen Victoria’s own account of her coronationJun 281839Queen Victoria falls in loveOct 101840Queen Victoria marries Prince AlbertFeb 101841Birth of the future Edward VIINov 91842Queen Victoria’s first journey by trainJun 131844Victoria and Albert find OsborneOct 101849Death of Queen AdelaideDec 21850Queen Victoria gets a black eye in PiccadillyJul 271857Albert is officially created Prince ConsortJun 251861Death of Queen Victoria’s motherMar 161861Victoria is devastated at Albert’s deathDec 141861Victoria cannot bring herself to go to Albert’s funeralDec 231862Victoria lays the foundation stone for a mausoleum at FrogmoreMar 151863‘Bertie’, the future King Edward VII, marries AlixMar 101865‘The Queen’s Highland Servant’ takes up residence at Osborne HouseFeb 41867Birth of Princess Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine AgnesMay 261870Sandringham is ready for the Prince of Wales to occupyDec 71871Queen Victoria opens the Albert HallMar 291872Queen Victoria goes in thanksgiving to St Paul’sFeb 271872Queen Victoria survives the sixth assassination attemptFeb 291872The Albert Memorial goes on view to the publicJul 31877Queen Victoria becomes Empress of IndiaJan 11878Death of Victoria’s daughterDec 141882Victoria survives yet another assassination attemptMar 21883Victoria asks Lord Tennyson to write an epitaph for John BrownAug 281892Death of ‘Eddy’, son of the Prince of WalesJan 141894Victoria’s relief as Gladstone resignsMar 41895Birth of the future George VIDec 141897Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond JubileeJun 221901A long-lost statue of Queen VictoriaJan 221902Edward VII is crowned on the date recommended by his fortune-tellerAug 91908Edward VII meets his nephew, Tsar Nicholas of RussiaJun 91910Edward VII dies, as predicted by his fortune-tellerMay 61910Edward VII is buried with great pomp – and Caesar takes precedenceMay 201911King George V’s ‘Coronation Durbar’Dec 121917The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha becomes the House of WindsorJul 171918King George V visits soldiers in FranceDec 131920King George V attends the burial of the Unknown WarriorNov 111922The Prince of Wales makes the first royal broadcastOct 71923The Duke of York marries a commonerApr 261926Birth of the future Queen Elizabeth IIApr 211927The Duke of York opens Parliament House in CanberraMay 91931Edward, Prince of Wales, meets Mrs Simpson for the first timeJan 101932King George V makes the first Christmas broadcastDec 251936King George V writes in his diary for the last timeJan 171936Curious circumstances surrounding the death of George VJan 201936King Edward VIII receives the first warning about Mrs SimpsonOct 211936Edward VIII formally abdicatesDec 101936The abdication broadcastDec 111937A new royal family moves into Buckingham PalaceFeb 171937George VI and Elizabeth are anointed king and queenMay 121937Marriage of the Duke of Windsor and Mrs SimpsonJun 31938Queen Elizabeth launches the Queen ElizabethSept 271939Princess Elizabeth meets Philip, a naval cadet at DartmouthJul 221939The Duke of Windsor is brought back to an England at warSept 111940Buckingham Palace is hit by five German bombsSept 121942George VI awards the George Cross to MaltaApr 151945‘Spit and polish all day long’Feb 241945Winston Churchill and the royal family celebrate VE DayMay 81945Louis Mountbatten receives Japan’s final surrenderSept 121947George VI ceases to be Emperor of IndiaAug 151947The last untelevised royal weddingNov 201948No official witnesses at the birth of Prince CharlesNov 141949George VI loses authority as Eire becomes a republicApr 181951The Stone of Scone is returned to Westminster AbbeyApr 131952Smoker’s lung cancer kills George VIFeb 61952An ex-King of England attends the funeral of a dead King of EnglandFeb 161953Death of Queen MaryMar 241953Coronation of Elizabeth IIJun 21954Queen Elizabeth opens her New Zealand ParliamentJan 121955Queen Elizabeth II honours Sir Winston ChurchillApr 51955The queen’s sister chooses ‘duty’ and rejects her loverOct 311960Cromwell’s head is finally laid to restMar 251962Queen Elizabeth II attends the consecration service of the new Coventry CathedralMay 251967The Duke and Duchess of Windsor are invited to LondonJun 71969Charles is invested as Prince of WalesJuly 11972Death of the Duke of Windsor, former King of EnglandMay 281976Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon announce their separationMar 191979Queen Elizabeth II presents Maundy Money at Winchester CathedralApr 121979Earl Mountbatten, the queen’s cousin, is killed by terroristsAug 271980Queen Elizabeth II visits the Vatican and meets the PopeOct 171981Death of Victoria’s last haemophilia-carrying grandchildJan 31981Marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana SpencerJul 291982Birth of Prince WilliamJun 211982Prince Charles welcomes troops home from the Falklands conflictJul 111984Birth of Prince HarrySept 151986Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson announce their engagementMar 191987Princess Anne is given the title ‘Princess Royal’Jun 121987‘Prince charges planners with rape of Britain’ (The Times)Dec 31994Prince Charles survives an ‘attack’ in Sydney, AustraliaJan 261997Death of Diana, Princess of WalesAug 311999/2000Queen Elizabeth sings Auld Lang Syne in the Millennium Dome at GreenwichDec 312000Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother celebrates her 100th birthdayAug 42002Death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen MotherMar 302005Charles and Camilla marry at last, after a 34-year friendshipApr 9

