|1
2 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
|3
4 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
|5
6 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
|7
8 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
|9
William I The Conqueror
Adela
William I Stephen Henry I
Matilda
Henry II Richard I
John I
10 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
| 11
12 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
Event 1 : The Anarchy | 13
14 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
Event 2 : Magna Carta | 15
The Magna Carta is a document which King John was forced to sign near the end of his reign, though he didn’t have much choice in the matter. Various barons and nobility incited rebellion and left him no option other than death or resignation. The charter greatly reduced the power held by the Monarchy, and later the aristocracy, by allowing the formation of a parliament of the people.
The Magna Carta became the basis for English citizen’s rights and thereby became the founding document of civil liberties in England; the very first constitution and thus formed the basis for all such future documents. Many attempts to draft constitutional forms of government, including the United States Constitution, trace their lineage back to Magna Carta.
16 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
John I
John inherited the throne from his brother Richard (The Lionheart) after he died returning from the Crusades.
Henry III
Edward I
John had a very uneasy relationship with his barons who attempted to force him to sign the Magna Carta. After the original documented was set aside the Barons tried to depose John and his line in favour of the Prince Louis the son of the French King but changed their minds on the death of King John and attempted to rule through his son Henry III.
Edward II
Edward III Edward the Black Prince Richard II
Edmund of York
John of Gaunt
Henry IV cont. pg 23
| 17
The Magna Carta was originally issued the year 1215, but did not pass into common law till 1225. The British dominions of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the former Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia,all reflect the influence of the Magna Carta in their laws. The Charter impacted on the states that were to evolve from the British Empire and had great cultural and historical significance. The Magna Carta was originally issued in the year 1215, translated into vernacular-French as early as 1219 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions. The latter versions excluded the most direct challenge to the monarch’s authority that had been present in the 1215 charter; the Pope questioned the documents authenticity by saying that because King John was forced to sign it under duress, it would infringe upon the kings rights as God’s chosen monarch – King John gladly accepted the Pope’s ruling.
The charter eventual passed into common law in 1225 (after John’s death) where it was preceded and directly influenced by the Charter of Liberties in 1100, in which King Henry I had specified particular areas wherein his powers would be limited and promised good governance to his people. The 1215 charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example, by explicitly accepting that no “freeman” (in the sense of non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land - a right which is still exists today. The events leading up to this began in1209 when numerous barons began to conspire against King; Over the course of his reign the combination of high taxes, unsuccessful wars that resulted in the loss of English barons’ titled possessions in Normandy following the Battle of Bouvines (1214), and
ongoing conflicts with pope Innocent III had made King John unpopular with many of his barons. With growing resentment and pressure from his Barons, John played for time. During negotiations between January and June 1215, a document was produced, which historians have termed ‘The Unknown Charter of Liberties’, seven of the articles of which would later appear in the Magna Carta. In May, King John offered to submit issues to a committee of arbitration with Pope Innocent III as the supreme arbiter, but the barons continued in their defiance. With the support of foreign powers, the Barons entered London in force on 10 June 1215, with the city showing its sympathy with their cause by opening its gates to them. They, and many of the moderates not in overt rebellion, forced King John to agree to a document later known as the ‘Articles of the Barons’ , to which his Great Seal was attached in the meadow at Runnymede on 15 June 1215.
18 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
In return, the barons renewed their oaths of fealty to John on 19 June 1215, which is when the document Magna Carta was created. The document was at the time a serious challenge to John’s authority as a ruling monarch. He renounced it as soon as the barons left London; and Pope Innocent III also annulled the document calling it;
more traditional type of rebellion by trying to replace the monarch they disliked with an alternative.
monarchies like that of France were abolished often resulting in bloody carnage.
In a measure of some desperation, despite the tenuousness of his claim and despite the fact that he was French, they offered the crown of England to Prince Louis of France.
Had the monarchy been abolished later, like so many others, we would not be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee.
