King Charles III is Not the King of England!

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King Charles III, King George III, King Henry VIII, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Kingdom of Ireland, Kingdom of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Principality of Wales, Queen Anne, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

From the Emperor’s Desk: This is an updated and expanded article I wrote in 2012 at the start of my blog when Elizabeth II was Queen.

Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

I am a bit of a stickler for correct and proper usage of styles and titles. So it is a bit of a pet peeve of mine when these are used improperly. The main one that bugs me is calling Charles III, King of England. That bothers me because “King of England” is not his correct title! His correct title, simplified here, is King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England has not been a separate sovereign state since 1707.

Wales

The country of Wales was once an independent Principality. The conquest of Wales by Edward I of England was completed by 1283, though Owain Glyndŵr rebelled against English rule in the early 15th century and briefly re-established an independent Welsh principality. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542.

Ireland

In 1166, Mac Murrough King of Leinster, had fled to Anjou, France, following a war involving Tighearnán Ua Ruairc, of Breifne, and sought the assistance of the Angevin King Henry II of England, in recapturing his kingdom.

In 1171, Henry arrived in Ireland in order to review the general progress of the expedition. He wanted to re-exert royal authority over the invasion which was expanding beyond his control. Henry successfully re-imposed his authority over Strongbow and the Cambro-Norman warlords and persuaded many of the Irish kings to accept him as their overlord, an arrangement confirmed in the 1175 Treaty of Windsor.

The invasion was legitimised by reference to provisions of the alleged Papal Bull Laudabiliter, issued by an Englishman, Pope Adrian IV, in 1155. The document apparently encouraged Henry to take control in Ireland in order to oversee the financial and administrative reorganisation of the Irish Church and its integration into the Roman Church system.

In 1172, Pope Alexander III further encouraged Henry to advance the integration of the Irish Church with Rome. Henry was authorised to impose a tithe of one penny per hearth as an annual contribution. This church levy called Peter’s Pence, is extant in Ireland as a voluntary donation. In turn, Henry II assumed the title of Lord of Ireland which Henry conferred on his younger son, John Lackland, in 1185.

This defined the Anglo-Norman administration in Ireland as the Lordship of Ireland. When Henry’s successor, King Richard I of England, died unexpectedly in 1199, King John inherited the crown of England and retained the Lordship of Ireland. The Kings of England remained Lord of Ireland until the Crown of Ireland Act 1542.

Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland

When King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church to marry Anne Boleyn his legal claim to the lordship of Ireland was tenuous because that title had been granted by the Pope and was connected to the Roman Catholic Church. The solution to this quandary was to elevate Henry’s title from Lord to King.

By the terms of the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, the Parliament of Ireland created Henry VIII of England as “King of Ireland”. Although the Kings of England, and later the Kings of England and Scotland, we’re also Kings of Ireland, Ireland was not politically joined to England and Scotland and remained a separate independent Kingdom and was ruled in a personal union by the king or queen.

With Wales having been incorporated within the Kingdom of England, and Ireland as a separate Kingdom ruled by the English monarch, let us now focus on how the kingdoms of England and Scotland were united.

Here is a little historical background on the issue. For centuries England and Scotland were separate sovereign Kingdoms each with their own monarch. There was not always peace between the two states as England constantly tried to keep Scotland subdued. Edward I of England (1272-1307) is not known as the Hammer of the Scots for nothing!

The Kingdoms of England and Scotland ruled by separate monarchs until 1603. Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland died without issue and her closest relative that had a claim to the throne was her cousin King James VI of Scotland (1567-1625).

James I-VI, King of England, Scotland and Ireland

James VI of Scotland was deemed the rightful heir though there is debate as to whether or not Queen Elizabeth I actually named the Scottish King as her successor; he was accepted as King and became King James I of England and Ireland. There were other candidates for the English Throne besides the Scottish King, but that’s a subject for another blog entry.

The accession of the Scottish King on the English throne did not politically unite the two nations. Both Kingdoms were ruled by James but remained individual sovereign states that retained their own parliaments and laws. In England and Ireland he is reckoned as James I and in Scotland he is reckoned as James VI.

Although James I-VI liked to consider himself as the first King of Great Britain this title was self appointed and was not approved of by Parliament and the title had no legal barring.

Therefore, from 1603 until 1707 (excluding the Commonwealth period when the monarchy was abolished) the title of the monarch was King/Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (they also called themselves the Kings of France but that is another story).

In 1707 came the Act of Union uniting the Parliaments of England and Scotland creating the new nation of Great Britain. The uniting of England and Scotland has a complex history which I have written about before on this blog, and will do a deeper dive into it at some future point.

Anne, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland 1702-1707, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland 1707-1714

Suffice it to say, at this point England and Scotland ceased to be independent sovereign states and were then, and now, considered separate states within the union. Ireland remained separate from Great Britain and remained in personal union with the monarch.

The title of the monarch changed accordingly at this time and the titles of King or Queen of England and King or Queen of Scotland passed into history. Anne was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland when the Act of Union of 1707 was passed and her title was changed to Queen of Great Britain and Ireland.

George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg

The title remained King or Queen of Great Britain and Ireland for 93 years until the nation expanded once more. The Act of Union of 1801 joined the Parliament of Ireland with the Parliament of Great Britain. Ireland was now included in the political union with Great Britain and the new state became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

King George III (1760-1820) was the monarch at the time and his title changed accordingly. He was now King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was at this point the pretence to the title King of France was finally dropped.

George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 1760-1801, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg

From 1714 to 1837 the British monarch was also Elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg within the German Holy Roman Empire until 1806 when the Empire was abolished. In 1814 Hanover was created a Kingdom by the Congress of Vienna in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. Although the British monarchs listed their Hanoverian titles among their British titles, Britain and Hanover were ruled separately and were not politically unified.

