by Alex David
explanation in Monarchs Facts Sheets); and the ‘Great Gems of State’ category in The Crown Jewels chapter is entirely my own creation as I do believe that those particular, incredible gemstones deserve to be known in a class of their own. Generally though, be assured that the royal information you find here is right and true.
I hope you enjoy reading this book as I enjoyed writing it.
As all reference and trivia books, it is not necessary to start at the beginning and read orderly until the end. Dip in and out at your leisure. Surf where your interest takes you. And be surprised, fascinated and perplexed at what you read. The institution of the British monarchy and its 1,000-year history are like an inextinguishable well, always springing up new surprises. It is a national saga with a dozen incarnations, hundreds of traditions, and a cast of thousands. What you will find in here is just a sketch of it. To paraphrase Marco Polo’s introduction to his account of his wonders-filled trip to medieval China, what you read in this book is not even half of what I learned…
Alex David
London, June 2017.
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Monarchs
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The First King of England
It can be difficult to determine exactly who was the first King of England. Unlike other countries, England’s
unification was achieved in stages, and the English monarchy developed by degrees, between the 8th and
11th centuries. There are several Anglo-Saxon monarchs who can be said to have been the first to reign over a unified country, or a unified English people, between the 790s and 970s. They include:
Offa, 790s
Offa, King of Mercia, (c.730- 796) is sometimes called the first king of England because he established lordship over most of the English territories towards the end of his reign in the 790s. He never ruled over Northumbria
however, and his dominions were broken up after his death.
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Alfred the Great, 880s
Alfred (849-899) was the first monarch to be given the title ‘King of the English’. Originally King of Wessex (roughly Southern England) from 871, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that after he led the English against Viking invaders in the 880s “all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King
Alfred.” He is therefore traditionally acknowledged as the first king who ruled over the English people, however his dominions excluded most of Eastern and Northern
England.
Aethelstan, 920s
The grandson of Alfred of the Great, Aethelstan (c.895-939) was the first king who, after conquering Northern England, ruled over the whole modern English territory.
On 12 July 927 he was recognized ‘King of England and Overlord of Britain’ by the other rulers of the island, and this day is taken by some as the foundation date of England. After his death however York and Northumbria escaped royal control and became independent again.
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Eadred, 950s
Half brother of Aethelstan, Eadred (923-955) was the English king under whom the kingdoms of York and
Northumbria permanently lost their independence and became part of the Kingdom of England around the year 952. The permanent unification England under one crown therefore dates back from his reign. Sadly, Eadred died shortly of illness after this unification and is almost forgotten today, overshadowed in importance by the
other monarchs in this list.
Edgar the Peaceful, 959-975
The nephew of Eadred, Edgar (c.943-975) was the last great unifier of the English nation. After pacifying the country from the internal divisions that had arisen under Eadred’s successor, Edgar centralised the state, the church and the currency, and divided the country into the familiar counties of today. Most significantly, his achievements were recognised when he became the first monarch to receive an official coronation as King of the English in 973. No local kingdoms or internal divisions arose again in England after his death.
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Royal Dynasties
Listed below are the 10 dynastic Royal Houses that have ruled in England/Britain since the Kingdom of England began to be unified by Alfred the Great in the 880s.
House of Wessex
Named after the local kingdom in Southern England from which the first Anglo-Saxon kings of a unified Kingdom of England emerged.
RULED: 880s to 1013, 1014 to 1016, 1042 to 1066
MONARCHS: 11
Alfred the Great, Edward the Elder, Aethelstan, Edmund the Elder, Eadred, Eadwig, Edgar the Peaceful, Edmund the Martyr, Aethelred the Unready, Edmund Ironside, Edward the Confessor
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House of Denmark
Named after the Danish invader kings who ruled the
country briefly in the 11th century.
RULED: 1013 to 1014, 1016 to 1042
MONARCHS: 4
Sweyn Forkbeard, Cnut, Harold Harefoot, Hartacnut House of Godwin
Named after Harold Godwinson (meaning ‘son of
Godwin’), an Anglo-Saxon earl who reigned as king in 1066 after the rule of the House of Wessex came to an end, and before the Norman Conquest.
RULED: 1066
MONARCHS: 1
Harold Godwinson
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House of Normandy
Named after the place of origin of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, who conquered England in 1066.
RULED: 1066 to 1154
MONARCHS: 4
William I, William II, Henry I, Stephen
House of Plantagenet
Named after Geoffrey Plantagenet, the father of the first Plantagenet King, Henry II. The name itself refers to the Planta Genista, a broom flower Geoffrey adopted as his personal emblem.
RULED: 1154 to 1485
MONARCHS: 14
Henry II, Richard I, John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III
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In the 15th century, the House of Plantagenet split in the following two branches that ruled England separately over an 85-year period:
House of Plantagenet—Lancaster Branch
Named after John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster,
father of the first Lancastrian King.
Ruled: 1399 to 1461, 1470 to 1471
Monarchs: 3
Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI
House of Plantagenet—York Branch
Named after Richard, Duke of York,
father of the first Yorkist King.
Ruled: 1461 to 1470, 1471 to 1485
Monarchs: 3
Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III
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House of Tudor
Named after Owen Tudor, the Welsh paternal
grandfather of the first Tudor King, Henry VII. Henry himself was known as Henry Tudor before his accession.