JANUARY 1 1651

THE SCOTTISH CORONATION OF KING CHARLES II

A strange and unique coronation took place on 1 January 1651, at Scone in Scotland, when Charles II was crowned King of England, Scotland, Ireland and France (at that time a traditional title). It was less than two years since his father Charles I had been executed at Whitehall. Charles II had been only eighteen at the time, and was in France when the news of his father’s death had reached him. He had burst into tears when the messengers addressed him as ‘Your Majesty’.

Now, in 1651, aged twenty, still uncrowned and with the parliamentarians in full power in England, Charles had come to Scotland to try to claim his kingdom as it were by the back door. His defeat at the Battle of Worcester was still nine months into the future.

The coronation at Scone was an odd affair, as the Covenanters who were offering him the crown had no belief in bishops or many of the traditional ceremonies. Archibald Campbell, Marquis of Argyll, handed him the crown and sceptre, but anointing with oil was considered too superstitious. After the coronation feast, Charles celebrated by playing a game of golf – the Scottish game which his grandfather James I had introduced into England.

1766

DEATH OF THE ‘OLD PRETENDER’

After a lifetime of disappointment, James Stuart, the ‘Old Pretender’, who was known by his Jacobite supporters as ‘James III’, died this day in Rome. On the death of his father, the exiled James II, he had become ‘king’ in 1701, when he was only thirteen. His reign, if it had been a real one, would have been the longest in British history (see SEPTEMBER 9). His birth was surrounded by malicious rumours that his mother, Mary of Modena, had not been pregnant at all, but had smuggled the baby into St James’s Palace in a warming-pan (see JUNE 10).

Now, having spent his entire life in exile, apart from a few weeks trying to gain a foothold in Scotland (see DECEMBER 22), he died aged seventy-seven, still an honoured guest of the Pope, who had given him a pension to live on, and an old palace, the Palazzo Muti in the square of the Holy Apostles, to live in.

The Pope continued to honour him even in death, and he was given a royal funeral in St Peter’s, Rome. Rather poignantly, at James’s funeral a royal crown was placed on his head for the first and only time.

1877

QUEEN VICTORIA BECOMES EMPRESS OF INDIA

Disraeli notoriously pandered to Queen Victoria’s vanity: ‘Everyone likes flattery,’ he once said, ‘and when you come to royalty, you should lay it on with a trowel.’ Arguably, his most lavish ‘gift’ to her was the title ‘Empress of India’. The Royal Titles Bill, legalising this in Parliament, was passed in 1876, and Victoria officially became Empress of India on 1 January 1877. At a celebratory dinner at Windsor on this day, Disraeli toasted her for the first time as ‘Your Imperial Majesty’.

Victoria was gratified not merely with this new title, but also with the thought that her own daughter Vicky, married to Crown Prince Frederick William of Germany and likely to become Empress of Germany, would thereby never out-rank her. Empresses, after all, take precedence over mere queens.

