December 5, 1560: Death of King François II of France and Scotland

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Catherine de Médici, Francis II of France, Henry II of France, Jousting, Marie de Guise, Mary I of Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots, Regency

François II (January 19, 1544 – December 5, 1560) was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King consort of Scotland as a result of his marriage to Mary I, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560.

He ascended the throne of France at age 15 after the accidental death of his father, Henry II, in 1559. His short reign was dominated by the first stirrings of the French Wars of Religion.

Although the royal age of majority was 14, his mother, Catherine de’ Medici, entrusted the reins of government to his wife Mary’s uncles from the House of Guise, staunch supporters of the Catholic cause. They were unable to help Catholics in Scotland against the progressing Scottish Reformation, however, and the Auld Alliance was dissolved.

François was succeeded by two of his brothers in turn, both of whom were also unable to reduce tensions between Protestants and Catholics.

Childhood and education (1544–1559)

François was born 11 years after his parents’ wedding Henri II and Catherinede Médici. The long delay in producing an heir may have been due to his father’s repudiation of his mother in favour of his mistress Diane de Poitiers, but this repudiation was mitigated by Diane’s insistence that Henri spend his nights with Catherine.

François was at first raised at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He was baptised on February 10, 1544 at the Chapelle des Trinitaires in Fontainebleau. His godparents were François I (who knighted him during the ceremony), Pope Paul III, and his great-aunt Marguerite de Navarre. He became governor of Languedoc in 1546 and Dauphin of France in 1547, when his grandfather François I died.

King Henri II, his father, arranged a remarkable betrothal for his son to Mary I, Queen of Scots, in the Châtillon agreement of January 27, 1548, when François was only four years old. Mary had been crowned Queen of Scotland in Stirling Castle on September 9, 1543 at the age of nine months following the death of her father James V. Mary was a granddaughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, a very influential figure at the court of France.

Once the marriage agreement was formally ratified, the six-year-old Mary was sent to France to be raised at court until the marriage. She was tall for her age and eloquent, and Francis was unusually short and stuttered. Henri II said, “from the very first day they met, my son and she got on as well together as if they had known each other for a long time”.

On April 24, 1558, François and Mary married in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was a union that could have given the future Kings of France the throne of Scotland and also a claim to the throne of England through Mary’s great-grandfather, King Henry VII of England. As a result of the marriage, François became King Consort in Scotland until his death. The marriage produced no children, and may never even have been consummated, possibly due to François illnesses or undescended testicles.

Becoming king

A little over a year after his marriage, on July 10, 1559, François became king at age 15 upon the death of Henri II, who died from injuries that he suffered in a jousting accident. On September 21, 1559, François II was crowned king in Reims by his uncle Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine. The crown was so heavy that nobles had to hold it in place for him. The court then moved to the Loire Valley, where the Château de Blois and the surrounding forests were the new king’s home. Francis II took the sun for his emblem and for his mottoes Spectanda fides (This is how faith should be respected) and Lumen rectis (Light for the righteous)

Death

The king’s health deteriorated in November 1560. On November 16, he fainted. After only 17 months on the throne, François II died on December 5, 1560 in Orléans, Loiret, from an ear condition. Multiple diseases have been suggested, such as mastoiditis, meningitis, or otitis exacerbated into an abscess.

Ambroise Paré, the royal surgeon, considered performing a trepanation. Some suspected Protestants of having poisoned the king, a view held by Catholics as the tensions between them and Protestants were on the rise, but this has not been proven.

François II died childless, so his younger brother Charles, then ten years old, succeeded him as King Charles IX of France. On December 21, the council named Catherine de Médici Regent of France. The Guises left the court, while MaryI, Queen of Scots, François II’s widow, returned to Scotland. Louis, Prince of Condé, who was jailed and awaiting execution, was freed after some negotiations with Catherine de Médici.

On December 23, 1560, François II’s body was interred in the Basilica of St Denis by the Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon.

November 3, 1901: Birth of King Leopold III of the Belgians. Conclusion.

