Category Archives: British Royals

Rosamund de Clifford, Mistress of Henry II, King of England

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

Fair Rosamund by John William Waterhouse, 1916; Credit – Wikipedia

Known as “The Fair Rosamund”, Rosamund de Clifford was probably born in Herefordshire, West Midlands, England as that was where her family home Clifford Castle was located. Her birth date is unknown but she was the youngest of her parents’ six children. Rosamund’s father was born Walter Fitz Richard (1113–1190) and he married Margaret de Tosny. Margaret’s father Ralph de Tosny was granted the castle by King William I (the Conquerer) of England in 1075 after it was forfeited by a traitor. After the marriage of Ralph’s daughter, Margaret de Tosny to Walter Fitz Richard, Walter became steward of the castle and later claimed it for himself via his marriage. In 1162, he changed his name to Walter de Clifford and the castle came to be known as Clifford Castle.

There is incomplete and conflicting genealogical information but Rosamund probably had five siblings:

  • Gilbert de Clifford
  • Richard de Clifford
  • Amicia de Clifford, married (1) Osbern Fitz Hugh of Richard’s Castle (2) Bartholomew de Mortimer
  • Lucy de Clifford, married Hugh de Say of Stokesay
  • Walter de Clifford (died 1221) married Agnes de Cuni, had four children

Ruins of Clifford Castle; Credit – By Humphrey Bolton, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4097700

Rosamund grew up at Clifford Castle before going to Godstow Abbey near Oxford, England to be educated by the nuns. Likely Rosamund first met King Henry II of England in 1163 when he was staying at Clifford Castle during the military campaign against the Welsh ruler Rhys ap Gruffudd. In 1166, Rosamund and Henry II began their affair. However, until 1174, almost no one knew about Rosamund’s relationship with Henry II.

Woodstock Palace; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry had Rosamund housed at Woodstock Palace, a royal residence near Oxford, England. Woodstock Palace was mostly destroyed during the English Civil War. In the early 1700s, Blenheim Palace, the principal residence of the Dukes of Marlborough, was built on the site, and stones from Woodstock Palace were used in its construction.

Henry II, King of England; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1174, the relationship between Henry II and Rosamund became public. Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen of England, Henry II’s wife had joined the uprising of their sons against her husband. Henry II eventually defeated the revolt and had Eleanor comfortably imprisoned for her part in inciting their sons. From that moment, Henry II began to live openly with Rosamund. Henry II had many mistresses and had treated earlier affairs discreetly, but he flaunted Rosamund. He may have done so to provoke Eleanor into seeking an annulment, but if so, Eleanor disappointed him as did the Pope who refused to consider a divorce. Nevertheless, rumors persisted, perhaps encouraged by Henry’s supporters, that Eleanor had Rosamund poisoned. In 1176, Rosamund became seriously ill and retired to Godstow Abbey near Oxford, where she died in the same year.

Godstow Abbey ruins; By Chris Gunns, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14569666

Rosamund was buried at Godstow Abbey. King Henry II paid for her tomb in the choir of the abbey church and gave an endowment for the tomb to be tended by the nuns. Rosamund’s tomb became a popular local shrine until 1191, two years after Henry II’s death. Hugh of Lincoln, Bishop of Lincoln, while visiting Godstow Abbey, noticed Rosamund’s tomb right in front of the high altar. The tomb was covered with flowers and candles, evidence that the local people were praying there. Calling Rosamund a harlot, the bishop ordered her remains removed from the church. Her tomb was moved to the cemetery next to the nuns’ chapter house. Local people still prayed at Rosamund’s tomb but it was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the reign of King Henry VIII.

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

  • Barber, Richard, 1964. Henry Plantagent 1133-1189. New York: Barnes and Noble.
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Godstow. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godstow#History_of_Godstow_Abbey> [Accessed 22 July 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Rosamund Clifford. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosamund_Clifford> [Accessed 22 July 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Walter De Clifford (Died 1190). [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_de_Clifford_(died_1190)> [Accessed 22 July 2020].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Henry II Of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-henry-ii-of-england/> [Accessed 22 July 2020].
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. 2020. Клиффорд, Розамунда. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%84%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B4,_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B0> [Accessed 22 July 2020].
  • Thepeerage.com. 2020. Walter Fitz Richard Fitz Pons. [online] Available at: <http://www.thepeerage.com/p10486.htm#i104860> [Accessed 22 July 2020].

Maria FItzherbert, Mistress of King George IV of The United Kingdom

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Maria Fitzherbert was the mistress of The Prince of Wales (later King George IV of the United Kingdom) from 1784 until 1794 and again from 1798 until 1807. The couple married secretly in 1785, however the marriage was not considered legal as it had not received the approval of the Sovereign as required under the Royal Marriages Act.

Maria FItzherbert. source: Wikipedia

Maria Anne Smythe was born on July 26, 1756, at Tong Castle in Shropshire, England, the eldest child of Walter Smythe, a younger son of Sir John Smythe 3rd Baronet, and Mary Ann Errington. Her siblings included:

  • John Smythe (1758) – married, had issue
  • Frances Smythe (c1760) – married Sir Carnaby Haggerston, 5th Baronet, had issue

Maria’s husband Edward Weld. source: Wikipedia

In 1774, Maria married Edward Weld, a wealthy widower, twice her age. He was the son of Edward Weld and Mary Theresa Vaughan. Following his father’s death in 1761, Edward became one of the wealthiest men in England, having inherited Lulworth Castle in Dorset along with many other properties and villages. Maria became a very wealthy woman upon her marriage, but it was not to last. Just three months after their marriage, Edward died of injuries he sustained after falling from his horse. He had not yet signed a new will to provide for his wife, and his entire estate passed to his younger brother.

Left without any financial resources, Maria soon sought a new husband as soon as it was acceptable. In 1777, she married Thomas Fitzherbert, the son of Thomas Fitzherbert and Mary Theresa Throckmorton. The couple had one son who died in infancy, and Maria was once again widowed when her husband died on May 7, 1781. However, this time she was provided for, as Fitzherbert left her an annuity of £1,000 per year and a home in Mayfair, London.

The Prince of Wales, c1781. source: Wikipedia

After spending several years traveling throughout Europe, she returned to England in early 1784. One evening in March, she attended the opera with her uncle and was briefly introduced to the Prince of Wales, the future King George IV. Quickly enamored, the Prince pursued Maria relentlessly. Soon she was accepting invitations to visit him at Carlton House, his home in London, next to St. James’s Palace but made it clear that she had no interest in merely becoming his mistress. The Prince countered with an offer of marriage. Maria argued against it. There was no chance King George III would consent to his son’s marriage to Maria. Even if he did, Maria was Catholic which would make the Prince ineligible to inherit the throne. But the Prince continued his pursuit, even threatening to kill himself if Maria would not marry him.

In July 1784, the Prince of Wales stabbed himself just enough to make it look like a serious suicide attempt. Maria, accompanied by the couple’s mutual friend, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was quickly taken to Carlton House where they found the Prince again threatening to kill himself if she did not agree to marry him. Maria signed a document agreeing to marry him knowing that the document would not be considered legal. She left England for France the next day, hoping the situation would cool off. But the Prince continued to pursue her, and Maria eventually agreed to return to England and marry him. When she returned to England in November 1785, the Prince of Wales searched for someone to conduct the marriage ceremony. He found a young curate, Reverand John Burt, who was in debtors’ prison at the time. Burt agreed to perform the ceremony in exchange for £500 to pay off his debts, and a position as one of the Prince’s chaplains. Quickly settled, Maria and George married in her Mayfair home on December 15, 1785, with just her uncle and brother present as witnesses.

Maria and the Prince of Wales soon faced rumors and questions were raised in Parliament, all of which were denied by friends of the prince. For the next several years, the two maintained their relationship very discreetly and seemed to be immensely happy. But by 1793, the marriage was beginning to break down. While Maria was perfectly content with quiet nights at home, the Prince of Wales preferred to be out on the town and continued his philandering ways. Soon, he found a permanent replacement for Maria, after beginning an affair with Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey. Lady Jersey convinced the Prince that he was so unpopular because of his relationship with the Catholic Mrs. Fitzherbert. Convinced that marrying an acceptable Protestant princess would be in his best interest, George informed Maria on June 23, 1794, that their relationship was over. Soon he found a bride, his cousin Caroline of Brunswick who he married in April 1795. However, it seems Maria was still close to his heart, as the following year, he wrote his will, leaving everything “…to my Maria Fitzherbert, my wife, the wife of my heart.”

Steine House, Brighton. photo: By C.Suthorn / cc-by-sa-4.0 / commons.wikimedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70710474

Within two years, the Prince of Wales began to pursue Maria once again, and by 1799, the two were again in a relationship. In 1804, she built Steine House, a home in Brighton which would become her residence for the rest of her life. By 1807, the Prince’s wandering eye once again turned its attention to someone else. The Marchioness of Hertford soon became his preferred companion, and Maria found herself pushed to the side again by 1809.