As a means of preventing war
“shameful and demeaning agreement, forced upon the King by violence and fear.” The Pope rejected any call for restraints on the King, saying it impaired John’s dignity. He saw it as an affront to the Church’s authority over the King and the ‘papal territories’ of England and Ireland, and released John from his oath to obey it. The rebels knew that King John could never be restrained by Magna Carta and so they sought a new King. England was plunged into a civil war, known as the First Barons’ War. With the failure of Magna Carta to achieve peace or restrain John, the barons reverted to the
Magna Carta was a failure, rejected by most of the barons, and was legally valid for no more than three months. It was the death of King John in 1216 which secured the future of Magna Carta. The Magna Carta despite initially being a danger to the Monarchy subsequently served to protect it. While revolutions in the last 200 years have robbed many of their thrones the fact that in England the Monarch rules in tandem with Parliament not as an absolute power meant it made an easy transition into the modern era while other
Event 2 : Magna Carta | 19
20 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
Event 2 : Magna Carta | 21
22 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
The War of the Roses was a dynastic conflict that arose among the defendants of Edward III, part of the conflict was caused by the senior line being quite weak due to the death of the Black Prince and the succession of his nine year old son Richard. With a young child on the throne and regents ruling in his stead there was many with issues against the crown, this eventually broke out into civil war after Henry Lancaster deposed Richard and seized the crown for himself. Being the descendent of a fourth son of Edward III several others felt they had a better claim, especially the defendants of Edmund of York.
Over the course of many years a great struggle ensued among the countries nobility as supporters of Lancaster and york clashed against each other with speedy an great changes of fortune every few years. The conflict finally came to a conclusion when a Lancastrian claimant (Henry VII) won the battle of Bosworth and secured his claim to the throne by marrying Elizabeth of York. Although small skirmishes continued after this and sevral pretenders to the throne appeared, the conflict was eventually done.
| 23
Edward III Edward the Black Prince Richard II
John of Gaunt
Edmund of York Richard of Consingburg
John Beaufort
Richard Duke of York
Henry IV
Henry V
John Beaufort
Richard III
Margaret Beaufort
Edward IV
Henry VI
Edward of Westminster
Edward V
Elizabeth of York
Henry VII
Henry VIII cont. pg 31
The War of the Roses was caused in large part to Edward III having a great number of children who were granted powerful Dukedoms.
24 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
“England hath long been mad, and scarr’d herself: The brother blindly shed the brother’s blood; The father rashly slaughter’d his own son; The son, compell’d, been butcher to the sire. All this divided York and Lancaster...”
When the Black Prince’s line failed, the crown should have passed by law of primogeniture to Edmund Mortimer, as the descendant of Lionel of Antwerp. But it did not; and this was the crucial issue in what became known as the Wars of the Roses.
- William Shakespeare, Richard III
Richard’s reign managed to alienate both his family and the nobility and inevitably disaster struck in 1399, when his powerful cousin, Henry of Lancaster mounted a successful coup d’état and deposed Richard.
This dynastic race for the throne was unwittingly created by King Edward III in the fourteenth century. Edward and his wife Philippa of Hainault had thirteen children, including five sons who grew to maturity. Edward created for them the first ever English dukedoms: Cornwall, Clarence, Lancaster, York and Gloucester. The Dukedoms bestowing unprecedented power on the royal children. Edward III was succeeded in 1377 by his nine-year-old grandson Richard II, whose father Edward, the Black Prince had died in 1376.
Edward’s second son, Lionel of Antwerp, the first Duke of Clarence, had also predeceased him and left one daughter, Philippa, who became heiress presumptive to Richard II.
For the next few decades Henry’s heirs ruled England in relative
Legally the crown should have passed by law of primogeniture to Edmund Mortimer. It did not. The childless Richard II named her son Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March as his heir presumptive (following her death), but Roger Mortimer also died in 1398, leaving a young son Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.
peace, until the early 1450’s when Richard, Duke of York, a descendant of Edward III started making trouble. The Lancastrian claim to the throne descended from John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of Edward III.