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Abdication, Government in Exile, King Baudouin of the Belgians, King Leopold III of the Belgians, Prince Charles of Belgium, Referendum, Regency, Switzerland, World War ii

On May 24, 1940, Leopold, having assumed command of the Belgian Army, met with his ministers for the final time. The ministers urged the King to leave the country with the government. Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot reminded him that capitulation was a decision for the Belgian government, not the King. The king indicated that he had decided to remain in Belgium with his troops, whatever the outcome.

The ministers took this to mean that he would establish a new government under the direction of Hitler, potentially a treasonous act. Leopold thought that he might be seen as a deserter if he were to leave the country: “Whatever happens, I have to share the same fate as my troops.” Leopold had long had a difficult and contentious relationship with his ministers, acting independently of government influence whenever possible, and seeking to circumvent and even limit the ministers’ powers, while expanding his own.

After Leopold’s surrender, the British press denounced him as “Traitor King” and “King Rat”; the Daily Mirror published a picture of Leopold with the headline “The Face That Every Woman Now Despises”. A group of Belgian refugees in Paris placed a message at King Albert’s statue denouncing his son as “your unworthy successor”.

Leopold rejected cooperation with the government of Nazi Germany and refused to administer Belgium in accordance with its dictates; thus, the Germans implemented a military government. Leopold attempted to assert his authority as monarch and head of the Belgian government, although he was a prisoner of the Germans.

Despite his defiance of the Germans, the Belgian government-in-exile in London maintained that the King did not represent the Belgian government and was unable to reign. The Germans held him at first under house arrest at the Royal Castle of Laeken.

Having since June 1940 desired a meeting with Adolf Hitler in respect of the situation of Belgian prisoners of war, Leopold III finally met with him on November 19, 1940. Leopold wanted to persuade Hitler to release Belgian POWs, and issue a public statement about Belgium’s future independence. Hitler refused to speak about the independence of Belgium or issue a statement about it. In refusing to publish a statement, Hitler preserved the King from being seen as cooperating with Germany, and thus engaged in treasonous acts, which would likely have obliged him to abdicate upon the liberation of Belgium. “The [German] Chancellor saved the king two times.

Leopold and his companions were liberated by members of the United States 106th Cavalry Group in early May 1945. Because of the controversy about his conduct during the war, Leopold III and his wife and children were unable to return to Belgium and spent the next six years in exile at Pregny-Chambésy near Geneva, Switzerland. A regency under his brother Prince Charles had been established by the Belgian legislature in 1944.

Resistance to Leopold’s return

In 1946, a commission of inquiry exonerated Leopold of treason. Nonetheless, controversy concerning his loyalty continued, and in 1950, a referendum was held about his future. 57.68 % of the voters favoured his return. The divide between Leopoldists and anti-Leopoldists ran along the lines of socialists and Walloons who were mostly opposed (42% favourable votes in Wallonia) and Christian Democrats and Flemish who were more in favour of the King (70% favourable votes in Flanders).

On his return to Belgium in 1950, Leopold was met with one of the most violent general strikes in the history of Belgium. Three protesters were killed when the gendarmerie opened automatic fire upon the protesters. The country stood on the brink of civil war, and Belgian banners were replaced by Walloon flags in Liège and other municipalities of Wallonia.

To avoid tearing the country apart, and to preserve the monarchy, Leopold III proposed to transfer his royal powers to his son, Prince Baudouin. On 11 August 11, Prince Baudouin became the “Prince Royal”.

In this postponed abdication the king was, in effect, forced by the government of Jean Duvieusart to offer to abdicate in favour of his son. King Leopold III’s abdication took effect on July 16, 1951.

Post-abdication life

Leopold and his wife continued to advise King Baudouin until the latter’s marriage in 1960. Some Belgian historians, such as Vincent Delcorps, speak of there having been a “diarchy” during this period.

In retirement, he followed his passion as an amateur social anthropologist and entomologist and travelled the world, collecting zoological specimens. Two species of reptiles are named after him, Gehyra leopoldi and Polemon leopoldi.

He went to Senegal and strongly criticized the French decolonization process,and he explored the Orinoco and the Amazon with Heinrich Harrer.

