History in the Making

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Britain, Commonwealth, Monarchy, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, Royal

Just like her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria before her, Elizabeth II was never expected to be crowned.  As the eldest daughter of the king’s second son, Prince Albert (later King George VI), hers was a life destined to be lived in relative privacy, but the 1936 abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, after a reign of only 325 days, changed the course of history.  Already the country’s longest-lived monarch and the world’s oldest-serving sovereign, at approximately 5.30pm this Wednesday September 9th Elizabeth will reach yet another milestone when she becomes Britain’s longest reigning monarch, breaking Victoria’s record of sixty-three years seven months and two days…

(Please click the link below to read the article in full on CNN.com)

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/europe/arbiter-queen-elizabeth-longest-reign/index.html

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All in the Family

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Buckingham Palace, Cambridge, Kate, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, Queen Elizabeth, Royal Baby, William

In announcing the name of their newborn daughter, HRH Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge, William and Kate achieved the near impossible. By paying tribute to both sides of the family and promoting the continuity for which the monarchy is so famed, the couple received worldwide praise and resounding public approval. Their choice also ensured a scandal free beginning for their newborn tot.

By nature William and Kate are a very traditional couple, so their decision was always going to be a conservative one, but it is one steeped in royal history and family tributes galore.

Charlotte, the feminine form of Charles, William’s father’s name, also happens to be Pippa Middleton’s middle name. Charlotte has not been used by a member of the royal family in over two hundred years, and so chances are the couple chose it more for its familial significance than the history it evokes, but its history is an interesting one.

George III married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (the nation’s longest-serving consort after Prince Philip) on September 8^th, 1761 in the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace. Kate’s second pregnancy was announced on September 8^th, 2014, and the Chapel Royal is the likely venue for Princess Charlotte’s upcoming Christening. Coincidence? Yes, but isn’t that the beauty of royal history?

George and Charlotte first met on their wedding day, but regardless theirs was a happy union complete with fifteen children. Their eldest daughter, Princess Charlotte, was designated Princess Royal in 1789, a title newborn Charlotte is expected to one day assume as the eldest daughter of the reigning monarch. In 1762 George purchased Buckingham House – the site where Buckingham Palace sits today – as a family retreat for his Queen.

George IV’s only child, a daughter named Charlotte Augusta, married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg on May 2^nd, 1816. A hundred and ninety-nine years later May 2^nd now marks the date of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge’s birth. As Princess of Wales Charlotte was an immensely popular royal figure, and her tragic death at the age of twenty-one, mere hours after delivering a stillborn son, was widely mourned.

The youngest daughter of Earl Spencer, Diana’s brother, is named Charlotte. Among William’s other cousins are boys named George, Alexander and Louis, all names William chose when naming his own son in 2013.

Elizabeth was the only certainty in predicting a royal baby name. As the name of both William’s grandmother and great-grandmother it seems an especially fitting choice given the Queen will become Britain’s longest reigning monarch on September 9^th of this year. Elizabeth also carries personal significance for the Middleton family. It is the middle name shared by both Kate and her mother Carole, as well as being the first given name of Kate’s maternal great-grandmother and her great-great-grandmother.

William has always strived to include his mother in the key moments of his life, and as such the most poignant and personal of Charlotte’s three names is that of her late grandmother, Diana. Perfectly placed so as not to be a burden, it ensures Diana’s memory is kept alive for the next generation of young royals. Charlotte’s name honours the women most cherished in both William and Kate’s lives as well as paying homage to William’s father, but perhaps more importantly it also allows for her to have her own identity within the royal family.

In the unlikely event she were ever to assume the throne and chose to keep her first given name, she would become Her Majesty Charlotte, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, but for now HRH Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge will do very nicely indeed.

 

Girl Power

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Great Kate Wait, Kate, Prince William, Princess, Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth, Royal Baby

As the Great Kate Wait of 2015 drags on, giving a whole new meaning to Kate’s somewhat unfair nickname of the noughties, “Waity Katie,” bets on the arrival of a new baby a girl continue to be placed at a feverish rate. As of today, 70% of those laying down their hard earned cash are convinced the world is on the verge of welcoming a new princess.

I suspect different parties are hoping for a girl for different reasons. Based on the so called “Kate Effect” and subsequent “George Effect” the great British High Street is no doubt salivating at the prospect of record sales should HRH Princess (fill in the blank) of Cambridge be spotted in one of their outfits. As one headline blared this week, “Baby Girl Could be Worth $1.5 Billion to the Country.” Magazine and newspaper editors are well aware of the dramatic rise in sales when a royal baby hits the cover, especially a little girl. And then there’s Disney, which will always appreciate princesses in the zeitgeist, but as with all things relating to the monarchy, there is also a far greater historical significance should a baby girl arrive.

