by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

A depiction of Queen Matilda in a family tree; Credit – Wikipedia

During the 12th century in a period called The Anarchy, two Matildas who were the daughters of two sisters, Matilda of Scotland and Mary of Scotland fought each other for control of England. Matilda of Scotland and her sister Mary of Scotland were the daughters of King Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Scotland. Through their mother, they were descendants of the Saxon kings in England.

Matilda of Scotland married King Henry I of England and their daughter was Matilda of England, known as Empress Matilda from her first marriage to Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.  Mary of Scotland married Eustace III, Count of Boulogne and their daughter Matilda of Boulogne married Stephen of Blois, the future King Stephen of England.  Stephen of Blois and Empress Matilda were first cousins, both grandchildren of King William I of England (the Conqueror).

A note about names: Matilda-Maud-Maude were interchangeable names. Matilda was the Latin or Norman form and Maud/Maude was the Saxon form.
About.com: Matilda or Maud?
Appellation Mountain: Name of the Day: Maud
Behind the Name: Matilda
Behind the Name: Maud

Matilda of Boulogne was born circa 1105 and was the only child of her parents Eustace III, Count of Boulogne and Mary of Scotland. Upon her father’s death in 1125, Matilda became Countess of Boulogne in her own right.  Boulogne was a county within the Kingdom of France from 896 – 1501, centered on the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, a coastal city in Northern France. The same year, King Henry I of England arranged for his nephew Stephen of Blois to marry Matilda.

Stephen and Matilda had three sons and two daughters:

• Baldwin of Blois (c. 1126 – c. 2 Dec 1135)
• Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne (c. 1129 – 1153) married Constance of France, no issue
• Matilda of Blois (c. 1133 – c. 1137), married Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester, no issue
• Marie of Blois, Countess of Boulogne (1136 – 1182) married Matthew of Alsace, had issue
• William of Blois, Count of Boulogne (c. 1137 – 11 October 1159) married Isabel de Warenne, no issue

Five years before Matilda and Stephen married, a terrible tragedy caused a succession crisis.  The White Ship carrying King Henry I of England’s only son William Ætheling sank as it left France to sail to England, and William Ætheling drowned.  Empress Matilda was King Henry’s only legitimate child, and on Christmas Day of 1226, Henry had his barons swear to recognize Matilda and any future legitimate heirs she might have as his successors.

Unofficial Royalty: The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession

After the sinking of the White Ship, Stephen and Matilda stayed close to King Henry I and lived most of the time in England realizing that Stephen was very close to the throne.  Henry’s daughter Empress Matilda had left England as a child to marry Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.  The marriage was childless and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V died in 1125.  Empress Matilda went to the royal court in Normandy (Kings of England were also Dukes of Normandy). Eventually, King Henry I made arrangements for his daughter to marry Geoffrey of Anjou in 1128.  The marriage was not a happy one.  The couple often lived apart and failed to produce a child until 1133.

On December 1, 1135, King Henry I of England died.  Stephen of Blois, quickly crossed from Boulogne to England, accompanied by his military household.  With the help of his brother, Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, Stephen seized power in England and was crowned king on December 22, 1135.  Matilda of Boulogne was unable to accompany her husband because she was pregnant, so she was crowned on Easter Day, March 22, 1136.  Empress Matilda did not give up her claim to England and Normandy, leading to the long civil war known as The Anarchy between 1135 and 1153.

During the civil war, Matilda of Boulogne proved to be her husband’s strongest supporter.  Matilda was as strong and resourceful as Stephen was weak and indecisive. When England was invaded in 1138, Matilda rallied troops from Boulogne and its ally Flanders, and successfully besieged Dover Castle.  She then went north to Durham, where she made a treaty with King David I of Scotland in 1139.  After Stephen was captured at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, she rallied Stephen’s supporters and raised an army with the help of William of Ypres, Stephen’s chief lieutenant.  It was Matilda who recaptured London for Stephen and forced Empress Matilda to withdraw from the siege of Winchester, leading to Stephen’s release in 1141 in exchange for the Empress’ illegitimate brother and her chief supporter Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester.