Leopold died on September 25, 1983 (aged 81) in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe) following emergency heart surgery. He was interred next to Queen Astrid in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken. Leopold’s second wife, the Princess de Réthy, was later interred with them.

September 6, 1666: Birth of Czar Ivan V of Russia.

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Czar of Russia, Ivan V of Russia, Peter the Great of Russia, Regency, Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia, Tsar of Russia

Ivan V Alekseyevich (September 6, 1666 – February 8, 1696) was a joint Tsar of Russia with his younger half-brother Peter I the Great, who co-reigned between 1682 and 1696. Ivan was the youngest son of Czar Alexei of Russia by his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya, while Peter was the only son of Czar Alexei by his second wife, Natalya Naryshkina. Ivan’s reign was solely titular because he had serious physical and mental issues.

Ivan V was born in 1666 in Moscow, the youngest son of Czar Alexi and Maria Miloslavskaya. Only two of his older brothers survived childhood; his eldest brother, Alexei, died aged 15 in 1670, therefore his second brother, Feodor, became Czar upon the death of their father. When Feodor III died in 1682 without leaving an heir, Ivan, who was thought to be “infirm in body and mind”, was passed over in favor of his younger half-brother, Peter.

The church and the Naryshkins (family of Peter’s mother, Natalya Naryshkina) supported Peter’s ascension to the throne, however, the family of Ivan’s mother (the Miloslavski) and Ivan’s older sister, Sofia Alekseyevna, in particular, disputed the move. Rumors spread around Moscow that Feodor III had been poisoned and Ivan strangled by boyars so that the 10-year-old Peter could become Czar. These rumours fomented the Moscow Uprising of 1682, and the streltsy stormed the Kremlin. These disturbances subsided only after Ivan appeared in person in the city, and proved to everyone that he was alive and well.

The streltsy demanded that Ivan be named Czar, and a compromise was found by declaring Ivan and Peter as co-rulers, with a regency government until the boys came of age. Sofia Alekseyevna, who had been influential at court during her brother Feodor’s reign, was named regent. While Ivan was 16 years old at this time, his co-ruler Peter I was only 10. Ivan was considered the “senior Czar”, but actual power was wielded by Sophia Alekseyevna, Ivan’s sister and Peter’s half-sister, for the next seven years.

Czar and co-ruler

Sophia was always considerate of Ivan, although she is never known to have consulted him on any important matter. She was anxious that every outward sign of respect and deference be paid to Ivan, which was a subtle way of undermining the influence of Peter’s faction in court. Thus, every wish or opinion expressed by Ivan was deferred to, and his general prestige in court remained intact during the years of Sophia’s regency.

As Peter the Great grew up, he and his faction, led by his mother’s Naryshkin family, contended with Regent Sophia for influence and power. Indeed, Sophia is blamed for the murders of Peter’s uncles on his mother’s side of the family. Due to this and other situations, tension arose between the factions of the co-Czars.

In 1689, Peter was 17, and intent upon declaring his majority and demanding power. To pre-empt this, Sophia attempted to raise a riot in the city, spreading the rumour that the Naryshkins had destroyed Ivan’s crown and were poised to set his room on fire. This was untrue, and when riots began, Ivan’s tutor, Prince Prozorovsky, persuaded him to publicly declare his faith in his brother Peter and make it known that he was unharmed and in no danger for life or liberty.

Ivan did this, and also supported Peter’s contention that the time had come for terminating the regency. Peter was declared to be of age and Sophia’s regency was terminated. Ivan being both incapable and disinterested, Peter came into his own and functioned as though he were the sole Czar. The eventual result was that, over time, the outward signs of deference and power which Ivan had enjoyed during the regency slowly withered away and he became a non-entity in the Russian court. For the last decade of his life, Ivan was completely overshadowed by the more energetic Peter I. He spent his days with his wife, Praskovia Saltykova, caring about little but “fasting and praying day and night”.

In late 1683 or early 1684, Ivan married Praskovia Saltykova, daughter of Fyodor Petrovich Saltykov, a minor nobleman, by his wife, whose name is uncertain – it was either Yekaterina Fyodorovna or Anna Mikhailovna Tatishcheva. Ivan’s marriage was arranged in the traditional style of Russian rulers: he selected a bride from a parade of potential candidates. Praskovia Saltykova, who came from a rather obscure family, had been raised in a middle-class household and adhered to conventional values and moral standards.

