This date in History: July 22, 1706: Treaty of Union is signed.

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Act of Union, Articles of Union, East India Company, House of Hanover, king James I-VI of England and Scotland, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Kingdom of Ireland, Kingdom of Scotland, Parliament, Queen Anne of England, Queen Anne of Great Britain, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Treaty of Union

The Treaty of Union is the name usually now given to the agreement which led to the creation of the new state of Great Britain, stating that England (which already included Wales) and Scotland were to be “United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain”, At the time it was more often referred to as the Articles of Union.

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

Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland, last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, died without issue on March 24, 1603, and the throne fell at once (and uncontroversially) to her first cousin twice removed, James VI of Scotland, a member of House of Stuart and the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots. By the Union of the Crowns in 1603 he assumed the throne of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Ireland as King James I. This personal union lessened the constant English fears of Scottish cooperation with France in a feared French invasion of England.

After this personal union, the new monarch, James I and VI, sought to unite the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England into a state which he referred to as “Great Britain”. Nevertheless, Acts of Parliament attempting to unite the two countries failed in 1606, in 1667, and in 1689.

By 1698 the main impetus for uniting the two realms was economics. While remaining separate kingdoms the two nations were often in trade wars with one another as both states vied for supremacy in trading with other foreign states. This competition created friction between the two states. England was also under pressure from the London-based East India Company, which was anxious to maintain its monopoly over English foreign trade. The East India Company threatened legal action towards the Scots on the grounds that the Scots had no authority from the king to raise funds outside the king’s realm.

Deeper political integration had been a key policy of Queen Anne ever since she had acceded to the thrones of the three kingdoms in 1702. Under the aegis of the Queen and her ministers in both kingdoms, in 1705 the parliaments of England and Scotland agreed to participate in fresh negotiations for a treaty of union.

Treaty negotiations

It was agreed that England and Scotland would each appoint thirty-one commissioners to conduct the negotiations. The Scottish Parliament then began to arrange an election of the commissioners to negotiate on behalf of Scotland, but in September 1705, the leader of the Country Party, the Duke of Hamilton, who had previously attempted to obstruct the negotiation of a treaty, proposed that the Scottish commissioners should be nominated by the Queen, and this was agreed. In practice, the Scottish commissioners were nominated on the advice of the Duke of Queensberry and the Duke of Argyll.

Negotiations between the English and Scottish commissioners began on 16 April 1706 at the Cockpit-in-Court in London. The sessions opened with speeches from William Cowper, the English Lord Keeper, and from Lord Seafield, the Scottish Lord Chancellor, each describing the significance of the task. The commissioners did not carry out their negotiations face to face, but in separate rooms. They communicated their proposals and counter-proposals to each other in writing, and there was a blackout on news from the negotiations. Each side had its own particular concerns. Within a few days, England gained a guarantee that the Hanoverian dynasty would succeed Queen Anne to the Scottish crown, and Scotland received a guarantee of access to colonial markets, in the hope that they would be placed on an equal footing in terms of trade.

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

After the negotiations ended on July 22, 1706, acts of parliament were drafted by both Parliaments to implement the agreed Articles of Union. The Scottish proponents of union believed that failure to agree to the Articles would result in the imposition of a union under less favourable terms, and English troops were stationed just south of the Scottish border and also in northern Ireland as an “encouragement”. Months of fierce debate in both capital cities and throughout both kingdoms followed. In Scotland, the debate on occasion dissolved into civil disorder, most notably by the notorious ‘Edinburgh Mob’. The prospect of a union of the kingdoms was deeply unpopular among the Scottish population at large, and talk of an uprising was widespread. However, the Treaty was signed and the documents were rushed south with a large military escort.

The Kingdom of Great Britain was born on May 1, 1707, shortly after the parliaments of Scotland and England had ratified the Treaty of Union by each approving Acts of Union combining the two parliaments and the powers of the two crowns. Scotland’s crown, sceptre, and sword of state remained at Edinburgh Castle. Queen Anne (already Queen of both England and Scotland) formally became the first occupant of the unified throne of Great Britain, with Scotland sending forty-five Members to the new House of Commons of Great Britain, as well as representative peers to the House of Lords.

Although there were 25 articles to the Treaty, I will post the first two which are relevant to the Crown and the Succession.

Article 1 states “That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain.”

Article 2 provided for the succession of the House of Hanover, and for Protestant succession as set out in the English Act of Settlement of 1701.

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On this day, July 21, 1831: Enthronement of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as the first King of the Belgians.

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Belgium's National Day, George IV, George IV of the United Kingdom, King Leopold I of Belgium, King of the Belgians, King Philippe of the Belgians, Kingdom of Belgium, Leopold II of Belgium, Louis-Philippe of France, Louise Marie of Orleans, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Willem I of the Netherlands

Today is Belgium’s National Day. 🇧🇪

On this day, July 21, in 1831, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (a maternal uncle of Queen Victoria and paternal uncle of her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) was sworn in as the first King of the Belgians.

Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Leopold was born in Coburg in the tiny German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in modern-day Bavaria on December 16, 1790. He was the youngest son of Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf. In 1826, Saxe-Coburg acquired the city of Gotha from the neighboring Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and gave up Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen, becoming the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

On May 2, 1816, Leopold married Princess Charlotte of Wales at Carlton House in London. Charlotte was the only legitimate child of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) and Caroline of Brunswick, daughter of Carl-Wilhelm-Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, and Princess Augusta of Great Britain (daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach). This meant that Princess Charlotte of Wales was second in line to the British throne.

Princess Charlotte of Wales

Princess Charlotte had been engaged Willem, Hereditary Prince of Orange (later King Willem II of the Netherlands). This engagement came about through pressure from her father the Prince Regent. Princess Charlotte found the Hereditary Prince of Orange distasteful but after initially accepting him, Charlotte soon broke off the intended match in favor of Leopold. This resulted in an extended contest of wills between her and her father. Though the Prince Regent was displeased, he found Leopold to be charming and possessing every quality to make his daughter happy, thus approving of their marriage. The same year Leopold received an honorary commission to the rank of Field Marshal and Knight of the Order of the Garter.

