I feel this, math is the worst. There's a reason I don't teach math.
List of monarchs III
- Thread starter Shiva
- Start date
-
- Tags
- alt history lists ruler game
Kings and Queens of England and Scotland
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by___________________________
[1] I've kept little Clara alive here, she died as a child OTL.
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
1] Upon the death of Henry VIII in 1547, Edward Seymour became Lord Protector for his nine-year-old nephew, Edward VI. Knowing it had been his late monarch's dearest wish, he pursued the policy that Henry VIII had begun a few years earlier, forcing an alliance with Scotland by demanding the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to Edward. Early in September, he led a well-equipped army into Scotland, supported by a large fleet. A battle at Pinkie, near Musselburgh, on the 10th of September, resulted in a resounding English victory, and although the Scottish Regent, Mary of Guise, attempted to send her four-year-old daughter to safety at Inchahome Priory, but she was betrayed by an English agent, and Mary was captured by Viscount Lisle and taken south of the border to Lancaster Castle, where she was promptly betrothed to the nine-year-old Edward VI.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly did of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in mangificant ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on ___ ____'s head.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly did of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in mangificant ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on ___ ____'s head.
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by___________________________
[1] I've kept little Clara alive here, she died as a child OTL.
Last edited:
Kings and Queens of England and Scotland
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]d
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
1858-1877: Helena I (House of Tudor)
Emperors and Empresses of Brittania
1877-1910: Helena I (House of Tudor) [12]
[12] Queen-Empress Helena I was born as the only child of Crown Prince Edward on July 1, 1849, being thrust into the position of heir to the throne when the 28-year old Prince Edward died from cholera in 1854, which many historians argued factored into the decline of his mother's health and her death four years later. As such, the nine-year old Helena would become the first female monarch of Britain in her own right with her mother, Victoria of Denmark, as her regent during her childhood until 1867, when Queen Helena came of age. As Queen, Helena would supervise an era of peace and prosperity with her reign being marked by a "golden age" for the Britain along with an "upgrade" of the title of the monarch from King/Queen to Emperor/Empress in 1877 with Helena being proclaimed Empress of Brittania. In her politics, Helena would be someone who would be considered a "moderate conservative" in how she was willing to accept popular political changes but was opposed to radical political reforms during her reign.
Empress Helena would marry Prince Charles of Prussia in 1871 with the couple having six children. Helena would die on September 6, 1910 at the age of 61 from complications from a botched surgery. In the aftermath of Helena's death, ______________ would become the new monarch of the Empire of Brittania.
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]d
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
1858-1877: Helena I (House of Tudor)
Emperors and Empresses of Brittania
1877-1910: Helena I (House of Tudor) [12]
1] Upon the death of Henry VIII in 1547, Edward Seymour became Lord Protector for his nine-year-old nephew, Edward VI. Knowing it had been his late monarch's dearest wish, he pursued the policy that Henry VIII had begun a few years earlier, forcing an alliance with Scotland by demanding the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to Edward. Early in September, he led a well-equipped army into Scotland, supported by a large fleet. A battle at Pinkie, near Musselburgh, on the 10th of September, resulted in a resounding English victory, and although the Scottish Regent, Mary of Guise, attempted to send her four-year-old daughter to safety at Inchahome Priory, but she was betrayed by an English agent, and Mary was captured by Viscount Lisle and taken south of the border to Lancaster Castle, where she was promptly betrothed to the nine-year-old Edward VI.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly did of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in mangificant ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on ___ ____'s head.
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by___________________________
[1] I've kept little Clara alive here, she died as a child OTL.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly did of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in mangificant ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on ___ ____'s head.
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by___________________________
[1] I've kept little Clara alive here, she died as a child OTL.
[12] Queen-Empress Helena I was born as the only child of Crown Prince Edward on July 1, 1849, being thrust into the position of heir to the throne when the 28-year old Prince Edward died from cholera in 1854, which many historians argued factored into the decline of his mother's health and her death four years later. As such, the nine-year old Helena would become the first female monarch of Britain in her own right with her mother, Victoria of Denmark, as her regent during her childhood until 1867, when Queen Helena came of age. As Queen, Helena would supervise an era of peace and prosperity with her reign being marked by a "golden age" for the Britain along with an "upgrade" of the title of the monarch from King/Queen to Emperor/Empress in 1877 with Helena being proclaimed Empress of Brittania. In her politics, Helena would be someone who would be considered a "moderate conservative" in how she was willing to accept popular political changes but was opposed to radical political reforms during her reign.
Empress Helena would marry Prince Charles of Prussia in 1871 with the couple having six children. Helena would die on September 6, 1910 at the age of 61 from complications from a botched surgery. In the aftermath of Helena's death, ______________ would become the new monarch of the Empire of Brittania.
Claim Brittania. I've had an idea for the early 20th century since we started this list!
Kings and Queens of England and Scotland
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]d
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
1858-1877: Helena I (House of Tudor)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia
1877-1910: Helena I (House of Tudor) [12]
1910-1948 William Alexander I [13] (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia and the Netherlands
1948-1966 William Alexander I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [13]
[13] Empress Helena’s only male-line grandson at the time of her death, William Alexander was born in 1902, the son of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her husband, Helena’s second son, Prince Alexander. (b.1876). His parents had married two years earlier, in an attempt to salvage Anglo-Dutch relations during the Second Boer War.
At the time of his birth, no one expected William Alexander to become Emperor, given that his father was the Empress’s second son.
However, the Prince of Wales, Edward, died childless in suspicious circumstances while on a state visit to India in 1905, making William Alexander’s father heir to the British throne. Alexander himself died in a motor accident in 1909, meaning that it was eight-year-old William Alexander who eventually succeeded his grandmother as Emperor of Britannia.
From that point on, William Alexander’s childhood became a battleground, the British and the Dutch both struggling to control the young Emperor and influence him in the way they saw fit. Some Dutch nationalists, keen to keep their independence, even tried to supplant him as his mother’s heir in the Netherlands with his younger sister, Princess Juliana, but failed because of the semi-Salic succession the country followed at the time.
The bitter factionalism at his court left its mark on the young William, and he grew up painfully shy, trusting only the small group of courtiers who had served him since his early childhood.
This dependence caused a complete scandal, when, in 1921, the nineteen-year-old Emperor eloped to Gretna Green with the niece of his old nurse. Susan Mary Bill was a beautiful, patient girl, but she was no match for an Emperor, or so said his ministers.
For the first time in his life, however, William Alexander dug in his heels, refusing to even consider annulling the match. After the intervention of his mother, Queen Wilhelmina, Susan was eventually given the compromise title of Crown Princess of Orange, and the young couple settled into family life at their country estate on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. It was here that they would bring up their seven children, though they often visited the Netherlands too, and it is said at least one of their children was more fluent in Dutch than they were in English.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, William reportedly wanted to go and fight as a navy commander, but was refused due to his rank and the youth of his family. Such was not, unfortunately, the fate of his cousin, William, Marquis of Hartington, the son of his youngest aunt, Jemima, Duchess of Devonshire, who was killed in action in 1944.
William Alexander was devastated by his younger cousin’s death, and plunged the royal family into deepest mourning for nearly a year. However, his profound grief had one positive. It brought him closer to his people, who, until that point, had struggled to connect with their shy, seemingly aloof monarch. The Royal Family, who led the country through the peace, rebuilding and remembrance in the years following 1945, shot up in popularity, and remains popular to this day.
Poor health forced Wilhelmina to abdicate in May 1948, and William Alexander succeeded her as King of the Netherlands. He and Susan were crowned King and Queen in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on June 30th, 1948, bringing the British and Dutch crowns into personal union. On their coronation day, they also announced that the name of the royal house would thenceforth be 'Tudor-Orange-Nassau', in honour of their joint dominions.
It was in the role as King of the Netherlands that he oversaw the loss of the Indonesian colonies, and had to rehabilitate the royal family after his sister’s scandalous second marriage to Archduke Gottfried of Austria, which was seen as a betrayal of all the Dutch had suffered in the war.
To help himself cope with the stress, William Alexander took up smoking. This led to his developing lung cancer in the 1960s, and his eventual death in 1966.
William Alexander was succeeded as ruler of Britannia and the Netherlands by____________________
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]d
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
1858-1877: Helena I (House of Tudor)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia
1877-1910: Helena I (House of Tudor) [12]
1910-1948 William Alexander I [13] (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia and the Netherlands
1948-1966 William Alexander I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [13]
1] Upon the death of Henry VIII in 1547, Edward Seymour became Lord Protector for his nine-year-old nephew, Edward VI. Knowing it had been his late monarch's dearest wish, he pursued the policy that Henry VIII had begun a few years earlier, forcing an alliance with Scotland by demanding the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to Edward. Early in September, he led a well-equipped army into Scotland, supported by a large fleet. A battle at Pinkie, near Musselburgh, on the 10th of September, resulted in a resounding English victory, and although the Scottish Regent, Mary of Guise, attempted to send her four-year-old daughter to safety at Inchahome Priory, but she was betrayed by an English agent, and Mary was captured by Viscount Lisle and taken south of the border to Lancaster Castle, where she was promptly betrothed to the nine-year-old Edward VI.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly did of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in mangificant ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on ___ ____'s head.
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by their granddaughter Helena.
[12] Queen-Empress Helena I was born as the only child of Crown Prince Edward on July 1, 1849, being thrust into the position of heir to the throne when the 28-year old Prince Edward died from cholera in 1854, which many historians argued factored into the decline of his mother's health and her death four years later. As such, the nine-year old Helena would become the first female monarch of Britain in her own right with her mother, Victoria of Denmark, as her regent during her childhood until 1867, when Queen Helena came of age. As Queen, Helena would supervise an era of peace and prosperity with her reign being marked by a "golden age" for the Britain along with an "upgrade" of the title of the monarch from King/Queen to Emperor/Empress in 1877 with Helena being proclaimed Empress of Brittania. In her politics, Helena would be someone who would be considered a "moderate conservative" in how she was willing to accept popular political changes but was opposed to radical political reforms during her reign.
Empress Helena would marry Prince Charles of Prussia in 1871 with the couple having six children. Helena would die on September 6, 1910 at the age of 61 from complications from a botched surgery. In the aftermath of Helena's death, ______________ would become the new monarch of the Empire of Brittania.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly did of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in mangificant ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on ___ ____'s head.
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by their granddaughter Helena.
[12] Queen-Empress Helena I was born as the only child of Crown Prince Edward on July 1, 1849, being thrust into the position of heir to the throne when the 28-year old Prince Edward died from cholera in 1854, which many historians argued factored into the decline of his mother's health and her death four years later. As such, the nine-year old Helena would become the first female monarch of Britain in her own right with her mother, Victoria of Denmark, as her regent during her childhood until 1867, when Queen Helena came of age. As Queen, Helena would supervise an era of peace and prosperity with her reign being marked by a "golden age" for the Britain along with an "upgrade" of the title of the monarch from King/Queen to Emperor/Empress in 1877 with Helena being proclaimed Empress of Brittania. In her politics, Helena would be someone who would be considered a "moderate conservative" in how she was willing to accept popular political changes but was opposed to radical political reforms during her reign.
Empress Helena would marry Prince Charles of Prussia in 1871 with the couple having six children. Helena would die on September 6, 1910 at the age of 61 from complications from a botched surgery. In the aftermath of Helena's death, ______________ would become the new monarch of the Empire of Brittania.
At the time of his birth, no one expected William Alexander to become Emperor, given that his father was the Empress’s second son.
However, the Prince of Wales, Edward, died childless in suspicious circumstances while on a state visit to India in 1905, making William Alexander’s father heir to the British throne. Alexander himself died in a motor accident in 1909, meaning that it was eight-year-old William Alexander who eventually succeeded his grandmother as Emperor of Britannia.
From that point on, William Alexander’s childhood became a battleground, the British and the Dutch both struggling to control the young Emperor and influence him in the way they saw fit. Some Dutch nationalists, keen to keep their independence, even tried to supplant him as his mother’s heir in the Netherlands with his younger sister, Princess Juliana, but failed because of the semi-Salic succession the country followed at the time.
The bitter factionalism at his court left its mark on the young William, and he grew up painfully shy, trusting only the small group of courtiers who had served him since his early childhood.
This dependence caused a complete scandal, when, in 1921, the nineteen-year-old Emperor eloped to Gretna Green with the niece of his old nurse. Susan Mary Bill was a beautiful, patient girl, but she was no match for an Emperor, or so said his ministers.
For the first time in his life, however, William Alexander dug in his heels, refusing to even consider annulling the match. After the intervention of his mother, Queen Wilhelmina, Susan was eventually given the compromise title of Crown Princess of Orange, and the young couple settled into family life at their country estate on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. It was here that they would bring up their seven children, though they often visited the Netherlands too, and it is said at least one of their children was more fluent in Dutch than they were in English.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, William reportedly wanted to go and fight as a navy commander, but was refused due to his rank and the youth of his family. Such was not, unfortunately, the fate of his cousin, William, Marquis of Hartington, the son of his youngest aunt, Jemima, Duchess of Devonshire, who was killed in action in 1944.
William Alexander was devastated by his younger cousin’s death, and plunged the royal family into deepest mourning for nearly a year. However, his profound grief had one positive. It brought him closer to his people, who, until that point, had struggled to connect with their shy, seemingly aloof monarch. The Royal Family, who led the country through the peace, rebuilding and remembrance in the years following 1945, shot up in popularity, and remains popular to this day.
Poor health forced Wilhelmina to abdicate in May 1948, and William Alexander succeeded her as King of the Netherlands. He and Susan were crowned King and Queen in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on June 30th, 1948, bringing the British and Dutch crowns into personal union. On their coronation day, they also announced that the name of the royal house would thenceforth be 'Tudor-Orange-Nassau', in honour of their joint dominions.
It was in the role as King of the Netherlands that he oversaw the loss of the Indonesian colonies, and had to rehabilitate the royal family after his sister’s scandalous second marriage to Archduke Gottfried of Austria, which was seen as a betrayal of all the Dutch had suffered in the war.
To help himself cope with the stress, William Alexander took up smoking. This led to his developing lung cancer in the 1960s, and his eventual death in 1966.
William Alexander was succeeded as ruler of Britannia and the Netherlands by____________________
Last edited:
Kings and Queens of England and Scotland
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]d
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
1858-1877: Helena I (House of Tudor)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia
1877-1910: Helena I (House of Tudor) [12]
1910-1948 William Alexander I [13] (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia and the Netherlands
1948-1966 William Alexander I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [13]
Emperors and Empressess of Britannia
1966-2003: George I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau)[14]
[14] George was perhaps the best monarch for the age that was the sixties and seventies. The grandson of William Alexander, one of the twin sons of Frederick William of Great Britain and the Netherlands, George Frederick, as he was called at birth, was raised oft in Wales or in Flanders by his very traditionalist and conservative father, away from the mess that were both London and Amsterdam. It was no surprise, then, that George and William (his twin brother) grew to be complete opposites of their father.
Even as a youngster George was famous for his many escapades, and the growing air of liberty around the royal court only helped further his activities. George lived much of his teenage life studying in Britain's many Dominions in America - he was a particular favourite of New York's socialites and San Francisco's industrialists and was present in Indonesia during decolonization - he and his brother were famous for walking in Jakarta's streets amongst the people celebrating independence, talking openly and publicly with the Netherlands' former colonial subjects.
The death of his father in 1965 of an unkown highly voracious cancer brought a standstill to the life of the brothers - their father, despite their various differences in opinion, had always been the solid rock of their life and both the brothers entered into a deep depression that would only worsen a year later - the date of their ascension to the throne. The two brothers were then separated - the modern world was no longer the age of personal unions, so George was delivered to the British throne while William was given the crown of the Netherlands. The further separation of the two brothers only seemed to deepen the rift in the royal family.
A picture taken of George the I during a visit to his last African possession of South Africa.
George early years were dominated by his smoking, his radical style (the King was often invited to model) and the strong grip of the Queen-Dowager, his grandmother Susan. The popularity of the British and Dutch royal families increased during these times of turmoil, but the governmental elites of Britain found a hard rock in George - he was a new blooded monarch, with a view of the future very different from the majority of the Empire's politicians and his popularity with the masses only seemed to increase year by year. George was during this time encouraged by the government of Britain to clear his mind by travelling, and it quickly became the new King's passion. George travelled to all of Britain's overseas Dominions at this time (New England, Virginia, Dixie, Canada, Cascadia, Newfoundland, Michigan, Maritima, California, South Africa, Australia, New England and India) and would tour much of the decolonizing Africa during his tenure.
It was during a visit to Angevin France, the power Britain had defeated in the second world war, that George would find the love of his life - Henrietta, a niece of the French King. George would return to England, insisting on marrying the French woman despite the opposition of much of the government and even the people. His was only his third (and vastly most important) adress to the people of all pieces of the British Empire that finally convinced the people that this was a lovestory out of fantasy books - and so it would prove to be.
Henrietta and George would marry in 1974, being wildly aclaimed in their many visits all through-out the Empire. In the Dominion of Quebec they perhaps the more loved of any of the British royals ever, and the public opinion of the British royal family at this time grew to an incredible 98%.
Henrietta would prove to be the perfect person to sober George up, and the two royals would face the future head on, with George growing to be one of the pillarstones of the British Empire and a central piece of Anglo-Phone world. He would also preside over the last movements of decolonization, when the Dominion of India would effectivelly separate from the British Empire, leading to a escalade of all dominions assuming their own place in the world.
George and Henrietta would continue their lives, having plenty of children and being famous for their support for development in the field of medicine. The two couples became a strong part of modern culture, but time soon proved that even the life of royals has limits. George would die of a stroke while sleeping in May of 2003, being succeded by ___________.
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]d
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
1858-1877: Helena I (House of Tudor)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia
1877-1910: Helena I (House of Tudor) [12]
1910-1948 William Alexander I [13] (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia and the Netherlands
1948-1966 William Alexander I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [13]
Emperors and Empressess of Britannia
1966-2003: George I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau)[14]
1] Upon the death of Henry VIII in 1547, Edward Seymour became Lord Protector for his nine-year-old nephew, Edward VI. Knowing it had been his late monarch's dearest wish, he pursued the policy that Henry VIII had begun a few years earlier, forcing an alliance with Scotland by demanding the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to Edward. Early in September, he led a well-equipped army into Scotland, supported by a large fleet. A battle at Pinkie, near Musselburgh, on the 10th of September, resulted in a resounding English victory, and although the Scottish Regent, Mary of Guise, attempted to send her four-year-old daughter to safety at Inchahome Priory, but she was betrayed by an English agent, and Mary was captured by Viscount Lisle and taken south of the border to Lancaster Castle, where she was promptly betrothed to the nine-year-old Edward VI.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly did of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in mangificant ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on ___ ____'s head.
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by their granddaughter Helena.
[12] Queen-Empress Helena I was born as the only child of Crown Prince Edward on July 1, 1849, being thrust into the position of heir to the throne when the 28-year old Prince Edward died from cholera in 1854, which many historians argued factored into the decline of his mother's health and her death four years later. As such, the nine-year old Helena would become the first female monarch of Britain in her own right with her mother, Victoria of Denmark, as her regent during her childhood until 1867, when Queen Helena came of age. As Queen, Helena would supervise an era of peace and prosperity with her reign being marked by a "golden age" for the Britain along with an "upgrade" of the title of the monarch from King/Queen to Emperor/Empress in 1877 with Helena being proclaimed Empress of Brittania. In her politics, Helena would be someone who would be considered a "moderate conservative" in how she was willing to accept popular political changes but was opposed to radical political reforms during her reign.
Empress Helena would marry Prince Charles of Prussia in 1871 with the couple having six children. Helena would die on September 6, 1910 at the age of 61 from complications from a botched surgery. In the aftermath of Helena's death, ______________ would become the new monarch of the Empire of Brittania.
[13] Empress Helena’s only male-line grandson at the time of her death, William Alexander was born in 1902, the son of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her husband, Helena’s second son, Prince Alexander. (b.1876). His parents had married two years earlier, in an attempt to salvage Anglo-Dutch relations during the Second Boer War.
At the time of his birth, no one expected William Alexander to become Emperor, given that his father was the Empress’s second son.
However, the Prince of Wales, Edward, died childless in suspicious circumstances while on a state visit to India in 1905, making William Alexander’s father heir to the British throne. Alexander himself died in a motor accident in 1909, meaning that it was eight-year-old William Alexander who eventually succeeded his grandmother as Emperor of Britannia.
From that point on, William Alexander’s childhood became a battleground, the British and the Dutch both struggling to control the young Emperor and influence him in the way they saw fit. Some Dutch nationalists, keen to keep their independence, even tried to supplant him as his mother’s heir in the Netherlands with his younger sister, Princess Juliana, but failed because of the semi-Salic succession the country followed at the time.
The bitter factionalism at his court left its mark on the young William, and he grew up painfully shy, trusting only the small group of courtiers who had served him since his early childhood.
This dependence caused a complete scandal, when, in 1921, the nineteen-year-old Emperor eloped to Gretna Green with the niece of his old nurse. Susan Mary Bill was a beautiful, patient girl, but she was no match for an Emperor, or so said his ministers.
For the first time in his life, however, William Alexander dug in his heels, refusing to even consider annulling the match. After the intervention of his mother, Queen Wilhelmina, Susan was eventually given the compromise title of Crown Princess of Orange, and the young couple settled into family life at their country estate on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. It was here that they would bring up their seven children, though they often visited the Netherlands too, and it is said at least one of their children was more fluent in Dutch than they were in English.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, William reportedly wanted to go and fight as a navy commander, but was refused due to his rank and the youth of his family. Such was not, unfortunately, the fate of his cousin, William, Marquis of Hartington, the son of his youngest aunt, Jemima, Duchess of Devonshire, who was killed in action in 1944.
William Alexander was devastated by his younger cousin’s death, and plunged the royal family into deepest mourning for nearly a year. However, his profound grief had one positive. It brought him closer to his people, who, until that point, had struggled to connect with their shy, seemingly aloof monarch. The Royal Family, who led the country through the peace, rebuilding and remembrance in the years following 1945, shot up in popularity, and remains popular to this day.
Poor health forced Wilhelmina to abdicate in May 1948, and William Alexander succeeded her as King of the Netherlands. He and Susan were crowned King and Queen in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on June 30th, 1948, bringing the British and Dutch crowns into personal union. On their coronation day, they also announced that the name of the royal house would thenceforth be 'Tudor-Orange-Nassau', in honour of their joint dominions.
It was in the role as King of the Netherlands that he oversaw the loss of the Indonesian colonies, and had to rehabilitate the royal family after his sister’s scandalous second marriage to Archduke Gottfried of Austria, which was seen as a betrayal of all the Dutch had suffered in the war.
To help himself cope with the stress, William Alexander took up smoking. This led to his developing lung cancer in the 1960s, and his eventual death in 1966.
William Alexander was succeeded as ruler of Britannia and the Netherlands by his grandsons.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly did of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in mangificant ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on ___ ____'s head.
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by their granddaughter Helena.
[12] Queen-Empress Helena I was born as the only child of Crown Prince Edward on July 1, 1849, being thrust into the position of heir to the throne when the 28-year old Prince Edward died from cholera in 1854, which many historians argued factored into the decline of his mother's health and her death four years later. As such, the nine-year old Helena would become the first female monarch of Britain in her own right with her mother, Victoria of Denmark, as her regent during her childhood until 1867, when Queen Helena came of age. As Queen, Helena would supervise an era of peace and prosperity with her reign being marked by a "golden age" for the Britain along with an "upgrade" of the title of the monarch from King/Queen to Emperor/Empress in 1877 with Helena being proclaimed Empress of Brittania. In her politics, Helena would be someone who would be considered a "moderate conservative" in how she was willing to accept popular political changes but was opposed to radical political reforms during her reign.
Empress Helena would marry Prince Charles of Prussia in 1871 with the couple having six children. Helena would die on September 6, 1910 at the age of 61 from complications from a botched surgery. In the aftermath of Helena's death, ______________ would become the new monarch of the Empire of Brittania.
[13] Empress Helena’s only male-line grandson at the time of her death, William Alexander was born in 1902, the son of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her husband, Helena’s second son, Prince Alexander. (b.1876). His parents had married two years earlier, in an attempt to salvage Anglo-Dutch relations during the Second Boer War.
At the time of his birth, no one expected William Alexander to become Emperor, given that his father was the Empress’s second son.
However, the Prince of Wales, Edward, died childless in suspicious circumstances while on a state visit to India in 1905, making William Alexander’s father heir to the British throne. Alexander himself died in a motor accident in 1909, meaning that it was eight-year-old William Alexander who eventually succeeded his grandmother as Emperor of Britannia.
From that point on, William Alexander’s childhood became a battleground, the British and the Dutch both struggling to control the young Emperor and influence him in the way they saw fit. Some Dutch nationalists, keen to keep their independence, even tried to supplant him as his mother’s heir in the Netherlands with his younger sister, Princess Juliana, but failed because of the semi-Salic succession the country followed at the time.
The bitter factionalism at his court left its mark on the young William, and he grew up painfully shy, trusting only the small group of courtiers who had served him since his early childhood.
This dependence caused a complete scandal, when, in 1921, the nineteen-year-old Emperor eloped to Gretna Green with the niece of his old nurse. Susan Mary Bill was a beautiful, patient girl, but she was no match for an Emperor, or so said his ministers.
For the first time in his life, however, William Alexander dug in his heels, refusing to even consider annulling the match. After the intervention of his mother, Queen Wilhelmina, Susan was eventually given the compromise title of Crown Princess of Orange, and the young couple settled into family life at their country estate on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. It was here that they would bring up their seven children, though they often visited the Netherlands too, and it is said at least one of their children was more fluent in Dutch than they were in English.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, William reportedly wanted to go and fight as a navy commander, but was refused due to his rank and the youth of his family. Such was not, unfortunately, the fate of his cousin, William, Marquis of Hartington, the son of his youngest aunt, Jemima, Duchess of Devonshire, who was killed in action in 1944.
William Alexander was devastated by his younger cousin’s death, and plunged the royal family into deepest mourning for nearly a year. However, his profound grief had one positive. It brought him closer to his people, who, until that point, had struggled to connect with their shy, seemingly aloof monarch. The Royal Family, who led the country through the peace, rebuilding and remembrance in the years following 1945, shot up in popularity, and remains popular to this day.
Poor health forced Wilhelmina to abdicate in May 1948, and William Alexander succeeded her as King of the Netherlands. He and Susan were crowned King and Queen in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on June 30th, 1948, bringing the British and Dutch crowns into personal union. On their coronation day, they also announced that the name of the royal house would thenceforth be 'Tudor-Orange-Nassau', in honour of their joint dominions.
It was in the role as King of the Netherlands that he oversaw the loss of the Indonesian colonies, and had to rehabilitate the royal family after his sister’s scandalous second marriage to Archduke Gottfried of Austria, which was seen as a betrayal of all the Dutch had suffered in the war.
To help himself cope with the stress, William Alexander took up smoking. This led to his developing lung cancer in the 1960s, and his eventual death in 1966.
William Alexander was succeeded as ruler of Britannia and the Netherlands by his grandsons.
[14] George was perhaps the best monarch for the age that was the sixties and seventies. The grandson of William Alexander, one of the twin sons of Frederick William of Great Britain and the Netherlands, George Frederick, as he was called at birth, was raised oft in Wales or in Flanders by his very traditionalist and conservative father, away from the mess that were both London and Amsterdam. It was no surprise, then, that George and William (his twin brother) grew to be complete opposites of their father.
Even as a youngster George was famous for his many escapades, and the growing air of liberty around the royal court only helped further his activities. George lived much of his teenage life studying in Britain's many Dominions in America - he was a particular favourite of New York's socialites and San Francisco's industrialists and was present in Indonesia during decolonization - he and his brother were famous for walking in Jakarta's streets amongst the people celebrating independence, talking openly and publicly with the Netherlands' former colonial subjects.
The death of his father in 1965 of an unkown highly voracious cancer brought a standstill to the life of the brothers - their father, despite their various differences in opinion, had always been the solid rock of their life and both the brothers entered into a deep depression that would only worsen a year later - the date of their ascension to the throne. The two brothers were then separated - the modern world was no longer the age of personal unions, so George was delivered to the British throne while William was given the crown of the Netherlands. The further separation of the two brothers only seemed to deepen the rift in the royal family.
A picture taken of George the I during a visit to his last African possession of South Africa.
George early years were dominated by his smoking, his radical style (the King was often invited to model) and the strong grip of the Queen-Dowager, his grandmother Susan. The popularity of the British and Dutch royal families increased during these times of turmoil, but the governmental elites of Britain found a hard rock in George - he was a new blooded monarch, with a view of the future very different from the majority of the Empire's politicians and his popularity with the masses only seemed to increase year by year. George was during this time encouraged by the government of Britain to clear his mind by travelling, and it quickly became the new King's passion. George travelled to all of Britain's overseas Dominions at this time (New England, Virginia, Dixie, Canada, Cascadia, Newfoundland, Michigan, Maritima, California, South Africa, Australia, New England and India) and would tour much of the decolonizing Africa during his tenure.
It was during a visit to Angevin France, the power Britain had defeated in the second world war, that George would find the love of his life - Henrietta, a niece of the French King. George would return to England, insisting on marrying the French woman despite the opposition of much of the government and even the people. His was only his third (and vastly most important) adress to the people of all pieces of the British Empire that finally convinced the people that this was a lovestory out of fantasy books - and so it would prove to be.
Henrietta and George would marry in 1974, being wildly aclaimed in their many visits all through-out the Empire. In the Dominion of Quebec they perhaps the more loved of any of the British royals ever, and the public opinion of the British royal family at this time grew to an incredible 98%.
Henrietta would prove to be the perfect person to sober George up, and the two royals would face the future head on, with George growing to be one of the pillarstones of the British Empire and a central piece of Anglo-Phone world. He would also preside over the last movements of decolonization, when the Dominion of India would effectivelly separate from the British Empire, leading to a escalade of all dominions assuming their own place in the world.
George and Henrietta would continue their lives, having plenty of children and being famous for their support for development in the field of medicine. The two couples became a strong part of modern culture, but time soon proved that even the life of royals has limits. George would die of a stroke while sleeping in May of 2003, being succeded by ___________.
Claiming England.
EDIT: I figured because I started the Irish list, someone else should be able to start a new list. So whoever wants to claim, go ahead.
EDIT: I figured because I started the Irish list, someone else should be able to start a new list. So whoever wants to claim, go ahead.
Last edited:
Kings and Queens of England and Scotland
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
1858-1877: Helena I (House of Tudor)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia
1877-1910: Helena I (House of Tudor) [12]
1910-1948 William Alexander I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [13]
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia and the Netherlands
1948-1966 William Alexander I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [13]
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia
1966-2003: George I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [14]
2003-present: Elizabeth I (Tudor) [15]
[1] Upon the death of Henry VIII in 1547, Edward Seymour became Lord Protector for his nine-year-old nephew, Edward VI. Knowing it had been his late monarch's dearest wish, he pursued the policy that Henry VIII had begun a few years earlier, forcing an alliance with Scotland by demanding the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to Edward. Early in September, he led a well-equipped army into Scotland, supported by a large fleet. A battle at Pinkie, near Musselburgh, on the 10th of September, resulted in a resounding English victory, and although the Scottish Regent, Mary of Guise, attempted to send her four-year-old daughter to safety at Inchahome Priory, but she was betrayed by an English agent, and Mary was captured by Viscount Lisle and taken south of the border to Lancaster Castle, where she was promptly betrothed to the nine-year-old Edward VI.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly died of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in magnificent ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on the heads of his niece and nephew.
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by their granddaughter Helena.
[12] Queen-Empress Helena I was born as the only child of Crown Prince Edward on July 1, 1849, being thrust into the position of heir to the throne when the 28-year old Prince Edward died from cholera in 1854, which many historians argued factored into the decline of his mother's health and her death four years later. As such, the nine-year old Helena would become the first female monarch of Britain in her own right with her mother, Victoria of Denmark, as her regent during her childhood until 1867, when Queen Helena came of age. As Queen, Helena would supervise an era of peace and prosperity with her reign being marked by a "golden age" for the Britain along with an "upgrade" of the title of the monarch from King/Queen to Emperor/Empress in 1877 with Helena being proclaimed Empress of Brittania. In her politics, Helena would be someone who would be considered a "moderate conservative" in how she was willing to accept popular political changes but was opposed to radical political reforms during her reign.