There have been thirty-four kings and only six queens over the course of the British Monarchy’s thousand-year history, and yet some of the nation’s most enlightened times have occurred during periods of queenship. Elizabeth I led the country through the Golden Age, and Victoria and Elizabeth II – the two longest reigning monarchs – both made their mark with perhaps the most illustrious and progressive legacies of all. While it is unlikely this child will ever be crowned, as the daughter of the second-in-line to the throne, her role will be significant. Prince Charles has made no secret of his desire to slim down the monarchy, but in looking at his family’s immediate bloodline – William, Harry and George – it stands to be a heavily male dominated one. In an institution viewed by some as archaic and out of touch, it is imperative to have a strong female presence.

Princess Anne – Baby Cambridge’s great-aunt – grew up with three brothers, and was once described as, “The greatest king the country never had.” She is patron of more than two hundred charitable organizations and carries out approximately five hundred public engagements per year. A notable equestrian, she won two silver medals and a gold at the European Eventing Championships, and she was the first member of the Royal Family to compete in the Olympic Games. More importantly she has supported her mother throughout her reign, flown the flag for Britain and promoted brand Windsor around the world. As the only girl born to Elizabeth and Philip, she has matched and often surpassed the accomplishments of her brothers.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, also true blood princesses, are not “working members” of the royal family and generally only roll out for State and Ceremonial occasions. So, yes, it would be nice for the baby to be a girl so that we can all ooh and ah over poufy dresses, fairy wings and ballet shoes (although as a Windsor she’s more likely to be mucking out stables and shooting pheasant), but in truth the birth of a girl matters on a far deeper level. The monarchy needs a baby girl to fill the female void of future generations.

The twentieth century was ushered in by Queen Victoria and the twenty-first by Queen Elizabeth II. Should George live to eighty-seven he will be the first monarch of the twenty-second century, but as I have said before the British monarchy is anything but predictable. If punters are right and William and Kate do announce the birth of a baby girl the true and rightful “spare,” it’s certainly possible that a seventh Queen may ring in the year 2100.

In the event the couple welcomes a boy, however, I sincerely hope there won’t be a collective groan of disappointment heard around the world, after all on the few occasions we have seen Prince George he has been a veritable treat.  The birth of any baby is cause for celebration regardless of gender, race, religion or indeed status, and as Prince Harry, the world’s most eligible bachelor has shown, naked billiards sells magazines too!

Heirs and Spares

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Abdication, Baby, Britain, Buckingham Palace, England, George V, Henry VIII, Prince William, Queen Elizabeth, Royal, Royal Baby

It’s been a while since I have blogged as I have been hard at work writing a book on the Queen for the Pocket Giants Series soon to be published by The History Press.  But now, on the eve of the Queen’s eighty-ninth birthday, as my focus shifts and the world awaits the impending arrival of her fifth great-grandchild, the spare to William’s heir, we are reminded once again that we are all a witness to living history.

Throughout the British monarchy’s thousand-year history, the role of the “spare” in relation to the heir has been a tricky one. Some spares have revolutionized entire eras, while others have irrevocably tarnished the family name. Free of the burdens of impending sovereignty, spares have long been able to benefit from the trappings of royal life, but without a definitive constitutional role, it has been hard for many to carve out a worthwhile existence in which their own achievements could be recognized.

Henry VIII was perhaps the most notorious of all royal spares. He assumed his place as heir apparent in 1502 upon the death of his elder brother Arthur, Prince of Wales, who passed away from an unknown illness five months shy of his sixteenth birthday. Although famed for having six wives, two of whom he had executed, Henry’s kingship continues to have a lasting impact on modern British life. His squabbles with the papal authority led to the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church, whereupon Henry installed himself as Supreme Head of the Church of England – a position the reigning monarch continues to hold today. Recent amendments made to the Laws to Succession – brought before Parliament in 2013 – now allow members of the royal family to marry a Catholic without sacrificing their place in line, but a Roman Catholic monarch remains forbidden.

King George V, the current Queen’s grandfather, was the second-born son of King Edward VII, and was also a royal spare. His elder brother Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, died suddenly in 1892 after contracting influenza at the age of twenty-eight. His death placed George in direct line to the throne and paved the way for the first Windsor monarch. The early years of George’s reign were blighted by the First World War. In response to the British public’s escalating anti-German sentiment, George changed the house and family name by Royal Proclamation in July 1917 from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the more Anglican-sounding House of Windsor. Almost a hundred years later the House of Windsor continues to reign. It was also George who delivered the first Christmas Message to the “British Empire” in a radio broadcast made from a temporary studio set-up at Sandringham in 1932.