The marriage ceremony was held May 2, 1816. On the wedding day, huge crowds filled London; the wedding participants had great difficulties in travelling. At nine o’clock in the evening in the Crimson Drawing Room at Carlton House, with Leopold dressing for the first time as a British General (the Prince Regent wore the uniform of a Field Marshal), the couple were married. The only mishap was during the ceremony, when Charlotte was heard to giggle when the impoverished Leopold promised to endow her with all his worldly goods.

On November 5, 1817, after having suffered a miscarriage, Princess Charlotte gave birth to a stillborn son. She herself died the next day following complications. Leopold was said to have been heartbroken by her death.

Following a Greek rebellion against the Ottoman Empire, Leopold was offered the throne of an independent Greece as part of the London Protocol of February 1830. Though initially showing interest in the position, Leopold eventually turned down the offer on May 17, 1830. The role would subsequently be accepted by Prince Otto of Bavaria in May of 1832 who ruled until he was finally deposed in October 1862.

At the end of August 1830, rebels in the Southern provinces (modern-day Belgium) of the United Netherlands rose up against Dutch rule. The rising, which began in Brussels, pushed the Dutch army back, and the rebels defended themselves against a Dutch attack. International powers meeting in London agreed to support the independence of Belgium, even though the Dutch refused to recognize the new state.

In November 1830, a National Congress was established in Belgium to create a constitution for the new state. Fears of “mob rule” associated with republicanism after the French Revolution of 1789, as well as the example of the recent, liberal July Revolution in France, led the Congress to decide that Belgium would be a popular, constitutional monarchy.

Search for a monarch

Enthronement of King Leopold I of the Belgians

The choice of candidates for the position was one of the most controversial issues faced by the revolutionaries. The Congress refused to consider any candidate from the Dutch ruling house of Orange-Nassau. Some Orangists had hoped to offer the position to King Willem I or his son, Willem, Hereditary Prince of Orange, which would bring Belgium into personal union with the Netherlands like Luxembourg. The Great Powers also worried that a candidate from another state could risk destabilizing the international balance of power and lobbied for a neutral candidate.

Eventually the Congress was able to draw up a shortlist. The three viable possibilities were felt to be Eugène de Beauharnais, a French nobleman and stepson of Napoleon; Auguste of Leuchtenberg, son of Eugene; and Louis, Duke of Nemours who was the son of the French King Louis-Philippe. All the candidates were French and the choice between them was principally between choosing the Bonapartism of Beauharnais or Leuchtenberg and supporting the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe. Louis-Philippe realized that the choice of either of the Bonapartists could be first stage of a coup against him, but that his son would also be unacceptable to other European powers suspicious of French intentions. Therefore Louis, Duke of Nemours refused the offer. With no definitive choice in sight, Catholics and Liberals united to elect Erasme Louis Surlet de Chokier, a minor Belgian nobleman, as regent to buy more time for a definitive decision in February 1831.

Leopold of Saxe-Coburg had been proposed at an early stage, but had been dropped because of French opposition. The problems caused by the French candidates and the increased international pressure for a solution led to his reconsideration. On April 22, he was finally approached by a Belgian delegation at Marlborough House to officially offer him the throne. Leopold, however, was reluctant to accept at first.

Accession

On July 17, 1831, Leopold travelled from Calais to Belgium, entering the country at De Panne. Traveling to Brussels, he was greeted with patriotic enthusiasm along his route. The accession ceremony took place on July 21, on the Place Royale in Brussels. A stand had been erected on the steps of the church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg, surrounded by the names of revolutionaries fallen during the fighting in 1830.

King Leopold I of the Belgians

After a ceremony of resignation by the regent, Leopold, dressed in the uniform of a Belgian lieutenant-general, swore loyalty to the constitution and became king. The enthronement is generally used to mark the end of the revolution and the start of the Kingdom of Belgium and is celebrated each year as the Belgian national holiday.

Second marriage

Princess Louise-Marie of Orléans

On August 9, 1832 King Leopold I of the Belgians married Princess Louise-Marie of Orléans, who was twenty-two years younger than the King, she was the eldest daughter of the future Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, and of his wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.

Louise and Leopold had four children, including Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico. Although never faithful to Louise, Leopold respected her and their relationship was a harmonious one.

Prince Louis Philippe, Crown Prince of Belgium (July 24, 1833 – May 16, 1834)
King Leopold II of the Belgians (April 9, 1835 – December 17, 1909)
Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders (March 24, 1837 – November 17, 1905)
Princess Charlotte of Belgium, (June 7, 1840 – January 19, 1927), consort of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.

Sadly, Queen Louise-Marie died of tuberculosis in the former Royal palace of Ostend on October 11, 1850 at the age of 38. Leopold was again a widower at the age of 59. The Queen’s body was brought to Laeken, and a memorial was erected in Oostende. She is buried beside her husband in Royal Crypt of the Church of Our Lady of Laeken.

Photo of King Leopold later in life.

Leopold died in Laeken near Brussels on December 10, 1865, aged 74. His funeral was held on 16 December. He is interred in the Royal Crypt at the Church of Notre-Dame de Laeken, next to Louise-Marie. He was succeeded by his son, Leopold II, aged 30, who ruled until 1909.

The current King of the Belgians, Philippe, is Leopold I’s great-great-great-grandson.

Today in royal history: July 15, 1837 – Birth of Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

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Albert I of Belgium, Cholera, Diptheria, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, House of Braganza, Pedro V of Portugal and the Algarves, Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary, Quen Maria II of Portugal and the Algarves, Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Today in royal history: July 15, 1837 – Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the future Queen consort of Portugal, wife of King Pedro V of Portugal and the Algarves, was born.

Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Princess Stephanie was born in Krauchenwies, Sigmaringen, on July 15, 1837, Stephanie was the eldest daughter of Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern, head of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and his wife Princess Josephine of Baden. Her maternal grandparents were Karl, Grand Duke of Baden, and Stéphanie de Beauharnais, adopted daughter of Emperor Napoleon I of France.

