A Full House!

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Alexandra of Denmark, Aragon, Chalres V, Charles I of England, Charles II of England, Elizabeth of York, England, France, Henry VIII of England, Holy Roman Empire, Louis XIV of France, Nicholas II of Russia, Sofia of Spain, Spain, United Kingdom

We often see in fairy tales that a future king, or a king himself, will marry a princess who is the daughter of a king herself. The reality is that this scenario is not always played out in the history of royalty. The last time it happened in the British monarchy was when Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales and future King Edward VII married Princess Alexandra of Denmark the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. Well, technically her father wasn’t the king just yet when they married. Albert-Edward and Alexandra were married March 10, 1863 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle while her father, Christian IX, didn’t become king until November 15, 1863 when King Frederik VII died that same year. Although she missed it by a few months I will count it.

You have to go back to King Charles II of England and Scotland when he married Catherine of Braganza, on May 15, 1662 to find a king (or future king) that married the daughter of a king. Catherine was the daughter of King João IV of Portugal. I guess you could also count Queen Anne of Great Britain who married Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland in 1683 for he was the son of King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway. However, for this post I am concentrating on women who were the daughters of kings.

When examining the genealogy of a daughter of a king that married another king this made these woman often connected to many other relatives who wore a crown. Today I want to look at four women who were very royally connected.

1. Elizabeth of York (1466-1503). She was the daughter of a king (Edward IV of England), the sister of a king (Edward V of England), the niece of a king (Richard III of England), the wife of a king (Henry VII of England), the mother of a king (Henry VIII of England), the mother-in-law of a king (James IV of Scotland), and the grandmother of two kings (Edward VI of England and James V of Scotland) and the grandmother of two queens (Mary I and Elizabeth I of England). Although I am not counting consorts per se, Elizabeth of York was also the mother of two queen consorts of Scotland and France.
3. Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) She was the daughter of two sovereign monarchs (Isabella I of Castile and Fernando II-V of Aragon and Castile), she was the sister and sister-in-law to two sovereign monarchs (Juana of Castile and Felipe I of Castile, Archduke of Austria), she was the aunt of two Emperor-Kings (Carl V of the Holy Roman Empire who was also Carlos I of Spain, Ferdinand I Holy Roman Emperor) she was the wife of a king (Henry VIII of England) and the mother of a sovereign queen (Mary I of England) and mother-in-law/great aunt of a king (Felipe II of Spain and King of Portugal, Archduke of Austria).
5. Henrietta-Maria de Bourbon of France (1609-1669). She was the daughter of a king (Henri IV of France and Navarre), she was the sister of a king (Louis XIII of France and Navarre), she was the aunt of a king (Louis XIV of France and Navarre), she was the wife of a king (Charles I of England and Scotland), she was the mother of two kings (Charles II and James II-VII of England and Scotland) she was the grandmother of a king and two sovereign queens (William III of England and Scotland, Staholder of the Netherlands, Mary II of England and Scotland, Anne of England and Scotland/Great Britain).

   Alexandra of Denmark (1844-1925). She was the daughter of a king (Christian IX of Denmark), the sister to two kings (Frederik VIII of Denmark and George I of Greece), the aunt of three kings and an emperor (Christian X of Denmark, Haakon VII of Norway, Constantine I of Greece and Emperor Nicholas II of Russia), the mother of a king (George V of the United Kingdom), mother-in-law of a king (Haakon VII of Norway) and the grandmother two kings (Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and George VI of the United Kingdom).

   Sofia of Greece and Denmark (1938-). She is the daughter of a king (Paul of Greece), she is the sister of a king (Constantine II of Greece), the sister-in-law of a queen (Margrethe II of Denmark), she is the wife of a king (Juan-Carlos of Spain) and the mother of a king (Felipe VI of Spain).

Those are some good royal connections! I am certain there are more and I will post more in the future!

Queen Sofia of Spain, princess of Greece and Denmark.