Empress Helena would marry Prince Charles of Prussia in 1871 with the couple having six children. Helena would die on September 6, 1910 at the age of 61 from complications from a botched surgery. In the aftermath of Helena's death, her son William Alexander would become the new monarch of the Empire of Brittania.
[13] Empress Helena’s only male-line grandson at the time of her death, William Alexander was born in 1902, the son of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her husband, Helena’s second son, Prince Alexander. (b.1876). His parents had married two years earlier, in an attempt to salvage Anglo-Dutch relations during the Second Boer War.
At the time of his birth, no one expected William Alexander to become Emperor, given that his father was the Empress’s second son.
However, the Prince of Wales, Edward, died childless in suspicious circumstances while on a state visit to India in 1905, making William Alexander’s father heir to the British throne. Alexander himself died in a motor accident in 1909, meaning that it was eight-year-old William Alexander who eventually succeeded his grandmother as Emperor of Britannia.
From that point on, William Alexander’s childhood became a battleground, the British and the Dutch both struggling to control the young Emperor and influence him in the way they saw fit. Some Dutch nationalists, keen to keep their independence, even tried to supplant him as his mother’s heir in the Netherlands with his younger sister, Princess Juliana, but failed because of the semi-Salic succession the country followed at the time.
The bitter factionalism at his court left its mark on the young William, and he grew up painfully shy, trusting only the small group of courtiers who had served him since his early childhood.
This dependence caused a complete scandal, when, in 1921, the nineteen-year-old Emperor eloped to Gretna Green with the niece of his old nurse. Susan Mary Bill was a beautiful, patient girl, but she was no match for an Emperor, or so said his ministers.
For the first time in his life, however, William Alexander dug in his heels, refusing to even consider annulling the match. After the intervention of his mother, Queen Wilhelmina, Susan was eventually given the compromise title of Crown Princess of Orange, and the young couple settled into family life at their country estate on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. It was here that they would bring up their seven children, though they often visited the Netherlands too, and it is said at least one of their children was more fluent in Dutch than they were in English.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, William reportedly wanted to go and fight as a navy commander, but was refused due to his rank and the youth of his family. Such was not, unfortunately, the fate of his cousin, William, Marquis of Hartington, the son of his youngest aunt, Jemima, Duchess of Devonshire, who was killed in action in 1944.
William Alexander was devastated by his younger cousin’s death, and plunged the royal family into deepest mourning for nearly a year. However, his profound grief had one positive. It brought him closer to his people, who, until that point, had struggled to connect with their shy, seemingly aloof monarch. The Royal Family, who led the country through the peace, rebuilding and remembrance in the years following 1945, shot up in popularity, and remains popular to this day.
Poor health forced Wilhelmina to abdicate in May 1948, and William Alexander succeeded her as King of the Netherlands. He and Susan were crowned King and Queen in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on June 30th, 1948, bringing the British and Dutch crowns into personal union. On their coronation day, they also announced that the name of the royal house would thenceforth be 'Tudor-Orange-Nassau', in honour of their joint dominions.
It was in the role as King of the Netherlands that he oversaw the loss of the Indonesian colonies, and had to rehabilitate the royal family after his sister’s scandalous second marriage to Archduke Gottfried of Austria, which was seen as a betrayal of all the Dutch had suffered in the war.
To help himself cope with the stress, William Alexander took up smoking. This led to his developing lung cancer in the 1960s, and his eventual death in 1966.
William Alexander was succeeded as ruler of Britannia and the Netherlands by his grandson.
[14] George was perhaps the best monarch for the age that was the sixties and seventies. The grandson of William Alexander, one of the twin sons of Frederick William of Great Britain and the Netherlands, George Frederick, as he was called at birth, was raised oft in Wales or in Flanders by his very traditionalist and conservative father, away from the mess that were both London and Amsterdam. It was no surprise, then, that George and William (his twin brother) grew to be complete opposites of their father.
Even as a youngster George was famous for his many escapades, and the growing air of liberty around the royal court only helped further his activities. George lived much of his teenage life studying in Britain's many Dominions in America - he was a particular favourite of New York's socialites and San Francisco's industrialists and was present in Indonesia during decolonization - he and his brother were famous for walking in Jakarta's streets amongst the people celebrating independence, talking openly and publicly with the Netherlands' former colonial subjects.
The death of his father in 1965 of an unknown highly voracious cancer brought a standstill to the life of the brothers - their father, despite their various differences in opinion, had always been the solid rock of their life and both the brothers entered into a deep depression that would only worsen a year later - the date of their ascension to the throne. The two brothers were then separated - the modern world was no longer the age of personal unions, so George was delivered to the British throne while William was given the crown of the Netherlands. The further separation of the two brothers only seemed to deepen the rift in the royal family.
A picture taken of George the I during a visit to his last African possession of South Africa.
George early years were dominated by his smoking, his radical style (the King was often invited to model) and the strong grip of the Queen-Dowager, his grandmother Susan. The popularity of the British and Dutch royal families increased during these times of turmoil, but the governmental elites of Britain found a hard rock in George - he was a new blooded monarch, with a view of the future very different from the majority of the Empire's politicians and his popularity with the masses only seemed to increase year by year. George was during this time encouraged by the government of Britain to clear his mind by travelling, and it quickly became the new King's passion. George travelled to all of Britain's overseas Dominions at this time (New England, Virginia, Dixie, Canada, Cascadia, Newfoundland, Michigan, Maritima, California, South Africa, Australia, New England and India) and would tour much of the decolonizing Africa during his tenure.
It was during a visit to Angevin France, the power Britain had defeated in the second world war, that George would find the love of his life - Henrietta, a niece of the French King. George would return to England, insisting on marrying the French woman despite the opposition of much of the government and even the people. His was only his third (and vastly most important) address to the people of all pieces of the British Empire that finally convinced the people that this was a love story out of fantasy books - and so it would prove to be.
Henrietta and George would marry in 1974, being wildly claimed in their many visits all through-out the Empire. In the Dominion of Quebec they perhaps the more loved of any of the British royals ever, and the public opinion of the British royal family at this time grew to an incredible 98%.
Henrietta would prove to be the perfect person to sober George up, and the two royals would face the future head on, with George growing to be one of the pillarstones of the British Empire and a central piece of Anglo-Phone world. He would also preside over the last movements of decolonization, when the Dominion of India would effectivelly separate from the British Empire, leading to a escalade of all dominions assuming their own place in the world.
George and Henrietta would continue their lives, having plenty of children and being famous for their support for development in the field of medicine. The two couples became a strong part of modern culture, but time soon proved that even the life of royals has limits. George would die of a stroke while sleeping in May of 2003, being succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth.
[15] Elizabeth was born in early 1976. In 1983, the crown act was passed, allowing absolute primogeniture to be followed, meaning that if her mother would go on to have a son (Elizabeth had two younger sisters by this time), he would not displace Elizabeth from her inheritance. Her little brother was born in 1984. Her parents would go on to have five more children, three boys and two girls. In 1988, shorty before starting her secondly education, Elizabeth was officially sworn in as Princess of Wales.
She would become a feminist symbol, well known who getting a PHD in mechanics. She enjoyed getting her hands dirty and was often called the people's princess. However, Elizabeth kept her private life private, and although rumors flew whenever she was seen in public with her male friends (and some of her female friends as well it must be said), barely anyone was aware if she was romantically. She seemed more interested in completing her degrees rather than going out on dates..
In 2003, her father died. Sources say that Elizabeth was in a pub, taking a well deserved break after earning her PHD when she heard the news on the telly of her father's death. It is said that the people stopped drinking and kneeling before the new queen. This thought to be a largely exaggerated story with only a grain of truth.
Whatever the case may be, Elizabeth return to the palace to grieve with her relatives, her success having largely being overshadowed by her father's death.
In 2004, she would be crowned empress. She would also announce that she was getting married to long time friend (and one of the top suspects of the romance rumors) Robert Tudor, a distant cousin descended from Edward, Duke of York, son of Edward VI and Dorothea of Denmark. They married in 2005, with Robert getting the title of Prince Consort and Duke of Edinburgh. It was agreed to make thing simple, their house would be known as Tudor.
They would have four children, and despite Elizabeth continuing to focus on her work, they would have a happy marriage. Tragedy would strike on 2020, at age forty-four, Queen Elizabeth became one of the first victims of Covid-19. She ultimitly recovered to lead her country through these troubled times.
1547-1562: Edward VI and II and Mary I (House of Tudor) [1]
1562-1614: William III and II (House of Tudor) [2]
1614-1621: Henry IX and I (House of Tudor) [3]
1621 –1666: Alexander IV and I [House of Tudor] [4]
1666-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
Kings of Great Britain
1700-1705: Arthur I (House of Tudor) [5]
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor)[6]
Kings and Queens of Great Britain and Ireland
1705-1742: Alexander V (House of Tudor) [6]
1742-1750: Henry X (House of Tudor) [7]
1750-1757: Arthur II (House of Tudor) [8]
1757-1799: Alexander VI (House of Tudor) [9]
1799-1811: James VI (House of Tudor) [10]
1811-1858: Edward VII and Louisa (House of Tudor) [11]
1858-1877: Helena I (House of Tudor)
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia
1877-1910: Helena I (House of Tudor) [12]
1910-1948 William Alexander I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [13]
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia and the Netherlands
1948-1966 William Alexander I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [13]
Emperors and Empresses of Britannia
1966-2003: George I (House of Tudor-Orange-Nassau) [14]
2003-present: Elizabeth I (Tudor) [15]
[1] Upon the death of Henry VIII in 1547, Edward Seymour became Lord Protector for his nine-year-old nephew, Edward VI. Knowing it had been his late monarch's dearest wish, he pursued the policy that Henry VIII had begun a few years earlier, forcing an alliance with Scotland by demanding the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to Edward. Early in September, he led a well-equipped army into Scotland, supported by a large fleet. A battle at Pinkie, near Musselburgh, on the 10th of September, resulted in a resounding English victory, and although the Scottish Regent, Mary of Guise, attempted to send her four-year-old daughter to safety at Inchahome Priory, but she was betrayed by an English agent, and Mary was captured by Viscount Lisle and taken south of the border to Lancaster Castle, where she was promptly betrothed to the nine-year-old Edward VI.
Mary then spent the next eight years at the English Court, receiving a Reformist education in a household headed by the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Throughout those eight years, she was honoured as Queen of both England and Scotland, though the grand plan nearly failed when Edward VI caught measles in the summer of 1553, before Mary was old enough to officially be his wife. Fortunately, he pulled through, but fearful that Scotland might slip through their fingers, the English wasted not a moment longer than they had to. Mary and Edward were married on Mary's 12th birthday, 8 December 1554, and the union was consummated that very night. The next day, the newly twelve-year-old Mary signed a document agreeing to make Edward King of Scotland alongside her and his heirs monarchs after her, even if she predeceased him and said heirs were from a second wife.
Only then was Mary allowed back to Scotland. She and Edward were crowned as joint monarchs - Edward II and Mary I - in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 12th April 1555. They would spend the next two years dividing their time between Windsor, Greenwich, Stirling and Falkland. Sadly, tragedy struck on the 6th of July 1557, when the fourteen-year-old Mary died in childbirth with their only child, William.
As per the terms of their marriage agreement, Edward remained as monarch of Scotland, until his own death a few years later. He remarried to 13-year-old Dorothea of Denmark in 1559 and they had another child before Edward's death from smallpox on the 17th October 1562. Edward's final child, Edward, arrived three months after his death, in January 1563.
Edward was succeeded as monarch of both England and Scotland by his son William III and II.
[2] The only child of Edward and Mary, William was only five years old when he became King of England. He was named William since it was one of the few names found among both English and Scottish monarchs.
As Edward’s death had come quickly he had not made arrangements for a regency, and so the first few years of William’s reign were rough. After almost 3 years of arguments, small skirmishes, and several failed abductions, William’s aunt, Elizabeth Tudor, would secure the regency assisted by a council of English and Scottish lords many of whom thought they would soon wed the Lady Elizabeth. None of them did.
While Elizabeth would guard William zealously (he would rarely travel, and his childhood home was heavily guarded) she would arrange for many tudors from both England and Scotland. He would grow up to be an exceptionally educated young man. By age 10 he spoke, French, Latin, Italian, Greek, and Scottish, besides his native English. Elizabeth and William would often switch languages while conversing, which made their conversations very hard to follow.
The Regency would end when William was sixteen in 1573, though he would treasure his aunt’s advice for the rest of his life.
William would marry Catherine de Bourbon, Princess of Navarre in 1574. They would have three children that lived to adulthood.
William and Catherine shared a love of writing, though they did quibble over religion: Catherine was a Calvinism, and William was Anglican which had drifted towards Lutheran during the regency. Catherine’s faith did make her a favorite among William’s Scottish subjects who’s own presbyterianism was so close to calvinism.
The next two decades of William’s reign were rather peaceful, and nothing much of note happened until 1594. By this point, William’s eldest son, Henry of Wales, was known by all to be a horrible excuse for a prince. Henry had a short temper, was petty and cruel, and (here’s the part that chivalrous William couldn’t forgive) beat his wife, Louise Juliana, Princess of the Netherlands.
Shortly after the birth of Henry and Louise Julianna’s second child, William would announce the need to attend to the rebellious Irish. William sent Henry of Wales to Ireland where Henry would be killed during a skirmish with the Irish. Now, it’s possible that William didn’t arrange the death of his eldest son, but most historian’s believe he did.
A year later, Queen Catherine pass away from a winter chill. Since William now only had one son (and possibly a grandson or two by Henry and Louise Juliana, next person’s choice), William would remarry to Hedwig of Denmark. They had two children.
The rest of William’s reign would continue without much issue, and he would pass away in his sleep leaving his grandson, Henry as monarch of England and Scotland.
[3] Henry was five years old when his father died in Ireland and twenty-five when his grandfather died. As he was groomed to be his father's heir, many had great expectations for him.
He was married to Louise of Valois, daughter of King Francois III of France. Although, Henry took after his grandfather rather than his father, it was an unhappy marriage with the couple arguing about every topic from religion to clothing. Somehow they managed to tolerate each other long enough to have three sons. Edward in 1608, Alexander in 1611 and William in 1615.
Upon becoming king, Henry decided to crack down on Catholicism (not at all related to the tension between him and his wife), fearing that the failed gunpowder plot might be tried again. The harsher restrictions of course backfired, making the Catholics eager to rebel.
In 1619, lead by the Duke of Norfolk, the Uprising of the North occurred. Two years later, Henry would die in battle, leaving his underaged son, Alexander, to inherit.
[4] The second son of Henry IX and Louise of Valois, Alexander was originally titled Duke of York and Ross, but his older brother Edward’s death from measles in 1612 catapulted him into the role of Prince of Wales when he was just nine months old.
He was ten when his father fell besieging the Duke of Norfolk at Sheffield Castle, and his mother, seeing a chance to put paid to the tensions that had riven the country for the past two years, promptly had him crowned Alexander I of England at Westminster Abbey.
Of course, an underage King needs a regent, and this was Louise’s masterstroke. Although, as the King’s mother, she would have been eligible for the Regency herself, she offered her role in the Regency to the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent Catholic who had remained neutral in the Northern Rebellion. She also promised that at least half of her son’s tutors would be Catholic, and appointed Henry Parker, 5th Baron Monteagle, his governor.
To pacify the Protestants, who were not comfortable with the Catholics gaining so much power, especially when Louise persuaded her ten-year-old son to end recusancy fines for the period of his minority, Louise declared that Northumberland would have to share the regency with the Protestant Marquess of Hamilton and Earl of Oxford, as well as with the moderate Duke of Lennox.
This finely-balanced quartet of Anglo-Scottish power worked out, Louise promptly retreated to her dower property of Leeds Castle, where she took her only daughter, Princess Catherine Louise, for a sheltered childhood a long way from the intrigues of Court, famously saying ‘Alexander is England’s. Catherine is mine. Catherine is mine and she shall be a child, not a pawn,’ to the Councillors who tried to stop her.
Once Alexander came of age in 1629, it was soon clear that Louise's attempts to ensure her son grew up a moderate had succeeded, for while Alexander was always careful to attend service in the Anglican rite, and married his wife, the Princess Christina of Sweden, in the Kirk of Scotland to please his northern subjects, he was never harsh to those who didn’t attend the national church, and never reinstated the recusancy fines, much to the horror of his Lord Chief Justice, Sir Nicholas Hyde. Moreover, he allowed his sister, Princess Catherine, to marry Charles IV of Lorraine in 1635, despite the difference in their religions. Alexander longed to do more than have a foothold in France and hoped that his new brother-in-law might help him reconquer some of the old Plantagenet domains.
Their joint invasion of France in 1639, however, came to little. While Alexander succeeded in forcing the French to allow him to expand the Pale of Calais as far as Boulogne, and Charles succeeded in getting his Duchy back, it was a long and costly exercise, the war finally petering to a halt in 1645 due to lack of funds.
The lengthy war had one advantage, however. It allowed Alexander’s young wife, the Princess Christina to grow up in his absence. 15 years younger than him, Christina was the daughter of Alexander’s great hero, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and the only Princess he had ever considered marrying, despite the great difference in their ages.
Christina had been brought to England in 1637 to get to know her new country, but 1645 was the first time she and Alexander spent any great length of time together. Fortunately, despite their age difference, they found a common love of Philosophy and exploration, so their marriage was a happy one, resulting in ten pregnancies and six surviving children.
Alexander had a keen sense of justice as well as a pragmatism about religion and insisted that every county within his domains offer legal aid to those who couldn’t afford to seek redress of their own accord. Indeed, he set up two royal foundations, one in his name and one in Christina’s, to help pay for the poorest of his subjects to have their day in court. He would go on to repeat the gesture upon the baptism of every one of his children. It is this legacy that is the basis for England and Scotland’s modern-day ‘free at the point of use’ legal system.
However, Alexander’s eagerness to help his subjects would be the death of him. In September 1666, a great fire broke out in the City of London. The 55-year-old King insisted on going to Temple Bar to help coordinate the firefighting efforts. Unfortunately, on the morning of 4th September, the flames jumped the River Fleet, which it had been hoped would act as a natural firebreak, and engulfed his command post before he could escape.
He was pulled to safety by a brave guard who saw him fall, but succumbed to his burns a few hours later.
He was succeeded on the thrones of England and Scotland by his son Arthur.
[5] King Arthur was born in 1651. He was his parents' third child, but first son. He was named Arthur after the legendary king. He was fifteen when his father died. It was decided that he would have a regency council for three years until he was eighteen.
Once he became king, Arthur arranged advantageous marriages for all his siblings. His older sister, Christina (1647) was married to Prince William of Orange. His sister, Louise (1649) was married to the King of Denmark and Norway. His younger brother, Alexander (1654) was married to Elizabeth Charlotte of Heindenburg. His brother Henry (1656) was wed to Anne Scott a wealthy Scottish Heiress. His last sibling, Edward (1662) married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
As for Arthur himself, he was married to Marfa Alekseyevna of Russia (or Martha as she was known in England). Their marriage was used to build a a stronger bound with Russia. Martha was a stanch Orthodox Christian while Arthur was a moderate Protestant. Despite religious differences, the pair got along famously with Arthur even trusting Martha as regent when he went off to war. They would have nine children together.
In 1672, the Franco-Dutch war would break out. As the Prince of Orange was his brother-in-law, Arthur felt obligated to help the Netherlands against the invading French. He would lead the army against King Henry IV of France himself, scoring a victory in the battle of Lowestoft. The Dutch and the English would be joined by Denmark, and Sweden with some Protestant German states and Navarre lending their troops, viewing it a matter of religion.
While Spain did come to France's aid, the Holy Roman Empire was too busy dealing with the Turks to help out. Then in 1677, Charles II of Spain died, leading to a succession crisis which caused the King of Navarre to regain the lands they had lost in the 1500s. Eventually, King Henri IV would die and his successor had no interest in continue the war of his father. In 1681, a peace treaty was made, confirming France's losses and ending the fighting.
King Arthur returned to England triumphant. He would spend the rest of his rule, expanding exploration, wanting to find new lands and new opportunities for glory. He also worked towards the act of union, wanting his four kingdoms to be united.
In 1700, he would be officially known as King Arthur of Great Britain. Unfortunately, he would not hold the title long. In 1704, he fell ill with cancer. He would hold out for a year before he died at fifty-four. His wife would follow him in death two years later. Their son, Alexander would commission a grand tomb for them both.
[6] Alexander was born from one of queen Martha's late pregnancies, as the Queen was nearing her fourties when she gave birth to Alexander. His older brother, Prince Frederick, was already an adult when he was born, but would soon contract syphilis from a dutch countess he had taken as his lover and would be taken from this world just as Alexander was nearing four years of age. Thus, the life of being Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay was thrust early upon his shoulders - Alexander was raised far away from his family in Ludlow by a trusted cadre of Britain's most eligible tutors.
He would reach his adulthood in 1703, only two years before his father's death, and thus, would have no true princely life. The duties of a King fell hard on him, especially as the young man had seen his father ebb away before his eyes due to his cancer. It was an experience that Alexander would never forget.
Inexperience did not mean lack of ability, however. In what came to matters of state, Alexander would prove to have more ability than many of his predecessors. His first order of business was the structuring of union and the matter of Ireland. Ireland, mostly taken by Britain, still had many independent holdouts and many of the Irish lords were doubtful of the works to unify the lordship of Ireland with the crown of Great Britain. Alexander would travel to Dublin and would call all the nobility and representatives of the people to the city - and there they would hammer out a new act of union. First order of business was the creation of a new parliament that would involve representatives from all three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of the English nobility fretted at the thought of so many Catholics in Parliament, but the King ignored them and consented to the act. Second was the numerals of Kings - It would be decided that the highest numeral in any one of the Kingdoms would serve as precendent for each new monarch - for example, if there was four Roberts in Scotland and two Roberts in England, the British Robert would take the number five.
Many more arrangements were made in these early years, and soon the whole of Ireland was integrated into the Kingdom through peaceful methods - as was the way of Alexander. Alexander would, famously, never fight a war during his reign, only brief skirmishes that were solved rapidly through diplomacy.
Speaking of diplomacy, Alexander would put in place a policy of neutrality in the continent, instead of the earlier one of allying and supporting the protestant polities. To make this well know, he would organize his own marriage to Anne Marie, Princess Royal of France, finally putting an end to centuries of ill relations. Anne Marie would come to England, she a stout catholic and she would become very popular as a supporter of Catholic rights in Britain. Despite much criticism, Anne Marie would prove to be an excellent wife and Queen (Despite never losing her love for France or her accent) and she would give Alexander more than eleven live children!
The great passions of Alexander's reign would be the colonies and the navy, as Alexander sent out many colonial charters in two paces mainly - Britain's various colonies in the Eastern Coast of America just kept growing and growing, stretching from Florida to Acadia in the North and the colony of Nova Hibernia in the Cape of Good Hope. All these colonial ventures were served by Alexander's legendary royal navy.
Alexander would die ignobly in 1742 - the official accounts say the the King choked in his sleep, but the unofficial, people's version, is that the younger Anne Marie rode the King into an heart attack.
[7] Born in 1725, Henry was not the healthiest child in the world. Often having seizures, many people were surprised that he lived at all. Some suggested that Henry be skipped for his younger brother, Robert who was born in 1727. Alexander and Anna Marie would not hear of it, and would throw their energy into preparing Henry for his role of king, often neglecting their other children. In a fit of dramatic irony, Robert would die at age fourteen after a riding accident. It left Henry depress, for despite his parents' insistence, he always thought Robert would be a better fit for kingship.
Henry was seventeen-years-old when his father died. The new king, deep in melancholy, threw his father a lavish funeral, forging tradition and attended the funeral in person. In contrast, his coronation was a subdued event with the unhappy ruler barely managing to smile throughout and wave to his people.
For the next eight years, Henry mostly kept to himself, often drinking to "get rid of the pain", leaving ruling his country in the hands of his brother Arthur.
In 1750, King Henry X was found in his bed unresponsive. He seemly died of a epileptic seizure, although popular legend has him being found hanging from the rafters, a rope around his neck, having killed himself which was subsequently covered up. However, those rumors was debunked by his brother Arthur, who insisted that Henry was a godly man who would never commit the sin of suicide.
[8] Prince Arthur was the third son of King Alexander V, born in 1728 with few expecting him to become the next monarch with two older brothers. However, Prince Arthur would grow up to be an intelligent and capable young man, being the real power behind the throne for his older brother and succeeding him in 1750 after his death. While his reign would prove to be a short one, his reign was marked by a vigorous energy as King Arthur was someone who would rule effectively and capably during his reign, being an energetic administrator and someone who worked well with Parliament during his reign as well.
In his personal life, King Arthur would marry Princess Alexandra of Sweden in 1743 with the two having six children and a close relationship. It would be a great tragedy indeed that King Arthur would die in 1757 from a fall from his horse at the age of 29, being succeeded by his son, Alexander, Prince of Wales.
[9] Born in 1745, Alexander was the oldest son and second child of the six children born to Prince Arthur and Princess Alexandra of Sweden. The first 12 years he grew up in a happy home, full of love.
With the tragic death of his father in 1757, 12 year old Alexander now became king. His first four years were under the regency of his mother and uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
The early deaths of both his uncle and father, threw the young king to a state of melancholy and with him leaving much of his duties and responsibilities to others.
In 1770, Alexander married Princess Amalie of Prussia-Hesse-Darmstadt (1754-1832) although both were happy with each other and produced a large family of eight children, Alexander’s mental health made him distant with family and friends, prefer to spend his time alone with his thoughts.
In early 1799, 54 year old, king suffered a massive stroke, many believe brought on by the alternative medicines which he use to assist with his moods, which resulted in his death three days later. He was succeeded by his son, James, who had been serving as the face of the monarchy at ceremonial events for a while.
[10] James was born in 1775, his parents first son, named for his father's best friend, the Duke of Lennox. He broke his leg at fifteen and was forced to spend the rest of his life, walking with a cane. However, he never let his disability interfere with his work, being an effective administer and a shrewd diplomat.
When his father's health began to fail, James was the one who took the reigns of the kingdoms, acting as regent. When his father died, James was crowed in magnificent ceremony, crowned alongside him as his wife, Adeline of Bohemia. Despite being a happy match, they did not have any living children, something that worried his advisors. With many begging him to annul his union so he could find a fertile wife. James refused.
For twelve years, all was well. That was until 1811 when James died of pneumonia. With no children of his own, the crown would fall on the heads of his niece and nephew.
[11] Upon the death of James VI, 19th-Century Britain found itself in an unprecedented situation. James’s senior heir would have been his younger brother Henry, Duke of Richmond, but Henry had died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, leaving behind a single infant daughter, the Princess Louisa of Richmond (b.1803). James and Henry’s next brother, William, Duke of Edinburgh, meanwhile, had a son, Edward, who was a year older than Louisa. The question that arose, therefore, was, could an uncle succeed ahead of a niece, or did birth order matter as much as gender?
In the end, after much wrangling and consultation of the best legal minds in Britain, a compromise was drawn up. Taking Edward VI and Mary as their precedent, Parliament decreed that, while Louisa would be named Queen, she would have to marry her cousin Edward of Edinburgh and the two would rule as joint monarchs as soon as they reached their majority. In the meantime, Prince William would share the regency with Louisa’s mother and guardian, Princess Louise of Denmark, and the Dowager Queen.
Matters settled to everyone’s satisfaction, Edward was moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to be the royal presence in Scotland, while Louisa was brought up in the comfortable surroundings of her father’s palace at Kew, where she was far enough away from London to enjoy her childhood, but close enough that her people could see her and get to know her. Of course, this deliberate separation of the two cousins ensured they scarcely met, making it easier for them to think of each other as husband and wife when the time came.
That time came in 1821, when the eighteen-year-old Louisa and nineteen-year-old Edward wed in a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Chapel in London. Unfortunately, Edward and Louisa were complete opposites in character, so, although they came together often enough to secure the succession – they had four children in the course of their marriage – they were both always happier in the arms of their respective lovers.
Edward had three bastard sons with his mistress, Louisa Nisbett – William, Richard and Frederick FitzDuke, while Louisa, heedless of what society thought, flaunted her relationship with the 6th Earl of Cowper, George Cowper, managing four illegitimate daughters – Ada, Margaret, Eleanor and Felicity, who were all given the surname Filrein, meaning ‘daughter of the Queen’, before scandal and George’s need for a son forced him to marry, though the notoriety surrounding his relationship with the Queen meant he had to settle for a Countess that no one else would touch, Clara Allegra Byron, the natural daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. [1]
Edward, tiring of his unhappy marriage and feeling stifled by his duties in London, eventually decided to travel and was the first member of the royal family to visit the British colony of Canada, though his third trip there in 1852 proved fatal, when his horse drawn sleigh overturned and he was thrown clear, hitting his head against a rock and dying a few hours later without ever regaining consciousness.
Louisa, meanwhile, survived him by six years, though she was a mere shadow of herself after her abandonment by Earl Cowper and rarely surfaced from her gloomy seclusion in Bagshot Lodge. When she caught cholera in 1858, it was a death sentence. Her lady-in-waiting, Emily Sarah Cathcart, said later that ‘Her Majesty would have had to fight to live. All the fight had gone out of her long ago’.
Edward and Louisa were succeeded by their granddaughter Helena.
[12] Queen-Empress Helena I was born as the only child of Crown Prince Edward on July 1, 1849, being thrust into the position of heir to the throne when the 28-year old Prince Edward died from cholera in 1854, which many historians argued factored into the decline of his mother's health and her death four years later. As such, the nine-year old Helena would become the first female monarch of Britain in her own right with her mother, Victoria of Denmark, as her regent during her childhood until 1867, when Queen Helena came of age. As Queen, Helena would supervise an era of peace and prosperity with her reign being marked by a "golden age" for the Britain along with an "upgrade" of the title of the monarch from King/Queen to Emperor/Empress in 1877 with Helena being proclaimed Empress of Brittania. In her politics, Helena would be someone who would be considered a "moderate conservative" in how she was willing to accept popular political changes but was opposed to radical political reforms during her reign.
Empress Helena would marry Prince Charles of Prussia in 1871 with the couple having six children. Helena would die on September 6, 1910 at the age of 61 from complications from a botched surgery. In the aftermath of Helena's death, her son William Alexander would become the new monarch of the Empire of Brittania.
[13] Empress Helena’s only male-line grandson at the time of her death, William Alexander was born in 1902, the son of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her husband, Helena’s second son, Prince Alexander. (b.1876). His parents had married two years earlier, in an attempt to salvage Anglo-Dutch relations during the Second Boer War.
At the time of his birth, no one expected William Alexander to become Emperor, given that his father was the Empress’s second son.
However, the Prince of Wales, Edward, died childless in suspicious circumstances while on a state visit to India in 1905, making William Alexander’s father heir to the British throne. Alexander himself died in a motor accident in 1909, meaning that it was eight-year-old William Alexander who eventually succeeded his grandmother as Emperor of Britannia.
From that point on, William Alexander’s childhood became a battleground, the British and the Dutch both struggling to control the young Emperor and influence him in the way they saw fit. Some Dutch nationalists, keen to keep their independence, even tried to supplant him as his mother’s heir in the Netherlands with his younger sister, Princess Juliana, but failed because of the semi-Salic succession the country followed at the time.
The bitter factionalism at his court left its mark on the young William, and he grew up painfully shy, trusting only the small group of courtiers who had served him since his early childhood.
This dependence caused a complete scandal, when, in 1921, the nineteen-year-old Emperor eloped to Gretna Green with the niece of his old nurse. Susan Mary Bill was a beautiful, patient girl, but she was no match for an Emperor, or so said his ministers.
For the first time in his life, however, William Alexander dug in his heels, refusing to even consider annulling the match. After the intervention of his mother, Queen Wilhelmina, Susan was eventually given the compromise title of Crown Princess of Orange, and the young couple settled into family life at their country estate on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. It was here that they would bring up their seven children, though they often visited the Netherlands too, and it is said at least one of their children was more fluent in Dutch than they were in English.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, William reportedly wanted to go and fight as a navy commander, but was refused due to his rank and the youth of his family. Such was not, unfortunately, the fate of his cousin, William, Marquis of Hartington, the son of his youngest aunt, Jemima, Duchess of Devonshire, who was killed in action in 1944.
