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Overview
Which 'ill-prepared' monarch was on the English throne at the turn of the last millenium? How many English monarchs have been crowned on St George's Day? When, how and why did England 'lose' eleven days? Monarchs, Murders & Mistresses answers these questions and many more, presenting a royal event for each day of the calendar year in vivid detail with close-ups of the personalities involved. The book reveals the recurring occupational difficulties faced by the royal family over the centuries: as Shakespeare's Henry IV so memorably concludes, 'Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown'. Today the royal family is plagued by the press, but even 300 years ago Charles II felt the need to apologise to a crowd of onlookers for taking so long to die. Ranging from from the death of William III, who was killed by a mole to the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots. These, and over 300 other tales of royal days, bring alive the drama of what it was, and is, to be a king or a queen.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780752469072 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 08/26/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 352 |
| Sales rank: | 996,748 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Monarchs, Murders & Mistresses
A Book of Royal Days
By David Hilliam
The History Press
Copyright © 2011 David HilliamAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-6907-2
CHAPTER 1
JANUARY 1 1651
The Scottish Coronation of King Charles II
A strange and unique coronation took place on 1 January 1651, at Scone in Scotland, when Charles II was crowned King of England, Scotland, Ireland and France (at that time a traditional title). It was less than two years since his father Charles I had been executed at Whitehall. Charles II had been only eighteen at the time, and was in France when the news of his father's death had reached him. He had burst into tears when the messengers addressed him as 'Your Majesty'.
Now, in 1651, aged twenty, still uncrowned and with the parliamentarians in full power in England, Charles had come to Scotland to try to claim his kingdom as it were by the back door. His defeat at the Battle of Worcester was still nine months into the future.
The coronation at Scone was an odd affair, as the Covenanters who were offering him the crown had no belief in bishops or many of the traditional ceremonies. Archibald Campbell, Marquis of Argyll, handed him the crown and sceptre, but anointing with oil was considered too superstitious. After the coronation feast, Charles celebrated by playing a game of golf – the Scottish game which his grandfather James I had introduced into England.
1766
Death of the 'Old Pretender'
After a lifetime of disappointment, James Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', who was known by his Jacobite supporters as 'James III', died this day in Rome. On the death of his father, the exiled James II, he had become 'king' in 1701, when he was only thirteen. His reign, if it had been a real one, would have been the longest in British history (see SEPTEMBER 9). His birth was surrounded by malicious rumours that his mother, Mary of Modena, had not been pregnant at all, but had smuggled the baby into St James's Palace in a warming-pan (see JUNE 10).
Now, having spent his entire life in exile, apart from a few weeks trying to gain a foothold in Scotland (see DECEMBER 22), he died aged seventy-seven, still an honoured guest of the Pope, who had given him a pension to live on, and an old palace, the Palazzo Muti in the square of the Holy Apostles, to live in.
The Pope continued to honour him even in death, and he was given a royal funeral in St Peter's, Rome. Rather poignantly, at James's funeral a royal crown was placed on his head for the first and only time.
1877
Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India
Disraeli notoriously pandered to Queen Victoria's vanity: 'Everyone likes flattery,' he once said, 'and when you come to royalty, you should lay it on with a trowel.' Arguably, his most lavish 'gift' to her was the title 'Empress of India'. The Royal Titles Bill, legalising this in Parliament, was passed in 1876, and Victoria officially became Empress of India on 1 January 1877. At a celebratory dinner at Windsor on this day, Disraeli toasted her for the first time as 'Your Imperial Majesty'.
Victoria was gratified not merely with this new title, but also with the thought that her own daughter Vicky, married to Crown Prince Frederick William of Germany and likely to become Empress of Germany, would thereby never out-rank her. Empresses, after all, take precedence over mere queens.
Also on this day:
1801 Act of Union with Ireland. A revised 'union jack' was introduced, incorporating the diagonal red cross of St Patrick. George III was declared to be King of Great Britain and Ireland. At the same time, he ceased to use the ancient title 'King of France'.