By the mid-1140s, the fighting had slowed down and there was a stalemate and the succession began to be the focus.  Empress Matilda returned to Normandy in 1147.  In the same year, the Empress’ husband and her eldest son Henry FitzEmpress, the future King Henry II,  mounted a small, unsuccessful mercenary invasion of England.  The Empress remained in Normandy where she focused on stabilizing the Duchy of Normandy and promoting her son’s rights to the English throne.

Matilda of Boulogne died of a fever on May 3, 1152, at Hedingham Castle in Essex, England.  She was buried at Faversham Abbey in Kent, England which she and her husband had established.  Perhaps if she had not died and her husband had not lost his strongest supporter, the result of the civil war would have turned out differently.

King Stephen holding a model of Faversham Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 17, 1153, Stephen and Matilda’s eldest surviving son Eustace died.  Ironically, this was the same day that the first child of Henry FitzEmpress, the future King Henry II, and Eleanor of Aquitaine was born.  The child, William IX, Count of Poitiers, survived for only two years, but he was followed by seven siblings, two of whom became Kings of England.

Shortly after Eustace’s death in 1153, Stephen and Henry FitzEmpress reached a formal agreement known as the Treaty of Wallingford (or Winchester or Westminster).  The treaty allowed Stephen to keep the throne until his death but forced him to recognize Empress Matilda’s son Henry FitzEmpress, as his heir.

The supposed tomb of King Stephen, his wife Matilda, and their son Eustace at St. Mary of Charity Church; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Stephen survived his wife by a little more than two years.  He died apparently of appendicitis at Dover Castle on October 25, 1154, and a line of 14 Plantagenet kings who ruled until 1485 started.  Stephen was buried with his wife Matilda and his son Eustace at Faversham Abbey which Stephen and Matilda had founded. All three tombs were lost when Faversham Abbey was demolished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII. Their remains were reportedly thrown into the nearby Faversham Creek. Their empty tombs were unearthed in 1964 near what had been the center of the choir. At St. Mary of Charity Church, the parish church in Faversham, there is a tomb where it is said that the remains of King Stephen, his wife Matilda, and his son Eustace were reinterred after the destruction of Faversham Abbey.

Sharon Kay Penman’s excellent historical fiction novel When Christ and His Saints Slept deals with The Anarchy and most of the historical figures mentioned here are characters.

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.

England: House of Normandy Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Normandy Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• History and Traditions: Norman and Plantagenet Weddings
• House of Normandy Burial Sites
• The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Armstrong-Jones was born May 1, 1964, at Kensington Palace, the second child and only daughter of Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom and Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon.

Sarah was christened in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace on  July 13, 1964. Her godparents were:

• Prudence, Lady Penn, Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
• Jane Stevens, her mother’s Lady-in-Waiting
• Marigold Bridgeman, her mother’s friend
• David Fane, 15th Earl of Westmorland
• Antony Barton, her father’s friend

Sarah has an older brother:

• David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (born 1961), married The Honorable Serena Stanhope, had two children, separated in 2020, intend to divorce

Sarah attended Bedales School where she developed an interest in art. Her interest in art led her to attend the Camberwell College of Arts followed by coursework in Printed Textiles at Middlesex Polytechnic, before completing her studies at Royal Academy Schools where she won the Winsor & Newton Prize for emerging artists in painting and drawing in 1988 and the Creswick Landscape Prize in 1990.

On July 14, 1994, at St Stephen’s, Walbrook, London, Sarah married Daniel Chatto, son of actor Thomas Chatto Sproule (stage name Thomas Chatto) and theatrical agent Ros Chatto, born Rosalind Thompson. With both of his parents in show business, it was not unusual for Daniel to try his hand at acting.  One of his roles was as Sarah’s cousin Prince Andrew in an American TV movie Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story.

• Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones and Daniel Chatto

Sarah and Daniel had two sons:

• Samuel David Benedict Chatto (born 1996)
• Arthur Robert Nathaniel Chatto (born 1999)

Both Sarah and her husband continue to pursue their careers as painters and their work can be seen on the websites of the galleries that represent them:

• Redfern Gallery: Sarah Armstrong-Jones
• Mutual Art: Daniel Chatto

Like her mother Princess Margaret, Sarah is also a supporter of other areas of the arts, becoming vice president of the Royal Ballet in 2004. In 1957, Princess Margaret became the first President of the Royal Ballet.

Having always been close to Queen Elizabeth II, her maternal aunt, Sarah and her family typically attended all the family functions and often spent the holidays with the Royal Family. Below she is seen in 2019 accompanying her aunt Queen Elizabeth II to a church service at Crathie Church near Balmoral in Scotland.

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.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Adeliza of Louvain, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 25, 1120, William Ætheling, the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England, died in the sinking of the White Ship.  King Henry I holds the record for the British monarch with the most illegitimate children with at least 25, but at the time of his son’s death, his only surviving legitimate child was a daughter Matilda, often called Maud(e), who was married to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor.  King Henry’s wife Matilda of Scotland had died in 1118 and he needed a male heir, so a second marriage became a necessity.  King Henry I of England, aged 53, married the 18-year-old Adeliza of Louvain on January 24, 1121, at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England.  Negotiations for the marriage probably started before the White Ship disaster.

Adeliza was the eldest child of Godfrey I, Count of Louvain and his first wife Ida of Chiny.  Today Louvain (French)/Leuven (Dutch) is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium and is located about 16 miles from Brussels.   Adeliza was beautiful (she was called the “fair maid of Brabant”) and charming.  She was not interested in playing a political role in England but rather focused her activities on the arts and literature, particularly French poetry.

Adeliza had five siblings:

• Godfrey II of Louvain, Duke of Lower Lotharingia (Lower Lorraine), Landgrave of Brabant, Count of Brussels and Louvain (1107 – 1142), married Lutgardis of Sulzbach, had children
• Clarissa (died 1140)
• Henry (died 1141) monk at Affligem Abbey
• Ida (died1162), married Arnold I, Count of Cleves, had children
• Joscelin of Louvain (1121–1180), married Agnes De Percy, had children

Adeliza and the wives of King Henry VIII of England probably had a similar amount of pressure put on them to produce a male heir.  However, her marriage to King Henry I was childless.  She was present on the day in January 1126 when King Henry I named his daughter Matilda as his heir and had his Anglo-Norman barons swear to recognize Matilda and any future legitimate heirs.  Matilda, whose first husband had died, married Geoffrey of Anjou.  Their son eventually became King Henry II of England after a long civil war called The Anarchy, precipitated by Matilda’s cousin Stephen taking the throne when King Henry I died.

In late 1135, King Henry I was in Normandy dealing with a rebellion by the barons in southern Normandy. Henry traveled to the castle at Saint-Denis-en-Lyons, Normandy (now called Lyons-la-Forêt) for some hunting.  According to the chronicler Henry of Huntingdon, Henry ate some lampreys, little eels, which disagreed with him.  Over the next week, his condition, possibly ptomaine poisoning, worsened.  On December 1, 1135, King Henry I of England died at the age of 67.  Henry’s body was brought back to England where he was buried at Reading Abbey.  Adeliza was present at the dedication of Henry’s tomb on the first anniversary of his death.  Reading Abbey, along with Henry’s tomb, was destroyed in 1538 during King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.

After King Henry I’s death, Adeliza went to live at Arundel Castle, part of her dower lands.  In 1138, Adeliza married William d’Aubigny, 1st Earl of Lincoln and 1st Earl of Arundel and the couple had seven children.   Among  Adeliza and William’s descendants are the well-known Howard family and the Dukes of Norfolk.  Arundel Castle remains the principal seat of the Duke of Norfolk.