Praskovia bonded strongly with her gentle and simple husband, and proved to be an exemplary wife to a mentally-challenged man. She became the mainstay of his life and earned the lifelong respect of her powerful brother-in-law, Peter the Great, who entrusted the care and education of his own two daughters to her. Ivan’s purported debility did not prevent him from producing robust offspring, and Praskovia bore him five daughters, three of whom lived to adulthood. Their children were:

Maria Ivanovna (1689–1692)

Feodosia Ivanovna (1690–1691)

Ekaterina Ivanovna (1691–1733)

Anna Ivanovna (1693–1740) Empress Regnant of Russia from 1730 to 1740

Praskovia Ivanovna (1694–1731)

Death and succession

At the age of 27, Ivan was described by foreign ambassadors as senile, paralytic and almost blind. He died two years later, on February 8, 1696, and was interred in the Archangel Cathedral. It was fortuitous to Peter’s faction that Ivan produced several daughters but no sons, as there was no confusion regarding the succession of the crown upon his death. His co-ruler was left to become supreme ruler of Russia; with Ivan’s death, the struggle for power within the family had finally ended.

In 1730, more than 30 years after Ivan’s death, his second surviving daughter, Anna, Duchess of Courland, was invited to the throne of Russia by the country’s privy council. She ruled for more than 10 years, and was succeeded by Ivan’s infant great-grandson Ivan VI; however, a palace coup engineered in 1741 by Ivan’s niece Elizabeth resulted in the throne passing finally to the progeny of Peter I the Great.

History of Male British Consorts Part IV

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Cardinal Beaton, Earl of Arran, Francis II of France, Henry II of France, Henry VIII of England, King Consort of Scotland, Mary I of Scotland, Regency

In this entry I will examine the marriage of Mary I, Queen of Scots and her first marriage to King François II a France and how he became king consort of Scotland.

Mary I, Queen of Scots (December 8, 1542 – February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, reigned over Scotland from December 14, 1542 until her forced abdication on July 24, 1567.

Mary, the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland and Marie of Guise, was six days old when her father died and she acceded to the throne.

Scotland was ruled by regents until she became an adult. From the outset, there were two claims to the regency: one from the Catholic Cardinal David Beaton, and the other from the Protestant James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, who was next in line to the throne.

Beaton’s claim was based on a version of the king’s will that his opponents dismissed as a forgery. Arran, with the support of his friends and relations, became the regent until 1554 when Mary’s mother managed to remove and succeed him.

King Henry VIII of England took the opportunity of the regency to propose marriage between Mary and his own son and heir, Edward, hoping for a union of Scotland and England.

On July 1, 1543, when Mary was six months old, the Treaty of Greenwich was signed, which promised that, at the age of ten, Mary would marry Edward and move to England, where Henry could oversee her upbringing. The treaty provided that the two countries would remain legally separate and, if the couple should fail to have children, the temporary union would dissolve.

Cardinal Beaton rose to power again and began to push a pro-Catholic pro-French agenda, angering Henry, who wanted to break the Scottish alliance with France.

King Henri II of France proposed to unite France and Scotland by marrying the young queen to his three-year-old son, the Dauphin François.

On the promise of French military help and a French dukedom for himself, Arran agreed to the marriage.

François II (January 19, 1544 – December 5, 1560) was the eldest son of King Henri II of France and Catherine de Medici.

In May 1546, Beaton was murdered by Protestant lairds, and on September 10, 1547, nine months after the death of Henry VIII, the Scots suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Pinkie.

Mary’s guardians, fearful for her safety, sent her to Inchmahome Priory for no more than three weeks, and turned to the French for help.

After the death of Queen Mary I of England, King Henri II of France proclaimed his eldest son and daughter-in-law king and queen of England. In France the royal arms of England were quartered with those of Francis and Mary.

Mary’s claim to the English throne was a perennial sticking point between herself and Queen Elizabeth I of England.

