royal family tree starting with queen victoria

George arrived in Britain aged 54 with 18 cooks and two ‘mistresses,’ one of whom became known in the British court as ‘the Elephant’ and the other as the ’Maypole.’ His two mistresses played cards with him on alternate nights. He only became king because King James I of England (who was also James VI of Scotland) was his great-grandfather, but the many other possible heirs to the throne were Roman Catholic, so they were not offered the British crown. This was not helped as George barely spoke a word of English. In his native Hanover, he held real power, while in England, he had to deal with Parliament and Prime Ministers. George I was really not a happy bunny as British king.

British Monarchs: The Hanoverians 1714 -1727: King George I (George Louis) Photo Credit: © Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. Anne’s unfortunate lack of children meant that the crown passed over the heads of her many Roman Catholic relations to her distant Protestant cousin George, the Elector of Hanover.īritish Monarchs: Queen Anne, painted by Willem Wissing and Jan van der Vaardt. Unlike Anne’s father James II, who had to flee after just three years on the throne as he was a Roman Catholic, Anne and her sister Mary (Queen between Anne and James) were themselves Protestant. Britain certainly prospered during Anne’s reign, and London’s magnificent St Paul’s Cathedral was completed. The gist of the film is indeed true, namely that Anne had a close best friend, Sarah Churchill (ancestor of Winston Churchill) and wife of heroic General John Churchill, and Sarah was slowly replaced in Anne’s affections by the much poorer Abigail Masham. The three leading actors in it all won a bucket-load of awards, and Colman scooped the Oscar for best actress. She is currently most famous from the 2018 film ‘ The Favourite’ where she is played by Olivia Colman and portrayed as a lesbian. Poor Queen Anne had 17 pregnancies, but only one child survived – and he died of smallpox aged 11. British Monarchs: The last Stuart 1702 – 1714: Queen Anne King Charles remains the ultimate guardian of ‘fair play’ in the British Constitution, just like his predecessors for hundreds of years.īritish Royal coat of arms – the common version on the left the Scottish version on the right. The stories of the last twelve British monarchs together tell us how our present King, Charles III, is able to unite the nation with the joy of a coronation while he and his family perform public functions like opening new public buildings rather than ruling like an elected Prime Minister. Significant events leading to the present royal family include William the Conqueror (who had an excellent claim to the British throne) being the first to be crowned in London’s Westminster Abbey in 1066, nearly 1000 years ago, then the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 after the British decided they regretted beheading Charles I and the intervening dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell, and the avoidance of various Roman Catholic monarchs, unpopular in a largely Protestant nation. As with all royal families, they inter-married with other European Royals over the years, and many fought and died to retain the English crown (merged with the Scottish crown on the ascent to the throne in 1603 of James VI of Scotland as James I of England). The British Royal Family can trace their lineage right back to Cerdic of Wessex (519-534), founder and first king of Saxon Wessex, which is not bad for a family tree.

Royal family tree starting with queen victoria