• William d’Aubigny, 2nd Earl of Arundel (d. 24 December 1193)
• Reynor d’Aubigny
• Henry d’Aubigny
• Geoffrey d’Aubigny
• Alice d’Aubigny (d. 11 September 1188)
• Olivia d’Aubigny
• Agatha d’Aubigny

Arundel Castle; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In 1150, Adeliza left her family and retired to Affligem Abbey in Flemish Brabant ( now in Belgium) near where she grew up. She died at Affligem Abbey on April 23, 1151, at the age of 48, and was buried at the abbey.  Her second husband William d’Aubigny survived her by 25 years.

Tomb of Adeliza of Louvain; Credit – http://www.findagrave.com

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Normandy Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Normandy Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• History and Traditions: Norman and Plantagenet Weddings
• House of Normandy Burial Sites
• The Sinking of the White Ship and How It Affected the English Succession

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth; Credit – Wikipedia

Despite fathering many illegitimate children with his mistresses, King Charles II of England had no children with his wife Catherine of Braganza. King Charles II is an ancestor through his mistresses of many British aristocrats and of several women who married into the British Royal Family. Lucy Walter and King Charles II are ancestors of Sarah, Duchess of York and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland and King Charles II are ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York. Louise Renée de Penancoet de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth and King Charles II are ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales, Queen Camilla, and Sarah, Duchess of York.

In 1648, Charles, Prince of Wales (the future King Charles II of England), the eldest son of King Charles I of England, traveled to The Hague, The Netherlands where his sister Mary, Princess Royal and her husband Willem II, Prince of Orange lived.  Charles hoped to persuade them to contribute financially to the royalist cause in the Second English Civil War which ultimately ended with the beheading of King Charles I of England.  While in The Hague, the 18-year-old Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter.

Lucy Walter was born around 1630 at Roch Castle near Haverfordwest, Wales to William Walter and Elizabeth Prothero.  During the English Civil War, the Walter family supported the royalist forces and in 1644 Roch Castle was captured by the parliamentary forces and burned.   The Walter family fled and Lucy found herself in London and soon set sail for The Hague where she met Charles.  On April 9, 1649, Lucy gave birth in Rotterdam, then in the Principality of Orange, now in The Netherlands, to a son named James.  Charles did acknowledge the child, but some thought that Colonel Robert Sidney, a younger son of the 2nd Earl of Leicester, was the father.

A DNA test in 2012 concluded that James’ descendant Richard Montagu Douglas Scott, the 10th Duke of Buccleuch, shared patrilineal DNA with a descendant of the royal Stuarts, proving that James Scott, Duke of Monmouth was the son of King Charles II of England.  There was also a controversy over whether Charles had secretly married Lucy Walter. Their son claimed his parents had married, but King Charles II said the only woman he had ever married was his queen, Catherine of Braganza.  Charles and Catherine’s marriage was childless, but Charles had at least 15 illegitimate children with his mistresses, and James was the eldest of Charles’ children.

When James was about nine years old, he was brought to Paris and placed in the care of his paternal grandmother Henrietta Maria of France, who had returned to her home country during the English Civil War.   James lived in the household of William Crofts, 1st Baron Crofts who had followed Charles into exile after the execution of King Charles I of England.  At this time, James took the surname Crofts.  In 1662, two years after his father was restored to the English throne, James was brought to England.

On February 14, 1663, 14-year-old James was created Duke of Monmouth, Earl of Doncaster, and Baron Scott of Tinsdale.  The next month, he was created a Knight of the Garter.  On April 20, 1663, James married Anne Scott who was the 4th Countess of Buccleuch in her own right.  On their wedding day, the couple was created Duke and 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 and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester are among their descendants. For more details about the descendants of the Duke of Monmouth.