On April 4, 1558, Henri had Mary sign secret documents, illegal in Scottish law, that would ensure Valois rule in Scotland even if Mary died without leaving an heir. Twenty days later, she married the Dauphin at Notre Dame de Paris, and he became King Consort of Scotland.

When Henri II died on July 10, 1559, from injuries sustained in a joust, fifteen-year-old François sixteen-year-old Mary became king and queen of France.

Two of the Queen’s uncles, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, were now dominant in French politics, enjoying an ascendancy called by some historians la tyrannie Guisienne.

King François II died on December 5, 1560 of a middle ear infection that led to an abscess in his brain. Mary was grief-stricken. Her mother-in-law, Catherine de’ Medici, became regent for the late king’s ten-year-old brother Charles IX, who inherited the French throne.

The marriage produced no children, and may never even have been consummated, possibly due to François’s illnesses or undescended testicles.Mary returned to Scotland nine months later, arriving in Leith on August 19, 1561.

Having lived in France since the age of five, Mary had little direct experience of the dangerous and complex political situation in Scotland.

As a devout Catholic, she was regarded with suspicion by many of her subjects, as well as by Queen Elizabeth I England

The Duchess of Kent: Conclusion

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Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Princess Royal, Private Secretary, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Regency, Sir John Conroy, The Duchess of Kent, Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Sir John Conroy had high hopes for his patroness and himself: He envisaged Victoria succeeding the throne at a young age, thus needing a regency government, which, following the Regency Act 1830, would be headed by the princess’s mother (who had already served in that capacity in Germany following the death of her first husband).

As the private secretary of the Duchess, Conroy would be the veritable “power behind the throne”. What Conroy had not counted on was William IV surviving long enough for Victoria to succeed to the throne as an adult with no need for a Regency Consesquently, while cultivating her mother, Conroy had shown little consideration for Victoria and his schemes alienated her in the process.

When Victoria succeeded to the throne in 1837 Conroy risked having no influence over her. He tried one last attempt for power when he forced Victoria to agree to make him her personal secretary, but this plan, too, backfired. Victoria resented her mother’s support for Conroy’s schemes and being pressured by her to sign a paper declaring Conroy her personal secretary. The result was that when Victoria became queen, she relegated the Duchess to separate accommodations, away from her own.

Reconciliation

When the Queen’s first child, the Princess Royal, was born, the Duchess of Kent unexpectedly found herself welcomed back into Victoria’s inner circle. It is likely that this came about as a result of the dismissal of Baroness Lehzen at the behest of Victoria’s husband (and the Duchess’s nephew), Prince Albert. Firstly, this removed Lehzen’s influence, and Lehzen had long despised the Duchess and Conroy, suspecting them of an illicit affair.

Secondly, it left the Queen wholly open to Albert’s influence, and he likely prevailed upon her to reconcile with her mother. Thirdly, Conroy by now lived in exile on the Continent and so his divisive influence was removed. The Duchess’s finances, which had been left in shambles by Conroy, were restored thanks to Victoria and her advisors. By all accounts, the Duchess became a doting grandmother and was closer to her daughter than she ever had been.

Some historians, including A. N. Wilson, suggested that Victoria’s father could not have been the Duke of Kent. Those who promote this position point to the absence of porphyria in the British royal family among the descendants of Queen Victoria – it had been widespread before her; and haemophilia, unknown in either the Duke’s or Duchess’s fam noily, had arisen among the best documented families in history.

In practice, this would have required the Duchess’s lover to be haemophiliac – an extremely unlikely survival, given the poor state of medicine at the time, or the Duchess herself to be a carrier of haemophilia, since haemophilia is X-linked, meaning that her mother would have been a carrier, if haemophilia was not otherwise previously expressed in the Duchess’s parents. Actual evidence to support this theory has not arisen, and haemophilia occurs spontaneously through mutation in at least 30% of cases.

John Röhl’s book, Purple Secret, documents evidence of porphyria in Victoria, Princess Royal’s daughter Charlotte, and her granddaughter, Feodora. It goes on to say that Prince William of Gloucester was diagnosed with porphyria shortly before he died in a flying accident.