Event 3 : War of tje Roses | 25
Henry VI’s right to the crown was challenged by Richard, Duke of York, who could claim descent from Edward’s third and fifth sons (arguably a stronger claim),Lionel of Antwerp and Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York. Richard of York, at the time held several important offices of state under the reign of Henry VI, quarrelled with prominent Lancastrians at court and with Henry ‘s queen, Margaret of Anjou. Although minor armed clashes had occurred previously between supporters of York and Lancaster, the first open fighting broke out in 1455 at the First Battle of St Albans. Several prominent Lancastrians died, but their heirs continued a deadly feud with Richard. Fighting resumed more violently in 1459. York’s most powerful supporter, the Earl of Warwick (the “Kingmaker”), invaded England from Calais and captured Henry at the Battle of Northampton allowing York to
became Protector of England, but at the time he was dissuaded from claiming the throne outright. When York attempted to put down Lancaster forces in the North he and his second son Edmund were killed at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460. The Lancastrian army advanced south and recaptured Henry at the Second Battle of St Albans, but failed to occupy London, and subsequently retreated to the north. York’s eldest son, Edward, Earl of March, was proclaimed King Edward IV. He quickly gathered the Yorkist armies and won a crushing victory at the Battle of Towton in March 1461. Not long after his victory Edward had a falling out with the Earl of Warwick, and also alienated numerous friends and family by favoring the “upstart family” of his Queen, Elizabeth Woodville (a commoner), whom he had married in secret (thereby ruining Warwick’s negotiations with
France for a bride). Warwick first attempted to supplant King Edward with his younger brother George, Duke of Clarence, and then to restore Henry VI to the throne. This resulted in two years of rapid changes of fortune, before Edward IV once again won complete victories at Barnet (April 1471), where Warwick was killed, and Tewkesbury (May 1471) where the Lancastrian heir, Edward, Prince of Wales, was executed after the battle. Henry was then supposedly murdered in the Tower of London several days later, ending the direct Lancastrian line of succession. A period of comparative peace followed, but King Edward died unexpectedly in 1483. His surviving youngest brother, Richard of Gloucester, moved to prevent the unpopular Woodville family of Edward’s widow from participating in the government during the minority of Edward IV’s
26 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
son; Edward V by taking control of the boy himself. To this end he seized the throne for himself, using the suspect legitimacy of Edward IV’s marriage as pretext and imprisoning Edward V and his brother, the two children were never seen again. Henry Tudor, a distant relative of the Lancastrian kings who had inherited their claim after the death of Edward of Westminster at Tawesbury, defeated Richard at Bosworth in 1485. He was crowned Henry VII , and married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, to unite and reconcile the two houses. The true extent of the consequences of the War of the Roses may never be fully understood, however because of the heavy casualties among the nobility, the wars are thought to have continued the changes to feudal English society caused by the effects of the Black Death.
This includes a weakening of the feudal power of the nobles and a corresponding strengthening of the merchant classes, and the growth of a strong, centralized monarchy under the Tudors.
Henry VII, wary of further fighting, kept the barons on a very tight leash, removing their right to raise arms, or supply armies of retainers so that they could not make war on each other or the king
After the Battle of Bosworth Henry VII married Edwards IV’s eldest daughter Elizabeth of York, uniting the Houses of York and Lancaster. It heralded the end of the medieval period in England and the movement towards the Renaissance. On the other hand, it has also been suggested that the traumatic impact of the wars was exaggerated by Henry VII to magnify his achievement in quelling them and bringing peace. The post-war period was also the death knell for the large standing baronial armies, which had helped fuel the conflict and troubled monarchs for numerous generations.
preventing conflicts like the Baron’s War during King John’s era. As a result the military power of individual barons declined, and the Tudor court became a place where baronial squabbles were decided with the influence of the monarch. Therefore by the law of succession the decedents of Edmund Mortimer should have been the inheritors of the throne, his exclusion and the conflicts that followed secured the throne for the Tudors inheritance and therefore the line that would eventually culminate in today’s monarch Elizabeth II.