The Queen’s father, King George VI, was yet another spare thrust into fulfilling a destiny not his by birth. Following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, who had reigned a mere three hundred and twenty-five days before stepping aside in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, George reluctantly took on the role of King. Leading his country through the war years, he restored a sense of continuity, boosting public morale, and as such was a popular ruler. In 1926 his first daughter, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born. At the time of her birth she was never expected to be crowned Queen, but later this year, on September 9^th, 2015, she will surpass Queen Victoria’s record to become the longest reigning monarch in British history.

Raising Princes William and Harry, Diana was conscious that William, as heir, would be well taken care of by the establishment. She made a concerted effort to ensure Harry was treated equally and never felt left out. Though Harry remains one of the most popular members of the royal family, he, along with fellow spares Princess Margaret and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, has been at the mercy of incessant public scrutiny and has faced harsh criticism over a slew of ill-advised choices.  In recent years however, Harry has risen above the naysayers to champion the needs of wounded veterans as well as overseeing the work of his charity Sentebale.

With the birth of the new baby Cambridge, William and Kate are now charged with raising their own heir and spare, but as history has shown, the British monarchy is anything but predictable. In two of the last three generations of monarchs the second-born son has stepped into the top job and reigned successfully.

It will be many years from now before these children are expected to embark on official royal duties and make their own mark on the international stage, but one thing is certain: one should never underestimate the potential of a royal spare.

Another One Bites the Dust

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Abdication, Britain, King Juan Carlos, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth, Royal, Spain

European monarchs appear to be falling like dominoes.  Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands set the ball rolling in April 2013 when she stepped down in favour of her son and heir Prince Willem-Alexander following a thirty-three year reign.  In July 2013, seventy-nine year old Albert II of Belgium gave up his throne citing advancing age and health issues, and today comes word that King Juan Carlos of Spain, 76, has decided to abdicate after a reign that has spanned almost four decades.

 
The popularity of the Spanish monarchy has nose-dived in recent years.  Juan Carlos’s secret luxury trip to Botswana to hunt elephant at the height of his country’s financial crisis in 2012 didn’t help…especially given his role as honorary President of the World Wildlife Fund.  Then there’s the on-going investigation of his son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, who stands accused of alledgedly embezzling six million Euros in public funds through his charity.  Add to that the king’s slew of health issues – five operations over the course of two years – and it seems rather a sensible decision to hand over to his son, Prince Felipe, 46, who has seen his own popularity steadily increase.

 
While Juan Carlos’s abdication comes as no surprise, it does beg the question:  Will Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II follow suit?  She has after all put in an impressive tenure, sixty-two years to be precise (today marks the sixty-first anniversary of her coronation).  She’s currently enjoying a surge in popularity – always better to go out on top – and at eighty-eight she has surely earned the right to put her feet up and bask in her twilight years. So will she be next to throw in the towel?  In a word, no!

 
In 1947, on the occasion of her twenty-first birthday, during a tour with her parents to Southern Africa, a then Princess Elizabeth made a pledge in a broadcast to the Commonwealth in which she said, “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”  Sixty-five years later, in a speech to both houses of Parliament commemorating her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the Queen rededicated herself to her country and its people, vowing to serve, “…now and in the years to come.”  The Queen is a deeply religious woman, and in 1953 she took her oath before God. For her that means a lifetime of commitment.

 
Due to her own advancing age, Prince Charles has stepped in to represent his mother at several high profile engagements over the last year, most notably at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka last November, but this by no means indicates that he’s planning a coup.  She continues to carry out a jam-packed royal schedule and will travel to France later this week to mark the D-Day commemorations alongside her “strength and stay” Prince Philip who will celebrate his ninety-third birthday next week.  The Queen is for all intents a purposes the royal equivalent of the Energizer Bunny and the only way she will ever step aside is if she becomes mentally or physically incapacitated.

 
Come September 2015, Queen Elizabeth II will surpass Queen Victoria’s record as Britain’s longest reigning monarch, and if one was to think optimistically, should she live to the ripe old age of one hundred and eight, she would break former King Sobhuza II of Swaziland’s reign as the world’s longest serving monarch.  While that is a record that stands to remain unbroken, you can rest assured that as long as she remains healthy, the Queen’s not going anywhere, and for that we should be immensely proud and grateful.