William Alexander was devastated by his younger cousin’s death, and plunged the royal family into deepest mourning for nearly a year. However, his profound grief had one positive. It brought him closer to his people, who, until that point, had struggled to connect with their shy, seemingly aloof monarch. The Royal Family, who led the country through the peace, rebuilding and remembrance in the years following 1945, shot up in popularity, and remains popular to this day.
Poor health forced Wilhelmina to abdicate in May 1948, and William Alexander succeeded her as King of the Netherlands. He and Susan were crowned King and Queen in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on June 30th, 1948, bringing the British and Dutch crowns into personal union. On their coronation day, they also announced that the name of the royal house would thenceforth be 'Tudor-Orange-Nassau', in honour of their joint dominions.
It was in the role as King of the Netherlands that he oversaw the loss of the Indonesian colonies, and had to rehabilitate the royal family after his sister’s scandalous second marriage to Archduke Gottfried of Austria, which was seen as a betrayal of all the Dutch had suffered in the war.
To help himself cope with the stress, William Alexander took up smoking. This led to his developing lung cancer in the 1960s, and his eventual death in 1966.
William Alexander was succeeded as ruler of Britannia and the Netherlands by his grandson.
[14] George was perhaps the best monarch for the age that was the sixties and seventies. The grandson of William Alexander, one of the twin sons of Frederick William of Great Britain and the Netherlands, George Frederick, as he was called at birth, was raised oft in Wales or in Flanders by his very traditionalist and conservative father, away from the mess that were both London and Amsterdam. It was no surprise, then, that George and William (his twin brother) grew to be complete opposites of their father.
Even as a youngster George was famous for his many escapades, and the growing air of liberty around the royal court only helped further his activities. George lived much of his teenage life studying in Britain's many Dominions in America - he was a particular favourite of New York's socialites and San Francisco's industrialists and was present in Indonesia during decolonization - he and his brother were famous for walking in Jakarta's streets amongst the people celebrating independence, talking openly and publicly with the Netherlands' former colonial subjects.
The death of his father in 1965 of an unknown highly voracious cancer brought a standstill to the life of the brothers - their father, despite their various differences in opinion, had always been the solid rock of their life and both the brothers entered into a deep depression that would only worsen a year later - the date of their ascension to the throne. The two brothers were then separated - the modern world was no longer the age of personal unions, so George was delivered to the British throne while William was given the crown of the Netherlands. The further separation of the two brothers only seemed to deepen the rift in the royal family.
A picture taken of George the I during a visit to his last African possession of South Africa.
George early years were dominated by his smoking, his radical style (the King was often invited to model) and the strong grip of the Queen-Dowager, his grandmother Susan. The popularity of the British and Dutch royal families increased during these times of turmoil, but the governmental elites of Britain found a hard rock in George - he was a new blooded monarch, with a view of the future very different from the majority of the Empire's politicians and his popularity with the masses only seemed to increase year by year. George was during this time encouraged by the government of Britain to clear his mind by travelling, and it quickly became the new King's passion. George travelled to all of Britain's overseas Dominions at this time (New England, Virginia, Dixie, Canada, Cascadia, Newfoundland, Michigan, Maritima, California, South Africa, Australia, New England and India) and would tour much of the decolonizing Africa during his tenure.
It was during a visit to Angevin France, the power Britain had defeated in the second world war, that George would find the love of his life - Henrietta, a niece of the French King. George would return to England, insisting on marrying the French woman despite the opposition of much of the government and even the people. His was only his third (and vastly most important) address to the people of all pieces of the British Empire that finally convinced the people that this was a love story out of fantasy books - and so it would prove to be.
Henrietta and George would marry in 1974, being wildly claimed in their many visits all through-out the Empire. In the Dominion of Quebec they perhaps the more loved of any of the British royals ever, and the public opinion of the British royal family at this time grew to an incredible 98%.
Henrietta would prove to be the perfect person to sober George up, and the two royals would face the future head on, with George growing to be one of the pillarstones of the British Empire and a central piece of Anglo-Phone world. He would also preside over the last movements of decolonization, when the Dominion of India would effectivelly separate from the British Empire, leading to a escalade of all dominions assuming their own place in the world.
George and Henrietta would continue their lives, having plenty of children and being famous for their support for development in the field of medicine. The two couples became a strong part of modern culture, but time soon proved that even the life of royals has limits. George would die of a stroke while sleeping in May of 2003, being succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth.
[15] Elizabeth was born in early 1976. In 1983, the crown act was passed, allowing absolute primogeniture to be followed, meaning that if her mother would go on to have a son (Elizabeth had two younger sisters by this time), he would not displace Elizabeth from her inheritance. Her little brother was born in 1984. Her parents would go on to have five more children, three boys and two girls. In 1988, shorty before starting her secondly education, Elizabeth was officially sworn in as Princess of Wales.
She would become a feminist symbol, well known who getting a PHD in mechanics. She enjoyed getting her hands dirty and was often called the people's princess. However, Elizabeth kept her private life private, and although rumors flew whenever she was seen in public with her male friends (and some of her female friends as well it must be said), barely anyone was aware if she was romantically. She seemed more interested in completing her degrees rather than going out on dates..
In 2003, her father died. Sources say that Elizabeth was in a pub, taking a well deserved break after earning her PHD when she heard the news on the telly of her father's death. It is said that the people stopped drinking and kneeling before the new queen. This thought to be a largely exaggerated story with only a grain of truth.
Whatever the case may be, Elizabeth return to the palace to grieve with her relatives, her success having largely being overshadowed by her father's death.
In 2004, she would be crowned empress. She would also announce that she was getting married to long time friend (and one of the top suspects of the romance rumors) Robert Tudor, a distant cousin descended from Edward, Duke of York, son of Edward VI and Dorothea of Denmark. They married in 2005, with Robert getting the title of Prince Consort and Duke of Edinburgh. It was agreed to make thing simple, their house would be known as Tudor.
They would have four children, and despite Elizabeth continuing to focus on her work, they would have a happy marriage. Tragedy would strike on 2020, at age forty-four, Queen Elizabeth became one of the first victims of Covid-19. She ultimitly recovered to lead her country through these troubled times.
Last edited:
POD: High King Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair managed to repel the Norman Invaders.
High Kings and Queens of Ireland
1166-1198 Ruaidrí I the Great [O'Conor]
1198-1221 Conchobar I [O'Conor] [1]
1221-1230 Ruaidrí II [O’Conor] [2]
1230-1289 Toirdhealbhach II [O’Conor] [3]
1289-1302 Hugh I [O’Conor] [4]
1302-1328 Caoimhghín I [O’Conor] [5]
1328-1347 Eochaid I [O’Conor] [6]
1347-1350 Civil War [7]
1350-1403: Eoin I [O’Conor] [8]
1403-1415: Ruaidrí III "The Wise" [O'Conor] [9]
1415-1432: Brian II [O'Conor] [10]
1432-1465: Eochaid II [O'Conor] [11]
1465-1493: Ruaidrí IV [O'Conor] [12]
1493-1502: Eochaid III [O'Conor] [13]
1502-1507: Eoin II [O'Coner/O'Rory] [14]
1507-1542: Pádraig I [O'Rory] [15]
1542-1577: Conchobar II and Ornóra I [O’Rory] [16]
1577-1618: Gráinne I [O’Rory] [17]
1618-1624: Domnall I [O’Rory] [18]
1624-1644: Eamon I [O’Rory] [19]
1644-1666: Ruaidrí V "the Bloody" [O’Rory] [20]
1666-1672: Eamon II "the Wise" [O’Rory] [21]
1672-1701: Hugh II [O’Hugh] [22]
1701-1744: Eoin III [O’Hugh] [23]
1744-1798: Brian III [O'Rory] [24]
[24] Born in 1732 as the son of Princess Márie O'Hugh and her O'Rory husband, Brian was though his mother a grandson of High King Eoin III, and was picked as the Prince of Tara due to his connections to two of the three branchs of the Irish royal family. Brian became High King in 1744 at the young age of eight, and so a regency was put in place that will rule for him until he turned eighteen. During this time Brian would be taught by various tutors on subjects like military tactics, Irish history, and more.
By the time Brian turned eighteen in 1750, he was a intellegent and handsome man, as he would receive many offers from the various crowned heads of europe to marry their daughters. But he would ultimately pick Princess Isabella of Spain as his wife, with the couple having seven living children together. Brian continued the pratice done by his father of surrounding his children with distant cousins who would act as companions of them.
Brian lead Ireland though most of the major wars of the 18th Century. The first being the Eight Years War (1757-1765), where Ireland, Scotland, France and others fought against England, Portugal, Austria and others. Ireland would upon the end of the war receive most of England's colonies in North Vespuccia (OTL America).
Ireland then supported Vespuccian indepence from England during the Vespucccian Revolution (1778-1786), which resulted in the overthrow of the English monarchy and it's replacement of an republic. Ireland joined the First Coalition in fighting against Republican England in the War of the First Coalition (1793-1798), but lost.
Brian would die just weeks later at the age of 65, some say of his saddness over the First Coalition's loss in the war. __________, who became Prince of Tara in 17__, succeeded him.
High Kings and Queens of Ireland
1166-1198 Ruaidrí I the Great [O'Conor]
1198-1221 Conchobar I [O'Conor] [1]
1221-1230 Ruaidrí II [O’Conor] [2]
1230-1289 Toirdhealbhach II [O’Conor] [3]
1289-1302 Hugh I [O’Conor] [4]
1302-1328 Caoimhghín I [O’Conor] [5]
1328-1347 Eochaid I [O’Conor] [6]
1347-1350 Civil War [7]
1350-1403: Eoin I [O’Conor] [8]
1403-1415: Ruaidrí III "The Wise" [O'Conor] [9]
1415-1432: Brian II [O'Conor] [10]
1432-1465: Eochaid II [O'Conor] [11]
1465-1493: Ruaidrí IV [O'Conor] [12]
1493-1502: Eochaid III [O'Conor] [13]
1502-1507: Eoin II [O'Coner/O'Rory] [14]
1507-1542: Pádraig I [O'Rory] [15]
1542-1577: Conchobar II and Ornóra I [O’Rory] [16]
1577-1618: Gráinne I [O’Rory] [17]
1618-1624: Domnall I [O’Rory] [18]
1624-1644: Eamon I [O’Rory] [19]
1644-1666: Ruaidrí V "the Bloody" [O’Rory] [20]
1666-1672: Eamon II "the Wise" [O’Rory] [21]
1672-1701: Hugh II [O’Hugh] [22]
1701-1744: Eoin III [O’Hugh] [23]
1744-1798: Brian III [O'Rory] [24]
[1] Ruaidri (Rory or Roderic is the Anglicized version) was known as the great for his feat of ending the Norman invasion (for a while anyway as they would keep coming back). Conchobar was the eldest of his father's eight sons and took part in the defeating of Norman soldiers, earning a name for himself as a skilled fighter. He is called the butcher over in England for how many villages he pillaged and burned.
Once Conchobar returned to Ireland, he found himself fighting for his place as his father's heir, avoiding an assassination attempt and fighting against his own own uncle. But in the end, he fought just as he did against the Normans, viciously and ruthlessly.
When his father died, he traveled to Rome, almost emptying his coffers in order to be crowned by the pope himself. While he was there, he met King Philip II of France who suggested they make an alliance against the English. Having a deep hatred for those who attempted to take his country, Conchobar agreed. The two men, despite coming from vastly different cultures, would become unlikely friends, visiting each other's country twice and exchanging many letters.
King John of England tried to reach out to him, in hopes he would support John's war against the English barons. Conchobar who had fought with John's father and then his brother Richard, laughed at him, telling him, the only way Ireland would get itself involved with the English, it would be to stop any invaders.
In his personal life, Conchobar was married to a woman named Áine, who he had seven sons with. There are a few records of his daughters, only a scant few mentions of two of his girls who were either his daughters or nieces who married two of his political rivals.
For a man who lived most of his adult life, fighting for one reason or another, he died peacefully in his bed at age seventy. After his death, his son, Ruaidrí would become the new High King of Ireland.
[2] Ruadrí II was the third son of King Conchobar I. Born in 1195, he was originally destined for the Church, but two events changed his fate. The first was the untimely death of his older brother, and then Tanaiste, Brian, in 1210. Brian died in a horse-riding accident, though many suspect he was murdered by his brother, Seamus. Seamus was beyond ambitious and was noted for his cruelty, which led to many contemporaries accusing him of murdering Brian. It didn't help Seamus that he was his Father's least favourite son. Thus, Conchobar, would see to it that in 1218, Ruaidrí was elected the Taniaste. Seamus was angered by this and led a short-lived result, which was defeated, and he was exiled to England. In 1221, Conchobar died and Ruaidrí ascended the throne as Ruaidrí II, and held a splendorous coronation in Dublin.
In 1222, Ruaidrí would negotiate his marriage to the King of Alba’s niece, Lady Isabella Stewart, in a bid to create an alliance against England. The marriage would be agreed to in 1223. Isabela would be given a warm welcoming in Ireland, with a ceremony being held in her honour in Dublin, one which was remarked for it's great pomp. Ruaidrí would also be quite devoted to his wife, with no sources even speculating that he had an extramarital affair. The two would share ten kids, though only a few survived.
In 1224, Ireland and Alba launched a joint campaign against the Kingdom of Norway. The two Kingdoms hoped to conquer multiple small islands held by Norway, such as the Isle of Mann. Ruaidrí would lead his armies in person, and was noted to be a capable commander. After 4 long and bloody years, the Irish and Scots emerged victorious, defeating Norway and dividing the spoils of war between them. Ireland would gain the Isle of Man and the Islands of Iona, Islay and Arran. Ruaidrí would quickly install his favourite, Eoin O'Súilleabháin as the new Archbishop of Iona in 1227.
In 1228, Ruadrí's exiled brother, Seamus returned from exile in England with a force of 3,000 men, comprised mostly of mercenaries. The group would lay siege to Waterford that same year. Ruadrí rallied veterans from his recent war with Norway and march south to defeat his enemies. Annoyingly, they would scatter across the south, and utilises Guerrilla warfare tactics against him for the next year. After months of trial and error, Ruaidrí successfully lured Seamus's force into battle, at the Skirmish of Skibbereen, where Ruaidrí would emerge victorious, massacring the enemy force and capturing the enemy force. Ruaidrí would return to Dublin with his brother and had him kept under tight watch in his Castle.
In the final months of his life, Ruaidrí passed the Hereditary Act, which decreed that the King was to choose his successor before his death, and should he die prior to naming an heir, the crown would go to the nearest blood relative. Only a few weeks after this act passed, Ruaidrí fell ill with tuberculosis and died. He would be succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Turlough.
[3] Born in 1227, Turlough was the first child of Ruadr and Isabella to live past his first birthday. (Turlough’s seven older siblings, including a set of twins, each died young from a range of childhood illnesses. Before Turlough’s birth, Isabella wrote home saying “All he (Rory) has every given me is dead children”). Though only three years old at his father’s death, Turlough was legally his father’s heir due to Hereditary Act. This was challenged by several different claimants, all of which found Isabella an able opponent. She was able to secure her son a throne while being pregnant with her husband’s posthumous children. (She would give birth to twins some 5 months after the death of Rory)
Turlough would be forced to grow up fast. His early kingship shaped Turlough: Ireland was always his first priority and he would bring an intensity to ruling that impressed and intimidated his subjects.
He would marry a succession of Irish princesses: Muadhnait Ní Dhomhnaill (Maud O’Donnell) Princess of Tyrconnell, Labhaoise Nic Cárthaigh (Louise MacCarthy) Princess of Desmond, Eibhilín Ní Brian (Eileen O’Brian) Princess of Thomond, Ornóra Ní Néill (Honour O’Niell) Princess of Tyrone. And had an untold number of children. Turlough would use these marriages to bind the various lesser kingdoms closer to him and his dynasty.
Turlough brought that same single minded focus to choosing a successor that he brought to ruling. Several different sons and grandsons were examined and discarded before settling on Cormac late in the 1270s.
Turlough would pass away at age 62 from a winter chill. He was succeeded by his son, Hugh.
[4] Hugh was his father's seventh son by his third wife Eileen. He was born in 1260. His half-brother, Ruaidrí, had been his father's favorite but when he died supporting Prince Llywelyn of Wales against the English, leaving behind an infant son and an uncertain succession. Turlough deliberated over which of his sons should inherit. Eventually, he picked twelve-year-old Hugh. Historians suspect that Turlough wanted an heir young enough for him to groom, but not so young that if Turlough died, his son would be a child ruler, vulnerable to usurpation and used as a puppet.
Hugh married Gwladys ferch Dafydd, the niece of Prince Llywelyn of Wales when he was seventeen. He also took a leaf out of his father's book had took two concubines from the houses of other kingdoms. Wanting a closer relationship with the French, Hugh would start negotiating a marriage between his oldest son and the princess of France.
Unfortunately, King Philip III had two problems with the match. One, Hugh's son being the oldest did not mean he would actually succeed or that his children would. And two, the tradition of having concubines was far too close to bigamy for his comfort.
Hugh was ambitious and wanted his country's prestige to continue to grow, not to mention he felt that France would be a useful ally against the English invaders. Therefore three years after his father died and Hugh became king, he tried to outlaw having concubines, citing it was against secular law and that the oldest son would inherit everything.
This did not go over well with the traditional Irishmen and soon Hugh had a civil war on his hands. In 1302, he fell in battle, leaving his kingdom in the hands of his nephew, Caoimhghin
[5] Caoimhghín (modern day Kevin) was born in 1273 to Conchobar (the third son of Turlough by his second wife, Louise) and Alice (a daughter of an English Marcher lord). Alice had been captured during the Welsh/English War, and after the death of her father, her cousin was uninterested in ransoming her. She became Conchobar’s concubine and the mother of his only son.
Caoimhghín was Alice’s only child and the sole focus of her attention. She ensured he received an education worthy of the grandson of a King and pushed his interests in court winning him lands of his own. This left Caoimhghín with the impression that the world revolved around him and that he was capable of anything. Unfortunately for several people, he was capable of a lot.
Alice had a complicated relationship with her homeland that had raised and abandoned her. But her familiarity with the Welsh Marches that she passed onto her son would serve him well later in life.
Caoimhghín grew to adulthood during his uncle’s reign, and agreed with him that it was time for Ireland to be heard on a larger scale. But Caoimhghín disagreed with the alliance with France, thinking that Ireland shouldn’t be beholden to anybody to gain influence.
As such, Caoimhghín was an obvious focal point when the civil war started. Hugh, and later his eldest son, Lorcan, were backed by Wales, and it was here that Caoimhghín’s familiarity with the Marcher Lord’s mattered. Caoimhghín reached out to several Marcher Lords alerting them of various moments of the Welsh army. And caught between the Irish and the English, Prince Llywelyn found himself unable to support Lorcan. Without Welsh support, Lorcan was unable to continue his fight for the throne and surrendered. He would spend the rest of his life under house arrest and died from a winter chill some years later.
Caoimhghín was already married to a woman named Eithne, and two children by her. But for reasons unknown he considered her unsuitable as Queen and shortly after Caoimhghín was crowned Eithne would retire to a nunnery, and Caoimhghín went searching for a Queen. He found Margaret Eriksdatter, illegitimate daughter of the Norwegian King. They wed in 1307. (He had been offered Agnes Eriksdatter, the legitimate daughter of King Erik, but that marriage alliance required a guarantee that her son would be heir, a guarantee Caoimhghín wasn’t willing to give)
Caoimhghín would also take three concubines fairly early in his reign: Bronagh or Bronwen, his cousin and the daughter of Hugh and Gwladys ferch Dafydd; Sorcha Ní Dhomhnaill (Sarah O’Donnell) niece of the King of Tyrconnell; and a Lady known as Constance who appears to have been from Brittany or Normandy.
After securing his throne and arranging his marriage, Caoimhghín turned his attention to Wales and the mess he had left there. The Second Welsh/English War had slowed to a slog as the same few castles were won and lost over and over again. Additionally Prince Llywelyn of Wales would fall in battle in 1309, and his son Owain was ill-prepared.
Caoimhghín reached out to Owain offering to help…. with a price. Wales would join the list of Kingdoms that Caoimhghín as High King ruled over and in return, Caoimhghín would drive the English away. Owain would accept, and Caoimhghín was as good as his word; the English would be driven out of Wales.
While Wales was the first instance of Caoimhghín’s pattern of causing problems and then showing up to solve those same problems, it was not the last. Next, He used the Irish navy to harass trade ships from the Lowlands, and then offered his assistance protecting those same ships. And he got away with it, causing Ireland to gain quite a bit of wealth and influence.
He would take two more concubines later in his reign: Ceridwen ferch Gruffudd, a minor Welsh noblewoman of renowned beauty in 1317 and another cousin (though the exact relation is unknown) Fineamhain Ní Conchobair (Feenawn O’Conor) in 1324. And in 1322, Queen Margaret died giving birth to her fourth child. Caoimhghín would remarry to Joan of Flanders, daughter of the Count of Flanders. Between his three wives and five concubines, Caoimhghín had over thirty children.
Caoimhghín chose several heirs throughout his reign before being succeeded by son, Eochaid when Caoimhghín died from a hunting accident in 1328.
[6] Eochaid was born to Caoimhghín and Margart Erikdatter in 1310. He was twelve when his mother died and eighteen when his father died. He married Joan of Savoy when they were both eighteen. He would have two concubines, Eileen of Ormond and Margaret of Stirling, both daughters of noblemen.
A fierce traditionalist, he wrote an essay in defense on concubines and choosing one heir, pointing to the succession crises that plagued the countries of Europe and of all the weak and ineffectual rulers that could have been passed over had the Irish Tanist laws been applied. It was a controversial piece and was completely banned in England who did not appreciate the attacks on their previous rulers that is until Queen Philippa thought to use it in support of her husband's claim to France then it was quickly turned into a propaganda piece much to Eochaid's horror and fury.
When war broke out in 1337 between England and France, King Philip VI was eager to renew the alliance between Ireland and France, offering a marriage between the year-old Philip, Duke of Orléans and one of King Eochaid's daughters. Eager to have the French match, his ancestors pushed for, Eochaid only agreed if his chosen heir would marry a future French Princess. As he had no daughters yet, Philip agreed.
With Scotland, Ireland and Wales standing behind France, many suspected the war would not last long. Unfortunately King David of Scots being captured in 1346 and a year later, King Eochaid died of the black plague as would several of his children, leaving his underaged son Eoin as his heir. Historians would note the irony of a man who had written about how the Irish succession laws protected the realm from succession crisis when it was his death that caused one to happen.
[7] Succession Crisis
1347 saw the death of King Eochaid and his two eldest sons by Joan of Savoy. This left his legal heir as his last son by Joan, Eoin* (the Hereditary Act being amended to give precedence to the children of wives over concubines. This was a condition of Eochaid’s marriage to Joan of Savoy). But, Eoin was barely 12, with many elder half-brothers and a plethora of uncles (not to mention even more distant relatives) ready and willing to step up to the plate.
(*Apparently this was the original form of John in Ireland, Sean was introduced by the Normans.)
The initial claimants and their relationship to the deceased King:
Internationally: Ireland pretty much ignored the rest of the world. Wales would take this opportunity to revolt, crowning a relatively unknown minor Welsh lord, Madok ap Mabilia, as Prince of Wales. (Since Prince Madok choose to use his mother’s name instead of his father’s, some historians believe he may have been a bastard. The more common theory is Madok’s father was an English Marcher lord: Willam de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose who is recorded as married to a Mabel, the English form of Mabilia). The Anglo-French war ended up being actually just the English and the French as Scotland took a peace deal as part of the ransom of King David and Ireland was out. King Philip VI would hold a grudge over this.
Internally: As various armies fought for the throne, Ireland suffered first from black plague, the from famine as many farms went un-attended.
After three years many of the claimants were not longer on the field:
Crimthann Ua Conchobair: He could be the easy choice. He’s the eldest surviving son of Eochaid, he has a strong internal marriage, and he’s a decently competent guy. He's won quite a few battle during the war. Not stellar, but nothing to worry about. There are concerns in that he and his wife have no children. Compounding that he hasn’t taken any concubines, but he is pretty dependent on his in-laws and many think he'd accept their sister/nieces/daughters as concubines as soon as he's king. But, many Irish still strongly defend their tanistry succession, and the precedent of choosing the eldest son worries them.
David Ua Conchobair: He’s a nice fit since he can back his claim with some interpretation of the Hereditary Act. If only adult relatives are considered, David is the closet relative to Eochaid. He has several sons, so no worries on that front. Also, he's just an all around great guy. People love him, even his enemies say he's a stand up guy. He's married to a Scottish lady, so that's something on the international front.
And the dark horse: Eoin Ua Conchobair: While 3 years ago, Eoin was a scrawny 12 year old, now he’s 15 and a strapping young man, easily around 6’4” tall. Two years into the war, Eoin married his half-aunt, Aideen daughter of Caoimhghín and Joan of Flanders. (This was arranged by the two Queen Dowagers: Joan of Savoy and Joan of Flanders.) Eoin has won decent renown as a commander, is more charismatic than his elder half-brother, and has the best international connections. (Due to his mother and mother-in-law). And with England, Wales, and France are all ticked with Ireland, that's pretty important.
But the three have pretty even footing and they know Ireland can’t sustain more war. So some deals were made and Eoin was crowned.
[8] Upon becoming the High King of Ireland, Eoin's wife Aideen gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Síne. This event, along with the end of the Irish Civil War, marked an period of celebration across Ireland, and Eoin's reign would be considered the start of the Irish Golden Age as he not only helped Ireland to recover quicker from the Black Plauge than other countries, but also grew it's economy with him promoting farming and fishing.
The Tanist succession laws spread out from Ireland during this time as Prince Madok of Wales adopted them for how the Welsh line of succession will work, and King David of Scotland tweaked the Scottish laws of succession so that if the first born son of the King died then he chose from any male member of the Scottish royal family to become the new heir.
Eoin, along with his wife Aideen, had taken three concubines, Margaret, a noblewoman from Norway, Margart Ua Brain, his niece and daughter of Rechtabra and Margart Ni Conchobair, and Eithne, a Irish noblewomen. His wife and concubines would give Eoin over twenty children.
Eoin died in 1403 at the age of 68, and his heir, Ruaidri succeeded to the throne.
[9] Ruaidrí III (later know as "The Wise"), was the 18th child of Eoin I and his concubine Margart Ni Conchobair and was born in 1379. Ruaidrí was originally planned for the Church but would evade such a fate when an outbreak of the plague in 1387 left him as the third surviving son of Eoin I. This meant Ruaidrí would be given an education befitting that of a medieval prince, learning how to govern, fight, command armies, dance, sing, etc. Ruaidrí would excel at diplomacy in particular and from the tender age of 17 would serve as a diplomat to several countries. By 1398, Ruaidrí was the de-factor Irish Ambassador to England, and regularly attended the court of Richard II. It was at about this time that he met his future wife, Joan of Beaufort, who had been widowed for the second time the previous year. The two fell in love and spent much of their time with each other. In February of 1399 the two would ask Richard II for permission to marry. Richard who was on relatively good terms with the couple agreed and would be married the next month. However, the marriage occurred without Eoin I's knowledge, who was outraged at the marriage.
Eoin had hoped to marry Ruaidrí to the Bourbon Princess Suzanne, so Ruaidrí's marriage to Joan came as an insult to him. It didn't help that in Eoin's eyes Joan was a bastard, despite the fact she had been legitimised in 1396. This led to Eoin refusing to allow Ruaidrí to return to Ireland for several months. Fortunately Eoin would allow the couple to return to Ireland after he learnt that his eldest surviving son, Turlough had planned on assassinating him so that he could ascend the throne (as at this time Eoin had yet to name an heir), unfortunately for Turlough the plot failed and he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Ruaidrí and Joan would race back to Ireland and arrived in August of 1399. There, Ruaidrí would be named the heir and bestowed the title Prince of Tara, which would become the Irish equivalent of the Prince of Cumberland. Ruaidrí would also write to his brother-in-law Henry Bolingbroke following his usurpation of the throne in 1399, recognising him as King and discussing the possibility of an alliance between Ireland and England.
Some years passed and in 1403, Ruaidrí ascended the throne. He quickly had his traitorous brother Turlough executed for high treason and allowed his other brother, Concobhar to become a Priest (he had wanted to do so since childhood, but following the 1387 plague outbreak, his Father had refused to let him enter the church). In the New Year of 1404, Ruaidrí would officially recognized Henry IV as the King of England, and signed a mutual pact of friendship between England and Ireland the same year. The two Kings both held dreams of being remembered as great conquerors and so privately discussed launching a joint campaign against Wales, as both Kings wanted to increase the popularity for the English were beginning to view Henry as a usurper who failed to deliver on his promises, while the Irish were questioning Ruaidrí's foreign policy which was remarkably Pro-English. The next year would see planning occurring between the two and by 1405 their armies were ready. The Irish claimed that they were the rightful overlords of most of Wales, while the English claimed that they were entitled to much of Northern Wales. It also helped that at the time, Wales was experiencing a civil war between Madok of Wales's chosen heir, his nephew Owain and eldest son Rhys.
Ruaidrí would lead 7,000 men into Southern Wales and began besieging much of it's southern forts and castles, while Henry IV attacked Northern Wales. Initially the campaign went quite smoothly and by 1406 it seemed as though Wales was on the verge of collapse. Wales would survive however thanks to Scottish and French support, who didn't want the English to become too powerful. From 1407-1409, the Welsh retook much of it's norther territories, and halted the Irish advance in the south. Then in 1410 two crucial events occurred. Firstly; a revolt in England broke out and Henry IV had to withdraw much of his men from Wales. Secondly; Ruaidrí suffered a severe wound at the Battle of Carmarthen, where he was hit in the leg by a mace. The hit was so severe that Ruaidrí would never again be able to walk. Unable to lead the campaign Ruaidrí would depart back home to Dublin, leaving his most loyal vassal and distant cousin, Artúr Mac Suibhne in charge of the Welsh campaign. This was perhaps Ruaidrí's greatest failure, as the war dragged on another 10 years and drained Irish finances and resulted in thousands of deaths. In many ways it was Ireland's Vietnam.
Back home at Dublin, Ruiadrí took a keen interest in the running of his court. He invited the finest artists, scholars and architects from across Europe to his court and employed their talents to make his court one of the most cultured in Europe. In many ways it was like a mini-renaissance. Frescoes and marble statues were produced and displayed, Romanesque baths were introduced across Dublin and Latin surged in popularity. Ruaidrí also had plays and books written, some of which include "The History of the Reign of Brian Bóru", "The Triumph of Ruaidrí The Great" and "The Saga of the House of O'Connor". Most of the works still survive and are considered some of the best ever produced. Ruaidrí's wife Joan also played a key role in running the court and introduced several English customs and phrases to the Irish.
From 1412, Ruaidrí's health deteriorated and he entrusted his wife as Regent. The two had been beyond close, and unlike his predecessors Ruaidrí took no concubines, which meant he had a small family of 6 children, at least he did in comparison to his Father and ancestors. Finally, in 1415, Ruaidrí passed away and would be succeeded by his son, Brian.
[10] Brian was twelve years old when his father died and he was thrust into kingship. Being the oldest son and underage made the Irish nobles grumble with some worrying that this would be the start of the Irish conforming to English laws and traditions. The fact that the very English Joan Beoufort was regent for her young son did not help matters. Knowing she needed allies, Joan married her second oldest daughter, Margaret, to Richard, the 3rd Duke of York and arranged a betrothal between Joan of Valois and King Brian, hoping to counter any English ambitions, her oldest daughter was married to the King of Tyrone.
Brian was perhaps the very reason why the Tanist succession laws were so important. As his parents' oldest son, he spoiled and coddled. He barely had any interest in ruling preferring to play instead, a trait he would continue to have in adulthood, enjoying spending his time, drinking, dancing and hunting while his mother ran the kingdom.