The Duchess died at 09:30 on March 16, 1861 with her daughter Victoria at her side, aged 74 years. The Queen was much affected by her mother’s death. Through reading her mother’s papers, Victoria discovered that her mother had loved her deeply; she was heart-broken, and blamed Conroy and Lehzen for “wickedly” estranging her from her mother. She is buried in the Duchess of Kent’s Mausoleum at Frogmore, Windsor Home Park, near to the royal residence Windsor Castle.

Queen Victoria and Albert dedicated a window in the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park to her memory.

The Duchess of Kent: Part III. The Duchess vs the King

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coronation, Duchess of Kent, Fitzclarence, John Conroy, Queen Adelaide, Queen Victoria, Regency, Regent, The Kensington System, Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, William IV of the United Kingdom

Together in a hostile environment, John Conroy’s relationship with the Duchess was very close, with him serving as her comptroller and private secretary for the next nineteen years, as well as holding the unofficial roles of public relations officer, counsellor, confidant and political agent.

While it is not clear which of the two was more responsible for devising the Kensington System, it was created to govern young Victoria’s upbringing. The goal they both had was for the Duchess to be appointed regent upon Victoria’s ascension which they assumed would take place prior to her turning eighteen. Once established as recent the Duchess would have Conroy created Victoria’s private secretary and given a peerage. This would established Conroy as the true power behind the throne.

The Duchess and Conroy continued to be unpopular with the royal family and, in 1829, the Duke of Cumberland spread rumours that they were lovers in an attempt to discredit them. The Duke of Clarence referred to Conroy as “King John”, while the Duchess of Clarence wrote to the Duchess of Kent to advise that she was increasingly isolating herself from the royal family and that she must not grant Conroy too much power.

Victoria was raised under the “Kensington System” and the extremely protective Duchess of Kent kept her daughter largely isolated from other children. The system prevented the princess from meeting people whom her mother and Conroy deemed undesirable (including most of Britain’s Royal Family), and was designed to keep her weak and dependent upon them.

The Duchess avoided the court because she was scandalised by the presence of King William IV’s illegitimate children, and perhaps prompted the emergence of Victorian morality by insisting that her daughter avoid any appearance of sexual impropriety. Victoria shared a bedroom with her mother every night, studied with private tutors to a regular timetable, and spent her play-hours with her dolls and her King Charles Spaniel, Dash.

Due to Conroy’s continual influence, the relationship between the Duchess’s household and King William IV increasingly soured, with the Duchess regarding the King as an oversexed oaf. As far as she dared, the Duchess denied the King access to his niece. She prevented her daughter from attending William’s coronation out of a disagreement of precedence, a decision attributed by the Duke of Wellington to Conroy.

In 1831, the year of William’s coronation, Conroy and the Duchess embarked on a series of royal tours with Victoria to expose her to the people and solidify their status as potential joint regents. Their efforts were ultimately successful and, in November 1831, it was declared that the Duchess would be sole regent in the event of Victoria’s youthful accession to the crown.The Duchess further offended the King by taking rooms in Kensington Palace without the King’s permission. These were rooms that the King had reserved for himself.

Both before and during William’s reign, she snubbed his illegitimate children, the FitzClarences. Both the King and his wife Queen Adelaide were fond of their niece, Princess Victoria of Kent. Their attempts to forge a close relationship with the girl were frustrated by the conflict between the King and the Duchess of Kent.

The King, angered at what he took to be disrespect from the Duchess to his wife, took the opportunity at what proved to be his final birthday banquet in August 1836 to settle the score. Speaking to those assembled at the banquet, who included the Duchess and Princess Victoria, William expressed his hope that he would survive until Princess Victoria was 18 so that the Duchess of Kent would never be regent.

He said,”I trust to God that my life may be spared for nine months longer … I should then have the satisfaction of leaving the exercise of the Royal authority to the personal authority of that young lady, heiress presumptive to the Crown, and not in the hands of a person now near me, who is surrounded by evil advisers and is herself incompetent to act with propriety in the situation in which she would be placed.”

The breach between the Duchess and the King and Queen was never fully healed, but Victoria always viewed both of them with kindness.

The Queen Will Never Abdicate.