In 1920 in the reign of King George V (1910-1936) a large portion of Ireland was given its independence and only the northern counties remained united with Britain. However, this part of Ireland continued to be a constitutional monarchy with the King of the United Kingdom as to their Head of State. The Free State of Ireland was separate from Northern Ireland which was still a part of the United Kingdom.

The Free State of Ireland came to an end with The Republic of Ireland Act 1948, which came into force on April 18, 1949, the 33rd anniversary of the beginning of the Easter Rising. This act created The Republic of Ireland.

Charles III, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Outside the Irish state, “Great Britain, Ireland” was not officially omitted from the royal title until 1953 when Elizabeth II began her reign.

Today, the official title of the King is: Charles III, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of his other realms and territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Now having said my rant and given the historical background on the evolution of the title of the British monarch I must be honest and say that I do miss the traditional titles of King or Queen of England and King or Queen of Scotland. Those are in the past unless devolution comes to the UK and England and Scotland becomes independent once again. If that does happen I think we would see a return to how things were prior to 1707 when both England and Scotland shared the same monarch.

Titles of Royalty and Nobility within the British Monarchy: Earl

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1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Anglo-Saxon, Count, Earl, Earldom, England, Louis Mountbatten, Peerage, Scotland, Sheriff

Earl is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word eorl, meaning “a man of noble birth or rank”. The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant “chieftain”, particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king’s stead. After the Norman Conquest, it became the equivalent of the continental count (in England in the earlier period, it was more akin to a duke; in Scotland, it assimilated the concept of mormaer).

In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of earl never developed; instead, countess is used.

It is important to distinguish between the land controlled directly by the earl, in a landlord-like sense, and the region over which he could exercise his office. Scottish use of Latin terms provincia and comitatus makes the difference clear.

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

Initially these terms were synonymous, as in England, but by the 12th century they were seen as distinct concepts, with comitatus referring to the land under direct control of the earl, and provincia referring to the province; hence, the comitatus might now only be a small region of the provincia. Thus, unlike England, the term county, which ultimately evolved from the Latin comitatus, was not historically used for Scotland’s main political subdivisions.

Sheriffs were introduced at a similar time to earls, but unlike England, where sheriffs were officers who implemented the decisions of the shire court, in Scotland they were specifically charged with upholding the king’s interests in the region, thus being more like a coroner.

As such, a parallel system of justice arose, between that provided by magnates (represented by the earls), and that by the king (represented by sheriffs), in a similar way to England having both Courts Baron and Magistrates, respectively. Inevitably, this led to a degree of forum shopping, with the king’s offering – the Sheriff – gradually winning.

As in England, as the centuries wore on, the term earl came to be disassociated from the office, and later kings started granting the title of earl without it, and gradually without even an associated comitatus. By the 16th century there started to be earls of towns, of villages, and even of isolated houses; it had simply become a label for marking status, rather than an office of intrinsic power.

In 1746, in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising, the Heritable Jurisdictions Act brought the powers of the remaining ancient earldoms under the control of the sheriffs; earl is now simply a noble rank.

An Earl will wear a coronet especially during the coronation of a Monarch.

Coronet of an earl (as worn by the 17th Earl of Devon at the Coronation of Elizabeth II and now on display at Powderham Castle)

A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. By one definition, a coronet differs from other kinds of crowns in that a coronet never has arches, and from a tiara in that a coronet completely encircles the head, while a tiara does not. By a slightly different definition, a crown is worn by an emperor, empress, king or queen; a coronet by a nobleman or lady.

Titles of Royalty and Nobility within the British Monarchy: Marquess

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1st Marquess of Milford Haven, First Sea Lord, King George V of the United Kingdom, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Marquess, Marquis, Peerage of the United Kingdom, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

A marquess is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. Marquess (from the French marquis, march). This is a reference to the Marches (borders) between Wales, England and Scotland.

The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) of a marquess is a marchioness or marquise. The children’s titles are the same as those of a duke’s children (Lord and Lady). These titles are also used to translate equivalent Asian styles, as in Imperial China and Imperial Japan.

A marquess is addressed as ‘Lord followed by thier first name.

United Kingdom

In Great Britain, and historically in Ireland, the correct spelling of the aristocratic title of this rank is marquess (although on the European mainland and in Canada, the French spelling of marquis is used in English).

In Scotland, the French spelling is also sometimes used. In Great Britain and historically in Ireland, the title ranks below a Duke and above an Earl.

The theoretical distinction between a marquess and other titles has, since the Middle Ages, faded into obscurity. In times past, the distinction between a count and a marquess was that the land of a marquess, called a march, was on the border of the country, while a count’s land, called a county, often was not.

As a result of this, a marquess was trusted to defend and fortify against potentially hostile neighbors and was thus more important and ranked higher than a count. As mentioned the title is ranked below that of a duke, which was often, for a time, was largely restricted to the royal family.

The rank of marquess was a relatively late introduction to the British peerage: no marcher lords had the rank of Marquess, though some were Earls. On the evening of the Coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838, the Prime Minister Lord Melbourne explained to her why (from her journals):

I spoke to [Lord Melbourne] about the numbers of Peers present at the Coronation, & he said it was quite unprecedented. I observed that there were very few Viscounts, to which he replied “There are very few Viscounts,” that they were an old sort of title & not really English; that they came from Vice-Comites; that Dukes & Barons were the only real English titles; – that Marquises were likewise not English, & that people were mere made Marquises, when it was not wished that they should be made Dukes.

One of the most well known Marquees was the form Prince Louis of Battenberg who became Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford-Haven.

