Britain - Kings and Queens Supplement 2021

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W elcome

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The monarchy has been at the heart of British life for almost 1,200 years.

Whether performing ceremonial duties or ruling absolutely, they have shaped the direction, character and history of this great nation.

For this BRITAIN magazine supplement, we have selected 25 of the most important, interesting and influential rulers in British history and explored their life stories in detail.

More than just profiles, however, we have delved into how each monarch’s reign both reflected and influenced the eras in which they lived. Look out for the timeline running at the bottom of each entry too, where we’ve picked out plenty of key events to help put these royal lives into further context.

As you read the stories of these great historical figures, we hope you gain an insight into the very spirit of British life.

4 6 8 10 12 13 14 16 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 28 29 30

Natasha Foges, Editor

K INGS & Q UEENS THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN IN 25 MONARCHS

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Cover images: GL Archive/World History Archive/ Alamy/Chris Cole/VisitBritain/Her Majesty the Queen by Isobel Peachey. www.isobelpeachey.com

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Editor Natasha Foges Art Editor Clare White Production Editor Jenny Rowe Text Natalie Marchant, Sally Hales, Steve Pill Chairman Paul Dobson Publisher Simon Temlett Group Advertising Manager Natasha Syed Printed in England by William Gibbons Production All Points Media

© The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd 2021. All rights reserved. Text and pictures are copyright restricted and must not be reproduced without permission of the publishers.

ALFRED THE GREAT & CANUTE WILLIAM I RICHARD I LLYWELYN & EDWARD I ROBERT I & HENRY V RICHARD III HENRY VIII MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS ELIZABETH I JAMES I CHARLES I OLIVER CROMWELL CHARLES II & WILLIAM III ANNE GEORGE III & GEORGE IV VICTORIA GEORGE V EDWARD VIII & GEORGE VI ELIZABETH II

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Alfred the Great 871-899

In the early Middle Ages, England was divided into seven kingdoms but, as the 9th century progressed, marauding hordes of Vikings took control of large areas in the north and east. When Alfred succeeded the throne of Wessex on 23 April 871, following the death of his elder brother Æthelred I, he had already been involved in skirmishes with the “Great Heathen Army” as a teenager.

After seven years of defensive manoeuvres, however, he oversaw a key victory at Edington in May 878, routing the Viking forces and prompting a peace treaty with the Danish king Guthrum that lead to a period of relative prosperity for the kingdoms of Mercia (broadly the West Midlands, Lancashire and Cheshire) and Wessex (the south of England stretching from Cornwall in the west to London and Kent in the east).

Aside from his prowess on the battlefield, Alfred’s main claim to greatness lay in his willingness to reform.

He helped to establish one of the UK’s first naval fleets, as well as a system of burhs (or fortified towns) at regular intervals across Wessex. He also imposed a 120-chapter law code, expanded taxation and encouraged learning by personally translating key Latin texts into English.

878 Rhodri the Great, known as ’King of Wales’, is killed in battle by the Anglo-Saxons l 886 Alfred restores English rule in London and renames it “Lundenburh” l 893 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an annual record of events, is compiled for the first time l

Canute

1016-1035

PHOTO: © DANIEL BOSWORTH/VISITBRITAIN/THE PRINT COLLECTOR/ALAMY

The Danish-born King Canute is often held up as an example of monarchical folly for his apocryphal attempt to sit his throne on the shoreline and order the waves to beat a retreat. In fact, 12th-century record of this event shows Canute to be a far wiser man than legend suggests. Far from believing he could control the tides, he was in fact trying to demonstrate to his courtiers that secular force is futile in comparison with God’s supreme powers.

Canute brought such wisdom to bear across his reign.

Having invaded and conquered much of England and laid siege to London, he was officially crowned in the capital on 6 January 1017. He used English forces to help him become ruler of Denmark the following year and Norway a decade later. Despite such distractions in attempting to forge an Anglo-Scandinavian or ‘North Sea’ empire, Canute proved an efficient and effective ruler of England, establishing a period of prosperity and calm following more than a century of internal battles and strife.