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Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

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1789, Bastille Day, Charles I of England, Colonel Thomas Pride, English Civil War, French Revolution, July 14, Long Parliament, Lord Strafford, Louis XVI, Oliver Cromwell, Parliament, Pride's Purge

Saturday is Bastille Day where they celebrate the 1789 storming of the Bastille which was the start of the French Revolution. Since I don’t write long posts on the weekends I thought I would take the celebration of Bastille Day to examine how monarchies adapt and survive. Although Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette, did not survive the French Revolution the monarchy in France did limp on for a few decades after it was restored following the Napoleonic period. The question I ask is where did Louis XVI go wrong? Where did Charles I of England & Scotland go wrong in the 1640s culminating in his beheading in 1649? Did each have a part to play in their demise? Ah, so many questions. I often think history is complex and I personally eschew simple cause and effect answers. Generally many factors play into the events of history. So in this small little blog I will examine some of the factors that caused the downfall of these people and also examine, in the big picture, how monarchies that survive to this day, have been able to adapt.

Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre (1774-1792)

Shortly after the storming of the Bastille the French royal family was forcibly removed from the opulent Palace at Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris where they lived as virtual prisoners. For a brief period of time Louis did enjoy a considerable level of popularity. Initially the abolition of the monarchy was not the goal of the revolutionaries. If they had a clear goal it was to end the absolutist nature of the crown and to bring it under the control of a constitution which limited its powers. Much of the fight was between those supporting changes, sometimes radical changes, and those who wished to preserve the monarchy. Louis was indecisive and in his heart he was the King and his heritage and tradition taught that it was the king that wielded the reigns of power. Other factors were his unpopular wife, and Austrian royal by birth, and many rightfully feared that the king and the queen would draw Austria and other absolute monarchies to their side. Invasion of France by foreign powers in support of the monarchy was a constant threat. There was distrust all around on both sides. In the end because of their shoddy treatment Louis and his family tried to escape their prison like existence in the Tuileries Palace but were caught and returned to Paris. Louis was also secretly planning, with the aid of loyal ministers, his escape once again and the appeal to foreign powers for their aid in restoring the monarchy and ending the revolution. Before they could implement these plans Louis and Marie Antoinette were arrested and the evidence of their dealings with foreign powers to regain power was their undoing and the reasons for being executed for high treason. What if questions are impossible to answer. Had Louis not conspired with foreign powers, had his queen been more popular, would he have lost his head, or was it inevitable?

Charles I, King of England and Scotland (1625-1649)

For eleven years Charles ruled as an absolute monarch in a country not used to absolute monarchs. during that time he ruled without calling Parliament. Even his more powerful predecessors, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, still had to wrestle with ministers and Parliament from time to time. Henry had a formidable will and Elizabeth also had a formidable will along with diplomatic skills and feminine charm. As with the case with Louis XVI the seeds for revolution were sown in the past. For Charles the problem concerned with who wielded the power, the Crown or Parliament? The struggle for power between the two entities had a long tradition and in viewing the threads of history it can be seen that the the two would eventually bump heads. Charles did abuse his power during those eleven years of personal rule. He raised taxes illegally and forced loans upon his people. In 1640 the call of war beckoned in the form of the Bishops War when Charles wanted to force an episcopal style of worship on his Scottish subjects. In order to accomplish his tasks he needed to raise funds and for that he needed Parliament. Charles called two Parliaments within a short time which were distrusting of the king. There was actually distrust on both sides. Despite many concessions given to Parliament by the king there was still a struggle between both the Crown and Parliament. An event that pushed the two parties closer to war was the handling of Lord Strafford. Lord Strafford was the king’s deputy in Ireland and when Parliament could not prove a charge of treason against him the House of Commons resorted to passing a Bill of Attainder which did not require proof of guilt for the conviction of high treason only the king’s signature. The king knew Strafford to be innocent of the charges and yet the king also knew to ignore the Bill from the House of Commons would trigger war. So the king sent Strafford to slaughter as a sacrificial lamb. Upon Straffords death Ireland fell into chaos fearing reprisals by a protestant army. As tensions continued to rise Charles entered Parliament with 400 troops to arrest 5 members on charges of treason. This failed miserably as the members had been tipped off and flew the coup. The speaker of the House of Commons told the king he was a servant of Parliament and not the king. Fearing for his safety Charles left London and the English Civil War had begun. It would last, off and on, until 1649 with the defeat of the king and his execution for high treason. Even with an assured victory for Parliament at the end of the war it was still possible for the king to keep not only his head but his crown as well. Toward the end of 1648 the king was willing to negotiate and accept the concessions of Parliament and rule with limited powers. Parliament was willing to accept him and have him return to power. So what happened? Colonel Thomas Pride and his troops scored a military coup d’état and purged Parliament of all those that supported the king. With nothing left but the rump of the Long Parliament and the remaining members who were anti-monarchist, Charles was convicted of high treason and executed.