Also on this day:

1801 Act of Union with Ireland. A revised ‘union jack’ was introduced, incorporating the diagonal red cross of St Patrick. George III was declared to be King of Great Britain and Ireland. At the same time, he ceased to use the ancient title ‘King of France’.

2007 Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, was awarded an MBE for her services to equestrianism (see JUNE 12) – a unique honour for a member of the Royal Family

JANUARY 2 1649

PARLIAMENT SETS UP A SPECIAL COURT TO TRY CHARLES I FOR TREASON

The move to put Charles I on trial for treason began with the setting up of a special court consisting of about a hundred and fifty members and presided over by two Chief Justices. The reasons for this trial were outlined thus:

Whereas it is notorious that Charles Stuart, the now King of England, not content with the many encroachments which his predecessors had made upon the people in their rights and freedoms, hath had a wicked design totally to subvert the ancient and fundamental laws and liberties of this nation, and in their place to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government, and that besides all other evil ways and means to bring his design to pass, he hath prosecuted it with fire and sword, levied and maintained a cruel war in the land, against the Parliament and Kingdom, whereby the country hath been miserably wasted, the public Treasure exhausted, trade decayed, thousands of people murdered and infinite other mischiefs committed….

The House of Lords, meeting the next day, were reluctant to accept this and adjourned for a week. At this, the House of Commons declared that they would take full responsibility for this bill, without any further reference to the House of Lords.

1698

DESTRUCTION OF WHITEHALL BY FIRE

We can hardly begin to imagine the huge complex of buildings which formed the original ‘Whitehall’ from the time of Henry VIII, who took over Cardinal Wolsey’s palace there. Over the next reigns this area was developed into what was at once a centre of government offices and a collection of apartments for court favourites and ministers. William III (‘Dutch William’) hated the place because he thought it aggravated his asthma, and so he developed ‘Nottingham House’ into what is now Kensington Palace.

It was on 2 January 1698 that Whitehall was destroyed. A Dutch laundress had left some clothes to dry in front of an open fire, and when these caught alight the flames immediately spread in a conflagration that lasted seventeen hours. Many parts of the palace were blown up with gunpowder to try to prevent the fire spreading, but despite all efforts, the damage was virtually total. Only the banqueting house in present-day Whitehall now remains.

It has been calculated that over a thousand royal apartments were lost, including the guard room, the wardrobe, the treasury, the privy council office, the secretary of state’s office and the chapel. And all these had contained numerous relics and pictures of former kings and queens. Some 150 houses or lodgings of the nobility were also destroyed. Twelve people lost their lives in the fire, including the unfortunate laundress whose carelessness had caused it.

John Evelyn recorded the event with succinct sharpness in his diary: ‘2. January. Whitehall burnt: nothing but walls and ruins left.’

JANUARY 3 1981

DEATH OF VICTORIA’S LAST HAEMOPHILIA-CARRYING GRANDCHILD

Towards the end of her life Queen Victoria was affectionately known as ‘the Grandmother of Europe’. She had borne nine children, almost all of whom had married into the royal houses of Europe and who had in their turn produced numerous offspring. What is known more clearly now than it was during her lifetime is that Victoria was a ‘carrier’ of a rare and lifethreatening disease, haemophilia. Two of her daughters, Princesses Alice and Beatrice, were also carriers, and her youngest son, Prince Leopold, was a haemophiliac. He passed the disease to his daughter Alice, who was a ‘carrier’, and she in turn passed it to her own son Viscount Trematon, who died in 1928, aged twenty-one.

Princess Alice, who married Queen Mary’s brother, Prince Alexander of Teck, was in fact the last survivor of Queen Victoria’s grandchildren, dying aged ninety-seven on 3 January 1981. She was better known in her later years as the Countess of Athlone, for she and her husband had been obliged to change their German name of Teck to a more British one during the First World War, when George V assumed the name of Windsor.

The history of the royal family’s haemophilia and the way that they spread it to the royal families of Europe is now well documented. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, bore singular personal witness to this situation, as her father, her brother and her son were all afflicted with ‘Victoria’s Gene’.

JANUARY 4 1642

CHARLES I ENTERS THE CHAMBER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

One of the most dramatic moments in the conflict between king and Parliament took place on 4 January 1642 when King Charles I burst into the chamber of the Commons to arrest five members who in his opinion had committed treason: John Pym, John Hampden, Arthur Haslerig, Denzil Holles and William Strode.