When he died in 1035, the empire died with him. War broke out in Scandinavia and Edward the Confessor emerged from exile to succeed Canute’s son and return the country to Anglo-Saxon rule. l 1018 Devon’s Buckfast Abbey is founded l 1034 King Duncan of Scotland begins his six-year reign. He was defeated by Macbeth

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W

illiam I

William the Conqueror’s arrival on the shores of southern England changed the course of British history. In 1066, he defeated King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings – a triumph that marked the end of Anglo-Saxon England. Born the illegitimate son of Robert of Normandy and his mistress Herleva at Falaise Castle in 1028, he was known as William the Bastard and gained the title Duke of Normandy after his father death in 1035. He was knighted in 1042 and soon gained a reputation as a fearless young warrior, and soon became the most powerful ruler in northern France and set his eyes across the Channel to England, then ruled by Edward the Confessor.

The two were cousins and had known each other since childhood. William claimed his cousin had promised him the English throne. Meanwhile, Harold Godwinson – the most powerful man in England – also claimed to be Edward’s chosen successor and, just a day after the English king’s death in January 1066, was crowned King Harold II at Winchester Cathedral.

His coronation enraged William, who claimed Harold had sworn to defend his right to the English throne. William mobilised his troops to invade England and sought support from across Europe, including a papal blessing.

The Norman duke was not the only threat Harold faced. At Stamford Bridge near York, Harold defeated the forces of his brother Tostig, as well as his Norwegian foe Harald Hardrade. The victory left Harold’s troops exhausted but, aware of the Norman threat across the Channel, they were faced with marching 300 miles south in a matter of days.

Meanwhile William, whose fleet had been delayed by inclement weather, landed unopposed at Pevensey and set up camp at Hastings.

The Norman forces attacked the ill-prepared Anglo-Saxon troops nearby on 14 October 1066. At first, they were unable to break Harold’s shield wall, leading to William’s horsemen fleeing with the English forces in hot pursuit. However, William, ever the fearsome warrior, rallied his mounted knights and attacked their pursuers.

But the Norman horsemen later feigned two retreats, fooling

Harold’s troops and leading to the Englishmen’s slaughter.

By nightfall, Harold had himself been killed in battle.

William had won and, on Christmas Day 1066, the Norman duke was crowned William I, King of England, at Westminster Abbey.

He rewarded those who had supported him during the invasion with large areas of lands, confiscated from Anglo-Saxon nobility. Among those rewarded was his half brother Odo, who was made Bishop of Bayeux – the person thought to have commissioned the famous Bayeux Tapestry. This spectacular piece of medieval art (below right) is an embroidered piece of linen, some 231 feet long and 19.5 inches wide, which tells the tale of the Norman Conquest of England.

A seemingly pious man, William also ordered the building of Battle Abbey on the very spot where Harold fell to both commemorate the victory and pay penance for the bloodshed, and supported monastic reform across the country, earning the respect and support of church leaders.

But William still had to deal with unrest throughout his reign, which he often crushed with violence and cruelty. To help secure his hold over England, William introduced the Norman practice of building castles, including the Tower of London.

Castles encouraged feudalism – providing a lord with control over the surrounding countryside – a system that was predominant until the 15th century.

And, in 1085, William ordered a detailed survey of the counties of England, providing detailed accounts of land held by the king and his tenants-in-chief.

The result was The Domesday Book, one of the most remarkable administrative accomplishments of the Middle Ages and a formal recognition of the feudal system. After spending much of the last 15 years of his life in Normandy, William fell from his horse during the siege of Mantes and died from injuries in 1087. His mark on history – both English and Norman – remains undiminished.

On Christmas Day 1066, the Norman duke was crowned William I

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1066 King Harold II is killed at the Battle of Hastings l 1077 The Bayeux Tapestry is completed in Canterbury, Kent l 1086 The Domesday Book is published, a survey of 13,418 settlements used to assess England’s taxable assets

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Richard I

PHOTO: © DAVID LYONS/ALAMY

1189-1199

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Famously known as Richard the Lionheart in recognition of his military prowess and authoritative leadership, one could categorise King Henry II’s third son as a true embodiment of the bulldog spirit, a dyed-in-the-wool patriot with a deep love of his country. The reality was far from this, however.

Born in Oxford in 1157, Richard visited Normandy as a young boy and spent most of his adult life in the south of France. He reportedly spoke little or no English and, during his entire decade-long reign as king of England, spent less than six months in the country. Even his loyalty to his own father was questionable.

