1.
Trooping the Colour
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Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, on battlefields, a regiments colours, or flags, were used as rallying points. Consequently, regiments would have their ensigns slowly march with their colours between the ranks to enable soldiers to recognise their regiments colours. Since 1748, Trooping the Colour has also marked the birthday of the British sovereign. It is held in London annually on a Saturday in June on Horse Guards Parade by St. Jamess Park, among the audience are the Royal Family, invited guests, ticket holders and the general public. The ceremony is broadcast live by the BBC within the UK and is shown in Germany. The Queen travels down The Mall from Buckingham Palace in a procession with a sovereigns escort of Household Cavalry. After receiving a royal salute, she inspects her troops of the Household Division, each year, one of the foot-guards regiments is selected to troop its colour through the ranks of guards. Then the entire Household Division assembly conducts a march past the Queen, parading with its guns, the Kings Troop takes precedence as the mounted troops perform a walk-march and trot-past. Returning to Buckingham Palace, the Queen watches a further march-past from outside the gates, following a 41-gun salute by the Kings Troop in Green Park, she leads the Royal Family on to the palace balcony for a Royal Air Force flypast. A regiments colours embody its spirit and service, as well as its fallen soldiers, the loss of a colour, or the capture of an enemy colour, were respectively considered the greatest shame, or the greatest glory on a battlefield. Consequently, regimental colours are venerated by officers and soldiers of all ranks, only battalions of infantry regiments of the line carry colours, the Royal Artillerys colours, for example, are its guns. Rifle regiments did not form a line and thus never carried colours and their battle honours are carried on their drums. The exception to this is the Honourable Artillery Company, which has both a stand of colours and guns and this was done before and after every battle. This ceremony has been retained through time and is largely ceremonial. In the United Kingdom, Trooping the Colour is also known as the Queens Birthday Parade and it has marked the official birthday of the sovereign since 1748, and has occurred annually since 1820. From the reign of King Edward VII, the sovereign has taken the salute in person and it was Edward VII who moved Trooping the Colour to its June date, because of the vagaries of British weather. Trooping the Colour allows the troops of the Household Division to pay a tribute to the sovereign with great pomp
Trooping the Colour
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Trooping the Colour in 2013
Trooping the Colour
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Mounted bands of the
Household Cavalry at Trooping the Colour 2007. The rider of the
piebald (black-and-white) drum horse, working the reins with his feet, crosses drumsticks above his head in salute.
Trooping the Colour
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The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at Trooping the Colour, June 2012.
Trooping the Colour
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Trooping the Colour in 1956
2.
Frimley
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Frimley is a small English town situated 2 miles south of Camberley, in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire in the Borough of Surrey Heath. It is about 30 miles south-west of Central London, the town is connected to the M3 motorway by the A331 Blackwater Valley Road. The village can be considered a more developed twin of Frimley Green. Frimley became an district in 1894, and was renamed Frimley and Camberley in 1929. The name Frimley is derived from the Saxon name Fremmas Lea, the land was owned by Chertsey Abbey from 673 to 1537 and was a farming village. More recently it was a stop on a Portsmouth and popular Southampton road for about four hundred years. Frimley was not listed in Domesday Book of 1086, but is shown on the map as Fremely, Frimley Lunatic Asylum was opened in 1799, it catered for both male and female patients, and received four patients from Great Fosters, Egham. Magistrates visited in 1807 and ordered the proprietors to stop chaining the patients, an 1811 inventory from Frimley, a Workhouse, can be seen on the Surrey County Council website. The present St. Peters Church was built in 1826 replacing earlier buildings, the building has a balcony running around three sides of the interior. Dame Ethel Smyth once preached from the pulpit, in 1904, the Brompton Hospital Sanatorium was established in Frimley to treat tuberculosis patients, it closed in 1985. Dr Marcus Sinclair Paterson was the first medical superintendent, and he developed a system of treatment called graduated labour which generated a lot of interest from other health professionals, the treatment used controlled levels of physical activity. In 1931 the staff at Frimley Cottage Hospital were unable to save the life of Lieutenant Hubert Chevis, the case remains an unsolved murder mystery. In 1959 the Cadet Training Centre at Frimley Park was formed following the 1957 publication of the Amery Report, Frimley Park Hospital is situated in the town. One of the employers in the town is BAE Systems. Siemens opened its main UK headquarters in Frimley in 2007, Frimley Business Park is situated just to the west of the town on the A331 Blackwater Valley Relief Road. Frimley Business Park houses offices of the Environment Agency, Genesys Telecommunications, AMD, Frimley railway station provides access to Guildford, Ascot and London Waterloo. Frimley Lodge Park Railway is also nearby, the town is situated close to the junction of the A325 Farnborough Road and A331 Blackwater Valley Relief Road, which provides a link to the M3 Motorway junction 4. There are a number of schools in Frimley including, The Grove Primary School, Lakeside Primary School, Ravenscote Junior School, Tomlinscote School, Frimley Town Football Club was formed over 100 years ago
Frimley
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High Street looking east
Frimley
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Frimley shown on the map The Road from London to Southampton by
John Ogilby dated 1675
Frimley
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The White Hart now refurbished
Frimley
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Frimley Park Hospital main entrance
3.
Surrey
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Surrey is a county in the south east of England. It shares borders with Kent to the east, East Sussex to the south-east, West Sussex to the south, Hampshire to the west and south-west, Surrey County Council sits extraterritorially at Kingston upon Thames, administered as part of Greater London since 1965. With a resident population of 1.1 million, Surrey is the most densely populated and third most populated county in the South East region, after Kent, the London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth, and parts of Lewisham and Bromley were in Surrey until 1889. The boroughs of Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Sutton and Richmond upon Thames south of the River Thames were part of Surrey until 1965, when they too were absorbed into Greater London. In the same year, the county was extended north of the Thames by the addition of Spelthorne, due to this expansion, modern Surrey also borders on the London boroughs of Hounslow and Hillingdon. It has the highest GDP per capita of any English county, Surrey is divided in two by the chalk ridge of the North Downs, running east-west. To the north of the Downs the land is mostly flat, the geology of this area is dominated by London Clay in the east, Bagshot Sands in the west and alluvial deposits along the rivers. Much of Surrey is in the Metropolitan Green Belt and it contains a good deal of mature woodland. Among its many notable beauty spots are Box Hill, Leith Hill, Frensham Ponds, Newlands Corner and Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons. Surrey is the most wooded county in England, with 22. 4% coverage compared to an average of 11. 8%. Box Hill has the oldest untouched area of woodland in the UK. Surrey also contains Englands principal concentration of lowland heath, on soils in the west of the county. Agriculture not being intensive, there are many commons and access lands, together with a network of footpaths and bridleways including the North Downs Way. Accordingly, Surrey provides much in the way of leisure activities. The highest elevation in Surrey is Leith Hill near Dorking and it is either 293,294 or 295 metres above sea level and is the second highest point in southeastern England after Walbury Hill 297 metres in West Berkshire. Surrey has a population of approximately 1.1 million people and its largest town is Guildford, with a population of 66,773, Woking comes a close second with 62,796. They are followed by Ewell with 39,994 people and Camberley with 30,155, towns of between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants are Ashford, Epsom, Farnham, Staines and Redhill. Guildford is the county town, although the county administration was moved to Newington in 1791
Surrey
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Box Hill
Surrey
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Flag
Surrey
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Leith Hill Tower
Surrey
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The Roman
Stane or Stone Street runs through Surrey
4.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
Dynasty
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Charles I of England and his son, the future
James II
5.