I could go one with more examples, such as Wilhelm II of Germany, Nicholas II of Russia, Constantine II of Greece etc. It may be impossible to examine these monarchies and answer the question “was there something these monarchs could have done differently to save either themselves or their thrones?” Was their demise inevitable? We’ll never know. One thing I do observe from the tapestry of history is that the monarchies that have survived were the ones that were willing to adapt to changes. Those that wanted to keep the status quo and retain power were the ones that failed and ended up in the trash bin of history. The source of the change seems to have come from the majority of the people in these states and the problem seems to be that the monarchies would not, or could not, either listen to the changes in the wind or see the proverbial hand writing on the wall.

Top 10 Favorite Monarchs

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Carlos I of Spain, Charlemagne, Charles I of England, Charles II of England, Charles V Holy Roman Empire, English Civil War, Felipe II of Spain, Kings and Queens of England, Protestant Reformation, Sir Issac Newton, William the Conqueror

Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland

Today I am taking a break from my pretenders series and will do something a little fun, well fun for me. I am going to list my top 10 favorite monarchs with some biographical information. I will do this in two sections. 5 today and 5 tomorrow.

Top 10 Favorite Monarchs

1. Charlemagne, King of the Franks, Emperor of the West
Born: c. 742. Died: 28 January 814. Reign: King, 768-814; Emperor 800-814.

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, ruled the majority of Europe in his life time and the forging of his empire was to have repercussions throughout European history. He was a strong warrior and also an able administrator.

2. William I the Conqueror, King of England, Duke of Normandy
Born: c. 1028 Died: 9 September 1087. Reign: Duke, 1035-1087; King, 1066-1087

William the Conqueror was another powerful warrior and his conquest of the throne of England changed the course of English history. He brought permanent changes to the Church, aristocracy, culture, the nature of kingship and language that can still be felt today.

3. Karl V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain
Born: 24 February 1500. Died: 21 September 1558. Reign: King, 1516-1556; Emperor, 1519-1556

Holy Roman Emperor Karl V (Carlos I of Spain) also ruled a vast empire and had titles too numerous to list here. His empire rivaled that of Charlemagne’s. One of the most powerful rulers of the Habsburg family Karl and his policies played a large role in Protestant Reformation a significant moment in European history. His empire was broken up on his abdication in 1556. The Holy Roman Empire went to his brother Ferdinand and Spain to his eldest son, Felipe II.

4. Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre.
Born: 5 September 1638. Died: 1 September 1715. Reign: 1648-1715.

Louis XIV holds the record for being the longest reigning king in European history ruling France and the tiny kingdom of Navarre for 72 years 110 days. He came to his throne as a child and survived political uprisings to take the reigns of government himself and has become the model for absolute monarchy. He built the Palace of Versailles and brought much good for France but also sowed the seeds for future revolution.

5. Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland
Born: 5 September 1638. Died: 1 September 1715. Reign: 1660-1685

A first cousin to king Louis XIV of France, Charles II, was called the Merry Monarch but almost never came to the throne. His father, Charles I, lost his head at the end of the English Civil War and the monarchy was abolished. He spent much of that time with a bounty on his head and living in exile. Restored to the throne in 1660 Charles opened a breath of fresh air after 11 years of puritanical rule. He allowed the theater to thrive once again and became a patron of the arts. Science also returned to prominence and this was an area in which the king specifically supported. Charles II founded the Royal Observatory and supported the Royal Society, a scientific group whose members included Sir Isaac Newton.

The next five will be revealed tomorrow.