Category Archives: British Royals

Edward the Martyr, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Credit – Wikipedia

Edward the Martyr was the eldest son of Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English. He was born around 962 to Æthelflæd who possibly was a nun at Wilton Abbey, a Benedictine abbey in Wiltshire, England, whom Edgar seduced. It is unclear whether Æthelflæd and Edgar married.

Edward had a half-sister through his father’s relationship with Saint Wulfthryth, a noblewoman who may have been abducted from Wilton Abbey by Edgar. Bride abduction was a traditional part of Anglo-Saxon society but whether Edgar took Wulfthryth by force is not known.  It is also uncertain whether Edgar married Wulfthryth. Eventually, Wulfthryth and her daughter Edith returned to Wilton Abbey where Wulfthryth later became the Abbess and Edith became a nun.

Edward had two half-brothers through his father’s marriage to Ælfthryth, daughter of Ealdorman Ordgar of Devon:

In 975, King Edgar died and leaving his two surviving sons: Edward around 13 years of age, and Æthelred around 7 years old. Various nobles and clergy formed factions that supported each of the brothers’ succession to the throne. Both boys were too young to have played any significant role in the political maneuvering, and so it was the brothers’ supporters who were responsible for the turmoil which accompanied the choice of a successor to the throne. In the end, Edward’s supporters, mainly Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury and Oswald of Worcester, Archbishop of York, proved more powerful and persuasive, and he was crowned king before the year was out.

King Edward the Martyr; Credit – Wikipedia

During Edward’s short reign, his kingdom was plagued with famine and violent attacks on monasteries by nobles who wanted to reclaim the land that King Edgar had given to the monks. Many monasteries were destroyed and the monks had to flee. The teenage Edward was famous for temper tantrums and insulting influential people due to his lack of diplomatic behavior.

Edward’s reign was short-lived. On March 18, 978, Edward arrived at a hunting lodge probably at or near the mound on which the ruins of Corfe Castle now stand. Aelfthryth, his stepmother, had invited Edward there and she arranged for him to be welcomed with a cup of wine. As Edward drank the wine, he was stabbed in the back while still mounted on his horse. He fell off, but his foot caught in the stirrup and he was dragged to his death. Although Edward’s ten-year-old half-brother Æthelred was not personally suspected of participation in the plot, the specter of his half-brother’s murder hung over him for the rest of his life.

A Victorian-era depiction of Ælfthryth putting her plan of murdering Edward the Martyr into motion; Credit – Wikipedia

Edward was first buried at St. Mary’s Church in Wareham, Dorset, England. In reality, people probably did not miss Edward because of his uncouth behavior. However, people were soon saying miracles occurred at his burial place and he was declared a saint and a martyr. Edward is recognized as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Church, and is known as Saint Edward the Martyr.

In 981, Edward’s remains were moved to Shaftesbury Abbey, a convent founded by his great-great-grandfather Alfred the Great, and were buried there with great pomp under the supervision of Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. Many miracles were claimed to occur at the tomb of Saint Edward, including the healing of lepers and the blind. The abbey became the wealthiest Benedictine convent in England and a major pilgrimage site.

In 1539, Edward’s remains were hidden to avoid desecration during the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII. In 1931, some remains were recovered by J.E. Wilson-Claridge during an archaeological excavation of Shaftesbury Abbey. Their identity was confirmed by Dr. T.E.A. Stowell, an osteologist, who said the remains were those of a young man of about 20 who had injuries that corresponded to a person being dragged backward over the pommel of a saddle and having their leg twisted in a stirrup.

In 1970, another examination performed on the remains suggested that death had been caused by the manner in which Edward supposedly had died. However, a later examination showed the remains to be from the same time period as Edward but that they belonged to a man in his late twenties or early thirties rather than a youth in his mid-teens. Nevertheless, Wilson-Claridge donated the remains to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which interred them as King Edward the Martyr in a shrine at St. Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church in Woking, Surrey, England.

The Shrine of St Edward the Martyr in St. Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church; Credit – Wikipedia

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Clarke, J. (2019). St Edward the Martyr. [online] John-clarke.co.uk. Available at: https://www.john-clarke.co.uk/st_edward_the_martyr.html [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Edward the Martyr. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Martyr [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Édouard le Martyr. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_le_Martyr [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2019

From the Illuminated manuscript of The Charter of Edgar to the New Minster, Winchester, 966; Credit – Wikipedia

The reign of Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English brought a period of peace unknown in recent memory. His coronation service written by St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury has formed the basis for the coronation services for English and British monarchs ever since. Born around 943, Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English was the younger son of the two sons Edmund I, King of the English and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury. He had one elder brother:

On May 26, 946, Edgar’s father King Edmund I was murdered while celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England. Because Edmund’s two sons were very young, he was succeeded by his 23-year-old brother Eadred.  When King Eadred died on November 25, 955, his successor was his nephew, Edgar’s 15-year-old elder brother Eadwig.

Eadwig was an unpopular king and his short reign was marked by conflicts with the nobility and the church. In 957, the Mercians and Northumbrians revolted and chose Edgar as king of the country north of the River Thames. The south of England, however, remained loyal to Eadwig. On October 1, 959, Eadwig died in Gloucester in what some consider suspicious, but certainly unknown circumstances, at around the age of nineteen. As Eadwig did not have children, his 16-year-old brother Edgar succeeded him and reunified England.

Edgar’s marriage history is uncertain. He had relationships with three women but only the third was considered his “lawful wife.

(1) Æthelflæd was the mother of Edgar’s eldest child Edward the Martyr, King of the English who was born around 962. Some sources say that Æthelflæd was a nun at Wilton Abbey, a Benedictine abbey in Wiltshire, England whom Edgar seduced. It is unclear whether Æthelflæd and Edgar married.