Louis Alexander of Battenberg was born in Graz, Styria, on May 24, 1854, the eldest son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine by his morganatic marriage to Countess Julia von Hauke. Because of his morganatic parentage, Louis did not inherit his father’s rank in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine; and, from birth, his style of Illustrious Highness and title of Count of Battenberg instead derived from the rank given to his mother at the time of her marriage.

On December 26, 1858, he automatically became His Serene Highness Prince Louis of Battenberg when his mother was elevated to Princess of Battenberg with the style of Serene Highness, by decree of her husband’s brother, Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.

On April 30, 1884 at Darmstadt in the presence of Queen Victoria, Prince Louis married her granddaughter, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine.

HSH Prince Louis of Battenberg

His wife was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria’s second daughter Princess Alice and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Through the Hesse family, Prince and Princess Louis of Battenberg were first cousins once removed. They had known each other since childhood, and invariably spoke English to each other. As wedding presents Louis received the British Order of the Bath and the Star and Chain of the Hessian Order of Louis.

After a naval career lasting more than forty years, in 1912 he was appointed First Sea Lord, the professional head of the British naval service. With the First World War looming, he took steps to ready the British fleet for combat, but his background as a German prince forced his retirement once the war began.

During the war, persistent rumours that the British Royal Family must be pro-German, given their dynastic origins and many German relatives, prompted the King to abandon his subsidiary German dynastic titles and adopt an English surname.

At the behest of the King, Louis relinquished the title Prince of Battenberg in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, along with the style of Serene Highness, on July 14, 1917. At the same time, Louis anglicised his family name, changing it from “Battenberg” to “Mountbatten”, having considered but rejected “Battenhill” as an alternative.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, First Sea Lord

On November 7, King George V created him Marquess of Milford Haven, Earl of Medina, and Viscount Alderney in the peerage of the United Kingdom. He was offered a Dukedom by George V, but declined as he could not afford the lavish lifestyle expected of a Duke.

Louis’s wife ceased to use her own title of Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine and became known as the Marchioness of Milford Haven. His three younger children ceased to use their princely titles and assumed courtesy titles as children of a British marquess; his eldest daughter, Princess Alice, had married into the Greek Royal Family in 1903, and never had occasion to use the surname Mountbatten. However, her only son, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, adopted the name when he became a British subject in 1947.

While the transition in names and titles was being effected, Louis spent some time at the home of his eldest son, George. After anglicising his surname to Mountbatten and becoming Marquess of Milford Haven, Louis wrote in his son’s guestbook, “Arrived Prince Hyde, Departed Lord Jekyll”.

The Marquees of Milford Haven was the maternal grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II and the great-grandfather of King Charles III.

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark removes titles for Prince Joachim’s descendants

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counts and countess of Monpezat, Kingdom of Denmark, Prince Joachim of Denmark, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark., Royal Titles

Changes in title for Prince Joachim’s descendants – https://www.kongehuset.dk/en/news/changes-in-titles-and-forms-of-address-in-the-royal-family

“In April 2008, Her Majesty The Queen bestowed upon her sons, their spouses and their descendants the titles of count and countess of Monpezat. In May 2016, it was also announced that His Royal Highness Prince Christian, as the only one of The Queen’s grandchildren, is expected to receive an annuity from the state as an adult.

As a natural extension of this, Her Majesty has decided that, as of 1 January 2023, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim’s descendants can only use their titles as counts and countess of Monpezat, as the titles of prince and princess that they have held up until now will be discontinued. Prince Joachim’s descendants will thus have to be addressed as excellencies in the future. The Queen’s decision is in line with similar adjustments that other royal houses have made in various ways in recent years.

With her decision, Her Majesty The Queen wishes to create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves.

All four grandchildren maintain their places in the order of succession.”

Titles of Royalty and Nobility within the British Monarchy: Duke

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11th Duke of Beaufort., David Somerset, Duke, Duke of Cambridge, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Peerage of England, Peerage of Scotland, Royal Dukedom, Royal Titles

In this post I will examine the title of Duke, both royal and non-royal. The non-royal first.

Duke (from the Latin dux, leader). Outside of King or Queen this is the highest and most important rank within the nobility. Since its inception in the 14th century, there have been less than 500 dukes. Currently there are just 27 dukedoms in the peerage, held by 24 different people.

The correct way to formally address a duke or duchess is ‘Your Grace’. The eldest son of a duke will use one of the duke’s subsidiary titles, as a courtesy title, whilst other children will use the honorary title ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’ in front of their Christian names.

His Grace, David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort and is a male-line descendent of the House of Plantagenet, albeit through two illegitimate lines.

He and his family were descended in the male line from Edward III of England; the first Somerset was a legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, whose grandfather was a legitimized son of John of Gaunt. By the time he succeeded as Duke he was therefore considered the senior representative of the House of Plantagenet, through a legitimised line. Somerset’s father was the heir presumptive to the Dukedom of Beaufort and the large estates attached to it.

In the British peerage, a Royal Duke is a member of the British royal family, entitled to the titular dignity of prince and the style of His Royal Highness, who holds a dukedom.

Dukedoms are the highest titles in the British roll of peerage, and the holders of these particular dukedoms are princes of the blood royal. The holders of the dukedoms are royal, not the titles themselves. They are titles created and bestowed on legitimate sons and male-line grandsons of the British monarch, usually upon reaching their majority or marriage.

The titles can be inherited but cease to be called “royal” once they pass beyond the grandsons of a monarch. As with any peerage, once the title becomes extinct, it may subsequently be recreated by the reigning monarch at any time.

Royal status of dukedoms

In the United Kingdom, there is nothing intrinsic to any dukedom that makes it “royal”. Rather, these peerages are called Royal Dukedoms because they are created for, and held by, members of the royal family who are entitled to the titular dignity of prince and the style Royal Highness.