Event 3 : War of tje Roses
| 27
28 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
Event 3 : War of tje Roses
| 29
30 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
In 1534, King Henry VIII separated the English Church from Rome . The English Reformation was a series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. These events were associated with the wider process of the European Protestant Reformation, a religious and political movement initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. This affected the practice of Christianity across most of Europe during this period; the ideological points were not large but proved significant to their believers.
Many factors contributed to the process including the decline of feudalism and invention of the Printing Press, and increased circulation of the Bible. However, the actual change was result of Henry VIII’s desire for an annulment of his marriage so he coulf rewed and get a male heir to secure the Tudor dynasty. Previously the idea was discussed by theologians but did not gain political support until Henry VIII sought an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry’s attempts to do so were, at the time, referred to as “The King’s Great Matter”.
| 31
Elizabeth of York
Henry VII
Margaret Queen of Scots
James V of Scotland
Henry VIII
Mary Queen of Scots
Jane Elizabeth I
Edward VI Mary I
James I of England Elizabeth of Bohemia
Charles I James II
cont. pg 40
By the mid 1520’s Henry VIII had grown desperate for a son and heir and began to seek a divorce from his wife Catherine of Aragon (mother of Mary I) and wanted to wed his wife’s lady in waiting Anne Bolyn (mother of Elizabeth I). His disagreements with the Pope led to the separation of the English church from Rome and years of distrust towards Catholics in England.
32 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
King Henry, although previously opposed to Protestantism (earning the title “Defender of the Faith” erned for ironically defending the sacrament of mariage),turned to this faith to fulfill his earthy desires. This removed the Church of England from Catholic influence and Henry was soon thereafter excommunicated by Pope Paul III. The matter came about when Henry became impatient with Catherine’s inability to have the male heir which he greatly desired as he sought to consolidate the power of the Tudor dynasty. Henry had three options: legitimize Henry FitzRoy (his illegitimate son), which would take the intervention of the pope and would be open to challenge; marry off his only legitimate child Mary as soon as possible and hope for a grandson to inherit directly, but Mary was an under sized child and was seen as unlikely to conceive easily; or somehow reject Catherine and find someone else.
The third proved the most attractive possibility. In 1525, as Henry grew more intolerant of Catherine, he became enamoured of his mistress Mary’s sister, Anne Boleyn, then a charismatic young woman in the Queen’s entourage. It was clear that by 1528 Henry was infatuated by his mistress and was beginning to plan a second marriage.When Henry confronted Catherine in 1527, claiming that their marriage had never been valid the Old Testament forbade marrying the wife of your brother in Leviticus 20:21 – all hope of tempting Catherine to retire to a nunnery or otherwise stay quiet were lost. Henry tried to appeal directly to the Holy See, independently from his own Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, from whom he kept his plans to marry Anne secret. The grounds were that the bull (allwingthe marriage in the first
place) of Pope Julius II was obtained by false pretences, because Catherine’s brief marriage to the sickly Arthur had been consummated. However, as the Pope was at that time imprisoned by Catherine’s own nephew, Emperor Charles V, Henry’s miniters had difficulty in getting access to him, and so only managed to obtain the conditional dispensation for a new marriage. This made it clear that the Pope was unlikely to be able to give Henry the annulment which he was seeking. The pope forbade Henry to proceed to a new marriage before a decision was given in Rome, not in England. To further his own ideas Parliament was approached with the proclamations and opinions of the theologians at Oxford and Cambridge that the marriage of Henry to Catherine had indeed been unlawful.