His first major revolt against his father took place in 1173, as his decision to bequeath three castles to his youngest son John was contested by an alliance lead by Richard, his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine and his other two brothers.

Eighteen months of skirmishes followed across England, Scotland and France (by marrying Eleanor, Henry gained control of a wealthy portion of southwest France) before a truce was called. Further rebellions occurred and Richard became next in line after the death of his eldest brother Henry in 1183.

When Richard finally ascended the throne, he was preoccupied with the Crusades, a long-running series of religious wars that first began in 1095 and saw Christian crusaders attempting to capture Jerusalem and other significant territories in the Mediterranean and Middle East from Islamic rule. He spent the first months of his reign raising funds for a third Crusade and set sail from Dartmouth in the April of 1190. After stops in France and Italy along the way, a storm hit the fleet near Sicily and a treasure bounty was seized from one of the ships by the Cypriots. This prompted Richard to dock at Limassol and conquer the island of Cyprus.

He was less successful in his attempts to take control of Jerusalem from Saladin, the Egyptian sultan. Richard disagreed with French allies about the best plan of attack and the divided forces were beaten back to the coast.

On his return to England, Richard was captured and held to ransom by the Duke of Austria. A second coronation followed, but the Lionheart soon returned to the continent. When he was shot by a young crossbowman during battle in France, the wound became infected and he died on 6 April 1199, aged just 41.

1191 The monks of Glastonbury Abbey claim to have discovered King Arthur’s tomb l 1196 The Treaty of Louviers establishes peace temporarily between England and France l

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Llywelyn the Great

PHOTO: © ANGELO HORNAK/ALAMY/VISIT WALES

1195-1240

Born in Dolwyddelan Castle, near Conwy, around 1173, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth was the greatest Welsh statesman of the Middle Ages. By his death in 1240, he would rule most of Wales as Llywelyn the Great.

In Gwynedd, he seized power from his uncle. By 1200, he had control of Deheubarth, and signed a treaty the following year with King John of England, in return for recognition of his territorial gains. Llywelyn even married a daughter of King John in 1205. But the alliance floundered and Llywelyn found his lands invaded and he was restricted to ruling west of the Conwy. But, as King John became ever more unpopular, Llywelyn swept again through the territories.

With King John preoccupied with his rebellious barons, Llywelyn was busy earning his epithet, conquering castles at Carmarthen, Kidwelly, Llanstephan, Cardigan and Cilgerran. He was now leader of the free princes of Wales and de facto ruler of the majority of modern Wales. In 1218, John’s successor King Henry III, confirmed Llywelyn’s possessions, which he would rule until his death. l l

1215 Magna Carta is drafted by King John to make peace with rebel barons 1237 The Treaty of York establishes the Anglo-Scottish border as it remains today

Edward I 1272-1307

King Edward I first learned of his father, King Henry III’s death in November 1272, yet he wasn’t crowned until 19 August 1274, following a lengthy tour of Europe following his return to England from the Crusades. Arguably, he had been as good as leading the country prior to this point, after winning the Second Barons’ War in 1267 to defend his ineffectual father’s name.

Under Edward’s ruthless guidance, England took an aggressive approach to its neighbours. Welsh rebellions were brutally quelled with English laws and policing introduced to the principality.

Likewise, when Scotland endured a succession crisis in the early 1290s, Edward responded by asserting his authority during the interregnum and eventually invaded the country when its people resisted his demands. Coupled with the costs of the continuing Crusades, finances were in a dire state causing Edward to make one of the more questionable decisions of his reign: expelling all Jews from England and seizing their property and savings.

The ban wasn’t overturned until 1656.

Edward wasn’t an entirely heartless leader, as seen in his fond tribute to his first wife, Queen Eleanor, following her death in 1290. After being embalmed in Lincoln, the queen’s body was carried south to London and buried at Westminster Abbey.

Edward commemorated this final, 12-day journey with a dozen ornate crosses placed at each nightly stop. Three of them survive today, including one at Waltham Cross, while a replica of the final cross can be found outside Charing Cross station in central London – romantic sorts like to believe the name “charing” derived from the French chère reine, or “dear queen”.