House of Windsor
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The House of Windsor is the royal house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. The houses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Windsor have provided five British monarchs to date, including four kings, the name was changed from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor in 1917 because of anti-German sentiment in the British Empire during World War I. During the reign of the Windsors, major changes took place in British society, the British Empire participated in the First and Second World Wars, ending up on the winning side both times, but subsequently lost its status as a superpower during decolonisation. Much of Ireland broke with the United Kingdom and the remnants of the Empire became the Commonwealth of Nations, the current head of the house is monarch of sixteen sovereign states. As well as these separate monarchies, there are also three Crown dependencies, fourteen British Overseas Territories and two associated states of New Zealand. Edward VII and, in turn, his son, George V, were members of the German ducal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha by virtue of their descent from Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria. The King and his family were convinced to abandon all titles held under the German Crown and to change German titles. From 1917 to 1919, George V also stripped 15 of his German relations—most of whom belonged to the House of Hanover—of their British titles and styles of prince, Prince Alastair and Princess Victoria died unmarried and childless. Princess Mary married into the Lascelles family, and Princess Patricia married Alexander Ramsay, neither of the Prince Arthurs had any further children, meaning all subsequent members of the House of Windsor descend from the sons of George V. In 1947, Princess Elizabeth, heir presumptive to King George VI and he was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a branch of the House of Oldenburg, and had been a prince of Greece and Denmark. It is the translation of the German battenberg, which refers to Battenberg. Philip privately complained, I am nothing but a bloody amoeba, I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children. Still, Elizabeth also decreed that her descendants who do not have that style and title would bear the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. This came after months of correspondence between the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and the constitutional expert Edward Iwi. Iwi had raised the prospect that the Royal child due to be born in February 1960 would bear the Badge of Bastardy if it were given its mothers maiden name rather than its fathers name and she clearly wished to make this change before the birth of her child. The issue did not affect Prince Charles or Princess Anne, as they had been born with the name Mountbatten, Prince Andrew was born 11 days later, on 19 February 1960. Any future monarch can change the name through a similar royal proclamation. At the creation of the House of Windsor, its head reigned over a unitary British Empire, in the chart below, the countries are differentiated between light green, medium green, and dark green
House of Windsor
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Succession to the British throne - family tree (2015)
House of Windsor
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House of Windsor
House of Windsor
House of Windsor
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King
George V
6.
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
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Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, KG, GCVO, CD, ADC is the youngest of four children and the third son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of his birth, he was third in line to succeed his mother, as of 2017, he is ninth in line. Prince Edward was born on 10 March 1964, at Buckingham Palace, as the son and fourth and youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. He was baptised on 2 May 1964 in the chapel at Windsor Castle by the then-Dean of Windsor. As with his siblings, a governess was appointed to look after Edward and was responsible for his early education at Buckingham Palace. At the age of seven, Edward was then sent to Gibbs School before attending, in September 1972, Heatherdown School, near Ascot in Berkshire. He then, as his father and elder brothers had done him, moved to Gordonstoun, in northern Scotland. Upon his return to Britain, Edward matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge and his admission to Cambridge caused some controversy at the time, since his A-level grades were far below the standard normally required, straight As, for Oxbridge entrance. Edward graduated in 1986 as BA and proceeded Master of Arts in 1991, Prince Edward made two very public attempts to pursue a career. However, in January 1987 he dropped out of the commando course after completing just one third of the 12-month training. Media reported, at the time, that the move prompted a berating from Prince Philip who reduced his son to prolonged tears, after leaving the Marines, Edward opted for a career in entertainment. His duties reportedly involved making tea for the artistic staff, while there he met actress Ruthie Henshall, whom he dated for three years. The media attacked the programme, it was reported that the Queen was not in favour of the event. In 1993, Edward formed the production company Ardent Productions. Commercial breaks are filled with army recruiting advertisements, ardents productions were somewhat better received in the United States and a documentary Edward made about his great-uncle, Edward VIII in 1996, sold well worldwide. Nonetheless, the reported losses every year it operated save one when Edward did not draw a salary. The Prince of Wales was reportedly angered by the incident, Ardent Productions was voluntarily dissolved in June 2009, with assets reduced to just £40. Edwards original backers in the venture are said to have lost every penny, Edward met Sophie Rhys-Jones, then a public relations executive with her own firm, in 1994
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
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The Earl in
Belfast, February 2015
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
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The Earl and
Countess of Wessex at the
wedding of the Crown Princess of Sweden in June 2010
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
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The Earl and Countess of Wessex at
Trooping the Colour in June 2013
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
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The Earl of Wessex at
Yate, Gloucestershire, December 2011
7.
Sophie, Countess of Wessex
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Sophie, Countess of Wessex, GCVO, is the wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Married in 1999, she worked in public relations until 2002, the Earl and Countess have two children, James, Viscount Severn, and Lady Louise Windsor, who are respectively tenth and eleventh in line to the British throne. She has a brother, David, and was named after her fathers sister, Helen. Her godfather, actor Thane Bettany, is her fathers stepbrother, Sophie was raised in a four-bedroom 17th-century farmhouse in Brenchley, Kent. She then trained as a secretary at West Kent College, Tonbridge and she also worked as a ski representative in Switzerland and spent a year travelling and working in Australia. In 1996, Rhys-Jones launched her public relations agency, RJH Public Relations, while working at Capital Radio, Sophie met Prince Edward, the youngest son of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, for the first time in 1987 when he was dating her friend. She met Prince Edward again at a charity event in 1993, and their engagement was announced on 6 January 1999. Edward proposed to Sophie with an engagement ring featuring a two-carat oval diamond flanked by two heart-shaped gemstones set in 18-carat white gold and this engagement ring was made by Asprey and Garrard and is worth an estimated £105,000. Following their union, the moved to Bagshot Park, their home in Surrey. The Earl and Countess have two children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, in December 2001, the Countess was taken to the King Edward VII Hospital after feeling unwell. It was discovered that she was suffering from an ectopic pregnancy, the Countess returned to Frimley Park Hospital on 17 December 2007, to give birth, again by caesarean section, to her son, James, Viscount Severn. The Countess of Wessexs first overseas tour after her marriage was to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island in 2000 and she also became patron of a number of organisations, including the SAFC Foundation and Girlguiding UK. In 2003, she became Patron of Tomorrows People Trust, in 2006, she also lent her support to the Born in Bradford research project, which is investigating causes of low birth weight and infant mortality. In December 2011, the Countess of Wessex joined her husband visiting troops in Afghanistan, on the same trip, the royal couple visited Bahrain, and received two gifts of jewels from the Bahraini royal family and Prime Minister. Given concern about human rights abuses in Bahrain, this gift attracted controversy, with calls for the jewels to be sold, on 26 March 2015, she attended the reburial of Richard III of England in Leicester Cathedral. Buckingham Palace immediately issued a statement saying, This mornings story in The Sun is an invasion of privacy. Prime Minister Tony Blair also condemned the publication of the photograph, the Palace made an official complaint to the Press Complaints Commission. According to Sophies business partner the incident had left her distressed, tarrant later said, There was never, ever the slightest hint of romance between Sophie and myself, let alone these snidey insinuations
Sophie, Countess of Wessex
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The Countess at the
wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Christopher O'Neill in Stockholm, June 2013
Sophie, Countess of Wessex
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The Countess at the England vs Germany
2010 Women's Hockey Champions Trophy Bronze Medal Match
Sophie, Countess of Wessex
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The Earl and Countess of Wessex at
Trooping the Colour in June 2013
Sophie, Countess of Wessex
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Sophie
dressed as
Honorary Air Commodore on a visit to
Kandahar
8.
Queen Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
Queen Elizabeth II
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The Queen in March 2015
Queen Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 3, April 1929
Queen Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 7, painted by
Philip de László, 1933
Queen Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth in
Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, April 1945
9.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
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Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. A member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Philip was born into the Greek and he was born in Greece, but his family was exiled from the country when he was an infant. After being educated in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, he joined the Royal Navy in 1939, from July 1939, he began corresponding with the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth, whom he had first met in 1934. During the Second World War he served with the Mediterranean and Pacific fleets, after the war, Philip was granted permission by King George VI to marry Elizabeth. After an engagement of five months, he married Elizabeth on 20 November 1947, just before the wedding, he was created Duke of Edinburgh. Philip left active service when Elizabeth became Queen in 1952. He was formally made a Prince of the United Kingdom in 1957, Philip has four children with Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. He has eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, a keen sports enthusiast, Philip helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving. He is a patron of over 800 organisations and serves as chairman of the Duke of Edinburghs Award scheme for people aged 14 to 24 and he is the longest-serving consort of a reigning British monarch and the oldest-ever male member of the British royal family. Philips four elder sisters were Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and he was baptised into the Greek Orthodox Church. His godparents were Queen Olga of Greece and the Mayor of Corfu, shortly after Philips birth, his maternal grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, then known as Louis Mountbatten, Marquess of Milford Haven, died in London. Louis was a naturalised British citizen, who, after a career in the Royal Navy, had renounced his German titles and adopted the surname Mountbatten during the First World War. After visiting London for the memorial, Philip and his mother returned to Greece where Prince Andrew had remained behind to command an army division embroiled in the Greco-Turkish War, the war went badly for Greece and the Turks made large gains. On 22 September 1922, Philips uncle, King Constantine I, was forced to abdicate, the commander of the army, General Georgios Hatzianestis, and five senior politicians were executed. Prince Andrews life was believed to be in danger, and Alice was under surveillance, in December, a revolutionary court banished Prince Andrew from Greece for life. The British naval vessel HMS Calypso evacuated Prince Andrews family, with Philip carried to safety in a cot made from a fruit box. Philips family went to France, where settled in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud in a house lent to them by his wealthy aunt, Princess George of Greece. Because Philip left Greece as a baby, he not have a strong grasp of Greek
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
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Prince Philip in March 2015
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
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Mon Repos, the birthplace of Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
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Philip studied at
Gordonstoun school, Scotland.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
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Philip served aboard
HMS Valiant in the
Battle of the Mediterranean.