The Prince became King George IV in 1820, and during his 10-year reign, the two only saw each other occasionally in social settings, but both remained in each other’s thoughts. When King George IV died in June 1830, he was succeeded by his brother. The new King William IV was always very gracious and welcoming toward Maria and continued to provide her annual pension of £10,000 per year. King William IV reportedly offered her a dukedom, but she declined. She did, however, ask his permission to dress in widow’s weeds and to allow her servants to dress in royal livery, both of which the King quickly agreed to.

Maria outlived George IV by nearly seven years, passing away at Steine House in Brighton on March 27, 1837. She is buried at the Church of St. John the Baptist in Brighton.

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.

Mary Robinson, Mistress of King George IV of the United Kingdom

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

Mary Robinson was a noted English poet and actress who became the first mistress of the future King George IV of the United Kingdom while he was Prince of Wales. Their relationship lasted just two years.

Mary Robinson, – source: Wikipedia

Mary Darby was born in Bristol on November 27, 1757, to Naval Captain Nicholas Darby and Hester Vanacott. When Mary was very young, her father left the family, leaving her mother to support herself and five children. She did this by opening a school for young girls, where Mary also taught before she was even 14 years old. After the school closed, she attended a school in London run by Hanna More, and there she caught the attention of famed actor David Garrick, who encouraged her to get involved in the theater.

However, Mary’s mother encouraged her instead to accept a proposal from Thomas Robinson,  a clerk who claimed to have a large inheritance. Initially against the idea, Mary relented after Robinson had helped care for her and her younger brother while both were quite ill. The couple married in April 1774 and Mary soon discovered that her husband did not have any inheritance, nor was he a devoted husband. The couple had one child, a daughter named Mary Elizabeth Robinson, born in November 1774.

When Mary’s husband was put into Debtor’s Prison in 1775, Mary went with him, living there with their six-month-old daughter for nearly 15 months until he was released. While there, Mary discovered she could publish some of her poetry to make a living. Her first book of poetry Poems By Mrs. Robinson was published in 1775. She soon caught the attention of Georgina Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire who became somewhat of a patron to Mary, sponsoring the publication of Mary’s second book of poetry — Captivity.

Mary Robinson as Perdita, 1782, portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds. source: Wikipedia

In 1776, following her husband’s release, Mary returned to the theater, appearing in several roles at the Drury Lane Theater. While performing as Perdita in an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Winter Tale in 1779, Mary caught the attention of The Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, who attended a performance and was instantly smitten. The Prince pursued her relentlessly, but Mary refused his advances for some time. She was a married woman, although mostly estranged from her husband, and she was an actress. A relationship with the Prince would mean giving up what was becoming a financially successful career. The Prince promised her £20,000 in writing to compensate for giving up her livelihood to become his mistress. Maria eventually relented, and following her final performance in May 1780, she gave in to the Prince’s advances.

The Prince of Wales, c1781, portrait by Richard Cosway. source: Wikipedia

The relationship was relatively short-lived. In December 1780, Mary received a message from the Prince, telling her they must end their relationship.  Unbeknownst to Mary, the Prince had moved on to a new mistress, something he continued to do for the rest of his life.  Despite a brief meeting a few days later, the relationship abruptly ended.  Mary now found herself without any means of support, emotionally or financially.  She decided publishing her correspondence with the Prince would provide her with a significant income. When the Prince’s father King George III became aware of this, he quickly dispatched the Prince’s treasurer to arrange a settlement. Eventually, Mary received a payment of £5,000 in exchange for the letters. But Mary had another ace up her sleeve. Finding that the settlement barely covered her debts, she decided to pursue the Prince’s promise of £20,000. The King’s representative argued that the document from the Prince was invalid as he was underage, but Mary was unwilling to accept that as final. She asked for an annual annuity in exchange for the document, and eventually, she was successful. The matter was settled in August 1781, when it was agreed that she would receive £500 annually and that upon her death, her daughter would continue to receive half that amount.

Banastre Tarleton, portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds. source: Wikipedia

Mary Robinson, by now living separately from her husband, had several more affairs, including a long-term liaison with Banastre Tarleton, a distinguished soldier. She became mysteriously ill in 1783, and although she recovered, she was left partially paralyzed and frail. She turned her attention back to her writing, publishing several books of poetry, eight novels, three plays, and her memoirs. She became a champion of women’s rights and an outspoken supporter of the French Revolution.

Despite her financial settlements with the Crown, Mary Robinson died in relative poverty in Englefield Green, Surrey, England on December 26, 1800, at just 44 years old. She was buried at St. Peter and St. Andrew Churchyard in Windsor, Berkshire, England. Her estranged husband was granted administration of her estate, and Mary had instructed her daughter to publish the rest of her works after her death.  Although her brief affair with the Prince of Wales was long in the past, she left a request upon her death that a lock of her hair be cut off and sent to the Prince.  It is said that upon the future King George IV’s death in 1830, he requested that a lock of hair be buried with him.

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.

Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth, Mistress of King George II of Great Britain

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth was the mistress of King George II of Great Britain from 1735 until the King died in 1760. She was the last British royal mistress to be granted a peerage title.

Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth.source: Wikipedia

Amalie Sophie Marianne von Wendt was born in Hanover on April 1, 1704 to General Johann Franz von Wendt and Friederike Charlotte von dem Bussche-Ippenburg. Her maternal grandmother Catherine had been the first mistress of the future King George I, and her grandmother’s older sister Clara had been the mistress of George I’s father, Duke Ernst August von Braunschweig-Lüneburg.

In 1727, Amalie married Count Adam Gottlieb von Wallmoden, the son of Count Ludwig von Wallmoden and Anna Elisabeth von Helmberg. The couple had two children:

  • Franz Ernst von Wallmoden (1728 – 1776)
  • Friederike von Wallmoden (1729 – 1800)

King George II of Great Britain. source: Wikipedia

Amalie met King George II in 1735 while he was visiting Hanover, and they quickly began an affair that would last for the next twenty-five years. Her husband was quickly paid off by the King to turn a blind eye to the affair, receiving a payment of 1,000 ducats. In 1736, Amalie gave birth to a son with the King, although the child was registered as being her husband’s child:

  • Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden (1736-1811) – married (1) Charlotte von Wangenheim, had issue, widowed; (2) Baroness Luise Christiane von Liechtenstein, had issue

Thoroughly smitten with Amalie, King George II continued to visit Hanover specifically to see her. Correspondence shows that he discussed the relationship extensively with his wife, Queen Caroline, and his chief minister, Robert Walpole. Meanwhile, his constant absence from London was causing him to lose the support of many in Britain. Sensing this, Walpole encouraged Queen Caroline to suggest to her husband that he return to England and bring Amalie with him. The King, however, felt that it would be inappropriate and chose to continue his journeys back and forth to Hanover.

After the Queen died in 1737, George finally called for Amalie to join him in England. Upon her arrival in early 1738, Amalie was given apartments in St. James’s Palace – the King’s primary residence – as well as Kensington Palace. The following year, she was divorced from her husband, who received an annual pension of £4,000 from the King.

In 1740, Amalie became a naturalized citizen of Britain, and on March 24, 1740, she was granted a life peerage as Countess of Yarmouth and Baroness Yarmouth in the County of Norfolk in her own right. This would be the last time that a royal mistress in Britain would be given a peerage title.

Over the next 20 years, Amalie played a very prominent role in the King’s life and his court. Immensely discreet, she supported him unconditionally and as he aged and became frailer, she became a mediator between the King and his ministers. On the morning of October 25, 1760, King George II died at Kensington Palace of a thoracic aortic dissection. Amalie received an annuity of £10,000 and retained her apartments in the palace, but soon returned to her native Hanover. Nearly five years later, on October 19, 1765, Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth, died of breast cancer at the age of 61.

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.

Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, Mistress of King George II of Great Britain

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, became the mistress of the future King George II of Great Britain in 1714 and maintained a relationship with him until 1734.

Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk – source: Wikipedia

Henrietta Hobart was born in 1689 at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, the family home of her parents, Sir Henry Hobart, 4th Baronet of Intwood, and Elizabeth Maynard. Sir Henry had been in the household of King William III of England, serving as Gentleman of the Horse, and served under the King during the Battle of the Boyne. He was later appointed Vice-Admiral of Norfolk, and served in the House of Commons, representing several constituencies.