Although the term “royal duke” therefore has no official meaning per se, the category “Duke of the Blood Royal” was acknowledged as a rank conferring special precedence at court in the unrevoked 20th clause of the Lord Chamberlain’s order of 1520.

This decree accorded precedence to any peer related by blood to the sovereign above all others of the same degree within the peerage. The order did not apply within Parliament, nor did it grant precedence above the archbishop of Canterbury or other Great Officers of State such as is now enjoyed by royal dukes.

But it placed junior “Dukes of the Blood Royal” above the most senior non-royal duke, junior “Earls of the Blood Royal” above the most senior non-royal earl (cf. Earldom of Wessex), etc. It did not matter how distantly related to the monarch the peers might be (presumably they ranked among each other in order of succession to the Crown).

Although the 1520 order is theoretically still in effect, in fact the “Blood Royal” clause seems to have fallen into desuetude by 1917 when King George V limited the style of Royal Highness to children and male-line grandchildren of the sovereign. Thus peers of the blood royal who are neither sons nor grandsons of a sovereign are no longer accorded precedence above other peers.

Assuming that Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster and George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews succeed their fathers to become third Duke of Gloucester and third Duke of Kent respectively, their peerages (as created in 1928 and 1934) will cease to be royal dukedoms; instead their holders will become “ordinary” dukes.

The third dukes of Gloucester and Kent will each be styled His Grace because, as great-grandsons of King George V, they are not princes and are not styled HRH. Similarly, upon the death of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850–1942) (the third son of Queen Victoria), his only male-line grandson, Alastair, Earl of MacDuff (1914–43), briefly succeeded to his peerages and was styled His Grace. Before the 1917 changes, his style had been His Highness Prince Alastair of Connaught.

The Prince of Wales is also a Royal Duke. Prior to becoming the Prince of Wales he had been created Duke of Cambridge by Queen Elizabeth II on his wedding day in 2011. This is a title he still possesses.

When his father became King Charles III the Duke of Cambridge automatically became the Duke of Cornwall in the Peerage of England. This title is hereditary and is inherited by the eldest son of the sovereign.

The next day after inheriting the Duchy of Cornwall the King created his son Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.

The Duchy of Cornwall was created in 1337 by Edward III of England for his son and heir, Edward of Woodstock (also known as “The Black Prince”). A charter was also created which ruled that the eldest son of the king would be the duke of Cornwall.

Along with the Duchy of Cornwall the Duke of Cambridge also inherited other titles automatically: he became, as the eldest son of the monarch, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

In Scotland the Prince of Wales is known as the Duke of Rothesay. Duke of Rothesay which is also a Royal Dukedom, and was a title of the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707, of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and now of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

It is the title mandated for use by the heir apparent when in Scotland, in preference to the titles Duke of Cornwall (which also belongs to the eldest living son of the monarch, when and only when he is also heir apparent, by right) and Prince of Wales (traditionally granted to the heir apparent), which are used in the rest of the United Kingdom and overseas.

The title is named after Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, but is not associated with any legal entity or landed property, unlike the Duchy of Cornwall.

September 27, 1590: Death of Pope Urban VII after a 12 day reign

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Bishop of Rome, Ferdinando I de' Medici, Giovanni Battista Castagna, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pope Gregory XIII, Pope Sixtus V, Pope Urban VII, Roman Curia, Sovereign of the Papal States

Pope Urban VII (August 4, 1521 – September 27, 1590), born Giovanni Battista Castagna, was Bishop of Rome Pope of the Catholic Church, and sovereign ruler of the Papal States from September 15 to 27, 1590. His thirteen-day papacy was the shortest in history.

Giovanni Battista Castagna was born in Rome in 1521 to a noble family as the son of Cosimo Castagna of Genoa and Costanza Ricci Giacobazzi of Rome.

Castagna studied in universities all across Italy and obtained a doctorate in civil law and canon law when he finished his studies at the University of Bologna. Soon after he became auditor of his uncle, Cardinal Girolamo Verallo, whom he accompanied as datary on a papal legation to France.

He served as a constitutional lawyer and entered the Roman Curia during the pontificate of Pope Julius III as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura. Castagna was chosen to be the new Archbishop of Rossano on 1 March 1, 1553, and he would quickly receive all the minor and major orders culminating in his ordination to the priesthood on March 30, 1553 in Rome. He then received episcopal consecration a month after at the home of Cardinal Verallo.

He served as the Governor of Fano from 1555 to 1559 and later served as the Governor of Perugia and Umbria from 1559 to 1560. During the reign of Pius IV, he settled satisfactorily a long-standing boundary dispute between the inhabitants of Terni and Spoleto. Castagna would later participate in the Council of Trent from 1562 to 1563 and served as the president of several conciliar congregations.

He was appointed as the Apostolic Nuncio to Spain in 1565 and served there until 1572, resigning his post from his archdiocese a year later. He also served as the Governor of Bologna from 1576 to 1577. Among other positions, he was the Apostolic Nuncio to Venice from 1573 to 1577 and served also as the Papal Legate to Flanders and Cologne from 1578 to 1580.

Pope Gregory XIII elevated him to the cardinalate on December 12, 1583 and he was appointed as the Cardinal-Priest of San Marcello.

Papacy
Election

After the death of Pope Sixtus V, a conclave was convoked to elect a successor. Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany had been appointed a cardinal at the age of fourteen but was never ordained to the priesthood.

At the age of thirty-eight, he resigned from the cardinalate upon the death of his older brother, Francesco in 1587, to succeed to the title. (There were suspicions that Francesco and his wife died of arsenic poisoning after having dined at Ferdinando’s Villa Medici, although one story has Ferdinando as the intended target of his sister-in-law.) Ferdinando’s foreign policy attempted to free Tuscany from Spanish domination.