Children of James and Anne:

• Charles Scott, Earl of Doncaster (1672–1674), died in infancy
• James Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (1674–1705), married Lady Henrietta Hyde, daughter of Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester and had six children including Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch. Laurence Hyde was the brother of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, wife of James, Duke of York and Albany, later James VII of Scotland, II of England.
• Lady Anne Scott (1675–1685), died young
• Henry Scott, 1st Earl of Deloraine (1676–1730), married  (1) Anne Duncombe, had three children  (2) Mary Howard, had two children
• Lord Francis Scott (1678–1679), died in infancy
• Lady Charlotte Scott (born and died 1683), died in infancy

Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and her sons; Credit – Wikipedia

At the age of 16, James began to serve in various military and government roles.  He served in the Royal Navy under his uncle the Duke of York (the future King James II of England) and was captain of a horse troop of the 1st Life Guards.  In 1670, James became a Privy Councilor.  His father King Charles II sent James as an ambassador to Paris and Utrecht in 1672.  That same year, he commanded British troops sent to help King Louis XIV of France (his father’s first cousin) in a campaign against the Dutch.  Other roles included Lord High Chamberlain of Scotland, Master of the Horse, Chancellor of Cambridge University and Captain-General of all the land forces of England, Scotland, and Wales.

James, Duke of Monmouth commanding the British against the Dutch in 1672; Credit – Wikipedia

Because King Charles II had no legitimate children, his Catholic brother James, Duke of York was heir to the throne.  In 1678, there was a popular outcry for a Protestant heir, and James, Duke of Monmouth was touted as that heir. King Charles II issued a proclamation that he had married only Catherine of Braganza to squelch the possibility that his son James was a legitimate heir.  James was then sent out of England to Scotland to suppress an uprising.  His success in Scotland only made James more popular, and he was sent to the Netherlands into temporary exile.  When James returned to England, his popularity had not decreased and he was met with bonfires and bells ringing.  King Charles II refused to see his son and deprived him of most of his positions.  Charles ordered his son into exile, but James defied his father and went on a tour of the West Country to determine his support there.  Over the next several years, there were several failed attempts at reconciliation between father and son.  In 1683, James was used as a tool in the unsuccessful Rye House Plot to assassinate King Charles II and James, Duke of York.  James was obliged to go into exile in the Netherlands and he was there when his father, King Charles II, died on February 6, 1685, and his uncle became King James II.

Upon his father’s death, James, Duke of Monmouth asserted his claim to the throne and planned an invasion of England and Scotland.  He landed at Lyme Regis, Dorset, England on June 11, 1685, and proclaimed himself king on June 20, 1685.  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 had left the battlefield disguised as a peasant and was discovered hiding in a ditch three days later.

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 groveled at the feet of his uncle King James II, begging for his life.  James was sent to the Tower of London and beheaded on Tower Hill on July 15, 1685. It took several blows of the ax to behead him.  36-year-old James, Duke of Monmouth was buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London.

The Act of Attainder forfeited his English peerages, but his Scottish peerages were not affected and continued to be held by his widow and their descendants.  The subsidiary titles of the Duke of Monmouth peerage were restored to Monmouth’s grandson, Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch.  Ironically, King James II’s reign lasted only until 1688, when he was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution by his Protestant daughter Queen Mary II and his nephew and Mary’s husband King William III.

Execution of James, Duke of Monmouth; 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.

photo: Zimbio

Lord Frederick Michael George David Louis Windsor was born April 6, 1979 at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London. He is the son of Prince Michael of Kent (a grandson of King George V and cousin of Queen Elizabeth II) and the former Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz.

He was raised at Kensington Palace in London, and Nether Lypiatt Manor, his parents’ former country house in Gloucestershire. He attended school at Wetherby School, Sunningdale School, Eton College, and Magdalen College, Oxford.

photo: Zimbio

On September 12, 2009 Lord Frederick married Sophie Winkleman in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. The couple have two daughters:

• Maud Elizabeth Daphne Marina Windsor, born August 15, 2013 in Los Angeles
• Isabella Alexandra May Windsor, born January 16, 2016 in London

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