1284 The Statute of Rhuddlan saw English common law and sheriffs imposed on North Wales l 1287 Floods destroy the medieval Sussex town of Winchelsea.

It was later rebuilt on a nearby clifftop l 1305 Sir William Wallace, made famous by the 1995 film Braveheart, is killed during the Wars of Scottish Independence

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Robert I of Scotland Born in Ayr in 1274, Robert the Bruce was on the side of King Edward I when the English attempted to undermine John Balliol, the King of Scotland, in the mid-1290s.

The balance of power shifted in 1298 when William Wallace gave up the guardianship of Scotland and Robert shared the role with Comyn. They battled together during the early years of the First War of Scottish Independence, yet, in 1306, Robert murdered his rival and laid claim to the throne alone.

Robert, a fearsome warrior, attacked English occupiers under the weaker rule of King Edward II. The Battle of Bannockburn near Stirling in 1314 proved decisive and, a decade later, the Pope recognised his claim to the monarchy of an independent Scotland.

When King Edward III took the English throne in 1327, peace talks between the two nations culminated in the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton just two years prior to Robert’s death.

1311 Additions to Lincoln Cathedral’s central tower made it the world’s tallest building for the next 238 years l 1327 The King of England, Edward II, is murdered following an invasion led his own exiled wife, Isabella

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Henry V 1413-1422

Born in Monmouth Castle in 1386, Henry became Prince of Wales at the age of 13 following the coronation of his father, King Henry IV. The prince was plunged into military action from an early age, leading an army at the Battle of Shrewsbury when he was just 16 years old. Although struck in the face by an arrow during that 1403 conflict, he reamined undeterred. This disciplined beginning stood him in good stead for his decade on the throne.

During his reign, he laid claim to the French throne, eventually setting sail for – and capturing – Harfleur, before securing victory at the Battle of Agincourt. Further campaigns followed before the 1420 Treaty of Troyes acknowledged him as France’s rightful heir.

Despite much of his reign being focused on the other side of the English Channel, one seemingly insignificant yet influential event came on 12 August 1417 when Henry wrote a letter home from France to his chancellor.

By opting to write in English for the first time, Henry marked a sea change in the national language. French had been the dominant dialect since the time of the Norman Conquest, yet publishers and guilds soon adopted English following this important royal missive.

1413 Scotland’s oldest university, St Andrews, is formally constituted by Pope Benedict XIII l 1417 The first official street lights appear as the Mayor of London decrees citizens must hang lanterns outside their homes on winter nights

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Richard III 1483-1485

In a long lineage dotted with eccentric and controversial characters, King Richard III could nevertheless claim to be the most demonised in the history of the British royal family – a man caricatured as a hunchback

by Shakespeare; a protector of the nation who was widely thought to have killed his two nephews (the so-called Princes in the Tower) and whose remains were recently and rather unceremoniously discovered under a car park in Leicester.

His reputation was set following the death of his brother, King Edward IV, on 9 April 1483. Richard was named Lord Protector of the Realm to look after the heir apparent, his 12-year-old nephew. Ruling as Edward V, he was first installed, as was customary, in the Tower of London, and joined later by his nine-year-old brother, Richard, Duke of York, while he awaited coronation.

Informed his brother’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was apparently invalid – and hence the young princes were ineligible

heirs – Richard had Parliament declare this officially he could assume the throne.

By the end of the summer, however, the two princes had vanished and rumours spread.

In the October, the second Duke of Buckingham led an initially unsuccessful rebellion on behalf of the House of Tudor, but Richard was unable to fully quell the doubters. The exiled Henry Tudor returned from France and built an army of supporters among the disaffected nobles. Richard set about intercepting Henry’s troops in Leicestershire, but was slain at the Battle of Bosworth Field in the summer of 1485.

And so ended the last major conflict in what became known as the War of the Roses, a 30-year civil war fought between the houses of Lancaster (Henry Tudor) and York (Richard III). Henry would marry Elizabeth of York, the Yorkist heir with the strongest claim to the throne, while executing other possible claimants.

In doing so, he ushered in the Tudor dynasty.