10.
Line of succession to the British throne
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Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, gender, legitimacy, and religion. Under common law, the crown is inherited by an individuals children, Protestant descendants of those excluded for being Catholics are eligible to succeed. Queen Elizabeth II is the present sovereign and her heir apparent is her eldest son, Charles, next in line after him is Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, the Prince of Waless elder son. Third in line is Prince George of Cambridge, the son of the Duke of Cambridge, followed by his sister, fifth in line is Prince Harry, the younger son of the Prince of Wales. Sixth in line is Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the Queens second-eldest son, the first four individuals in the line of succession who are twenty-one years or older, and the sovereigns consort, may be appointed Counsellors of State. Counsellors of State perform some of the duties in the United Kingdom while he or she is out of the country or temporarily incapacitated. Otherwise, individuals in the line of succession need not have specific legal or official roles, the United Kingdom is one of the 16 Commonwealth realms. Each of those countries has the person as monarch and the same order of succession. After the necessary legislation had been enacted in accordance with each realms constitution, no official, complete version of the line of succession is currently maintained. The exact number, in remoter collateral lines, of the persons who would be eligible is uncertain, in 2001 genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner compiled a list of 4,973 living descendants of the Electress Sophia in order of succession, but disregarding Roman Catholic status. When updated in January 2011, the number was more than five thousand, the annotated list below covers the first part of this line of succession, being limited to descendants of the sons of George V. Persons named in italics are unnumbered either because they are deceased or because sources report them to be excluded from the succession. The order of the first sixteen numbered in the list is given on the website of the British Monarchy, other list numbers and exclusions are explained by annotations. Notes and sources, XC Excluded as Roman Catholics and this exclusion is not affected by changes subsequent to the Perth Agreement. MC These people were excluded through marriage to a Roman Catholic and this exclusion was repealed on 26 March 2015, restoring them to the line of succession, when the Perth Agreement came into effect. B listed by the website of the British Monarchy, Succession. Originally in both countries, there were no fixed rules governing succession to the throne, the individual could have relied on inheritance, statute, election, nomination, conquest or prescription. It was often unclear which of these bases should take precedence, often, the outcome depended not on the strength of the claims
Line of succession to the British throne
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The throne constructed in 1296, sometimes called the "Coronation Chair" or "
King Edward's Chair ", for 700 years used for the coronation of monarchs of
England, of
Great Britain, and of the
United Kingdom.
Line of succession to the British throne
–
Charles, Prince of Wales, has been first in the line of succession since 1952.
Line of succession to the British throne
–
Henry VII, King by right of Conquest
Line of succession to the British throne
–
After the death of her last child in 1700,
Princess Anne became the last individual left in the line of succession determined by the Bill of Rights.
11.
Bagshot Park
–
Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village 11 miles south of Windsor and approximately 11 miles north west of Guildford. Owned by the Crown Estate it is the current home of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Bagshot Park is on Bagshot Heath, a fifty square-mile tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire. Bagshot Park occupies 21 hectares within the area of Windsor Great Park. It is only a few miles from Sunninghill Park, the residence of the Duke. In March 1998, the Mansion House at Bagshot Park, including a block of stables, the Mansion House was renovated as a residence for the prince. The renovation was funded by the Crown Estate and partly by Prince Edward. The renovation was estimated to cost £2. 18m, with £1. 6m from the Crown Estate. The National Audit Office report on the states that the final cost of renovations was £2. 98m, the Crown Estate paid £1. 6m. The prince rented it from the Crown Estate initially for £5,000 a year then after renovation rising to £90,000 a year subject to 15-year rent reviews linked to RPI. According to the NAO report, the property leased by the prince does not include commercial farmland or woodland, the lease agreement permits subletting of the stable block. The prince is allowed to sell the lease or sub-lease the property after 8 years from the date of completion of the rectification works and it appears that the prince used the premises as a base for his film production company, Ardent Productions, until he closed the business. The original Bagshot Lodge was built between 1631 and 1633 as one of a series of small lodges designed for King Charles I by Inigo Jones, Bagshot Park was subsequently used by Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, nephew of King George III. The Duke added pieces of property between the estate and Sunningdale, his widow, Princess Mary, daughter of King George III, the original house was demolished in 1877-78. A new building with 120 rooms was completed in 1879, a coachman and seven grooms lived in the stables. Two other domestic staff lived in one of the lodges, three agricultural workers lived in another, and one gardener is recorded as living on the estate, from 1880 this was the principal residence of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, a son of Queen Victoria. The Duke, who was Governor General of Canada from 1911 until 1916, the house was thereafter the regimental headquarters and depot of the Royal Army Chaplains Department, who famously placed a notice by the pond reading Please do not walk on the water. They vacated the building shortly before the Earl and Countess of Wessex took over the tenancy from the Crown, the original sign was removed when the chaplains left, but a new one, made by J. M. J. Holland Chairmakers and given to the Earl of Wessex, has replaced it and this was a result of the Duke of Connaughts Indian tour, when the Duke met John Lockwood Kipling and asked him to design and oversee the installation of a billiard room in Indian taste
Bagshot Park
–
Bagshot Park c. 1880.
12.
Tooting
–
Tooting is a district of South London, England, forming part of the Wandsworth borough. It is located 5 miles south south-west of Charing Cross, Tooting has been settled since pre-Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon origin but the meaning is disputed and it could mean the people of Tota, in which context Tota may have been a local Anglo-Saxon chieftain. Alternatively it could be derived from an old meaning of the verb to tout, there may have been a watchtower here on the road to London and hence the people of the look-out post. The Romans built a road, which was later named Stane Street by the English, from London to Chichester, Tooting High Street is built on this road. In Saxon times, Tooting and Streatham was given to the Abbey of Chertsey, later, Suene, believed to be a Viking, may have been given all or part of the land. In 933, King Athelstan of England is thought to have confirmed lands including Totinge to Chertsey Abbey and its people were called to render £4 per year to their overlords. Later in the Norman period, it came into the possession of the De Gravenel family, until minor changes in the 19th century it consisted of 2 km2. Upper Tooting, or Tooting Bec, appears as a held by the Abbey of Hellouin Bec, in Normandy. Its domesday assets were 5 hides and it had 5 1⁄2 ploughlands and so was assessed as rendering £7. As with many of South Londons suburbs, Tooting developed during the late Victorian period, some development occurred in the Edwardian era but another large spurt in growth happened during the 1920s and 30s. 1902, Tooting Library opened as a one-storey structure, a second storey was added in 1906. In 2012 the library was rebuilt,2003, Redevelopment of St Georges Hospital buildings completed. The Member of Parliament for Tooting is Dr. Rosena Allin-Khan, following the election of her predecessor Sadiq Khan to the role of Mayor of London in May 2016. Since the parliamentary constituency of Tooting was founded, it has always been a seat held by the Labour Party, Tooting is positioned on the Northern line—with stations at the top and the bottom of the hill that slopes down the High Street, Tooting Bec and Tooting Broadway. Tooting is also served by rail at Tooting railway station providing a direct link south to Sutton via Wimbledon. It also has bus links, with routes to and from Central London, Croydon, Sutton and Kingston amongst others. Tooting Broadway tube station is currently being considered by TfL as a stop on the future Crossrail 2 development, Tooting railway station Mitcham Eastfields railway station Balham railway station Haydons Road railway station Totterdown Fields estate was designated a conservation area, on the 19 September 1978
Tooting
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Tooting Broadway tube sign
Tooting
–
Sun over Tooting Common
13.