She was also a younger sister of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, older sister of King Carol I of Romania, and aunt of King Albert I of Belgium.

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern is not as well known to history as is the junior Franconian line which became Burgraves of Nuremberg and later ruled Brandenburg-Prussia and the German Empire.

The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 1623 by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. The small sovereign state with the capital city of Sigmaringen was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1850 by Friedrich Wilhelm IV following the abdication of its sovereign, Prince Carl, in the wake of the revolutions of 1848, then became part of the newly created Province of Hohenzollern.

This photo shows King Pedro V and Queen Stephanie in the courtyard at Pena Palace near Sintra, around 1858. The picture was taken during the wedding festivities of Pedro and Stephanie.

Stephanie married King Peter V of Portugal and the Algarves by proxy on 29 April 1858 at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin, where her eldest brother Leopold stood in for the groom. She was then married in person on 18 May 1858 at the Church of St. Dominic in Lisbon.

Pedro V, King of Portugal and the Algarves.

King Pedro V was the eldest son of Queen Maria II of Portugal and the Algarves and Prince Ferdinand a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháryeter was a member of the House of Braganza. As heir apparent to the throne, Pedro was styled Prince Royal and he was also the 19th Duke of Braganza.

Both bride and groom were a few months short of their twenty-first birthdays. Stephanie was received with much luxury and wrote home that the Portuguese understood luxury better than dignity. However she fell ill with diphtheria and died only a year later in Lisbon at the age of 22. During her short period as queen, she made herself a good name from the foundation of hospitals.

Stephanie, Queen of Portugal and the Algarves.

There were no children from this marriage. Her body was interred at the Braganza Pantheon inside the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon.

Pedro never married again and died of cholera on November 11, 1861 at the age of 24. He was succeeded as King by his younger brother Luís.

On this date in History: July 13, 1889. Birth of Lady Louise Mountbatten, Queen of Sweden.

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Crown Prince of Sweden, Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, King Manuel II of Portugal, Kings and Queens of Sweden, Lady Louise Mountbatten, Princess Louise of Battenberg, Princess Margaret of Connaught, Queen Louise of Sweden, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Louise of Battenberg at Schloss Heiligenberg, Seeheim-Jugenheim, on 13 July 1889 in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and By Rhine. Her father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was Admiral of the Fleet in the United Kingdom, renounced his German title during World War I and anglicised his family name to “Mountbatten” at the behest of King George V. He was then created the first Marquess of Milford Haven in the peerage of the United Kingdom. From 1917, therefore, his daughter was known as “Lady Louise Mountbatten”. Her mother was Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, who was eldest daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Louise was a sister of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (Last Viceroy of India) and of Princess Alice of Battenberg, who was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She was also a niece of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia.

Ludwig and Victoria of Battenberg with young Princess Louise.

In 1909, Louise received a proposal from King Manuel II of Portugal. Edward VII was in favour of the match, but Louise declined, as she wished to marry for love. In 1913, having been deposed in 1910, Manuel married Princess Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern in exile, but their marriage was childless. At the age of twenty, Louise became secretly engaged to Prince Christopher of Greece, but they were forced to give up their relationship for financial reasons. While living in exile more than 10 years later, he would wed the wealthy widow, Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds. After the death of Nancy Leeds Christopher married Princess Françoise d’Orléans in 1929. Princess Françoise d’Orléans was the second daughter of Jean d’Orléans, duc de Guise (an Orléanist pretender to the throne of France under the name Jean III) and his wife, the French Princess Isabelle of Orléans. Françoise’s brother, Prince Henri, Count of Paris, succeeded their father as the Orleanist pretender, under the name Henri VI.

In 1914, the 25 year old Louise and her mother visited Russia, and were invited to a trip down the Volga with their Imperial relatives. During her visit, Louise noted the influence of Rasputin with concern. The trip was interrupted by the sudden outbreak of World War I, and Louise’s father telegraphed for them to return immediately. They stayed in Sweden as guests of the Crown Princely couple (her future husband Crown Prince Gustaf Adolph and his then wife, Margaret of Connaught, who was also her first cousin once removed) at Drottningholm Palace, just one night before they returned to Great Britain.

Lady Louise Mountbatten.

Later during the war, while she volunteered as a nurse in Nevers, she began a relationship with Alexander Stuart-Hill, a Scottish artist living in Paris and they became engaged. Anticipating that her parents would be disappointed in her choice, Louise kept their engagement a secret.

Eventually, she confided in her parents, who were initially understanding, and invited Stuart-Hill for visits at Kent House twice. In fact, her family, referring to him as “Shakespeare” because of his odd appearance, found him “eccentric” and “affected”. Lacking resources, the engaged couple agreed to postpone marriage until after the war. But in 1918 Louise’s father explained to her that Stuart-Hill was most likely homosexual, and that a marriage with him was impossible.

In 1923 Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, having been for three years the widower of Louise’s mother’s cousin Princess Margaret of Connaught, paid a visit to London and, to Louise’s surprise, began to court her. Although as a young woman Louise had said that she would never marry a king or a widower, she accepted the proposal of a man destined to be both. However, under Article 5 of the 1810 Swedish Succession Law, a prince of the Swedish royal house forfeited his right of succession to the throne if he “with or without the King’s knowledge and consent, married a private Swedish or foreign man’s daughter.”

Crown Prince Gustaf Adolph of Sweden with his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught and children.

Princess Margaret of Connaught.

Once the couple’s engagement was announced, there were lively discussions in the media about whether the bride-to-be was constitutionally eligible to become Sweden’s future queen. In response the Swedish Foreign Ministry, citing the law in question, clarified the term “a private Swedish or foreign man’s daughter” to mean “he who did not belong to a sovereign family or to a family which, according to international practice, would not be equal thereto” and announced that the Swedish government had “requested the British government’s explanation of Lady Louise Mountbatten’s position in this respect.” The Swedish Court announced that following the British government’s reply to its inquiry and the subsequent investigation into the matter, it had been determined that the Crown Prince’s choice of a future wife was in compliance with the succession law, and that she was of royal lineage, thereby concluding debate on the imminent nuptials.