Event 4 : English Reformation | 33
Breaking the power of Rome in England proceeded slowly. In 1532, a lawyer who was a supporter of Anne, Thomas Cromwell (later chancellor), brought before Parliament a number of acts including the Supplication against the Ordinaries and the Submission of the Clergy, which recognized Royal Supremacy over the church. In the winter of 1532, Henry attended a meeting with Francis I of France at Calais in which he enlisted the support of the French king for his new marriage.
declared the marriage of Henry and Catherine null and void. Five days later, on 28 May 1533, Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry and Anne to be valid. Henry adopted the position as the Supreme Head of the Church of England to and basically annuled his own marriage.
illegitimate (barring her from the succsession), and Anne’s issue were declared next in the line of succession. Most notable in the was a clause repudiating “any foreign authority, prince or potentate”.
Henry adopted the position as the Supreme Head of the Church of England and annuled his own marriage.
Immediately upon returning to Dover in England, Henry and Anne went through a secret wedding service. She soon became pregnant and there was a second wedding service in London on 25 January 1533.
Catherine was formally stripped of her title as queen, and Anne was crowned queen consort on 1 June 1533. The queen soon gave birth to a daughter slightly prematurely on 7 September 1533. The child was christened Elizabeth, in honour of Henry’s mother, Elizabeth of York. (later Elizabeth I)
All adults were required to acknowledge the Act’s provisions by oath; those who refused were subject to imprisonment for life. Any publisher or printer of any literature alleging that the marriage was invalid was automatically guilty of high treason and could be punished by death.
On 23 May 1533, Cranmer, sitting in judgment at a special court convened at Dunstable Priory to rule on the validity of the king’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon,
Rejecting the decisionsof the Pope, Parliament validated the marriage of Henry and Anne with the First Succession Act 1533). Catherine’s daughter, Mary, was declared
Despite this Henry maintained a strong preference for traditional Catholic practices and, during his reign, Protestant reformers were unable to make many changes to
34 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
the practices of the Church of England. Meaning that to begin with the Church of England remained Catholic in all but name. Indeed, this part of Henry’s reign saw the trials for heresy for both Protestants as well as Catholics. Under his son Edward VI, more Protestant-influenced forms of worship were adopted. Under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, a more radical reformation proceeded.A new pattern of worship was set out in the Book of Common Prayer (1549 and 1552). The reformation however was cut short by the death of the king. Queen Mary I, who succeeded him, returned England again to the authority of the Pope, thereby ending the first attempt at an independent Church of England. During Mary’s reign, many leaders and common people were burnt for their refusal to recant of their reformed faith. These are known as
the Marian martyrs and their persecution has led to her nickname of “Bloody Mary”. Mary, like her brother died childless and it was left to the new regime of her half-sister Elizabeth to resolve the direction of the church. The settlement under Elizabeth I (from 1558), known as the Elizabethan settlement, developed the via media (middle way) character of the Church of England, a church moderately Reformed in doctrine, as expressed in the Thirty-nine Articles, but also emphasizing continuity with the Catholic and Apostolic traditions of the Church Fathers. The exact nature of the relationship between the church and state would be a source of continued friction well into the next century specifically that of Charles I, who’s reign culminated in the English Civil War and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell and the temporary abolishion of the moanrchy.
The formation of the Church of England as a separate entity from that of Rome held far reaching and complex results; the conflicts which arose put William III and his wife Mary II on the throne as Protestant alternatives to Mary’s Catholic father James II and later secured the succession for George I the direct ancestor of Elizabeth II and the modern monarchy. However much more than simply securing the line of succession for Elizabeth the separation of the Church of England helped bring new learning and influence to England and eventually exported those values into the foundation of America and their later colonies creating the foundations of various moral and legal systems in numerous countries and states across the globe, all through one king’s passion for one woman.