1484 Printer William Caxton publishes the first English translation of Aesop’s Fables l 1485 The Yeoman Warders (more commonly known as the Beefeaters) are founded l

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enry VIII

1509-1547

“Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived…”

If a poem is required to remember the fate of your various wives, it’s safe to say you maybe weren’t fully appreciative of the sanctity of a long marriage.

In fact, much of what occurred during the reign of this extravagant, desirous and rather insecure king came as a direct result of his various nuptials. Henry received papal dispensation to marry his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, as she had previously been wedded to his brother, Arthur. A Spanish princess, Catherine was perhaps the king’s one true love and so the early years of his reign saw him lean on Thomas Wolsey to do much of the regal leg work for him, appointing him Lord Chancellor in the process.

Although the couple had a daughter, Mary, the king was acutely aware of the need for a male heir and, by 1525 with his wife now 40 years old, he had Wolsey ask Pope Clement VII to annul the union and clear the way for Henry to marry Catherine’s lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn. The pope refused, reluctant to antagonise Catherine’s nephew, the all-powerful Roman Emperor Charles V. Henry took matters into his own hands and banished Catherine from court so that he could wed Anne Boleyn in secret on 14 November 1532.

While Anne would give birth to Henry’s second daughter – the future Queen Elizabeth I – there were further miscarriages, and the king once more grew tired. She was banished to the Tower of London under dubious charges of adultery, before being publicly beheaded in 1536.

Within a year, Henry VIII had remarried another lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, who quickly gave birth to the son, Edward, the king so craved. Seymour died during childbirth and three more brief marriages occurred during his final decade: an ill-judged union with German princess Anne of Cleves that was largely politically motivated, a 16-month marriage to the teenage Catherine Howard that ended in another adultery charge and beheading, and a final four-year marriage to wealthy widower Catherine Parr, who nursed the obese, illness-plagued Henry prior to his death on 28 January 1547.

Away from his courtly romances (or alliances, if we’re being cynical), Britain’s second Tudor king maintained a very active presence on the national and international stage. He invaded France during the first years of his reign, became Ireland’s first English monarch in 1542, and attempted alliances with Spain, Germany and Italy at various stages during the intervening years.

One could even argue that the king sowed the seeds for a modern, multicultural Britain in his treatment of Protestants. Although in practice the Church of England remained Catholic, he is generally credited with initiating the English Reformation by challenging papal supremacy, curbing Catholic influences and even marrying the German Protestant Anne of Cleves.

But then perhaps Henry VIII was just, as the National Archives suggest on their excellent website, the “king of spin”. With many of the 25 monarchs profiled in this supplement, we are often reliant on artistic renditions and self-serving written records to piece together an accurate account of their lives.

More than almost any other monarch before him – or indeed since – Henry VIII was clearly aware of his public profile and how it could be used to create an impression of power and authority.

As the National Archives notes, “Written accounts reveal that the young Henry was bearded, tall and imposing, a physique probably inherited from his mother’s family… [Yet] by his mid-forties he had become so obese he had to be hoisted by crane onto his war horse, a far cry from his carefully constructed public image.”

Likewise, his fondness for heraldry, pageantry and tournaments acted as very rudimentary propaganda for the grandeur of his reign, helped along no doubt by the ceremony involved in staging six royal weddings. While we can only speculate over the extent to which the projection matches the reality, one thing we can say for sure is that Henry VIII’s legacy is fascinating, rich and ripe for further investigation.

Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, was charged with adultery and publicly beheaded

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1516 The appointment of a Master of Posts marks the founding of the Royal Mail, Britain's postal service l 1542 The Witchcraft Act makes it a crime punishable by death

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M

ary, Queen of Scots 1542-1567

Mary Queen of Scots was born in 1542, the only child of James V of Scotland and his French wife, Mary of Guise. Born to rule during a tumultuous century engulfed by the Renaissance and Reformation, she became queen of the Scots at just six days old when her father died.

Dynastically important, Mary was first betrothed to King Henry VIII’s son, Edward, but her Catholic guardians disapproved and broke the agreement, leading to Henry VIII’s unsuccessful Scottish raids, known as the ‘Rough Wooing’.

Still a young girl, Mary was sent to the French court of Henry II, where she would later marry the Dauphin Francis, briefly becoming the Queen of France in 1559, uniting the French and Scottish crowns, only to be widowed at 18 when Francis died of an ear infection.