The Commons were outraged at this, and were further appalled when Charles addressed the Speaker, telling him that parliamentary privilege did not extend to traitors, and demanded that the five MPs should be arrested. The Speaker, William Lenthall, made his famous reply: ‘Your Majesty, I have ears to hear and eyes to see only as this honourable House shall command me.’

Charles was furious as he looked round in vain for the five members in question. Luckily for them, the king’s arrival had been foreseen and they had all managed to escape to the City by barge.

‘I see all my birds have flown,’ said Charles, as he stalked out of the chamber with the MPs derisively shouting ‘Privilege! Privilege!’ after him as he departed.

This was the first and only time that a monarch has dared to invade the privacy of the chamber of the House of Commons, and this incident finally triggered the civil war.

JANUARY 5 1066

DEATH OF KING EDWARD THE CONFESSOR

The saintly Edward the Confessor spent the last fifteen years of his reign and a tenth of his income on building Westminster Abbey. He did not actually found it, but he transformed a small earlier church into a vast Romanesque Benedictine abbey 300ft long, with a nave of twelve bays. At last, on 28 December 1065, Holy Innocents’ Day, his dream came to fruition: the new abbey was consecrated. However, by then Edward was on the brink of death; it must have been a great disappointment to him that he was too ill even to attend the consecration ceremony.

Just eight days later, on the eve of Epiphany, 5 January 1066, he passed away quietly in his nearby palace. The following day he was buried in the abbey he had worked so hard to build. It was the first burial there – indeed almost the first service there – and his bones lie there to this day.

Edward’s reputation for holiness spread far and wide even in his lifetime. He was kind to his subjects, generous to the poor, reputed to have visions, and was thought to have refused to consummate his marriage to Edith, daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex. He became known as ‘Confessor’ (one who bears witness to Christ by his life) to distinguish him from King Edward the Martyr (see MARCH 18).

Perhaps his most spectacular innovation was ‘touching for evil’. It was believed that his royal and holy power enabled him to cure illnesses, especially scrofula (‘the King’s Evil’) simply by touch. It became a custom practised by English kings and queens right down to the eighteenth century and Dr Johnson was ‘touched’, as a child, by Queen Anne.

A widespread legend, depicted in medieval art, told how Edward had once given a gold ring to a beggar near Westminster. The man disappeared, and years later two English pilgrims from Ludlow, travelling in Syria, met an old man who revealed himself as St John the Apostle. He gave them the ring, and charged them to return it to King Edward, and to tell him that he would die in six months’ time. The pilgrims did so, and it is said that Edward was buried with this very ring. The ring was later recovered, and its sapphire is now reputedly set in the State Crown, worn at the state opening of parliament.

Edward the Confessor was canonised in 1161 and for centuries he was regarded as England’s patron saint.

Also on this day:

1066 The Saxon Earl Harold Godwinson, aged about forty-six, son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and Gytha, a cousin of King Canute, was elected to be king.

JANUARY 6 1066

HAROLD II IS CROWNED WITHIN HOURS OF THE CONFESSOR’S FUNERAL

With indecent speed and ruthless determination Harold acted immediately after Edward the Confessor’s funeral to get himself elected king. Literally within hours he gathered those members of the Witan who were on hand, having already come to Westminster to attend Edward’s funeral, and extracted their consent to his election as Edward’s successor. Arguably, it was not a fully representative gathering, but Harold’s standing was high, and he knew that there was no immediate opposition from within the Witan itself.

Again within hours he arranged for Ealdred, Archbishop of York, to prepare for his coronation. And once again the churchmen and nobles processed into the abbey, this time dressed with the finery of a jubilant occasion: the first coronation in the new abbey. It was a moment of great solemnity when Harold took up the ceremonial axe, symbol of the nation, and promised to maintain justice and peace. The ageing archbishop prayed that Harold would never fail, either in governing his people in peace, or if need be to lead his armies to victory. And then came the crowning, the anointing, the blessing.

But throughout the abbey everyone knew that this acceptance of the crown was a blasphemous denial of the sacred oath of fealty and homage which Harold had publicly sworn to Duke William of Normandy. True, it was a promise made under duress and in dubious circumstances. Many years previously Harold had been tricked into making this oath over holy relics when he was virtually held a prisoner by William after being shipwrecked on the Normandy coast. Nevertheless, a promise is a promise. Would God avenge? And perhaps more urgently, what would Duke William do now?