Windsor Castle
–
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is notable for its association with the English and later British royal family. The original castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror, since the time of Henry I, it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. Inside the castle walls is the 15th-century St Georges Chapel, considered by the historian John Martin Robinson to be one of the achievements of English Perpendicular Gothic design. Gradually replaced with stone fortifications, the castle withstood a siege during the First Barons War at the start of the 13th century. Edwards core design lasted through the Tudor period, during which Henry VIII and Elizabeth I made increasing use of the castle as a royal court and centre for diplomatic entertainment. Windsor Castle survived the period of the English Civil War, when it was used as a military headquarters for Parliamentary forces. At the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II rebuilt much of Windsor Castle with the help of the architect Hugh May, Queen Victoria made a few minor changes to the castle, which became the centre for royal entertainment for much of her reign. Windsor Castle was used as a refuge for the family during the Luftwaffe bombing campaigns of the Second World War. It is a popular tourist attraction, a venue for hosting state visits, today, more than 500 people live and work in Windsor Castle, making it the largest inhabited castle in the world. Windsor Castle occupies 13 acres, and combines the features of a fortification, a palace, the present-day castle was created during a sequence of phased building projects, culminating in the reconstruction work after a fire in 1992. It is in essence a Georgian and Victorian design based on a medieval structure, since the 14th century, architecture at the castle has attempted to produce a contemporary reinterpretation of older fashions and traditions, repeatedly imitating outmoded or even antiquated styles. Although there has some criticism, the castles architecture and history lends it a place amongst the greatest European palaces. At the heart of Windsor Castle is the Middle Ward, a formed around the motte or artificial hill in the centre of the ward. The motte is 50 feet high and is made from chalk originally excavated from the surrounding ditch, the Round Tower is in reality far from cylindrical, due to the shape and structure of the motte beneath it. The western entrance to the Middle Ward is now open, the eastern exit from the ward is guarded by the Norman Gatehouse. Wyatville redesigned the exterior of the gatehouse, and the interior was later converted in the 19th century for residential use. The Upper Ward of Windsor Castle comprises a number of major buildings enclosed by the bailey wall
Windsor Castle
–
Windsor Castle, viewed from the Long Walk
Windsor Castle
–
The South Wing of the Upper Ward; the Official Entrance to the State Apartments is on the left
Windsor Castle
–
The State Apartments in the Upper Ward; (l to r) Queen's Audience and Presence Chambers, the Official Entrance, St George's Hall; the Guest's Entrance
Windsor Castle
–
The Crimson Drawing Room in 2007 following the
1992 fire and subsequent remodelling
14.
Girl Guides
–
Girl Guides and Girl Scouts are a Scouting movement, originally and still largely for girls and women only across various national associations. These organisations evolved from as early as 1908, with girls wishing or demanding to take part in the then grassroots Boy Scout Movement, in different places around the world, the movement developed in diverse ways. In some places, girls joined or attempted to join Scouting organisations, in other places, girls groups were started, some of them later to open up to boys or merge with boys organisations. In other instances, mixed groups were formed, sometimes to later split, in the same way, the name Girl Guide or Girl Scout has been used by groups at different times and in different places, with some groups changing from one to another. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts was formed in 1928 and has member organisations in 145 countries, WAGGGS celebrated the centenary of the international Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Movement over three years, from 2010 to 2012. There are now more than 10 million Guides worldwide, There has been much discussion about how similar Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting should be to boys Scouting programs. While many girls saw what the boys were doing and wanted to do it too, even when most Scout organisations became mixed-gender, Guiding has remained separate in most countries to provide a female-centred programme. For example, the UK Scout Association introduced mixed-sex provision in 1976 with the Venture Scout programme, for all age-based sections in 1991, Girl Guiding in the UK remains limited to girls. In regard to transgender girls, they are allowed to join Girl Guiding, lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell was a British soldier during the Second Anglo-Boer War in South Africa. When he came home, he decided to put his Scouting ideas into practice to see if they would work for young boys, and took 21 boys camping on Brownsea Island, near Poole in Dorset. The camp was a success, and Baden-Powell wrote the book Scouting for Boys, soon boys began to organise themselves into Patrols and Troops and called themselves Boy Scouts. Girls bought the book as well and formed themselves into Patrols of Girl Scouts while other girls, in 1909 there was a Boy Scout rally at Crystal Palace in London. Among the thousands of Boy Scouts at the rally was a group of girls from Pinkneys Green and they asked Baden-Powell to let girls be Scouts but he decided that separate single-gender organisations were a better solution. In 1910 Baden-Powell formed The Girl Guides in the United Kingdom, many, though by no means all, Girl Guide and Girl Scout groups across the globe trace their roots to this point. Baden-Powell chose the name Guides from a regiment in the British Indian Army, the Corps of Guides, in some countries, the girls preferred to remain or call themselves ‘Girl Scouts’. The first Guide Company was 1st Pinkneys Green Guides, who still exist in Pinkneys Green, Maidenhead, agnes Baden-Powell, Baden-Powells sister, was in charge of the Girl Guides in UK in its early years. Others influential in the movement were Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA, Olga Drahonowska-Małkowska in Poland, Things that are shared amongst all Guide Units are, The Guide Promise – Girls become Guides by making their Promise. Each country has its own Promise, but historically all have the three parts, duty to God or to your religion, duty to your country and keeping the Guide Law
Girl Guides
–
A Girl Guide troop in the
United Kingdom, 1918
Girl Guides
–
Singing Girl Guides in
Germany, 2007
Girl Guides
–
Princess Mary and Girl Guides, 1922
Girl Guides
–
Eerste Nederlandsche Meisjes Gezellen Vereeniging (First Dutch Girls Companions Society), 1911, first Dutch Girl Guides
15.
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
–
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, KG, KT, PC, ADC is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales. He is second in line to succeed his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, William was educated at four schools in the United Kingdom and obtained a degree from the University of St Andrews. He spent parts of a gap year in Chile, Belize, in December 2006, he completed 44 weeks of training as an officer cadet and was commissioned in the Blues and Royals regiment. In April 2008, he qualified as a pilot by completing training at Royal Air Force College Cranwell. He then underwent helicopter flying training in order to become a pilot with the RAF Search. His service with the British Armed Forces ended in September 2013, William married Catherine Middleton, on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. Hours before the wedding, he was created Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, the couples first child, Prince George, was born on 22 July 2013, and their second, Princess Charlotte, was born on 2 May 2015. William, the first child of the Prince and Princess of Wales, was born at St Marys Hospital and his names, William Arthur Philip Louis, were announced by Buckingham Palace a week later on 28 June. He was baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 4 August by the Archbishop of Canterbury and he was the first child born to a Prince and Princess of Wales since Prince John in 1905. William was affectionately called Wombat by his parents or Wills, Williams first public appearance was on 1 March 1991, during an official visit of his parents to Cardiff, Wales. After arriving by aeroplane, William was taken to Llandaff Cathedral where he signed the visitors book, on 3 June 1991, William was admitted to Royal Berkshire Hospital after being accidentally hit on the side of the forehead by a fellow student wielding a golf club. He did not lose consciousness, but suffered a fracture of the skull and was operated on at Great Ormond Street Hospital. In a 2009 interview, he dubbed this scar a Harry Potter scar and he was reported to have said, I call it that because it glows sometimes and some people notice it—other times they dont notice it at all. His mother wanted him and his younger brother Harry to have wider experiences than are usual for royal children and she took them to Walt Disney World and McDonalds as well as AIDS clinics and shelters for the homeless. She bought them typical teenage items, such as video games, Diana, who was by then divorced from the Prince of Wales, died in a car accident in the early hours of 31 August 1997. William, then aged 15, along with his brother who was 12, the Prince of Wales waited until his sons woke the following morning to tell them about their mothers death. At his mothers funeral, William accompanied his father, brother, paternal grandfather, William began to accompany his parents on official visits at an early age. William was educated at independent schools, starting at Jane Mynors nursery school, following this, he attended Ludgrove School near Wokingham, Berkshire, and was privately tutored during summers by Rory Stewart
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
–
The Duke of Cambridge in
Japan in 2015
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
–
Chapel of
Eton College
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
–
St Salvator's Quad,
University of St. Andrews
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
–
William in his flight lieutenant's uniform in 2010.
16.