On 3 November 1923, at age 34, Louise married Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, in the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace in the presence of King George V and members of both royal families.

Wedding of the Crown Prince of Sweden and Lady Louise Mountbatten.

In 1950, Louise became queen after accession to the throne of her husband. Louise is described as a true democrat at heart, and was therefore somewhat disturbed at being celebrated merely in her capacity of queen. In reference to the attention, she remarked: “People look at me as if I were something special. Surely I do not look differently today from how I looked yesterday!”

Louise disliked the strict pre-World War I protocol at court, retained during her mother-in-law’s era, and reformed it when she became queen, instituting new guidelines in 1954 which democraticised many old customs. In 1962, she abolished the court presentations, replaced them with “democratic ladies’ lunches”, to which she invited professional career women, a custom which was to continue under Princess Sibylla after her death. Louise also renovated and redecorated the interior of the Royal Palace in Stockholm.

King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden and Queen Louise of Sweden

Louise was described as eccentric for royalty and temperamental; she could get very angry, but was said to possess a good heart, a great sense of humour, a sense of self irony and was able to distinguish between herself and her royal role. She could show her sympathies openly, and this was taken as a sign of her honesty. One courtier commented, “I would describe the queen as a ‘gentleman’. She would never avoid acknowledging her own mistakes”. Louise is described as a great lover and patriot of her new home country, and was often shocked by Swedish non-patriotic customs. She was a supporter of the political system and democracy in the form it had developed in Sweden and stated her opinion to her relatives that no other political system than the Swedish one had created such a happy development for any nation. Queen Louise also admired Swedish nature and in particular Swedish women, because of what she considered their natural dignity regardless of class, and remarked that she had never seen a country with less vulgarity than Sweden.

Queen Louise’s last official engagement was the Nobel Prize dinner in December of 1964, during which no one noticed that she was in fact already ill. Queen Louise died on 7 March 1965 at Saint Göran Hospital, in Stockholm, Sweden, following emergency surgery after a period of severe illness. Queen Louise is buried beside her husband and his first wife, Crown Princess Margaret, in the Royal Cemetery in Solna north of Stockholm.

On this date in History: July 10, 1553. Lady Jane Gray is proclaimed Queen of England. Part I

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Duke of Northumberland, Edward VI of England, House of Tudor, Kings and Queens of England, Lady Frances Brandon, Lady Jane Gray, Lord Guildford Dudley, Privy Council, Thomas Seymore

Lady Jane Grey (c. 1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage)and as “the Nine Days’ Queen”, was an English noblewoman and de facto Queen of England and Ireland from July 10 until July 19, 1553.

Lady Jane Grey was the eldest daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his wife, Frances Brandon, the second child and eldest daughter of Princess Mary, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Princess Mary was King Henry VIII’s younger sister. Jane had two younger sisters, Lady Catherine and Lady Mary; through their mother, the three sisters were great-granddaughters of Henry VII, grandnieces of Henry VIII, and first cousins once removed of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

Lady Jane Gray

The traditional view is that she was born at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire in October 1537, while more recent research indicates that she was born somewhat earlier, possibly in London, in late 1536 or in the spring of 1537.

Jane received a humanist education, studying Latin, Greek and Hebrew with John Aylmer, and Italian with Michelangelo Florio. Through the influence of her father and her tutors, she became a committed Protestant and also corresponded with the Zürich reformer Heinrich Bullinger. Jane preferred book studies to hunting parties and regarded her strict upbringing, which was typical of the time, as harsh.

In early February 1547, Jane was sent to live in the household of Edward VI’s uncle, Thomas Seymour, who soon married Henry VIII’s widow, Catherine Parr. Jane lived with the couple until Catherine’s death in childbirth in September 1548. Lady Jane acted as chief mourner at Catherine Parr’s funeral; Thomas Seymour showed continued interest to keep her in his household, and she returned there for about two months before he was arrested at the end of 1548. Seymour’s brother, the Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, felt threatened by Thomas’ popularity with the young King Edward. Among other things, Thomas Seymour was charged with proposing Jane as a bride for the king.

Edward VI, King of England and Ireland.

In the course of Thomas Seymour’s following attainder and execution, Jane’s father was lucky to stay largely out of trouble. After his fourth interrogation by the King’s Council, he proposed his daughter Jane as a bride for the Protector’s eldest son, Lord Hertford. Nothing came of this, however, and Jane was not engaged until the spring of 1553, her bridegroom being Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. The Duke, Lord President of the King’s Council from late 1549, was then the most powerful man in the country. On May 25, 1553, the couple were married at Durham House in a triple wedding, in which Jane’s sister Catherine was matched with the heir of the Earl of Pembroke, Lord Herbert, and another Katherine, Lord Guildford’s sister, with Henry Hastings, the Earl of Huntingdon’s heir.

The Third Succession Act of 1544 restored Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the line of succession, although they were still regarded as illegitimate. Furthermore, this Act authorised Henry VIII to alter the succession by his will. Henry’s will reinforced the succession of his three children, and then declared that, should none of them leave descendants, the throne would pass to heirs of his younger sister, Mary, which included Jane. For unknown reasons, Henry excluded Jane’s mother, Frances Grey, from the succession, and also bypassed the claims of the descendants of his elder sister, Margaret, who had married into the Scottish royal house and nobility.

Both Mary and Elizabeth had been named illegitimate by statute during the reign of Henry VIII after his marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn had been declared void.

Lady Jane Gray

When the 15-year-old Edward VI lay dying in the early summer of 1553, his Catholic half-sister Mary was still his heir presumptive. However, Edward, in a draft will (“My devise for the Succession”) composed earlier in 1553, had first restricted the succession to (non-existent) male descendants of Frances Brandon and her daughters, before he named his Protestant cousin “Lady Jane and her heirs male” as his successors, probably in June 1553; the intent was to ensure his Protestant legacy, thereby bypassing Mary, who was a Roman Catholic. Edward’s decision to name Jane Grey herself was possibly instigated by Northumberland.