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1936 Abdication Crisis, Abdication, Archbishop of Canterbury, Coronation Oath, King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, King George VI of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Regency, Regent

This is an article floating around the internet…

“The Queen will step down and make her son, Prince Charles, king when she turns 95, a royal expert has claimed.

The Monarch will celebrate her 95th birthday in April, meaning we could see a change very soon if biographer and commentator Robert Jobson is correct.

Speaking on True Royalty’s Royal Beat programme, Jobson explains: “I still firmly believe when the Queen becomes 95, that she will step down.”

Royal reporter Jack Royston agreed, but said it will be a difficult decision for the Monarch, who has been on the throne since February 1952.”

You can read the rest of the article here…
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/queen-will-step-down-next-22930246.amp?__twitter_impression=true

These types of predictions occur from time to time and I have to shake my head everytime I read these predictions because they never come true and in my opinion they never will.

The last time a British monarch voluntarily abdicated the throne was in 1936 when King Edward VIII abdicated to marry the woman he loved, the American socialite Wallis Simpson. 

King George V had severe reservations about Prince Edward, saying “After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months” and “I pray God that my eldest son will never marry and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne.” On 20 January 1936, George V died and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. In the Vigil of the Princes, Prince Albert and his three brothers (the new king, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Prince George, Duke of Kent) took a shift standing guard over their father’s body as it lay in state, in a closed casket, in Westminster Hall.

As Edward was unmarried and had no children, Albert was the heir presumptive to the throne. Less than a year later, on December 11, 1936, Edward abdicated in order to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson, who was divorced from her first husband and divorcing her second. Edward had been advised by British prime minister Stanley Baldwin that he could not remain king and marry a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands. Edward VIII abdicated and this placed the Queen’s father on the throne as King George VI Who became the third monarch of the House of Windsor.

This was a position he was reluctant to accept. The day before the abdication, he went to London to see his mother, Queen Mary. He wrote in his diary, “When I told her what had happened, I broke down and sobbed like a child. 

The abdication was a traumatic and stressful event for the new king and his immediate family. Across Britain gossip spread that Albert was physically and psychologically incapable of handling the kingship. He worried about that himself. No evidence has been found to support the rumour that the government considered bypassing him in favour of his scandal-ridden younger brother, George.

The Queen does not intend to abdicate, though Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, is expected to take on more of her duties as Elizabeth, who celebrated her 94th birthday in 2020, carries out fewer public engagements.

This will be the continuing trend that the Prince of Wales will take on more and more duties. If the Queen becomes incapacitated and incapable of performing her duties Parliament would establish the Prince of Wales as regent which would effectively make him king in everything but name.

The Queen is dedicated to her duties and takes her coronation oath. During her coronation the Archbishop of Canterbury asked her:

Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?

Queen answered: I will.
Archbishop. Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?
Queen. All this I promise to do.

The Queen is dedicated to her duties and although the Prince of Wales will more than likely increase taking over some of his mother’s duties In the future but the Queen will not abdicate. 

The life of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen Consort of Spain. Part I.

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Carlist War, Charles III of Spain, Charles IV of Spain, Don Carlos, Francis I of the Two Sicilies, Kingdom of Spain, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Pragmatic Sanction, Regency, Salic Law, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (April 27, 1806 – August 22, 1878) was queen consort of Spain from 1829 to 1833 and regent of the Kingdom from 1833 to 1840.

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies was born in Palermo, Sicily the daughter of King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and his second wife, Maria Isabella of Spain. King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies was the son of Ferdinand I of the Two Siclies (who was the third son of King Carlo VII-V of Naples and Sicily by his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony.) By the way, King Carlo VII-V of Naples and Sicily was also King Carlos III of Spain.

Carlos IV of Spain

María Isabella of Spain

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies’ mother, Maria Isabella of Spain, was the youngest daughter of King Carlos IV of Spain and his wife Maria Luisa of Parma. This means her parents were first cousins; her grand fathers (Carlos IV of Spain & King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies) were brothers.