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
–
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is the wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. Following his father Charles, Prince of Wales, William is second in line to succeed his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, the duchess grew up in Chapel Row, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, England. She studied art history in Scotland at the University of St Andrews and their engagement was announced on 16 November 2010 before they married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. The duke and duchess have two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, who are third and fourth in line to the British throne. Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 9 January 1982 to an upper-middle-class family and she was christened at St Andrews Bradfield, Berkshire, on 20 June 1982. The family of her father Michael has ties to British aristocracy and her Middleton relatives were reported as having played host to British royalty as long ago as 1926. She has a sister, Philippa Pippa, and a younger brother. The family lived in Amman, Jordan, from May 1984 to September 1986, her father worked for British Airways, following her return to Berkshire in 1986, she was enrolled aged four at St Andrews School, a private school near the village of Pangbourne in Berkshire. She boarded part-weekly at St Andrews in her later years and she then studied briefly at Downe House. In November 2006, Middleton accepted a position as a buyer with the clothing chain Jigsaw. She also worked until January 2011 at Party Pieces, her role within the business included catalogue design and production, marketing. In 2001, Middleton met Prince William while they were students in residence at St Salvators Hall at the University of St Andrews. The couple began dating in 2003, although their relationship remained unconfirmed, on 17 October 2005, Middleton complained through her lawyer about harassment from the media, stating that she had done nothing significant to warrant publicity. Middleton attended Prince Williams Passing Out Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 15 December 2006, on 17 May 2008, Middleton attended the wedding of Prince Williams cousin Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly, which the prince did not attend. On 19 July 2008, she was a guest at the wedding of Lady Rose Windsor, Prince William was away on military operations in the Caribbean, serving aboard HMS Iron Duke. In 2010, Middleton pursued an invasion of privacy claim against two agencies and photographer Niraj Tanna, who took photographs of her over Christmas 2009 and she obtained a public apology, £5,000 in damages, and legal costs. In April 2007, Prince William and Middleton split up, the couple decided to break up during a holiday in the Swiss resort of Zermatt. Newspapers speculated about the reasons for the split, although these reports relied on anonymous sources, Middleton and her family attended the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium, where she and Prince William sat two rows apart
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
–
The Duchess of Cambridge in 2014
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
–
The newly married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the balcony of
Buckingham Palace
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
–
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their son
Prince George of Cambridge the day after his birth
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
–
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the
Canada Day celebrations in
Ottawa, 1 July 2011
17.
Letters patent
–
Letters patent can be used for the creation of corporations or government offices, or for the granting of city status or a coat of arms. Letters patent are issued for the appointment of representatives of the Crown, such as governors and governors-general of Commonwealth realms, in the United Kingdom they are also issued for the creation of peers of the realm. A particular form of letters patent has evolved into the modern patent granting exclusive rights in an invention. e, the opposite of letters patent are letters close, which are personal in nature and sealed so that only the recipient can read their contents. Letters patent are thus comparable to other kinds of open letter in that their audience is wide, letters patent are so named from the Latin verb pateo, to lie open, exposed, accessible. The originators seal was attached pendent from the document, so that it did not have to be broken in order for the document to be read. Thus letters patent do not equate to a letter but rather to any form of document, deed, contract, letter, despatch, edict, decree. Letters patent are a form of open or public proclamation and an exercise of extra-parliamentary power by a monarch or president. Prior to the establishment of Parliament, the monarch ruled absolutely by the issuing of his written orders. They can thus be contrasted with the Act of Parliament, which is in effect an order by Parliament. No explicit government approval is contained within letters patent, only the seal or signature of the monarch, in their original form they were simply written instructions or orders from the sovereign, whose order was law, which were made public to reinforce their effect. According to the United Kingdom Ministry of Justice, there are 92 different types of letters patent. The Patent Rolls are made up of copies of English royal letters patent. In 1634, during the Thirty Years War, the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II became convinced that his general Albrecht von Wallenstein was plotting treason, on 24 January 1634 the Emperor signed a secret patent removing him from his command. Finally an open patent, charging Wallenstein with high treason, was signed on 18 February, in the patent, Ferdinand II ordered to have Wallenstein brought under arrest to Vienna, dead or alive. On the basis of patent, several of Wallensteins officers assassinated him and were rewarded by the Emperor. The form of patent for creating peerages has been fixed by the Crown Office Order 1992. Part III of the schedule lays down nine pro forma texts for creating various ranks of the peerage, lords of appeal in ordinary, gender-specific differences are highlighted in italics. In Commonwealth realms, letters patent are issued under the powers of the head of state
Letters patent
–
Letters patent issued by
Queen Victoria in 1900, creating the office of
Governor-General of Australia as part of the process of
Federation
Letters patent
–
Letters patent issued by the United States
General Land Office
18.
Royal Highness
–
Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes other than monarchs and their female consorts. When used as a form of address, spoken or written. When used as a reference, it is gender-specific and, in plural. Holders of the style Royal Highness generally rank below holders of the style Imperial Highness, by the 17th century, all local rulers in Italy adopted the style Highness, that was once used by kings and emperors only. Thus, the first use of the style Royal Highness was recorded in 1633, gaston, Duke of Orléans, younger son of King Henry IV of France, encountered the style in Brussels and assumed it himself. His children later used the style, considering it their prerogative as grandchildren of France, by the 18th century, Royal Highness had become the prevalent style for members of a continental reigning dynasty whose head bore the hereditary title of king or queen. The titles of members of non-hereditary rulers were less clear. Even in the cases of the titles, they usually only exist as courtesies. The chiefly appellation Kabiyesi is likewise used as the equivalent of the HRH, the title of Archduke or Archduchess of Austria was known to be complemented with the style of Royal Highness to all of the members of the House of Habsburg and later the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The title of Prince/Princess of the Netherlands with the style of H. R. H. is or may be granted by law to the following classes of persons. The heir apparent to the throne, the spouse of the heir apparent. The children of the monarch, other than the heir apparent, the children of the heir apparent. A Prince/Princess of Orange-Nassau who is not also a Prince/Princess of the Netherlands is addressed as His/Her Highness without the predicate royal and that is the case for example of the children of Princess Margriet, younger daughter of the late Queen Juliana. In the British monarchy the style of Royal Highness is associated with the rank of prince or princess and this is especially important when a prince has another title such as Duke by which he or she would usually be addressed. In the United Kingdom, letters patent dated 21 August 1996 stated that the wife of a member of the Royal Family loses the right to the style of HRH in the event of their divorce. It was for this reason that when the Prince and Princess of Wales divorced, she ceased to be Royal Highness, and was styled Diana, Princess of Wales. Almost a year before, according to the claim of writer Tina Brown. The Princess of Wales is said to have replied, My title is a lot older than yours and she noted that the Spencer family, the family she was born to, is older than the House of Windsor
Royal Highness
–
Diana, Princess of Wales in 1987
Royal Highness
–
The Duchess and Duke of Västergötland on their wedding day
Royal Highness
–
Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill at the celebrations of the
National Day of Sweden, two days prior to the wedding.
19.
Buckingham Palace
–
Buckingham Palace is the London residence and administrative headquarters of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and it has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning. It was acquired by King George III in 1761 as a residence for Queen Charlotte. During the 19th century it was enlarged, principally by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. The palace chapel was destroyed by a German bomb during World War II, the original early 19th-century interior designs, many of which survive, include widespread use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Sir Charles Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream, many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese regency style with furniture and fittings brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from Carlton House. The palace has 775 rooms, and the garden is the largest private garden in London, the state rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year for most of August and September and on some days in winter and spring. In the Middle Ages, the site of the palace formed part of the Manor of Ebury. The marshy ground was watered by the river Tyburn, which flows below the courtyard. Where the river was fordable, the village of Eye Cross grew, ownership of the site changed hands many times, owners included Edward the Confessor and his queen consort Edith of Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror. William gave the site to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of Westminster Abbey, in 1531, King Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James from Eton College, and in 1536 he took the Manor of Ebury from Westminster Abbey. These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away almost 500 years earlier, various owners leased it from royal landlords and the freehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old village of Eye Cross had long fallen into decay. Needing money, James I sold off part of the Crown freehold, clement Walker in Anarchia Anglicana refers to new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. Jamess, this suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century, the freehold was inherited from the property tycoon Sir Hugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies, possibly the first house erected within the site was that of a Sir William Blake, around 1624. The next owner was Lord Goring, who from 1633 extended Blakes house and he did not, however, obtain the freehold interest in the mulberry garden. Unbeknown to Goring, in 1640 the document failed to pass the Great Seal before King Charles I fled London and it was this critical omission that helped the British royal family regain the freehold under King George III. The improvident Goring defaulted on his rents, Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington obtained the mansion and was occupying it, now known as Goring House, Arlington House rose on the site—the location of the southern wing of todays palace—the next year
Buckingham Palace
–
Buckingham Palace. This is the principal
façade, the East Front; originally constructed by
Edward Blore and completed in 1850. It acquired its present appearance following a remodelling, in 1913, by Sir
Aston Webb.
Buckingham Palace
–
Queen Victoria, the first monarch to reside at Buckingham Palace, moved into the newly completed palace upon her accession in 1837.
Buckingham Palace
–
Buckingham House, c. 1710, was designed by
William Winde for the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby. This façade evolved into today's Grand Entrance on the west (inner) side of the quadrangle, with the Green Drawing Room above.
