Curated playlist
English pretenders to the French throne
- Henry VIIIHenry VIII broke England from Rome after the pope would not annul his first marriage.
- Charles II of EnglandCharles II was received in London on the 29th of May 1660, which happened to be his 30th birthday. The crowds met the returning king with public acclaim. He would go on to rule England, Scotland and Ireland until 1685. Contemporaries found…
- Richard III of EnglandRichard III's skeleton was found under a car park in Leicester. The king had been buried there in 1485.
- Elizabeth IElizabeth I came to the throne as a declared bastard whose mother had been executed.
- William III of EnglandWilliam III of England was born eight days after his father died. He was already a prince from his first breath.
- Henry VII of EnglandHenry VII faked stomach cramps to avoid being handed to his enemies. The exiled Tudor then slipped away to a monastery.
- Mary IMary I came into the world on the 18th of February 1516 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, the only child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to survive infancy. She died on the 17th of November 1558, aged 42, at St James's Palace,…
- James VI and IJames VI and I was already a king at thirteen months old. His mother was forced out and his father was murdered.
- Edward IIIEdward III seized power at 17 by capturing Roger Mortimer at Nottingham Castle. Mortimer was executed.
- Lady Jane GreyLady Jane Grey was queen of England for only nine days in July 1553. Her own Privy Council then turned on her.
- Anne, Queen of Great BritainQueen Anne of Great Britain went to her own coronation in an open sedan chair, because gout had left her unable to walk. The chair had a low back, so that her train could flow out behind her. The date was St George's Day, the 23rd of April…
- George IIIGeorge III was born on the 4th of June 1738 at Norfolk House in St James's Square, London, two months too early. Nobody expected the baby to live, so a bishop baptised him within hours, on the very day he was born. The infant nobody…
- Henry V of EnglandHenry V of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey on the 9th of April 1413, in the middle of a terrible snowstorm. Onlookers could not decide whether the weather was a good omen or a bad one. That uncertainty suited a king whose…
- Philip II of SpainPhilip II of Spain ruled the largest empire in the world while his treasury went bankrupt five times.
- Charles I of EnglandCharles I wore two shirts to his own execution. It was bitter cold, and he feared shivering would look like fear.
- Edward VIEdward VI was king at nine and dead at fifteen. In those years he helped turn England's church Protestant.
- Richard II of EnglandRichard II of England was born in the Archbishop's Palace of Bordeaux on the 6th of January 1367. Contemporary sources claimed that three kings were present at the birth: "the King of Castile, the King of Navarre and the King of Portugal".…