2007 Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, was awarded an MBE for her services to equestrianism (see JUNE 12) – a unique honour for a member of the Royal Family
JANUARY 2 1649
Parliament sets up a special court to try Charles I for treason
The move to put Charles I on trial for treason began with the setting up of a special court consisting of about a hundred and fifty members and presided over by two Chief Justices. The reasons for this trial were outlined thus:
Whereas it is notorious that Charles Stuart, the now King of England, not content with the many encroachments which his predecessors had made upon the people in their rights and freedoms, hath had a wicked design totally to subvert the ancient and fundamental laws and liberties of this nation, and in their place to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government, and that besides all other evil ways and means to bring his design to pass, he hath prosecuted it with fire and sword, levied and maintained a cruel war in the land, against the Parliament and Kingdom, whereby the country hath been miserably wasted, the public Treasure exhausted, trade decayed, thousands of people murdered and infinite other mischiefs committed....
The House of Lords, meeting the next day, were reluctant to accept this and adjourned for a week. At this, the House of Commons declared that they would take full responsibility for this bill, without any further reference to the House of Lords.
1698
Destruction of Whitehall by fire
We can hardly begin to imagine the huge complex of buildings which formed the original 'Whitehall' from the time of Henry VIII, who took over Cardinal Wolsey's palace there. Over the next reigns this area was developed into what was at once a centre of government offices and a collection of apartments for court favourites and ministers. William III ('Dutch William') hated the place because he thought it aggravated his asthma, and so he developed 'Nottingham House' into what is now Kensington Palace.
It was on 2 January 1698 that Whitehall was destroyed. A Dutch laundress had left some clothes to dry in front of an open fire, and when these caught alight the flames immediately spread in a conflagration that lasted seventeen hours. Many parts of the palace were blown up with gunpowder to try to prevent the fire spreading, but despite all efforts, the damage was virtually total. Only the banqueting house in present-day Whitehall now remains.
It has been calculated that over a thousand royal apartments were lost, including the guard room, the wardrobe, the treasury, the privy council office, the secretary of state's office and the chapel. And all these had contained numerous relics and pictures of former kings and queens. Some 150 houses or lodgings of the nobility were also destroyed. Twelve people lost their lives in the fire, including the unfortunate laundress whose carelessness had caused it.
John Evelyn recorded the event with succinct sharpness in his diary: '2. January. Whitehall burnt: nothing but walls and ruins left.'
JANUARY 3 1981
Death of Victoria's last haemophilia-carrying grandchild
Towards the end of her life Queen Victoria was affectionately known as 'the Grandmother of Europe'. She had borne nine children, almost all of whom had married into the royal houses of Europe and who had in their turn produced numerous offspring. What is known more clearly now than it was during her lifetime is that Victoria was a 'carrier' of a rare and life threatening disease, haemophilia. Two of her daughters, Princesses Alice and Beatrice, were also carriers, and her youngest son, Prince Leopold, was a haemophiliac. He passed the disease to his daughter Alice, who was a 'carrier', and she in turn passed it to her own son Viscount Trematon, who died in 1928, aged twenty-one.
Princess Alice, who married Queen Mary's brother, Prince Alexander of Teck, was in fact the last survivor of Queen Victoria's grandchildren, dying aged ninety-seven on 3 January 1981. She was better known in her later years as the Countess of Athlone, for she and her husband had been obliged to change their German name of Teck to a more British one during the First World War, when George V assumed the name of Windsor.
The history of the royal family's haemophilia and the way that they spread it to the royal families of Europe is now well documented. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, bore singular personal witness to this situation, as her father, her brother and her son were all afflicted with 'Victoria's Gene'.
JANUARY 4 1642
Charles I enters the chamber of the House of Commons
One of the most dramatic moments in the conflict between king and Parliament took place on 4 January 1642 when King Charles I burst into the chamber of the Commons to arrest five members who in his opinion had committed treason: John Pym, John Hampden, Arthur Haslerig, Denzil Holles and William Strode.