Buckingham Palace
–
Buckingham House painted by an unknown English artist c. 1800.
20.
Provinces and territories of Canada
–
Canadas geography is divided into administrative divisions known as provinces and territories that are responsible for delivery of sub-national governance. Over its history, Canadas international borders have changed several times, the ten provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Several of the provinces were former British colonies, Quebec was originally a French colony, the three territories are Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, which govern the rest of the area of the former British North America. Together, the provinces and territories make up the worlds second-largest country by area, the powers flowing from the Constitution Act are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively. In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be co-sovereign divisions, the territories are not sovereign, but simply part of the federal realm, and have a commissioner who represents the federal government. Notes, There are three territories in Canada, unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent sovereignty and have only those powers delegated to them by the federal government. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, the following table lists the territories in order of precedence. Prior to Confederation, Ontario and Quebec were united as the Province of Canada, over the following years, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were added as provinces. The Hudsons Bay Company controlled large swathes of western Canada referred to as Ruperts Land and the North-Western Territory until 1870, subsequently, the area was re-organized into the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. The remaining Arctic islands were transferred by Britain to Canada in 1880,1898 saw the Yukon Territory, later renamed simply as Yukon, carved from the parts of the Northwest Territories surrounding the Klondike gold fields. On September 1,1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories south of the 60th parallel north became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba were expanded northward, Manitobas to the 60° parallel, Ontarios to Hudson Bay, in 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion status. In the middle of the Great Depression in Canada with Newfoundland facing a period of economic crisis. In 2001, it was officially renamed Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1903, the Alaska Panhandle Dispute fixed British Columbias northwestern boundary. This was one of two provinces in Canadian history to have its size reduced. In 1999, Nunavut was created from the portion of the Northwest Territories. Yukon lies in the portion of The North, while Nunavut is in the east. All three territories combined are the most sparsely populated region in Canada, covering 3,921,739 km2 in land area and they are often referred to as a single region, The North, for organisational and economic purposes
Provinces and territories of Canada
–
"
O Canada we stand on guard for thee" Stained Glass, Yeo Hall,
Royal Military College of Canada features arms of the Canadian provinces and territories (1965)
Provinces and territories of Canada
–
Alberta Legislature Building
Provinces and territories of Canada
–
British Columbia Parliament Buildings
Provinces and territories of Canada
–
Manitoba Legislative Building
21.
Manitoba
–
Manitoba is a province at the longitudinal centre of Canada. It is one of the three provinces and Canadas fifth-most populous province with its estimated 1.3 million people. Manitoba covers 649,950 square kilometres with a varied landscape. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited what is now Manitoba for thousands of years, in the late 17th century, fur traders arrived in the area when it was part of Ruperts Land and owned by the Hudsons Bay Company. In 1869, negotiations for the creation of the province of Manitoba led to an uprising of the Métis people against the Government of Canada. The rebellions resolution led to the Parliament of Canada passing the Manitoba Act in 1870 that created the province, Manitobas capital and largest city, Winnipeg, is Canadas eighth-largest census metropolitan area. Winnipeg is the seat of government, home to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, four of the provinces five universities and all four of its professional sports teams are in Winnipeg. The name Manitoba is believed to be derived from the Cree, the name derives from Cree manitou-wapow or Ojibwa manidoobaa, both meaning straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit, a place referring to what are now called The Narrows in the centre of Lake Manitoba. It may also be from the Assiniboine for Lake of the Prairie, the lake was known to French explorers as Lac des Prairies. Thomas Spence chose the name to refer to a new republic he proposed for the south of the lake. Métis leader Louis Riel also chose the name, and it was accepted in Ottawa under the Manitoba Act of 1870 and it adjoins Hudson Bay to the northeast, and is the only prairie province to have a saltwater coastline. The Port of Churchill is Canadas only Arctic deep-water port and the shortest shipping route between North America and Asia, Lake Winnipeg is the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Hudson Bay is the worlds second-largest bay, Manitoba is at the heart of the giant Hudson Bay watershed, once known as Ruperts Land. It was a area of the Hudsons Bay Company, with many rivers. The province has a saltwater coastline bordering Hudson Bay and more than 110,000 lakes, Manitobas major lakes are Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis, and Lake Winnipeg, the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Some traditional Native lands and boreal forest on Lake Winnipegs east side are a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Manitoba is at the centre of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, with a volume of the water draining into Lake Winnipeg. This basins rivers reach far west to the mountains, far south into the United States, major watercourses include the Red, Assiniboine, Nelson, Winnipeg, Hayes, Whiteshell and Churchill rivers
Manitoba
Manitoba
–
Deep Lake at Riding Mountain National Park.
Manitoba
–
Polar bears are common in northern Manitoba
22.
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
–
The present, and 25th, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba is Janice Filmon, who has served in the role since 19 June 2015. The Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba is vested with a number of duties and is also expected to undertake various ceremonial roles. In 1919, the Manitoba legislature voted in favour of The Initiative and Referendum Act, Lieutenant Governor George Johnson was called upon to use his reserve powers in March 1988. Johnson thereafter dissolved the legislature and called an election and the premier, Howard Pawley, Pawley felt that he could hand over the premiership to whoever succeeded him as party leader. The NDP failed to win the election, regardless, monarchy in the Canadian provinces Government of Manitoba Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
–
William Johnston Tupper, 12th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, from 1934 to 1940
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
–
Incumbent
Janice Filmon CM OM since 19 June 2015
23.
George I of Greece
–
George I was King of Greece from 1863 until his assassination in 1913. Originally a Danish prince, George was born in Copenhagen, and he was only 17 years old when he was elected king by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the unpopular former king Otto. His nomination was both suggested and supported by the Great Powers, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire and he married the Russian grand duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, and became the first monarch of a new Greek dynasty. Two of his sisters, Alexandra and Dagmar, married into the British, King Edward VII and Tsar Alexander III were his brothers-in-law and King George V and Tsar Nicholas II were his nephews. Georges reign of almost 50 years was characterized by territorial gains as Greece established its place in pre-World War I Europe, Britain ceded the Ionian Islands peacefully, while Thessaly was annexed from the Ottoman Empire after the Russo-Turkish War. Greece was not always successful in its ambitions, it was defeated in the Greco-Turkish War. During the First Balkan War, after Greek troops had captured much of Greek Macedonia, compared to his own long tenure, the reigns of his successors Constantine, Alexander, and George II proved short and insecure. George was born at the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade and he was the second son of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Although he was of blood, his family was relatively obscure. In 1852, however, Georges father was designated the heir presumptive to the childless King Frederick VII of Denmark, Georges siblings were Frederick, Alexandra, Dagmar, Thyra and Valdemar. Georges mother tongue was Danish, with English as a second language and he was also taught French and German. He embarked on a career in the Royal Danish Navy, while Frederick was described as quiet and extremely well-behaved, George was lively and full of pranks. Many Greeks, seeking closer ties to the pre-eminent world power, Great Britain, rallied around Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. British prime minister Lord Palmerston believed that the Greeks were panting for increase in territory, hoping for a gift of the Ionian Islands, which were then a British protectorate. The London Conference of 1832, however, prohibited any of the Great Powers ruling families from accepting the crown, the Greeks nevertheless insisted on holding a plebiscite in which Prince Alfred received over 95% of the 240,000 votes. There were 93 votes for a Republic and 6 for a Greek, with Prince Alfreds exclusion, the search began for an alternative candidate. Eventually, the Greeks and Great Powers winnowed their choice to Prince William of Denmark, aged only 17, he was elected King of the Hellenes on 30 March 1863 by the Greek National Assembly under the regnal name of George I. Paradoxically, he ascended a royal throne before his father, who became King of Denmark on 15 November the same year, there were two significant differences between Georges elevation and that of his predecessor, Otto
George I of Greece
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George I in the uniform of an Admiral of the
Royal Hellenic Navy
George I of Greece
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Portrait by August Schiøtt, 1853
George I of Greece
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George and his family, 1862: (back row left to right)
Frederick,
Christian IX, George; (front row left to right)
Dagmar,
Valdemar,
Queen Louise,
Thyra,
Alexandra
George I of Greece
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Photograph by Southwell Bros., 1863
24.