Henrietta had two siblings:

In 1698, Henrietta’s father died from injuries sustained during a duel, and her mother died of illness three years later. Orphaned at just 12 years old, Henrietta became the ward of Henry Howard, the 5th Earl of Suffolk. Five years later, she married the Earl’s younger son, Charles Howard, on March 2, 1706. Charles would eventually become the 9th Earl of Suffolk in 1731. From all reports, the marriage was an unhappy one. Charles was a compulsive gambler and drinker and was often physically abusive to Henrietta. However, the couple did have one son together:

In 1714, Henrietta and her husband traveled to Hanover, with the hope of getting into the circle of the future King George I and securing themselves a better financial future. Their venture was successful, and following George’s accession to the British throne, the couple returned to England and both received positions within the Royal Household. Charles was appointed Groom of the Bedchamber to the new King, and Henrietta was appointed a Woman of the Bedchamber to the new Princess of Wales, Caroline of Ansbach. Through this role, Henrietta met and became the mistress of the Prince of Wales – the future King George II.

The Prince of Wales, c1716. source: Wikipedia

Over the next several years, Henrietta and George’s relationship continued to strengthen. However, Henrietta’s husband was not pleased with the situation. His wife was benefiting greatly from the Prince of Wales’ generosity but he was not. Threatening to cause a scandal, he was quickly compensated in exchange for looking the other way. The Prince of Wales arranged for Charles to be given a large annual pension, an appointment as Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, and a high-ranking commission in the Coldstream Guards. The couple maintained their marriage publicly, but for the most part, lived separate lives. They would later officially separate in 1727.

Marble Hill House. photo: By Jim Linwood from London – North Face Of Marble Hill House, Twickenham – London., CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50570204

In 1723, the Prince of Wales gave Henrietta a very large gift of about 11,500 pounds worth of stocks, jewelry, furniture, and other furnishings. Careful to be sure that this would benefit Henrietta alone, George made sure that it was stipulated that Henrietta’s husband would have no claim to any of this gift. The following year, through a trustee, Henrietta purchased over 25 acres of land along the River Thames in Twickenham on which she built Marble Hill House. There, Henrietta hosted some of the most influential artists, intellectuals, and politicians of the day, establishing a court that rivaled that of Kensington Palace.

In 1727, several major changes happened in Henrietta’s life. King George I died, and the Prince of Wales succeeded as King George II. Continuing with her service to the royal court, she was appointed Mistress of the Robes to the new Queen Caroline. Around the same time, she and her estranged husband Charles officially separated but did not divorce due to the scandal it would have caused. In 1731, Charles succeeded to the Earldom of Suffolk, and Henrietta became the Countess of Suffolk.

Widowed in 1733, the now Dowager Countess of Suffolk left the royal court in 1734 after her relationship with  King George II ended. She made Marble Hill House her primary residence and married again in 1735. Her second husband was The Honourable George Berkeley, a younger son of the 2nd Earl of Berkeley, and a Member of Parliament. Henrietta and her second husband raised her widowed brother’s children and enjoyed a very quiet and happy family life. Henrietta and her husband, from all accounts, were tremendously happy together and spent their time traveling in Europe, and enlarging and renovating Marble Hill House and the surrounding park. George Berkeley died in 1746, and Henrietta spent her remaining years at Marble Hill House with her extended family. She died there on July 26, 1767.

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.

Wedding of Princess Beatrice of York and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Photo Credit – https://www.instagram.com/p/CC05fTMH_HJ/ Photograph by Benjamin Wheeler

On Friday, July 17, 2020, at 11:00 AM, Princess Beatrice of York married Mr. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a small private ceremony held at the Royal Chapel of All Saints Chapel, located on the grounds of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park in Windsor, England.

Princess Beatrice of York

Embed from Getty Images 

Princess Beatrice of York was born on August 8, 1988, at 8:18 pm at Portland Hospital in London, England. She is the elder of the two daughters of Prince Andrew, Duke of York and his former wife née Sarah Ferguson, known as Sarah, Duchess of York after her divorce. Princess Beatrice has a younger sister, Princess Eugenie, born in 1990.

Princess Beatrice started her schooling in 1991 at Upton House School in Windsor, Berkshire, England. In 1995, Beatrice began attending Coworth Park School in Windlesham, Surrey, England which merged in 2004 with Flexlands School to become Coworth Flexlands School. From 2000-2007, Beatrice attended St. George’s School in Ascot, Berkshire, England. She completed A-Levels in Drama, History, and Film Studies and in her final year was Head Girl. In September 2008, Beatrice started a three-year course studying for a Bachelors’s degree in History and History of Ideas at Goldsmiths College, University of London, England graduating in 2011.

On her 18th birthday, Beatrice said she wanted to use her position to assist others through charity work.  She has been active in a number of charities including Children in Crisis, a charity founded by her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, whose goal is to help educate children and women in some of the poorest countries, and The Big Change Charitable Trust, a charity Beatrice founded with six friends that identifies and supports projects that improve the lives of young people. At the time of her wedding, Beatrice was working for Afiniti, an artificial intelligence software firm, as vice president of partnerships and strategy.

Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

 

Born on November 19, 1983, in Westminster, London, England, Edoardo (Edo) Mapelli Mozzi is the younger of the two children of Count Alessandro (Alex) Mapelli Mozzi and his first wife Nicola (Nikki) Burrows. Eduardo has a sister Natalia Alice Yeomans (born 1981) and a half-brother Alby Shale (born 1991) from his mother’s second marriage to Christopher Shale, British businessman and Conservative politician, who died in 2011. Edoardo’s father made a second marriage to Ebba Eckermann and his mother made a third marriage to sculptor David Williams-Ellis.

Edoardo’s father is a member of an Italian noble family, whose family seat is the Villa Mapelli Mozzi located in Ponte San Pietro, Bergamo, Italy. Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi’s title, which he uses as a courtesy, is not officially recognized in either Italy or the United Kingdom. He holds both Italian and British citizenship and competed in the 1972 Winter Olympics in three alpine skiing events as a member of the British Olympic team.

Edoardo attended Radley College, a boys’ independent boarding school near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. He received a master’s degree in politics at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburg, Scotland.

When he was 23-years-old, Edoardo founded Banda Property, a property development and interior design company that focuses on designing homes for affluent clients in undervalued parts of London. He is also a co-founder of the British-Rwandan charity Cricket Builds Hope whose goal is to use cricket as a tool for positive social change in Rwanda.

The Engagement

Engagement Photo of Princess Beatrice of York and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi; Photo Credit – https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily © Princess Eugenie

The families of Beatrice and Edoardo had been close friends for decades. In 2018, the couple started dating. Beatrice and Edoardo attended their first royal family event together, the wedding of Beatrice’s second cousin once removed, Lady Gabriella Windsor, in May 2019.

Beatrice and Edoardo became engaged in Italy in September 2019, and on September 26, 2019, Buckingham Palace formally announced their engagement.  Edoardo helped design the engagement ring with British jeweler Shaun Leane. The setting is platinum with the main diamond of 2.5 karats and .75 karat baguette diamonds on the side.

Wedding Guests

Photo Credit – https://www.instagram.com/theroyalfamily/  Photograph by Benjamin Wheeler

A press release stated:  “The small ceremony was attended by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and close family. The wedding took place in accordance with all relevant government guidelines.” When the COVID lockdown began on March 23, 2020, weddings in England were banned under almost all circumstances. After July 4, 2020, weddings with up to 30 attendees were allowed to take place. It is known that there were approximately twenty guests including the bride and groom’s parents and siblings, and the bride’s paternal grandparents Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Wedding Attendants

The bride’s sister Princess Eugenie, Mrs. Jack Brooksbank was the matron of honor. The groom’s four-year-old son from his relationship with American architect Dara Huang,  Christopher Woolf Mapelli Mozzi, known as Wolfie, served as both the best man and a pageboy. The groom’s niece and nephew, five-year-old Coco Yeomans and three-year-old Freddie Yeomans, the children of his sister Natalia Yeomans, served as bridesmaid and pageboy.

The Wedding Attire

Photo Credit – https://www.instagram.com/theroyalfamily/  Photograph by Benjamin Wheeler

Princess Beatrice wore a vintage peau de soie taffeta dress, in shades of ivory and trimmed with duchess satin and encrusted with diamante, originally designed by Norman Hartnell, on loan from her grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. The dress was a modified version of the dress Queen Elizabeth II wore to the world premiere of the film Lawrence Of Arabia at the Odeon Cinema Leicester Square, London in December 1962. Beatrice’s wedding dress was remodeled and fitted by the Queen’s senior dresser Angela Kelly and designer Stewart Parvin. 

 

Princess Beatrice’s floor-length veil was attached by the Queen Mary diamond fringe tiara loaned to her by her grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. It is the same tiara Beatrice’s grandmother wore on her wedding day in 1947. The tiara was made in 1919 for Queen Mary, Beatrice’s great-great-grandmother, from diamonds taken from a necklace given to Mary by Queen Victoria as a wedding present in 1893. Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, also wore the tiara for her marriage to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973. So it was fitting that Princess Beatrice as Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest royal granddaughter wore the same tiara on her wedding day.

