I’m a big fan of the British royal family. I know, I know. They’re problematic and monarchy as a concept is outdated. I’m with you. I agree.
However.
I’m a hopeless romantic that loves a good fairytale. And the best fairytales are all about the prince marrying the princess and living happily ever after. They’re about escapist fantasy. Here in the real world, there’s no real happily ever after and sometimes the prince is a jerk. But the British royal family still has that magic quality that elevates them above mere celebrity. Despite the sordid, bloody history and scandalous headlines splashed across every tabloid at the check out counter, there are definitely some good things that the royal family does. They promote British trade, bring in tourism money, and bring awareness and resources to literally thousands of charities. Not to mention, they are an incredibly effective soft power tool in the arsenal of the British government.
I’ve been a “royal watcher” since Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s engagement announcement in 2010. Their story was (and still is!) the ultimate real-life fairytale of the prince falling in love with a commoner and having a beautiful white wedding. I was in high school and woke up super early to watch the pre-wedding commentary and all the guests arriving. I made my dad race to school so I could sit outside my homeroom and watch the coverage on my laptop. That wedding was magical and I was hooked! When Prince George was born, I was glued to my phone waiting for pictures from the Lindo Wing. I started researching the rest of the family and watching documentaries. Eventually, my interest expanded to the other royal families of Europe and how they are all interrelated. More on that in the future, I think.
A weekly series on this blog will be “This Week in British Royal Family History” where I will cover major event anniversaries in the lives of the British royal family. Any events happening in the future will probably receive their own blog post. Also, I’m going to switch between formal titles and informal references when talking about different royals. I’ll try to make it as clear as I can, but I love the technicalities and intricacies of titles and the line of succession, so I might get kind of confusing. Also, when I give a little info about the people mentioned each week, I’m mainly going to focus on family and lineage because that’s the most interesting to me.
So this week:
May 6- Archie Mountbatten-Windsor’s birthday, anniversary of HM Edward VII’s death, anniversary of HM George V’s ascension, and HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and The Rt. Hon. Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon’s wedding anniversary
Archie Mountbatten-Windsor is the son of HRH Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and HRH Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. He is a great-grandson of the current queen. At his birth, his parents turned down the use of a courtesy title. He would otherwise be known as Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Dumbarton (his father’s highest ranking subsidiary title). When his grandfather, HRH The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, ascends the throne, Archie will automatically be granted the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince. Currently, the only grandchildren of the monarch are entitled to these privileges. The only reason the Cambridge children (Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s children) are Royal Highnesses and princes and a princess is because HM The Queen issued letters patent granting them these privileges as the children of a future king. All of that title business cleared up, let me just say that Archie is a freakin’ cutie pie! He looks just like his dad did when he was a baby and every time we get new pictures or video of him, he gets cuter and cuter. Say what you will about his parents, but they make some damn cute babies. I’m sure his sister will be just as adorable.
HM Edward VII was the eldest son, but second child, of HM Queen Victoria and HRH Prince Albert, Prince Consort. He is the current queen’s great-grandfather. He served as the Prince of Wales for just over 59 years, from his birth until the death of his mother. He reigned from January 22, 1901 until his death on May 6, 1910. He was married to a Danish and German princess, Alexandra, whose father later became HM Christian IX of Denmark, also called the “father-in-law of Europe”. HM Queen Alexandra outlived her husband by 15 and a half years. They had six children together, the last of whom, HRH Prince Alexander John of Wales, was born prematurely and died the day after his birth. Their eldest son was HRH Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale. He died at the age of 28 after an illness. Edward was succeeded by his second son, HM George V, who had been titled the Duke of York prior Edward’s ascension, when he became Duke of Cornwall and later Prince of Wales. Edward and Alexandra’s oldest daughter, Louise, married HG Alexander Duff, Duke of Fife, a Scottish duke. Their middle daughter, Victoria, never married and lived with her mother as her companion. Their youngest daughter, Maud, married HRH Prince Carl of Denmark who later was asked to be the king of Norway, making her queen of Norway.
George V is the current queen’s grandfather. He reigned for almost 26 years, from May 6, 1910 to January 20, 1936. He married HSH Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, his German cousin. They had six children together, five boys and one girl. Their youngest son, John, was epileptic and had a developmental disorder, now thought to have been autism. He died at the age of 13 after a severe seizure. Their eldest son, Edward, succeeded George as king. Edward VIII never had a formal coronation ceremony before abdicating after just 326 days in order to marry his long-term love interest, Mrs. Wallis Simpson, an American two-time divorcĂ©e. George and Mary’s second son, Albert, followed his brother on the throne as HM George VI. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, a Scottish aristocrat. Their third child was their daughter Mary, who married The Rt. Hon. Henry Lascelles, Earl of Harewood. She was granted the title Princess Royal by her father. This is a lifetime title granted to the eldest daughter of the sovereign, but only as long as the previous title holder is no longer living. Their next child was their third son Henry. He was created Duke of Gloucester and served as Governor-General of Australia for two years. He married Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott. The second youngest child was George, who was created Duke of Kent and married his Danish, German, and Russian cousin, HRH Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. After HM George V’s death, his widow, HM Queen Mary, lived through the reigns of her sons and lived to see the beginning of her granddaughter’s reign, passing away not long after her son HM George VI.
Princess Margaret was the current queen’s only sister. She married Antony Armstrong-Jones, a photographer, on May 6, 1960 at Westminster Abbey. After their marriage, HM The Queen granted Antony the titles Earl of Snowdon and Viscount Linley. These two had a tumultuous marriage filled with scandals and affairs. They had two children, David and Sarah. David married Irish aristocrat The Hon. Serena Stanhope and later succeeded his father as the Earl of Snowdon after his death. Lady Sarah married an actor, Daniel Chatto. HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon continued to be styled as Countess of Snowdon after their divorce in 1978 as a courtesy title as the unmarried former wife of a peer. Had she remarried, she would have taken her new husband’s title or simply dropped her courtesy title if her new husband didn’t hold a title. Antony remarried Lucy Lindsay-Hogg in 1978 and had a daughter, Lady Frances. He later fathered a son, Jasper, with Melanie Cable-Alexander. He also fathered a daughter, Polly Fry, before his marriage to Princess Margaret but he didn’t acknowledge her until around 2008, after she had long thought to have been fathered by her mother’s husband.
That’s all for this week! Kind of confusing titles and lineages, I know. I’ll make a chart or something to go with a post explaining titles sometime soon to help break it all down. Anyway, I hope this is at least interesting to someone besides me. If it’s not, too bad, because I love this stuff.
Love,
Flora Peach
Flora Stewart 