(2) Saint Wulfthryth was a noblewoman who may have been abducted from Wilton Abbey by Edgar. She gave birth to a daughter Edith around 963. Bride abduction was a traditional part of Anglo-Saxon society but whether Edgar took Wulfthryth by force is not known. She did stay with Edgar for at least a year. It is uncertain whether Edgar married Wulfthryth. Eventually, Wulfthryth and Edith returned to Wilton Abbey where Wulfthryth later became the Abbess, and Edith became a nun. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury made Edgar do penance for the crime of abduction by not wearing his crown for seven years. Edgar and Wulfthryth remained on good terms and Edgar gave financial support to Wilton Abbey for the rest of his life.

Edgar’s daughter Edith; Credit – Wikipedia

Edgar’s daughter Edith died on September 15, 984, at around the age of 21, and was buried in the church at Wilton Abbey. Wulfthryth survived her daughter, dying on September 21, 1000. She was buried before the main altar of the Wilton Abbey church. Both Wulfthryth and Edith were regarded as saints locally in Wiltshire after their deaths.

Ruins of the Wilton Abbey church where Wulfthryth and Edith were buried; Credit – Wikipedia

(3) In 964 or 965, Edgar married Ælfthryth, daughter of Ealdorman Ordgar of Devon.  She was the first wife of a king known to have been crowned and anointed as Queen of the Kingdom of England. It is probable that Ælfthryth was linked to the murder of her stepson King Edward the Martyr so that her son Æthelred could become king. Around 986, she founded Wherwell Abbey, a Benedictine convent in Hampshire, England where she retired to live her last years. She died there on November 17 in 1000 or 1001.

Edgar and Ælfthryth had two sons:

Edgar between St. Athelwald, Bishop of Winchester and St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury; Credit – Wikipedia

Because of conflicts, Eadwig, Edgar’s brother, had banished Dunstan, then Abbot of Glastonbury. Upon becoming king, Edgar recalled Dunstan and created him Bishop of Worcester and the Bishop of London. In 959, Dunstan became Archbishop of Canterbury. He remained Edgar’s chief advisor throughout his reign. Dunstan oversaw reform in the English church. Order was maintained throughout the kingdom and there was respect for the law. A military force patrolled the north and a navy guarded the shores against Viking raids. There was a level of peace in the kingdom unknown for many years.

Although Edgar probably had a coronation at Kingston-on-Thames, the traditional site for Wessex coronations, Dunstan felt there was a need for a major ceremony similar to the coronations of the King of the Franks and the German Emperor. This coronation was delayed for some time as Dunstan was disturbed by Edgar’s personal life and he counseled Edgar as he changed his ways. Dunstan wrote the order of service for Edgar’s coronation based upon ceremonies used by the Kings of the Franks and ceremonies used in the ordination of bishops. The main elements of the British coronation service and the form of the oath taken by the sovereign can be traced to the order of service devised by Dunstan for Edgar’s coronation. Although there have been revisions in the order of the ceremony, the sequence of taking an oath, anointing, investing of regalia, crowning, and enthronement found in the Anglo-Saxon text have remained constant.

The coronation took place at Bath Abbey in Bath, England on May 11, 873. Edgar’s wife Ælfthryth was also crowned and anointed, giving her a status higher than any recent queen. Shortly after the coronation, Edgar held a council in Chester, England. Several Scots and Welsh kings attended and pledged their allegiance to Edgar, including Kenneth II of Scotland, Máel Coluim I of Strathclyde and his father Dyfnwal III, Maccus Haroldson of the Isle of Man and Hebrides, Iago ap Idwal of Gwynedd, Iago’s brother Idwal Fychan and his nephew Hywel ap Ieuaf. Supposedly, these kings rowed Edgar over the River Dee in a boat as a sign of their submission.

A Victorian representation of Edgar being rowed on the River Dee; Credit – Wikipedia

Edgar died on July 8, 975 in Winchester, England, aged 31-32, and was buried at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset, England. In 1052, Edgar’s remains were moved within Glastonbury Abbey to a new shrine near the high altar. The shrine was lost when the abbey was left in ruins during the sixteenth century. Edgar was succeeded by his son Edward the Martyr.

Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey; Credit – By Pam Brophy, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9115142

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • De.wikipedia.org. (2019). Edgar (England). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_(England) [Accessed 20 Feb. 2019].
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Edgar the Peaceful. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_the_Peaceful [Accessed 20 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Eadwig, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Credit – Wikipedia

Born about 940, Eadwig, sometimes called Edwy, was a teenage King of the English for less than four years. He was the elder of the two sons of Edmund I, King of the English and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury. Eadwig had one younger brother:

On May 26, 946, Eadwig’s father King Edmund I was murdered while celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England. Because Edmund’s two sons were very young, he was succeeded by his 23-year-old brother Eadred.  When King Eadred died on November 25, 955, his successor was his 15-year-old nephew Eadwig, the elder son of his brother King Edmund I.

King Eadwig; Credit – Wikipedia

The young king almost immediately began arguing with his uncle Eadred’s advisors, particularly with Dunstan, a future Archbishop of Canterbury and saint, who was then Abbot of Glastonbury. According to The Life of St. Dunstan, written around the year 1000 by a monk known only as “B”, the feud with Dunstan began on the day of Eadwig’s coronation in 956. Eadwig had left the coronation banquet and Oda, Archbishop of Canterbury sent Dunstan to find Eadwig. The young king had tired of the banquet and had retired to his apartments with a young woman he had fallen in love with, Ælfgifu, and her mother Æthelgifu. Ælfgifu was Eadwig’s third cousin and this relationship would have precluded marriage on the grounds of consanguinity. When Eadwig refused to return to the banquet, the infuriated Dunstan dragged him back to the banquet. Soon after, Eadwig secretly married Ælfgifu and exiled Dunstan.

Drawing by Samuel Wale, entitled “The Insolent Behaviour of Dunstan to King Edwy on the Day of his Coronation Feast.” in Thomas Mortimer’s New History of England. 3 vols: vol. 1. 1764-6; Credit – Wikipedia

In 957, the Mercians and Northumbrians revolted and chose Eadwig’s brother Edgar as king of the country north of the River Thames. The south of England, however, remained loyal to Eadwig. Edgar’s advisers recalled Dunstan from his exile and he was made Bishop of Worcester in 957 and then Bishop of London the following year. In 958, Archbishop Oda annulled Eadwig’s marriage for consanguinity, a decision that was likely more political than religious. A child of Eadwig and Ælfgifu would certainly have had a better claim to the throne than Eadwig’s brother Edgar. This would have affected the power of Oda, Dunstan, and of course Edgar.

On October 1, 959, Eadwig died at around the age of nineteen in Gloucester in what some consider suspicious, but certainly unknown, circumstances. He was buried in the New Minster in Winchester but nothing is known about the later fate of his remains. As Eadwig did not have children, his brother Edgar succeeded him and reunified England. Eadwig’s former wife Ælfgifu appears to have reconciled with King Edgar and made substantial donations to monasteries. She was buried in the New Minster in Winchester upon her death.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Eadwig. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadwig [Accessed 18 Feb. 2019].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Eadwig. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadwig [Accessed 18 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Eadred, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

Credit- Wikipedia

Born in 923, Eadred, King of the English was the younger of the two sons and the second of the three children of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons and his third wife Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent. He was also a grandson of Alfred the Great.

Eadred had two full siblings:

Eadred had two half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to Ecgwynn:

Eadred had eight half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire:

On May 26, 946, Eadred’s elder brother King Edmund I was murdered while celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England. Because Edmund’s two sons were very young, he was succeeded by his 23-year-old brother Eadred who was crowned on August 16, 946 in Kingston-upon-Thames by Oda, Archbishop of Canterbury. The coronation was attended not only by numerous bishops but also by Welsh rulers and Scandinavian earls from the north of England who all appeared to have recognized Eadred as their overlord.

Eadred, King of the English; Credit – Wikipedia

Eadred suffered from ill health all his life. He had symptoms similar to the symptoms Alfred the Great, his grandfather also had. Alfred’s contemporary biographer, the Welsh monk Asser, gave a detailed description of his symptoms, and modern doctors suspect that he had Crohn’s disease. However, a genetic disease such as porphyria, which Alfred’s descendant King George III may have had, is also a possibility. Eadred’s ill health is often given as the reason he never married.

Eadred surrounded himself with the same counselors as his brother had: Archbishop Oda of Canterbury, Bishop Ælfsige of Winchester, Bishop Cenwald of Worcester, Abbot Dunstan of Glastonbury and Ealdorman Æthelstan Half-King of East Anglia. Although both his half-brother King Æthelstan and his full-brother King Edmund both quelled situations in York and Northumbria and were recognized as overlords, Eadred also had issues in that region. However, by 952, the threat of an independent Northumbrian king finally came to an end.

Towards the end of his life, Eadred’s health deteriorated drastically. He had physical difficulties eating and suffered from some kind of physical disability, possibly paralysis. He delegated most of his royal powers to Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury and other counselors. Eadred died at the age of 32 on November 23, 955 in Frome in Somerset, and was buried in the Old Minster at Winchester. Sometime between 1093 – 1158, his remains were moved to Winchester Cathedral which was completed and consecrated in 1093. Eadred’s successor was his 15-year-old nephew Eadwig, the elder son of his brother King Edmund.

Mortuary chest in Winchester Cathedral believed to contain Eadred’s remains; Credit – By Ealdgyth – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11358612

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • De.wikipedia.org. (2019). Eadred. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadred [Accessed 15 Feb. 2019].
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Eadred. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadred [Accessed 15 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Edmund I, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Credit – Wikipedia

Edmund I, King of the English was born in 921, the elder of the two sons and the eldest of the three children of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons and his third wife Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent.  He was also the grandson of Alfred the Great.

Edmund had two full siblings:

Edmund had two half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to Ecgwynn:

Additionally, Edmund had eight half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire:

Credit – Wikipedia

Edmund was just three years old when his father Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons, died on July 24, 924. Succeeding his father was Edmund’s 30-year-old half-brother Æthelstan. The young Edmund grew up in the household of Æthelstan and when he was older began accompanying his half-brother on his military campaigns.

Æthelstan and Edmund’s father Edward the Elder had conquered the Danish territories in Mercia and East Anglia. In 927, Æthelstan captured the last Danish stronghold in York and received their submission. Later in 927, the Welsh and Scots kings and princes accepted Æthelstan as their overlord. Æthelstan became the first king of all the Anglo-Saxon people and the overlord of all Britain. He then was styled King of the English. In 937, Æthelstan’s position was further cemented after the Battle of Brunanburh in which he triumphed over an alliance of King of Dublin, King of Scots, and King of Strathclyde. As a 16-year-old, Edmund had fought bravely at the Battle of Brunanburh.

Æthelstan died in Gloucester on October 27, 939 at around the age of 45. He had never married and so he was succeeded by his 18-year-old half-brother Edmund I, King of the English. Edmund was the first Anglo-Saxon monarch, whose dominion extended over the whole of England at the time of his accession.

Edmund married Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury around 940. Her father and siblings are unknown but her mother was called Wynflaed and she appears to have been associated with Shaftesbury Abbey which had been founded by Edmund’s grandfather Alfred the Great. Ælfgifu was definitely a patron of Shaftsbury Abbey. She predeceased her husband, dying in 944, and was buried at Shaftsbury Abbey. Soon after her death, Ælfgifu was venerated as a saint and she is referred to as Saint Ælfgifu in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In 944, after Ælfgifu’s death, Edmund married Æthelflæd of Damerham but the couple had no children.

Edmund and his first wife Ælfgifu had two sons:

Shortly after he became king, Edmund faced several military threats. He lost Northumbria but in 844, he successfully regained the land. In 945, Edmund conquered Strathclyde and then ceded the territory to Malcolm I, King of Scots in order to secure him as an ally. Having regained territory and being recognized as overlord of the Welsh and Scots kings and princes, Edmund now seemed to have a successful reign ahead of him.

Murder of Edmund I; Credit – Wikipedia

On May 26, 946, Edmund was celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England. The story usually given is that during the feast, Edmund recognized Leofa, a thief he had exiled several years earlier. He asked his steward to arrest Leofa but a fight erupted. Edmund intervened, was stabbed, and died at the age of 24. Recent research indicates that Edmund may have been the victim of political assassination and suggests that the characterization of Edmund’s killer as a thief was fabricated by later chroniclers to counter rumors that the king was the victim of a political assassination. Edmund was buried at Glastonbury Abbey in Glastonbury, Somerset, England but his tomb was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII. Because Edmund’s two sons were very young, he was succeeded by his brother Eadred.

Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Edmund I. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_I [Accessed 14 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Æthelstan, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Æthelstan presenting a book to St Cuthbert, the earliest surviving portrait of an English king, circa 930; Credit – Wikipedia

Æthelstan is regarded by modern historians to be the first King of England although he used the style King of the English (Rex Anglorum in Latin). The Anglo-Saxon kings of England used numerous different styles, including King of the Anglo-Saxons, King of the English and King of England. Æthelstan, born around 894, was the eldest son of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons and the only son of Ecgwynn, the first of Edward’s three wives. He was also a grandson of Alfred the Great.  Little is known about Æthelstan’s mother. Some medieval chroniclers describe Ecgywnn as a commoner while others describe her as from a noble family. Similarly, she is described as the wife of Edward and the concubine of Edward. Modern historians also disagree about Ecgwynn’s status.

Like his father Edward the Elder, Æthelstan was unwilling to marry his female relatives to his own subjects so they either became nuns or married foreign husbands. These marriages fostered close relationships with other European courts.

Æthelstan had one full sibling, a sister:

By his father’s second marriage to Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire, Æthelstan had eight half-siblings:

Æthelstan had three more half-siblings from his father’s third marriage to Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent:

Æthelstan was raised at the court of his paternal aunt Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. His aunt’s husband Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians had ruled Mercia under the overlordship of his grandfather Alfred the Great and then his father Edward the Elder. Because Æthelstan had been raised in Merica, he had a level of loyalty from the Mercians that others from his family never had.

Æthelstan in a fifteenth-century stained glass window in All Souls College Chapel, Oxford; Credit – Wikipedia

When Edward the Elder died on July 24, 924, the Mercians immediately proclaimed Æthelstan as their king but deliberations still continued in Wessex. Perhaps Edward had suggested that Æthelstan would succeed him in Mercia but another son would succeed him in Wessex. It appears that Wessex picked Ælfweard, elder son of Edward’s second wife Ælfflæd, as their king but he died sixteen days after his father. Æthelstan was not to recognized as king in Wessex until a year after his father’s death, suggesting that there was considerable resistance to him.

Æthelstan’s coronation took place on September 4, 925 at Kingston-upon-Thames. He was crowned by Æthelhelm, Archbishop of Canterbury who wrote a new coronation service because Æthelstan was crowned with a crown instead of the traditional helmet. Opposition to Æthelstan continued after the coronation. There was a plot to blind Æthelstan because of his supposed illegitimacy and some nobility and churchmen resisted Æthelstan for some period of time.

The British Isles in the early tenth century; Credit – Wikipedia

Æthelstan’s father Edward the Elder had conquered the Danish territories in Mercia and East Anglia with the assistance of his sister Æthelflæd and her husband, but when Edward died the Danish king  Sitric Cáech still ruled the Viking Kingdom of York. In January 926, Æthelstan arranged for his sister to marry Sihtric Cáech. Æthelstan and Sihtric Cáech agreed not to invade each other’s territories or to support each other’s enemies. When Sihtric Cáech died the following year, Æthelstan saw his chance to invade. He easily captured the last Viking stronghold and received their submission. Later in 927, Welsh and Scots kings and princes accepted Æthelstan as their overlord. Æthelstan became the first king of all the Anglo-Saxon people and overlord of all Britain. He then was styled King of the English. In 937, Æthelstan’s position was further cemented after the Battle of Brunanburh in which he triumphed over an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin; Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owen, King of Strathclyde.

Æthelstan died in Gloucester on October 27, 939 at around the age of 45. Instead of being buried in the traditional House of Wessex burial sites in Winchester, Æthelstan chose Malmesbury Abbey in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England as his burial site where he was buried under the high altar. According to the 12th-century chronicler William of Malmesbury, Æthelstan was devoted to the abbey and to the memory of its seventh-century abbot Saint Aldhelm. William of Malmesbury also wrote that Æthelstan’s body was disinterred in the 11th century and reburied in the abbot’s garden (now Abbey House Gardens) to avoid desecration by the Normans. Æthelstan is commemorated by an empty 15th-century tomb in the north aisle of Malmesbury Abbey.  Because he was never married, Æthelstan was succeeded by his half-brother Edmund I, King of the English.

Empty fifteenth-century tomb of King Æthelstan at Malmesbury Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Æthelstan. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan [Accessed 11 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Credit – Wikipedia

Born circa 874, probably at the royal palace in Wantage, now in Oxfordshire, England, Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons was the elder of the two sons and the second of the five known children of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, King of the Anglo-Saxons and his wife Ealhswith, daughter of a Mercian nobleman Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini and his wife Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family. Edward was not called “the Elder” during his lifetime. At the end of the tenth century, “the Elder” was added to his name to distinguish him from King Edward the Martyr.

Edward had three sisters and one brother:

According to Asser, the Welsh monk who was Alfred the Great’s contemporary biographer, Edward was brought up with his youngest sister Ælfthryth. They were educated at court by tutors and read ecclesiastical and secular works in English. Edward was a child throughout the wars his father fought with the Danes and was more of a soldier than a scholar like his father. By 892, he was commanding part of the Anglo-Saxon army and upon his father’s death in 899, the Anglo-Saxons were prepared to accept him as their leader. Edward was crowned on June 8, 900 by Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury at Kingston-upon-Thames, where the ancient coronation stone can still be seen.

The Coronation Stone in the grounds of the Guildhall in Kingston-upon-Thames; Credit – By Mark Percy, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13202093

However, after Alfred the Great’s death, Edward’s succession was challenged. Alfred the Great’s brother King Æthelred I had died on April 23, 871 from battle wounds. Because King Æthelred I left two young sons, Æthelhelm and Æthelwold, who were deemed too young to succeed to the throne, Alfred became King of Wessex. In the interim, Æthelhelm had died but Æthelwold was alive and challenged his cousin’s succession. Æthelwold seized Wimborne but was soon chased out of Wessex. He was accepted by the Danes of York (then called Jorvik) as their leader and led a revolt of Danes in East Anglia. Æthelwold remained a problem until he was killed at the Battle of the Holme in 902.

Edward married three times and had about fourteen children.  He was unwilling to marry his daughters to his own subjects so they either became nuns or married foreign husbands. His son and successor Æthelstan continued this practice with his sisters.

Around 893, Edward married Ecgwynn but nothing is known about her. They had two children:

Around 899, Edward married Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire. It is possible that Ælfflæd was put aside so that Edward could marry his third wife Eadgifu. There is some evidence that Ælfflæd retired to Wilton Abbey, where she was joined by two of her daughters, Eadflæd and Æthelhild, and that all three were buried there.

Edward and Ælfflæd eight children:

Ancient picture of Queen Eadgifu from Canterbury Cathedral; Credit – Wikipedia

In about 919, Edward married Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent. Eadgifu died in 968.

Edward and Eadgifu had three known children:

England in the late 9th century; Credit – By Hel-hama – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19885072

In 918, Edward’s sister Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians died. She had been ruling Mercia since the death of her husband. Even though Æthelflæd’s daughter had technically succeeded her, Edward assumed control of Mercia. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, there was a general submission of rulers in Britain to Edward in 920. The Danes in the southern part of the Danelaw submitted to Edward. Even Ragnall ua Ímair of Northumbria eventually submitted to Edward although his successor Sitric Cáech did not. Ragnall’s submission even jolted Constantine II, King of Scots and Owain ap Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde into submission. Both Scotland and Strathclyde had been invaded by the Norse, and they needed Edward’s protection. By 922, Edward was the overlord of all Britain except for York, Orkney, and the Western Isles.

Edward the Elder died at the royal estate of Farndon-on-Dee in Mercia on July 17, 924. He was initially buried in the New Minster, Winchester. In 1109, the New Minster was moved outside the city walls to become Hyde Abbey, and the following year, the remains of Edward and his parents were moved to the new abbey church which was destroyed in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the reign of King Henry VIII. His third wife and widow Eadgifu survived him by 44 years and died in the reign of her grandson King Edgar in 968.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Edward the Elder. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Elder [Accessed 9 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, King of the Anglo-Saxons

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Statue of Alfred the Great in Wantage, Oxfordshire; Credit – By Steve Daniels, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8862807

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex and later styled himself King of the Anglo-Saxons. Alfred and Cnut, King of England, Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden are the only British monarchs to be given the epithet “the Great”. Born circa 847 – 849, probably at a royal palace in Wantage, now in Oxfordshire, England, he was the youngest of the four known sons and the youngest of the five known children of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex and his first wife Osburga.

Alfred had four known elder brothers and one known elder sister:

Alfred’s father King Æthelwulf of Wessex; Credit – Wikipedia

From 854 – 855, Alfred accompanied his father on a pilgrimage to Rome and then they spent some time at the court of Charles the Bald, King of West Francia.  Being the fourth of four sons, Alfred was not expected to succeed to the throne and was probably being prepared for a career in the Roman Catholic Church. In 856, Alfred’s father King Æthelwulf married Judith of Flanders, daughter of Charles the Bald. Alfred’s mother Osburga had probably died, although it is possible that she had been put aside. King Æthelwulf and Judith had no children and after King Æthelwulf’s death, she married his son and successor Æthelbald.

King Æthelwulf died on January 13, 858, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son Æthelbald in Wessex and his next surviving son Æthelberht in Kent. When King Æthelbald died two years later, Æthelbert became King of Wessex and remained King of Kent. Alfred’s public life began in 865 with the accession of his fourth brother Æthelred I. Also in 865, the Great Heathen Army of Danes landed in East Anglia with the goal of conquering the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. During King Æthelred I’s reign, Alfred fought beside him against the Great Heathen Army led by Ivar the Boneless and his brother Halfdan Ragnarsson. King Æthelred I was wounded at the Battle of Marton and died shortly afterward on April 23, 871. Because King Æthelred I left two young sons, Æthelhelm and Æthelwold, who were deemed too young to succeed to the throne, Alfred became King of Wessex.

Alfred’s wife Ealhswith; Credit – Wikipedia

In 868, Alfred married Ealhswith, daughter of a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini and his wife Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family. As was customary in ninth-century Wessex, Ealhswith was not given the title of queen.

Alfred and Ealhswith had five known children:

Battles with the Danish invaders continued into the early years of Alfred’s reign. Alfred concluded a peace treaty in 876 which involved an exchange of hostages and oaths. However, the Danes broke their oath and killed all the hostages. In January 878, the Danes made a sudden attack on Chippenham, a royal stronghold where Alfred had spent Christmas. Many people were killed but Alfred and a small group made their way to the marshes of Somerset. A fort was built at Athelney in the marshes where Alfred organized an effective resistance movement.

In May 878, Alfred left Athelney and led his army to Wiltshire where large contingents from Somerset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire also gathered. At the Battle of Edington, the Anglo-Saxon army defeated the Great Heathen Army led by Guthrum. Under the Treaty of Wedmore, the Danes agreed to withdraw from Wessex and settle in East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumberland in land ceded to them called the Danelaw.  The Viking leader Guthrum became a Christian and Alfred was his godfather at his baptism, giving him the name Athelstan.

England in 878; Credit – By Hel-hama – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

The next eight years were a peaceful period in Wessex. Alfred came to be regarded by the Anglo-Saxons as their overlord and although he was never really king of all England as the Danes held the north and east, he styled himself King of the Anglo-Saxons.

Map of the burghs; Credit – By Hel-hama – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Some accomplishments during the reign of Alfred the Great:

  • Burhs: Alfred the Great set about building a system of fortified towns or forts, known as burhs or burgs, in response to the continued Viking threat. These burhs included former Roman towns where stone walls were repaired and perimeter ditches added along with temporary forts, and new towns.
  • Navy: Alfred ordered the construction of a small fleet of longboats that had 60 oars and were twice the size of Viking longboats. His goal was to intercept raiding Viking fleets before they landed
  • Legal reform: Alfred issued the Doom Book in which he compiled a legal code based on three prior Anglo-Saxon legal codes which he found the most just, those of Æthelberht of Kent (circa 602), Ine of Wessex (circa 694), and Offa of Mercia (circa 786). Alfred also included the Ten Commandments and rules of life from the Mosaic Code and Christian ethics.  Alfred’s legal code was administered by local shire reeves (or sheriffs) and judges.
  • Education: The Danish raids had a devastating effect on learning in England. Inspired by the educational reforms of Charlemagne almost a century before, Alfred undertook an ambitious effort to revive learning. Scholars were recruited from all over Britain and abroad. Alfred established a court school for the education of his own children, children of the nobility, and children of lesser birth. He declared that all sons of freemen should attend school and learn to read and write in English.

Except for a brief period in 885, peace was maintained until 893 when a war with the Danes in East Anglia started and lasted until 897. The Danes caused problems in Mercia and Wales but were unable to penetrate Wessex’s defenses.

Alfred the Great’s statue in Winchester; Credit – Wikipedia

Alfred had long suffered from a mysterious illness with periodic painful attacks. Alfred’s contemporary biographer, the Welsh monk Asser, gave a detailed description of his symptoms and modern doctors suspect that he had either Crohn’s disease or hemorrhoidal disease. However, Alfred’s grandson King Eadred also suffered from ill health all his life. He had symptoms similar to the symptoms Alfred had. A genetic disease such as porphyria, which King George III may have had, is also a possibility.  Alfred died on October 26, 899 at around the age of 50 from unknown causes. He was buried in the Old Minster in Winchester but that is not the end of the story for Alfred’s remains.

Four years later, Alfred’s remains were moved to the New Minster, a royal Benedictine abbey founded in 901 in Winchester. Alfred had intended to build the abbey but only got around to buying the land before he died. His son and successor, King Edward the Elder, finished the abbey according to Alfred’s wishes. In 1109, King Henry I ordered the New Minster to be moved to Hyde Mead and so Hyde Abbey was built just outside the walls of Winchester. When the new church of Hyde Abbey was consecrated in 1110, the remains of Alfred, his wife Ealhswith, and his son Edward the Elder were carried in state through Winchester and interred before the Hyde Abbey high altar.

In 1539, during the reign of King Henry VIII, Hyde Abbey was dissolved and demolished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Over the next 250 years, the choir end of Hyde Abbey, where Alfred, his wife, and his son had been interred, was gradually forgotten. In 1788, the land where Hyde Abbey had been located was to become the site of a small local prison. The prisoners were put to work digging the foundation and they came across a number of graves.

In the 19th century, excavations carried out on the site of Hyde Abbey claimed to have found the remains of Alfred the Great which then were reburied in a simple grave outside nearby St. Bartholomew’s Church. More recent excavations of the sites have not given positive or definite results. Bones found in 1999 proved to be those of an elderly woman. The bones found in 2003 were carbon-dated but the results showed that they were from the 1300s and therefore could not be Alfred’s. A fragment of a pelvis from the 1999 excavation was found in a box in a Winchester museum storeroom. Carbon dating showed that the pelvis fragment comes from the correct period. It has been suggested that this bone may belong to either Alfred or his son Edward but this remains unproven.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Alfred the Great. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great [Accessed 9 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Princess Mary of Great Britain, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Credit – By Johann Heinrich Tischbein, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74554565

On March 5, 1723, Princess Mary of Great Britain was born at Leicester House, Leicester Square in London, England. She was the seventh of the eight children and the fourth of the five daughters of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach, then the Prince and Princess of Wales. At the time of her birth, her grandfather King George I sat upon the throne of Great Britain. When Mary was four-years-old, her grandfather died and her father succeeded him. The next year the family moved to St. James’ Palace in London.

Mary had six older siblings and one younger sibling:

Mary’s husband Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1740, when Mary was 17 years old, a marriage was arranged for her with 20-year-old Friedrich II, the future Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. Friedrich was the son of Wilhelm VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and Dorothea Wilhelmine of Saxe-Zeitz. As Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, Friedrich became famous during the American Revolution as a supplier of thousands of Hessian soldiers who fought on behalf of the British.  A proxy marriage, with Mary’s brother William standing in for the groom, was held on May 19, 1740, in the Chapel Royal of St. James’ Palace. Mary left England In June and married Friedrich in person on June 28, 1740.

Mary and Friedrich had four sons:

Mary and her husband Friedrich are ancestors of the current British royal family through their fourth son Prince Friedrich. Prince Friedrich’s daughter Augusta was the grandmother of Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, better known as Queen Mary, the wife of King George V of the United Kingdom. Through their third son Prince Karl, Mary and her husband Friedrich are great-grandparents of King Christian IX of Denmark, as are Mary’s younger sister Louisa and her husband King Frederik V of Denmark. Through this line, Mary and Friedrich (along with her sister Louisa and Frederik V of Denmark) are ancestors of six of the ten current European royal families: Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Mary in 1762; Credit – Wikipedia

Mary’s marriage was not a happy one and Friedrich was cruel and abusive. After the birth of their fourth son, Friedrich left Mary and their sons. Eventually, Friedrich sent her a letter saying that he had been in love with a Catholic woman who he had wanted to marry. However, she would not agree to marry Friedrich unless he converted to Catholicism which he refused to do, fearing the reaction of his family and future subjects.  Shortly before the birth of his fourth son, Friedrich received word that his former love was dying and he went to see her. She asked him to convert to Catholicism so their souls could be reunited in heaven and Friedrich agreed to do so.  In February 1749, Friedrich visited the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Clemens August of Bavaria, who received him into the Roman Catholic Church. Furious, Mary’s father King George II ordered his daughter back to England but she refused, saying that it was her duty to remain in the place that God had placed her and that she would ensure her sons would be brought up Protestant.

By 1754, it became obvious to Friedrich’s father Wilhelm VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, that the marriage of his son and Mary was irretrievably broken and he took in his daughter-in-law and grandchildren to live with him. In 1755, Mary and Friedrich officially separated but Mary refused a divorce in order to deprive her husband of the opportunity to remarry.  Friedrich’s father ordered him to leave the Protestant religion untouched in Hesse-Kassel and gave his eldest grandson the County of Hanau-Münzenberg, under the regency of Mary.  Friedrich never saw his wife again and did not see his children until 1782.

In 1756, Mary went to Denmark to take care of the children of her younger sister Louisa who had died a few years earlier. Mary’s sons grew up in the Danish royal court and two of them married Danish princesses. In 1760, Wilhelm VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel died and his son and Mary’s husband became Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. As there was no divorce, Mary was then Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel.


Mary’s sons: Wilhelm, Karl, and Friedrich; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1785, Mary’s oldest surviving son Wilhelm returned to Hesse-Kassel when his father died to succeed him as Wilhelm IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. He later became Wilhelm I, Prince-Elector of Hesse. Karl became a Field Marshal in the Danish Army and was royal governor of the Danish duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from 1769 to 1836. Friedrich also served in the Danish Army. In 1781, he bought Rumpenheim Castle (link in German) from his brother Karl and it became his family’s seat. Mary had spent her last years living there.

Mary died on January 14, 1772, in Hanau, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, now in Hesse, Germany, at the age of 48. She was buried at the Marienkirche (link in German) in Hanau. Originally a Roman Catholic church built in the 1300s dedicated to Mary Magdalene, it was renamed the High German Reformed Church after the Reformation. In 1818, Mary’s son Wilhelm, now Prince-Elector of Hesse, decreed that the church should be renamed Marienkirche, St. Mary’s Church, in honor of his mother.

Tomb of Mary of Great Britain, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II,_Landgrave_of_Hesse-Kassel [Accessed 17 Jul. 2019].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Princess Mary of Great Britain. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Mary_of_Great_Britain [Accessed 17 Jul. 2019].
  • Van der Kiste, J. (2013). King George II and Queen Caroline. New York: The History Press.
  • Van Der Kiste, John. The Georgian Princesses. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 2000. Print.
  • Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.

Prince George William of Great Britain

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Engraving by John Simon; Credit – Wikipedia

Little Prince George William lived from November 13, 1717 – February 17, 1718, three months and four days, but an event in his short life caused a huge family argument. The principals in the argument were George William’s grandfather King George I of Great Britain and his father The Prince of Wales, the future King George II of Great Britain. It was the beginning of the battles between fathers and sons that would plague the House of Hanover. First, let us deal with Prince George William’s short life.

Prince George William of Great Britain was born at St. James’ Palace in London, England on November 13, 1717. His parents were the Prince and Princess of Wales, the future King George II and his wife, born Caroline of Ansbach. George William was the first of his parents’ eight children to be born in Great Britain. His four elder siblings, Frederick, Prince of Wales, Anne, Princess Royal, Princess Amelia, and Princess Caroline, had all been born in the Electorate of Hanover, now in Lower Saxony, Germany.

George William’s great-grandmother, Sophia of the Palatinate, Electress of Hanover was the heiress presumptive to Queen Anne of Great Britain in accordance with the Act of Settlement 1701, but Sophia died two months before Queen Anne died. Upon Queen Anne’s death on August 1, 1714, George William’s grandfather succeeded to the British throne as King George I of Great Britain and his father became the heir apparent to the British throne and was created Prince of Wales the following month.

In February 1718, Prince George William became ill. The infant prince died at about 8:00 PM on February 17, 1718, at Kensington Palace in London. The London Gazette officially reported that Prince George William “had been taken ill about ten days before of a cough and strainess of breathing, from which he had been recovering till the foggy weather on the 15th and 16th, which occasioning a relapse into his strainess of breathing, he fell into convulsions and died.” An autopsy determined that he had been born with a “polyp on his heart.”

On the night of February 23, 1718, Prince George William’s remains, accompanied by the king’s servants, the Yeomen of the Guard and the Horse Guards, were transported from Kensington Palace in one of King George I’s coaches to Westminster Abbey where he was privately interred. Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester conducted the funeral service. It was not unusual for deceased royal children to be buried in this manner.

Backtracking to Prince George William’s christening: George William was christened at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace in London, England on November 28, 1717, by John Robinson, Bishop of London. His godparents were:

  • King George I of Great Britain: his paternal grandfather
  • Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle: Lord Chamberlain of the King’s Household and later Prime Minister of Great Britain
  • Diana Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans: Mistress of the Robes to his mother, born Lady Diana de Vere, wife of Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, an illegitimate son of King Charles II and his mistress Nell Gwynne

King George I, Prince George William’s grandfather; Credit – Wikipedia

What should have been a perfectly normal, quiet christening turned into a shouting match that resulted in the parents of Prince George William being exiled from their home at St. James’ Palace and their children being kept at St. James’ Palace in the custody of their grandfather King George I.

George. Prince of Wales, Prince George William’s father; Credit – Wikipedia

The Prince of Wales (George) asked his father King George I and his paternal uncle Prince Ernst August of Hanover, who had been created Duke of York, to be godfathers. The Princess of Wales (Caroline) wanted to name her son William and initially King George I agreed. However, the little prince was the first of the British House of Hanover to be born in Great Britain, and apparently, the king’s government ministers insisted that the previous protocol be followed. The ministers told the king that since he was one of the godfathers, the infant prince should be named George. A compromise was reached and the prince’s name would be George William.

Caroline, Princess of Wales, mother of Prince George William; Credit – Wikipedia

Next, the ministers objected to Prince Ernst August of Hanover being one of the godparents. He was the reigning Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück (now in Lower Saxony, Germany) and unmarried. If Ernst August was named a godparent, he perhaps might make the British prince the heir to his German title. Furthermore, the ministers advised the king that it was usual practice for the Lord Chamberlain, the most senior officer of the Royal Household, to be one of the godfathers. This writer, who has researched and written about Royal Christenings, can say that although the list of godparents for the British House of Stuart which preceded the House of Hanover is incomplete, there is no evidence that it was the usual practice for the Lord Chamberlain to be a royal godfather. Caroline was willing to compromise again and suggested that the Lord Chamberlain, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, could stand as proxy for Ernst August. Caroline was overruled by the ministers and then asked for the christening to be postponed, and was again overruled.

Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle; Credit – Wikipedia

When the christening took place, George and Caroline were incensed at being repeatedly overruled. After the christening, George accused the Duke of Newcastle of acting dishonestly regarding the christening arrangements, shook his fists at him, and said, “You are a rascal but I shall find you out,” meaning get even. George had spoken English since he was a child but having lived in Hanover where German was the native language for the first thirty-one years of his life, he spoke English with a German accent. The Duke of Newcastle misunderstood George and thought he said, “I shall fight you.” The Duke quickly went to King George I and told him that his son had challenged him to a duel.

King George I summoned his cabinet for advice. A group of ministers was sent to George asking if the allegations were true. George denied he had challenged Newcastle to a duel, explained he had said “find” and not “fight” and further explained Newcastle had disrespected him by insisting he be a godfather when he knew it was against George’s wishes. When the ministers told George that Newcastle had been asked to be a godfather by the command of the king, George replied that while he respected his father, he did not believe it.

Within days, King George I ordered his son, the Prince of Wales, to leave St. James’ Palace. The Prince of Wales was further ordered to leave his children at St. James’ Palace in the custody of the king. The Princess of Wales was allowed to freely visit her children but her husband had to give notice. George appealed to the courts for his children to be returned to him but he was told that according to British law, royal grandchildren belonged to The Crown. Most people in political and court circles felt that King George I overreacted.

The Prince and Princess of Wales needed a residence and they moved into Leicester House in Leicester Square, London which became their chief residence for the rest of King George I’s reign. After two years, the Princess of Wales acted as a mediator for her husband, and in cooperation with Prime Minister Robert Walpole, she finally reconciled King George I and his son.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Prince George William of Great Britain. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George_William_of_Great_Britain [Accessed 16 Jul. 2019].
  • Thegazette.co.uk. (1718). Page 2 | Issue 5615, 8 February 1718 | London Gazette | The Gazette. [online] Available at: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/5615/page/2 [Accessed 16 Jul. 2019].
  • Thegazette.co.uk. (1718). Page 2 | Issue 5616, 11 February 1718 | London Gazette | The Gazette. [online] Available at: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/5616/page/2 [Accessed 16 Jul. 2019].
  • Van der Kiste, J. (2013). King George II and Queen Caroline. New York: The History Press.
  • Van Der Kiste, John. The Georgian Princesses. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 2000. Print.
  • Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.