Event 4 : English Reformation | 35
36 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
Event 4 : English Reformation | 37
38 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
| 39
At the age of 54, after the death of Queen Anne of Great Britain, George ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. Although over fifty Roman Catholics bore closer blood relationships to Anne, the Act of Settlement 1701 prohibited Catholics from inheriting the British throne; George was Anne’s closest living Protestant relative. This was the first time and only time that such a huge familial leap
was made in the succession, the first time that the crown passes to a relatively distant family member through law rather than war (such as was the case with Henry VII). George’s succession was the result of over 100 years of change which began with Henry VIII’s English Reformation. Indeed has England remained Catholic then George I would not have succeeded to the English throne and would have remained a German Elector alone.
40 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible James I of England Charles II
Elizabeth of Bohemia
Charles I James II
Sophia of Hanover
Mary Princess Royal Anne I
Mary II
William III
George I George II In his lifetime George the 1st, previously 57th in line for the British throne became the first Hanoverian monarch to take the throne.
Fredrick Prince of Wales
George III George IV Edward Duke of Kent
Victoria I
Edward VII cont. pg 47
William IV
Such a huge leap in the succsession would have previosly caused major civil war but in 1714 was a sign of the quickly changing world.
Event 5 : Hanoverian Succsession | 41
Shortly after George’s accession to his paternal dukedom (Hanover), Prince William, who was secondin-line to the English and Scottish thrones, died increasing the liklihood of George’s ascension to the British throne. By the terms of the English Act of Settlement 1701, George’s mother, Sophia (a granddaughter of James I) , was designated as the heir to the English throne if the then reigning monarch (William III) and his sister-in-law, Princess Anne of Denmark (later Queen Anne) died without surviving issue. The succession was so designed because Sophia was theclosest Protestant relative of the British Royal Family; fifty-six Catholic relations with superior hereditary claims were bypassed. The likelihood of any of them converting to Protestantism for the sake of the succession was remote; some had already refused. Sophia’s family came under consideration as the descendants of Elizabeth of Bohemia, the only surviving child of James I to have reached adulthood. Elizabeth bore
nine children who reached adulthood, of whom Sophia of Hanover was the youngest. In 1701, the senior living representatives of the family passed over the throne in favor of Sophia. In August 1701 George was invested with the Order of the Garter and, within six weeks, the nearest Catholic claimant to the throne of England, ex-King James II, died. William III died the following March and was succeeded by Anne. Sophia became heiress presumptive to the new Queen of England. Sophia was in her seventy-first year, older than Queen Anne by thirty-five years, but she was very fit and healthy and invested time and energy in securing the succession either for herself or her son. However, it was Sophia’s son George who understood the complexities of English politics and constitutional law, which required further acts in 1705 to naturalize Sophia and her heirs as English subjects (thus enabling them to inherit the throne), and to detail
arrangements for the transfer of power through a Regency Council. Though both England and Scotland recognized Anne as their Queen, only the English Parliament had settled on Sophia, Electress of Hanover, as the heir. The Parliament of Scotland had not formally settled the succession question for the Scottish throne. In 1703, the Estates passed a bill that declared that their selection for Queen Anne’s successor would not be the same individual as the successor to the English throne, unless England was willing to granted full freedom of trade to the Scottish merchants in England and its numerous colonies. At first Royal Assent was withheld but the following year Anne capitulated to the wishes of the Estates and assent was granted to the bill, which became the Act of Security 1704. In response the English Parliament passed measures which threatened to restrict the Anglo-Scottish trade and potentially cripple the Scottish economy if their Estates did not
42 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
evetually agree to the Hanoverian succession in England and Scotland.
in Britain until 18 September. King George was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 20 October.
Eventually, in1707, both Parliaments agreed on an Act of Union which united England and Scotland into a single political entity, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and established the rules of succession as laid down by the Act of Settlement 1701. The union created the largest free trade area in eighteenth century Europe.