Edward VI personally supervised the copying of his will which was finally issued as letters patent on 21 June and signed by 102 notables, among them the whole Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. Edward also announced to have his “declaration” passed in parliament in September, and the necessary writs were prepared.

The King died on July 6, 1553, but his death was not announced until four days later. On July 9, Jane was informed that she was now queen, and according to her own later claims, accepted the crown only with reluctance. On July 10, she was officially proclaimed Queen of England, France and Ireland after she had taken up secure residence in the Tower of London, where English monarchs customarily resided from the time of accession until coronation.

On this date in History: Election of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway on July 4, 1534.

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Bogislaw the Great, Bogislaw X of Pomerania, Elective Monarchy, Jutland, King Christian II of Denmark, King Christian III of Denmark, King Frederick I of Denmark, King Hans II of Sweden, King Hans of Denmark, Protestant Reformation, Roman Catholic

At this point in its history Denmark was then an elective monarchy in which the nobility elected the new king (from among the sons or close male relatives of the previous monarch), who had to share his power with the nobility.

When King Hans I-II of Denmark, Norway and Sweden died on February 20, 1513 a group of Jutish nobles had offered Prince Frederik of Denmark the throne, (the brother of King Hans) but he had declined, rightly believing that the majority of the Danish nobility would be loyal to his nephew Prince Christian, who was elected King of Denmark on July 22, 1513 as King Christian II.

Christian II, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Christian II was born at Nyborg Castle in 1481 as the son of King Hans and his wife, Christina of Saxony, daughter of Ernst, Elector of Saxony and Elisabeth of Bavaria. Other than his descent from the House of Oldenburg (the first king of Denmark of the House of Oldenburg was his grandfather Christian I of Denmark) Christian II descended, through Waldemar I of Sweden, from the House of Eric, and from Catherine, daughter of Inge I of Sweden, as well as from Ingrid Ylva, granddaughter of Sverker I of Sweden.

In 1521 King Christian II seemed very powerful upon his return to Denmark after his re-conquest of Sweden in an attempt to maintain the Kalmar Union. On November 1, 1521 the representatives of the Swedish nation swore fealty to Christian II as hereditary king of Sweden, though the law of the land distinctly provided that Sweden was an elective monarchy.

With confidence and strength, Christian II at once proceeded recklessly to inaugurate the most sweeping reforms, such his great Code of Laws which were in direct defiance of the Charter governing Denmark at that time. Christian II’s reforms, however, suggested the actions not of an elected ruler, but of a tyrannical monarch by divine right. Jutland finally rose against him, renounced its allegiance, and offered the Danish crown to Christian’s uncle, Duke Frederik of Holstein, on January 20, 1523.

King Frederik I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

King Frederik I was the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign over Denmark, when subsequent monarchs embraced Lutheranism after the Protestant Reformation. As King of Norway, Frederik is most remarkable in never having visited the country and was never crowned King of Norway. Therefore, he was styled King of Denmark, the Vends and the Goths, elected King of Norway.

The future King Christian III was the eldest son of King Frederik I of Denmark, and Anna of Brandenburg (daughter of John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg and Margaret of Thuringia). In 1514, when he was just ten years old, Christian’s mother died. Four years later, his father remarried to Sophie of Pomerania (1498–1568, 20 years old), a daughter of Bogislaw X “the Great”, Duke of Pomerania and the Polish princess Anna Jagiellon.

The young Prince Christian’s first public service after his father became king was gaining the submission of Copenhagen, which stood firm for the fugitive, King Christian II. As stadtholder of the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig in 1526, and as viceroy of Norway in 1529, the future Christian III displayed considerable administrative ability.

King Frederik I died on April 10, 1533 and his eldest son was elected as King Christian III of Denmark and Norway on July 4, 1534. His election was seen as a landmark event for all of Denmark and Norway. It took place in St. Søren’s Church (Sankt Sørens Kirke) in the town of Rye in eastern Jutland. Although hesitant, Christian accepted the election and was cheered at a meeting in Horsens on August 18, 1534, where he declared that he would, like his predecessors, sign a håndfæstning (charter), although with a reform of ecclesiastical affairs, i.e. the implementation of the Protestant Reformation in Denmark and Norway.

King Christian III of Denmark and Norway.

However, the election of Christian III was not without its issues. The Rigsraad, dominated by Roman Catholic bishops and nobles, refused to accept Christian III as king and turned to Count Christopher of Oldenburg in order to restore the exiled Christian II to the Danish throne. Christian II had supported both the Roman Catholics and Protestant Reformers at various times. In opposition to King Christian III, Count Christopher was proclaimed regent at the Ringsted Assembly (landsting), and at the Skåne Assembly (landsting) on St Liber’s Hill (Sankt Libers hög) near Lund Cathedral. This resulted in a two-year civil war, known as the Count’s Feud (Grevens Fejde) from 1534–36, between Protestant and Catholic forces.

King Christian III of Denmark and Norway

Among the supporters of Christian III were Steward of the Realm, Mogens Gøye (ca. 1470–1544). Mogens Gøye was a Danish statesman and the Royal councillor of several Danish Kings. Gøye was among the originators of the meeting in Rye Church between eight Jutlandic members of the Council and the four Jutlandic bishops.

Members of the lesser nobility had also turned up – presumably on Mogens Gøye’s initiative – but had to stay outside the church. The lengthy discussion about the election eventually made them lose patience, and they forced their way into the church and demanded to know who opposed the election of Prince Christian. After that, the opponents finally gave up. Ove Bille, Bishop of Aarhus, wept when he signed the request for the Protestant Christian III to become king, realising that it would mean his own downfall.

On this date in History: July 2, 936. Death of Heinrich The Fowler, King of East Francia and German History Part I.