RULED: 1485 to 1603
MONARCHS: 5
Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane (disputed), Mary I, Elizabeth I
House of Stuart
Named after the Scottish royal dynasty, called Stewart in Scotland, that inherited the English throne after the death of the last Tudor monarch because of their descent from Henry VII. The name was changed from Stewart to Stuart by Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley, parents of James I, the first Stuart monarch of England.
RULED: 1603 to 1714
MONARCHS: 7
James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, William III and Mary II, Anne
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House of Hanover
Named after the Electorate of Hanover, the German state whose Protestant ruling family inherited the British throne after the death of the last Stuart monarch,
because of their descent from James I. Although the Electorate was formally known as the Electorate of
Brunswick-Luneburg, it was more commonly referred to by the name of its capital city, Hanover.
RULED: 1714 to 1901
MONARCHS: 6
George I, George II, George III
, George IV, William IV, Victoria
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Named after the German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, to whose ducal family Prince Albert, husband to Queen
Victoria, belonged. With Queen Victoria’s approval, Albert passed on his family name to their children and descendants.
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RULED: 1901 to 1917
MONARCHS: 2
Edward VII, George V
House of Windsor
Named after the town of Windsor, Berkshire that is the location of Windsor Castle, the oldest inhabited royal castle in Britain. King George V, who belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, officially changed the
German-sounding name of his dynasty to the more
acceptable English name of Windsor in 1917, during the First World War.
RULED: 1917 to present
MONARCHS: 4
George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II
Note: George V is listed in two different dynasties as he was both a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1910-1917) and the House of Windsor (1917-1936).
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The Monarchs
of Anglo-Saxon England
From Alfred the Great
to 1066
Listed below are the monarchs who reigned in Anglo-
Saxon England from Alfred the Great, the first king to be acknowledged King of the English, to Harold Godwinson, the last king to reign before the Norman Conquest.
Monarch
Reigned:
(Date of Birth/Death)
House of Wessex
Alfred the Great
(849-899)
880s-899
Edward the Elder
(c.874/77-924)
899-924
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Aethelstan
(895-939)
924-939
Edmund The Elder
(c.921-946)
939-946
Eadred
(c.923-955)
946-955
Eadwig
(c.940-959)
955-959
Edgar the Peaceful
(c.943-975)
959-975
Edmund the Martyr
(c.962-978)
975-978
Aethelred the Unready
(c.968-1016)
978-1013, 1014-1016
House of Denmark
Sweyn Forkbeard
(c.960-1014)
1013-1014
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House of Wessex
Edmund Ironside
(c.993-1016)
1016
House of Denmark
Cnut
(c.995-1035)
1016-1035
Harold Harefoot
(c.1016-1040)
1035-1040
Harthacnut
(1018-1042)
1040-1042
House of Wessex
Edward the Confessor
(c.1003-1066)
1042-1066
House of Godwin
Harold Godwinson
(c.1020-1066)
1066
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The Monarchs of Scotland
From Kenneth MacAlpin
to 1707
Listed below are the monarchs who reigned in Scotland from Kenneth MacAlpin, the traditional first King of Scots in the 9th century, to Queen Anne, the last monarch of an independent Scotland before the Act of Union with
England was passed in 1707.
Note: exact dates of birth for many monarchs of the House of Alpin are not known.
Monarch
Reigned:
(Date of Birth/Death)
House of Alpin
Kenneth I MacAlpin
(c.810-858)
c.843-858
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Donald I
(c.812-862)
858-862
Constantine I
(? - 877)
862-877
Aedh
(c.850s-878)
877-878
Giric
(?-889)
878-889
Donald II
(?-900)
889-900
Constantine II
(c.870s-952)
900-943
Malcolm I
(c.900-954)
943-954
Indulf
(?-962)
954-962
Duff
(?-967)
962-967
Colin
(?-971)
967-971
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Amlaib
(?-977)
971-977
Kenneth II
(c.950s-995)
971-995
Constantine III
(c.960s-997)
995-997
Kenneth III
(c.960s-1005)
997-1005
Malcolm II
(c.954-1034)
1005-1034
House of Dunkeld
Duncan I
(c.1001-1040)
1034-1040
Macbeth
(c.1005-1057)
1040-1057
Lulach
(c.1030-1058)
1057-1058
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Malcolm III
(c.1031-1093)
1058-1093
Donald III
(c.1033-1099)
1093-1094, 1094-1097
Duncan II
(c.1060-1094)
1094
Edgar
(c.1074-1107)
1097-1107
Alexander I
(c.1078-1124)
1107-1124
David I
(1084-1153)
1124-1153
Malcolm IV
(1141-1165)
1153-1165
William I
(c.1143-1214)
1165-1214
Alexander II
(1198-1249)
1214-1249
Alexander III
(1241-1286)
1249-1286
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House of Norway (Disputed)
Margaret
(1283-1290)
1286-1290
First Interregnum
1290-1292
Scotland is administered by the Guardians of Scotland whilst Edward I of England arbitrates between different claimants to the Scottish throne.
House of Balliol
John Balliol
(c.1249-1314)
1292-1296
Second Interregnum
1296-1306
Scotland is administered again by the Guardians of
Scotland after John Balliol is deposed and the Scots fight against Edward I of England who wishes to conquer the country. Between 1304-1306 Scotland is occupied