He married Joan in 1424. Many nobles found themselves unable to attend, citing illness and roads being unsuited for traveling. It was clear that most of Ireland was unhappy of their new king, The Scottish ambassador even noted that the tensions in England and France were not so heated. The couple were noted to be quite happy together, for all of Brian's faults, he was a loving husband and took no concubines or mistresses. Sadly their marriage would be childless for unknown reasons.
Surprisingly, peace would last for almost another eight years. Until one day at a private meal, the king and queen would suddenly get ill from drinking wine. Later historians would suspect it was typhoid fever. However, it was long suspected that King Brian and Queen Joan were poisoned. Leaving Eochaid to become the next ruler of Ireland.
[11] Eochaid was fifteen when his cousin Brian made him the Prince of Tara. Eochaid was the grandson of Eoin, by one of his children with his wife Aileen.
Eochaid was the third heir that Brian had appointed. The first, Fianamail Ua Conchobair, was the only son of Crimthann Ua Conchobair. Fianamail was older than Brian and passed away early in Brian’s reign. The second, Manuel Maria Ua Margaret, was the grandson of Margaret by her second husband Fernando das Barcelos the bastard son of a Portuguese King. Manuel Maria, or Manchán as he was called in Ireland, was viewed as too foreign. In 1427, Manuel Maria died jousting. A year later in 1428, Eochaid was the heir to Ireland.
Four years later, age nineteen, Eochaid was King of Ireland. Since Eochaid was a traditional Tanist heir, many viewed his rule as a return to “true Irish values.” What this meant varied depending on who you talked to.
Eochaid would nominally investigate the death of his predecessor, and quickly ruled that “bad food” was the cause.
Eochaid was unmarried when he became king, and quickly married Philippa of Guelders, the Netherlands having been allies with the Irish for almost a hundred years, Philippa was viewed as an acceptable foreign bride. Eochaid continued his pattern of “acceptably foreign” and used concubines to renew many connections with “acceptable” foreign allies: in 1436, Eochaid took Angharat ferch Tegwared, a minor Welsh lady, as concubine; then in 1439, Eochaid took Isabel of Ross, the bastard niece of the Scottish King, as concubine; and Eochaid’s final foreign concubine was Ingeborg, the sister-in-law of the Norwegian King. To counteract the foreign concubines, Eochaid would take three different Irish ladies as concubines. Eochaid doesn’t appear to have been the most virile, as only Philippa, Isabel, and Áine (one of the Irish concubines) would bear children, and even then only one child each.
Eochaid’s reign would continue what his marriage and concubines had started: strengthening the more popular foreign ties, and avoiding the more hot-button counties of England and France. He would also expand the Irish fleet, continuing to protect allied trade ships and expanding into transporting goods and people too and from the New World.
He committed to Tanistry succession and appointed his nephew Ruaidrí in 1445. So, when Eochaid died in 1465, Ruaidrí succeeded him.
[12] Ruaidrí was the son of Eochaid's younger brother. Born in 1430. As his uncle's fertility problems were well known, it was all but guaranteed he would succeed him. He was also of age by the time his uncle died while his oldest male cousin was only twelve-years-old.
In hopes of a better relationship with the church, Ruaidrí spent some time in Italy as his uncle's envoy. This is were he met Bianca de' Medici. Much to the shock and fury of her family, the couple would elope. Bianca's father, Piero would demand the marriage be annulled insisting that Ruaidri had absconded with his daughter, forcing her into this marriage, ignoring his daughter's very loud statements to the country.
Luckily for Ruaidrí despite the numerous bribe attempts, his witnesses, friends from his time in the Sapienza University of Rome, remained adamant that there had been no wrong doing on the groom's part. Eventually Pope Pious II decreed that the marriage was valid. However, because it was done without permission from the bride's father, the groom would receive no dowry.
In 1465, Ruaidrí and Bianca would receive word that King Eochaid had passed away and they would return to Ireland. Bianca and Ruaidrí would use their Italian contacts to to get involved in trade, as well as sponsoring great artists----one of the first Irish playwrights was noted to have been discovered by her. Bianca would embrace the Irish culture fully with the only exception being her husband getting a concubine, something she refused to let him even consider.
She did however accept that it might not be her children (seven in total, three of them sons) who inherited the throne. She helped Ruaidrí vet the candidates before he choose the next Prince of Tara. Bianca and Ruaidrí would continue to be in love for their long years of marriage.
In 1490, King Edward of England would decide to try what his ancestors had failed to do and conquer Ireland, being a descendant of Richard, the 3rd Duke of York and his wife Margaret, daughter of King Ruaidrí the Wise. Despite pushing sixty, Ruaidrí would lead his men against the invading English.
Alas, he would not see the end of the war, for three short years later, he would die in a hectic battlefield, managing a mutual kill with King Edward, leaving Eochaid to pick up his crown.
[13] Eochaid was born in 1432 as the cousin of Ruaidrí IV and was chosen as his successor due to his strong leadership skills. By the time he ascended the Irish throne, he had six children through his wife Princess Astrid of Norway, whom he married in 1459, and didn't took any concubines as he was faithful to his wife. Eochaid's main issue to deal with was the destruction left in the wake of the failed English invasion, which would be cleaned up during most of his reign.
Tanist succession by this point had made to the continent, first with Brittany, then the Scandinavian countries, and finally the Netherlands, with the former using the original version while the latter two the Scottish version. The continuing spread of Tanist succession also saw it's rivalry with traditional succession deepen as in 1497, the French King made a speech about wanting to wage a crusade against the Tanist succession following countries for their "barbaric practices".
Eochaid died in 1502 at seventy years old, and his distant cousin, Eoin, whom he appointed in 1498, succeeded him.
[14] Since pretty much everyone liked Eoin, no one was surprised when Eochaid III made Eoin Prince of Tara in 1498. At the time, he was in his late forties (since Eochaid was from a more minor branch of the O’Conor family we don’t have concrete birth records for him) and had spent most of his life traveling with the Irish fleet. He had found in several sea battles, been to all the known continents, and spoke several languages. Besides his less than stellar bloodline, he was perfect.
Since there was some pushback due to his status as a distant cousin (his line of the family hadn’t hadn't had real influence at court or a significant marriage to either foreigners or powerful Irish lords in generations) Eoin sometimes would use the appellation Ua Ruaidrí, or O’Rory, since his last monarchial ancestor was Ruaidrí II, as a reminder of his relation to the first three Irish High Kings of the O’Conor family.
Eoin never had time to get married, and once he became king that didn’t change. Anytime anyone suggested he married, Eoin pointed out that he’d already appointed his nephew, Pádraig as Prince of Tara and had plenty of brothers, nephews, and cousins to continue on the family name.
After only five years of rule, during which the Irish fleet was expanded again making it one of, if not the, great power(s) of the Ocean, Eoin would pass away from a winter chill, leaving Pádraig as heir.
[15] Named for Ireland's patron saint, Pádraig O'Rory was twenty years old when he became King of Ireland. He married the daughter of the King of Sweden, Ursula in 1505 after being chosen as his uncle's heir. They had nine children.
He was a devoted Catholic, and viewed concubinage close to bigamy. However, knowing how much his people stubbornly held onto to their traditions, he did not outlaw the practice, instead sending priests to preach against it, hoping it would fall out of fashion eventually.
Pádraig was staunchly against Lutheranism, writing a pamphlet defending the Pope against Luther. He would make an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor to defend their lands against the so-called Reformation.
In 1542, the King of England started calling himself the King of Ireland. Pádraig disagreed quite vehemently, declaring that no English monarch would ever have claim over the Irish. Weeks later, Pádraig would die of a bad belly.
[16a] Conchobar was the eldest son of Padraig and Ursula and he wasn’t supposed to be King. He was disinclined to the martial arts, and rather quiet, so Padraig appointed his brother (Padraig’s brother not Conchobar’s) Brian O’Rory as Prince of Tara. But Brian O’Rory would die shortly before his brother Padraig in an early skirmish between the English and the Irish. Padraig wouldn’t have time to appoint a new heir before his death. Thanks to the Hereditary Act this left Conchobar as the heir.
There were some significant murmurings over the idea of Conchobar as king and the fact that Conchobar didn’t really want the job either made it seem that civil war was inevitable. Enter Ornóra stage left.
[16b] If Ornóra had been born a boy, she would have been Prince of Tara: she was descended from Ruaidri IV and his wife Bianca de Medici; she had spent many years at sea and was an excellent ship’s captain, through her sisters she had marital ties to many of Ireland’s petty kings as well as Wales, Flanders, and Hainaut; and she was well spoken, charismatic, and people just liked her.
Not only could Ornóra fulfill the role of King, she wanted it. Shortly after Padraig’s death, Ornóra approached Conchobar and proposed marriage. (The two really should both already be married, but both had refused several proposals choosing instead to keep company with a “dear companion”) She would rule and he would keep the men who thought they could do a better job off her back. Conchobar accepted.
Seeing Ornóra step up to Conchobar’s side settled many of the murmurings and Conchobar and Ornóra were crowned without issue. Ornóra would also be addressed as O’Rory as she was also descended from one of the Irish kings name Ruaidri. Ornóra would lead several campaigns against the English (though she wouldn’t fight in the actual battles) until the King of England gave up on his claim to Ireland.
The two would have a smooth reign, Ornóra managed much of the traditional monarchial roles and Conchobar found he enjoyed handling the realm’s finances. Due to his attention, Ireland would gain much wealth. They would only have two children as neither Ornóra or Conchobar appeared to enjoy the marriage bed.
Conveniently they would pass away within days of each other when the sweating sickness broke out in 1577. They were succeeded by their daughter, Grace.
[17] Gráinne or Grace was a spirited girl. As her parents only had her and her sister, her father took the unusal step of declaring her his heir, reminding everyone it was his right to choose. Grace was married to the King of Ulster when she was eighteen. Her husband, Hugh, was a tritiditonal man and often fought with his wife who refused to sumbit to his will.
Despite her rather independent spirit, Grace tempered it with her natural charisma and charm, able to wrap many people around her fingers. She was twenty-seven when her parents died. By then, she had managed to sway many of the lesser kings and the rich landowners to her side, convincing them to accept them as their queen, quoting her father and adding that the whole Tanist system was to put the best heir. And since she had been groomed from partically birth, she was the best fit.
Men like her husband disagreed and soon after her coronation, Grace had a rebellion on her hands with Hugh leading the rebels against his stubborn and opinonated wife. Grace dressed in armor and lead the army herself, leading some to call her Queen Maeve after a historical warrior queen. Another nickname for Grace was Gráinne Mhao (Grainne the Bald) after she shaved her head to keep her long hair from being a problem in the battle.
Although popular folktale would have Grace slaying her deceitful husband in one and one combat, it is actually unknown how Hugh died. What is known is Grace gave her husband a respectful burial, saying as much as she hated him, her was the father of her two children.
A year later, she would remarry the King of Tyrone and have six children with him.
In 1600, Grace would meet up with the Prince of Wales, the Queen of Scotland and the Queen of England to sign a treatry, often called the Women's Peace (despite the inclusion of the Prince of Wales), which was made to end all tensions between the four rulers, ending the constant territory wars. They also promised to come to aid whenever one country was under attack.
Grace would die in 1618, at seventy-one, having nominated Domnall as her sucessor.
[18] Domnall or Donald was born in 1541 to Prince Eoin and Princess Mary of Scotland and was the nephew of High Queen Gráinne through his father, who was a grandson of Pádraig through his son Ruaidrí, the younger brother of Conchobar II. Domnall had a rough childhood as his father was infamous for his short temper and so stayed in the company of his greatuncle and aunt, and became Prince of Tara in 1598 for his help in the Ulster Rebellion. By the time he became High King he had married Princess Anne of Brittany, whom he had six children with.
In 1620, the War of the Breton Succession started following the death of Duke Conan VIII without a clear heir. Domnall would declare his claim to Brittany though his wife (who was the aunt of Conan) and sent a invasion there, with himself leading it. This would his downfall as in 1624 the eighty-three year old King died in battle to forces that were loyal to Prince Arthur of Brittany, who was Conan's cousin.
Domnall was sent back to Ireland and burried next to his wife who died seventeen years before him. His successor, his grandson, Eamon would deal with the end of the War of the Breton Succession.
[19] Eamon was the eldest son of Eoin O’Rory (third son of Domnall I) and Mary of Flanders. He was a controversial choice as Prince of Tara as he was wed to Queen Janet of Scotland. But upon his appointment in 1620, Eamon swore that his heir would not be the heir of Scotland. And, once Eamon was King of Ireland, Queen Janet joined the Breton Succession War to reinforce her husband, sending Scottish forces. This did much to endear her to the Irish people.
To address the Breton concerns over a union between Ireland and Brittany, Eamon declared that since Brittany didn’t follow Tanist succession, he was fighting on behalf of his uncle, Prince Niall (eldest son of Domnall I and Anne of Brittany). (That Eamon was Niall’s heir, as neither Niall nor Turlough (second son of Domnall) had sons, was left unmentioned). This combined with the additional forces from Scotland, saw Eamon win the Breton Succession War. Prince Niall was crowned and the dethroned Arthur of Brittany would be brought back to Ireland where he lived the rest of his days in an isolated abby.
Following the end of the war, Eamon followed through with his promise regarding Irish inheritance, and appointed his nephew Ruaidrí as Prince of Tara.
Eamon spent the rest of his reign curating the bonds between Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales building on the efforts of Gráinne I. He arranged many marriages: his eldest daughter wed the English heir, his third daughter wed the grandson and probable heir of the Prince of Wales, his eldest son (the Scottish heir) wed an Welsh princess.
Neither did Eamon forget Ireland’s oldest ally, the Netherlands. He arranged the marriage of Ruaidrí to Eamon’s mother’s niece Joan of Flanders.
In 1644 while hunting, Eamon would misjudge a jump and his horse stumbled while landing. He would tumble from his horse and hit his head. He spent the next several hours delirious and passed away the next day, leaving his nephew, Ruaidrí as King of Ireland.
[20] Ruaidrí was the son of Eamon's younger brother. His father had died in the Breton Succession war when he was nine years old. He was fostered with the King of Leinster. This would begin a tradition where the Prince of Tara, if underaged, would be fostered in one of the petty king's courts so they could learn how to rule and befriend their vessels.
When he turned eighteen, he would travel to Connacht where he acted as his uncle's regent. At twenty-one, he married Joan of Flanders. Although Ruaidrí was an intelligent and shrewd leader, he had a fierce temper and a mean streak a mile wide. He also had very little interest in his wife, only bedding her once a month. He did mange to sire four children, who he promptly ignored, beliving that niether of them were truly worthy of succeeding him.
He only respected two people, the King of Connacht, who he viewed as a second father and his uncle Eamon. In 1644, when his uncle died, Ruaidrí was apologetic with rage, ordering Eamon's Master of Horses executed for failing to train the horse properly. This would be the start of his harsh punishments.
As soon as he was crowned, King Ruaidrí decided he was surrounded by "heretics and weaklings", and he would have to root the corruption out with fire and sword. Anyone who wasn't Catholic needed to die least they contaminated good Irishmen with their blasphemy. No one was sure where Ruaidrí' religious fanaticism came from with some historians suspecting this might have been Ruaidrí's way of indulging his sadistic side in a way seen somewhat socially acceptable. Others reject this theory as there were no reports of Ruaidrí showing violent tendencies in his early years barring the disproportionate execution of his uncle's horse master.
Another theory is Ruaidrí had a mental breakdown following his uncle's death or suffered a blow to the head. Either way, as the years went by, he slowly became worse, growing more paranoid and violent. The breaking point came in 1666 when he viciously attacked his wife, accusing her of cheating on him.
His eldest son decided enough was enough and staged a coup, imprisioning Ruaidrí and forcing him to abdicate, allowing Eamon II to take the throne.
[21] Eamon was the eldest son of Ruaidrí and Joan of Flanders. He was named for his father’s beloved Uncle. That was the most attention he ever got from his father. We have few records of his early years as for the first two decades of life he was almost a nonentity at court; his father didn’t want him there.
Based on his later life we know he was a bookish man, and many believe Eamon spent his late teens and early twenties drifting between the courts of the different Irish petty kings, though really only interacting with their library. We do know he visited his cousin, second son of Eamon I and now Duke of Brittany, as the two became good friends and referenced their initial meeting in later letters.
Starting in 1661, Eamon pops up at his father’s court, though he doesn’t make many waves at first. Slowly Eamon would begin to gather allies, often by acting to shield them from his father’s temper. Then in 1666, Ruaidrí’s heir, the Prince of Tara and distant cousin, died from the fever. Now, by the Hereditary Act, Eamon was the heir.
Taking advantage of his father’s attack upon his mother’s person, Eamon would seize his father. There was some initial pushback but Eamon was supported by his cousins, the Duke of Brittany and King of Scotland.
Slowly the realm grew to know Eamon. They found him to be discerning, reserved, not particularly martial though he was capable of handling himself, and possessing a prodigious knowledge of all things Ireland. He could discuss agriculture, fishing, sailing, the historical connections between various clans, old alliances, the sundry treaties between Ireland and other countries.
He would dial back the religious pressure that his father had enacted, and reviewed the cases of everyone his father tried, both those living and those dead. Many were pardoned posthumously. He also immediately made Hugh, the third son of the King of Ulster, Prince of Tara, and made it known that if something were to happen to him, he would choose his distinct cousin Brian as Prince of Tara, ensuring that a situation such as he took advantage of would not occur again.
After several years of ruling, courtiers and advisors began insisting Eamon wed. He had resisted as Eamon viewed himself as already married. Before he became king Eamon had taken a woman he called Aisling (for the Irish word for vision, as Eamon said she was a vision to behold) as concubine.
Aisling’s actual name and origins were unknown. Records indicate that she wasn’t European, but as no portrait of her survived we don’t know if she was from the Americas, Africa, or Asia, as she could have been from any of the many places the Irish fleet traveled to. Due to her ethnicity, Aisling wasn’t viewed as appropriate for the role of wife and Queen.
Though before attending to his marriage, Eamon would arrange the marriages of his three children by Aisling: His eldest daughter was wed to Brian, Eamon’s second choice for Prince of Tara; his son was wed to the heiress of Guelders; and his youngest daughter was betrothed to an petty Irish King.
Finally in 1672, Eamon would arrange his marriage to Maria of Portugal. But the two would never wed, the day Maria docked in Dublin, Eamon and Aisling were both found dead in their bed. Hugh would inherit.
[22] Hugh was born in 1642 as the third son of the King of Ulster and wasn’t expected to become king. But due to his friendship with a young Eamon II, he was made Prince of Tara by Eamon when he became High King in 1666 and so helped his father in ruling Ulster in preparation for succeeding Eamon.
In 1672 Hugh became High King after Eamon and Aisling both committed suicide and married Maria of Portugal, who was going to be Eamon’s wife. The newlyweds loved each other very much as Hugh didn’t take any mistresses or concubines. A total of seven children would be born to the couple. Hugh used the appellation O’Hugh, as he was a descendant of Queen Gráinne’s first husband, King Hugh of Ulster.
Hugh continued his predecessor’s policies of Religious tolerance and was a patron of the arts.
His reign was generally peaceful, expect when Ireland supported William of Holland in the Scottish War of Succession (1689-1694), which he won.
Hugh died in 1701 at the age of 59, with his successor that he picked in 1692, Eoin III succeeding him.
[23] Eoin was the second son of Hugh and Maria of Portugal. His elder brother was passed over as Eoin had more easy manners and was a better student. Eoin was made Prince of Tara at age 15 and shortly afterwards his father arranged his marriage to Anna of Guelders, the granddaughter of Eamon II.
While not particularly fond of his wife, Eoin wouldn’t take any concubines, and in fact would end the practice of concubinage. He cited how in the Bible God’s people took multiples wives and concubines for a time and then the practice ended. He did not require the lords that currently had concubines to renounce them, instead insisting that no new concubines be taken.
Eoin spent his reign focusing on Ireland’s foreign interests. He would see the trading outpost expanded into colonies and the Irish fleet expanded yet again making it the largest fleet in Europe.
Eoin and Anna had five children, and Eoin invited many distant cousins to come and be companions of his children. Eoin made it known that he would be choosing the Prince of Tara from among these children and so many O’Conor, O’Rory, and O’Hugh cousins were sent to be raised with the Royal Children.
Eoin would choose an O’Connor cousin in 1705, but this lord passed away in 1734 and so Eoin simply repeated his invitation for cousins to come be raised at court, this time as companions for his grandchildren. He would choose his gandson Brian in 1739.
Eoin would pass away in 1744 and was succeeded by Brian III.
Once Conchobar returned to Ireland, he found himself fighting for his place as his father's heir, avoiding an assassination attempt and fighting against his own own uncle. But in the end, he fought just as he did against the Normans, viciously and ruthlessly.
When his father died, he traveled to Rome, almost emptying his coffers in order to be crowned by the pope himself. While he was there, he met King Philip II of France who suggested they make an alliance against the English. Having a deep hatred for those who attempted to take his country, Conchobar agreed. The two men, despite coming from vastly different cultures, would become unlikely friends, visiting each other's country twice and exchanging many letters.
King John of England tried to reach out to him, in hopes he would support John's war against the English barons. Conchobar who had fought with John's father and then his brother Richard, laughed at him, telling him, the only way Ireland would get itself involved with the English, it would be to stop any invaders.
In his personal life, Conchobar was married to a woman named Áine, who he had seven sons with. There are a few records of his daughters, only a scant few mentions of two of his girls who were either his daughters or nieces who married two of his political rivals.
For a man who lived most of his adult life, fighting for one reason or another, he died peacefully in his bed at age seventy. After his death, his son, Ruaidrí would become the new High King of Ireland.
[2] Ruadrí II was the third son of King Conchobar I. Born in 1195, he was originally destined for the Church, but two events changed his fate. The first was the untimely death of his older brother, and then Tanaiste, Brian, in 1210. Brian died in a horse-riding accident, though many suspect he was murdered by his brother, Seamus. Seamus was beyond ambitious and was noted for his cruelty, which led to many contemporaries accusing him of murdering Brian. It didn't help Seamus that he was his Father's least favourite son. Thus, Conchobar, would see to it that in 1218, Ruaidrí was elected the Taniaste. Seamus was angered by this and led a short-lived result, which was defeated, and he was exiled to England. In 1221, Conchobar died and Ruaidrí ascended the throne as Ruaidrí II, and held a splendorous coronation in Dublin.
In 1222, Ruaidrí would negotiate his marriage to the King of Alba’s niece, Lady Isabella Stewart, in a bid to create an alliance against England. The marriage would be agreed to in 1223. Isabela would be given a warm welcoming in Ireland, with a ceremony being held in her honour in Dublin, one which was remarked for it's great pomp. Ruaidrí would also be quite devoted to his wife, with no sources even speculating that he had an extramarital affair. The two would share ten kids, though only a few survived.
In 1224, Ireland and Alba launched a joint campaign against the Kingdom of Norway. The two Kingdoms hoped to conquer multiple small islands held by Norway, such as the Isle of Mann. Ruaidrí would lead his armies in person, and was noted to be a capable commander. After 4 long and bloody years, the Irish and Scots emerged victorious, defeating Norway and dividing the spoils of war between them. Ireland would gain the Isle of Man and the Islands of Iona, Islay and Arran. Ruaidrí would quickly install his favourite, Eoin O'Súilleabháin as the new Archbishop of Iona in 1227.
In 1228, Ruadrí's exiled brother, Seamus returned from exile in England with a force of 3,000 men, comprised mostly of mercenaries. The group would lay siege to Waterford that same year. Ruadrí rallied veterans from his recent war with Norway and march south to defeat his enemies. Annoyingly, they would scatter across the south, and utilises Guerrilla warfare tactics against him for the next year. After months of trial and error, Ruaidrí successfully lured Seamus's force into battle, at the Skirmish of Skibbereen, where Ruaidrí would emerge victorious, massacring the enemy force and capturing the enemy force. Ruaidrí would return to Dublin with his brother and had him kept under tight watch in his Castle.
In the final months of his life, Ruaidrí passed the Hereditary Act, which decreed that the King was to choose his successor before his death, and should he die prior to naming an heir, the crown would go to the nearest blood relative. Only a few weeks after this act passed, Ruaidrí fell ill with tuberculosis and died. He would be succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Turlough.
[3] Born in 1227, Turlough was the first child of Ruadr and Isabella to live past his first birthday. (Turlough’s seven older siblings, including a set of twins, each died young from a range of childhood illnesses. Before Turlough’s birth, Isabella wrote home saying “All he (Rory) has every given me is dead children”). Though only three years old at his father’s death, Turlough was legally his father’s heir due to Hereditary Act. This was challenged by several different claimants, all of which found Isabella an able opponent. She was able to secure her son a throne while being pregnant with her husband’s posthumous children. (She would give birth to twins some 5 months after the death of Rory)
Turlough would be forced to grow up fast. His early kingship shaped Turlough: Ireland was always his first priority and he would bring an intensity to ruling that impressed and intimidated his subjects.
He would marry a succession of Irish princesses: Muadhnait Ní Dhomhnaill (Maud O’Donnell) Princess of Tyrconnell, Labhaoise Nic Cárthaigh (Louise MacCarthy) Princess of Desmond, Eibhilín Ní Brian (Eileen O’Brian) Princess of Thomond, Ornóra Ní Néill (Honour O’Niell) Princess of Tyrone. And had an untold number of children. Turlough would use these marriages to bind the various lesser kingdoms closer to him and his dynasty.
Turlough brought that same single minded focus to choosing a successor that he brought to ruling. Several different sons and grandsons were examined and discarded before settling on Cormac late in the 1270s.
Turlough would pass away at age 62 from a winter chill. He was succeeded by his son, Hugh.
[4] Hugh was his father's seventh son by his third wife Eileen. He was born in 1260. His half-brother, Ruaidrí, had been his father's favorite but when he died supporting Prince Llywelyn of Wales against the English, leaving behind an infant son and an uncertain succession. Turlough deliberated over which of his sons should inherit. Eventually, he picked twelve-year-old Hugh. Historians suspect that Turlough wanted an heir young enough for him to groom, but not so young that if Turlough died, his son would be a child ruler, vulnerable to usurpation and used as a puppet.
Hugh married Gwladys ferch Dafydd, the niece of Prince Llywelyn of Wales when he was seventeen. He also took a leaf out of his father's book had took two concubines from the houses of other kingdoms. Wanting a closer relationship with the French, Hugh would start negotiating a marriage between his oldest son and the princess of France.
Unfortunately, King Philip III had two problems with the match. One, Hugh's son being the oldest did not mean he would actually succeed or that his children would. And two, the tradition of having concubines was far too close to bigamy for his comfort.
Hugh was ambitious and wanted his country's prestige to continue to grow, not to mention he felt that France would be a useful ally against the English invaders. Therefore three years after his father died and Hugh became king, he tried to outlaw having concubines, citing it was against secular law and that the oldest son would inherit everything.
This did not go over well with the traditional Irishmen and soon Hugh had a civil war on his hands. In 1302, he fell in battle, leaving his kingdom in the hands of his nephew, Caoimhghin
[5] Caoimhghín (modern day Kevin) was born in 1273 to Conchobar (the third son of Turlough by his second wife, Louise) and Alice (a daughter of an English Marcher lord). Alice had been captured during the Welsh/English War, and after the death of her father, her cousin was uninterested in ransoming her. She became Conchobar’s concubine and the mother of his only son.
Caoimhghín was Alice’s only child and the sole focus of her attention. She ensured he received an education worthy of the grandson of a King and pushed his interests in court winning him lands of his own. This left Caoimhghín with the impression that the world revolved around him and that he was capable of anything. Unfortunately for several people, he was capable of a lot.
Alice had a complicated relationship with her homeland that had raised and abandoned her. But her familiarity with the Welsh Marches that she passed onto her son would serve him well later in life.
Caoimhghín grew to adulthood during his uncle’s reign, and agreed with him that it was time for Ireland to be heard on a larger scale. But Caoimhghín disagreed with the alliance with France, thinking that Ireland shouldn’t be beholden to anybody to gain influence.
As such, Caoimhghín was an obvious focal point when the civil war started. Hugh, and later his eldest son, Lorcan, were backed by Wales, and it was here that Caoimhghín’s familiarity with the Marcher Lord’s mattered. Caoimhghín reached out to several Marcher Lords alerting them of various moments of the Welsh army. And caught between the Irish and the English, Prince Llywelyn found himself unable to support Lorcan. Without Welsh support, Lorcan was unable to continue his fight for the throne and surrendered. He would spend the rest of his life under house arrest and died from a winter chill some years later.
Caoimhghín was already married to a woman named Eithne, and two children by her. But for reasons unknown he considered her unsuitable as Queen and shortly after Caoimhghín was crowned Eithne would retire to a nunnery, and Caoimhghín went searching for a Queen. He found Margaret Eriksdatter, illegitimate daughter of the Norwegian King. They wed in 1307. (He had been offered Agnes Eriksdatter, the legitimate daughter of King Erik, but that marriage alliance required a guarantee that her son would be heir, a guarantee Caoimhghín wasn’t willing to give)
Caoimhghín would also take three concubines fairly early in his reign: Bronagh or Bronwen, his cousin and the daughter of Hugh and Gwladys ferch Dafydd; Sorcha Ní Dhomhnaill (Sarah O’Donnell) niece of the King of Tyrconnell; and a Lady known as Constance who appears to have been from Brittany or Normandy.
After securing his throne and arranging his marriage, Caoimhghín turned his attention to Wales and the mess he had left there. The Second Welsh/English War had slowed to a slog as the same few castles were won and lost over and over again. Additionally Prince Llywelyn of Wales would fall in battle in 1309, and his son Owain was ill-prepared.
Caoimhghín reached out to Owain offering to help…. with a price. Wales would join the list of Kingdoms that Caoimhghín as High King ruled over and in return, Caoimhghín would drive the English away. Owain would accept, and Caoimhghín was as good as his word; the English would be driven out of Wales.
While Wales was the first instance of Caoimhghín’s pattern of causing problems and then showing up to solve those same problems, it was not the last. Next, He used the Irish navy to harass trade ships from the Lowlands, and then offered his assistance protecting those same ships. And he got away with it, causing Ireland to gain quite a bit of wealth and influence.
He would take two more concubines later in his reign: Ceridwen ferch Gruffudd, a minor Welsh noblewoman of renowned beauty in 1317 and another cousin (though the exact relation is unknown) Fineamhain Ní Conchobair (Feenawn O’Conor) in 1324. And in 1322, Queen Margaret died giving birth to her fourth child. Caoimhghín would remarry to Joan of Flanders, daughter of the Count of Flanders. Between his three wives and five concubines, Caoimhghín had over thirty children.
Caoimhghín chose several heirs throughout his reign before being succeeded by son, Eochaid when Caoimhghín died from a hunting accident in 1328.
[6] Eochaid was born to Caoimhghín and Margart Erikdatter in 1310. He was twelve when his mother died and eighteen when his father died. He married Joan of Savoy when they were both eighteen. He would have two concubines, Eileen of Ormond and Margaret of Stirling, both daughters of noblemen.
A fierce traditionalist, he wrote an essay in defense on concubines and choosing one heir, pointing to the succession crises that plagued the countries of Europe and of all the weak and ineffectual rulers that could have been passed over had the Irish Tanist laws been applied. It was a controversial piece and was completely banned in England who did not appreciate the attacks on their previous rulers that is until Queen Philippa thought to use it in support of her husband's claim to France then it was quickly turned into a propaganda piece much to Eochaid's horror and fury.
When war broke out in 1337 between England and France, King Philip VI was eager to renew the alliance between Ireland and France, offering a marriage between the year-old Philip, Duke of Orléans and one of King Eochaid's daughters. Eager to have the French match, his ancestors pushed for, Eochaid only agreed if his chosen heir would marry a future French Princess. As he had no daughters yet, Philip agreed.
With Scotland, Ireland and Wales standing behind France, many suspected the war would not last long. Unfortunately King David of Scots being captured in 1346 and a year later, King Eochaid died of the black plague as would several of his children, leaving his underaged son Eoin as his heir. Historians would note the irony of a man who had written about how the Irish succession laws protected the realm from succession crisis when it was his death that caused one to happen.