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
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Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece and Olga Constantinovna of Russia. He was a grandson of Christian IX of Denmark and father of Prince Philip and he began military training at an early age, and was commissioned as an officer in the Greek army. His command positions were substantive appointments rather than honorary, and he saw service in the Balkan Wars, in 1913, his father was assassinated and Andrews elder brother, Constantine, became king. Dissatisfaction with his brothers neutrality policy during World War I led to his brothers abdication and most of the royal family, including Andrew, was exiled. On their return a few later, Andrew saw service in the Greco-Turkish War, but the war went badly for Greece. He was exiled for a time in 1922, and spent most of the rest of his life in France. By 1930, he was estranged from his wife, Princess Alice of Battenberg and his only son, Prince Philip, served in the British navy during World War II, while all four of his daughters were married to Germans, three of whom had Nazi connections. Separated from his wife and son by the effects of the war and he had seen neither of them since 1939. Prince Andrew was born at the Old Royal Palace in Athens on February 2,1882 and he was taught English by his caretakers as he grew up, but in conversations with his parents he refused to speak anything but Greek. He also spoke German, Danish, Russian, and French and he attended cadet school and staff college at Athens, and was given additional private tuition in military subjects by Panagiotis Danglis. Despite his short-sightedness, Andrew joined the army as a officer in May 1901. In 1902, Prince Andrew met Princess Alice of Battenberg at the coronation of her grand-uncle and his aunts husband, King Edward VII, Princess Alice was a daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. They fell in love, and the year, on 6 October 1903. The following day two religious wedding services were performed, one Lutheran in the Evangelical Castle Church, and another Greek Orthodox in the Russian Chapel on the Mathildenhöhe, Prince and Princess Andrew had five children, all of whom later had children of their own. In 1909, the situation in Greece led to a coup détat, as the Athens government refused to support the Cretan parliament. A group of dissatisfied officers formed a Greek nationalist Military League that eventually led to Prince Andrews resignation from the army and the rise to power of Eleftherios Venizelos. A few years later, at the outbreak of the Balkan Wars in 1912, Andrew was reinstated in the army as a lieutenant colonel in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, and placed in command of a field hospital. During the war, his father was assassinated and Andrew inherited a villa on the island of Corfu, in 1914, Andrew held honorary military posts in both the German and Russian empires, as well as Prussian, Russian, Danish and Italian knighthoods
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
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Portrait by
Philip de László, 1913
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
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Prince Andrew (left), with his older brothers, the
Crown Prince Constantine and
Prince Nicholas
25.
Olga Constantinovna of Russia
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Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, later Queen Olga of the Hellenes, was the wife of King George I of Greece and, briefly in 1920, regent of Greece. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is her grandson, a member of the Romanov dynasty, she was the daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg. She spent her childhood in Saint Petersburg, Poland and the Crimea, at first, she felt ill at ease in the Kingdom of Greece, but she quickly became involved in social and charitable work. She founded hospitals and help centers, but her attempt to promote a new, more accessible, on the assassination of her husband in 1913, Olga returned to Russia. When the First World War broke out, she set up a hospital in Pavlovsk Palace. She was trapped in the palace after the Russian Revolution of 1917, until the Danish embassy intervened, Olga could not return to Greece as her son, King Constantine I, had been deposed. In October 1920, she returned to Athens on the illness of her grandson. After his death, she was appointed regent until the restoration of Constantine I the following month. After the defeat of the Greeks in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22 the Greek royal family were exiled and Olga spent the last years of her life in the United Kingdom, France. Olga was born at Pavlovsk Palace near Saint Petersburg on 3 September 1851 and she was the second child and elder daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich and his wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra, a former princess of Saxe-Altenburg. Through her father, Olga was a granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I and her childhood was spent at her fathers homes, including Pavlovsk Palace and estates in the Crimea. Her father was a brother of Alexander II, and her mother was considered one of the most intelligent and elegant women of the court. Olga was particularly close to her brother, Nicholas, and was one of the few members of the imperial family to keep in touch with him after he was banished to Tashkent. As a child, Olga was described as a simple and chubby little girl with a broad face, unlike her younger sister, Vera, she had a calm temperament, but she was also extremely shy. For example, when interrogated by her tutors during lessons, she burst into tears, in 1862, Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich was appointed viceroy of Russian Poland by his brother and moved to Warsaw with his wife and children. The stay in Poland proved difficult for the Grand Duke, who was the victim of a nationalist assassination attempt the day after his arrival in the Polish capital. Although Constantine embarked on a program of liberalization and re-instated Polish as an official language, finally, an uprising in January 1863 and the radicalization of the separatists pushed the Tsar to recall his brother in August. Olgas difficult experiences in Poland marked her profoundly, the young King George I of Greece visited Russia in 1863 to thank Olgas uncle Tsar Alexander II for his support during Georges election to the throne of Greece
Olga Constantinovna of Russia
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Olga Constantinovna of Russia
Olga Constantinovna of Russia
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Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna, 1867
Olga Constantinovna of Russia
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Edition of
Le Petit Journal celebrating the silver wedding anniversary of King George I and Queen Olga, 1892
Olga Constantinovna of Russia
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Amalieion orphanage, Athens
26.
Prince Louis of Battenberg
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Although born in Austria, and brought up in Italy and Germany, he enrolled in the United Kingdoms Royal Navy at the age of fourteen. However, Louis welcomed assignments that provided opportunities for him to acquire the skills of war, posts on royal yachts and tours arranged by the Queen and Edward actually impeded his progress, as his promotions were perceived as royal favours rather than deserved. After a naval career lasting more than forty years, in 1912 he was appointed First Sea Lord and he changed his name and relinquished his German titles, at the behest of King George V, in 1917. He married a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and was the father of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II, is his grandson. Louis was born as Ludwig Alexander von Battenberg in Graz, Styria, shortly after Louiss birth, his father was stationed with the Austro-Hungarian Army of occupation in Northern Italy during the Second Italian War of Independence. Louiss early years were spent either in the north of Italy or at Prince Alexanders two houses in Hesse, the castle of Heiligenberg in Jugenheim, and the Alexander Palace in Darmstadt. Because his mother spoke French to him and he had an English governess, among the visitors entertained at Heiligenberg were Prince Alexanders relations, the Russian imperial family, and his cousin, Prince Louis of Hesse. He was admitted by the Board of Admiralty without the production of a medical certificate and he was enlisted as a naval cadet aboard HMS Victory, Nelsons old flagship, then used as a permanently moored training ship. As part of the tour, Louis accompanied them on a visit to Egypt. As was traditional, the Khedive bestowed honours on the party, in April, he received the Osmanie from the Ottoman Sultan. Louis returned to Britain in May 1869, in June he joined HMS Royal Alfred, the flagship of the North America and West Indies Station, becoming a midshipman in October. In 1875, again at the invitation of the Prince of Wales, he joined HMS Serapis, Louis sketched some of the events of the tour and his drawings were published in the Illustrated London News. He was promoted to lieutenant on 15 May 1876, in addition to acting as the Dukes equerry, Louis continued his naval duties. He did not enjoy the position, as the Duke was rather touchy and Louiss cabin was infested with rats, the Sultan toured the Mediterranean from July 1876. In late February–early March 1878, Louis was still serving on the Sultan as it lay in the Bosphorus during the Russo-Turkish War. On 24 August 1880, Louis was posted to HMS Inconstant, the flagship of the Flying Squadron, which included HMS Bacchante on which Princes Albert Victor and George were serving. The ship sailed to South America, South Africa, Australia, Fiji, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, seven months after Louis left Britain on the voyage, actress Lillie Langtry allegedly bore him an illegitimate daughter, Jeanne Marie. Langtry was also a mistress of the Prince of Wales
Prince Louis of Battenberg
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Admiral of the Fleet The Most Honourable The Marquess of Milford Haven
GCB GCVO KCMG PC
Prince Louis of Battenberg
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Prince Louis photographed by Carl Backofen in Darmstadt, 1869
Prince Louis of Battenberg
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HMS Agincourt, c. 1878
Prince Louis of Battenberg
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HMS Dreadnought, c. 1894
27.