Queen Mary’s Diamond Fringe Tiara; Photo Credit – https://www.tiara-mania.com/2011/11/fringe-tiara.html

The bouquet consisted of trailing jasmine, pale pink and cream sweet peas, royal porcelain ivory spray roses, pink O’Hara garden roses, pink waxflower, baby pink astilbe and, in keeping with royal tradition, sprigs of myrtle. After the wedding, the bouquet was placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. This has been a tradition for British royal brides since 1923 when Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the wife of King George VI and Beatrice’s great-grandmother, placed her bouquet of white roses on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, whose remains had been brought from France and buried in the Westminster Abbey floor three years earlier. No doubt Lady Elizabeth was thinking of her brother Fergus Bowes-Lyon and all the other British soldiers who had died in World War I.

Embed from Getty Images

The Ceremony

Royal Chapel of All Saints, the site of the wedding; Credit – By Wilfridselsey – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56272459

The wedding was scheduled to take place on May 29, 2020, at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace in London, England, followed by a private reception in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wedding was postponed.

The wedding was held on July 17, 2020, in private at the Royal Chapel of All Saints on the grounds of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park in Windsor, England. The new date had not been announced in advance and Buckingham Palace said the ceremony was small and confirmed that Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the bride’s father, walked her down the aisle.

The ceremony was officiated by The Reverend Canon Paul Wright, Sub-Dean of the Chapel Royal and The Reverend Canon Martin Poll, Domestic Chaplain to Her Majesty. In line with British government guidelines for COVID-19, all social distancing measures were followed.

The service included two of the couple’s favorite poems, read by their mothers: Sonnet 116 – Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments by William Shakespeare and  I carry you in my heart by E.E. Cummings; and a biblical reading: St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians Chapter 13, verses 1-13 – If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

Prayers were said but in accordance with British government guidelines for COVID-19, no hymns were sung, but a selection of music was played. The National Anthem was played but not sung.

The Wedding Reception

A small party was held afterward at Royal Lodge, the Windsor home of The Duke of York and his former wife Sarah, Duchess of York, featuring specialty cocktails, made-to-order catering, an exquisitely decorated Indian-style tent, and a bouncy castle. Many of the twenty guests stayed overnight in glamping pods.

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

  • Andrews, E., 2020. Beatrice Poses With New Husband Edoardo And Grandparents After Wedding. [online] Mail Online. Available at: <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8537155/Beatrice-poses-new-husband-Edoardo-grandparents-socially-distanced-wedding.html> [Accessed 23 July 2020].
  • BBC News. 2020. Princess Beatrice’s Wedding Photos Released. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53457958> [Accessed 23 July 2020]
  • Film, T., Edition, U., McKnight, J., Film, T., Edition, U. and NEWSLETTER, H., 2020. Everything You Need To Know About Princess Beatrice’s Wedding: From Her Dress To The Ceremony. [online] HELLO!. Available at: <https://www.hellomagazine.com/brides/2020071893730/princess-beatrice-wedding-details-everything-you-need-to-know/> [Accessed 23 July 2020].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Husband Of Princess Beatrice Of York. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/edoardo-mapelli-mozzi-fiance-of-princess-beatrice-of-york/> [Accessed 23 July 2020].
  • Unofficial Royalty. 2014. Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. [online] Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/princess-beatrice-of-york/> [Accessed 23 July 2020].

What’s Wrong With “Victoria” Season 3? – Better Late Than Never!

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria in 1854; Credit – Wikipedia

Victoria is a British television series created by Daisy Goodwin, a British television producer and novelist, and written by Goodwin, Guy Andrews, and Ottilie Wilford for the British television station ITV.  It is shown in the United States on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) on its Masterpiece, the long-running weekly drama series that features British productions.

Sorry for the long delay in writing and publishing this article. Victoria Season 3 aired in the United States on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) from January 31, 2019 – March 3, 2019. My husband and I DVR everything we watch on television – even PBS shows that do not have commercials – and so I set my DVR to record the eight episodes of Victoria Season 3. And then I saw some reviews and heard from people who had seen it. Then it began airing in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2019, and I read articles about it in the British media. None of what I found out about Series 3 made me want to watch it.

I also noticed that Unofficial Royalty’s article on Queen Victoria’s dresser Marianne Skerrett (NOT NANCY SKERRETT!) was getting a lot of views so I knew something was up with her in Season 3. As of the date this article was published, Marianne Skerrett’s article has had 54,605 views – Unofficial Royalty’s fifth most viewed article and the second most viewed biography article – and she isn’t even a royal.

I had noticed when Season 2 was airing, a lot of people viewed Unofficial Royalty’s article about Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert’s brother. Ernst’s article has 60,990 views, is the fourth most viewed article, and is the most viewed biography article. At that time of the airing of Season 2, I wondered what they had Ernst doing in Season 2 – probably the same inaccurate things he had been doing in Season 1. What they had Ernst doing (and what they had many other characters – or should I say real people – doing) never happened. In Season 3, real people were still doing things that never occurred along with a lot of fabrication involving people who never existed.

And so, I procrastinated watching Victoria Season 3 and it languished on my DVR occupying eight hours of space until the coronavirus pandemic came around and I figured that it was as good a time as any to get that eight hours of DVR space back.

Mediaeval Baebes in concert; Credit – By https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfllaw/ – https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfllaw/47623647/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7065649

I have to honestly say that the best thing about watching Victoria Season 3 was hearing the Mediaeval Baebes sing the title theme eight times. The Mediaeval Baebes are a British musical ensemble that performs traditional medieval songs and poetry set to music and some original compositions. They sing in a variety of languages and their vocals are backed by medieval instruments played by the singers or fellow musicians. My husband and I are fans of the Mediaeval Baebes. We first heard them years ago while listening to the Rutgers University radio station in the car. That Christmas we bought each other a Mediaeval Baebes CD – luckily they were different CDs. In 2018, the Mediaeval Baebes did a US tour and we were able to attend a concert. Among the songs performed in the concert was the title theme to Victoria – which is longer than it is on the show. We bought their latest CD at the concert (which has the Victoria theme on it) and they all signed the CD and we got to speak with them.

I wanted to include here a YouTube video of the Mediaeval Baebes singing the Victoria theme but there is only an audio YouTube video. I am guessing it is because of copyright issues. The music was composed by Martin Phipps and he holds the copyright.  You can listen to the Victoria – The Suite at this link YouTube – Victoria – The Suite and this is the official website of the Mediaeval Baebes: https://www.mediaevalbaebes.com/ Check it out!

Will there be a Victoria Season 4? According to the website for PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), “The series is currently on hiatus, and unfortunately, we don’t have any additional information to share at this time.”

We encourage our readers to learn more about Queen Victoria and her family. You can start right here at Unofficial Royalty.  See the links below. Read some books. You will find lots of suggestions in the bibliography listed first.

Now let’s get on with What’s Wrong with “Victoria” Season 3. I have no major issues with what went on between Victoria and Albert. They certainly were known to have their differences during their marriage. The parts of Victoria Season 3 that made me want to SCREAM deal with Queen Victoria’s half-sister Princess Feodora (utterly false story), the Duke and Duchess of Monmouth (they did not exist), and Nancy Skerrett (her name was Marianne, she was 26 years older than Queen Victoria and she did not die of cholera) and Charles Elmé Francatelli (he worked at the palace only from 1840 – 1842 and did not marry Marianne Skerrett).

There are a few picky issues that I’ll get to at the end of the article along with some thoughts on Prince Albert’s hair, but first a timetable.

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Timetable

The opening of the Great Exhibition 1851 by EUGÈNE LOUIS LAMI; Credit – Royal Collection Trust

Victoria Season Three started around the time of Princess Louise’s birth and ended after the opening of the Great Exhibition which would be 1848 – 1851. For the most part, historical events occurred around the correct time except for the cholera outbreak which occurred in 1854. Also included below is the tenure of real people in their positions who were characters in Season 3.