[7] Succession Crisis
1347 saw the death of King Eochaid and his two eldest sons by Joan of Savoy. This left his legal heir as his last son by Joan, Eoin* (the Hereditary Act being amended to give precedence to the children of wives over concubines. This was a condition of Eochaid’s marriage to Joan of Savoy). But, Eoin was barely 12, with many elder half-brothers and a plethora of uncles (not to mention even more distant relatives) ready and willing to step up to the plate.
(*Apparently this was the original form of John in Ireland, Sean was introduced by the Normans.)
The initial claimants and their relationship to the deceased King:
- (son) Crimthann Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Eileen of Ormond, age 17. Married to a Princess of Tyrconnell. He can count on his in-laws backing him and he’s and all around decent fellow, but not anything spectacular.
- (son) Fianamail Ua Conchobair, younger full-brother of Crimthann, age 14. Currently being used as a figure head by the lord who’d been awarded his wardship, it’s believed he’d prefer to back his older full-brother.
- (son-in-law) Rechtabra Ua Brian, married to Margart Ni Conchobair, age 34. An eloquent and rather rich landholder, has a decent following.
- (half-brother) Cathal Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Fineamhain Ní Conchobair, age 24. Cathal has the benefit of the backing of a good fraction of the O’Conor family.
- (brother) David Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Margaret, age 30. David argues that he’s the legal heir since he’s the closest adult relation of Eochaid.
- (half-brother) Domnall Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Sorcha Ní Dhomhnaill, age 33
- (half-brother) Congalach Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Ceridwen ferch Gruffudd, age 28
- (cousin) Dubthach Ua Conchobair, descended from Toirdhealbhach and Ornóra Ní Néill
- (cousin) Fedelmid Ua Conchobair, son of Hugh and one of his concubines, age 66. Has a stellar military reputation. But not much backing.
- (cousin) Ruaidri Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and his first wife Eithne, 54. Above average military commander and has a decent amount of backing. But he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder over his mother’s “banishment” (perhaps rightly so) and it annoys his followers.
Internationally: Ireland pretty much ignored the rest of the world. Wales would take this opportunity to revolt, crowning a relatively unknown minor Welsh lord, Madok ap Mabilia, as Prince of Wales. (Since Prince Madok choose to use his mother’s name instead of his father’s, some historians believe he may have been a bastard. The more common theory is Madok’s father was an English Marcher lord: Willam de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose who is recorded as married to a Mabel, the English form of Mabilia). The Anglo-French war ended up being actually just the English and the French as Scotland took a peace deal as part of the ransom of King David and Ireland was out. King Philip VI would hold a grudge over this.
Internally: As various armies fought for the throne, Ireland suffered first from black plague, the from famine as many farms went un-attended.
After three years many of the claimants were not longer on the field:
- Fianamail had been rescued by his brother and loudly withdrawn his own claim.
- Rechtabra has been dumped by Margaret. (Margaret is now a pirate and living her best life)
- Cathal, Domnall, Congalach, and Dubthach fell in battle and none of their sons were old enough to push their claims.
- Fedelmid passed away from old age and none of his sons were impactful enough to pick up his claim.
- Ruaidri was dumped by his backers for being too annoying.
Crimthann Ua Conchobair: He could be the easy choice. He’s the eldest surviving son of Eochaid, he has a strong internal marriage, and he’s a decently competent guy. He's won quite a few battle during the war. Not stellar, but nothing to worry about. There are concerns in that he and his wife have no children. Compounding that he hasn’t taken any concubines, but he is pretty dependent on his in-laws and many think he'd accept their sister/nieces/daughters as concubines as soon as he's king. But, many Irish still strongly defend their tanistry succession, and the precedent of choosing the eldest son worries them.
David Ua Conchobair: He’s a nice fit since he can back his claim with some interpretation of the Hereditary Act. If only adult relatives are considered, David is the closet relative to Eochaid. He has several sons, so no worries on that front. Also, he's just an all around great guy. People love him, even his enemies say he's a stand up guy. He's married to a Scottish lady, so that's something on the international front.
And the dark horse: Eoin Ua Conchobair: While 3 years ago, Eoin was a scrawny 12 year old, now he’s 15 and a strapping young man, easily around 6’4” tall. Two years into the war, Eoin married his half-aunt, Aideen daughter of Caoimhghín and Joan of Flanders. (This was arranged by the two Queen Dowagers: Joan of Savoy and Joan of Flanders.) Eoin has won decent renown as a commander, is more charismatic than his elder half-brother, and has the best international connections. (Due to his mother and mother-in-law). And with England, Wales, and France are all ticked with Ireland, that's pretty important.
But the three have pretty even footing and they know Ireland can’t sustain more war. So some deals were made and Eoin was crowned.
[8] Upon becoming the High King of Ireland, Eoin's wife Aideen gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Síne. This event, along with the end of the Irish Civil War, marked an period of celebration across Ireland, and Eoin's reign would be considered the start of the Irish Golden Age as he not only helped Ireland to recover quicker from the Black Plauge than other countries, but also grew it's economy with him promoting farming and fishing.
The Tanist succession laws spread out from Ireland during this time as Prince Madok of Wales adopted them for how the Welsh line of succession will work, and King David of Scotland tweaked the Scottish laws of succession so that if the first born son of the King died then he chose from any male member of the Scottish royal family to become the new heir.
Eoin, along with his wife Aideen, had taken three concubines, Margaret, a noblewoman from Norway, Margart Ua Brain, his niece and daughter of Rechtabra and Margart Ni Conchobair, and Eithne, a Irish noblewomen. His wife and concubines would give Eoin over twenty children.
Eoin died in 1403 at the age of 68, and his heir, Ruaidri succeeded to the throne.
[9] Ruaidrí III (later know as "The Wise"), was the 18th child of Eoin I and his concubine Margart Ni Conchobair and was born in 1379. Ruaidrí was originally planned for the Church but would evade such a fate when an outbreak of the plague in 1387 left him as the third surviving son of Eoin I. This meant Ruaidrí would be given an education befitting that of a medieval prince, learning how to govern, fight, command armies, dance, sing, etc. Ruaidrí would excel at diplomacy in particular and from the tender age of 17 would serve as a diplomat to several countries. By 1398, Ruaidrí was the de-factor Irish Ambassador to England, and regularly attended the court of Richard II. It was at about this time that he met his future wife, Joan of Beaufort, who had been widowed for the second time the previous year. The two fell in love and spent much of their time with each other. In February of 1399 the two would ask Richard II for permission to marry. Richard who was on relatively good terms with the couple agreed and would be married the next month. However, the marriage occurred without Eoin I's knowledge, who was outraged at the marriage.
Eoin had hoped to marry Ruaidrí to the Bourbon Princess Suzanne, so Ruaidrí's marriage to Joan came as an insult to him. It didn't help that in Eoin's eyes Joan was a bastard, despite the fact she had been legitimised in 1396. This led to Eoin refusing to allow Ruaidrí to return to Ireland for several months. Fortunately Eoin would allow the couple to return to Ireland after he learnt that his eldest surviving son, Turlough had planned on assassinating him so that he could ascend the throne (as at this time Eoin had yet to name an heir), unfortunately for Turlough the plot failed and he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Ruaidrí and Joan would race back to Ireland and arrived in August of 1399. There, Ruaidrí would be named the heir and bestowed the title Prince of Tara, which would become the Irish equivalent of the Prince of Cumberland. Ruaidrí would also write to his brother-in-law Henry Bolingbroke following his usurpation of the throne in 1399, recognising him as King and discussing the possibility of an alliance between Ireland and England.
Some years passed and in 1403, Ruaidrí ascended the throne. He quickly had his traitorous brother Turlough executed for high treason and allowed his other brother, Concobhar to become a Priest (he had wanted to do so since childhood, but following the 1387 plague outbreak, his Father had refused to let him enter the church). In the New Year of 1404, Ruaidrí would officially recognized Henry IV as the King of England, and signed a mutual pact of friendship between England and Ireland the same year. The two Kings both held dreams of being remembered as great conquerors and so privately discussed launching a joint campaign against Wales, as both Kings wanted to increase the popularity for the English were beginning to view Henry as a usurper who failed to deliver on his promises, while the Irish were questioning Ruaidrí's foreign policy which was remarkably Pro-English. The next year would see planning occurring between the two and by 1405 their armies were ready. The Irish claimed that they were the rightful overlords of most of Wales, while the English claimed that they were entitled to much of Northern Wales. It also helped that at the time, Wales was experiencing a civil war between Madok of Wales's chosen heir, his nephew Owain and eldest son Rhys.
Ruaidrí would lead 7,000 men into Southern Wales and began besieging much of it's southern forts and castles, while Henry IV attacked Northern Wales. Initially the campaign went quite smoothly and by 1406 it seemed as though Wales was on the verge of collapse. Wales would survive however thanks to Scottish and French support, who didn't want the English to become too powerful. From 1407-1409, the Welsh retook much of it's norther territories, and halted the Irish advance in the south. Then in 1410 two crucial events occurred. Firstly; a revolt in England broke out and Henry IV had to withdraw much of his men from Wales. Secondly; Ruaidrí suffered a severe wound at the Battle of Carmarthen, where he was hit in the leg by a mace. The hit was so severe that Ruaidrí would never again be able to walk. Unable to lead the campaign Ruaidrí would depart back home to Dublin, leaving his most loyal vassal and distant cousin, Artúr Mac Suibhne in charge of the Welsh campaign. This was perhaps Ruaidrí's greatest failure, as the war dragged on another 10 years and drained Irish finances and resulted in thousands of deaths. In many ways it was Ireland's Vietnam.
Back home at Dublin, Ruiadrí took a keen interest in the running of his court. He invited the finest artists, scholars and architects from across Europe to his court and employed their talents to make his court one of the most cultured in Europe. In many ways it was like a mini-renaissance. Frescoes and marble statues were produced and displayed, Romanesque baths were introduced across Dublin and Latin surged in popularity. Ruaidrí also had plays and books written, some of which include "The History of the Reign of Brian Bóru", "The Triumph of Ruaidrí The Great" and "The Saga of the House of O'Connor". Most of the works still survive and are considered some of the best ever produced. Ruaidrí's wife Joan also played a key role in running the court and introduced several English customs and phrases to the Irish.
From 1412, Ruaidrí's health deteriorated and he entrusted his wife as Regent. The two had been beyond close, and unlike his predecessors Ruaidrí took no concubines, which meant he had a small family of 6 children, at least he did in comparison to his Father and ancestors. Finally, in 1415, Ruaidrí passed away and would be succeeded by his son, Brian.
[10] Brian was twelve years old when his father died and he was thrust into kingship. Being the oldest son and underage made the Irish nobles grumble with some worrying that this would be the start of the Irish conforming to English laws and traditions. The fact that the very English Joan Beoufort was regent for her young son did not help matters. Knowing she needed allies, Joan married her second oldest daughter, Margaret, to Richard, the 3rd Duke of York and arranged a betrothal between Joan of Valois and King Brian, hoping to counter any English ambitions, her oldest daughter was married to the King of Tyrone.
Brian was perhaps the very reason why the Tanist succession laws were so important. As his parents' oldest son, he spoiled and coddled. He barely had any interest in ruling preferring to play instead, a trait he would continue to have in adulthood, enjoying spending his time, drinking, dancing and hunting while his mother ran the kingdom.
He married Joan in 1424. Many nobles found themselves unable to attend, citing illness and roads being unsuited for traveling. It was clear that most of Ireland was unhappy of their new king, The Scottish ambassador even noted that the tensions in England and France were not so heated. The couple were noted to be quite happy together, for all of Brian's faults, he was a loving husband and took no concubines or mistresses. Sadly their marriage would be childless for unknown reasons.
Surprisingly, peace would last for almost another eight years. Until one day at a private meal, the king and queen would suddenly get ill from drinking wine. Later historians would suspect it was typhoid fever. However, it was long suspected that King Brian and Queen Joan were poisoned. Leaving Eochaid to become the next ruler of Ireland.
[11] Eochaid was fifteen when his cousin Brian made him the Prince of Tara. Eochaid was the grandson of Eoin, by one of his children with his wife Aileen.
Eochaid was the third heir that Brian had appointed. The first, Fianamail Ua Conchobair, was the only son of Crimthann Ua Conchobair. Fianamail was older than Brian and passed away early in Brian’s reign. The second, Manuel Maria Ua Margaret, was the grandson of Margaret by her second husband Fernando das Barcelos the bastard son of a Portuguese King. Manuel Maria, or Manchán as he was called in Ireland, was viewed as too foreign. In 1427, Manuel Maria died jousting. A year later in 1428, Eochaid was the heir to Ireland.
Four years later, age nineteen, Eochaid was King of Ireland. Since Eochaid was a traditional Tanist heir, many viewed his rule as a return to “true Irish values.” What this meant varied depending on who you talked to.
Eochaid would nominally investigate the death of his predecessor, and quickly ruled that “bad food” was the cause.
Eochaid was unmarried when he became king, and quickly married Philippa of Guelders, the Netherlands having been allies with the Irish for almost a hundred years, Philippa was viewed as an acceptable foreign bride. Eochaid continued his pattern of “acceptably foreign” and used concubines to renew many connections with “acceptable” foreign allies: in 1436, Eochaid took Angharat ferch Tegwared, a minor Welsh lady, as concubine; then in 1439, Eochaid took Isabel of Ross, the bastard niece of the Scottish King, as concubine; and Eochaid’s final foreign concubine was Ingeborg, the sister-in-law of the Norwegian King. To counteract the foreign concubines, Eochaid would take three different Irish ladies as concubines. Eochaid doesn’t appear to have been the most virile, as only Philippa, Isabel, and Áine (one of the Irish concubines) would bear children, and even then only one child each.
Eochaid’s reign would continue what his marriage and concubines had started: strengthening the more popular foreign ties, and avoiding the more hot-button counties of England and France. He would also expand the Irish fleet, continuing to protect allied trade ships and expanding into transporting goods and people too and from the New World.
He committed to Tanistry succession and appointed his nephew Ruaidrí in 1445. So, when Eochaid died in 1465, Ruaidrí succeeded him.
[12] Ruaidrí was the son of Eochaid's younger brother. Born in 1430. As his uncle's fertility problems were well known, it was all but guaranteed he would succeed him. He was also of age by the time his uncle died while his oldest male cousin was only twelve-years-old.
In hopes of a better relationship with the church, Ruaidrí spent some time in Italy as his uncle's envoy. This is were he met Bianca de' Medici. Much to the shock and fury of her family, the couple would elope. Bianca's father, Piero would demand the marriage be annulled insisting that Ruaidri had absconded with his daughter, forcing her into this marriage, ignoring his daughter's very loud statements to the country.
Luckily for Ruaidrí despite the numerous bribe attempts, his witnesses, friends from his time in the Sapienza University of Rome, remained adamant that there had been no wrong doing on the groom's part. Eventually Pope Pious II decreed that the marriage was valid. However, because it was done without permission from the bride's father, the groom would receive no dowry.
In 1465, Ruaidrí and Bianca would receive word that King Eochaid had passed away and they would return to Ireland. Bianca and Ruaidrí would use their Italian contacts to to get involved in trade, as well as sponsoring great artists----one of the first Irish playwrights was noted to have been discovered by her. Bianca would embrace the Irish culture fully with the only exception being her husband getting a concubine, something she refused to let him even consider.
She did however accept that it might not be her children (seven in total, three of them sons) who inherited the throne. She helped Ruaidrí vet the candidates before he choose the next Prince of Tara. Bianca and Ruaidrí would continue to be in love for their long years of marriage.
In 1490, King Edward of England would decide to try what his ancestors had failed to do and conquer Ireland, being a descendant of Richard, the 3rd Duke of York and his wife Margaret, daughter of King Ruaidrí the Wise. Despite pushing sixty, Ruaidrí would lead his men against the invading English.
Alas, he would not see the end of the war, for three short years later, he would die in a hectic battlefield, managing a mutual kill with King Edward, leaving Eochaid to pick up his crown.
[13] Eochaid was born in 1432 as the cousin of Ruaidrí IV and was chosen as his successor due to his strong leadership skills. By the time he ascended the Irish throne, he had six children through his wife Princess Astrid of Norway, whom he married in 1459, and didn't took any concubines as he was faithful to his wife. Eochaid's main issue to deal with was the destruction left in the wake of the failed English invasion, which would be cleaned up during most of his reign.
Tanist succession by this point had made to the continent, first with Brittany, then the Scandinavian countries, and finally the Netherlands, with the former using the original version while the latter two the Scottish version. The continuing spread of Tanist succession also saw it's rivalry with traditional succession deepen as in 1497, the French King made a speech about wanting to wage a crusade against the Tanist succession following countries for their "barbaric practices".
Eochaid died in 1502 at seventy years old, and his distant cousin, Eoin, whom he appointed in 1498, succeeded him.
[14] Since pretty much everyone liked Eoin, no one was surprised when Eochaid III made Eoin Prince of Tara in 1498. At the time, he was in his late forties (since Eochaid was from a more minor branch of the O’Conor family we don’t have concrete birth records for him) and had spent most of his life traveling with the Irish fleet. He had found in several sea battles, been to all the known continents, and spoke several languages. Besides his less than stellar bloodline, he was perfect.
Since there was some pushback due to his status as a distant cousin (his line of the family hadn’t hadn't had real influence at court or a significant marriage to either foreigners or powerful Irish lords in generations) Eoin sometimes would use the appellation Ua Ruaidrí, or O’Rory, since his last monarchial ancestor was Ruaidrí II, as a reminder of his relation to the first three Irish High Kings of the O’Conor family.
Eoin never had time to get married, and once he became king that didn’t change. Anytime anyone suggested he married, Eoin pointed out that he’d already appointed his nephew, Pádraig as Prince of Tara and had plenty of brothers, nephews, and cousins to continue on the family name.
After only five years of rule, during which the Irish fleet was expanded again making it one of, if not the, great power(s) of the Ocean, Eoin would pass away from a winter chill, leaving Pádraig as heir.
[15] Named for Ireland's patron saint, Pádraig O'Rory was twenty years old when he became King of Ireland. He married the daughter of the King of Sweden, Ursula in 1505 after being chosen as his uncle's heir. They had nine children.
He was a devoted Catholic, and viewed concubinage close to bigamy. However, knowing how much his people stubbornly held onto to their traditions, he did not outlaw the practice, instead sending priests to preach against it, hoping it would fall out of fashion eventually.
Pádraig was staunchly against Lutheranism, writing a pamphlet defending the Pope against Luther. He would make an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor to defend their lands against the so-called Reformation.
In 1542, the King of England started calling himself the King of Ireland. Pádraig disagreed quite vehemently, declaring that no English monarch would ever have claim over the Irish. Weeks later, Pádraig would die of a bad belly.
[16a] Conchobar was the eldest son of Padraig and Ursula and he wasn’t supposed to be King. He was disinclined to the martial arts, and rather quiet, so Padraig appointed his brother (Padraig’s brother not Conchobar’s) Brian O’Rory as Prince of Tara. But Brian O’Rory would die shortly before his brother Padraig in an early skirmish between the English and the Irish. Padraig wouldn’t have time to appoint a new heir before his death. Thanks to the Hereditary Act this left Conchobar as the heir.
There were some significant murmurings over the idea of Conchobar as king and the fact that Conchobar didn’t really want the job either made it seem that civil war was inevitable. Enter Ornóra stage left.
[16b] If Ornóra had been born a boy, she would have been Prince of Tara: she was descended from Ruaidri IV and his wife Bianca de Medici; she had spent many years at sea and was an excellent ship’s captain, through her sisters she had marital ties to many of Ireland’s petty kings as well as Wales, Flanders, and Hainaut; and she was well spoken, charismatic, and people just liked her.
Not only could Ornóra fulfill the role of King, she wanted it. Shortly after Padraig’s death, Ornóra approached Conchobar and proposed marriage. (The two really should both already be married, but both had refused several proposals choosing instead to keep company with a “dear companion”) She would rule and he would keep the men who thought they could do a better job off her back. Conchobar accepted.
Seeing Ornóra step up to Conchobar’s side settled many of the murmurings and Conchobar and Ornóra were crowned without issue. Ornóra would also be addressed as O’Rory as she was also descended from one of the Irish kings name Ruaidri. Ornóra would lead several campaigns against the English (though she wouldn’t fight in the actual battles) until the King of England gave up on his claim to Ireland.
The two would have a smooth reign, Ornóra managed much of the traditional monarchial roles and Conchobar found he enjoyed handling the realm’s finances. Due to his attention, Ireland would gain much wealth. They would only have two children as neither Ornóra or Conchobar appeared to enjoy the marriage bed.
Conveniently they would pass away within days of each other when the sweating sickness broke out in 1577. They were succeeded by their daughter, Grace.
[17] Gráinne or Grace was a spirited girl. As her parents only had her and her sister, her father took the unusal step of declaring her his heir, reminding everyone it was his right to choose. Grace was married to the King of Ulster when she was eighteen. Her husband, Hugh, was a tritiditonal man and often fought with his wife who refused to sumbit to his will.
Despite her rather independent spirit, Grace tempered it with her natural charisma and charm, able to wrap many people around her fingers. She was twenty-seven when her parents died. By then, she had managed to sway many of the lesser kings and the rich landowners to her side, convincing them to accept them as their queen, quoting her father and adding that the whole Tanist system was to put the best heir. And since she had been groomed from partically birth, she was the best fit.
Men like her husband disagreed and soon after her coronation, Grace had a rebellion on her hands with Hugh leading the rebels against his stubborn and opinonated wife. Grace dressed in armor and lead the army herself, leading some to call her Queen Maeve after a historical warrior queen. Another nickname for Grace was Gráinne Mhao (Grainne the Bald) after she shaved her head to keep her long hair from being a problem in the battle.
Although popular folktale would have Grace slaying her deceitful husband in one and one combat, it is actually unknown how Hugh died. What is known is Grace gave her husband a respectful burial, saying as much as she hated him, her was the father of her two children.
A year later, she would remarry the King of Tyrone and have six children with him.
In 1600, Grace would meet up with the Prince of Wales, the Queen of Scotland and the Queen of England to sign a treatry, often called the Women's Peace (despite the inclusion of the Prince of Wales), which was made to end all tensions between the four rulers, ending the constant territory wars. They also promised to come to aid whenever one country was under attack.
Grace would die in 1618, at seventy-one, having nominated Domnall as her sucessor.
[18] Domnall or Donald was born in 1541 to Prince Eoin and Princess Mary of Scotland and was the nephew of High Queen Gráinne through his father, who was a grandson of Pádraig through his son Ruaidrí, the younger brother of Conchobar II. Domnall had a rough childhood as his father was infamous for his short temper and so stayed in the company of his greatuncle and aunt, and became Prince of Tara in 1598 for his help in the Ulster Rebellion. By the time he became High King he had married Princess Anne of Brittany, whom he had six children with.
In 1620, the War of the Breton Succession started following the death of Duke Conan VIII without a clear heir. Domnall would declare his claim to Brittany though his wife (who was the aunt of Conan) and sent a invasion there, with himself leading it. This would his downfall as in 1624 the eighty-three year old King died in battle to forces that were loyal to Prince Arthur of Brittany, who was Conan's cousin.
Domnall was sent back to Ireland and burried next to his wife who died seventeen years before him. His successor, his grandson, Eamon would deal with the end of the War of the Breton Succession.
[19] Eamon was the eldest son of Eoin O’Rory (third son of Domnall I) and Mary of Flanders. He was a controversial choice as Prince of Tara as he was wed to Queen Janet of Scotland. But upon his appointment in 1620, Eamon swore that his heir would not be the heir of Scotland. And, once Eamon was King of Ireland, Queen Janet joined the Breton Succession War to reinforce her husband, sending Scottish forces. This did much to endear her to the Irish people.
To address the Breton concerns over a union between Ireland and Brittany, Eamon declared that since Brittany didn’t follow Tanist succession, he was fighting on behalf of his uncle, Prince Niall (eldest son of Domnall I and Anne of Brittany). (That Eamon was Niall’s heir, as neither Niall nor Turlough (second son of Domnall) had sons, was left unmentioned). This combined with the additional forces from Scotland, saw Eamon win the Breton Succession War. Prince Niall was crowned and the dethroned Arthur of Brittany would be brought back to Ireland where he lived the rest of his days in an isolated abby.
Following the end of the war, Eamon followed through with his promise regarding Irish inheritance, and appointed his nephew Ruaidrí as Prince of Tara.
Eamon spent the rest of his reign curating the bonds between Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales building on the efforts of Gráinne I. He arranged many marriages: his eldest daughter wed the English heir, his third daughter wed the grandson and probable heir of the Prince of Wales, his eldest son (the Scottish heir) wed an Welsh princess.
Neither did Eamon forget Ireland’s oldest ally, the Netherlands. He arranged the marriage of Ruaidrí to Eamon’s mother’s niece Joan of Flanders.
In 1644 while hunting, Eamon would misjudge a jump and his horse stumbled while landing. He would tumble from his horse and hit his head. He spent the next several hours delirious and passed away the next day, leaving his nephew, Ruaidrí as King of Ireland.
[20] Ruaidrí was the son of Eamon's younger brother. His father had died in the Breton Succession war when he was nine years old. He was fostered with the King of Leinster. This would begin a tradition where the Prince of Tara, if underaged, would be fostered in one of the petty king's courts so they could learn how to rule and befriend their vessels.
When he turned eighteen, he would travel to Connacht where he acted as his uncle's regent. At twenty-one, he married Joan of Flanders. Although Ruaidrí was an intelligent and shrewd leader, he had a fierce temper and a mean streak a mile wide. He also had very little interest in his wife, only bedding her once a month. He did mange to sire four children, who he promptly ignored, beliving that niether of them were truly worthy of succeeding him.
He only respected two people, the King of Connacht, who he viewed as a second father and his uncle Eamon. In 1644, when his uncle died, Ruaidrí was apologetic with rage, ordering Eamon's Master of Horses executed for failing to train the horse properly. This would be the start of his harsh punishments.
As soon as he was crowned, King Ruaidrí decided he was surrounded by "heretics and weaklings", and he would have to root the corruption out with fire and sword. Anyone who wasn't Catholic needed to die least they contaminated good Irishmen with their blasphemy. No one was sure where Ruaidrí' religious fanaticism came from with some historians suspecting this might have been Ruaidrí's way of indulging his sadistic side in a way seen somewhat socially acceptable. Others reject this theory as there were no reports of Ruaidrí showing violent tendencies in his early years barring the disproportionate execution of his uncle's horse master.
Another theory is Ruaidrí had a mental breakdown following his uncle's death or suffered a blow to the head. Either way, as the years went by, he slowly became worse, growing more paranoid and violent. The breaking point came in 1666 when he viciously attacked his wife, accusing her of cheating on him.
His eldest son decided enough was enough and staged a coup, imprisioning Ruaidrí and forcing him to abdicate, allowing Eamon II to take the throne.
[21] Eamon was the eldest son of Ruaidrí and Joan of Flanders. He was named for his father’s beloved Uncle. That was the most attention he ever got from his father. We have few records of his early years as for the first two decades of life he was almost a nonentity at court; his father didn’t want him there.
Based on his later life we know he was a bookish man, and many believe Eamon spent his late teens and early twenties drifting between the courts of the different Irish petty kings, though really only interacting with their library. We do know he visited his cousin, second son of Eamon I and now Duke of Brittany, as the two became good friends and referenced their initial meeting in later letters.
Starting in 1661, Eamon pops up at his father’s court, though he doesn’t make many waves at first. Slowly Eamon would begin to gather allies, often by acting to shield them from his father’s temper. Then in 1666, Ruaidrí’s heir, the Prince of Tara and distant cousin, died from the fever. Now, by the Hereditary Act, Eamon was the heir.
Taking advantage of his father’s attack upon his mother’s person, Eamon would seize his father. There was some initial pushback but Eamon was supported by his cousins, the Duke of Brittany and King of Scotland.
Slowly the realm grew to know Eamon. They found him to be discerning, reserved, not particularly martial though he was capable of handling himself, and possessing a prodigious knowledge of all things Ireland. He could discuss agriculture, fishing, sailing, the historical connections between various clans, old alliances, the sundry treaties between Ireland and other countries.
He would dial back the religious pressure that his father had enacted, and reviewed the cases of everyone his father tried, both those living and those dead. Many were pardoned posthumously. He also immediately made Hugh, the third son of the King of Ulster, Prince of Tara, and made it known that if something were to happen to him, he would choose his distinct cousin Brian as Prince of Tara, ensuring that a situation such as he took advantage of would not occur again.
After several years of ruling, courtiers and advisors began insisting Eamon wed. He had resisted as Eamon viewed himself as already married. Before he became king Eamon had taken a woman he called Aisling (for the Irish word for vision, as Eamon said she was a vision to behold) as concubine.
Aisling’s actual name and origins were unknown. Records indicate that she wasn’t European, but as no portrait of her survived we don’t know if she was from the Americas, Africa, or Asia, as she could have been from any of the many places the Irish fleet traveled to. Due to her ethnicity, Aisling wasn’t viewed as appropriate for the role of wife and Queen.
Though before attending to his marriage, Eamon would arrange the marriages of his three children by Aisling: His eldest daughter was wed to Brian, Eamon’s second choice for Prince of Tara; his son was wed to the heiress of Guelders; and his youngest daughter was betrothed to an petty Irish King.
Finally in 1672, Eamon would arrange his marriage to Maria of Portugal. But the two would never wed, the day Maria docked in Dublin, Eamon and Aisling were both found dead in their bed. Hugh would inherit.
[22] Hugh was born in 1642 as the third son of the King of Ulster and wasn’t expected to become king. But due to his friendship with a young Eamon II, he was made Prince of Tara by Eamon when he became High King in 1666 and so helped his father in ruling Ulster in preparation for succeeding Eamon.
In 1672 Hugh became High King after Eamon and Aisling both committed suicide and married Maria of Portugal, who was going to be Eamon’s wife. The newlyweds loved each other very much as Hugh didn’t take any mistresses or concubines. A total of seven children would be born to the couple. Hugh used the appellation O’Hugh, as he was a descendant of Queen Gráinne’s first husband, King Hugh of Ulster.
Hugh continued his predecessor’s policies of Religious tolerance and was a patron of the arts.
His reign was generally peaceful, expect when Ireland supported William of Holland in the Scottish War of Succession (1689-1694), which he won.
Hugh died in 1701 at the age of 59, with his successor that he picked in 1692, Eoin III succeeding him.
[23] Eoin was the second son of Hugh and Maria of Portugal. His elder brother was passed over as Eoin had more easy manners and was a better student. Eoin was made Prince of Tara at age 15 and shortly afterwards his father arranged his marriage to Anna of Guelders, the granddaughter of Eamon II.
While not particularly fond of his wife, Eoin wouldn’t take any concubines, and in fact would end the practice of concubinage. He cited how in the Bible God’s people took multiples wives and concubines for a time and then the practice ended. He did not require the lords that currently had concubines to renounce them, instead insisting that no new concubines be taken.
Eoin spent his reign focusing on Ireland’s foreign interests. He would see the trading outpost expanded into colonies and the Irish fleet expanded yet again making it the largest fleet in Europe.
Eoin and Anna had five children, and Eoin invited many distant cousins to come and be companions of his children. Eoin made it known that he would be choosing the Prince of Tara from among these children and so many O’Conor, O’Rory, and O’Hugh cousins were sent to be raised with the Royal Children.
Eoin would choose an O’Connor cousin in 1705, but this lord passed away in 1734 and so Eoin simply repeated his invitation for cousins to come be raised at court, this time as companions for his grandchildren. He would choose his gandson Brian in 1739.
Eoin would pass away in 1744 and was succeeded by Brian III.
[24] Born in 1732 as the son of Princess Márie O'Hugh and her O'Rory husband, Brian was though his mother a grandson of High King Eoin III, and was picked as the Prince of Tara due to his connections to two of the three branchs of the Irish royal family. Brian became High King in 1744 at the young age of eight, and so a regency was put in place that will rule for him until he turned eighteen. During this time Brian would be taught by various tutors on subjects like military tactics, Irish history, and more.
By the time Brian turned eighteen in 1750, he was a intellegent and handsome man, as he would receive many offers from the various crowned heads of europe to marry their daughters. But he would ultimately pick Princess Isabella of Spain as his wife, with the couple having seven living children together. Brian continued the pratice done by his father of surrounding his children with distant cousins who would act as companions of them.