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Duke of Saxony, Henry the Fowler, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of East Francia, Kingdom of Germany, Kingdom of Lothringia, Kingdom of West Francia, Otto the Great, Treaty of Verdun

Heinrich The Fowler (876 – July 2, 936) was the duke of Saxony from 912 and the elected king of East Francia (Germany) from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king, he established the Ottonian Dynasty of kings and emperors, and he is generally considered to be the founder and first king of the medieval German state, known until then as East Francia. An avid hunter, he obtained the epithet “the Fowler” because he was allegedly fixing his birding nets when messengers arrived to inform him that he was to be king.

Born in Memleben, in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Heinrich was the son of Otto the Illustrious, Duke of Saxony, and his wife Hedwiga, daughter of Heinrich of Franconia and Ingeltrude and a great-great-granddaughter of Charlemagne. In 906 Heinrich married Hatheburg of Merseburg, daughter of the Saxon count Erwin. She had previously been a nun.

Heinrich I The Fowler King of East Francia

The marriage was annulled in 909 because her vows as a nun were deemed by the church to remain valid. She had already given birth to Henry’s son Thankmar. The annulment placed a question mark over Thankmar’s legitimacy. Later that year he married Matilda, daughter of Dietrich of Ringelheim, Count in Westphalia. Matilda bore him three sons, one called Otto, and two daughters, Hedwigand Gerberga, and founded many religious institutions, including the Quedlinburg Abbey where Henry is buried. She was later canonized.

Heinrich’s father, Otto I, Duke of Saxony died in 912 and was succeeded by Heinrich. The new duke launched a rebellion against the king of East Francia, Conrad I of Germany, over the rights to lands in the Duchy of Thuringia. They reconciled in 915 and on his deathbed in 918, Conrad recommended Henry as the next king, considering the duke the only one who could hold the kingdom together in the face of internal revolts and external Magyar raids.

Kingdoms of West Francia, Lothringia and East Francia

Henry was elected and crowned king in 919. He went on to defeat the rebellious dukes of Bavaria and Swabia, consolidating his rule. In 935 Heinrich planned an expedition to Rome to be crowned as Holy Roman Emperorby the Pope, but the design was thwarted by a hunting accident near the royal palace of Bodfeld in the autumn of 935 that severely injured him.

Heinrich prevented a collapse of royal power, as had happened in West Francia, and left a much stronger kingdom to his successor Otto I. Henry died of a stroke on July 2, 936 in his royal palace in Memleben, one of his favourite places. He was buried at Quedlinburg Abbey, established by his wife Matilda in his honor.

Flag of The Holy Roman Empire of German Nation.

German History can be confusing. Terms such as Kingdom of the Franks, Kingdoms of East and West Francia, Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Germany and King of the Romans are often bantered about as if there is no difference between them. In the next coming weeks I will begin a series on German history to sort out all this confusion!

On this date in History: July 1, 1862: Wedding of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Prince Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine.

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Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia, Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine, House of Hesse and By Rhine, King Willem IIII of the Nethlands, Ludwig IV, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, royal wedding

Princess Alice was born on April 25, 1843 at Buckingham Palace, the second daughter and third child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She was christened “Alice Maud Mary” in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace by The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Howley, on June 2, 1843. “Maud,” the Anglo-Saxon name for Matilda, was chosen in honour of one of Alice’s godparents, Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester, (Her father was Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the third son of The Prince Frederick, Prince of Wales, making her a great-granddaughter of King George II of Great Britain and niece of King George III). “Mary” was chosen because Alice was born on the same day as her maternal great-aunt, the Duchess of Gloucester (the eleventh child and fourth daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz).

Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine was born on September 12, 1837 at the Prinz-Karl-Palais in Darmstadt, the first son and child of Prince Carl of Hesse and by Rhine (April 23, 1809 – March 20, 1877) and Princess Elisabeth of Prussia (June 18, 1815 – March 21, 1885), granddaughter of King Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia. As his father’s elder brother Ludwig III (1806-1877), the reigning Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, had been married to his first wife, Princess Mathilde Caroline of Bavaria, eldest daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The marriage produced no children and the Grand Duke remarried, morganatically, in 1868 to Magdalene Appel who was created Baroness of Hochstädten. Since Grand Duke Ludwig III remained childless, Prince Ludwig was, from birth, second-in-line to the grand ducal throne, after his father.

Prince Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine

Alice’s matrimonial plans were begun in 1860 by her mother. Queen Victoria had expressed her wish that her children should marry for love, but this did not mean that her choice of suitors would necessarily be extended to anybody outside the royal houses of Europe. Raising a British subject to royalty, however high their rank, was politically objectionable, and also wasted any opportunity for a useful foreign alliance. The Queen instructed her daughter Victoria, recently married to Prince Friedrich of Prussia, to produce a list of eligible princes in Europe. Her search produced only two suitable candidates: the Prince of Orange; and Prince Albert of Prussia, cousin to Victoria’s husband Friedrich. Willem, Prince of Orange, was heir apparent to the Dutch throne as the eldest son of King Willem III of the Netherlands from March 17, 1849 until his death on June 11, 1879. The Prince of Orange journeyed to Windsor Castle so that Queen Victoria could look him over in person, but he proved unpalatable to Alice. The prince too showed little interest in Alice, despite strong pressure from his pro-British mother, Queen Sophie of the Netherlands. He was soon discounted. Prince Albert, too, was spurned, with Prince Friedrich of Prussia remarking that his cousin would not do for “one who deserves the very best.”

With both of the leading candidates now discounted, Princess Victoria suggested Prince Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine, a minor German royal, the nephew of the Grand Duke of Hesse and By Rhine. Princess Victoria had gone to the court of Hesse to inspect Ludwig sister, Princess Anna, as a potential bride for her brother, the Prince of Wales. Although not favorably impressed with Princess Anna, she was impressed with Ludwig and his brother Prince Heinrich. Both were invited to Windsor Castle in 1860, ostensibly so they could watch the Ascot Races in the company of the royal family, but in reality, the visit was a chance for the Queen to inspect her potential son-in-law. The Queen admired both Ludwig and Heinrich, but noted how well Ludwig and Alice got along together. When the Hessian family departed, Ludwig requested Alice’s photograph, and Alice made it clear that she was attracted to him.