  • 1837 – 1862 – Marianne Skerrett was Wardrobe Woman and then Head Dresser to Queen Victoria
  • 1840 – 1842 – Charles Elmé Francatelli worked at the palace as Maitre d’Hôtel and Chief Cook
  • June 30, 1846 – February 21, 1852 – Lord John Russell, after 1861 1st Earl Russell, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He also served as Prime Minister from 1865 – 1866.
  • July 6, 1846 – December 26, 1851 – Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston was the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom. He served in the British Cabinet in other posts and was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice from 1855 – 1858 and from 1859 – 1865.
  • February 23, 1848 to early 1849 – Revolutions of 1848
  • March 18, 1848 – Princess Louise, the fourth of the five daughters and sixth child of the nine children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, was born at Buckingham Palace
  • April 8, 1848 – Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their family go to Osborne House because of the possible danger due to the Chartist protests.
  • April 10, 1848 – Chartist Convention organized a mass meeting on Kennington Common in London, which would form a procession to present a petition to Parliament
  • May 1, 1850 – Prince Arthur, the third of the four sons and the seventh of the nine children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, was born at Buckingham Palace
  • May 1, 1851 – October 15, 1851 – Great Exhibition was open
  • 1854 – Broad Street cholera outbreak

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Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in 1854; Credit – Wikipedia

Victoria Season 3 would have the viewer believe that Queen Victoria’s half-sister Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg spent more than two years living in England and was a scheming, jealous person. This is ridiculous and false.

Queen Victoria had two elder half-siblings from the first marriage of her mother Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen: Karl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen (1804 – 1856) and Princess Feodora of Leiningen (1807 – 1872). Feodora was twelve years older than Victoria.

In 1814, at the age of ten, Karl became Prince of Leiningen upon his father’s death. However, in 1806, the Principality of Leiningen had been mediatized – annexed to another state(s), while allowing certain rights to its former sovereign. The Principality of Leiningen ceased to exist and was divided between the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Kingdom of Bavaria, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. The family retained Amorbach Abbey in Amorbach, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria and it remains the family seat of the Princely Family of Leiningen. Karl, who was fifteen years older than Victoria, had less of a presence in his half-sister’s life as he was educated abroad and spent time at Amorbach Abbey.

Karl and Feodora’s father died in 1814 and their mother married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III, in 1818. The Duke and Duchess of Kent’s only child, the future Queen Victoria, was born on May 24, 1819. Victoria was only eight months old when her father died on January 23, 1820, just six days before his father, King George III died.

After King George III’s death, the infant Victoria was third in the line of succession after her uncles, Frederick, Duke of York and William, Duke of Clarence. Neither the new king, George IV, nor his brothers Frederick and William had any heirs, and the Duchess of Kent decided she would take a chance on Victoria’s accession to the throne. The Duchess decided to stay in England rather than return to her homeland.

Feodora shared Victoria’s relatively isolated existence at Kensington Palace. Feodora was educated privately under the direction of her governess, Louise Lehzen, who would later become governess, confidante, and companion to the young Victoria. Feodora, too, was a close companion and devoted to her sister, and the two would maintain a close relationship for the rest of Feodora’s life.

In Victoria Season 3, Feodora claims that King George IV, Victoria’s paternal uncle, wanted to marry her. There is no historical evidence that this occurred. Stifled by her restricted life within Kensington Palace, Feodora was very eager to find a husband and move away. In 1828, Feodora married Ernst I, 4th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg at Kensington Palace, despite having only met him twice before the wedding. After her sister married, nine-year-old Victoria wrote in her journal that she missed Feodora, “for she used to come into my room very often in the day, and used to sit very often in my room writing her letters… and she was always so gay and cheerful.”

Feodora’s husband Ernst I, 4th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, like her brother, had a title but had no land to reign over. In 1806, the Principality of Hohenlohe-Langenburg had been mediatized to the Kingdom of Württemberg. Ernst held several political positions in the Kingdom of Württemberg and was one of the most influential men in the kingdom. The couple lived in a castle in Langenburg where they raised their six children. Feodora’s daughter Adelheid (the “Heidi” in Victoria Season 3) married Friedrich VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. Adelheid and Friedrich’s daughter Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein married Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia, son of Victoria’s eldest child Victoria, Princess Royal. And so, Feodora’s granddaughter married Victoria’s grandson. Through this marriage, Feodora and her daughter Adelheid are ancestors of the Greek and Spanish royal families.

Victoria and Feodora wrote to each other religiously. Victoria and her mother visited Feodora and Feodora did visit Victoria and their mother in England. Whenever she came, Victoria paid Feodora £300 for her expenses. Most importantly, Feodora came to England when Victoria needed her the most, in the summer of 1861 following the death of their mother and then in December 1861 following Prince Albert’s death.

Following a serious illness, Princess Feodora, aged 64, died on September 23, 1872. After getting a telegram informing her of Feodora’s death, Victoria wrote in her journal: “Can I write it? My own darling, only sister, my dear excellent, noble Feodora is no more!… I stand so alone now, no near & dear one nearer my own age, or older, to whom I could look up to, left! All, all gone! How good & wise, beloved Feodora was, so devoted to me, so truly pious & religious. She is gone to that world she was so fit for & entered it, just sleeping away. What a blessed end! but what a loss to those who are left! She was my last near relative on an equality with me, the last link with my childhood & youth.”

A copy of a letter dated 1854 (shortly after the time period of Victoria Season 3) sent to Victoria was found among Feodora’s papers after her death: “I can never thank you enough for all you have done for me, for your great love and tender affection. These feelings cannot die, they must and will live in my soul – till we meet again, never more to be separated – and you will not forget.”

The sentiments above in Victoria’s journal and in Feodora’s letter sound like they are coming from sisters who truly loved each other.

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Marianne Skerrett and Charles Elmé Francatelli

No, they did not get married! No, Marianne (NOT NANCY!) did not die from cholera! The portrayals of Marianne Skerrett and Charles Elmé Francatelli in Victoria disturb me the most. They are not well-known but they were real people whose actual life stories were turned upside-down and inside-out.

Marianne Skerrett attributed to Dr. Ernest Becker, circa 1859; Photo Credit – https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/2906440/miss-mariann

Marianne Skerrett (1793 – 1887) was the Head Dresser and Wardrobe-Woman to Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1862. The daughter of a British Army officer who owned a plantation in the West Indies, Marianne was born in 1793, so she was 44-years-old when Victoria became queen. She was extremely well-read and was fluent in Danish, French, and German.

Author Carolly Erickson has references to Marianne in her biography of Queen Victoria, Her Little Majesty. From Erickson’s book: Marianne Skerrett was “the head of Victoria’s wardrobe, overseeing all the practical work of ordering all her clothing, shoes, hats, gloves, and undergarments…She kept the wardrobe accounts, checking all the bills to make certain no one tried to cheat her mistress, and supervised the purveyors, hairdressers, dressmakers, and pearl-sewers whose task it was to keep the royal wardrobe in good repair.”

In addition, Marianne and Victoria had a lot in common. From Erickson’s book: “Both were intelligent, loved animals, spoke several languages…shared a great interest in paintings and painters. Marianne was well educated, with cultivated tastes, and in time to come Victoria would rely on her to help with the purchase of paintings and in corresponding with artists.”

Although she retired in 1862, Marianne remained in contact with Queen Victoria until her death in 1887 at the age of 94.

Charles Elmé Francatelli, drawn by Auguste Hervieu and engraved by Samuel Freeman, 1846; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles Elmé Francatelli (1805 – 1876) was born in London, England. He was educated in France at the Parisian College of Cooking where he studied culinary arts with Antonin Carême, known as “The King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings.” When Francatelli returned to England, he became chef de cuisine (executive chef) to several members of the nobility. He then became chef de cuisine at the St. James’s Club, popularly known as Crockford’s.

For two years only, from March 9, 1840 to March 31, 1842, Francatelli served as maitre d’hôtel and chief cook in ordinary to Queen Victoria. For some reason, he was dismissed, perhaps because Queen Victoria did not like his French cuisine, and he returned to Crockford’s. Francatelli did have one more royal client. For a short period in the 1860s, he served as chef de cuisine to The Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) at their London home, Marlborough House.

During his career, Francatelli was chef de cuisine at the Coventry House Club and the Reform Club. Afterward, he managed the St. James’s Hotel in Piccadilly London and finally the Freemasons’ Tavern, a position he held until shortly before his death.

Francatelli was a very successful cookbook author. In 1845, he published The Modern Cook which ran through twelve editions. His next book was The Cook’s Guide and Butler’s Assistant published in 1861. The same year, he published Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes which contained practical information valuable to the less affluent people. In 1862, The Royal English and Foreign Confectionery Book was published.

Francatelli did marry twice (but not to Marianne Skerrett) and did have children. He died in Eastbourne, England on August 10, 1876, at the age of 71.

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The Duke and Duchess of Monmouth

James Scott, the only real Duke of Monmouth; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles, Duke of Monmouth and Sophie, Duchess of Monmouth, supposedly Mistress of the Robes, are totally fictional and in my opinion, an unnecessary soap-opera-like narrative in Season 3.