All this occurred only through the creation of the Act of Settlement (along with the Act of Union 1707), otherwise any of the 50 Catholics between Anne and George would have become the reigning monarch thus barring the line that today culminates in Elizabeth II and her decedents and England may never have become Great Britain.
Once it was known that Queen Anne’s health was failing and politicians in Britain were jostling for power the regency council was swiftly revised, she suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak and died on 1 August. The list of regents was opened, the members sworn in, and George was proclaimed King of Great Britain and Ireland. Partly due to contrary winds, which kept him in The Hague awaiting passage, he did not arrive
The Act of Settlement provided that the throne would pass to the Electress Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant descendants who had not married a Roman Catholic; those who were Roman Catholic, and those who married a Roman Catholic, were barred from ascending the throne “for ever”. For many reasons, various constitutionalists have praised the Act of Settlement: calling it “the seal of our constitutional laws and placing its importance above
”
the Bill of Rights 1689. Naamani Tarkow has written: “If one is to make sweeping statements, one may say that, save Magna Carta (more truly, its implications), the Act of Settlement is probably the most significant statute in English history.” In many ways George’s ascension was a sign of the changing world, the unification of England and Scotland into Great Britain. The strengthened trade of Great Britain later allowed for the Imperilism of the following generations. George I as a direct anscestor of Queen Elizabeth was the first step in bringing the Hoverian line to England (today the Windsor family). Though this family line came to power in very unstable and unprecedented circumstances, for all that, the Hanoverian period turned out to be one of remarkabe stable, not least because of the longevity of its kings.
Event 5 : Hanoverian Succsession
From 1714 through to 1837, there were only five monarchs, one of whom, George III, remains the longest reigning king in British History. The period also deveoped into one of political stability, and the fulle development of a constitutional monarchy. The Hanoverian dnasty also saw Britain’s first ‘Prime’ Minister, Robert Walpole, and the introduction of income tax. Towards the end of the Hanoverian period, the Great Reform Act was passed, which amongst other things widened the electorate. It was also in this period that Britain came to acquire much of
George III, remains the longest reigning king in British History.
her overseas empire, despite the loss of the American colonies, largely through foreign conquest in the various wars of the century. By the end of the Hanoverian period, the British Empire has spread so that it covered a third of the globe. The theme of longevity was set to continue, as the longest reigning monarch in British history, Queen elizabeths great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, prepared to take the throne.
| 43
44 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
| 45
46 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
After the death of King George in 1936, during the tenuous period between WWI and II, Edward VIII became King. Known for his wild lifestyle and affairs with various women the initial concerns about his ascension were confirmed when he made his wish to marry Wallis Simpson an American who was seeking divorce from her second husband. Due to the very different society of the times the proposed marriage had numerous opponents and was though to bring forth social discord and outrage. (Unlike the 2005 wedding of Prince Charles, which featured many similar issues).
Over the course of his reign there was much discussion concerning how the issue could potentially be resolved, the issues over the proposed marriage and although several possibilities were considered. It was eventually decided that Edward would have to abdicate if he wished to go forth with his marriage plans and e did so in December of 1936 passing the crown to his brother, Elizabeth’s father, King George VI.
| 47
Victoria I
Edward VII After the death of Gorge V, Edward VIII suceeded as King.
George V Edward VIII
George VI
Elizabeth II
However due to his wish to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson , he reigned for a little less then a year and was succeeded by Elizabeth’s father George VI. Had Edward remained King, Queen Elizabeth would only be celebrating 40 years on the throne rather than 60.
48 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
The 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII’s proposal to marry the Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing a divorce of her second.
Mrs Simpson was at one time also thought to be a spy for the Germans and was later accused of, along with her husband Edward to have Nazi sympathies
The marriage was opposed by the governments of the United Kingdom and the autonomous Dominions of the British Commonwealth. Religious, legal, political, and moral objections were raised. As British monarch,Edward was the nominal head of the Church of England, which did not allow divorced people to remarry if their ex-spouses were still alive; so it was widely believed that Edward could not marry Wallis Simpson and remain on the throne.