He was consequently opposed to the election of any candidate supported by Spain. He persuaded Cardinal Alessandro Peretti di Montalto, grand-nephew of Sixtus V, to switch his support from Cardinal Marco Antonio Colonna, which brought the support of the younger cardinals appointed by the late Sixtus.

Castagna, a seasoned diplomat of moderation and proven rectitude was elected as pope on September 15, 1590 and selected the pontifical name of “Urban VII”.

Activities

Urban VII’s short passage in the office gave rise to the world’s first known public smoking ban, as he threatened to excommunicate anyone who “took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose”.

Urban VII was known for his charity to the poor. He subsidized Roman bakers so they could sell bread under cost, and restricted the spending on luxury items for members of his court. He also subsidized public works projects throughout the Papal States. Urban VII was strictly against nepotism and he forbade it within the Roman Curia.

Death

Urban VII died in Rome on September 27, 1590, shortly before midnight, of malaria. He had reigned for 13 days. He was buried in the Vatican. The funeral oration was delivered by Pompeo Ugonio. His remains were later transferred to the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, on September 21, 1606.

His estate, valued at 30,000 scudi, was bequeathed to the Archconfraternity of the Annunciation, for use as dowries for poor young girls.

Titles of Royalty and Nobility within the British Monarchy: King

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Head of State, King, King Consort, King Regnant, Monarchy, Nobility, Personal Union, queen, Queen Consort, Queen Regnant, Royalty, Sovereign

Today begins a new series examining the titles of Royalty and Nobility within the British Monarchy.

I will begin by defining what a monarchy is and also the role of the sovereign King or Queen. Although this definition of monarchy can also fit that of an Emperor, reigning Grand Duke or Prince, in this instance it defines a King or Queen Regnant.

King is the title given to a male monarch. The English term king is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cyning, which in turn is derived from the Common Germanic *kuningaz. The Common Germanic term was borrowed into Estonian and Finnish at an early time, surviving in these languages as kuningas.

King George VI of the United Kingdom

A monarch is a head of state for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in the state, or others may wield that power on behalf of the monarch.

Usually a monarch either personally inherits the lawful right to exercise the state’s sovereign rights (often referred to as the throne or the crown) or is selected by an established process from a family or cohort eligible to provide the nation’s monarch. Alternatively, an individual may proclaim themself monarch, which may be backed and legitimated through acclamation, right of conquest or a combination of means.

If a young child is crowned the monarch, then a regent is often appointed to govern until the monarch reaches the requisite adult age to rule. Monarchs’ actual powers vary from one monarchy to another and in different eras; on one extreme, they may be autocrats (absolute monarchy) wielding genuine sovereignty; on the other they may be ceremonial heads of state who exercise little or no direct power or only reserve powers, with actual authority vested in a parliament or other body (constitutional monarchy).

King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom

A monarch can reign in multiple monarchies simultaneously. For example, between 1603 and 1707 the monarch ruled England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Although the monarch was the sovereign of these states they were not politically united and they continued as separate states, they shared the same monarch through personal union.

There are two types of Kings. A King Regnant and a King Consort. Regnant is a term that means reigning and holding sovereign power. In a Constitutional Monarchy sovereign power is vested in the reigning monarch even if that power is executed by other governmental figures such as a Prime Minister.

In British history there has been only one instance of a King Consort in England; that was King Felipe II of Spain the husband of Queen Mary I of England.

In Scotland King François II of France and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, were King Consorts to Mary I of Scotland.

When Queen Mary I of England came to the throne as the first Queen Regnant of England, under the English common law the doctrine of jure uxoris, the property and titles belonging to a woman became her husband’s upon marriage, and it was feared that any man she married would thereby become King of England in fact and in name.

That is what happened. Felipe II of Spain was technically a “King Consort” but under the terms of Queen Mary’s Marriage Act, Felipe II was in practice a joint sovereign to be styled “King of England” in all official documents (including Acts of Parliament) were to be dated with both their names, and Parliament was to be called under the joint authority of the couple, for Mary’s lifetime only.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

That’s one of the reasons Elizabeth I never married, she did not want to share power with her husband. William III was a joint sovereign with his wife Mary II. George of Denmark, not an ambitious man, didn’t push to be made King Consort.

This was challenged with Queen Victoria who wanted to make Albert her King Consort but Parliament squashed that idea. In 1858 Queen Victoria created the title Prince Consort for Prince Albert and this is the only time so that this title was used for the husband of a Queen Regnant.

That brings us to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Jure uxoris had long ceased to being a factor and tradition had evolved to where a Consort of a Queen Regnant wasn’t made a King Consort. Philip was created Duke of Edinburgh on the eve of his marriage to Princess Elizabeth and, as Queen, created him a Prince of the United Kingdom in his own right, making the title Prince Consort unnecessary.

When it comes to addressing either a King Regnant or a King Consort there is absolutely no difference, no distinction, whatsoever and both are simply refered to as “His Majesty the King” despite the differences.

As there are two types of Kings there are also two types of Queens.* The first type of Queen is called a Queen Regnant. A Queen Regnant is a female monarch who rules in her own right and usually becomes queen by inheriting the throne upon the death of the previous monarch.

Some examples of Queen Regnants are: Queen Elizabeth II (1952 – 2022), Queen Victoria (1837 – 1991) and Queen Mary II (1689 – 1694).

The next type of Queen is a Queen Consort. Simply, A Queen Consort is the wife of a reigning king. Let me state further, all wives of reigning Kings in British history have been a Queen Consort.