On May 27, 1829, Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, Queen Consort of Spain as the third wife of King Fernando VII of Spain, died. Fernando VII, old and ill, had gone his entire reign without producing a male heir, sparking a succession duel between the Infanta Maria Francisca and the Infante Carlos, and the Infanta Luisa Carlotta and the Infante Francisco de Paula. Fernando VII declared his intention to marry and assembled the Council of Castile, who tasked the King with remarriage.

King Fernando VII of Spain

Following Luisa Carlotta’s suggestion, Fernando VII sent for Maria Christina of the Two Siclies, his niece, who had already given birth to a child and pleased the King’s eyes. The two were wed on December 12, 1829 at the Church of the Atocha.

With her betrothal and then marriage to Fernando VII, Maria Christina became embroiled in the conflict between the Spanish Liberals and the Carlists. The Liberal faction, and the Spanish people, greatly revered Maria Christina, and made her their champion; when she first arrived in Madrid in 1829, the blue of the cloak she wore became their official color. The Carlist’s were absolutists and highly conservative, and derived their name from the Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina who they favored for the throne. Using King Felipe V’s enactment of Salic law, which banned women from taking the throne.

Fernando VII and Maria Christina produced two daughters, Isabella in October 1830 and Luisa Fernanda the next year. However, in a secret session of the Cortes in 1789, King Carlos IV reversed the Salic Law of succession with the Pragmatic Sanction. Seeking to secure the succession of an heir of his siring, no matter their gender, Ferdinand VII announced the Pragmatic Sanction in March 1830. The Pragmatic Sanction removed the Salic system established by Felipe V of Spain and returned Spain to a a male preferred primogeniture, similar to the British style of mixed succession that gave succession rights to women. This type of system of succession predated the Bourbon monarchy in Spain.

On the trip to La Granja, Fernando VII was badly injured by a coach accident. He became ill and increasingly sick over the summer. At one point, Fernando VII was found unconscious at the palace chapel. Seeking council in the event of Fernando VII’s death, Maria Christina approached the Carlist Francisco Calomarde, who advised her that the Spanish people would rally behind Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina.

Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina (March 29, 1788 – March 10, 1855) was an Infante of Spain and the second surviving son of King Carlos IV of Spain and of his wife, Maria Luisa of Parma and the younger brother of King Fernando VII.

Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina

Fearing the actions of Infante Carlos de Borbón, and wanting to make him his ally, Maria Christina coerced Fernando VII into signing a decree making her regent if he died, with Infante Carlos de Borbón, as her chief adviser. Infante Carlos de Borbón refused, demanding total governance. Calomarde, with Maria Francisca and Maria Theresa, reissued his warning, coercing the King and Queen into repealing the Pragmatic Sanction.

When Fernando VII appeared to have died, the repealing was announced publicly, and Maria Christina was deserted by her courtiers. Fernando VII was discovered to be alive, and news of this also spread. Altogether, Luisa Carlotta, at that time in Andalusia, soon arrived at La Granja and speedily re-enacted the Pragmatic Sanction and orchestrated Calomarde’s dismissal.

When Fernando VII actually did die on September 29, 1833, Maria Christina became regent for their daughter, proclaimed Queen Isabella II of Spain. Isabella’s claim to the throne was disputed by Infante Carlos de Borbón who claimed that his brother Ferdinand had unlawfully changed the succession law to permit females to inherit the crown.

Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina immediately claimed the throne of Spain after the death of his older brother King Fernando VII in 1833. Claiming the style and title, King Carlos V of Spain, first of the Carlist claimants to the throne of Spain, he was a reactionary who stridently opposed liberalism in Spain and the assaults on the Catholic Church. His claim was contested by liberal forces loyal to the dead king’s infant daughter, the new Queen Isabella II. The result was the bloody First Carlist War (1833–1840).

Isabella II as a child. She is depicted wearing the sash of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa.

Some supporters of infante Carlos went so far as to claim that Fernando had actually bequeathed the crown to his brother but that Maria Christina had suppressed that fact. It was further alleged that the Queen had signed her dead husband’s name to a decree recognizing Isabella as heir. Despite considerable support for Carlos from conservative elements in Spain, the Liberal faction supporting Queen María Christina as Regent, successfully retained the throne for her daughter.