Brian lead Ireland though most of the major wars of the 18th Century. The first being the Eight Years War (1757-1765), where Ireland, Scotland, France and others fought against England, Portugal, Austria and others. Ireland would upon the end of the war receive most of England's colonies in North Vespuccia (OTL America).
Ireland then supported Vespuccian indepence from England during the Vespucccian Revolution (1778-1786), which resulted in the overthrow of the English monarchy and it's replacement of an republic. Ireland joined the First Coalition in fighting against Republican England in the War of the First Coalition (1793-1798), but lost.
Brian would die just weeks later at the age of 65, some say of his saddness over the First Coalition's loss in the war. __________, who became Prince of Tara in 17__, succeeded him.
She did say she was happy for someone else to do it as she started the still current Irish list.
I edited my claim post to say so but I should have been more clear.
Exactly.
POD: High King Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair managed to repel the Norman Invaders.
High Kings and Queens of Ireland
1166-1198 Ruaidrí I the Great [O'Conor]
1198-1221 Conchobar I [O'Conor] [1]
1221-1230 Ruaidrí II [O’Conor] [2]
1230-1289 Toirdhealbhach II [O’Conor] [3]
1289-1302 Hugh I [O’Conor] [4]
1302-1328 Caoimhghín I [O’Conor] [5]
1328-1347 Eochaid I [O’Conor] [6]
1347-1350 Civil War [7]
1350-1403: Eoin I [O’Conor] [8]
1403-1415: Ruaidrí III "The Wise" [O'Conor] [9]
1415-1432: Brian II [O'Conor] [10]
1432-1465: Eochaid II [O'Conor] [11]
1465-1493: Ruaidrí IV [O'Conor] [12]
1493-1502: Eochaid III [O'Conor] [13]
1502-1507: Eoin II [O'Coner/O'Rory] [14]
1507-1542: Pádraig I [O'Rory] [15]
1542-1577: Conchobar II and Ornóra I [O’Rory] [16]
1577-1618: Gráinne I [O’Rory] [17]
1618-1624: Domnall I [O’Rory] [18]
1624-1644: Eamon I [O’Rory] [19]
1644-1666: Ruaidrí V "the Bloody" [O’Rory] [20]
1666-1672: Eamon II "the Wise" [O’Rory] [21]
1672-1701: Hugh II [O’Hugh] [22]
1701-1744: Eoin III [O’Hugh] [23]
1744-1798: Brian III [O'Rory] [24]
1798-1809: Conn II [O’Hugh] [25]
[25] Conn was named for the legendary King Conn of the Hundred Battles. He was a grandson of King Eion III by his youngest son. Conn made a name for himself in the Vespuccian Revolution by being a great figther. It was his victories that caused Brian to name him, his heir. To appease his Spanish wife, Brian arranged a marriage between one of his daughters to Conn. Unfortunetly, Brian died before he could see the two be married.
The minute after he was crowned, Conn demanded an anullment, claiming he was corced and the marriage was unconsumamted. The annulment was granted and Conn would marry Catherine Howard, an English noblewoman who he had fallen in love with during the War of the First Coalittion. Considering the new queen was not a princess, and English, this was seen as a huge slap in the face not only by Conn's jilted wife, Eileen, but also her siblings and several other important Irish families.
It wouldn't be long before there were rioits and rebellions, forcing Conn and his bride to fled to England, begging for help in exchange for concessions which would anger his remaing allies.
The civil war that would break out would last_____ years with the main contenders being________.
High Kings and Queens of Ireland
1166-1198 Ruaidrí I the Great [O'Conor]
1198-1221 Conchobar I [O'Conor] [1]
1221-1230 Ruaidrí II [O’Conor] [2]
1230-1289 Toirdhealbhach II [O’Conor] [3]
1289-1302 Hugh I [O’Conor] [4]
1302-1328 Caoimhghín I [O’Conor] [5]
1328-1347 Eochaid I [O’Conor] [6]
1347-1350 Civil War [7]
1350-1403: Eoin I [O’Conor] [8]
1403-1415: Ruaidrí III "The Wise" [O'Conor] [9]
1415-1432: Brian II [O'Conor] [10]
1432-1465: Eochaid II [O'Conor] [11]
1465-1493: Ruaidrí IV [O'Conor] [12]
1493-1502: Eochaid III [O'Conor] [13]
1502-1507: Eoin II [O'Coner/O'Rory] [14]
1507-1542: Pádraig I [O'Rory] [15]
1542-1577: Conchobar II and Ornóra I [O’Rory] [16]
1577-1618: Gráinne I [O’Rory] [17]
1618-1624: Domnall I [O’Rory] [18]
1624-1644: Eamon I [O’Rory] [19]
1644-1666: Ruaidrí V "the Bloody" [O’Rory] [20]
1666-1672: Eamon II "the Wise" [O’Rory] [21]
1672-1701: Hugh II [O’Hugh] [22]
1701-1744: Eoin III [O’Hugh] [23]
1744-1798: Brian III [O'Rory] [24]
1798-1809: Conn II [O’Hugh] [25]
[1] Ruaidri (Rory or Roderic is the Anglicized version) was known as the great for his feat of ending the Norman invasion (for a while anyway as they would keep coming back). Conchobar was the eldest of his father's eight sons and took part in the defeating of Norman soldiers, earning a name for himself as a skilled fighter. He is called the butcher over in England for how many villages he pillaged and burned.
Once Conchobar returned to Ireland, he found himself fighting for his place as his father's heir, avoiding an assassination attempt and fighting against his own own uncle. But in the end, he fought just as he did against the Normans, viciously and ruthlessly.
When his father died, he traveled to Rome, almost emptying his coffers in order to be crowned by the pope himself. While he was there, he met King Philip II of France who suggested they make an alliance against the English. Having a deep hatred for those who attempted to take his country, Conchobar agreed. The two men, despite coming from vastly different cultures, would become unlikely friends, visiting each other's country twice and exchanging many letters.
King John of England tried to reach out to him, in hopes he would support John's war against the English barons. Conchobar who had fought with John's father and then his brother Richard, laughed at him, telling him, the only way Ireland would get itself involved with the English, it would be to stop any invaders.
In his personal life, Conchobar was married to a woman named Áine, who he had seven sons with. There are a few records of his daughters, only a scant few mentions of two of his girls who were either his daughters or nieces who married two of his political rivals.
For a man who lived most of his adult life, fighting for one reason or another, he died peacefully in his bed at age seventy. After his death, his son, Ruaidrí would become the new High King of Ireland.
[2] Ruadrí II was the third son of King Conchobar I. Born in 1195, he was originally destined for the Church, but two events changed his fate. The first was the untimely death of his older brother, and then Tanaiste, Brian, in 1210. Brian died in a horse-riding accident, though many suspect he was murdered by his brother, Seamus. Seamus was beyond ambitious and was noted for his cruelty, which led to many contemporaries accusing him of murdering Brian. It didn't help Seamus that he was his Father's least favourite son. Thus, Conchobar, would see to it that in 1218, Ruaidrí was elected the Taniaste. Seamus was angered by this and led a short-lived result, which was defeated, and he was exiled to England. In 1221, Conchobar died and Ruaidrí ascended the throne as Ruaidrí II, and held a splendorous coronation in Dublin.
In 1222, Ruaidrí would negotiate his marriage to the King of Alba’s niece, Lady Isabella Stewart, in a bid to create an alliance against England. The marriage would be agreed to in 1223. Isabela would be given a warm welcoming in Ireland, with a ceremony being held in her honour in Dublin, one which was remarked for it's great pomp. Ruaidrí would also be quite devoted to his wife, with no sources even speculating that he had an extramarital affair. The two would share ten kids, though only a few survived.
In 1224, Ireland and Alba launched a joint campaign against the Kingdom of Norway. The two Kingdoms hoped to conquer multiple small islands held by Norway, such as the Isle of Mann. Ruaidrí would lead his armies in person, and was noted to be a capable commander. After 4 long and bloody years, the Irish and Scots emerged victorious, defeating Norway and dividing the spoils of war between them. Ireland would gain the Isle of Man and the Islands of Iona, Islay and Arran. Ruaidrí would quickly install his favourite, Eoin O'Súilleabháin as the new Archbishop of Iona in 1227.
In 1228, Ruadrí's exiled brother, Seamus returned from exile in England with a force of 3,000 men, comprised mostly of mercenaries. The group would lay siege to Waterford that same year. Ruadrí rallied veterans from his recent war with Norway and march south to defeat his enemies. Annoyingly, they would scatter across the south, and utilises Guerrilla warfare tactics against him for the next year. After months of trial and error, Ruaidrí successfully lured Seamus's force into battle, at the Skirmish of Skibbereen, where Ruaidrí would emerge victorious, massacring the enemy force and capturing the enemy force. Ruaidrí would return to Dublin with his brother and had him kept under tight watch in his Castle.
In the final months of his life, Ruaidrí passed the Hereditary Act, which decreed that the King was to choose his successor before his death, and should he die prior to naming an heir, the crown would go to the nearest blood relative. Only a few weeks after this act passed, Ruaidrí fell ill with tuberculosis and died. He would be succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Turlough.
[3] Born in 1227, Turlough was the first child of Ruadr and Isabella to live past his first birthday. (Turlough’s seven older siblings, including a set of twins, each died young from a range of childhood illnesses. Before Turlough’s birth, Isabella wrote home saying “All he (Rory) has every given me is dead children”). Though only three years old at his father’s death, Turlough was legally his father’s heir due to Hereditary Act. This was challenged by several different claimants, all of which found Isabella an able opponent. She was able to secure her son a throne while being pregnant with her husband’s posthumous children. (She would give birth to twins some 5 months after the death of Rory)
Turlough would be forced to grow up fast. His early kingship shaped Turlough: Ireland was always his first priority and he would bring an intensity to ruling that impressed and intimidated his subjects.
He would marry a succession of Irish princesses: Muadhnait Ní Dhomhnaill (Maud O’Donnell) Princess of Tyrconnell, Labhaoise Nic Cárthaigh (Louise MacCarthy) Princess of Desmond, Eibhilín Ní Brian (Eileen O’Brian) Princess of Thomond, Ornóra Ní Néill (Honour O’Niell) Princess of Tyrone. And had an untold number of children. Turlough would use these marriages to bind the various lesser kingdoms closer to him and his dynasty.
Turlough brought that same single minded focus to choosing a successor that he brought to ruling. Several different sons and grandsons were examined and discarded before settling on Cormac late in the 1270s.
Turlough would pass away at age 62 from a winter chill. He was succeeded by his son, Hugh.
[4] Hugh was his father's seventh son by his third wife Eileen. He was born in 1260. His half-brother, Ruaidrí, had been his father's favorite but when he died supporting Prince Llywelyn of Wales against the English, leaving behind an infant son and an uncertain succession. Turlough deliberated over which of his sons should inherit. Eventually, he picked twelve-year-old Hugh. Historians suspect that Turlough wanted an heir young enough for him to groom, but not so young that if Turlough died, his son would be a child ruler, vulnerable to usurpation and used as a puppet.
Hugh married Gwladys ferch Dafydd, the niece of Prince Llywelyn of Wales when he was seventeen. He also took a leaf out of his father's book had took two concubines from the houses of other kingdoms. Wanting a closer relationship with the French, Hugh would start negotiating a marriage between his oldest son and the princess of France.
Unfortunately, King Philip III had two problems with the match. One, Hugh's son being the oldest did not mean he would actually succeed or that his children would. And two, the tradition of having concubines was far too close to bigamy for his comfort.
Hugh was ambitious and wanted his country's prestige to continue to grow, not to mention he felt that France would be a useful ally against the English invaders. Therefore three years after his father died and Hugh became king, he tried to outlaw having concubines, citing it was against secular law and that the oldest son would inherit everything.
This did not go over well with the traditional Irishmen and soon Hugh had a civil war on his hands. In 1302, he fell in battle, leaving his kingdom in the hands of his nephew, Caoimhghin
[5] Caoimhghín (modern day Kevin) was born in 1273 to Conchobar (the third son of Turlough by his second wife, Louise) and Alice (a daughter of an English Marcher lord). Alice had been captured during the Welsh/English War, and after the death of her father, her cousin was uninterested in ransoming her. She became Conchobar’s concubine and the mother of his only son.
Caoimhghín was Alice’s only child and the sole focus of her attention. She ensured he received an education worthy of the grandson of a King and pushed his interests in court winning him lands of his own. This left Caoimhghín with the impression that the world revolved around him and that he was capable of anything. Unfortunately for several people, he was capable of a lot.
Alice had a complicated relationship with her homeland that had raised and abandoned her. But her familiarity with the Welsh Marches that she passed onto her son would serve him well later in life.
Caoimhghín grew to adulthood during his uncle’s reign, and agreed with him that it was time for Ireland to be heard on a larger scale. But Caoimhghín disagreed with the alliance with France, thinking that Ireland shouldn’t be beholden to anybody to gain influence.
As such, Caoimhghín was an obvious focal point when the civil war started. Hugh, and later his eldest son, Lorcan, were backed by Wales, and it was here that Caoimhghín’s familiarity with the Marcher Lord’s mattered. Caoimhghín reached out to several Marcher Lords alerting them of various moments of the Welsh army. And caught between the Irish and the English, Prince Llywelyn found himself unable to support Lorcan. Without Welsh support, Lorcan was unable to continue his fight for the throne and surrendered. He would spend the rest of his life under house arrest and died from a winter chill some years later.
Caoimhghín was already married to a woman named Eithne, and two children by her. But for reasons unknown he considered her unsuitable as Queen and shortly after Caoimhghín was crowned Eithne would retire to a nunnery, and Caoimhghín went searching for a Queen. He found Margaret Eriksdatter, illegitimate daughter of the Norwegian King. They wed in 1307. (He had been offered Agnes Eriksdatter, the legitimate daughter of King Erik, but that marriage alliance required a guarantee that her son would be heir, a guarantee Caoimhghín wasn’t willing to give)
Caoimhghín would also take three concubines fairly early in his reign: Bronagh or Bronwen, his cousin and the daughter of Hugh and Gwladys ferch Dafydd; Sorcha Ní Dhomhnaill (Sarah O’Donnell) niece of the King of Tyrconnell; and a Lady known as Constance who appears to have been from Brittany or Normandy.
After securing his throne and arranging his marriage, Caoimhghín turned his attention to Wales and the mess he had left there. The Second Welsh/English War had slowed to a slog as the same few castles were won and lost over and over again. Additionally Prince Llywelyn of Wales would fall in battle in 1309, and his son Owain was ill-prepared.
Caoimhghín reached out to Owain offering to help…. with a price. Wales would join the list of Kingdoms that Caoimhghín as High King ruled over and in return, Caoimhghín would drive the English away. Owain would accept, and Caoimhghín was as good as his word; the English would be driven out of Wales.
While Wales was the first instance of Caoimhghín’s pattern of causing problems and then showing up to solve those same problems, it was not the last. Next, He used the Irish navy to harass trade ships from the Lowlands, and then offered his assistance protecting those same ships. And he got away with it, causing Ireland to gain quite a bit of wealth and influence.
He would take two more concubines later in his reign: Ceridwen ferch Gruffudd, a minor Welsh noblewoman of renowned beauty in 1317 and another cousin (though the exact relation is unknown) Fineamhain Ní Conchobair (Feenawn O’Conor) in 1324. And in 1322, Queen Margaret died giving birth to her fourth child. Caoimhghín would remarry to Joan of Flanders, daughter of the Count of Flanders. Between his three wives and five concubines, Caoimhghín had over thirty children.
Caoimhghín chose several heirs throughout his reign before being succeeded by son, Eochaid when Caoimhghín died from a hunting accident in 1328.
[6] Eochaid was born to Caoimhghín and Margart Erikdatter in 1310. He was twelve when his mother died and eighteen when his father died. He married Joan of Savoy when they were both eighteen. He would have two concubines, Eileen of Ormond and Margaret of Stirling, both daughters of noblemen.
A fierce traditionalist, he wrote an essay in defense on concubines and choosing one heir, pointing to the succession crises that plagued the countries of Europe and of all the weak and ineffectual rulers that could have been passed over had the Irish Tanist laws been applied. It was a controversial piece and was completely banned in England who did not appreciate the attacks on their previous rulers that is until Queen Philippa thought to use it in support of her husband's claim to France then it was quickly turned into a propaganda piece much to Eochaid's horror and fury.
When war broke out in 1337 between England and France, King Philip VI was eager to renew the alliance between Ireland and France, offering a marriage between the year-old Philip, Duke of Orléans and one of King Eochaid's daughters. Eager to have the French match, his ancestors pushed for, Eochaid only agreed if his chosen heir would marry a future French Princess. As he had no daughters yet, Philip agreed.
With Scotland, Ireland and Wales standing behind France, many suspected the war would not last long. Unfortunately King David of Scots being captured in 1346 and a year later, King Eochaid died of the black plague as would several of his children, leaving his underaged son Eoin as his heir. Historians would note the irony of a man who had written about how the Irish succession laws protected the realm from succession crisis when it was his death that caused one to happen.
[7] Succession Crisis
1347 saw the death of King Eochaid and his two eldest sons by Joan of Savoy. This left his legal heir as his last son by Joan, Eoin* (the Hereditary Act being amended to give precedence to the children of wives over concubines. This was a condition of Eochaid’s marriage to Joan of Savoy). But, Eoin was barely 12, with many elder half-brothers and a plethora of uncles (not to mention even more distant relatives) ready and willing to step up to the plate.
(*Apparently this was the original form of John in Ireland, Sean was introduced by the Normans.)
The initial claimants and their relationship to the deceased King:
Internationally: Ireland pretty much ignored the rest of the world. Wales would take this opportunity to revolt, crowning a relatively unknown minor Welsh lord, Madok ap Mabilia, as Prince of Wales. (Since Prince Madok choose to use his mother’s name instead of his father’s, some historians believe he may have been a bastard. The more common theory is Madok’s father was an English Marcher lord: Willam de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose who is recorded as married to a Mabel, the English form of Mabilia). The Anglo-French war ended up being actually just the English and the French as Scotland took a peace deal as part of the ransom of King David and Ireland was out. King Philip VI would hold a grudge over this.
Internally: As various armies fought for the throne, Ireland suffered first from black plague, the from famine as many farms went un-attended.
After three years many of the claimants were not longer on the field:
Crimthann Ua Conchobair: He could be the easy choice. He’s the eldest surviving son of Eochaid, he has a strong internal marriage, and he’s a decently competent guy. He's won quite a few battle during the war. Not stellar, but nothing to worry about. There are concerns in that he and his wife have no children. Compounding that he hasn’t taken any concubines, but he is pretty dependent on his in-laws and many think he'd accept their sister/nieces/daughters as concubines as soon as he's king. But, many Irish still strongly defend their tanistry succession, and the precedent of choosing the eldest son worries them.
David Ua Conchobair: He’s a nice fit since he can back his claim with some interpretation of the Hereditary Act. If only adult relatives are considered, David is the closet relative to Eochaid. He has several sons, so no worries on that front. Also, he's just an all around great guy. People love him, even his enemies say he's a stand up guy. He's married to a Scottish lady, so that's something on the international front.
And the dark horse: Eoin Ua Conchobair: While 3 years ago, Eoin was a scrawny 12 year old, now he’s 15 and a strapping young man, easily around 6’4” tall. Two years into the war, Eoin married his half-aunt, Aideen daughter of Caoimhghín and Joan of Flanders. (This was arranged by the two Queen Dowagers: Joan of Savoy and Joan of Flanders.) Eoin has won decent renown as a commander, is more charismatic than his elder half-brother, and has the best international connections. (Due to his mother and mother-in-law). And with England, Wales, and France are all ticked with Ireland, that's pretty important.
But the three have pretty even footing and they know Ireland can’t sustain more war. So some deals were made and Eoin was crowned.
[8] Upon becoming the High King of Ireland, Eoin's wife Aideen gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Síne. This event, along with the end of the Irish Civil War, marked an period of celebration across Ireland, and Eoin's reign would be considered the start of the Irish Golden Age as he not only helped Ireland to recover quicker from the Black Plauge than other countries, but also grew it's economy with him promoting farming and fishing.
The Tanist succession laws spread out from Ireland during this time as Prince Madok of Wales adopted them for how the Welsh line of succession will work, and King David of Scotland tweaked the Scottish laws of succession so that if the first born son of the King died then he chose from any male member of the Scottish royal family to become the new heir.
Eoin, along with his wife Aideen, had taken three concubines, Margaret, a noblewoman from Norway, Margart Ua Brain, his niece and daughter of Rechtabra and Margart Ni Conchobair, and Eithne, a Irish noblewomen. His wife and concubines would give Eoin over twenty children.
Eoin died in 1403 at the age of 68, and his heir, Ruaidri succeeded to the throne.
[9] Ruaidrí III (later know as "The Wise"), was the 18th child of Eoin I and his concubine Margart Ni Conchobair and was born in 1379. Ruaidrí was originally planned for the Church but would evade such a fate when an outbreak of the plague in 1387 left him as the third surviving son of Eoin I. This meant Ruaidrí would be given an education befitting that of a medieval prince, learning how to govern, fight, command armies, dance, sing, etc. Ruaidrí would excel at diplomacy in particular and from the tender age of 17 would serve as a diplomat to several countries. By 1398, Ruaidrí was the de-factor Irish Ambassador to England, and regularly attended the court of Richard II. It was at about this time that he met his future wife, Joan of Beaufort, who had been widowed for the second time the previous year. The two fell in love and spent much of their time with each other. In February of 1399 the two would ask Richard II for permission to marry. Richard who was on relatively good terms with the couple agreed and would be married the next month. However, the marriage occurred without Eoin I's knowledge, who was outraged at the marriage.
Eoin had hoped to marry Ruaidrí to the Bourbon Princess Suzanne, so Ruaidrí's marriage to Joan came as an insult to him. It didn't help that in Eoin's eyes Joan was a bastard, despite the fact she had been legitimised in 1396. This led to Eoin refusing to allow Ruaidrí to return to Ireland for several months. Fortunately Eoin would allow the couple to return to Ireland after he learnt that his eldest surviving son, Turlough had planned on assassinating him so that he could ascend the throne (as at this time Eoin had yet to name an heir), unfortunately for Turlough the plot failed and he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Ruaidrí and Joan would race back to Ireland and arrived in August of 1399. There, Ruaidrí would be named the heir and bestowed the title Prince of Tara, which would become the Irish equivalent of the Prince of Cumberland. Ruaidrí would also write to his brother-in-law Henry Bolingbroke following his usurpation of the throne in 1399, recognising him as King and discussing the possibility of an alliance between Ireland and England.
Some years passed and in 1403, Ruaidrí ascended the throne. He quickly had his traitorous brother Turlough executed for high treason and allowed his other brother, Concobhar to become a Priest (he had wanted to do so since childhood, but following the 1387 plague outbreak, his Father had refused to let him enter the church). In the New Year of 1404, Ruaidrí would officially recognized Henry IV as the King of England, and signed a mutual pact of friendship between England and Ireland the same year. The two Kings both held dreams of being remembered as great conquerors and so privately discussed launching a joint campaign against Wales, as both Kings wanted to increase the popularity for the English were beginning to view Henry as a usurper who failed to deliver on his promises, while the Irish were questioning Ruaidrí's foreign policy which was remarkably Pro-English. The next year would see planning occurring between the two and by 1405 their armies were ready. The Irish claimed that they were the rightful overlords of most of Wales, while the English claimed that they were entitled to much of Northern Wales. It also helped that at the time, Wales was experiencing a civil war between Madok of Wales's chosen heir, his nephew Owain and eldest son Rhys.
Ruaidrí would lead 7,000 men into Southern Wales and began besieging much of it's southern forts and castles, while Henry IV attacked Northern Wales. Initially the campaign went quite smoothly and by 1406 it seemed as though Wales was on the verge of collapse. Wales would survive however thanks to Scottish and French support, who didn't want the English to become too powerful. From 1407-1409, the Welsh retook much of it's norther territories, and halted the Irish advance in the south. Then in 1410 two crucial events occurred. Firstly; a revolt in England broke out and Henry IV had to withdraw much of his men from Wales. Secondly; Ruaidrí suffered a severe wound at the Battle of Carmarthen, where he was hit in the leg by a mace. The hit was so severe that Ruaidrí would never again be able to walk. Unable to lead the campaign Ruaidrí would depart back home to Dublin, leaving his most loyal vassal and distant cousin, Artúr Mac Suibhne in charge of the Welsh campaign. This was perhaps Ruaidrí's greatest failure, as the war dragged on another 10 years and drained Irish finances and resulted in thousands of deaths. In many ways it was Ireland's Vietnam.
Back home at Dublin, Ruiadrí took a keen interest in the running of his court. He invited the finest artists, scholars and architects from across Europe to his court and employed their talents to make his court one of the most cultured in Europe. In many ways it was like a mini-renaissance. Frescoes and marble statues were produced and displayed, Romanesque baths were introduced across Dublin and Latin surged in popularity. Ruaidrí also had plays and books written, some of which include "The History of the Reign of Brian Bóru", "The Triumph of Ruaidrí The Great" and "The Saga of the House of O'Connor". Most of the works still survive and are considered some of the best ever produced. Ruaidrí's wife Joan also played a key role in running the court and introduced several English customs and phrases to the Irish.
From 1412, Ruaidrí's health deteriorated and he entrusted his wife as Regent. The two had been beyond close, and unlike his predecessors Ruaidrí took no concubines, which meant he had a small family of 6 children, at least he did in comparison to his Father and ancestors. Finally, in 1415, Ruaidrí passed away and would be succeeded by his son, Brian.
[10] Brian was twelve years old when his father died and he was thrust into kingship. Being the oldest son and underage made the Irish nobles grumble with some worrying that this would be the start of the Irish conforming to English laws and traditions. The fact that the very English Joan Beoufort was regent for her young son did not help matters. Knowing she needed allies, Joan married her second oldest daughter, Margaret, to Richard, the 3rd Duke of York and arranged a betrothal between Joan of Valois and King Brian, hoping to counter any English ambitions, her oldest daughter was married to the King of Tyrone.
Brian was perhaps the very reason why the Tanist succession laws were so important. As his parents' oldest son, he spoiled and coddled. He barely had any interest in ruling preferring to play instead, a trait he would continue to have in adulthood, enjoying spending his time, drinking, dancing and hunting while his mother ran the kingdom.
He married Joan in 1424. Many nobles found themselves unable to attend, citing illness and roads being unsuited for traveling. It was clear that most of Ireland was unhappy of their new king, The Scottish ambassador even noted that the tensions in England and France were not so heated. The couple were noted to be quite happy together, for all of Brian's faults, he was a loving husband and took no concubines or mistresses. Sadly their marriage would be childless for unknown reasons.
Surprisingly, peace would last for almost another eight years. Until one day at a private meal, the king and queen would suddenly get ill from drinking wine. Later historians would suspect it was typhoid fever. However, it was long suspected that King Brian and Queen Joan were poisoned. Leaving Eochaid to become the next ruler of Ireland.
[11] Eochaid was fifteen when his cousin Brian made him the Prince of Tara. Eochaid was the grandson of Eoin, by one of his children with his wife Aileen.
Eochaid was the third heir that Brian had appointed. The first, Fianamail Ua Conchobair, was the only son of Crimthann Ua Conchobair. Fianamail was older than Brian and passed away early in Brian’s reign. The second, Manuel Maria Ua Margaret, was the grandson of Margaret by her second husband Fernando das Barcelos the bastard son of a Portuguese King. Manuel Maria, or Manchán as he was called in Ireland, was viewed as too foreign. In 1427, Manuel Maria died jousting. A year later in 1428, Eochaid was the heir to Ireland.
Four years later, age nineteen, Eochaid was King of Ireland. Since Eochaid was a traditional Tanist heir, many viewed his rule as a return to “true Irish values.” What this meant varied depending on who you talked to.
Eochaid would nominally investigate the death of his predecessor, and quickly ruled that “bad food” was the cause.
Eochaid was unmarried when he became king, and quickly married Philippa of Guelders, the Netherlands having been allies with the Irish for almost a hundred years, Philippa was viewed as an acceptable foreign bride. Eochaid continued his pattern of “acceptably foreign” and used concubines to renew many connections with “acceptable” foreign allies: in 1436, Eochaid took Angharat ferch Tegwared, a minor Welsh lady, as concubine; then in 1439, Eochaid took Isabel of Ross, the bastard niece of the Scottish King, as concubine; and Eochaid’s final foreign concubine was Ingeborg, the sister-in-law of the Norwegian King. To counteract the foreign concubines, Eochaid would take three different Irish ladies as concubines. Eochaid doesn’t appear to have been the most virile, as only Philippa, Isabel, and Áine (one of the Irish concubines) would bear children, and even then only one child each.
Eochaid’s reign would continue what his marriage and concubines had started: strengthening the more popular foreign ties, and avoiding the more hot-button counties of England and France. He would also expand the Irish fleet, continuing to protect allied trade ships and expanding into transporting goods and people too and from the New World.
He committed to Tanistry succession and appointed his nephew Ruaidrí in 1445. So, when Eochaid died in 1465, Ruaidrí succeeded him.
[12] Ruaidrí was the son of Eochaid's younger brother. Born in 1430. As his uncle's fertility problems were well known, it was all but guaranteed he would succeed him. He was also of age by the time his uncle died while his oldest male cousin was only twelve-years-old.
In hopes of a better relationship with the church, Ruaidrí spent some time in Italy as his uncle's envoy. This is were he met Bianca de' Medici. Much to the shock and fury of her family, the couple would elope. Bianca's father, Piero would demand the marriage be annulled insisting that Ruaidri had absconded with his daughter, forcing her into this marriage, ignoring his daughter's very loud statements to the country.
Luckily for Ruaidrí despite the numerous bribe attempts, his witnesses, friends from his time in the Sapienza University of Rome, remained adamant that there had been no wrong doing on the groom's part. Eventually Pope Pious II decreed that the marriage was valid. However, because it was done without permission from the bride's father, the groom would receive no dowry.
In 1465, Ruaidrí and Bianca would receive word that King Eochaid had passed away and they would return to Ireland. Bianca and Ruaidrí would use their Italian contacts to to get involved in trade, as well as sponsoring great artists----one of the first Irish playwrights was noted to have been discovered by her. Bianca would embrace the Irish culture fully with the only exception being her husband getting a concubine, something she refused to let him even consider.
She did however accept that it might not be her children (seven in total, three of them sons) who inherited the throne. She helped Ruaidrí vet the candidates before he choose the next Prince of Tara. Bianca and Ruaidrí would continue to be in love for their long years of marriage.
In 1490, King Edward of England would decide to try what his ancestors had failed to do and conquer Ireland, being a descendant of Richard, the 3rd Duke of York and his wife Margaret, daughter of King Ruaidrí the Wise. Despite pushing sixty, Ruaidrí would lead his men against the invading English.
Alas, he would not see the end of the war, for three short years later, he would die in a hectic battlefield, managing a mutual kill with King Edward, leaving Eochaid to pick up his crown.
[13] Eochaid was born in 1432 as the cousin of Ruaidrí IV and was chosen as his successor due to his strong leadership skills. By the time he ascended the Irish throne, he had six children through his wife Princess Astrid of Norway, whom he married in 1459, and didn't took any concubines as he was faithful to his wife. Eochaid's main issue to deal with was the destruction left in the wake of the failed English invasion, which would be cleaned up during most of his reign.
Tanist succession by this point had made to the continent, first with Brittany, then the Scandinavian countries, and finally the Netherlands, with the former using the original version while the latter two the Scottish version. The continuing spread of Tanist succession also saw it's rivalry with traditional succession deepen as in 1497, the French King made a speech about wanting to wage a crusade against the Tanist succession following countries for their "barbaric practices".
Eochaid died in 1502 at seventy years old, and his distant cousin, Eoin, whom he appointed in 1498, succeeded him.
[14] Since pretty much everyone liked Eoin, no one was surprised when Eochaid III made Eoin Prince of Tara in 1498. At the time, he was in his late forties (since Eochaid was from a more minor branch of the O’Conor family we don’t have concrete birth records for him) and had spent most of his life traveling with the Irish fleet. He had found in several sea battles, been to all the known continents, and spoke several languages. Besides his less than stellar bloodline, he was perfect.