Engagement and wedding

Princess Alice in her Wedding Dress

Alice was engaged to Prince Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine on April 30, 1861, following the Queen’s consent. The Queen persuaded the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, to vote Alice a dowry of £30,000 (£2.75 million as of 2019). Although the amount was considered generous at the time, Prince Albert remarked that “she will not be able to do great things with it” in the little realm of Hesse, compared to the riches that her sister Victoria would inherit as future Queen of Prussia and German Empress. Furthermore, the couple’s future home in Darmstadt, the Grand Ducal seat, was uncertain. Although Queen Victoria expected that a new palace would be built, the people of Darmstadt did not want to meet that expense, and the resulting controversy caused resentment there. This meant that Alice was unpopular in Darmstadt before she even arrived.

On July 1, 1862, Ludwig married Princess Alice, at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. On the day of the wedding, the Queen issued a royal warrant granting her new son-in-law the style of Royal Highness in the United Kingdom. The Queen also subsequently made Prince Ludwig a knight of the Order of the Garter.

Wedding at Osborne House

Alice was given away by her uncle, Albert’s brother Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and was flanked by four bridesmaids: her younger sisters, Princesses Helena, Louise and Beatrice, as well as Ludwig’s sister Princess Anna of Hesse and By Rhine. For the ceremony, Alice wore a white dress with a veil of Honiton lace, but was required to wear black mourning clothes before and after the ceremony as the Royal Family was still in deep mourning for Prince Albert who had died seven months previously on the 14th of December 1861. Queen Victoria later confided to her daughter Vicky, the Princess Royal and the Crown Princess of Prussia, that the wedding of ‘poor Alice’ had been ‘more like a funeral and the saddest day I can remember.”

On This Date in History: July 1, 1969. Formal Investiture of HRH The Prince of Wales

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Caernarfon Castle, Charles, Charles II of England and Scotland, Frederick Prince of Wales, Frederick-Louis, HRH The Prince of Wales, Investiture, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King George III of Great Britain, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II

On This Date in History: July 1, 1969. Formal Investiture of HRH The Prince of Wales.

The death of George VI, grandfather of the Prince of Wales, and the accession of his mother as Queen Elizabeth II on February 6, 1952 made Charles her heir apparent. As the monarch’s eldest son, he automatically took the titles Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. These titles are hereditary and are traditionally inherited by the eldest son of the monarch.

The Titles Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester are not hereditary and therefore have to be recreated anew for each heir to the throne. The Queen created Charles Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on July 26, 1958, though it was decided the formal investiture would not be held until 1 July 1969, when he was older.

Charles was crowned by his mother in a televised ceremony held at Caernarfon Castle. He took his seat in the House of Lords in 1970, and he made his maiden speech at a debate in June 1974, becoming the first royal to speak in the Lords since his great-great-grandfather, later Edward VII, whom also spoke as Prince of Wales, in 1884.

Charles is the longest-serving Prince of Wales, having surpassed the record held by Edward VII on September 9, 2017. He is the oldest and longest-serving British heir apparent, the longest-serving Duke of Cornwall, and the longest-serving Duke of Rothesay. If he becomes monarch, he will be the oldest person to do so; the current record holder being William IV, who was 64 when he became king in 1830.

Ever since Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland set the standard that the Prince of Wales should wear a coronet, even designing how it should look, Prince’s of Wales have traditionally worn a coronet ever since.

A relatively modest coronet was made in 1728 for Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of George II. As mentioned, this coronet takes the form laid down in a royal warrant issued by Charles II which states that the heir apparent of the Crown shall use and bear a coronet of crosses and fleurs-de-lis with one arch surmounted by a ball and cross. The single arch denotes inferiority to the monarch and shows that the prince outranks other royal children, whose coronets have no arches.Frederick-Louis never wore his gold coronet; instead, it was placed on a cushion in front of him when he took his seat in the House of Lords. It was used by his son, George III, then his son, George IV, and last used by Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales.

Coronet of Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales

Due to its age, a new silver-gilt coronet was made for his son, the future George V, to wear at Edward’s coronation in 1902. In contrast to the earlier coronet, which has a depressed arch, the arch on this one is raised. At George’s own coronation in 1911, the coronet was worn by his son, Edward, the next Prince of Wales. After he became king in 1936, Edward VIII abdicated later the same year and, as the Duke of Windsor, went into exile in France, taking the 1902 coronet with him; it remained abroad until his death in 1972. In its absence, another coronet had to be made for the investiture of Prince Charles in 1969. Unlike the defunct coronets, this one is not a part of the Crown Jewels but the Honours of the Principality of Wales.

Design

This new coronet follows the form laid down by King Charles II in 1677 by having just one arch rather than the traditional two arches or four half-arches of British monarchs’ crowns to show that the Prince of Wales is inferior to the monarch but outranks the other royal princes and dukes. Though based on this traditional design, the coronet has a futurist look that was popular in the 1960s, and it was created by the eccentric designer Louis Osman.

In the centre of the arch is a monde (a gold-plated ping-pong ball) engraved with the Prince of Wales’s insignia by Malcolm Appleby, surmounted by a plain cross. Orbiting the monde are 13 square diamonds set in platinum arranged as the constellation of Scorpio – the Prince of Wales’s star sign. Within the 24-carat textured gold base is a purple velvet cap lined with ermine. Around the base are four crosses and four abstract fleurs-de-lis in 22-carat gold (Mined in the Mawddach Valley in Merionethshire, it was the last Welsh gold held in stock by Johnson Matthey.) sparsely decorated with diamonds and emeralds. The diamonds on the base are intended to represent the seven deadly sins and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.[7]In total, the coronet has 75 diamonds and 12 emeralds – green being the national colour of Wales – and weighs 1.36 kilograms (3 lb). It measures 26.5 centimetres (10.4 in) tall and 28.8 centimetres (11.3 in) in diameter at the widest point.