The peerage Duke of Monmouth was created only once and that was during the reign of King Charles II. In 1663, Charles II created his eldest illegitimate child 14-year-old James, the son of Lucy Walter, Duke of Monmouth. James married Anne Scott who was the 4th Countess of Buccleuch in her own right. On their wedding day, the couple was created 1st Duke and 1st Duchess of Buccleuch. Thereafter, James used Scott as his surname but was usually called Monmouth. The couple had seven children and Sarah, Duchess of York (the great-great-granddaughter of the 6th Duke of Buccleuch) and her daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (born Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott, the daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch) and her son Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester are among their descendants.

Anne Scott, the only real Duchess of Monmouth with her sons; Credit – Wikipedia

When King Charles II died without a legitimate heir on February 6, 1685, his brother and the Duke of Monmouth’s uncle succeeded to the throne as King James II. James, Duke of Monmouth thought he has a claim to the throne and planned an invasion of England and Scotland. On July 6, 1685, the armies of uncle and nephew met at the Battle of Sedgemoor where the army of James, Duke of Monmouth was defeated.

James, Duke of Monmouth had previously been attainted of treason by Parliament on June 16, 1685, and was to “suffer Paines of Death and Incurr all Forfeitures as a Traitor Convicted and Attainted of High Treason.” He was sent to the Tower of London and beheaded on Tower Hill on July 15, 1685.

The Act of Attainder forfeited his English peerages including the Duke of Monmouth, but his Scottish peerages including the Duke of Buccleuch were not affected and continued to be held by his widow and their descendants. Since 1685, there has never been another Duke of Monmouth.

Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, the real Mistress of the Robes during the time period covered in Season 3; Credit – Wikipedia

Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland was the Mistress of the Robes during the period covered in Season 3, serving 1846–1852. She also served as Mistress of the Robes during 1837–1841, 1853–1858, and 1859–1861.

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A Few Picky Issues

Lord Palmerston in 1855, not exactly the dashing, young Lord Palmerston of Season 3; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary was portrayed by Laurence Fox (born 1978), who I very much liked in the role of Detective Sergeant James Hathaway in the British television series Inspector Lewis, a sequel to the Inspector Morse series. Palmerston was born in 1784 and so in 1848 when Series 3 started, he was 64-years-old and not the dashing, young Palmerston as portrayed by Laurence Fox, in his early 40s. Palmerston did have a reputation as a womanizer and was nicknamed “Cupid,” but I don’t know if he was running around the halls of palaces, sneaking in ladies’ rooms in his 60s – so why not take twenty years off his real age and make up some stories – which is what happened in Season 3. His wife, born The Honorable Elizabeth Lamb, was the sister of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s first Prime Minister, and had a long-term affair with Palmerston during her first marriage.

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Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langnburg – Season 3 tried to marry her off to a non-existent prince; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Sigmund of Prussia? No, you are not slipping this one past me! In Series 3, it was said that Feodora’s daughter Adelheid (called Heidi in the show) may marry Prince Sigmund of Prussia, the brother of the King of Prussia, The King of Prussia during the time period of Victoria Season 3 was King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. He had three brothers and none of them was named Sigmund. In fact, no King of Prussia had a brother named Prince Sigmund.

Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia had a brother named Prince Sigismund but he was born in 1864 and died in 1866. Prince Heinrich of Prussia, Wilhelm II’s brother, had a son named Prince Sigismund but he wasn’t born until 1896. So let’s just make up a fictional prince and say he was a suitor of Princess Feodora’s daughter!

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In 1851, this was the Crown Prince of Prussia; Credit – Wikipedia

In the same conversation as “Prince Sigmund,” it was said that Vicky, Queen Victoria’s eldest child, would marry the Crown Prince of Prussia. It was 1851 and the Crown Prince of Prussia was 54-year-old Wilhelm, the brother of the childless King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Wilhelm succeeded his brother in 1861 as King Wilhelm I of Prussia. Wilhelm was also already married and had a son and a daughter. The son was the future Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia. He was the one that Vicky married in 1858 but he would not be Crown Prince of Prussia until his father succeeded to the throne in 1861. When Vicky married him he was Prince Friedrich of Prussia. So in 1851, the correct thing to say would have been “Vicky will marry the son of the Crown Prince of Prussia” but I guess the viewers were not considered smart enough to deal with that so let’s just use something else that is inaccurate.

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King Otto of Greece – Not Albert’s cousin; Credit – Wikipedia

In Season 3, it was said that King Otto of Greece was Prince Albert’s cousin. Um, no! Not even close! I did a double-take when I heard that. King Otto of Greece was born Prince Otto of Bavaria, the son of Ludwig I, King of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. In 1832, the Convention of London established Greece as a kingdom, and the Great Powers appointed Otto to be the new kingdom’s first king. He reigned for thirty years, until 1862 when he was deposed by a coup.

According to the relationship calculator at Leo’s Genealogics Website, the only way Otto is related to Albert is through Albert’s marriage to Victoria. King Otto of Greece (born Prince Otto of Bavaria) is the second cousin once removed of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert’s wife. Otto and Victoria’s mutual ancestors are Karl, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen. They are Queen Victoria’s great-grandparents through her paternal grandmother Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (wife of King George III) and Otto’s great-great-grandparents through his mother.

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Some Thoughts on Prince Albert’s Hair

In Season 3, Prince Albert ranges in age from 29 to 32. Albert, as played by Tom Hughes, has been wearing his hair the same way since he first appeared in the series as a teenager. Perhaps the idea for Hughes’ hairstyle came from the portrait of Albert below by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The painting is from 1842 when Albert was 23-year-old.

Credit – Wikipedia

Albert began to suffer from a receding hairline early in his marriage. Quite a few of Albert’s descendants had early receding hairlines including his great-great-grandsons Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, his great-great-great-grandson Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and his great-great-great-great-grandsons Prince William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. By 1848, the first year of Victoria Season 3, Albert was 29-years-old and had far less hair.  In the early daguerreotype with hand-coloring from 1848 below, Albert’s hairline is receding.

Credit – Wikipedia

And yet here is Albert, Victoria, and their son Bertie below at Osborne House in Season 3 at the same age (or even older) as Albert above, still sporting his teenage hairstyle with no evidence of a receding hairline.

In the 1850s, Albert’s hairline continued receding. Below is a photo of Victoria and Albert in 1854, only two years after the time period of Season 3.

Credit – Wikipedia

Below is Albert, aged 42, in 1861, the year of his death. If Victoria makes it to Albert’s death and he dies with a head of hair like Tom Hughes above, you will hear me SCREAM! from wherever you are!

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.

Contemporary Monarchs of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

compiled by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

 

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is the longest-reigning British monarch having surpassed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria on September 9, 2015. Having reigned 70 years, 214 days, she is the second longest-reigning monarch ever on a list of monarchs of states that were internationally sovereign for most or all of their reigns and have verifiable reigns by an exact date.

Only one monarch is ahead of Queen Elizabeth II:

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Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom – reigned February 6, 1952 – September 8, 2022

Many monarchs have come and gone and some monarchies have been abolished during the long reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The following monarchs reigned during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The links on the names of the monarchies lead to that monarchy’s content area at Unofficial Royalty. Note that not all monarchies have content areas. The content area for the United Kingdom can be found here.

Kingdom of Afghanistan (monarchy abolished 1973)

Kingdom of Bahrain

Kingdom of Belgium

Kingdom of Bhutan

Nation of Brunei, Abode of Peace

Kingdom of Burundi (monarchy abolished 1966)

Kingdom of Cambodia

Kingdom of Denmark

Kingdom of Egypt (monarchy abolished 1953)

Kingdom of eSwatini (formerly Swaziland)

Note: King Sobhuza is not on the list of longest reigning internationally recognized monarchs of a sovereign state. He was an internationally recognized monarch of a sovereign state for fourteen years, from when Swaziland was granted independence in1968 until his death in 1982. However, he is number one on the list of longest reigning monarchs of dependent or constituent states.

Empire of Ethiopia (monarchy abolished 1975)

Kingdom of the Hellenes (Greece) (monarchy abolished 1973)

  • King Paul of the Hellenes (reigned 1947 – 1964)
  • King Constantine II of the Hellenes (reigned 1964 – 1973, a military junta ruled Greece from 1967 – 1974, in 1967 King Constantine II attempted a counter-coup against the military junta which failed, King Constantine II remained the head of state in exile until June 1, 1973, when the junta abolished the monarchy)

Imperial State of Iran (monarchy abolished 1979)

State of Japan

Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

State of Kuwait

Kingdom of Laos (monarchy abolished 1975)

Kingdom of Lesotho

Kingdom of Libya (monarchy abolished 1969)

Principality of Liechtenstein

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Malaysia

Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy with an elected monarch, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, as head of state. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is elected to a five-year term by and from the nine hereditary rulers of the Malay states. See the following link for a list of the Yang di-Pertuan Agongs: Wikipedia: Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Sultanate of the Maldives (monarchy abolished in 1968)

Principality of Monaco

Kingdom of Morocco

Kingdom of Nepal (monarchy abolished 2008)

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Kingdom of Norway

Sultanate of Oman

State of Qatar

Kingdom of Rwanda (monarchy abolished 1961)

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Kingdom of Sikkim (monarchy abolished 1975)

Kingdom of Spain

Kingdom of Sweden

Kingdom of Thailand

Kingdom of Tonga

Kingdom of Tunisia (monarchy abolished in 1957)

United Arab Emirates

Kingdom of Yemen (monarchy abolished 1966)

Sultanate of Zanzibar (monarchy abolished 1964)

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Queen Elizabeth II meets Liz Truss, her 15th Prime Minister on September 6, 2022, two days before her death; Credit – The Royal Family Facebook Page

In addition to all those monarchs, Queen Elizabeth II had fifteen Prime Ministers and reigned during the terms of fourteen Presidents of the United States and seven pontificates of Popes.