Since there was some pushback due to his status as a distant cousin (his line of the family hadn’t hadn't had real influence at court or a significant marriage to either foreigners or powerful Irish lords in generations) Eoin sometimes would use the appellation Ua Ruaidrí, or O’Rory, since his last monarchial ancestor was Ruaidrí II, as a reminder of his relation to the first three Irish High Kings of the O’Conor family.
Eoin never had time to get married, and once he became king that didn’t change. Anytime anyone suggested he married, Eoin pointed out that he’d already appointed his nephew, Pádraig as Prince of Tara and had plenty of brothers, nephews, and cousins to continue on the family name.
After only five years of rule, during which the Irish fleet was expanded again making it one of, if not the, great power(s) of the Ocean, Eoin would pass away from a winter chill, leaving Pádraig as heir.
[15] Named for Ireland's patron saint, Pádraig O'Rory was twenty years old when he became King of Ireland. He married the daughter of the King of Sweden, Ursula in 1505 after being chosen as his uncle's heir. They had nine children.
He was a devoted Catholic, and viewed concubinage close to bigamy. However, knowing how much his people stubbornly held onto to their traditions, he did not outlaw the practice, instead sending priests to preach against it, hoping it would fall out of fashion eventually.
Pádraig was staunchly against Lutheranism, writing a pamphlet defending the Pope against Luther. He would make an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor to defend their lands against the so-called Reformation.
In 1542, the King of England started calling himself the King of Ireland. Pádraig disagreed quite vehemently, declaring that no English monarch would ever have claim over the Irish. Weeks later, Pádraig would die of a bad belly.
[16a] Conchobar was the eldest son of Padraig and Ursula and he wasn’t supposed to be King. He was disinclined to the martial arts, and rather quiet, so Padraig appointed his brother (Padraig’s brother not Conchobar’s) Brian O’Rory as Prince of Tara. But Brian O’Rory would die shortly before his brother Padraig in an early skirmish between the English and the Irish. Padraig wouldn’t have time to appoint a new heir before his death. Thanks to the Hereditary Act this left Conchobar as the heir.
There were some significant murmurings over the idea of Conchobar as king and the fact that Conchobar didn’t really want the job either made it seem that civil war was inevitable. Enter Ornóra stage left.
[16b] If Ornóra had been born a boy, she would have been Prince of Tara: she was descended from Ruaidri IV and his wife Bianca de Medici; she had spent many years at sea and was an excellent ship’s captain, through her sisters she had marital ties to many of Ireland’s petty kings as well as Wales, Flanders, and Hainaut; and she was well spoken, charismatic, and people just liked her.
Not only could Ornóra fulfill the role of King, she wanted it. Shortly after Padraig’s death, Ornóra approached Conchobar and proposed marriage. (The two really should both already be married, but both had refused several proposals choosing instead to keep company with a “dear companion”) She would rule and he would keep the men who thought they could do a better job off her back. Conchobar accepted.
Seeing Ornóra step up to Conchobar’s side settled many of the murmurings and Conchobar and Ornóra were crowned without issue. Ornóra would also be addressed as O’Rory as she was also descended from one of the Irish kings name Ruaidri. Ornóra would lead several campaigns against the English (though she wouldn’t fight in the actual battles) until the King of England gave up on his claim to Ireland.
The two would have a smooth reign, Ornóra managed much of the traditional monarchial roles and Conchobar found he enjoyed handling the realm’s finances. Due to his attention, Ireland would gain much wealth. They would only have two children as neither Ornóra or Conchobar appeared to enjoy the marriage bed.
Conveniently they would pass away within days of each other when the sweating sickness broke out in 1577. They were succeeded by their daughter, Grace.
[17] Gráinne or Grace was a spirited girl. As her parents only had her and her sister, her father took the unusal step of declaring her his heir, reminding everyone it was his right to choose. Grace was married to the King of Ulster when she was eighteen. Her husband, Hugh, was a tritiditonal man and often fought with his wife who refused to sumbit to his will.
Despite her rather independent spirit, Grace tempered it with her natural charisma and charm, able to wrap many people around her fingers. She was twenty-seven when her parents died. By then, she had managed to sway many of the lesser kings and the rich landowners to her side, convincing them to accept them as their queen, quoting her father and adding that the whole Tanist system was to put the best heir. And since she had been groomed from partically birth, she was the best fit.
Men like her husband disagreed and soon after her coronation, Grace had a rebellion on her hands with Hugh leading the rebels against his stubborn and opinonated wife. Grace dressed in armor and lead the army herself, leading some to call her Queen Maeve after a historical warrior queen. Another nickname for Grace was Gráinne Mhao (Grainne the Bald) after she shaved her head to keep her long hair from being a problem in the battle.
Although popular folktale would have Grace slaying her deceitful husband in one and one combat, it is actually unknown how Hugh died. What is known is Grace gave her husband a respectful burial, saying as much as she hated him, her was the father of her two children.
A year later, she would remarry the King of Tyrone and have six children with him.
In 1600, Grace would meet up with the Prince of Wales, the Queen of Scotland and the Queen of England to sign a treatry, often called the Women's Peace (despite the inclusion of the Prince of Wales), which was made to end all tensions between the four rulers, ending the constant territory wars. They also promised to come to aid whenever one country was under attack.
Grace would die in 1618, at seventy-one, having nominated Domnall as her sucessor.
[18] Domnall or Donald was born in 1541 to Prince Eoin and Princess Mary of Scotland and was the nephew of High Queen Gráinne through his father, who was a grandson of Pádraig through his son Ruaidrí, the younger brother of Conchobar II. Domnall had a rough childhood as his father was infamous for his short temper and so stayed in the company of his greatuncle and aunt, and became Prince of Tara in 1598 for his help in the Ulster Rebellion. By the time he became High King he had married Princess Anne of Brittany, whom he had six children with.
In 1620, the War of the Breton Succession started following the death of Duke Conan VIII without a clear heir. Domnall would declare his claim to Brittany though his wife (who was the aunt of Conan) and sent a invasion there, with himself leading it. This would his downfall as in 1624 the eighty-three year old King died in battle to forces that were loyal to Prince Arthur of Brittany, who was Conan's cousin.
Domnall was sent back to Ireland and burried next to his wife who died seventeen years before him. His successor, his grandson, Eamon would deal with the end of the War of the Breton Succession.
[19] Eamon was the eldest son of Eoin O’Rory (third son of Domnall I) and Mary of Flanders. He was a controversial choice as Prince of Tara as he was wed to Queen Janet of Scotland. But upon his appointment in 1620, Eamon swore that his heir would not be the heir of Scotland. And, once Eamon was King of Ireland, Queen Janet joined the Breton Succession War to reinforce her husband, sending Scottish forces. This did much to endear her to the Irish people.
To address the Breton concerns over a union between Ireland and Brittany, Eamon declared that since Brittany didn’t follow Tanist succession, he was fighting on behalf of his uncle, Prince Niall (eldest son of Domnall I and Anne of Brittany). (That Eamon was Niall’s heir, as neither Niall nor Turlough (second son of Domnall) had sons, was left unmentioned). This combined with the additional forces from Scotland, saw Eamon win the Breton Succession War. Prince Niall was crowned and the dethroned Arthur of Brittany would be brought back to Ireland where he lived the rest of his days in an isolated abby.
Following the end of the war, Eamon followed through with his promise regarding Irish inheritance, and appointed his nephew Ruaidrí as Prince of Tara.
Eamon spent the rest of his reign curating the bonds between Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales building on the efforts of Gráinne I. He arranged many marriages: his eldest daughter wed the English heir, his third daughter wed the grandson and probable heir of the Prince of Wales, his eldest son (the Scottish heir) wed an Welsh princess.
Neither did Eamon forget Ireland’s oldest ally, the Netherlands. He arranged the marriage of Ruaidrí to Eamon’s mother’s niece Joan of Flanders.
In 1644 while hunting, Eamon would misjudge a jump and his horse stumbled while landing. He would tumble from his horse and hit his head. He spent the next several hours delirious and passed away the next day, leaving his nephew, Ruaidrí as King of Ireland.
[20] Ruaidrí was the son of Eamon's younger brother. His father had died in the Breton Succession war when he was nine years old. He was fostered with the King of Leinster. This would begin a tradition where the Prince of Tara, if underaged, would be fostered in one of the petty king's courts so they could learn how to rule and befriend their vessels.
When he turned eighteen, he would travel to Connacht where he acted as his uncle's regent. At twenty-one, he married Joan of Flanders. Although Ruaidrí was an intelligent and shrewd leader, he had a fierce temper and a mean streak a mile wide. He also had very little interest in his wife, only bedding her once a month. He did mange to sire four children, who he promptly ignored, beliving that niether of them were truly worthy of succeeding him.
He only respected two people, the King of Connacht, who he viewed as a second father and his uncle Eamon. In 1644, when his uncle died, Ruaidrí was apologetic with rage, ordering Eamon's Master of Horses executed for failing to train the horse properly. This would be the start of his harsh punishments.
As soon as he was crowned, King Ruaidrí decided he was surrounded by "heretics and weaklings", and he would have to root the corruption out with fire and sword. Anyone who wasn't Catholic needed to die least they contaminated good Irishmen with their blasphemy. No one was sure where Ruaidrí' religious fanaticism came from with some historians suspecting this might have been Ruaidrí's way of indulging his sadistic side in a way seen somewhat socially acceptable. Others reject this theory as there were no reports of Ruaidrí showing violent tendencies in his early years barring the disproportionate execution of his uncle's horse master.
Another theory is Ruaidrí had a mental breakdown following his uncle's death or suffered a blow to the head. Either way, as the years went by, he slowly became worse, growing more paranoid and violent. The breaking point came in 1666 when he viciously attacked his wife, accusing her of cheating on him.
His eldest son decided enough was enough and staged a coup, imprisioning Ruaidrí and forcing him to abdicate, allowing Eamon II to take the throne.
[21] Eamon was the eldest son of Ruaidrí and Joan of Flanders. He was named for his father’s beloved Uncle. That was the most attention he ever got from his father. We have few records of his early years as for the first two decades of life he was almost a nonentity at court; his father didn’t want him there.
Based on his later life we know he was a bookish man, and many believe Eamon spent his late teens and early twenties drifting between the courts of the different Irish petty kings, though really only interacting with their library. We do know he visited his cousin, second son of Eamon I and now Duke of Brittany, as the two became good friends and referenced their initial meeting in later letters.
Starting in 1661, Eamon pops up at his father’s court, though he doesn’t make many waves at first. Slowly Eamon would begin to gather allies, often by acting to shield them from his father’s temper. Then in 1666, Ruaidrí’s heir, the Prince of Tara and distant cousin, died from the fever. Now, by the Hereditary Act, Eamon was the heir.
Taking advantage of his father’s attack upon his mother’s person, Eamon would seize his father. There was some initial pushback but Eamon was supported by his cousins, the Duke of Brittany and King of Scotland.
Slowly the realm grew to know Eamon. They found him to be discerning, reserved, not particularly martial though he was capable of handling himself, and possessing a prodigious knowledge of all things Ireland. He could discuss agriculture, fishing, sailing, the historical connections between various clans, old alliances, the sundry treaties between Ireland and other countries.
He would dial back the religious pressure that his father had enacted, and reviewed the cases of everyone his father tried, both those living and those dead. Many were pardoned posthumously. He also immediately made Hugh, the third son of the King of Ulster, Prince of Tara, and made it known that if something were to happen to him, he would choose his distinct cousin Brian as Prince of Tara, ensuring that a situation such as he took advantage of would not occur again.
After several years of ruling, courtiers and advisors began insisting Eamon wed. He had resisted as Eamon viewed himself as already married. Before he became king Eamon had taken a woman he called Aisling (for the Irish word for vision, as Eamon said she was a vision to behold) as concubine.
Aisling’s actual name and origins were unknown. Records indicate that she wasn’t European, but as no portrait of her survived we don’t know if she was from the Americas, Africa, or Asia, as she could have been from any of the many places the Irish fleet traveled to. Due to her ethnicity, Aisling wasn’t viewed as appropriate for the role of wife and Queen.
Though before attending to his marriage, Eamon would arrange the marriages of his three children by Aisling: His eldest daughter was wed to Brian, Eamon’s second choice for Prince of Tara; his son was wed to the heiress of Guelders; and his youngest daughter was betrothed to an petty Irish King.
Finally in 1672, Eamon would arrange his marriage to Maria of Portugal. But the two would never wed, the day Maria docked in Dublin, Eamon and Aisling were both found dead in their bed. Hugh would inherit.
[22] Hugh was born in 1642 as the third son of the King of Ulster and wasn’t expected to become king. But due to his friendship with a young Eamon II, he was made Prince of Tara by Eamon when he became High King in 1666 and so helped his father in ruling Ulster in preparation for succeeding Eamon.
In 1672 Hugh became High King after Eamon and Aisling both committed suicide and married Maria of Portugal, who was going to be Eamon’s wife. The newlyweds loved each other very much as Hugh didn’t take any mistresses or concubines. A total of seven children would be born to the couple. Hugh used the appellation O’Hugh, as he was a descendant of Queen Gráinne’s first husband, King Hugh of Ulster.
Hugh continued his predecessor’s policies of Religious tolerance and was a patron of the arts.
His reign was generally peaceful, expect when Ireland supported William of Holland in the Scottish War of Succession (1689-1694), which he won.
Hugh died in 1701 at the age of 59, with his successor that he picked in 1692, Eoin III succeeding him.
[23] Eoin was the second son of Hugh and Maria of Portugal. His elder brother was passed over as Eoin had more easy manners and was a better student. Eoin was made Prince of Tara at age 15 and shortly afterwards his father arranged his marriage to Anna of Guelders, the granddaughter of Eamon II.
While not particularly fond of his wife, Eoin wouldn’t take any concubines, and in fact would end the practice of concubinage. He cited how in the Bible God’s people took multiples wives and concubines for a time and then the practice ended. He did not require the lords that currently had concubines to renounce them, instead insisting that no new concubines be taken.
Eoin spent his reign focusing on Ireland’s foreign interests. He would see the trading outpost expanded into colonies and the Irish fleet expanded yet again making it the largest fleet in Europe.
Eoin and Anna had five children, and Eoin invited many distant cousins to come and be companions of his children. Eoin made it known that he would be choosing the Prince of Tara from among these children and so many O’Conor, O’Rory, and O’Hugh cousins were sent to be raised with the Royal Children.
Eoin would choose an O’Connor cousin in 1705, but this lord passed away in 1734 and so Eoin simply repeated his invitation for cousins to come be raised at court, this time as companions for his grandchildren. He would choose his gandson Brian in 1739.
Eoin would pass away in 1744 and was succeeded by Brian III.
[24] Born in 1732 as the son of Princess Márie O'Hugh and her O'Rory husband, Brian was though his mother a grandson of High King Eoin III, and was picked as the Prince of Tara due to his connections to two of the three branchs of the Irish royal family. Brian became High King in 1744 at the young age of eight, and so a regency was put in place that will rule for him until he turned eighteen. During this time Brian would be taught by various tutors on subjects like military tactics, Irish history, and more.
By the time Brian turned eighteen in 1750, he was a intellegent and handsome man, as he would receive many offers from the various crowned heads of europe to marry their daughters. But he would ultimately pick Princess Isabella of Spain as his wife, with the couple having seven living children together. Brian continued the pratice done by his father of surrounding his children with distant cousins who would act as companions of them.
Brian lead Ireland though most of the major wars of the 18th Century. The first being the Eight Years War (1757-1765), where Ireland, Scotland, France and others fought against England, Portugal, Austria and others. Ireland would upon the end of the war receive most of England's colonies in North Vespuccia (OTL America).
Ireland then supported Vespuccian indepence from England during the Vespucccian Revolution (1778-1786), which resulted in the overthrow of the English monarchy and it's replacement of an republic. Ireland joined the First Coalition in fighting against Republican England in the War of the First Coalition (1793-1798), but lost.
Brian would die just weeks later at the age of 65, some say of his saddness over the First Coalition's loss in the war. his cousion Conn, who became Prince of Tara in 1786, succeeded him.
Once Conchobar returned to Ireland, he found himself fighting for his place as his father's heir, avoiding an assassination attempt and fighting against his own own uncle. But in the end, he fought just as he did against the Normans, viciously and ruthlessly.
When his father died, he traveled to Rome, almost emptying his coffers in order to be crowned by the pope himself. While he was there, he met King Philip II of France who suggested they make an alliance against the English. Having a deep hatred for those who attempted to take his country, Conchobar agreed. The two men, despite coming from vastly different cultures, would become unlikely friends, visiting each other's country twice and exchanging many letters.
King John of England tried to reach out to him, in hopes he would support John's war against the English barons. Conchobar who had fought with John's father and then his brother Richard, laughed at him, telling him, the only way Ireland would get itself involved with the English, it would be to stop any invaders.
In his personal life, Conchobar was married to a woman named Áine, who he had seven sons with. There are a few records of his daughters, only a scant few mentions of two of his girls who were either his daughters or nieces who married two of his political rivals.
For a man who lived most of his adult life, fighting for one reason or another, he died peacefully in his bed at age seventy. After his death, his son, Ruaidrí would become the new High King of Ireland.
[2] Ruadrí II was the third son of King Conchobar I. Born in 1195, he was originally destined for the Church, but two events changed his fate. The first was the untimely death of his older brother, and then Tanaiste, Brian, in 1210. Brian died in a horse-riding accident, though many suspect he was murdered by his brother, Seamus. Seamus was beyond ambitious and was noted for his cruelty, which led to many contemporaries accusing him of murdering Brian. It didn't help Seamus that he was his Father's least favourite son. Thus, Conchobar, would see to it that in 1218, Ruaidrí was elected the Taniaste. Seamus was angered by this and led a short-lived result, which was defeated, and he was exiled to England. In 1221, Conchobar died and Ruaidrí ascended the throne as Ruaidrí II, and held a splendorous coronation in Dublin.
In 1222, Ruaidrí would negotiate his marriage to the King of Alba’s niece, Lady Isabella Stewart, in a bid to create an alliance against England. The marriage would be agreed to in 1223. Isabela would be given a warm welcoming in Ireland, with a ceremony being held in her honour in Dublin, one which was remarked for it's great pomp. Ruaidrí would also be quite devoted to his wife, with no sources even speculating that he had an extramarital affair. The two would share ten kids, though only a few survived.
In 1224, Ireland and Alba launched a joint campaign against the Kingdom of Norway. The two Kingdoms hoped to conquer multiple small islands held by Norway, such as the Isle of Mann. Ruaidrí would lead his armies in person, and was noted to be a capable commander. After 4 long and bloody years, the Irish and Scots emerged victorious, defeating Norway and dividing the spoils of war between them. Ireland would gain the Isle of Man and the Islands of Iona, Islay and Arran. Ruaidrí would quickly install his favourite, Eoin O'Súilleabháin as the new Archbishop of Iona in 1227.
In 1228, Ruadrí's exiled brother, Seamus returned from exile in England with a force of 3,000 men, comprised mostly of mercenaries. The group would lay siege to Waterford that same year. Ruadrí rallied veterans from his recent war with Norway and march south to defeat his enemies. Annoyingly, they would scatter across the south, and utilises Guerrilla warfare tactics against him for the next year. After months of trial and error, Ruaidrí successfully lured Seamus's force into battle, at the Skirmish of Skibbereen, where Ruaidrí would emerge victorious, massacring the enemy force and capturing the enemy force. Ruaidrí would return to Dublin with his brother and had him kept under tight watch in his Castle.
In the final months of his life, Ruaidrí passed the Hereditary Act, which decreed that the King was to choose his successor before his death, and should he die prior to naming an heir, the crown would go to the nearest blood relative. Only a few weeks after this act passed, Ruaidrí fell ill with tuberculosis and died. He would be succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Turlough.
[3] Born in 1227, Turlough was the first child of Ruadr and Isabella to live past his first birthday. (Turlough’s seven older siblings, including a set of twins, each died young from a range of childhood illnesses. Before Turlough’s birth, Isabella wrote home saying “All he (Rory) has every given me is dead children”). Though only three years old at his father’s death, Turlough was legally his father’s heir due to Hereditary Act. This was challenged by several different claimants, all of which found Isabella an able opponent. She was able to secure her son a throne while being pregnant with her husband’s posthumous children. (She would give birth to twins some 5 months after the death of Rory)
Turlough would be forced to grow up fast. His early kingship shaped Turlough: Ireland was always his first priority and he would bring an intensity to ruling that impressed and intimidated his subjects.
He would marry a succession of Irish princesses: Muadhnait Ní Dhomhnaill (Maud O’Donnell) Princess of Tyrconnell, Labhaoise Nic Cárthaigh (Louise MacCarthy) Princess of Desmond, Eibhilín Ní Brian (Eileen O’Brian) Princess of Thomond, Ornóra Ní Néill (Honour O’Niell) Princess of Tyrone. And had an untold number of children. Turlough would use these marriages to bind the various lesser kingdoms closer to him and his dynasty.
Turlough brought that same single minded focus to choosing a successor that he brought to ruling. Several different sons and grandsons were examined and discarded before settling on Cormac late in the 1270s.
Turlough would pass away at age 62 from a winter chill. He was succeeded by his son, Hugh.
[4] Hugh was his father's seventh son by his third wife Eileen. He was born in 1260. His half-brother, Ruaidrí, had been his father's favorite but when he died supporting Prince Llywelyn of Wales against the English, leaving behind an infant son and an uncertain succession. Turlough deliberated over which of his sons should inherit. Eventually, he picked twelve-year-old Hugh. Historians suspect that Turlough wanted an heir young enough for him to groom, but not so young that if Turlough died, his son would be a child ruler, vulnerable to usurpation and used as a puppet.
Hugh married Gwladys ferch Dafydd, the niece of Prince Llywelyn of Wales when he was seventeen. He also took a leaf out of his father's book had took two concubines from the houses of other kingdoms. Wanting a closer relationship with the French, Hugh would start negotiating a marriage between his oldest son and the princess of France.
Unfortunately, King Philip III had two problems with the match. One, Hugh's son being the oldest did not mean he would actually succeed or that his children would. And two, the tradition of having concubines was far too close to bigamy for his comfort.
Hugh was ambitious and wanted his country's prestige to continue to grow, not to mention he felt that France would be a useful ally against the English invaders. Therefore three years after his father died and Hugh became king, he tried to outlaw having concubines, citing it was against secular law and that the oldest son would inherit everything.
This did not go over well with the traditional Irishmen and soon Hugh had a civil war on his hands. In 1302, he fell in battle, leaving his kingdom in the hands of his nephew, Caoimhghin
[5] Caoimhghín (modern day Kevin) was born in 1273 to Conchobar (the third son of Turlough by his second wife, Louise) and Alice (a daughter of an English Marcher lord). Alice had been captured during the Welsh/English War, and after the death of her father, her cousin was uninterested in ransoming her. She became Conchobar’s concubine and the mother of his only son.
Caoimhghín was Alice’s only child and the sole focus of her attention. She ensured he received an education worthy of the grandson of a King and pushed his interests in court winning him lands of his own. This left Caoimhghín with the impression that the world revolved around him and that he was capable of anything. Unfortunately for several people, he was capable of a lot.
Alice had a complicated relationship with her homeland that had raised and abandoned her. But her familiarity with the Welsh Marches that she passed onto her son would serve him well later in life.
Caoimhghín grew to adulthood during his uncle’s reign, and agreed with him that it was time for Ireland to be heard on a larger scale. But Caoimhghín disagreed with the alliance with France, thinking that Ireland shouldn’t be beholden to anybody to gain influence.
As such, Caoimhghín was an obvious focal point when the civil war started. Hugh, and later his eldest son, Lorcan, were backed by Wales, and it was here that Caoimhghín’s familiarity with the Marcher Lord’s mattered. Caoimhghín reached out to several Marcher Lords alerting them of various moments of the Welsh army. And caught between the Irish and the English, Prince Llywelyn found himself unable to support Lorcan. Without Welsh support, Lorcan was unable to continue his fight for the throne and surrendered. He would spend the rest of his life under house arrest and died from a winter chill some years later.
Caoimhghín was already married to a woman named Eithne, and two children by her. But for reasons unknown he considered her unsuitable as Queen and shortly after Caoimhghín was crowned Eithne would retire to a nunnery, and Caoimhghín went searching for a Queen. He found Margaret Eriksdatter, illegitimate daughter of the Norwegian King. They wed in 1307. (He had been offered Agnes Eriksdatter, the legitimate daughter of King Erik, but that marriage alliance required a guarantee that her son would be heir, a guarantee Caoimhghín wasn’t willing to give)
Caoimhghín would also take three concubines fairly early in his reign: Bronagh or Bronwen, his cousin and the daughter of Hugh and Gwladys ferch Dafydd; Sorcha Ní Dhomhnaill (Sarah O’Donnell) niece of the King of Tyrconnell; and a Lady known as Constance who appears to have been from Brittany or Normandy.
After securing his throne and arranging his marriage, Caoimhghín turned his attention to Wales and the mess he had left there. The Second Welsh/English War had slowed to a slog as the same few castles were won and lost over and over again. Additionally Prince Llywelyn of Wales would fall in battle in 1309, and his son Owain was ill-prepared.
Caoimhghín reached out to Owain offering to help…. with a price. Wales would join the list of Kingdoms that Caoimhghín as High King ruled over and in return, Caoimhghín would drive the English away. Owain would accept, and Caoimhghín was as good as his word; the English would be driven out of Wales.
While Wales was the first instance of Caoimhghín’s pattern of causing problems and then showing up to solve those same problems, it was not the last. Next, He used the Irish navy to harass trade ships from the Lowlands, and then offered his assistance protecting those same ships. And he got away with it, causing Ireland to gain quite a bit of wealth and influence.
He would take two more concubines later in his reign: Ceridwen ferch Gruffudd, a minor Welsh noblewoman of renowned beauty in 1317 and another cousin (though the exact relation is unknown) Fineamhain Ní Conchobair (Feenawn O’Conor) in 1324. And in 1322, Queen Margaret died giving birth to her fourth child. Caoimhghín would remarry to Joan of Flanders, daughter of the Count of Flanders. Between his three wives and five concubines, Caoimhghín had over thirty children.
Caoimhghín chose several heirs throughout his reign before being succeeded by son, Eochaid when Caoimhghín died from a hunting accident in 1328.
[6] Eochaid was born to Caoimhghín and Margart Erikdatter in 1310. He was twelve when his mother died and eighteen when his father died. He married Joan of Savoy when they were both eighteen. He would have two concubines, Eileen of Ormond and Margaret of Stirling, both daughters of noblemen.
A fierce traditionalist, he wrote an essay in defense on concubines and choosing one heir, pointing to the succession crises that plagued the countries of Europe and of all the weak and ineffectual rulers that could have been passed over had the Irish Tanist laws been applied. It was a controversial piece and was completely banned in England who did not appreciate the attacks on their previous rulers that is until Queen Philippa thought to use it in support of her husband's claim to France then it was quickly turned into a propaganda piece much to Eochaid's horror and fury.
When war broke out in 1337 between England and France, King Philip VI was eager to renew the alliance between Ireland and France, offering a marriage between the year-old Philip, Duke of Orléans and one of King Eochaid's daughters. Eager to have the French match, his ancestors pushed for, Eochaid only agreed if his chosen heir would marry a future French Princess. As he had no daughters yet, Philip agreed.
With Scotland, Ireland and Wales standing behind France, many suspected the war would not last long. Unfortunately King David of Scots being captured in 1346 and a year later, King Eochaid died of the black plague as would several of his children, leaving his underaged son Eoin as his heir. Historians would note the irony of a man who had written about how the Irish succession laws protected the realm from succession crisis when it was his death that caused one to happen.
[7] Succession Crisis
1347 saw the death of King Eochaid and his two eldest sons by Joan of Savoy. This left his legal heir as his last son by Joan, Eoin* (the Hereditary Act being amended to give precedence to the children of wives over concubines. This was a condition of Eochaid’s marriage to Joan of Savoy). But, Eoin was barely 12, with many elder half-brothers and a plethora of uncles (not to mention even more distant relatives) ready and willing to step up to the plate.
(*Apparently this was the original form of John in Ireland, Sean was introduced by the Normans.)
The initial claimants and their relationship to the deceased King:
- (son) Crimthann Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Eileen of Ormond, age 17. Married to a Princess of Tyrconnell. He can count on his in-laws backing him and he’s and all around decent fellow, but not anything spectacular.
- (son) Fianamail Ua Conchobair, younger full-brother of Crimthann, age 14. Currently being used as a figure head by the lord who’d been awarded his wardship, it’s believed he’d prefer to back his older full-brother.
- (son-in-law) Rechtabra Ua Brian, married to Margart Ni Conchobair, age 34. An eloquent and rather rich landholder, has a decent following.
- (half-brother) Cathal Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Fineamhain Ní Conchobair, age 24. Cathal has the benefit of the backing of a good fraction of the O’Conor family.
- (brother) David Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Margaret, age 30. David argues that he’s the legal heir since he’s the closest adult relation of Eochaid.
- (half-brother) Domnall Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Sorcha Ní Dhomhnaill, age 33
- (half-brother) Congalach Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and Ceridwen ferch Gruffudd, age 28
- (cousin) Dubthach Ua Conchobair, descended from Toirdhealbhach and Ornóra Ní Néill
- (cousin) Fedelmid Ua Conchobair, son of Hugh and one of his concubines, age 66. Has a stellar military reputation. But not much backing.
- (cousin) Ruaidri Ua Conchobair, son of Caoimhghín and his first wife Eithne, 54. Above average military commander and has a decent amount of backing. But he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder over his mother’s “banishment” (perhaps rightly so) and it annoys his followers.
Internationally: Ireland pretty much ignored the rest of the world. Wales would take this opportunity to revolt, crowning a relatively unknown minor Welsh lord, Madok ap Mabilia, as Prince of Wales. (Since Prince Madok choose to use his mother’s name instead of his father’s, some historians believe he may have been a bastard. The more common theory is Madok’s father was an English Marcher lord: Willam de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose who is recorded as married to a Mabel, the English form of Mabilia). The Anglo-French war ended up being actually just the English and the French as Scotland took a peace deal as part of the ransom of King David and Ireland was out. King Philip VI would hold a grudge over this.
Internally: As various armies fought for the throne, Ireland suffered first from black plague, the from famine as many farms went un-attended.
After three years many of the claimants were not longer on the field:
- Fianamail had been rescued by his brother and loudly withdrawn his own claim.
- Rechtabra has been dumped by Margaret. (Margaret is now a pirate and living her best life)
- Cathal, Domnall, Congalach, and Dubthach fell in battle and none of their sons were old enough to push their claims.
- Fedelmid passed away from old age and none of his sons were impactful enough to pick up his claim.
- Ruaidri was dumped by his backers for being too annoying.
Crimthann Ua Conchobair: He could be the easy choice. He’s the eldest surviving son of Eochaid, he has a strong internal marriage, and he’s a decently competent guy. He's won quite a few battle during the war. Not stellar, but nothing to worry about. There are concerns in that he and his wife have no children. Compounding that he hasn’t taken any concubines, but he is pretty dependent on his in-laws and many think he'd accept their sister/nieces/daughters as concubines as soon as he's king. But, many Irish still strongly defend their tanistry succession, and the precedent of choosing the eldest son worries them.
David Ua Conchobair: He’s a nice fit since he can back his claim with some interpretation of the Hereditary Act. If only adult relatives are considered, David is the closet relative to Eochaid. He has several sons, so no worries on that front. Also, he's just an all around great guy. People love him, even his enemies say he's a stand up guy. He's married to a Scottish lady, so that's something on the international front.
And the dark horse: Eoin Ua Conchobair: While 3 years ago, Eoin was a scrawny 12 year old, now he’s 15 and a strapping young man, easily around 6’4” tall. Two years into the war, Eoin married his half-aunt, Aideen daughter of Caoimhghín and Joan of Flanders. (This was arranged by the two Queen Dowagers: Joan of Savoy and Joan of Flanders.) Eoin has won decent renown as a commander, is more charismatic than his elder half-brother, and has the best international connections. (Due to his mother and mother-in-law). And with England, Wales, and France are all ticked with Ireland, that's pretty important.
