"Uneasy the head that wears the crown."
History of Henry IV, Part II, Act III, Scene I. Wm. Shakespeare.
Roman to Anglo-Saxon. Wessex to Denmark back to Wessex then Normandy. Norman gives way to Plantagenet in turn supplanted by Tudor. Tudor becomes Stuart which in time is expelled by Hanover.
Thomas Becket. Simon de Montfort. Roger Mortimer. Wat Tyler. John of Gaunt. Guy Fawkes. Oliver Cromwell. Monmouth all play their roles.
The bloody fields of Assandun, Stamford Bridge, Hastings, Bosworth, Flodden, Naseby, Sedgemoor, and Boyne decide who will rule.
This book mixes history and fiction, tracing the Kings and Queens of England from Alfred the Great until King George II. I weave my fictional characters into the actual events of the rise and fall of the Royal Houses of England.
For a thousand years, through the swirling mists of time, drop by precious drop, the slender trickle of the line of succession of the British royal family begins its flow down through the generations. Every once in a while, a new stream of sanguis regalis, the blood royal, will split off, and either merge back in, die out, or replace the main flow.
Time demonstrates that it is never a clean or smooth transition.
Familial troubles that beset the common folk are not strangers to the noble born. It is never as simple as a father passing on an inheritance to his progeny. Normal circumstances dictate a traditional succession from father to eldest son, such as HENRY IV to HENRY V to HENRY VI. It does not matter if there is an older daughter born, a son takes precedence. But in many, many instances the older son dies, and a younger son must fill the shoes. Or, if there are no sons, then a daughter will serve.
Or father to grandson, as in the case of GEORGE II to GEORGE III, or EDWARD III to RICHARD II. Sometimes the crown passes from father to daughter, as in GEORGE VI to ELIZABETH II. Or mother to son from VICTORIA I to EDWARD VII.
Or brother to brother, as in the cases of WILLIAM II to HENRY I, CHARLES II to JAMES II, GEORGE IV to WILLIAM IV with the unforeseen death of Princess Caroline, and the race by four brothers to father a legitimate heir, VICTORIA, to the throne. In 1936, EDWARD VIII abdicates in favor of his brother GEORGE VI.
A rival contender, at times, arises from an outlying branch and has the power and resources to take the throne from the rightful heir, as in the case of Stephen of Blois, Henry of Bolingbroke, and Edward of York.
Sometimes the people rise up, and look for a new king, from across the water, as in the case of WILLIAM III and MARY II.
