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Tag Archives: Royal Marriages

History of Male British Consorts Part V

03 Thursday Jun 2021

Posted by liamfoley63 in Featured Monarch, Featured Royal, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Genealogy, Royal Succession, Royal Titles, royal wedding

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Elizabeth I of England, Henry Stewart, Henry VIII of England, King Consort of Scotland, Lord Darnley, Margaret Tudor, Mary I of Scotland, Royal Marriages

Marriage to Lord Darnley

Mary had briefly met her English-born half-cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in February 1561 when she was in mourning for François II of France.

Henry was the second but eldest surviving son of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, by his wife Lady Margaret Douglas which supported her claim to the English succession. Darnley’s maternal grandparents were Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and Lady Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England and widow of King James IV of Scotland.

Darnley’s parents, sent him to France ostensibly to extend their condolences, while hoping for a potential match between their son and Mary. Both Mary and Darnley were grandchildren of Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII of England, and patrilineal descendants of the High Stewards of Scotland.

Darnley shared a more recent Stewart lineage with the Hamilton family as a descendant of Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran, a daughter of James II of Scotland. They next met on Saturday February 17, 1565 at Wemyss Castle in Scotland. Mary fell in love with the “long lad”, as Queen Elizabeth called him since he was over six feet tall.

On July 22,1565 Darnley was made Duke of Albany in Holyrood Abbey, and the banns of marriage were called in the parish of Canongate. A proclamation was made at the Cross of Edinburgh on July 28, that government would be in the joint names of the King and Queen of Scots, thus giving Darnley equality with, and precedence over, Mary. This was confirmed in the circulation of a silver ryal in the names of Henry and Mary.

On July 29, 1565, the marriage took place by Roman Catholic rites in Mary’s private chapel at Holyrood, but Darnley (whose religious beliefs were unfixed – he was raised as a Catholic, but was later influenced by Protestantism) refused to accompany Mary to the nuptial Mass after the wedding itself. Despite both were Catholic and a papal dispensation for the marriage of first cousins had not been obtained.

English statesmen William Cecil and the Earl of Leicester had worked to bring the couple together, Queen Elizabeth felt threatened by the marriage because as descendants of her aunt, both Mary and Darnley were claimants to the English throne.

Their children, if any, would inherit an even stronger, combined claim. Mary’s insistence on the marriage seems to have stemmed from passion rather than calculation; the English ambassador Nicholas Throckmorton stated “the saying is that surely she [Queen Mary] is bewitched”, adding that the marriage could only be averted “by violence”.

The union infuriated Queen Elizabeth, who felt the marriage should not have gone ahead without her permission, as Darnley was both her cousin and an English subject.

History of Male British Consorts Part I.

13 Thursday May 2021

Posted by liamfoley63 in Featured Monarch, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Genealogy, Royal House, Royal Succession, Royal Titles

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Carlos I of Spain, Charles V Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, House of Tudor, jure uxoris, Kings and Queens of England, Mary I of England, Mary Tudor, Philip II of Spain, Royal Marriages

Mary Tudor was England’s first queen regnant. As mentioned in the initial post announcing the series, Mary I of England is acknowledged as the first Queen to reign in her own right despite the brief, disputed reigns of the Empress Matilda and Lady Jane Grey.

In 1554, Mary married the future King Felipe II of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556. He was the eldest son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who is also Carlos I of Spain, and Eleanore of Portugal.

Felipe’s father arranged this marriage to 37-year-old Queen Mary I of England, Charles’ maternal first cousin. Charles V ceded the crown of Naples, as well as his claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, to Felipe in order to give his son equal status to his wife upon their marriage.

Their marriage at Winchester Cathedral on July 24, 1554 took place just two days after their first meeting. Lord Chancellor Gardiner and the House of Commons petitioned Mary to consider marrying an Englishman, preferring Edward Courtenay.

On the part of Felipe, the marriage was purely political. Felipe had no amorous feelings toward Mary and sought the marriage for its political and strategic gains; Felipe’s aide Ruy Gómez de Silva wrote to a correspondent in Brussels, “the marriage was concluded for no fleshly consideration, but in order to remedy the disorders of this kingdom and to preserve the Low Countries.”

Although England was enlightened enough to allow a woman to be Sovereign Queen in her own right, equality of the sexes was still a long way off because under the English common law doctrine of jure uxoris, all property and titles belonging to a woman became her husband’s upon marriage. Because of this law it was feared that any man married to Queen Mary would thereby become King of England in fact and in name.

While Mary’s grandparents, Fernando II of Aragon Isabella I of Castile (and Felipe’s great-grandparents) had retained sovereignty of their own realms during their marriage, there was no precedent to follow in England.

Both Mary and Felipe were descended from John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, son of King Edward III of England, a relationship that was used to portray Felipe as an English king.

Incidentally, because Felipe descended from an earlier marriage of John of Gaunt, it is genealogically accurate that he had a greater hereditary right to the throne because the House of Tudor’s thin claim to the English crown stemmed from John of Gaunt’s third marriage which at first did not give succession rights to their descendants.

It can also be claimed that despite a thin blood claim to the English throne the House of Tudor became Kings of England by right of conquest and not right of hereditary succession.

Under Mary’s marriage treaty with Felipe, the official joint style and titles reflected not only Mary’s royal domains but also Felipe’s dominions and claims. Upon their Marriage they were titled: “Felipe and Mary, by the grace of God, King and Queen of England, France, Naples, Jerusalem, and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Princes of Spain and Sicily, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Milan, Burgundy and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and Tyrol”.

This style, which had been in use since 1554, was replaced when Felipe inherited the Spanish Crown in 1556 with “Felipe II and Mary, by the Grace of God King and Queen of England, Spain, France, both the Sicilies, Jerusalem and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Burgundy, Milan and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and Tyrol.”