1540

HENRY VIII MARRIES ANNE OF CLEVES

Henry’s first meeting with Anne of Cleves, on New Year’s Day 1540, was a complete disaster. A nobleman who was present declared ‘that he never saw his highness so marvellously astonished and abashed as on that occasion’. Henry’s disappointment was intense. His immediate reaction was to demand ‘that some means should be found for obviating the necessity of completing his engagement’.

Quickly a council was summoned to produce a legal objection to the marriage, and much was made of the fact that Anne had already been promised to a previous suitor, Francis of Lorraine. However, it was a trumped-up objection and although Henry roared out his displeasure to his trembling minister, Thomas Cromwell, allegedly calling Anne a ‘Flander’s mare’ and ‘Dutch cow’, it became increasingly clear that he would have to go through with the match.

Poor Anne, then aged twenty-four and by no means as ill-looking as the king imagined, was subjected to numerous snubs and discourtesies. Henry refused to attend the welcoming ceremonies. However, on 5 January, when pressed for a wedding date, Henry suddenly announced that it would be the following day, the Feast of the Epiphany. And in a fit of temper, to make everything as inconvenient as possible for everybody, he fixed the time at eight o’clock in the morning!

Also on this day:

1367 Birth of the future King Richard II at Bordeaux, son of the ‘Black Prince’ and Joan of Kent.

1610 Investiture of Prince Henry, son of James I, as Prince of Wales.

JANUARY 7 1114

ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD MATILDA BECOMES AN EMPRESS

Henry I’s daughter Matilda was aged only eight in 1110, when she was sent abroad to Germany to become engaged to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V. He was thirty at the time, and obviously he had to wait a little before Matilda was quite ready to marry him. For the next few years, therefore, she was given an intensive course in speaking German and acquiring the necessary skills and accomplishments to be his wife.

In 1114 Matilda was just coming up to her twelfth birthday, so the time was ripe for their marriage. Accordingly, on 7 January, a great wedding took place, attended by princes, dukes, archbishops and dignitaries from all over Europe. Matilda was now ‘Empress Matilda’. If her husband had lived, Matilda would have been merely a forgotten pawn in the royal marriage-market of those days. However, when he died, Matilda was only twenty-three and still a highly valuable prize in the nuptial stakes. Her father, Henry I, gave her away for the second time, to marry Geoffrey (‘The Handsome’) Count of Anjou.

Empress Matilda’s life was only just beginning, for she was soon to be declared heiress to the throne of England after her brother had been drowned in the White Ship disaster. And then, on her father’s death, when Stephen seized the throne, she was to spend years waging bloody civil war, trying to assert her rights. Perhaps her most important legacy was a posthumous one. Her son by Geoffrey became England’s Henry II, the first of the Planagenets, a dynasty that was to last for 330 years, until Henry Tudor overthrew Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

1536

CATHERINE OF ARAGON DIES

Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife, died this day in Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire, where she had been kept virtually a prisoner for the last years of her life, after Henry VIII had discarded her. Throughout this time she was in declining health, suffering from cancer: an autopsy revealed a ‘black and hideous’ growth on her heart. It took Henry three weeks to decide where she should be buried. After all, a public funeral in London would probably have stirred up trouble, for the dead queen was still held in great popular esteem. So, ignoring Catherine’s own wishes, he chose Peterborough Cathedral, which was then the abbey church of Peterborough.

She lies there still, buried in the north-west transept – a calculated insult, for a person of her dignity should have been buried near the high altar, a point which the Spanish ambassador was quick to notice. Shortly after the funeral, some of Catherine’s friends had the nerve to suggest to the king ‘that it would well become his greatness to rear a stately monument to her memory’. His reply was that ‘He would have to her memory one of the goodliest monuments in Christendom.’

It was an evasive reply. What it turned out to mean was that when he ordered the wholesale destruction of the monasteries, he gave special instructions that the abbey church of Peterborough should be spared, as it contained her remains. In a sense, therefore, the whole of the cathedral may be regarded as a monument to Catherine, though there is merely a brass plate on the floor to her memory.