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign

  • Sir Winston Churchill: (October 26, 1951 – April 5, 1955)
  • Sir Anthony Eden: (April 6, 1955 – January 9, 1957)
  • Harold Macmillan: (January 10, 1957 – October 18, 1963)
  • Sir Alec Douglas-Home: (October 19, 1963 – October 16, 1964)
  • Harold Wilson; (October 16, 1964 – June 19, 1970)
  • Edward Heath: (June 19, 1970 – March 4, 1974)
  • Harold Wilson: (March 14, 1974 – April 5, 1976)
  • James Callaghan: (April 5, 1976 – May 4, 1979)
  • Margaret Thatcher: (May 4, 1979 – November 28, 1990)
  • John Major: (November 28, 1990 – May 2, 1997)
  • Tony Blair: (May 2, 1997 – June 27, 2007)
  • Gordon Brown: (June 27, 2007 – May 11, 2010)
  • David Cameron: (May 11, 2010 – July 13, 2016)
  • Theresa May: (July 13, 2016 – July  24, 2019)
  • Boris Johnson: (July 24, 2019 – September 6, 2022)
  • Liz Truss: (September 6, 2022 – October 25, 2022)

Presidents of the United States during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign

  • Harry S. Truman: (April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953)
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower: (January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961)
  • John F. Kennedy: (January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963, assassinated)
  • Lyndon B. Johnson: (November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969)
  • Richard Nixon: (January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974, resigned)
  • Gerald Ford: (August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977)
  • Jimmy Carter: (January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981)
  • Ronald Reagan: (January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989)
  • George H.W. Bush: (January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993)
  • Bill Clinton: (January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001)
  • George W. Bush: (January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009)
  • Barack Obama:( January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017)
  • Donald Trump: (January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021)
  • Joseph Biden: (January 20, 2021 – )

Popes during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign

  • Pope Pius XII: March 2, 1939 – October 9, 1958
  • Pope (Saint) John XIII: October 28, 1958 –  June 3, 1963
  • Pope (Saint) Paul VI: June 21, 1963 – August 6, 1978
  • Pope (Blessed) John Paul I: August 26, 1978 – September 28, 1978
  • Pope (Saint) John Paul II: October 16, 1978 – April 2, 2005
  • Pope Benedict XVI: April 19, 2005 – February 28, 2013, resigned
  • Pope Francis: March 13, 2013 –

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.

Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, husband of Princess Beatrice of York

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

 

Born on November 19, 1983, at Portland Hospital in London, England, Edoardo Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi is the younger of the two children of Count Alessandro (Alex) Mapelli Mozzi and his first wife Nicola (Nikki) Burrows. Eduardo has a sister Natalia Alice Yeomans (born 1981) and a half-brother Alby Shale (born 1991) from his mother’s second marriage to Christopher Shale, British businessman and Conservative politician, who died in 2011. Edoardo’s father made a second marriage to Ebba Eckermann and his mother made a third marriage to sculptor David Williams-Ellis.

Edoardo’s family seat Villa Mapelli Mozzi; Credit – Wikipedia

Edoardo’s father is a member of an Italian noble family, whose family seat is the Villa Mapelli Mozzi located in Ponte San Pietro, Bergamo, Italy. The title was given to his family in the nobility of Italy in 1913 by Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy. Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi’s title, which he uses as a courtesy, is not officially recognized in either Italy or the United Kingdom. He holds both Italian and British citizenship and competed in the 1972 Winter Olympics in three alpine skiing events as a member of the British Olympic team.

Edoardo attended Radley College, a boys’ independent boarding school near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. He received a master’s degree in politics at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburg, Scotland.

When he was 23-years-old, Edoardo founded Banda Property, a property development and interior design company that focuses on designing homes for affluent clients in undervalued parts of London. He is also a co-founder of the British-Rwandan charity Cricket Builds Hope whose goal is to use cricket as a tool for positive social change in Rwanda.

Edoardo had a three-year relationship and was engaged to American architect Dara Huang. The couple had a son Christopher, born in 2016, but broke up in 2018. In 2018, Edoardo started dating Princess Beatrice. Their families had been close friends for decades. In May 2019, Beatrice and Edoardo attended their first royal family event together, the wedding of Beatrice’s second cousin once removed, Lady Gabriella Windsor.

Engagement Photo of Princess Beatrice of York and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi; Photo Credit – https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily © Princess Eugenie

On September 26, 2019, Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Princess Beatrice of York to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, a multi-millionaire property tycoon.  Beatrice and Edoardo’s wedding, scheduled for May 29, 2020, was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Princess Beatrice is a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the elder of the two daughters of Prince Andrew, Duke of York and his former wife Sarah, Duchess of York. Edoardo and Beatrice, who had known each other since childhood, started dating in 2018.

Photo Credit – https://www.instagram.com/p/CC05fTMH_HJ/ Photograph by Benjamin Wheeler

Edoardo and Beatrice were married in a private ceremony at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, on the grounds of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, on July 17, 2020.

Edoardo and Beatrice have two daughters:

  • Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi (born 2021)
  • Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi (born 2025)

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.

Execution of Charles I, King of England (1649)

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

On January 30, 1649, Charles I, King of England was beheaded for treason and other high crimes at the Palace of Whitehall in London, England where a scaffold had been built outside the Banqueting House.

Charles I, King of England

Charles I, King of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Born at Dunfermline Palace in Fife, Scotland on November 19, 1600, Charles I, King of England was the second son and fourth of the seven children of James VI, King of Scots (later also King James I of England) and Anne of Denmark. At the time of Charles’ birth, his six-year-old elder brother Henry Frederick was the heir apparent to the throne of Scotland. On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died and Charles’ father became King James I of England. Since none of the children of King Henry VIII of England had children, James was the senior heir of King Henry VII of England through his eldest daughter Margaret Tudor who had married James IV, King of Scots.

Charles overcame early physical problems, although he grew no taller than five feet four inches, and learned to ride, shoot, and fence. However, he was no physical match for his stronger and taller elder brother Henry, whom he adored. When 18-year-old Henry died in 1612 from typhoid, it was a loss that Charles felt greatly. Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay upon his brother’s death and was created Prince of Wales in 1616.

On March 27, 1625, King James I died and Charles succeeded him as King of England and King of Scots. Charles married Henrietta Maria of France, daughter of Henri IV, King of France, several months later. Charles’ coronation was held on February 2, 1626, at Westminster Abbey, but the Roman Catholic Henrietta Maria was not crowned because she refused to participate in a Church of England ceremony. Charles and Henrietta Maria had nine children including King Charles II, King James II, and Mary, the first Princess Royal, who married Willem II, Prince of Orange and had one child: Willem III, Prince of Orange, later King William III of England.

The Road to the English Civil War and Charles I’s Downfall

Charles had the same issues with Parliament as his father had, clashing with its members over financial, political, and religious issues. In the early years of Charles’ reign, Parliament was summoned and dissolved three times. Finally, in 1629, Charles, who believed in the divine right of kings, decided to govern without Parliament, beginning eleven years of personal rule. During his personal rule, William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford were Charles’ most influential advisers. Parliament was finally summoned again in 1640 and demanded the execution of Stafford. Charles signed the death warrant, but never forgave himself. After this incident, the reconciliation of the King and Parliament became impossible.

Speaker Lenthall asserting the Privileges of the Commons (Speaker of the House William Lenthall kneels to Charles during the attempted arrest of the Five Members); Credit – Wikipedia

On January 4, 1642, a point of no return was reached. On that day, Charles committed the unprecedented act of entering the House of Commons with an armed guard and demanding the arrest of five Members of Parliament. There was a great public outcry, Charles fled London and civil war appeared inevitable. Since that day no British monarch has entered the House of Commons when it is sitting and a tradition recalling this is enacted at every State Opening of Parliament. When the monarch arrives in the House of Lords to read the speech from the throne, the Lord Great Chamberlain raises the wand of office to signal to the Gentleman/Lady Usher of the Black Rod (known as Black Rod), whose duty is to summon the House of Commons. On Black Rod’s approach, the doors to the House of Commons are slammed shut in Black Rod’s face, symbolizing the rights of the House of Commons and its independence from the monarch. Black Rod then strikes the closed doors of the House of Commons with the end of the ceremonial staff (the Black Rod) three times and is then admitted. This is a show of the refusal by the House of Commons never again to be entered by force by the monarch or one of the monarch’s representatives when the House of Commons is sitting.

