KINGS, QUEENS, KNAVES 4

Whose bum has been on the throne for the past 1500 years? This set of pages lists all our monarchs from 519, with my own personal rating as to their performance. Dates and details of many are uncertain (that's history for you), so if you want to disagree, go somewhere else.

--------------------------------- ----------------------------------

Modern times

No.	Monarch	Reign	Major events	Death	Rating
HOUSE OF STUART
66	James I	1603-25	Gunpowder Plot	Old age	2*
67	Charles I	1625-49	English Civil War	Beheaded	1*
The Fifth Interregnum The Commonwealth (1649-53) The Protectorate (Oliver Cromwell 1653-8, Richard Cromwell 1658-9) Anarchy (1659-60)
68	Charles II	1660-85	Expansion in North America	Old age	2*
69	James I	1685-8	Monmouth's Rebellion	Exiled	1*
The Sixth Interregnum: Anarchy
HOUSE OF ORANGE-STUART
70=	Mary II and	1689-94	Start of Second Hundred Years' War,	Illness	3*
	William II	1689-1702	Start of Second Hundred Years' War,	Illness	4*
HOUSE OF STUART
72	Anne	1702-14	Blenheim, capture of Gibraltar	Old age	4*
HOUSE OF HANOVER
73	George I	1714-27	South Sea Bubble	Old age	3*
74	George II	1727-60	Battle of Dettingen	Illness	3*
75	George III	1760-1811	Loss of US colonies	Old age	2*
The Regency: George Prince of Wales (later George IV) holds power
76	George IV	1820-30	Stockton-Darlington Railway	Old age	2*
77	William IV	1830-7	First/Great Reform Act	Old age	3*
78	Victoria	1837-1901	Age of Empire	Old age	4*
HOUSE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA (later WINDSOR)
79	Edward VII	1901-10	Entente Cordiale	Old age	4*
80	George V	1910-36	First World War	Old age	4*
81	Edward VIII	1936	Abdication Crisis	Exiled	1*
82	George VI	1936-52	Second World War	Illness	4*
83	Elizabeth II	1952-now	European Union	---	--

Note on Scottish regnal numbers:

After the ejection of James II in 1688, Jacobites continued to regard his lineage as the rightful one. Their succession thus went :

James II/VII (1685)

James III/VIII (1701) Old Pretender

Charles III (1744) Young Pretender/Bonnie Prince Charlie

Henry IX/I (1789)

Upon the death of Henry, who was a Cardinal in Rome, most gave up and resorted to the English line, although even today, postboxes in Scotland cannot bear ‘E II R’ as they get vandalized by a few hardcore extremists (our current queen is regarded by them as Elizabeth I). However, because of dubious marriages, there are currently SIX dynasties in Europe that can claim to be the rightful Jacobite heirs. The succession of the most likely (Scots numbers only) is as follows (the dispute over the Marian numbers depends whether you believe Mary Stuart was rightful Queen of England 1558-1587):

Charles IV (1809) King of Sardinia (deposed)

Victor I (1819) King of Sardinia

Mary II or I (1824) Queen of Sardinia

Francis I (1840) King of Sardinia (deposed 1861)

Mary III or II (1876) married K. Ludwig III of Bavaria (dep. 1918)

Robert IV (1919)

Henry II (1955)

Albert (1958)

Francis II (1996)

The ‘heir apparent’ is Princess Sophie, niece to Francis II, who is married to Pince Alois, heir to the throne of Liechtenstein.