With Mary eager to enter into marriage with Felipe of Spain, therefore the legal parameters of this Union had to be ironed out in a Act of Parliament.

Under the terms of Queen Mary’s Marriage Act, Felipe was to be styled “King of England”, in all official documents (including Acts of Parliament) which were to be dated with both their names, and Parliament was to be called under the joint authority of the couple.

On the surface this may seem like Mary and Felipe II were joint sovereigns but this was not the case. Felipe’s title, King of England and Ireland, was during Mary’s lifetime only.

Despite holding the title of King, Felipe’s powers were restricted. England would not be obliged to provide military support to Felipe’s father, the Emperor, in any war. When Felipe came to the Spanish throne this stipulation was also adhered to.

As King, Felipe could not act without his wife’s consent or appoint foreigners to offices in England. Felipe was unhappy at these conditions imposed upon him but he was ready to agree for the sake of securing the marriage.

After Felipe II’s visit in 1557, Mary once again thought she was pregnant, with a baby due in March 1558. She decreed in her will that her husband would be the regent during the minority of their child. But no child was born, and Mary was forced to accept that her half-sister Elizabeth would be her lawful successor.

Mary was weak and ill from May 1558. In pain, possibly from ovarian cysts or uterine cancer, she died on November 17, 1558, aged 42, at St James’s Palace, during an influenza epidemic. She was succeeded by Elizabeth. Felipe, who was in Brussels, wrote to his sister Joan: “I felt a reasonable regret for her death.

Upon Mary’s death Felipe cease to be king of England and Ireland. However, he was not so willing to let go of this power and prestigious titles. As we we’ll see in the next post Felipe desired to marry Elizabeth in order to remain being King of England.

This was the first of two times in English history that the husbands of a reigning Queen Regnant were granted the title “King of England.” However, there were difference in each of these occasions. Felipe held the royal title as a Consort but as we shall see in the case of Willem of Orange, he was a full sovereign.

Ironically, Felipe II of Spain and Willem of Orange were the spouses of Queen Mary I of England and Ireland and Queen Mary II of England, Scotland and Ireland, respectively.

Royal Marriages

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by liamfoley63 in From the Emperor's Desk

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Duke of Cambridge, House of Battenberg, House of Burbon, King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George III, King George V of Great Britain, Mary of Teck, Prince Adolphus, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Royal Marriages

My wife Sarah, and our dog Amadeus

I have always been a romantic at heart and the issue of royal marriages has always fascinated me. I robbed the cradle when I got married. My wife is 18 years younger than I am. There have been many marriages between kings and would-be king and princesses where age has been an issue. I can relate to the issues around marriages between spouses when age is a factor. Even when age has not been an issue these marriages were often arranged. For the most part they were arranged for political motivations, to shore up a treaty or to gain an alliance or to end a feud or to pass on the succession. Love was not a consideration although it was a positive side effect if and when it happened. Given the propensity for kings to collect mistresses, even if they did love their queens, the rules of marriage for royalty seem quite different to what the untitled person would expect. As time marched on and arranged marriages for political purposes waned, marriages for social status become the primary focus in selecting a suitable spouse.

Queen Victoria, and her marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, seem to be a mixture of alliances, social obligation and love. Clearly Victoria was in love with Albert and Albert, for his part, does seem to have had fond feelings for his first cousin, but love was something that grew later for him. The Coburg family, Victoria’s maternal family, favored the match. With her uncle King Leopold I of the Belgians leading the charge, there was a desire to maintain some sense of power. Indeed prior to her accession Victoria was used as a pawn by many within the Coburg and Hanoverian families trying to maintain some type of control over her.

Her grandson, King George V, married his dead brothers fiancé, Mary of Teck. This marriage was based solely on the fact that Mary of Teck was seen as a person who would make an excellent queen consort and the British royal family did not want to loose her. The Teck family was “tainted”by the morganatic marriage of Mary’s grandfather, Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1804-1885), so her prospects within on the continent among the various German royal families were not good. In Britain, where she was born and raised, her mother being Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge a daughter of Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (7th son of King George III of Great Britain), were not against morganatic marriages.

George V’s cousin, Princess Victoria-Eugenie of Battenberg, (called Ena within the family) is a prime example of “rushing” into a marriage. I don’t blame her for this is how royal marriages were conducted many years ago. As royal marriages moved away from being political alliances the need for the marriage to meet social standards was emphasized more. King Alfonso XIII of Spain was one of those rare princes to be born a king. When he reached the age to marry he went bride shopping. He was attracted to Princess Ena and selected her to be his queen and they were wed on May 31, 1906. Princess Ena was the only daughter of Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, and her husband , prince Henry of Battenberg. The Battenberg clan was a morganatic scion of the House of Hesse and by Rhine. This taint of morganatic blood would cause undue suffering in Spain by those courtiers who were prejudiced toward the Battenbergs. The Spanish aristocracy saw the Battenbergs as semi-royal and were used to their queens coming from what was in their eyes the more noble houses of Bourbon and Hapsburg.

This situation paints a picture of what was problematic in these types of alliances. There was a growing allowance in these families that the future bride and groom have some type of feelings for one another prior to the marriage. What would often occur is that the prospective parties would meet and have some type of sexual chemistry between them and develop what we would call either a crush or lust for one-another. Other than social obligations, which required them to marry someone of equal or near equal status, these marriages were often moved forward based on these initial physical attractions. I don’t think a crush or initial sexual chemistry…or equal social rank…is a strong foundation on which to build a marriage. The case of Ena and Alphonse is a good example of this.

I will stop here. I enjoy this topic so I will continue looking at royal marriages on Tuesdays for a while.

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