English Civil War

Raising the royal standard at Nottingham: King Charles I, with his left arm upraised, his right around the shoulders of his son, the future Charles II. This was the event that signaled the start of the Civil War; Credit – http://www.explore-parliament.net/

On August 22, 1642, at Nottingham, Charles raised the Royal Standard and called for his loyal subjects to support him, beginning the Civil War between the Royalists or Cavaliers (Charles’ supporters) and the Roundheads (Parliament’s supporters). The Battle of Edgehill, the first real battle, was fought on October 26, 1642, and proved indecisive. The Cavaliers were defeated at the Battle of Marston Moor on July 2, 1644, and at the Battle of Naseby on June 14, 1645. The balance was now permanently tipped to the parliamentary side. In April 1646, Charles left Oxford, which had served as his capital city during the conflict, and surrendered to the Scottish Army expecting to be safe and well-treated. However, the Scots delivered Charles to Parliament in 1647. Except for one brief period in 1647, when he escaped, Charles was confined in several castles and great homes for the rest of his life.

The Trial

Engraving from “Nalson’s Record of the Trial of Charles I” in the British Museum. Charles (in the dock with his back to the viewer) facing the High Court of Justice; Credit – Wikipedia

On January 20, 1649, Charles’ trial at Westminster Hall in London, England began. He was accused of treason against England by using his power to pursue his personal interest rather than the good of England. A High Court of Justice was appointed to try Charles for high treason in the name of the people of England. There were 135 commissioners appointed but only 68 would sit in judgment.

As the trial opened, Solicitor General John Cook, standing immediately to Charles’ right, rose to read the indictment. Cook had just uttered only a few words when Charles tried to stop him by tapping him on the shoulder with his cane and ordering him to “Hold.” Cook ignored Charles and so he poked him again but Cook still continued. Angry at being ignored, Charles then hit Cook so forcefully across the shoulders that the silver tip of his cane broke off and fell to the floor between Cook and Charles. Charles waited for someone to pick up the silver tip. When no one did so, Charles had to bend down and pick it up himself. Perhaps Charles realized that this incident was a foreshadowing of things to come.

Charles at his trial. He let his beard and hair grow long because Parliament had dismissed his barber and he refused to let anyone else near him with a razor; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles refused to enter a plea saying that no court had jurisdiction over a monarch. He insisted that the trial was illegal and that his authority to rule came from the divine rights of kings given by God. The court challenged Charles, saying “the King of England was not a person, but an office whose every occupant was entrusted with a limited power to govern by and according to the laws of the land and not otherwise.”

On Saturday, January 27, 1649, Charles was declared guilty and sentenced to death. His sentence read: “That the court being satisfied that he, Charles Stuart, was guilty of the crimes of which he had been accused, did judge him tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the good people of the nation, to be put to death by the severing of his head from his body.” To show their agreement with the sentence, all the commissioners who were present rose to their feet.

The Execution

Contemporary German print of Charles I’s beheading; Credit – Wikipedia

On January 29, 1649, the day before his execution, Charles burned his personal papers. He was allowed to see 13-year-old Elizabeth and 8-year-old Henry, his only children still in England. He told Elizabeth to be faithful to the “true Protestant religion” and to tell her mother that “his thoughts had never strayed from her.” He warned Henry to “not be made a king” by the Parliamentarians because he suspected they would make the boy a puppet king. Charles divided his jewels among the two children, keeping only his George, an enameled figure of St. George, worn as a part of the ceremonial dress of the Order of the Garter. Charles had a restless last night, only going to sleep at 2:00 AM.

Charles awoke early on January 30, 1649, the day of his execution, and dressed all black and wore a blue sash. He requested one extra shirt from Thomas Herbert, his Gentleman of the Bedchamber so that the crowd gathered would not see him shiver from the cold and mistake it for fear. Charles walked the short distance from St. James’ Palace to the Palace of Whitehall where a scaffold had been built outside the Banqueting House.

From the first floor of the Banqueting House, Charles stepped onto the scaffold from a window. Before his execution, Charles delivered a speech that can be read at this link: Execution Speech of Charles I.

In the speech, Charles declared his innocence and said he was a “martyr of the people”. The crowd could not hear the speech because of the many parliamentarian guards blocking the scaffold but Charles’ supporter on the scaffold, William Juxon, then Bishop of London, later Archbishop of Canterbury, recorded the speech in shorthand.

Charles then had a conversation with the executioner which was recorded by an eyewitness:

Charles: Is my hair well? (Charles had let his beard and hair grow long because Parliament had dismissed his barber and he refused to let anyone else near him with a razor. The executioner put some of Charles’ hair under his cap.)

Then Charles took off his cloak and his George, the enameled figure of St. George, which he gave to Bishop Juxon, saying: “Remember.”

Charles took off his doublet and put his cloak on again. Then looking upon the block, Charles said to the executioner: “You must set it fast.”

Executioner: It is fast, sir.

Charles: It might have been a little higher. (About the block)

Executioner: It can be no higher, sir.

Charles: When I put out my hands this way, then.

Charles then said a few words to himself with his hands lifted up and his eyes looking upward. He then immediately stooped down and laid his neck on the block. The executioner again put some of Charles’ hair under his cap.

Charles: Stay for the sign.

Executioner: Yes, I will, and it please Your Majesty.

After a short pause, Charles stretched out his hands, and the executioner, with one blow, severed his head from his body.

The Aftermath

Charles I’s coffin being brought to St.George’s Chapel in a snowstorm; Credit – http://www.explore-parliament.net/

Following the reattachment of the head and the embalming of the body, Charles I’s remains were placed in a simple wooden coffin which was then placed in a leaden coffin.  The coffin was taken to St. James’ Palace in London while Parliament decided where to inter Charles’ remains. No state funeral or public mourning would be allowed and Charles would not be permitted to be buried at Westminster Abbey.  Instead, Charles would be buried at the more private St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle to avoid his burial site becoming a place of pilgrimage. A week after the execution Charles’ coffin was transported to Windsor Castle in Windsor, England.

On February 9, 1649, in a snowstorm, the body of Charles I was taken from Windsor Castle to St. George’s Chapel. The coffin was carried by James Stewart, 1st Duke of Richmond (Charles’s 3rd cousin), William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset (grandson of Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford and Lady Katherine Grey, sister of Lady Jane Grey), Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton and Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey. However, Bishop Juxon was barred by a Parliamentary officer from entering St. George’s Chapel as seen in the picture above. Charles I’s coffin was lowered into the vault in the choir aisle where King Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour were buried.

The slab in the aisle indicates where Charles I was buried; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Coffins of King Charles I with a child of Queen Anne (left), King Henry VIII (center, damaged), and Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour (right), vault under the choir, St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, marked by a stone slab in the floor; Credit – Wikipedia

England was a republic (Commonwealth of England) for eleven years until the monarchy was restored and Charles I’s eldest son Charles II became king in 1660.

Charles I’s eldest son Charles, Prince of Wales (the future King Charles II) and his second son James, Duke of York (the future King James II) spent their exile in France, where their mother Henrietta Maria also lived in exile with their sister Henriette, and where their first cousin King Louis XIV was on the throne. Henriette married her first cousin Philippe, Duke of Orléans, King Louis XIV’s younger brother. Charles and James also lived some of the time with their sister Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange in the Dutch Republic, now the Netherlands.

Charles I’s two children Elizabeth and Henry, whom he was able to see before his execution, both died young. Elizabeth was never reunited with her family after her father’s execution. She died in 1650, a year after her father’s execution, at the age of 14, from pneumonia at Carisbrooke Castle in the Isle of Wight, England. In 1660, soon after his eldest brother Charles II was restored to the throne, Henry died at age 20 from smallpox.

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

  • Ashley, M. and Lock, J. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London, p.Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd.
  • Emersonkent.com. (2020). Execution Speech – Charles I 1649. [online] Available at: http://www.emersonkent.com/speeches/execution_speech_charles_i.htm [Accessed 4 Jan. 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2020). Charles I of England. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England [Accessed 4 Jan. 2020].
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2016). King Charles I of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-charles-i-of-england/ [Accessed 4 Jan. 2020].
  • Fraser, Antonia. (2007). King Charles II. London: Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd).
  • Williamson, D. (1996). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.