At Fort Belvedere, on 10 December, Edward VIII’s written abdication notice was witnessed by his three younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York (who succeeded Edward as George VI); Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince George, Duke of Kent.
Mrs Simpson was perceived to be politically and socially unsuitable as a consort because of her two failed marriages. It was widely assumed by the Establishment that she was driven by love of money or position rather than love for the King. Despite the opposition, Edward declared that he loved Simpson and
intended to marry her whether his governments approved or not.
The following day, the abdication was given legislative form by a special Act of Parliament (His Majesty’s Declaration of Abdication Act 1936). Under changes introduced in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster, a single Crown for the entire empire had been replaced by multiple crowns, one for each Dominion, worn by a single monarch in an organization then known as the British Commonwealth.
Edward’s abdication required the consent of each of the Commonwealth state, which was duly given; by the parliament of Australia, (which was at the time in session), and by the governments of the other Dominions, whose parliaments were in recess. However, the government of the Irish Free State, taking the opportunity presented by the crisis and in a major step towards its eventual transition to a republic, passed an amendment to its constitution to remove references to the Crown. The King’s abdication was recognized a day later in the External Relations Act of the Irish Free State and legislation eventually passed in South Africa declared that the abdication took effect there on 10 December.
Event 5 : Abdication Crisis | 49
It was Edward’s Royal Assent to these Acts, rather than his abdication notice, which gave legal effect to the abdication. Since Edward VIII had not yet been crowned, his coronation date became that of his brother Albert, now styled George VI, instead. On the day his reign officially ended, 11 December 1936, Edward made a BBC radio broadcast from Windsor Castle; no longer King, he was introduced as “His Royal Highness Prince Edward”. The official address had been polished by Churchill and was moderate in tone, speaking about Edward’s inability to do his job to his full ability.
“as I would have wished” without the support of “the woman I love”.
Edward’s reign had lasted 327 days, the shortest of any British monarch since the disputed reign of Lady Jane Grey over 380 years earlier. The day following the broadcast he left Britain for Austria. He remains the only British monarch to have voluntarily renounced the throne since the Anglo-Saxon period. He was succeeded by his brother Albert, who took the regnal name George VI. Edward was given the title His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor following his abdication, and he married Wallis Simpson the following year. They remained married until his death 35 years later. While the crown later passed to his brother Albert’s daughter Elizabeth II. The abdication might not have as far reaching implications as other events mentioned in this text, as Edward and Wallis died childless
the crown would eventually have passed to Elizabeth regardless. It is however important to note that without Edward’s abdication she would not have become the reigning monarch until his death in 1972 rather than her own father’s death in 1952. This would mean that this year in 2012 we would not be celebrating a Diamond Jubilee as she would only have occupied only 40 years on the throne.
50 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
Event 5 : Abdication Crisis | 51
52 | What Makes A Diamond: The 6 Events that mde the Jubilee Possible
The 2012 Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II has been a great celebration throughout the year marking the 60th anniversary of her accession of to the thrones of seven countries upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. She is today queen regnant of 16 sovereign states, 12 of which were British colonies or Dominions at the start of her reign. Her reign has seen great changes in the world from recovering from WWII to the multinational 2012 Olympics which she opened in London. Queen Victoria is the only other monarch in the histories of the United Kingdom, to have celebrated a Diamond Jubilee, which she did 115 years ago in 1897.
In a message released on her Accession Day, she stated:
“In this special year, as I dedicate myself anew to your service, I hope we will all be reminded of the power of togetherness and the convening strength of family, friendship and good neighbourliness ... I hope also that this Jubilee year will be a time to give thanks for the great advances that have been made since 1952 and to look forward to the future with clear head and warm heart�. She is the longest-lived and secondlongest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom and the secondlongest-serving current head of state (after King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand).