Margaret of England, Queen of Scots

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Margaret of England, Queen of Scots; Credit – Wikipedia

Born at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England on September 29, 1240, Margaret was the second of the five children of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence. She was named after maternal aunt Margaret of Provence, Queen of France and St. Margaret of Antioch, patron saint of pregnant women. Eleanor of Provence had prayed to St. Margaret of Antioch during Margaret’s difficult birth.

Margaret had four siblings:

King Henry III of England (top) and his children, (l to r) Edward, Margaret, Beatrice, Edmund, and Katherine; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1244, Margaret’s father King Henry III of England met with King Alexander II of Scotland in Newcastle, England for peace negotiations. King Alexander II’s first wife had been King Henry III’s sister Joan, so there was a family relationship. Alexander II’s marriage to Joan had been childless, but he had one child, Alexander, with his second wife Marie de Coucy. The two kings decided that their two children should marry, and so Margaret was betrothed that same year to Alexander. Alexander’s father died on July 8, 1249, and he became King Alexander III at the age of seven.

Coronation of King Alexander III on Moot Hill, Scone from a late medieval manuscript of the Scottichronicon by Walter Bower; Credit – Wikipedia

On December 26, 1251, at York Minster in York, England, 11-year-old Margaret became Queen of Scots when she married 10-year-old King Alexander III. The wedding celebrations were festive and attended by many people including 1,000 English and 600 Scottish knights. The young couple remained in York for a month before traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Young Margaret was lonely and uncomfortable in her new home. Because of Margaret and Alexander’s young age, the marriage was not consummated for some time. Margaret complained to her parents that she was not allowed to live with her husband and was held in an almost captive-like situation. A visit back to England to see her mother was not allowed. Queen Eleanor then sent Reginald of Bath to her daughter, who confirmed her depressed state. In 1255, King Henry III of England sent envoys to Scotland demanding better conditions for his daughter. It was agreed that as Margaret and Alexander were now fourteen, they should be allowed to consummate their marriage and that Margaret would be allowed to travel regularly to England. In 1261, Margaret and Alexander’s first child, a daughter also named Margaret, was born at Windsor Castle in England while Margaret was on a visit to her parents.

Margaret and Alexander had three children:

Margaret and her husband attended the coronation of her brother King Edward I of England on August 19, 1274, at Westminster Abbey, but Margaret only lived for six more months. At the age of 34, she died on February 26, 1275, at Cupar Castle in Fife, Scotland, and was buried at Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, Scotland where many Scottish royals were buried.

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
Abrufstatistik. “Margarete von England.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
“Alexander III of Scotland.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Dec. 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
“Margaret of England.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Nov. 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.

Queen Elizabeth II: 65 Years on the Throne

By Joel Rouse/ Ministry of Defence – https://www.defenceimagery.mod.uk/fotoweb/archives/5000-Current%20News/Archive%20(Navy)/RoyalNavy/2015/March/45158590.jpg, OGL 3, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39183110

Sixty-five years ago today, King George VI of the United Kingdom died and his daughter succeeded him as Queen Elizabeth II.  At the time, she was 25-years-old, had been married for four years, and had two young children.  She was in Kenya on her way to a tour of Australia and New Zealand with her husband when she found out her father died.

Here are some other interesting facts and figures about The Queen:

  • She has had 13 Prime Ministers
  • She has conferred over 405,000 honors and awards
  • She has personally held over 610 Investitures
  • She and the Duke of Edinburgh have the longest marriage of a British Sovereign
  • She is the oldest British monarch (Queen Victoria is 2nd at 81 years, 243 days)
  • She is the longest-serving current Head of State.
  • On September 9, 2015, she surpassed Queen Victoria as the longest serving British monarch.

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Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Arms of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent; Credit – By Sodacan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27269477

The life of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent ended with his execution by beheading, but he is rarely mentioned among the beheaded English royals.  He was born at Woodstock Palace near Oxford, England on August 5, 1301, the second of the three children of King Edward I of England and his second wife Margaret of France.

The parents of Edmund of Woodstock, King Edward I and Margaret of France; Credit – Wikipedia

Edmund had 14-16 half-siblings by his father’s first marriage to Eleanor of Castile, but only six survived childhood:

    • Daughter (stillborn in May 1255)
    • Katherine of England (before 1264 – 1264)
    • Joan of England (born and died 1265)
    • John of England(1266 – 1271)
    • Henry of England (1268 – 1274)
    • Eleanor of England (1269 – 1298), married Count Henri III, Count of Bar, had issue
    • Daughter (born and died 1271)
    • Joan of Acre (1272 – 1307), married (1) in 1290 Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, had issue  (2) in 1297 Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer, had issue
    • Alfonso, Earl of Chester (1273 – 1284)
    • Margaret of England (1275 – after 1333), married John II of Brabant, had issue
    • Berengaria (1276 – 1278)
    • Daughter (born and died 1278)
    • Mary of Woodstock (1279 – 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire
    • Son (born in 1280 or 1281 who died very shortly after birth)
    • Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282 – 1316), married (1) in 1297 John I, Count of Holland, no issue (2) in 1302 Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd Earl of Essex, had issue
    • King Edward II of England (1284 – 1327), married Isabella of France, had issue including King Edward III of England

Edmund had one older brother and one younger sister:

Edmund’s brother Thomas of Brotherton was only a year older and the two grew up in a household together, complete with luxuries as befitted their status as a king’s son. However, they were not the important royal children. That role went to their much older half-brother Edward, Prince of Wales who was the only surviving son of Edward I’s first marriage to Eleanor of Castile.

In the summer of 1307, Edmund’s mother Margaret accompanied his father Edward I on a military campaign in Scotland. On the way to Scotland, the 68-year-old king died on July 7, 1307, at Burgh by Sands in Cumbria, England. Edmund’s half-brother succeeded to the throne as King Edward II. Edmund’s elder brother Thomas was now the heir presumptive to the throne. Edward I had intended to give Thomas the title Earl of Cornwall, but instead, the new King Edward II bestowed the title upon his favorite Piers Gaveston along with the lands that brought Gaveston a substantial income. Many people, including Edmund and Thomas’ mother, now the dowager queen, were infuriated that such an important title had been given to a person that was not family. In 1312, Piers Gaveston, the favorite of Edmund’s half-brother King Edward II, was hunted down and executed by a group of barons led by Edward’s uncle Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick. Eventually, Edward II provided annual grants for his half-brother Edmund and in 1321 gave him the strategically important Gloucester Castle and created him Earl of Kent.

In December of 1325, Edmund married Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell. Edmund and Margaret had four children including Joan of Kent who was the mother of King Richard II:

Edmund, 1st Earl of Kent played an important role during the reign of his half-brother King Edward II, acting both as a diplomat and a military commander.  He accompanied the king on a military campaign to Scotland in 1322 and was instrumental in raising troops for many campaigns.  When the marriage of King Edward II’s son, Edward, Prince of Wales, to Philippa of Hainault was being arranged in 1325, Edmund went to Hainault with Queen Isabella and her son to negotiate the marriage contract.

After the execution of Piers Gaveston in 1312, Hugh Despenser the Elder became part of King Edward II’s inner circle, marking the beginning of the Despensers’ increased prominence at Edward’s court. His son, Hugh Despenser the Younger, became a favorite of Edward II. Edward was willing to let the Despensers do as they pleased, and they grew rich from their administration and corruption.  Edmund and his brother Thomas of Brotherton became victims of the Despencers’ greed when Hugh Despenser the Elder stole some of their land.  Edmund and Thomas then allied themselves with Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March when they invaded England in 1326. With their mercenary army, Isabella and Mortimer quickly seized power from King Edward II. King Edward II was forced to abdicate in 1327, his son was crowned as King Edward III, and Isabella and Mortimer served as regents for the teenage king.  Edmund was present at his nephew’s coronation and received grants of land that had been forfeited property of the Despencers.

In 1329, Edmund had been persuaded by an unknown friar that his half-brother Edward II was still alive and set about raising forces to free him and restore him to the throne.  It later emerged that Roger Mortimer himself was responsible for leading Edmund to believe the former king was still alive, in a form of entrapment.  Edmund, 1st Earl of Kent, aged 28, was executed by beheading for high treason at Winchester Castle on March 19, 1330.  Apparently, the execution had to be held up for a day because no one wanted to be responsible for a prince’s death. Eventually, a convicted murderer agreed to be the executioner in return for a pardon.  Edmund was initially buried at the Franciscan Friary in Winchester, but in 1331 his remains were moved to Westminster Abbey.

Edmund’s wife Margaret was pregnant at the time of her husband’s execution and was confined to Arundel Castle with her young children where her last child was born. After Edmund’s execution, the nobles begged the young King Edward III to assert his independence, which he did shortly before his 18th birthday. In October of 1330, a Parliament was summoned to Nottingham Castle, and Mortimer and Isabella were seized by Edward and the nobles. Isabella begged for mercy for Mortimer, but he was accused of assuming royal power and of various other crimes and was condemned without trial and hanged. Isabella was held under a comfortable house arrest until her death in 1358. After King Edward III regained his independence from his mother and Mortimer, he took in Margaret and her children and treated them as his own family.  Edmund’s daughter Joan and her siblings grew up with Edward III’s children, including Edward, Prince of Wales, Joan’s future husband.