King Felipe II of Spain and England

A Queen Consort usually shares her spouse’s social rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king’s monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but historically she does not formally share the regnant’s political and military powers, unless on occasion acting as regent.

When it comes to addressing either a Queen Regnant or a Queen Consort there is absolutely no difference, no distinction whatsoever, and both are simply refered to as “Her Majesty the Queen” despite the differences.

* There is also a Dowager Queen and a Queen Mother. A Queen Dowager is a former Queen Consort who is the widow of a king, and a queen mother is a former Queen Consort who is the mother of the current monarch. Queen Elizabeth II’s mother was a former Queen Consort who didn’t care for the title Queen Dowager and instead took the title of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

His Majesty the King

Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV and was known as a Dowager Queen (or Queen Dowager) after his death in 1837. Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary were the wives of King Edward VII had King George V respectively and despite being Queen Mothers neither formally took that title.

Just to restate when addressing a monarch of the United Kingdom whether they are a King Regnant, King Consort or a Queen Regnant or a Queen Consort they are addressed as His/Her Majesty the King or Queen and no distinction is made between a Regnant or a Consort.

Blog Update & Schedule. My Rant.

Tags

British Royalty, Facebook, Misinformation, Nobility, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Twitter

From the Emperor’s Desk:

Im taking several days off and will be back on Tuesday, September 27. The passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom has been a huge emotional rollercoaster for me. Ive been doing a lot of writing on various subjects related to the Queen and the British Monarchy in general. In the days after the death of the Queen I was very active on my Twitter Account that was connected to this blog and related Facebook page.

It was extremely stressful! The amount of misinformation is staggering! Not only that there are many people that refused to listen to the accurate information. I posted several times my article “The Princess of Wales is not Princess Catherine”. One person on Twitter said “You can post as many articles on the proper usage of titles all you want, but since the press called Diana, Princess Diana I am going to give Catherine that same honor and call her Princess Catherine”. Another person, a few actually, call the Duchess of Sussex “Princess Meghan” or Queen Meghan. This is what I am up against.

On my Facebook page that is connected to this blog I made a post on how the then Duke of Cambridge was also now the Duke of Cornwall. In that post I mentioned that the Duke of Cambridge and Cornwall was now “the heir to the throne “.

Some follower of the page viscously attacked me for saying that Prince William was now heir to the throne. He said that William has always been the heir to the throne since birth! I mentioned that Prince William had been second in line to the throne since birth but was now first in line to the throne.

The follower said I was wrong and that there was no excuse for my mistake and that the knowledge was not secretive and that my mistake showed my ignorance about royalty and that I am an insult to the Royal Family and my followers.

It’s very strange and ironic. In any topic of study or occupation being accurate is a necessity. My job as an historian is to be accurate. However, with Royalty people have an issue with historians being accurate.

What I will do concerning issues of historical accuracy, such as the proper usage of titles, is to write about it here on my blog and role model proper usage of titles and other information.

Also on Twitter my news feed was flooded with hatred toward the Duchess of Sussex. I try and stay out of the drama. First of all there is a lot of gossip and misinformation on this topic and since it is a semi private matter there is much that goes on behind closed doors that we don’t know about. For me not enough to choose sides and form an opinion. As an historian I try to remain neutral and will observe as it plays out.

But one thing does bother me is the vitriol and the massive amount of hatred that boils down in nothing but extreme cyber bullying. I don’t want to be involved in that and I cannot fix it.

But you know what? I don’t care anymore. I will no longer correct misinformation concerning royalty on social media. It’s a toxic environment. Yesterday someone, referring to the Imperial State Crown, said it was made in the year 1400. No it was not. The frame of the Imperial State Crown was built in 1937 for the Coronation of King George VI. The jewels used in the crown are of various ages, some older than 1400.

A couple of people refered to the late Queen as HRH Queen Elizabeth instead of Her Majesty but I just kept moving along.

Prior to being on the internet and starting this blog and related Facebook page in 2012 I used to do all of this on my own, privately for my own enjoyment, since 1977. I did go to college and got advanced degrees in European History where I focused on European Royalty, but I miss those days of just enjoying this subject on my own.

I have toyed around with shutting down my European Royal History Facebook page but as long as there are no longer personal attacks I will keep it open. Personal attacks on this blog are very rare and I don’t want to close it down because I also want to keep open the access to all the articles I wrote.

Thanks for reading my rant.

Before the Queen passed away I was in the midst of a series of articles on the various pretenders to the French Throne. But I have more things I want to write on the British Monarchy before I get back to that subject.

Some of the subjects I will write about starting next Tuesday are:

1. A series on the British titles of Royalty and Nobility, thier history and proper usage

2. I will write a blog post on my thoughts on the passing of the Queen

3. My support for the principle of Constitutional Monarchy

On Twitter I ran into some anti-monarchists views and calls for the monarchy to be abolished…mostly by Americans…so I want to address those issues.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week!

Liam

September 21, 1411: Birth of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York

Tags

3rd Duke of York, Battle of Wakefield, Edward III of England, Edward IV of England, House of Anjou, House of Plantagenet, James III of Scotland, King Henry VI of England, Margaret of Anjou, Richard III of England, Richard of York

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (September 21, 1411 – December 30, 1460), also named Richard Plantagenet, was a leading English magnate and claimant to the throne during the Wars of the Roses. He was a member of the ruling House of Plantagenet.

Richard of York was born on September 21, 1411, the son of Richard, Earl of Cambridge (1385–1415), and his wife Anne Mortimer (1388–1411). Both his parents were descended from King Edward III of England (1312–1377): his father was son of Edmund, 1st Duke of York (founder of the House of York), fourth surviving son of Edward III, whereas his mother Anne Mortimer was a great-granddaughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Edward’s second son.