Coronet of Charles, Prince of Wales.

When Osman unveiled the coronet in London, he described it as “something that is modern.” Personally, I think this coronet is hideous!

Usage

The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths presented the coronet to Queen Elizabeth II for the investiture at Caernarfon Castle on 1 July 1969. The Prince of Wales has not worn his coronet since his investiture; the coronet was carried before him when he took his seat in the House of Lords in 1970. The coronet was loaned to the National Museum and Gallery of Wales by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974. It was placed into storage at St James’s Palace, London in 2011.

This date in History: June 27, 1743. George II of Great Britain leads troops at the Battle of Dettingen during the War of the Austrian Succession.

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Battle of Dettingen, Elector of Bavaria, Elector of Hanover, Frederick the Great, George II, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII, Holy Roman Empire, King Frederick II of Prussia, King George II of Great Britain, Pragmatic Sanction, War of the Austrian Succession

The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) involved most of the powers of Europe over the issue of Archduchess Maria Theresa’s succession to the Habsburg Monarchy.

The immediate cause of the War of the Austrian Succession was the death of Holy Roman Emperor Carl VI (1685–1740) and the inheritance of the Habsburg Monarchy, often collectively referred to as ‘Austria’ (see Map).

Europe after the Treaty of Vienna (1738), Habsburg Monarchy in gold

Background

The 1703 Mutual Pact of Succession between Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and his sons Archduke Joseph and Archduke Carl agreed that if the Habsburgs became extinct in the male line, their possessions would go first to female heirs of Joseph, then those of Carl. Since Salic law excluded women from the inheritance, this required approval by the various Habsburg territories and the Imperial Diet.

Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I died in 1711, leaving two daughters, Maria Josepha and Maria Amalia and his brother Carl succeeded his elder brother as Holy Roman Emperor Emperor Carl VI, King of Bohemia (as Carl II), King of Hungary and Croatia, Serbia and Archduke of Austria (as Carl III).

Holy Roman Emperor Carl VI

Carl VI became the last male Habsburg in the direct line. In April 1713, he issued the Pragmatic Sanction, permitting female inheritance but then placing his own hypothetical daughters ahead of Joseph I’s. It’s interesting to note that at this juncture Carl suspected he wouldn’t have any male heirs.

On August 1, 1708, the future Holy Roman Emperor Carl VI married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the eldest daughter of Ludwig-Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and his wife Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen.

When Carl’s daughter Maria Theresa was born in 1717, ensuring her succession dominated the rest of his reign. In 1719 Carl VI required his nieces Maria Joseph and Maria Amalia to renounce their rights in Maria Theresa’s favour in order to marry Friedrich-August of Saxony and Carl-Albert of Bavaria respectively. Carl VI hoped these marriages would secure his daughter’s position since neither Saxony or Bavaria could tolerate the other gaining control of the Habsburg inheritance but his actions undermined the logic of the settlement.

A family issue became a European one due to tensions within the Holy Roman Empire, caused by dramatic increases in the size and power of Bavaria, Prussia and Saxony, mirrored by the post 1683 expansion of Habsburg power into lands previously held by the Ottoman Empire. Further complexity then arose from the fact that the theoretically elected position of Holy Roman Emperor, which had been held by the Habsburgs since 1437, would be lost by the Habsburgs after the death of Emperor Carl VI.

Bavaria and Saxony refused to be bound by the decision of the Imperial Diet, while in 1738 France agreed to back the ‘just claims’ of Carl-Albert of Bavaria, despite previously accepting the Pragmatic Sanction in 1735. Attempts to offset this involved Austria in the 1734-1735 War of the Polish Succession and the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739, and it was weakened by the losses incurred. Compounded by the failure to prepare Maria Theresa for her new role, many European statesmen were sceptical that the Austrian lands could survive the contest that would follow Carl VI death, which finally occurred on October 20, 1740.

Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungry and Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria

Immediately after her accession, a number of European sovereigns who had recognised Maria Theresa as heir broke their promises. Elector Carl-Albert of Bavaria, married to Maria Theresa’s deprived cousin Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria, coveted portions of her inheritance. Maria Theresa did secure recognition from King Carlo-Emmanuel III of Sardinia, who had not accepted the Pragmatic Sanction during her father’s lifetime, in November 1740.

In December the War of the Austrian Succession began when King Friedrich II of Prussia invaded the Duchy of Silesia and requested that Maria Theresa cede it, threatening to join her enemies if she refused. Maria Theresa decided to fight for the mineral Rich province.

Elector Carl-Albert of Bavaria invaded Upper Austria in 1741 and planned to conquer Vienna, but his allied French troops under the Duc de Belle-Isle were redirected to Bohemia instead and Prague was conquered in November 1741. So Carl-Albert was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague (December 19, 1741) when the Habsburgs were not yet defeated. He was unanimously elected “King of the Romans” on January 24, 1742, also with the vote of King George II of Great Britain (in his capacity as the Imperial Elector of Hanover) and became Holy Roman Emperor Carl VII upon his coronation on February 17, 1742.

Holy Roman Emperor Carl VII, Elector of Bavaria

One important battle of the War of the Austrian Succession was the Battle of Dettingen which took place on June 27, 1743 at Dettingen on the River Main, Holy Roman Empire. The British forces, in alliance with those of Hanover and Hesse, defeated a French army under the duc de Noailles. King George II of Great Britain, Imperial Elector of Hanover, commanded his troops in the battle, and this marked the last time a British monarch personally led his troops on the field. The battle straddled the river about 18 miles east of Frankfurt, with guns on the Hessian bank but most of the combat on the flat Bavarian bank. The village of Dettingen is today the town of Karlstein am Main, in the extreme northwest of Bavaria.

King George II of Great Britain at the Battle of Dettingen.

George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland and Imperial Elector of Hanover.