Works Cited
“Edmund of Woodstock, 1st earl of Kent.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Sept. 2016. Web. 24 Dec. 2016.
Jones, Dan. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking, 2012. Print.
Susan. “King Edward II of England.” British Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 21 July 2016. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
Susan. “King Edward III of England.” British Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 4 Sept. 2015. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
Susan. “Margaret of France, queen of England.” British Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 19 July 2016. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.

Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Arms of Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk; Credit – By Sodacan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27282076

Thomas of Brotherton was the eldest of the three children of King Edward I of England and his second wife Margaret of France.  He was born on June 1, 1300, at the manor house in Brotherton, Yorkshire, England. His mother went into labor while she was traveling to Cawood Castle where she had planned to give birth. Margaret had prayed to St. Thomas Becket during her labor and named her son after him.

The parents of Thomas of Brotherton, King Edward I and Margaret of France; Credit – Wikipedia

Thomas had 14-16 half-siblings by his father’s first marriage to Eleanor of Castile, but only six survived childhood:

  • Daughter (stillborn in May 1255)
  • Katherine of England (before 1264 – 1264)
  • Joan of England (born and died 1265)
  • John of England (1266 – 1271)
  • Henry of England (1268 – 1274)
  • Eleanor of England (1269 – 1298), married Henry III, Count of Bar, had issue
  • Daughter (born and died 1271)
  • Joan of Acre (1272 – 1307), married (1) in 1290 Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, had issue  (2) in 1297 Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer, had issue
  • Alfonso, Earl of Chester (1273 – 1284)
  • Margaret of England (1275 – after 1333), married John II, Duke of Brabant, had issue
  • Berengaria (1276 – 1278)
  • Daughter (born and died 1278)
  • Mary of Woodstock (1279 – 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire
  • Son (born in 1280 or 1281 who died very shortly after birth)
  • Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282 – 1316), married (1) in 1297 John I, Count of Holland, no issue (2) in 1302 Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd Earl of Essex, had issue
  • King Edward II of England (1284 – 1327), married Isabella of France, had issue including King Edward III of England

Thomas had one younger brother and one younger sister:

Thomas’ brother Edmund of Woodstock was only a year younger and the two grew up in a household together, complete with luxuries as befitted their status as a king’s son. However, they were not the important royal children. That role went to their much older half-brother Edward, Prince of Wales who was the only surviving son of Edward I’s first marriage to Eleanor of Castile.

In the summer of 1307, Thomas’ mother Margaret accompanied his father Edward I on a military campaign in Scotland. On the way to Scotland, the 68-year-old king died on July 7, 1307, at Burgh by Sands in Cumbria, England. Thomas’ half-brother succeeded to the throne as King Edward II. Thomas was now the heir presumptive to the throne. Edward I had intended to give Thomas the title Earl of Cornwall, but instead, the new King Edward II bestowed the title upon his favorite Piers Gaveston along with the lands that brought Gaveston a substantial income. Many people, including Thomas’ mother, now the dowager queen, were infuriated that such an important title had been given to a person that was not family. In 1312, Piers Gaveston, the favorite of Thomas’ half-brother King Edward II, was hunted down and executed by a group of barons led by Edward’s uncle Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick. Also in 1312, Edward II’s wife Isabella gave birth to a son, another Edward, the future King Edward III.  After the birth of his son, Edward II created Thomas Earl of Norfolk.

In 1316, Thomas was given the office of Lord Marshal of England.  The title of “marshal” at one time designated the head of household security for the King of England. The office became hereditary under John FitzGilbert the Marshal and his second son William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, served four kings (Henry II, Richard I, John, and Henry III) in this office and became one of the most powerful men in Europe. The office of hereditary Marshal (currently Earl Marshal) evolved into a Great Officer of State. In 1672, the office of Marshal of England and the title of Earl Marshal of England were made hereditary in the Howard family and since then the offices have been held by the Duke of Norfolk. Today, the Earl Marshal’s role is chiefly involved in organizing major state ceremonies such as coronations, state funerals, and the opening of parliament.

Around January 8, 1326, Thomas married Alice de Hales, daughter of Sir Roger de Hales of Hales Hall in Loddon, Norfolkshire, England. Through their daughter Margaret, Thomas and Alice are ancestors of the two beheaded wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, who were first cousins.

Thomas and Alice had three children:

Thomas’ first wife Alice died in 1330. After her death, Thomas married Mary de Brewes, daughter of Sir Peter de Brewes of Tetbury, Gloucestershire. Thomas and Mary had no surviving issue.

After the execution of Piers Gaveston in 1312, Hugh Despenser the Elder became part of King Edward II’s inner circle, marking the beginning of the Despensers’ increased prominence at Edward’s court. His son, Hugh Despenser the Younger, became a favorite of Edward II. Edward was willing to let the Despensers do as they pleased, and they grew rich from their administration and corruption. Thomas of Brotherton became a victim of the Despencers’ greed when Hugh Despenser the Elder stole some of his land. Thomas then allied himself with Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March when they invaded England in 1326. With their mercenary army, Isabella and Mortimer quickly seized power from King Edward II. Thomas was one of the judges in the trial against both Despensers where they were both sentenced to death. King Edward II was forced to abdicate, his son was crowned as King Edward III, and Isabella and Mortimer served as regents for the teenage king.

Many nobles were jealous and angry because of Mortimer’s abuse of power. Three years after King Edward II was deposed, Thomas’ brother Edmund, 1st Earl of Kent was accused of high treason on charges of having attempted to free the former king from imprisonment. It later emerged that Roger Mortimer himself was responsible for leading Edmund to believe the former king was still alive, in a form of entrapment.  Edmund, 1st Earl of Kent was executed at Winchester Castle on March 19, 1330.   After this execution, the nobles begged the young king to assert his independence, which he did shortly before his 18th birthday. After King Edward III regained power from his mother and Mortimer, his uncle Thomas became one of his principal advisors.

Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk died at Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, England on August 4, 1338, at the age of 38. He was buried in the choir of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. The abbey was disbanded during King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries when the abbey was stripped of all valuable building materials and artifacts. The abbey ruins were then used as building materials by the local people.

Remains of Bury St Edmunds Abbey, Suffolk, England; Photo Credit – John Armagh, 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
“Earl marshal.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Oct. 2016. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
Jones, Dan. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking, 2012. Print.
Susan. “King Edward II of England.” British Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 21 July 2016. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
Susan. “King Edward III of England.” British Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 4 Sept. 2015. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
Susan. “Margaret of France, queen of England.” British Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 19 July 2016. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
“Thomas of Brotherton, 1st earl of Norfolk.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Oct. 2016. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.

Top Ten Articles of January 2017


Today we start a new monthly feature, the top ten most-viewed articles of the previous month. The top ten articles for January 2017 may have been affected by some royal news: the death of Antony Armstong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon and the announcement that Prince Louis of Luxembourg and his wife Princess Tessy will be divorcing. People in the United States watching the series about Queen Victoria on PBS may have been interested in learning about her mother Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent.  In addition, the article on King Edward VIII, The Duke of Windsor may be getting views from people watching The Crown on Netflix. We invite you to spend some time checking out our archive of over 1,000 articles about royalty, past and present, at Unofficial Royalty: Royal Articles Index.

  1. Wedding of Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones and Daniel Chatto
  2. King Edward VIII, The Duke of Windsor
  3. Rulers of the United Arab Emirates
  4. Tragedy in the British Royal Family at the end of August

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  5. British Royal Residences
  6. Americans Who Married Royalty
  7. Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent
  8. David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon
  9. The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg
  10. European Monarchs at the Start of World War I in 1914

February 1917: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

  • Wilhelm II, German Emperor and the Noble Peace Prize
  • Timeline: February 1, 1917 – February 28, 1917
  • A Note About German Titles
  • February 1917 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

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Wilhelm II, German Emperor and the Noble Peace Prize

Wilhelm II, German Emperor in 1914; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

As I started to research this article, I realized I did not have as many options for a topic as in past months. I had only one death of a royal/peer/peer’s son with very little information and no World War I event involving royalty. I started to peruse the February 1917 dates On This Day area at http://www.firstworldwar.com/ and found this for February 2, 1917: “Stambul University proposes German Emperor as recipient of Nobel Peace Prize.”  Wilhelm II, German Emperor nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize? Yes, he was nominated twice in 1917 and also once in 1911!  First, some basic background on Wilhelm and then we will get into the Nobel Peace Prize nominations.

Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht was born on January 27, 1859, at the Crown Prince’s Palace in Berlin.  He was the first child of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (the future Friedrich III, German Emperor) and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, and the first grandchild of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, whose names he was given.

Wilhelm was related to many European royals.  His sister Sophie was the Queen Consort of Greece.  Among his first cousins were King George V of the United Kingdom, Queen Maud of Norway, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, Queen Marie of Romania, Duke Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, Duke Charles Edward of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain.

1888 was called the Year of the Three Emperors.  On March 9, 1888, Wilhelm’s grandfather Wilhelm I, German Emperor died. Already ill with throat cancer, Wilhelm’s father became Friedrich III, German Emperor.  His reign lasted only 99 days as he died on June 15, 1888 and Wilhelm became German Emperor at the age of 29.

Wilhelm was very militaristic and wanted to increase the strength of Germany’s armed forces, particularly the German Imperial Navy which he wanted to be the equal of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. Although Wilhelm appeared to have some doubts after the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Serbia (see his translated memoirs), Wilhelm incited Austria-Hungary to take revenge against Serbia for the assassination. Events worsened throughout July of 1914 resulting in the beginning of World War I in August of 1914. Years before the start of World War I, Germany had developed the Schlieffen Plan, a one-front war-winning offensive against France which was the thinking behind the German invasion of France and Belgium on August 4, 1914.

In the aftermath of World War I, Germany had a revolution that resulted in the replacement of the monarchy with a republic. Wilhelm abdicated on November 9, 1918. On November 10, 1918, Wilhelm Hohenzollern crossed the border by train and went into exile in the Netherlands, never to return to Germany. On June 4, 1941, Wilhelm II, the former German Emperor and King of Prussia, died of a pulmonary embolism at Huis Doorn, his home in exile in Doorn, The Netherlands. He was 82 years old and had lived at Huis Doorn since 1920.

Alfred Nobel‘s will stated that the Peace Prize should be given “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses” and the prize should be decided “by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting,” the Storting being the Norwegian Parliament.

The nomination archives at Nobel Prize official website do indicate that Wilhelm II, German Emperor was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, all by university professors: in 1911 by Benjamin Ide Wheeler and twice in 1917 by The Faculty of law at the Ottoman University of Istanbul and also by Robert Holtzmann.  According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, a Nobel Peace Prize nominator must be from one of several categories including “University professors, professors emeriti and associate professors of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology, and religion; university rectors and university directors (or their equivalents); directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes.” To see how the Nobel Peace Prize process of nomination and selection works see
http://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/

The 1911 nominator Benjamin Ide Wheeler was an American Greek and comparative philology professor at Cornell University and then served as President of the University of California at Berkley. At the time of the 1911 nomination, a number of articles in Germany and around the world called Wilhelm Friedenskaiser, in English, Emperor of Peace. Benjamin Ide Wheeler had met Wilhelm and according to The Intimate Papers of Colonel House: Behind the Political Curtain 1912-1915 (page 31): Wilhelm “had told him that his object in building a navy was not to threaten England, but to add prestige to Germany’s commerce upon the seven seas. He had spoken of how impossible war should be between England and Germany, or, in fact, how utterly foolish any general European war would be. He thinks the coming antagonism is between the Asiatics and the Western peoples and that within twenty years the Western peoples will recognize this and stand together more or less as a unit. Wheeler told of how narrowly a general European war was averted last March over the Balkan imbroglio, and how the Emperor thinks he saved the day by his suggestion of creating the State of Albania.’ The Kaiser told Wheeler that he had warned Russia if they attacked Austria, he would strike them immediately. The Kaiser also told him he felt kindly toward England and that he was Queen Victoria’s favorite grandchild.”

The 1917 nominators were the Faculty of Law at the Ottoman University of Istanbul and Robert Holtzmann, Professor of History at the University of Breslau. Breslau was then part of Germany. Now it is Wrocław, Poland. I could no information on the rationale for the two nominations. The Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) was in the same alliance as Germany during World War I. Holtzmann had fought with the Imperial German Army on the Western Front in the years 1914-1916 and was badly wounded in 1916.

Wilhelm II, German Emperor was not the only royal nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917. Albert I, King of the Belgians, who was on the opposite side in the World War I and whose country had been invaded and occupied by Germany, was nominated “for his national sacrifice in order to uphold the idea of international law during the war.”

On December 10, 1917, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the International Red Cross which continues to do worthwhile work around the world.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1917/press.html
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/red-cross-is-awarded-nobel-peace-prize

Works Cited

  • 21, Leben im. Leben im 21. Jahrhundert. 2016. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.
  • “31 ‘House longed to get good accomplished and was content that others should have the credit .’ VISCOUNT GREY OF FALLODON THE INTIMATE PAPERS OF COLONEL.” n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.
  • 2016, Nobel Media AB. Join us: 2016. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.
  • Abrufstatistik. “Robert Holtzmann.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 1946. Web. 17 Dec.
  • Duffy, Michael. A multimedia history of world war One. 2000. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.
  • “Nobel peace prize.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Dec. 2016. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.
  • Susan. “Wilhelm II, German Emperor and king of Prussia.” German Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 4 June 2013. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.

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Timeline: February 1, 1916 – February 28, 1917

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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February 1917 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

2nd Lieutenant The Honorable George Cecil Rowley

  • son of Hercules Edward Rowley, 4th Baron Langford and Georgina Mary Sutton
  • born August 18, 1896 in Agher, County Meath, Ireland
  • Second Lieutenant in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps
  • killed in action February 17, 1917 in France, age 20
  • buried at Regina Trench Cemetery in Grandcourt, France

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Joan of the Tower, Queen of Scots

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

Joan was born at the Tower of London in London, England, hence her name, on July 5, 1321. She was the youngest daughter and the youngest of the four children of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France.

Joan had three older siblings:

Joan and her siblings had a difficult childhood. Her father Edward II was a weak king and his relationship with his favorites Piers Gaveston and Hugh Despenser the Younger, whether they were friends, lovers, or sworn brothers, was problematic and caused discontent both among the nobles and the royal family. Opposition to the regime grew, and when Edward II’s wife Isabella was sent to France to negotiate a peace treaty in 1325, she turned against Edward and refused to return. Isabella allied herself with the exiled Roger Mortimer, 3rd Baron Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, and invaded England with a small army in 1326. Edward II’s regime collapsed and he fled into Wales, where he was captured in November 1326. Edward II was forced to give up his crown in January 1327 in favor of his son 14-year-old son Edward III, with Isabella and Mortimer acting as regents. Edward II died in Berkeley Castle on September 21, 1327, probably murdered on the orders of Isabella and Mortimer.

In 1328, England and Scotland signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton. The treaty formally ended the First War of Scottish Independence, which had begun with King Edward I of England’s invasion of Scotland in 1296. The treaty was signed in Edinburgh by Robert I the Bruce, King of Scots, and then the English Parliament ratified the treaty in Northampton. One of the terms of the treaty was that six-year-old Joan would marry Robert the Bruce’s heir, four-year-old David, and because of this Joan was known as “Joan Makepeace”. The very young couple married on July 17, 1328, at Berwick-upon-Tweed, the northernmost town in England, 2 ½ miles from the border with Scotland. Although the couple was married for 34 years, they had no children.

Less than a year after the wedding, Robert the Bruce died, and Joan’s husband became King David II of Scots. Joan and David were crowned and anointed on November 24, 1331, at Scone, the traditional coronation site of the Kings of Scots. Unfortunately, the peace of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton did not last long. The Second War of Scottish Independence started in 1332. After the 1333 Battle of Halidon Hill in which the Scots were soundly defeated by Joan’s brother King Edward III of England, Joan and David were sent to France for their safety. Very little is known about their life in France. King Philippe VI of France, the cousin of Joan’s mother, granted the couple the use of Château Gaillard, built by King Richard I of England to defend his Duchy of Normandy.

Joan and David with Philippe VI of France in a miniature from Froissart’s Chronicles; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1341, the situation improved in Scotland, and David and Joan returned. Five years later, under the terms of an alliance between Scotland and France, David invaded England which was involved in a war with France in Normandy. During the Battle of Neville’s Cross in October of 1346, the Scots were routed and David was captured by the English.

David was imprisoned from 1346 – 1357, first at the Tower of London and then at Odiham Castle in Hampshire. King Edward III offered to release David three times for a ransom if the childless David accepted one of Edward III’s sons as his heir to the throne of Scotland. David rejected all three offers. In 1357, David was released in return for a ransom of 100,000 marks, approximately £15 million today.

Joan was allowed to see her husband while he was imprisoned, but after his release, she decided to remain in England. Joan’s mother Isabella of France had been under house arrest since 1330 because of her part in deposing her husband King Edward II with her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Joan nursed her mother during her final illness in 1358.

Joan, aged 41, died of the plague at Hertford Castle in England on September 7, 1362. She was buried at Christ Church Greyfriars in London where her mother had been buried. The church suffered much damage during King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries and many of the tombs were destroyed. During the Great Fire of London in 1666, the medieval church was completely destroyed.

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
“Christ Church Greyfriars.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Nov. 2016. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.
“David II of Scotland.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Nov. 2016. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.
“Joan of the tower.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Apr. 2016. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.
queens. “Jeanne d’Angleterre (1321-1362).” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 13 July 1321.
Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.

Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

Thomas of Woodstock was the fifth of the surviving five sons and the fourteenth and last child of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was born at Woodstock Palace near Oxford, England on January 7, 1355. Thomas was fifteen years younger than his eldest sibling and was raised in his mother’s household.

Thomas had thirteen older siblings:

Around August 24, 1376, Thomas married Eleanor de Bohun, the elder of the two surviving daughters of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford and Lady Joan Fitzalan.  Eleanor’s younger sister Mary de Bohun was the first wife of the future King Henry IV of England and the mother of King Henry V of England.

Thomas and Eleanor had five children:

When Eleanor’s father died in January 1373, his estates should have passed to his cousin Gilbert de Bohun because he had no sons. However, due to the influence of King Edward III, the estates of the 7th Earl of Hereford were divided between his two daughters. After Thomas and Eleanor married in 1376, they lived in Pleshey Castle in Essex and Eleanor’s younger sister Mary lived there under Eleanor and Thomas’ care. She was instructed in religious doctrine in the hope that she would become a nun, which would cause her share of the de Bohun inheritance to go to Eleanor and Thomas. However, John of Gaunt, the third surviving son of King Edward III and Thomas’ older brother, had other ideas. He arranged for Mary’s aunt to take her from Pleshey Castle to Arundel Castle, the home of her mother’s family. There, on July 27, 1380, 11-12-year-old Mary married John of Gaunt’s eldest son, 13-year-old Henry Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV.

In 1377, Thomas’s father King Edward III died and he was succeeded by 10-year-old King Richard II, the only surviving child of Thomas’ eldest sibling Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince) who had predeceased his father. Richard’s coronation took place on July 16, 1377, at Westminster Abbey, just eleven days after his grandfather’s funeral. The quickness with which all this happened was certainly affected by the controversial succession of a child king whose father had not been the king. Some believed that one of King Edward III’s younger sons (there were three still alive: John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; Edmund of Langley, Duke of York; and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester) should be king. Thomas and his two surviving brothers were excluded from councils that ruled during Richard’s minority, but as the uncles of the king, they still held great informal influence over the business of government. Between 1377 and 1380, Thomas participated in the last battles of the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War. In 1377, at the age of 22, Thomas was knighted and created Earl of Buckingham. In 1385 he received the title Duke of Aumale and at about the same time was created Duke of Gloucester.

Since 1337, England had been fighting France in the Hundred Years’ War, and the English had been consistently losing territory to the French since 1369. Richard wanted to negotiate peace with France, but much of the nobility wanted to continue the war. In 1386, Parliament blamed Richard’s advisers for the military failures and accused them of misusing funds intended for the war. Parliament authorized a commission of nobles known as the Lords Appellant to take over the management of the kingdom and act as Richard’s regents. There were originally three Lords Appellant and Thomas was one of them along with Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel and Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick. Later, Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby (son of John of Gaunt, Richard’s first cousin and the future King Henry IV) and Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk also became Lords Appellant. Richard did not recognize the authority of the Lords Appellant and started an unsuccessful military attempt to overthrow the Lords Appellant and negotiate peace with France. In 1387, the Lords Appellant launched an armed rebellion against King Richard and defeated an army under Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford at the Battle of Radcot Bridge, outside Oxford. The Lords Appellant, with Thomas as the leader, controlled the government and maintained Richard as a figurehead with little real power.

Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel; Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester; Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham; Henry, Earl of Derby (later Henry IV); and Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, demand Richard II to let them prove by arms the justice for their rebellion, from A Chronicle of England: B.C. 55 – A.D. 1485, 1864; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1396, Thomas attended the second wedding of his nephew King Richard II with Isabella of Valois, although he disapproved of the match. He was becoming more and more unpopular at court and retired to Pleshey Castle pleading poor health. Richard was able to rebuild his power gradually until 1397 when he reasserted his authority and destroyed the principal three among the Lords Appellant. At Pleshey Castle, Thomas conspired with others to depose Richard, but he was betrayed by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk. King Richard II, leading an army went to Pleshey Castle where he persuaded Thomas to return with him to London. Thomas was arrested for treason on the journey and taken to the Pale of Calais, then an English possession, now in France, where he was imprisoned and confessed. He died on September 8, 1397, at the age of 42 Prince’s Inn in the Pale of Calais, probably murdered by a group of men led by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, and Sir Nicholas Colfox, presumably on the orders of King Richard II. After Thomas’ death, his confession was read to Parliament and he was declared guilty of treason. He was attainted as a traitor and his title Duke of Gloucester, goods, and estates were forfeited to the crown. Thomas’ remains were returned to England and initially buried at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity in Pleshy, England. They were later reburied at  Westminster Abbey in the Chapel of St. Edmund the King and St. Thomas of Canterbury.

Murder of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester from Froissart Chroniques, 15th century; Credit – Wikipedia

Thomas’ murder caused an outcry among the English nobility and added to Richard’s unpopularity. In 1399, Richard’s first cousin Henry of Bolingbroke, the eldest son of John of Gaunt, deposed Richard and succeeded to the throne as King Henry IV, the first King of the House of Lancaster. King Richard II was imprisoned at Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire where he died on or around February 14, 1400. The exact cause of his death, thought to have been starvation, is unknown. At the first Parliament of King Henry IV’s reign, the forfeiture of Thomas’ estates and goods was reversed. In addition, King Henry IV had his uncle’s remains moved to a grave closer to the shrine of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey.

thomas-of-woodstock_grave

Grave of Thomas of Woodstock and his wife Eleanor de Bohn in Westminster Abbey; Credit – www.findagrave.com

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
Susan. “King Richard II of England.” British Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 26 July 2016. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.
“Thomas de Woodstock.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Jan. 1355. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.
“Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Dec. 2016. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.
Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.

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On January 26, 2017, Unofficial Royalty reached 11 million views since moving to this website in January 2012. Thanks to all of you who visit Unofficial Royalty for our daily Royal News and Today in Royal History and all our other features. We are a community who enjoys learning about and discussing royalty past and present. New members are always welcome to our community.

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Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

Edmund of Langley was born at Kings Langley Palace in Kings Langley, England on June 5, 1341. He was the fifth son and the seventh child of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. The infant was given a traditional English name and a tournament was held to celebrate the birth of a new son. Edmund was baptized by Michael of Mentmore, Abbot of St. Albans, who was also one of his godfathers along with John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey and Richard FitzAlan, 1st Earl of Arundel. Edmund was brought up in his mother’s household until 1354.

Through the marriage of Edmund’s younger son, Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, to Anne de Mortimer, great-granddaughter of Edmund’s elder brother Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, the House of York made its claim to the English throne in the Wars of the Roses.  See Wikipedia: House of York – Descent from Edward III

Edmund had thirteen siblings:

Edmund participated with his father in a campaign in France from 1359 – 1360 during the Hundred Years’ War, a war fought between England and France for control of the Kingdom of France. It was ultimately an unsuccessful war for the English that involved King Edward III, his sons, and their descendants for a long period of time.

King Edward III had a plan to marry his sons off to rich heiresses and he thought he found one for Edmund in 1461. 15-year-old Philip I, Duke of Burgundy died in a riding accident leaving a 12-year-old widow, Margaret of Flanders, the only heir of Louis II, Count of Flanders. King Edward III thought Margaret would be a good catch, but also the lands of her father might help in Edward’s desire to possess the French crown. To help Edmund seem more desirable, he was created Earl of Cambridge. However, the marriage negotiations came to naught as King John II of France claimed Burgundy and married his son to Margaret.

Over the next ten years, Edmund participated in many military campaigns in France with his brothers. He returned to England in 1371 and on July 11, 1372, at Wallingford, Oxfordshire, he married Infanta Isabella of Castile. Isabella was the younger daughter of King Pedro the Cruel of Castile and León and the sister of Constance of Castile, the second wife of Edmund’s brother John of Gaunt. She had accompanied her sister Constance to England when the marriage to John of Gaunt had taken place in 1371.

Edmund and Isabella had three children:

Edmund took part in more campaigns in France, served as Constable of Dover Castle, and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. In 1377, Edmund was granted Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, which became a favorite home of the Dukes of York, and Anstey Castle in Hertfordshire. In the same year, Edmund’s nephew succeeded his grandfather as King Richard II of England. At Richard’s coronation, Edmund carried the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Dove, also called the Rod of Equity and Mercy. In 1381, Edmund served as chief commissioner in his nephew’s marriage negotiations to marry Anne of Bohemia. Edmund was created Duke of York in 1385.

Isabella died on December 23, 1392, at about the age of 37. She was buried at the Church of the Dominicans in Kings Langley. Less than a year later, Edmund made a second marriage to Lady Joan Holland, whose father, Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, was a half-brother to King Richard II. Edmund and Joan had no children.

King Richard II of England, Edmund’s nephew; Credit – Wikipedia

King Henry IV of England, Edmund’s nephew; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1399, Edmund was acting as regent while his nephew King Richard II was in Ireland. Henry of Bolingbroke, another nephew, the son of Edmund’s brother John of Gaunt, was planning to depose his cousin Richard. Edmund was prepared to oppose Henry but instead decided to make peace with him. King Richard II eventually was abandoned by his supporters and was forced by Parliament on September 29, 1399, to abdicate the crown to his cousin Henry. King Henry IV, the first king of the House of Lancaster, was crowned in Westminster Abbey on October 13, 1399. Richard was imprisoned at Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire where he died on or around February 14, 1400. The exact cause of his death, thought to have been starvation, is unknown. Edmund was rewarded by his nephew King Henry IV by being appointed a member of the Privy Council and Master of the Royal Mews.

Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, age 61, died on August 1, 1402, at his birthplace and was buried with his first wife at the Church of the Dominicans at Kings Langley, England. Edmund’s tomb was moved to the Church of All Saints in Kings Langley in 1575, and can still be seen there.

edmund-of-langley-tomb

Tomb of Edmund of Langley; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

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
“Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Oct. 2016. Web. 5 Dec. 2016.
“Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 5 Dec. 2016.
“Joan Holland.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Nov. 2016. Web. 5 Dec. 2016.
Jones, Dan. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking, 2012. Print.
Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.