The Commons were outraged at this, and were further appalled when Charles addressed the Speaker, telling him that parliamentary privilege did not extend to traitors, and demanded that the five MPs should be arrested. The Speaker, William Lenthall, made his famous reply: 'Your Majesty, I have ears to hear and eyes to see only as this honourable House shall command me.'
Charles was furious as he looked round in vain for the five members in question. Luckily for them, the king's arrival had been foreseen and they had all managed to escape to the City by barge.
'I see all my birds have flown,' said Charles, as he stalked out of the chamber with the MPs derisively shouting 'Privilege! Privilege!' after him as he departed.
This was the first and only time that a monarch has dared to invade the privacy of the chamber of the House of Commons, and this incident finally triggered the civil war.
JANUARY 5 1066
Death of King Edward the Confessor
The saintly Edward the Confessor spent the last fifteen years of his reign and a tenth of his income on building Westminster Abbey. He did not actually found it, but he transformed a small earlier church into a vast Romanesque Benedictine abbey 300ft long, with a nave of twelve bays. At last, on 28 December 1065, Holy Innocents' Day, his dream came to fruition: the new abbey was consecrated. However, by then Edward was on the brink of death; it must have been a great disappointment to him that he was too ill even to attend the consecration ceremony.
Just eight days later, on the eve of Epiphany, 5 January 1066, he passed away quietly in his nearby palace. The following day he was buried in the abbey he had worked so hard to build. It was the first burial there – indeed almost the first service there – and his bones lie there to this day.
Edward's reputation for holiness spread far and wide even in his lifetime. He was kind to his subjects, generous to the poor, reputed to have visions, and was thought to have refused to consummate his marriage to Edith, daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex. He became known as 'Confessor' (one who bears witness to Christ by his life) to distinguish him from King Edward the Martyr (see MARCH 18).
Perhaps his most spectacular innovation was 'touching for evil'. It was believed that his royal and holy power enabled him to cure illnesses, especially scrofula ('the King's Evil') simply by touch. It became a custom practised by English kings and queens right down to the eighteenth century and Dr Johnson was 'touched', as a child, by Queen Anne.
A widespread legend, depicted in medieval art, told how Edward had once given a gold ring to a beggar near Westminster. The man disappeared, and years later two English pilgrims from Ludlow, travelling in Syria, met an old man who revealed himself as St John the Apostle. He gave them the ring, and charged them to return it to King Edward, and to tell him that he would die in six months' time. The pilgrims did so, and it is said that Edward was buried with this very ring. The ring was later recovered, and its sapphire is now reputedly set in the State Crown, worn at the state opening of parliament.
Edward the Confessor was canonised in 1161 and for centuries he was regarded as England's patron saint.
Also on this day:
1066 The Saxon Earl Harold Godwinson, aged about forty-six, son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and Gytha, a cousin of King Canute, was elected to be king.
JANUARY 6 1066
Harold II is crowned within hours of the Confessor's funeral
With indecent speed and ruthless determination Harold acted immediately after Edward the Confessor's funeral to get himself elected king. Literally within hours he gathered those members of the Witan who were on hand, having already come to Westminster to attend Edward's funeral, and extracted their consent to his election as Edward's successor. Arguably, it was not a fully representative gathering, but Harold's standing was high, and he knew that there was no immediate opposition from within the Witan itself.
Again within hours he arranged for Ealdred, Archbishop of York, to prepare for his coronation. And once again the churchmen and nobles processed into the abbey, this time dressed with the finery of a jubilant occasion: the first coronation in the new abbey. It was a moment of great solemnity when Harold took up the ceremonial axe, symbol of the nation, and promised to maintain justice and peace. The ageing archbishop prayed that Harold would never fail, either in governing his people in peace, or if need be to lead his armies to victory. And then came the crowning, the anointing, the blessing.
But throughout the abbey everyone knew that this acceptance of the crown was a blasphemous denial of the sacred oath of fealty and homage which Harold had publicly sworn to Duke William of Normandy. True, it was a promise made under duress and in dubious circumstances. Many years previously Harold had been tricked into making this oath over holy relics when he was virtually held a prisoner by William after being shipwrecked on the Normandy coast. Nevertheless, a promise is a promise. Would God avenge? And perhaps more urgently, what would Duke William do now?