Princess Alice of Battenberg
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Princess Alice of Battenberg, later Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II. A great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, she grew up in Germany, England, after marrying Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark in 1903, she lived in Greece until the exile of most of the Greek royal family in 1917. In 1930, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and committed to a sanatorium in Switzerland, thereafter, after her recovery, she devoted most of her remaining years to charity work in Greece. She stayed in Athens during the Second World War, sheltering Jewish refugees, for which she is recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Israels Holocaust memorial institution, Yad Vashem. After the war, she stayed in Greece and founded an Orthodox nursing order of nuns known as the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and her remains were transferred to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in 1988. Alice was born in the Tapestry Room at Windsor Castle in Berkshire in the presence of her great-grandmother and she was the eldest child of Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and her father was the eldest son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine through his morganatic marriage to Julia von Hauke, Princess of Battenberg. Her three younger siblings, Louise, George, and Louis, later became Queen of Sweden, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven and she was christened Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie in Darmstadt on 25 April 1885. Alice spent her childhood between Darmstadt, London, Jugenheim, and Malta and her mother noticed that she was slow in learning to talk, and became concerned by her indistinct pronunciation. Eventually, she was diagnosed with congenital deafness after her grandmother identified the problem, with encouragement from her mother, Alice learned to both lip-read and speak in English and German. Educated privately, she studied French, and later, after her engagement and her early years were spent in the company of her royal relatives, and she was a bridesmaid at the marriage of George, Duke of York and Mary of Teck in 1893. A few weeks before her birthday she attended the funeral of Queen Victoria in St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle. Princess Alice met and fell in love with Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and they married in a civil ceremony on 6 October 1903 at Darmstadt. The following day, there were two religious marriage ceremonies, one Lutheran in the Evangelical Castle Church, and one Greek Orthodox in the Russian Chapel on the Mathildenhöhe and she adopted the style of her husband, becoming Princess Andrew. All of Prince and Princess Andrews children later had children of their own, after their marriage, Prince Andrew continued his career in the military and Princess Andrew became involved in charity work. In 1908, she visited Russia for the wedding of Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, while there, she talked with her aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, who was formulating plans for the foundation of a religious order of nurses. Princess Andrew attended the laying of the stone for her aunts new church. Later in the year, the Grand Duchess began giving away all her possessions in preparation for a spiritual life
Princess Alice of Battenberg
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Princess Alice of Battenberg
Princess Alice of Battenberg
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Alice with her first two children,
Margarita and
Theodora, c. 1910
Princess Alice of Battenberg
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Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark by
Philip de László, 1907. Private collection of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Princess Alice of Battenberg
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Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark by
Philip de László, 1922. Private collection of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
28.
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
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Her mother died while her brother and sisters were still young, which placed her in an early position of responsibility over her siblings. She was perceived by her family as liberal in outlook, straightforward, practical, during World War I, she and her husband abandoned their German titles and adopted the British-sounding surname of Mountbatten, which was simply a translation into English of the German Battenberg. Two of her sisters – Elisabeth and Alix, who had married into the Russian imperial family – were killed by communist revolutionaries and she was the maternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort of Queen Elizabeth II. Victoria was born on Easter Sunday at Windsor Castle in the presence of her maternal grandmother and she was christened in the Lutheran faith in the arms of the Queen on 27 April. Her early life was spent at Bessungen, a suburb of Darmstadt, there, she shared a room with her younger sister, Elisabeth, until adulthood. She was privately educated to a standard and was, throughout her life. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, military hospitals were set up in the grounds at Darmstadt. She remembered the intense cold of the winter, and being burned on the arm by hot soup, in 1872, Victorias eighteen-month-old brother, Friedrich, was diagnosed with haemophilia. The following year, Friedrich fell from a window onto stone steps and it was the first of many tragedies to beset the Hesse family. In early November 1878, Victoria contracted diphtheria, Elisabeth was swiftly moved out of their room and was the only member of the family to escape the disease. For days, Victorias mother, Princess Alice, nursed the sick, but she was unable to save her youngest daughter, Victorias sister Marie, just as the rest of the family seemed to have recovered, Princess Alice fell ill. She died on 14 December, the anniversary of the death of her father, as the eldest child, Victoria partly assumed the role of mother to the younger children and of companion to her father. She later wrote, My mothers death was an irreparable loss and my childhood ended with her death, for I became the eldest and most responsible. At family gatherings, Victoria had often met Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was her first cousin once removed, Prince Louis had adopted British nationality and was serving as an officer in the Royal Navy. In the winter of 1882, they met again at Darmstadt, after a brief postponement because of the death of her maternal uncle, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, Victoria married Prince Louis on 30 April 1884 at Darmstadt. Her father did not approve of the match, in his view Prince Louis had little money and would deprive him of his daughters company, however, Victoria was of an independent mind and took little notice of her fathers displeasure. Remarkably, Victorias father secretly married the same evening his mistress, Countess Alexandrine Hutten-Czapska, the wife of Alexander von Kolemine. Over the next sixteen years, Victoria had four children, They lived in a succession of houses at Chichester, Sussex, Walton-on-Thames, when Prince Louis was serving with the Mediterranean Fleet, she spent some winters in Malta
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
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Photograph by
Alexander Bassano, c. 1878
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
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Four of the Hesse sisters: (left to right)
Irene, Victoria,
Elizabeth and
Alix, 1885
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
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Victoria (back row, second from right) at the marriage of her brother
Ernest Louis (back row, right) to
Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (seated, second from right), 1894.
Nicholas II of Russia and his fiance Alix are on the back row left, Irene and Elizabeth are seated front row left, and
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (Elizabeth's husband) is seated right.
29.
George V of the United Kingdom
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George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. He was the son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. From the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession behind his father and his own brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence. From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy, on the death of his grandmother in 1901, Georges father became King-Emperor of the British Empire, and George was created Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father in 1910 and he was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar. His reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, the Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, in 1924 he appointed the first Labour ministry and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised the dominions of the Empire as separate, independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations. He had health problems throughout much of his reign and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son. George was born on 3 June 1865, in Marlborough House and he was the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Albert Edward and Alexandra. His father was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and he was baptised at Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley. As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was expectation that George would become king. He was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, George was only 17 months younger than Albert Victor, and the two princes were educated together. John Neale Dalton was appointed as their tutor in 1871, neither Albert Victor nor George excelled intellectually. For three years from 1879, the brothers served on HMS Bacchante, accompanied by Dalton. They toured the colonies of the British Empire in the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia, and visited Norfolk, Virginia, as well as South America, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Dalton wrote an account of their journey entitled The Cruise of HMS Bacchante. Between Melbourne and Sydney, Dalton recorded a sighting of the Flying Dutchman, after Lausanne, the brothers were separated, Albert Victor attended Trinity College, Cambridge, while George continued in the Royal Navy. He travelled the world, visiting many areas of the British Empire, during his naval career he commanded Torpedo Boat 79 in home waters then HMS Thrush on the North America station, before his last active service in command of HMS Melampus in 1891–92. From then on, his rank was largely honorary
George V of the United Kingdom
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Coronation portrait by
Sir Luke Fildes, 1911
George V of the United Kingdom
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George as a young boy, 1870
George V of the United Kingdom
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George, 1893
George V of the United Kingdom
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York Cottage at
Sandringham House: George and his wife lived here from 1893 to 1926.
30.
George VI of the United Kingdom
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George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India and the first Head of the Commonwealth, known as Albert until his accession, George VI was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, and was named after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort. As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his life in the shadow of his elder brother. He attended naval college as a teenager, and served in the Royal Navy, in 1920, he was made Duke of York. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, in the mid-1920s, he had speech therapy for a stammer, which he never fully overcame. Georges elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII upon the death of their father in 1936, however, later that year Edward revealed his desire to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry a divorced woman, Edward abdicated in order to marry, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor. During Georges reign, the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations accelerated, the parliament of the Irish Free State removed direct mention of the monarch from the countrys constitution on the day of his accession. The following year, a new Irish constitution changed the name of the state to Ireland, from 1939, the Empire and Commonwealth – except Ireland – was at war with Nazi Germany. War with Italy and Japan followed in 1940 and 1941, respectively, though Britain and its allies were ultimately victorious in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, George remained king of countries, but relinquished the title of Emperor of India in June 1948. Ireland formally declared itself a republic and left the Commonwealth in 1949, George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by problems in the later years of his reign. He was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Elizabeth II, George was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His father was Prince George, Duke of York, the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and his mother was the Duchess of York, the eldest child and only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. His birthday was the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Albert, uncertain of how the Prince Consorts widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been rather distressed. Two days later, he again, I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her. Consequently, he was baptised Albert Frederick Arthur George at St. Mary Magdalenes Church near Sandringham three months later, within the family, he was known informally as Bertie
George VI of the United Kingdom
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Formal portrait, c. 1940–46
George VI of the United Kingdom
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Four kings: Edward VII (far right), his son George, Prince of Wales, later George V (far left), and grandsons Edward, later Edward VIII (rear), and Albert, later George VI (foreground), c. 1908
George VI of the United Kingdom
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Prince Albert (left) at an
RAF dinner in 1919 with
Sir Hugh Trenchard (centre) and
Christopher Courtney (right)
George VI of the United Kingdom
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The Duke and Duchess (centre, reading programmes) at
Eagle Farm Racecourse,
Brisbane, 1927