After the death in 1425 of Anne’s childless brother Edmund, Earl of March, this ancestry supplied her son Richard, of the House of York, with a claim to the English throne that was arguably superior to that of the reigning House of Lancaster, descended from John of Gaunt, the third son of Edward III.

Richard had an only sister, Isabel. Richard’s mother, Anne Mortimer, died during or shortly after his birth, and his father the Earl of Cambridge was beheaded in 1415 for his part in the Southampton Plot against the Lancastrian King Henry V.

Within a few months of his father’s death, Richard’s childless uncle, Edward, 2nd Duke of York, was slain at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and so Richard inherited Edward’s title and lands, becoming 3rd Duke of York. The lesser title but greater estates of the Mortimer family, along with their claim to the throne, also descended to him on the death of his maternal uncle Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, in 1425.

Richard of York already held a strong claim to the English throne, being the heir general of Edward III while also related to the same king in a direct male line of descent. Once he inherited the vast Mortimer estates, he also became the wealthiest and most powerful noble in England, second only to the king himself. An account shows that York’s net income from Welsh and marcher lands alone was £3,430 (about £350,000 today) in the year 1443–44.

London.

In December 1459 the Duke York, the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury suffered attainder. Their lives were forfeit, and their lands reverted to the king; their heirs would not inherit. This was the most extreme punishment a member of the nobility could suffer, and the Duke of York was now in the same situation as Henry of Bolingbroke (the future King Henry IV) in 1398.

Only a successful invasion of England would restore his fortune. Assuming the invasion was successful, the Duke of York had three options: become Protector of England again, disinherit the king’s son so that York would succeed, or claim the throne for himself.

On June 26, Warwick and Salisbury landed at Sandwich. The men of Kent rose to join them. London opened its gates to the Nevilles on July 2. They marched north into the Midlands, and on July 10, they defeated the royal army at the Battle of Northampton (through treachery among the king’s troops), and captured Henry, whom they brought back to London.

The Duke of York remained in Ireland. He did not set foot in England until September 9 and when he did, he acted as a king. Marching under the arms of his maternal great-great-grandfather Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, he displayed a banner of the coat of arms of England as he approached London.

A Parliament called to meet on October 7, repealed all the legislation of the Coventry parliament the previous year. On October 10, the Duke of York arrived in London and took residence in the royal palace. Entering Parliament with his sword borne upright before him, he made for the empty throne and placed his hand upon it, as if to occupy it.

He may have expected the assembled peers to acclaim him as king, as they had acclaimed Henry Bolingbroke in 1399. Instead, there was silence. Thomas Bourchier, the Archbishop of Canterbury, asked whether he wished to see the king. York replied, “I know of no person in this realm the which oweth not to wait on me, rather than I of him.” This high-handed reply did not impress the Lords.

The next day, Richard advanced his claim to the crown by hereditary right in proper form. However, his narrow support among his peers led to failure once again. After weeks of negotiation, the best that could be achieved was the Act of Accord, by which York and his heirs were recognised as Henry’s successors.

However, in October 1460 Parliament did grant York extraordinary executive powers to protect the realm, and made him Lord Protector of England. He was also given the lands and income of the Prince of Wales, but was not granted the title itself or made Earl of Chester or Duke of Cornwall. With the king effectively in custody, York and Warwick were the de facto rulers of the country.

Final campaign and death

While this was happening, the Lancastrian loyalists were rallying and arming in the north of England. Faced with the threat of attack from the Percys, and with Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, trying to gain the support of the new King of Scotland, James III, York, Salisbury and York’s second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, headed north on December 2.

They arrived at York’s stronghold of Sandal Castle on December 21, to find the situation bad and getting worse. Forces loyal to Henry VI controlled the city of York, and nearby Pontefract Castle was also in hostile hands. The Lancastrian armies were commanded by some of York’s implacable enemies such as Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland and John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, whose fathers had been killed at the Battle of Saint Albans, and included several northern lords who were jealous of York’s and Salisbury’s wealth and influence in the North.

On December 30, York and his forces sortied from Sandal Castle. Their reasons for doing so are not clear; they were variously claimed to be a result of deception by the Lancastrian forces, or treachery by northern lords who York mistakenly believed to be his allies, or simple rashness on York’s part.

The larger Lancastrian force destroyed York’s army in the resulting Battle of Wakefield. The Duke of York was killed in the battle. The precise nature of his end was variously reported; he was either unhorsed, wounded and overcome fighting to the death or captured, given a mocking crown of bulrushes and then beheaded.

Edmund of Rutland was intercepted as he tried to flee and was executed, possibly by Clifford in revenge for the death of his own father at the First Battle of St Albans. Salisbury escaped, but was captured and executed the following night.

York was buried at Pontefract, but his head was put on a pike by the victorious Lancastrian armies and displayed over Micklegate Bar at York, wearing a paper crown. His remains were later moved to Church of St Mary and All Saints, Fotheringhay.

Legacy

Within a few weeks of Richard of York’s death, his eldest surviving son was acclaimed King Edward IV and finally established the House of York on the throne following a decisive victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton. After an occasionally tumultuous reign, he died in 1483 and was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son, Edward V, who was himself succeeded after 86 days by his uncle, York’s youngest son, Richard III.

Richard of York’s grandchildren included Edward V and Elizabeth of York. Elizabeth married Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty, and became the mother of Henry VIII, Margaret Tudor and Mary Tudor. All future English monarchs would come from the line of Henry VII and Elizabeth, and therefore from Richard of York himself.