1540
Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves
Henry's first meeting with Anne of Cleves, on New Year's Day 1540, was a complete disaster. A nobleman who was present declared 'that he never saw his highness so marvellously astonished and abashed as on that occasion'. Henry's disappointment was intense. His immediate reaction was to demand 'that some means should be found for obviating the necessity of completing his engagement'.
Quickly a council was summoned to produce a legal objection to the marriage, and much was made of the fact that Anne had already been promised to a previous suitor, Francis of Lorraine. However, it was a trumped-up objection and although Henry roared out his displeasure to his trembling minister, Thomas Cromwell, allegedly calling Anne a 'Flander's mare' and 'Dutch cow', it became increasingly clear that he would have to go through with the match.
Poor Anne, then aged twenty-four and by no means as ill-looking as the king imagined, was subjected to numerous snubs and discourtesies. Henry refused to attend the welcoming ceremonies. However, on 5 January, when pressed for a wedding date, Henry suddenly announced that it would be the following day, the Feast of the Epiphany. And in a fit of temper, to make everything as inconvenient as possible for everybody, he fixed the time at eight o'clock in the morning!
Also on this day:
1367 Birth of the future King Richard II at Bordeaux, son of the 'Black Prince' and Joan of Kent.
1610 Investiture of Prince Henry, son of James I, as Prince of Wales.
JANUARY 7 1114
Eleven-year-old Matilda becomes an empress
Henry I's daughter Matilda was aged only eight in 1110, when she was sent abroad to Germany to become engaged to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V. He was thirty at the time, and obviously he had to wait a little before Matilda was quite ready to marry him. For the next few years, therefore, she was given an intensive course in speaking German and acquiring the necessary skills and accomplishments to be his wife.
In 1114 Matilda was just coming up to her twelfth birthday, so the time was ripe for their marriage. Accordingly, on 7 January, a great wedding took place, attended by princes, dukes, archbishops and dignitaries from all over Europe. Matilda was now 'Empress Matilda'. If her husband had lived, Matilda would have been merely a forgotten pawn in the royal marriage-market of those days. However, when he died, Matilda was only twenty-three and still a highly valuable prize in the nuptial stakes. Her father, Henry I, gave her away for the second time, to marry Geoffrey ('The Handsome') Count of Anjou.
Empress Matilda's life was only just beginning, for she was soon to be declared heiress to the throne of England after her brother had been drowned in the White Ship disaster. And then, on her father's death, when Stephen seized the throne, she was to spend years waging bloody civil war, trying to assert her rights. Perhaps her most important legacy was a posthumous one. Her son by Geoffrey became England's Henry II, the first of the Planagenets, a dynasty that was to last for 330 years, until Henry Tudor overthrew Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
1536
Catherine of Aragon dies
Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife, died this day in Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire, where she had been kept virtually a prisoner for the last years of her life, after Henry VIII had discarded her. Throughout this time she was in declining health, suffering from cancer: an autopsy revealed a 'black and hideous' growth on her heart. It took Henry three weeks to decide where she should be buried. After all, a public funeral in London would probably have stirred up trouble, for the dead queen was still held in great popular esteem. So, ignoring Catherine's own wishes, he chose Peterborough Cathedral, which was then the abbey church of Peterborough.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Monarchs, Murders & Mistresses by David Hilliam. Copyright © 2011 David Hilliam. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Preface,Chronology,
Royal Calendar, January 1 to December 31,
Longest Reigns,
The Twenty-four Princes of Wales,
Assassination Attempts on Queen Victoria,
The Present Order of Succession,
Charles II's Mistresses and Bastards,
Dates of Saxon and Danish Kings before the Conquest,
Dates of Monarchs: William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II,
Dates of Queens and Consorts from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II,
Genealogical Chart of the English Monarchs,
Sources,