Britain's Kings and Queens [antikvár]

FOREWORD Bj Patrick W. Alontacjue-Smith Editor, D ehrett' s Peerage THE descent of the early kings of England was traced by AngloSaxon chroniclers to Woden and Adam. Although such ancestral antiquity cannot be considered seriously, The Queen's forbears can be proved for nearly 1,500 years and for fifty-three generations. Heading her pedigree (as shown by the family tree on the inside cover) is Cerdic, a 6th-century West Saxon chieftain. The dynasty he founded endured for over 500 years, its kings eventually becoming overlords and finally kings of all England. By far the greatest of these " Fighting Kings of Wessex" was Alfréd the Great. Early in the 1 ith century England became part of King Canute's vast empire, which stretched from Ireland to Riga on the Baltic. When Canute's unruly sons were dead, Edward, later known as Edward the Confessor, of the English royal family returned from exile to claim the throne. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Harold II, who was alsó Canute's cousin. This last Anglo-Saxon king became The Queen's ancestor through his daughter, Gytha, wife of the Grand Duke of Kiev. Her son, Mstislav Harold, became the ancestor of Philippa, queen of Edward III. William the Conqueror regarded himself as the legitimate successor of King Edward. His son, Henry I, united the new ruling house with the old by marrying Matilda of Scotland, whose mother was a great-niece of Edward. Although Henry declared his daughter, Matilda, to be his successor, on his death in 113$ his nephew, Stephen of Blois, acquired the throne. Matilda fought for her birthright, and eventually Stephen agreed that her son, Henry, should be his successor. Ás Henry II he succeeded in 1154. Although Stephen's family was thus displaced from the succession, The Queen descends from his daughter, Matilda of Boulogne. Henry II was the first Plantagenet king. The longest dynasty since the Conquest, the Plantagenets held the throne for over 300 years, eventually splitting into the Houses of York and Lancaster, whose rivalry culminated in the Wars of the Roses. The Queen has both Yorkist and Lancastrian ancestors, for Henry VII, heir of Lancaster through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, married Elizabeth of York. In 1553 England was ruled by the first queen regnant, Mary I (unless the nine-day reign of her cousin, Lady Jane Grey, be counted), who was succeeded by her half-sister, the great Queen Elizabeth I. Although neither of the last three Tudor sovereigns produced issue, The Queen is doubly descended from the Tudors: through her father, from Henry VIII's elder sister, Margaret, who married James IV (Stewart), King of Scotland; and through her mother, from Henry's younger sister, Mary, Queen of Francé, by her second marriage to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. The Stuarts (a French form of Stewart) derived their name from the hereditary oíhce of Steward of Scotland. They became royal when Róbert II succeeded to the throne of Scotland in 1371. The same surname continued when his descendant, Mary Queen of Scots, married Lord Darnley, for he, too, was a Stewart. The Queen's descent from the Stuarts is through Charles I's sister, Elizabeth, who married Frederick, the Elector Palatine of the Rhine, her youngest daughter, Sophia, becoming the mother of George I. Although George I and his son George II remained more Germán than English, the third Hanoverian king, George III, was born and bred in England and never once visited Hanover. As neither of his sons, George IV and William IV, had surviving issue, the crown descended to Victoria, a daughter of their younger brother, the Duke of Kent. Edward VII, who succeeded his mother, Queen Victoria, in 1901, belonged to his father's House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. It is said that the Prince Consort was descended in the male line from Hengist, a king of Kent, but his earliest proved ancestor was Thierry of Buzici, a Thuringian noble living in 950. The surname of Windsor was adopted by George V in 1917. No sovereign since the death of Queen Anne had possessed a surname, for both the dynasties of Hanover and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha were territorial ruling houses long before surnames came into vogue, and consequently there was no need to adopt them. Queen Elizabeth II succeeded to the Throne in 1952 bearing her husband's surname of Mountbatten, but shortly afterwards she announced that henceforth she and her children would be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor. In 1960 Her Majesty made it known that those of her descendants in the male line who would not ha ve the style and title of H.R.H. or prince or princess would bear the surname of Mountbatten-Windsor. * ? * above: Sections of the Bayeaux Tapestry in which the events of Conquest period are depicted. Traditionally, it was embroidered by Queen Matilda and her ladies-in-waiting. On the left St. Edward the Confessor is in his palaces in the centre his funeral procession is approaching Westminster Abbey, and on the right the coronation of Harold is seen. facing page: Queen Elizabeth II in procession in Westminster Abbey after her coronation. Page 2