September 21, 1957: Death of King Haakon VII of Norway

Tags

Christian IX of Denmark, Crown Prince Olav of Norway, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Election, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom., Frederik VIII of Denmark, Haakon VII of Norway, King Olav V of Norway, Maud of Wales, Prince Carl of Denmark

Haakon VII (August 3, 1872 – September 21, 1957) born Prince Carl of Denmark; he was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957.

Prince Carl was born on August 3, 1872 at his parents’ country residence, Charlottenlund Palace north of Copenhagen, during the reign of his paternal grandfather, King Christian IX.

He was the second son of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (the future King Frederik VIII), and his wife Louise of Sweden. His father was the eldest son of King Christian IX and Louise of Hesse-Cassel, and his mother was the only daughter of King Carl XV of Sweden (who was also king of Norway as Carl IV), and Louise of the Netherlands.

At birth, he was third in the succession to the Danish throne after his father and older brother, but without any real prospect of inheriting the throne. The young prince was baptised at Charlottenlund Palace on September 7, 1872 by the Bishop of Zealand, Hans Lassen Martensen. He was baptised with the names Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel, and was known as Prince Carl (namesake of his maternal grandfather the King of Sweden-Norway).

HM King Haakon VII of Norway

Prince Carl belonged to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (often shortened to Glücksburg) branch of the House of Oldenburg. The House of Oldenburg had been the Danish royal family since 1448; between 1536 and 1814 it also ruled Norway, which was then part of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway.

The house was originally from northern Germany, where the Glücksburg (Lyksborg) branch held their small fief. The family had links with Norway beginning from the 15th century. Several of his paternal ancestors had been kings of Norway in union with Denmark and at times Sweden.

They included Christian I of Norway, Frederik I, Christian III, Frederik II, Christian IV, as well as Frederik III of Norway who integrated Norway into the Oldenburg state with Denmark, Schleswig and Holstein. His subsequent paternal ancestors had been dukes in Schleswig-Holstein. Christian Frederick, who was King of Norway briefly in 1814, the first king of the Norwegian 1814 constitution and struggle for independence, was his great-granduncle.

Prince Carl was educated at the Royal Danish Naval Academy and served in the Royal Danish Navy.

On July 22, 1896, in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace, Prince Carl married his first cousin Princess Maud of Wales. Princess Maud was the youngest daughter of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, eldest daughter of King Christian IX and Queen Louise. The wedding was attended by the bride’s grandmother, the 77-year-old Queen Victoria.

After the wedding, the couple settled in Copenhagen, where Prince Carl continued his career as a naval officer. The bride’s father gave them Appleton House on the Sandringham Estate as a country residence for his daughter’s frequent visits to England. It was there that the couple’s only child, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Olav (and eventually King Olav V of Norway), was born on July 2, 1903.

Princess Maud of Wales, Queen of Norway

After the Union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, a committee of the Norwegian government identified several princes of European royal houses as candidates for the Norwegian crown.

Although Norway had legally had the status of an independent state since 1814, it had not had its own king since 1387. Gradually, Prince Carl became the leading candidate, largely because he was descended from independent Norwegian kings. He also had a son, providing an heir-apparent to the throne, and the fact that his wife, Princess Maud, was a member of the British Royal Family was viewed by many as an advantage to the newly independent Norwegian nation.

The democratically minded Carl, aware that Norway was still debating whether to remain a kingdom or to switch instead to a republican system of government, was flattered by the Norwegian government’s overtures, but he made his acceptance of the offer conditional on the holding of a referendum to show whether monarchy was the choice of the Norwegian people.

King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway with Crown Prince Olav

After the referendum overwhelmingly confirmed by a 79 percent majority (259,563 votes for and 69,264 against) that Norwegians desired to retain a monarchy, Prince Carl was formally offered the throne of Norway by the Storting (parliament) and was elected on 18 November 18, 1905.

When Carl accepted the offer that same evening (after the approval of his grandfather Christian IX of Denmark), he immediately endeared himself to his adopted country by taking the Old Norse name of Haakon, a name which had not been used by kings of Norway for over 500 years.

Queen Maud of Norway with her great-niece Princess Elizabeth of York (future Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom)

In so doing, he succeeded his maternal great-uncle, Oscar II of Sweden, who had abdicated the Norwegian throne in October following the agreement between Sweden and Norway on the terms of the separation of the union.

On the morning of November 20, a large crowd gathered outside King Haakon VII and Queen Maud’s residence in Bernstorff’s Palace in Copenhagen. The attendees greeted the royal couple as they appeared in the window and started singing Ja, vi elsker dette landet.

Later the same day, King Christian IX of Denmark received a delegation from the Storting in an audience in Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg. The delegation conveyed the message that the king’s grandson had been elected King of Norway, while Christian IX expressed his consent to the election of Prince Carl.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and King Haakon VII of Norway

As king, Haakon VII gained much sympathy from the Norwegian people. Although the Constitution of Norway vests the King with considerable executive powers, in practice Haakon confined himself to non-partisan roles without interfering in politics, a practice continued by his son and grandson.

Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany in April 1940. Haakon rejected German demands to legitimise the Quisling regime’s puppet government, and refused to abdicate after going into exile in Great Britain. As such, he played a pivotal role in uniting the Norwegian nation in its resistance to the invasion and the subsequent five-year-long occupation during the Second World War. He returned to Norway in June 1945 after the defeat of Germany.

He became King of Norway when his grandfather Christian IX was still reigning in Denmark, and before his father and elder brother became kings of Denmark. During his reign he saw his father Frederik VIII, his elder brother Christian X, and his nephew Frederik IX ascend the throne of Denmark, in 1906, 1912 (also of Iceland from 1918 to 1944), and 1947 respectively. Haakon died at the age of 85 in September 1957, after having reigned for nearly 52 years. He was succeeded by his only son, who ascended to the throne as Olav V.