But the three have pretty even footing and they know Ireland can’t sustain more war. So some deals were made and Eoin was crowned.
[8] Upon becoming the High King of Ireland, Eoin's wife Aideen gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Síne. This event, along with the end of the Irish Civil War, marked an period of celebration across Ireland, and Eoin's reign would be considered the start of the Irish Golden Age as he not only helped Ireland to recover quicker from the Black Plauge than other countries, but also grew it's economy with him promoting farming and fishing.
The Tanist succession laws spread out from Ireland during this time as Prince Madok of Wales adopted them for how the Welsh line of succession will work, and King David of Scotland tweaked the Scottish laws of succession so that if the first born son of the King died then he chose from any male member of the Scottish royal family to become the new heir.
Eoin, along with his wife Aideen, had taken three concubines, Margaret, a noblewoman from Norway, Margart Ua Brain, his niece and daughter of Rechtabra and Margart Ni Conchobair, and Eithne, a Irish noblewomen. His wife and concubines would give Eoin over twenty children.
Eoin died in 1403 at the age of 68, and his heir, Ruaidri succeeded to the throne.
[9] Ruaidrí III (later know as "The Wise"), was the 18th child of Eoin I and his concubine Margart Ni Conchobair and was born in 1379. Ruaidrí was originally planned for the Church but would evade such a fate when an outbreak of the plague in 1387 left him as the third surviving son of Eoin I. This meant Ruaidrí would be given an education befitting that of a medieval prince, learning how to govern, fight, command armies, dance, sing, etc. Ruaidrí would excel at diplomacy in particular and from the tender age of 17 would serve as a diplomat to several countries. By 1398, Ruaidrí was the de-factor Irish Ambassador to England, and regularly attended the court of Richard II. It was at about this time that he met his future wife, Joan of Beaufort, who had been widowed for the second time the previous year. The two fell in love and spent much of their time with each other. In February of 1399 the two would ask Richard II for permission to marry. Richard who was on relatively good terms with the couple agreed and would be married the next month. However, the marriage occurred without Eoin I's knowledge, who was outraged at the marriage.
Eoin had hoped to marry Ruaidrí to the Bourbon Princess Suzanne, so Ruaidrí's marriage to Joan came as an insult to him. It didn't help that in Eoin's eyes Joan was a bastard, despite the fact she had been legitimised in 1396. This led to Eoin refusing to allow Ruaidrí to return to Ireland for several months. Fortunately Eoin would allow the couple to return to Ireland after he learnt that his eldest surviving son, Turlough had planned on assassinating him so that he could ascend the throne (as at this time Eoin had yet to name an heir), unfortunately for Turlough the plot failed and he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Ruaidrí and Joan would race back to Ireland and arrived in August of 1399. There, Ruaidrí would be named the heir and bestowed the title Prince of Tara, which would become the Irish equivalent of the Prince of Cumberland. Ruaidrí would also write to his brother-in-law Henry Bolingbroke following his usurpation of the throne in 1399, recognising him as King and discussing the possibility of an alliance between Ireland and England.
Some years passed and in 1403, Ruaidrí ascended the throne. He quickly had his traitorous brother Turlough executed for high treason and allowed his other brother, Concobhar to become a Priest (he had wanted to do so since childhood, but following the 1387 plague outbreak, his Father had refused to let him enter the church). In the New Year of 1404, Ruaidrí would officially recognized Henry IV as the King of England, and signed a mutual pact of friendship between England and Ireland the same year. The two Kings both held dreams of being remembered as great conquerors and so privately discussed launching a joint campaign against Wales, as both Kings wanted to increase the popularity for the English were beginning to view Henry as a usurper who failed to deliver on his promises, while the Irish were questioning Ruaidrí's foreign policy which was remarkably Pro-English. The next year would see planning occurring between the two and by 1405 their armies were ready. The Irish claimed that they were the rightful overlords of most of Wales, while the English claimed that they were entitled to much of Northern Wales. It also helped that at the time, Wales was experiencing a civil war between Madok of Wales's chosen heir, his nephew Owain and eldest son Rhys.
Ruaidrí would lead 7,000 men into Southern Wales and began besieging much of it's southern forts and castles, while Henry IV attacked Northern Wales. Initially the campaign went quite smoothly and by 1406 it seemed as though Wales was on the verge of collapse. Wales would survive however thanks to Scottish and French support, who didn't want the English to become too powerful. From 1407-1409, the Welsh retook much of it's norther territories, and halted the Irish advance in the south. Then in 1410 two crucial events occurred. Firstly; a revolt in England broke out and Henry IV had to withdraw much of his men from Wales. Secondly; Ruaidrí suffered a severe wound at the Battle of Carmarthen, where he was hit in the leg by a mace. The hit was so severe that Ruaidrí would never again be able to walk. Unable to lead the campaign Ruaidrí would depart back home to Dublin, leaving his most loyal vassal and distant cousin, Artúr Mac Suibhne in charge of the Welsh campaign. This was perhaps Ruaidrí's greatest failure, as the war dragged on another 10 years and drained Irish finances and resulted in thousands of deaths. In many ways it was Ireland's Vietnam.
Back home at Dublin, Ruiadrí took a keen interest in the running of his court. He invited the finest artists, scholars and architects from across Europe to his court and employed their talents to make his court one of the most cultured in Europe. In many ways it was like a mini-renaissance. Frescoes and marble statues were produced and displayed, Romanesque baths were introduced across Dublin and Latin surged in popularity. Ruaidrí also had plays and books written, some of which include "The History of the Reign of Brian Bóru", "The Triumph of Ruaidrí The Great" and "The Saga of the House of O'Connor". Most of the works still survive and are considered some of the best ever produced. Ruaidrí's wife Joan also played a key role in running the court and introduced several English customs and phrases to the Irish.
From 1412, Ruaidrí's health deteriorated and he entrusted his wife as Regent. The two had been beyond close, and unlike his predecessors Ruaidrí took no concubines, which meant he had a small family of 6 children, at least he did in comparison to his Father and ancestors. Finally, in 1415, Ruaidrí passed away and would be succeeded by his son, Brian.
[10] Brian was twelve years old when his father died and he was thrust into kingship. Being the oldest son and underage made the Irish nobles grumble with some worrying that this would be the start of the Irish conforming to English laws and traditions. The fact that the very English Joan Beoufort was regent for her young son did not help matters. Knowing she needed allies, Joan married her second oldest daughter, Margaret, to Richard, the 3rd Duke of York and arranged a betrothal between Joan of Valois and King Brian, hoping to counter any English ambitions, her oldest daughter was married to the King of Tyrone.
Brian was perhaps the very reason why the Tanist succession laws were so important. As his parents' oldest son, he spoiled and coddled. He barely had any interest in ruling preferring to play instead, a trait he would continue to have in adulthood, enjoying spending his time, drinking, dancing and hunting while his mother ran the kingdom.
He married Joan in 1424. Many nobles found themselves unable to attend, citing illness and roads being unsuited for traveling. It was clear that most of Ireland was unhappy of their new king, The Scottish ambassador even noted that the tensions in England and France were not so heated. The couple were noted to be quite happy together, for all of Brian's faults, he was a loving husband and took no concubines or mistresses. Sadly their marriage would be childless for unknown reasons.
Surprisingly, peace would last for almost another eight years. Until one day at a private meal, the king and queen would suddenly get ill from drinking wine. Later historians would suspect it was typhoid fever. However, it was long suspected that King Brian and Queen Joan were poisoned. Leaving Eochaid to become the next ruler of Ireland.
[11] Eochaid was fifteen when his cousin Brian made him the Prince of Tara. Eochaid was the grandson of Eoin, by one of his children with his wife Aileen.
Eochaid was the third heir that Brian had appointed. The first, Fianamail Ua Conchobair, was the only son of Crimthann Ua Conchobair. Fianamail was older than Brian and passed away early in Brian’s reign. The second, Manuel Maria Ua Margaret, was the grandson of Margaret by her second husband Fernando das Barcelos the bastard son of a Portuguese King. Manuel Maria, or Manchán as he was called in Ireland, was viewed as too foreign. In 1427, Manuel Maria died jousting. A year later in 1428, Eochaid was the heir to Ireland.
Four years later, age nineteen, Eochaid was King of Ireland. Since Eochaid was a traditional Tanist heir, many viewed his rule as a return to “true Irish values.” What this meant varied depending on who you talked to.
Eochaid would nominally investigate the death of his predecessor, and quickly ruled that “bad food” was the cause.
Eochaid was unmarried when he became king, and quickly married Philippa of Guelders, the Netherlands having been allies with the Irish for almost a hundred years, Philippa was viewed as an acceptable foreign bride. Eochaid continued his pattern of “acceptably foreign” and used concubines to renew many connections with “acceptable” foreign allies: in 1436, Eochaid took Angharat ferch Tegwared, a minor Welsh lady, as concubine; then in 1439, Eochaid took Isabel of Ross, the bastard niece of the Scottish King, as concubine; and Eochaid’s final foreign concubine was Ingeborg, the sister-in-law of the Norwegian King. To counteract the foreign concubines, Eochaid would take three different Irish ladies as concubines. Eochaid doesn’t appear to have been the most virile, as only Philippa, Isabel, and Áine (one of the Irish concubines) would bear children, and even then only one child each.
Eochaid’s reign would continue what his marriage and concubines had started: strengthening the more popular foreign ties, and avoiding the more hot-button counties of England and France. He would also expand the Irish fleet, continuing to protect allied trade ships and expanding into transporting goods and people too and from the New World.
He committed to Tanistry succession and appointed his nephew Ruaidrí in 1445. So, when Eochaid died in 1465, Ruaidrí succeeded him.
[12] Ruaidrí was the son of Eochaid's younger brother. Born in 1430. As his uncle's fertility problems were well known, it was all but guaranteed he would succeed him. He was also of age by the time his uncle died while his oldest male cousin was only twelve-years-old.
In hopes of a better relationship with the church, Ruaidrí spent some time in Italy as his uncle's envoy. This is were he met Bianca de' Medici. Much to the shock and fury of her family, the couple would elope. Bianca's father, Piero would demand the marriage be annulled insisting that Ruaidri had absconded with his daughter, forcing her into this marriage, ignoring his daughter's very loud statements to the country.
Luckily for Ruaidrí despite the numerous bribe attempts, his witnesses, friends from his time in the Sapienza University of Rome, remained adamant that there had been no wrong doing on the groom's part. Eventually Pope Pious II decreed that the marriage was valid. However, because it was done without permission from the bride's father, the groom would receive no dowry.
In 1465, Ruaidrí and Bianca would receive word that King Eochaid had passed away and they would return to Ireland. Bianca and Ruaidrí would use their Italian contacts to to get involved in trade, as well as sponsoring great artists----one of the first Irish playwrights was noted to have been discovered by her. Bianca would embrace the Irish culture fully with the only exception being her husband getting a concubine, something she refused to let him even consider.
She did however accept that it might not be her children (seven in total, three of them sons) who inherited the throne. She helped Ruaidrí vet the candidates before he choose the next Prince of Tara. Bianca and Ruaidrí would continue to be in love for their long years of marriage.
In 1490, King Edward of England would decide to try what his ancestors had failed to do and conquer Ireland, being a descendant of Richard, the 3rd Duke of York and his wife Margaret, daughter of King Ruaidrí the Wise. Despite pushing sixty, Ruaidrí would lead his men against the invading English.
Alas, he would not see the end of the war, for three short years later, he would die in a hectic battlefield, managing a mutual kill with King Edward, leaving Eochaid to pick up his crown.
[13] Eochaid was born in 1432 as the cousin of Ruaidrí IV and was chosen as his successor due to his strong leadership skills. By the time he ascended the Irish throne, he had six children through his wife Princess Astrid of Norway, whom he married in 1459, and didn't took any concubines as he was faithful to his wife. Eochaid's main issue to deal with was the destruction left in the wake of the failed English invasion, which would be cleaned up during most of his reign.
Tanist succession by this point had made to the continent, first with Brittany, then the Scandinavian countries, and finally the Netherlands, with the former using the original version while the latter two the Scottish version. The continuing spread of Tanist succession also saw it's rivalry with traditional succession deepen as in 1497, the French King made a speech about wanting to wage a crusade against the Tanist succession following countries for their "barbaric practices".
Eochaid died in 1502 at seventy years old, and his distant cousin, Eoin, whom he appointed in 1498, succeeded him.
[14] Since pretty much everyone liked Eoin, no one was surprised when Eochaid III made Eoin Prince of Tara in 1498. At the time, he was in his late forties (since Eochaid was from a more minor branch of the O’Conor family we don’t have concrete birth records for him) and had spent most of his life traveling with the Irish fleet. He had found in several sea battles, been to all the known continents, and spoke several languages. Besides his less than stellar bloodline, he was perfect.
Since there was some pushback due to his status as a distant cousin (his line of the family hadn’t hadn't had real influence at court or a significant marriage to either foreigners or powerful Irish lords in generations) Eoin sometimes would use the appellation Ua Ruaidrí, or O’Rory, since his last monarchial ancestor was Ruaidrí II, as a reminder of his relation to the first three Irish High Kings of the O’Conor family.
Eoin never had time to get married, and once he became king that didn’t change. Anytime anyone suggested he married, Eoin pointed out that he’d already appointed his nephew, Pádraig as Prince of Tara and had plenty of brothers, nephews, and cousins to continue on the family name.
After only five years of rule, during which the Irish fleet was expanded again making it one of, if not the, great power(s) of the Ocean, Eoin would pass away from a winter chill, leaving Pádraig as heir.
[15] Named for Ireland's patron saint, Pádraig O'Rory was twenty years old when he became King of Ireland. He married the daughter of the King of Sweden, Ursula in 1505 after being chosen as his uncle's heir. They had nine children.
He was a devoted Catholic, and viewed concubinage close to bigamy. However, knowing how much his people stubbornly held onto to their traditions, he did not outlaw the practice, instead sending priests to preach against it, hoping it would fall out of fashion eventually.
Pádraig was staunchly against Lutheranism, writing a pamphlet defending the Pope against Luther. He would make an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor to defend their lands against the so-called Reformation.
In 1542, the King of England started calling himself the King of Ireland. Pádraig disagreed quite vehemently, declaring that no English monarch would ever have claim over the Irish. Weeks later, Pádraig would die of a bad belly.
[16a] Conchobar was the eldest son of Padraig and Ursula and he wasn’t supposed to be King. He was disinclined to the martial arts, and rather quiet, so Padraig appointed his brother (Padraig’s brother not Conchobar’s) Brian O’Rory as Prince of Tara. But Brian O’Rory would die shortly before his brother Padraig in an early skirmish between the English and the Irish. Padraig wouldn’t have time to appoint a new heir before his death. Thanks to the Hereditary Act this left Conchobar as the heir.
There were some significant murmurings over the idea of Conchobar as king and the fact that Conchobar didn’t really want the job either made it seem that civil war was inevitable. Enter Ornóra stage left.
[16b] If Ornóra had been born a boy, she would have been Prince of Tara: she was descended from Ruaidri IV and his wife Bianca de Medici; she had spent many years at sea and was an excellent ship’s captain, through her sisters she had marital ties to many of Ireland’s petty kings as well as Wales, Flanders, and Hainaut; and she was well spoken, charismatic, and people just liked her.
Not only could Ornóra fulfill the role of King, she wanted it. Shortly after Padraig’s death, Ornóra approached Conchobar and proposed marriage. (The two really should both already be married, but both had refused several proposals choosing instead to keep company with a “dear companion”) She would rule and he would keep the men who thought they could do a better job off her back. Conchobar accepted.
Seeing Ornóra step up to Conchobar’s side settled many of the murmurings and Conchobar and Ornóra were crowned without issue. Ornóra would also be addressed as O’Rory as she was also descended from one of the Irish kings name Ruaidri. Ornóra would lead several campaigns against the English (though she wouldn’t fight in the actual battles) until the King of England gave up on his claim to Ireland.
The two would have a smooth reign, Ornóra managed much of the traditional monarchial roles and Conchobar found he enjoyed handling the realm’s finances. Due to his attention, Ireland would gain much wealth. They would only have two children as neither Ornóra or Conchobar appeared to enjoy the marriage bed.
Conveniently they would pass away within days of each other when the sweating sickness broke out in 1577. They were succeeded by their daughter, Grace.
[17] Gráinne or Grace was a spirited girl. As her parents only had her and her sister, her father took the unusal step of declaring her his heir, reminding everyone it was his right to choose. Grace was married to the King of Ulster when she was eighteen. Her husband, Hugh, was a tritiditonal man and often fought with his wife who refused to sumbit to his will.
Despite her rather independent spirit, Grace tempered it with her natural charisma and charm, able to wrap many people around her fingers. She was twenty-seven when her parents died. By then, she had managed to sway many of the lesser kings and the rich landowners to her side, convincing them to accept them as their queen, quoting her father and adding that the whole Tanist system was to put the best heir. And since she had been groomed from partically birth, she was the best fit.
Men like her husband disagreed and soon after her coronation, Grace had a rebellion on her hands with Hugh leading the rebels against his stubborn and opinonated wife. Grace dressed in armor and lead the army herself, leading some to call her Queen Maeve after a historical warrior queen. Another nickname for Grace was Gráinne Mhao (Grainne the Bald) after she shaved her head to keep her long hair from being a problem in the battle.
Although popular folktale would have Grace slaying her deceitful husband in one and one combat, it is actually unknown how Hugh died. What is known is Grace gave her husband a respectful burial, saying as much as she hated him, her was the father of her two children.
A year later, she would remarry the King of Tyrone and have six children with him.
In 1600, Grace would meet up with the Prince of Wales, the Queen of Scotland and the Queen of England to sign a treatry, often called the Women's Peace (despite the inclusion of the Prince of Wales), which was made to end all tensions between the four rulers, ending the constant territory wars. They also promised to come to aid whenever one country was under attack.
Grace would die in 1618, at seventy-one, having nominated Domnall as her sucessor.
[18] Domnall or Donald was born in 1541 to Prince Eoin and Princess Mary of Scotland and was the nephew of High Queen Gráinne through his father, who was a grandson of Pádraig through his son Ruaidrí, the younger brother of Conchobar II. Domnall had a rough childhood as his father was infamous for his short temper and so stayed in the company of his greatuncle and aunt, and became Prince of Tara in 1598 for his help in the Ulster Rebellion. By the time he became High King he had married Princess Anne of Brittany, whom he had six children with.
In 1620, the War of the Breton Succession started following the death of Duke Conan VIII without a clear heir. Domnall would declare his claim to Brittany though his wife (who was the aunt of Conan) and sent a invasion there, with himself leading it. This would his downfall as in 1624 the eighty-three year old King died in battle to forces that were loyal to Prince Arthur of Brittany, who was Conan's cousin.
Domnall was sent back to Ireland and burried next to his wife who died seventeen years before him. His successor, his grandson, Eamon would deal with the end of the War of the Breton Succession.
[19] Eamon was the eldest son of Eoin O’Rory (third son of Domnall I) and Mary of Flanders. He was a controversial choice as Prince of Tara as he was wed to Queen Janet of Scotland. But upon his appointment in 1620, Eamon swore that his heir would not be the heir of Scotland. And, once Eamon was King of Ireland, Queen Janet joined the Breton Succession War to reinforce her husband, sending Scottish forces. This did much to endear her to the Irish people.
To address the Breton concerns over a union between Ireland and Brittany, Eamon declared that since Brittany didn’t follow Tanist succession, he was fighting on behalf of his uncle, Prince Niall (eldest son of Domnall I and Anne of Brittany). (That Eamon was Niall’s heir, as neither Niall nor Turlough (second son of Domnall) had sons, was left unmentioned). This combined with the additional forces from Scotland, saw Eamon win the Breton Succession War. Prince Niall was crowned and the dethroned Arthur of Brittany would be brought back to Ireland where he lived the rest of his days in an isolated abby.
Following the end of the war, Eamon followed through with his promise regarding Irish inheritance, and appointed his nephew Ruaidrí as Prince of Tara.
Eamon spent the rest of his reign curating the bonds between Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales building on the efforts of Gráinne I. He arranged many marriages: his eldest daughter wed the English heir, his third daughter wed the grandson and probable heir of the Prince of Wales, his eldest son (the Scottish heir) wed an Welsh princess.
Neither did Eamon forget Ireland’s oldest ally, the Netherlands. He arranged the marriage of Ruaidrí to Eamon’s mother’s niece Joan of Flanders.
In 1644 while hunting, Eamon would misjudge a jump and his horse stumbled while landing. He would tumble from his horse and hit his head. He spent the next several hours delirious and passed away the next day, leaving his nephew, Ruaidrí as King of Ireland.
[20] Ruaidrí was the son of Eamon's younger brother. His father had died in the Breton Succession war when he was nine years old. He was fostered with the King of Leinster. This would begin a tradition where the Prince of Tara, if underaged, would be fostered in one of the petty king's courts so they could learn how to rule and befriend their vessels.
When he turned eighteen, he would travel to Connacht where he acted as his uncle's regent. At twenty-one, he married Joan of Flanders. Although Ruaidrí was an intelligent and shrewd leader, he had a fierce temper and a mean streak a mile wide. He also had very little interest in his wife, only bedding her once a month. He did mange to sire four children, who he promptly ignored, beliving that niether of them were truly worthy of succeeding him.
He only respected two people, the King of Connacht, who he viewed as a second father and his uncle Eamon. In 1644, when his uncle died, Ruaidrí was apologetic with rage, ordering Eamon's Master of Horses executed for failing to train the horse properly. This would be the start of his harsh punishments.
As soon as he was crowned, King Ruaidrí decided he was surrounded by "heretics and weaklings", and he would have to root the corruption out with fire and sword. Anyone who wasn't Catholic needed to die least they contaminated good Irishmen with their blasphemy. No one was sure where Ruaidrí' religious fanaticism came from with some historians suspecting this might have been Ruaidrí's way of indulging his sadistic side in a way seen somewhat socially acceptable. Others reject this theory as there were no reports of Ruaidrí showing violent tendencies in his early years barring the disproportionate execution of his uncle's horse master.
Another theory is Ruaidrí had a mental breakdown following his uncle's death or suffered a blow to the head. Either way, as the years went by, he slowly became worse, growing more paranoid and violent. The breaking point came in 1666 when he viciously attacked his wife, accusing her of cheating on him.
His eldest son decided enough was enough and staged a coup, imprisioning Ruaidrí and forcing him to abdicate, allowing Eamon II to take the throne.
[21] Eamon was the eldest son of Ruaidrí and Joan of Flanders. He was named for his father’s beloved Uncle. That was the most attention he ever got from his father. We have few records of his early years as for the first two decades of life he was almost a nonentity at court; his father didn’t want him there.
Based on his later life we know he was a bookish man, and many believe Eamon spent his late teens and early twenties drifting between the courts of the different Irish petty kings, though really only interacting with their library. We do know he visited his cousin, second son of Eamon I and now Duke of Brittany, as the two became good friends and referenced their initial meeting in later letters.
Starting in 1661, Eamon pops up at his father’s court, though he doesn’t make many waves at first. Slowly Eamon would begin to gather allies, often by acting to shield them from his father’s temper. Then in 1666, Ruaidrí’s heir, the Prince of Tara and distant cousin, died from the fever. Now, by the Hereditary Act, Eamon was the heir.
Taking advantage of his father’s attack upon his mother’s person, Eamon would seize his father. There was some initial pushback but Eamon was supported by his cousins, the Duke of Brittany and King of Scotland.
Slowly the realm grew to know Eamon. They found him to be discerning, reserved, not particularly martial though he was capable of handling himself, and possessing a prodigious knowledge of all things Ireland. He could discuss agriculture, fishing, sailing, the historical connections between various clans, old alliances, the sundry treaties between Ireland and other countries.
He would dial back the religious pressure that his father had enacted, and reviewed the cases of everyone his father tried, both those living and those dead. Many were pardoned posthumously. He also immediately made Hugh, the third son of the King of Ulster, Prince of Tara, and made it known that if something were to happen to him, he would choose his distinct cousin Brian as Prince of Tara, ensuring that a situation such as he took advantage of would not occur again.
After several years of ruling, courtiers and advisors began insisting Eamon wed. He had resisted as Eamon viewed himself as already married. Before he became king Eamon had taken a woman he called Aisling (for the Irish word for vision, as Eamon said she was a vision to behold) as concubine.
Aisling’s actual name and origins were unknown. Records indicate that she wasn’t European, but as no portrait of her survived we don’t know if she was from the Americas, Africa, or Asia, as she could have been from any of the many places the Irish fleet traveled to. Due to her ethnicity, Aisling wasn’t viewed as appropriate for the role of wife and Queen.
Though before attending to his marriage, Eamon would arrange the marriages of his three children by Aisling: His eldest daughter was wed to Brian, Eamon’s second choice for Prince of Tara; his son was wed to the heiress of Guelders; and his youngest daughter was betrothed to an petty Irish King.
Finally in 1672, Eamon would arrange his marriage to Maria of Portugal. But the two would never wed, the day Maria docked in Dublin, Eamon and Aisling were both found dead in their bed. Hugh would inherit.
[22] Hugh was born in 1642 as the third son of the King of Ulster and wasn’t expected to become king. But due to his friendship with a young Eamon II, he was made Prince of Tara by Eamon when he became High King in 1666 and so helped his father in ruling Ulster in preparation for succeeding Eamon.
In 1672 Hugh became High King after Eamon and Aisling both committed suicide and married Maria of Portugal, who was going to be Eamon’s wife. The newlyweds loved each other very much as Hugh didn’t take any mistresses or concubines. A total of seven children would be born to the couple. Hugh used the appellation O’Hugh, as he was a descendant of Queen Gráinne’s first husband, King Hugh of Ulster.
Hugh continued his predecessor’s policies of Religious tolerance and was a patron of the arts.
His reign was generally peaceful, expect when Ireland supported William of Holland in the Scottish War of Succession (1689-1694), which he won.
Hugh died in 1701 at the age of 59, with his successor that he picked in 1692, Eoin III succeeding him.
[23] Eoin was the second son of Hugh and Maria of Portugal. His elder brother was passed over as Eoin had more easy manners and was a better student. Eoin was made Prince of Tara at age 15 and shortly afterwards his father arranged his marriage to Anna of Guelders, the granddaughter of Eamon II.
While not particularly fond of his wife, Eoin wouldn’t take any concubines, and in fact would end the practice of concubinage. He cited how in the Bible God’s people took multiples wives and concubines for a time and then the practice ended. He did not require the lords that currently had concubines to renounce them, instead insisting that no new concubines be taken.
Eoin spent his reign focusing on Ireland’s foreign interests. He would see the trading outpost expanded into colonies and the Irish fleet expanded yet again making it the largest fleet in Europe.
Eoin and Anna had five children, and Eoin invited many distant cousins to come and be companions of his children. Eoin made it known that he would be choosing the Prince of Tara from among these children and so many O’Conor, O’Rory, and O’Hugh cousins were sent to be raised with the Royal Children.
Eoin would choose an O’Connor cousin in 1705, but this lord passed away in 1734 and so Eoin simply repeated his invitation for cousins to come be raised at court, this time as companions for his grandchildren. He would choose his gandson Brian in 1739.
Eoin would pass away in 1744 and was succeeded by Brian III.
[24] Born in 1732 as the son of Princess Márie O'Hugh and her O'Rory husband, Brian was though his mother a grandson of High King Eoin III, and was picked as the Prince of Tara due to his connections to two of the three branchs of the Irish royal family. Brian became High King in 1744 at the young age of eight, and so a regency was put in place that will rule for him until he turned eighteen. During this time Brian would be taught by various tutors on subjects like military tactics, Irish history, and more.
By the time Brian turned eighteen in 1750, he was a intellegent and handsome man, as he would receive many offers from the various crowned heads of europe to marry their daughters. But he would ultimately pick Princess Isabella of Spain as his wife, with the couple having seven living children together. Brian continued the pratice done by his father of surrounding his children with distant cousins who would act as companions of them.
Brian lead Ireland though most of the major wars of the 18th Century. The first being the Eight Years War (1757-1765), where Ireland, Scotland, France and others fought against England, Portugal, Austria and others. Ireland would upon the end of the war receive most of England's colonies in North Vespuccia (OTL America).
Ireland then supported Vespuccian indepence from England during the Vespucccian Revolution (1778-1786), which resulted in the overthrow of the English monarchy and it's replacement of an republic. Ireland joined the First Coalition in fighting against Republican England in the War of the First Coalition (1793-1798), but lost.
Brian would die just weeks later at the age of 65, some say of his saddness over the First Coalition's loss in the war. his cousion Conn, who became Prince of Tara in 1786, succeeded him.
[25] Conn was named for the legendary King Conn of the Hundred Battles. He was a grandson of King Eion III by his youngest son. Conn made a name for himself in the Vespuccian Revolution by being a great figther. It was his victories that caused Brian to name him, his heir. To appease his Spanish wife, Brian arranged a marriage between one of his daughters to Conn. Unfortunetly, Brian died before he could see the two be married.
The minute after he was crowned, Conn demanded an anullment, claiming he was corced and the marriage was unconsumamted. The annulment was granted and Conn would marry Catherine Howard, an English noblewoman who he had fallen in love with during the War of the First Coalittion. Considering the new queen was not a princess, and English, this was seen as a huge slap in the face not only by Conn's jilted wife, Eileen, but also her siblings and several other important Irish families.
It wouldn't be long before there were rioits and rebellions, forcing Conn and his bride to fled to England, begging for help in exchange for concessions which would anger his remaing allies.
The civil war that would break out would last_____ years with the main contenders being________.
Last edited:
What if Isabella II fled to Spain's holdings in the Americas?
Kings and Queens of the Spainish West Indies
1868-1870: Isabella II (House of Bourbon) [1]
Isabella II in 1860[1] Isabella was born in 1830 as the only child of Ferdinand VII of Spain, She became Queen of Spain at the age of three, but her uncle, the Infante Carlos, refused to recoginze her as Queen. This began the First Carlist War (1833-1839), which resulted in the defeat of the Carlists and Spain becoming a constitutional monarchy. Isabella's regnecy that was around since her reign began ended in 1843 when she turned eighteen, which was soon followed by her marriage to her cousin Francisco de Asis in 1846, and birth of their five children.
Isabella was very unpopular and so was desposed in 1868 during the Glorious Revolution, after which she fled with her family to the Spainish West Indies and was proclaimed as Queen of the Spainish West Indies by the court members who went with her. Isabella abdicated in November 1870, with her _____, ______ succeeding her.
Isabella lived in Paris for most of her life after her abdication, and died in 1904 at the age of 73.
Kings and Queens of the Spainish West Indies
1868-1870: Isabella II (House of Bourbon) [1]
Isabella II in 1860
Isabella was very unpopular and so was desposed in 1868 during the Glorious Revolution, after which she fled with her family to the Spainish West Indies and was proclaimed as Queen of the Spainish West Indies by the court members who went with her. Isabella abdicated in November 1870, with her _____, ______ succeeding her.
Isabella lived in Paris for most of her life after her abdication, and died in 1904 at the age of 73.
So I suggest editing it to be:What an awesome idea really! Claiming.What if Isabella II fled to Spain's holdings in the Americas?
Kings and Queens of the Spainish West Indies
1868-1870: Isabella II (House of Bourbon) [1]
[1] Isabella was born in 1830 as the only child of Ferdinand VII of Spain, She became Queen of Spain at the age of three, but her uncle, the Infante Carlos, refused to recoginze her as Queen. This began the First Carlist War (1833-1839), which resulted in the defeat of the Carlists and Spain becoming a constitutional monarchy. Isabella's regnecy that was around since her reign began ended in 1843 when she turned eighteen, which was soon followed by her marriage to her cousin Francisco de Asis in 1846, and birth of their five children.
Isabella II in 1860
Isabella was very unpopular and so was desposed in 1868 during the Glorious Revolution, after which she fled with her family to the Spainish West Indies and was proclaimed as Queen of the Spainish West Indies by the court members who went with her. Isabella abdicated in November 1870, with her _____, ______ succeeding her.
Isabella lived in Paris for most of her life after her abdication, and died in 1904 at the age of 73.