Past leaders of the UK

RoverRoad,

Intersting question and one I'll try to look into. It is, actually, quite hard to get such a condensed list.

Either you'll have a list with no commentary, or a whole book on each one...no middle ground.

KP

Try this - looks quite good:

http://www.frhes.freeserve.co.uk/

For a brief, comprehensive look at the history of Merry Old, i recommend 1066 and All That.

I'm not sure, if all links are already updated, but there certainly is some good information on this site as well ... to be found here:
A2K Portal British History

(A couple of British links may still be hidden in 'normal' history links :wink: )

Great question, I've always wanted to know this as well.
Excellent links and suggestions too....

This may show my ignorance on English History, but I was amazed that the royal blood line consisted of several families.

I know about the King Longshanks from the movie BraveHeart and I thought that the current royal family had to be distant relatives, but Longshanks descendants only ruled for a couple more generations after him, then it was a different blood line.

And the current royal family, Windsor has only been "ruling" for 3 or four generations.

Edward I ("Longshanks", son of Henry III) belonged to the House of Plantagenet, who ruled from 1154 to 1400.

The BBC has a nice website, which could explain some of your questions, here:

Monarchs and Leaders

RR

"Windsor" was the name taken by the Saxe-Coburg Goethe family during WW1, to sound less German!

The line is unbroken, under that name, back to George I, in 1714 (yes, I had to look up the date). He spoke German (almost exclusively) and it was for him that GF Handel (who came from Germany with him) wrote the "Coronation Anthems", including "Zadok the Priest" - an absolute classic of the Baroque era of music.

P

In fact, it is arguable that the line is unbroken back to Henry II and the house of Plantagenet. George I came to the throne because of a distaff Stewart ancestor, and the Stewarts had come to the throne because of the marriage to Margaret Tudor. Margaret Tudor was the daughter of Henry VII, whose mother, Margaret de Beaufort was the Daughter of John of Gaunt. John of Gaunt was the son of Edward III, who was grandson of Edward I, great grandson of Henry III, and therefore, a descendant of Henry II.

It's all rather ironic. Edward, the "Black Prince," the Prince of Wales, died before his father, Edward III. When Edward III died, he was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II (son of the Black Prince). Edward III's younger son, John of Gaunt was regent for Richard II, who was a child when he came to the throne. John had lived with an Englishwoman, and Margaret de Beaufort was the bastard daughter of this union. John had a legitimate son, Henry Bolingbroke, who later usurped the throne from Richard II, and became Henry IV. His son, Henry V, pushed the Hundred Years War nearly to victory (but not quite), and forced the insane King of France, Charles le bien aimée (Charles the beloved) to acknowledge Henry's claim to be King of France (Edward III's mother had been a daughter of the last Capetian king of France), and Henry V married Catherine de Valois, Charles' daughter. He was dead within three years. The English apparently expected young Catherine de Valois to spend the rest of her days in a convent, but she was having none of that, and ran off with a minor Welsh nobleman, Owen Tudor. They had to get out of Dodge, and fled England. Their son Jaspar Tudor, married Margaret de Beaufort, and they produced a son, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. When, at the end of the Wars of the Roses, Henry defeated Richard III at Bosworth field, you had two descendants of both John of Gaunt and Catherine de Valois vying for the throne of England. Henry became Henry VII, his daughter Margaret Tudor married James Stewart of Scotland, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da . . .

Wait a minute . . . both descendants of Johh of Gaunt--but i'd have to think about whether Richard III was descended from Catherine de Valois . . . hmmmm . . .

No, he wasn't. Richard III traced his lineage back through Edmund, Duke of York, son of Edward III. Catherine de Valois was not involved in the Yorkist line.

Queen Elizabeth II is a direct lineal descendant of Edward III, both through Margaret Beaufort and through Elizabeth of York (Henry VII's wife).

Don't forget that after the English Civil War in the 17th century, the country was a Republic under Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan, who called himself Lord Protector of England.

http://www.forerunner.com/champion/X0004_3._Oliver_Cromwell.html

http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/cromwell.html

http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon48.html

Cromwell kicked the bucket in 1658 & his son took over but proved to be a failure. Others took power & invited Charles 2nd to the throne. A little ironic, considering Oliver Cromwell had Charles 1st beheaded

Yeah, Joe, when i had thought about that, i realized i was confusing the line of Henry VI with that of York . . . but i posted that first thing in the morning, and haven't had time to get back here. Things do get confusing between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, but that was an elementary error i ought not to have made . . .

Things are still confusing between the Yorkists & the Lancastrians, only these days it's all about Cricket matches played between them

I would only quibble with you, Our Wingéd Friend, on the statement "others took over" in reference to the period after Tumbledown Dick fled the scene. George Monck slowly marched south from Coldstream with the Parliamentary Guard, and received deputations from the Parliamentary rump who offered various solutions to the power vacuum, none of which seemed to have appealed to him, until they suggested a restoration of the Stuart monarchy. This ought to have surprised no one, as Monck was a royalist until he was "converted" by Oliver Cromwell during the Irish campaign.

Setanta -------- Old and forgotten knowledge on my part but I will refer to my alter ego's ancient tomes

It's the tome of the season for loving . . .

Thanks everyone for all of the great information. I'm learning a lot more than I expected to learn. It really is an interesting subject even if you aren't British.