Also on this day:

1796 Birth of Princess Charlotte, daughter of the future George IV and Caroline of Brunswick.

JANUARY 8 1397

THE NEW QUEEN OF ENGLAND IS CROWNED, AGED EIGHT

Richard II’s first queen, Anne of Bohemia, died in 1394 aged only twentyeight, so it was only natural for him to seek another bride. But with quite extraordinary eccentricity he chose the seven-year-old Princess Isabella of Valois, daughter of Charles the Mad. He married her in November 1396 in Calais. He was twenty-nine at the time.

Obviously it was a political marriage, and Richard hoped by it to gain a permanent peace with France. Nevertheless, the marriage raised many eyebrows. When Isabella arrived in London the crowds on London Bridge trying to catch a glimpse of her, as she made her way down the Thames from Kennington to the Tower of London, were so thick that nine people were crushed to death.

Early the following year little Isabella was given a sumptuous coronation in Westminster Abbey. She had brought with her a wardrobe of astonishing richness, including a robe and mantle made of red velvet embossed with birds of goldsmiths’ work, perching upon branches made of pearls and emeralds. The robe was edged with ‘miniver’ (white fur) and the mantle lined with ermine.

Richard was kind to Isabella, who was taken to live and grow up in Windsor Castle. However, events overtook this odd marriage and within a couple of years Richard was forced to abdicate and died in mysterious circumstances. The usurper Henry IV proposed that Isabella should marry his son, the future Henry V, but Isabella proudly refused. Eventually she was sent back to France, where she married Charles, Duke of Orleans.

Sadly, she died in childbirth, aged only twenty.

An ironic twist to this affair is that Henry eventually married Isabella’s sister, Catherine of Valois, after his victory at Agincourt. She appears, rather coyly, in Shakespeare’s Henry V. Thus two French sisters married two English kings.

JANUARY 9 1806

GEORGE III FORBIDS THE PRINCE OF WALES TO ATTEND NELSON’S FUNERAL

St Paul’s Cathedral was packed to capacity on this January day in 1806 to honour England’s greatest sailor, Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson. Oddly enough, no royal representative attended his funeral, for George III did not approve of Nelson’s affair with Lady Hamilton and flatly refused to allow his son, the future George IV, to go.

The funeral was an elaborate affair. Nelson’s body had been taken to Greenwich aboard his old flagship, HMS Victory, and after lying in state in the Painted Hall of the seamen’s hospital for three days, it was taken up the Thames on his barge, rowed by his own crew. The final stage of the journey through the crowded streets of London was on a funeral car shaped like a warship.

There is a curious royal connection as Nelson was finally laid to rest in the crypt of St Paul’s. His tomb is surmounted by a massive sarcophagus of black marble, which had been made almost three hundred years before, on the orders of Cardinal Wolsey. It is not known whether Wolsey intended it for himself, or whether it was to be as a macabre gift for his master, Henry VIII. For centuries this sarcophagus lay unused in the tomb-house of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, but on the death of Nelson it was taken out and dusted down. There was a worthy recipient for it at last.

JANUARY 10 1931

EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, MEETS MRS SIMPSON FOR THE FIRST TIME

No one could have guessed that a house-party in Melton Mowbray, organised by Thelma, Lady Furness, would change the course of the English monarchy. But it was here that the heir to the throne, the future King Edward VIII, met Wallis Simpson for the first time. According to Edward himself, in his autobiography A King’s Story, it was a cold, damp, foggy winter’s weekend, and so when Wallis Simpson was introduced to him he chose to open the conversation with a remark asking whether she, as an American, was missing the comfort of central heating.

He tells how a ‘mocking look came into her eyes’ and her reply must have astonished him: ‘I am sorry, Sir, but you have disappointed me.’ She went on to say: ‘Every American woman who comes to your country is always asked that same question. I had hoped for something more original from the Prince of Wales.’

It was a daring gambit. Edward moved away to talk to other guests, but he tells us that ‘the echoes of the passage lingered’. The memory remained in his mind, and when he next saw her, at a function at Buckingham Palace, he recounts how ‘I was struck by the grace of her carriage and the natural dignity of her movements.’

He had met his destiny.

Also on this day:

1645 William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and supporter of Charles I, was beheaded on Tower Hill.