Catholic Mary returned to rule the officially Protestant Scotland where she was regarded with suspicion. In 1565, she married her cousin Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley. The union quickly floundered and Darnley had Mary’s private secretary, David Rizzio, murdered in her presence at Holyrood Palace.

She gave birth to a son, James, in Edinburgh Castle in 1566, but the royal couple’s relationship disintegrated and the queen befriended James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. The following year,

when Darnley was murdered during an explosion, suspicion fell on Mary and Bothwell, who she would marry soon after.

Outraged, the Scottish nobility forced her abdication in favour of her baby son but she escaped imprisonment and fled south of the border to seek the protection of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Mary’s strong claim to the English throne, however, made her too much of a threat.

Indeed, many English Catholics considered her the legitimate sovereign of England. They believed Elizabeth was illegitimate and Mary, as the descendant of Henry VIII’s sister, Margaret Tudor, was the rightful heir.

Elizabeth was reluctant to have her killed, so Mary found herself living for 19 years as a prisoner, although she would remain the focus of Catholic plots to put her on the throne.

When correspondence linked Mary directly to a plot, she was tried for treason and condemned to death. The proud Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587.

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l 1553 Lady Jane Grey becomes Queen of England for nine days, the shortest reign in British history l 1558 Reformation leader John Knox publishes The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, a pamphlet denouncing female rulers

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Mary’s strong claim to the English throne made her a threat to Elizabeth I

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E

lizabeth I 1558-1603

Queen Elizabeth I presided over an age of discovery that saw the establishment of the English Protestant church, the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the flourishing of the arts.

The second daughter of Henry VIII and last of the Tudor monarchs, the ‘Virgin Queen’ was born into turmoil in 1533.

Her mother, Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, was beheaded when she was just a child and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate.

Her half-brother, Edward VI, became king for six years from 1547, but died when he was just 15. He bequeathed the crown to Lady Jane Grey. However, his will was overturned within days and Elizabeth’s Catholic half-sister Mary was made queen.

Mary I ascended to the throne in July 1553, becoming the first English queen to rule in her own right. She persecuted Protestants in a fruitless bid to restore the Catholic faith in England, earning her the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’. The Catholic queen even imprisoned her half-sister Elizabeth in the Tower of London on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. But Mary, who married King Philip II of Spain, died childless in 1558 and Elizabeth assumed the crown amid public jubilation and patriotic demonstrations.

The new queen set to work quickly, reducing the size of the Privy Council – a formal body of advisors to the sovereign – in an attempt to increase efficiency and purge some of its Catholic members.

She also appointed a series of loyal and trusted advisors, including Sir William Cecil, who would serve for 40 years as her chief advisor.

By as early as 1559, England was restored to Protestantism and Elizabeth was declared head of the church. This religious settlement marked a compromise between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, while Elizabeth’s urging of religious tolerance at all levels of society brought new stability to the country.

None of this satisfied either staunch Catholics or the Roman Catholic church, who still considered Elizabeth’s cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, the rightful heir to the English throne. Mary, an instigator and focus of Catholic rebellion, spent 19 years as Elizabeth’s prisoner, before being tried, found guilty and executed in 1587.

Nevertheless, the rebellions continued and Elizabeth began to face threats from further afield. She had long had a strained relationship with her former brother-in-law, Philip II of Spain, who demanded England return to Catholicism. Their relationship

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worsened after Elizabeth sent aid to Dutch Protestants fighting for independence from Spanish rule. Philip retaliated by backing plots against Elizabeth, notably through Mary, Queen of Scots.

The Scottish queen’s execution proved the final straw for Philip and so he prepared to invade England. In July 1588, the Spanish Armada reached England shores for what became one of the most famous naval battles in history. Informed the invasion was near, Elizabeth declared to her troops: “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.” The English fleet went on to defeat the militarily superior Armada, which eventually retreated before the majority of its fleet was shipwrecked in Atlantic gales.

Elizabeth also reigned over a period of adventure. Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world and Sir Walter Raleigh made his first journey to South America – expeditions which paved the way for England’s colonial expansion. The arts also flourished under the learned Elizabeth, most notably the career of William Shakespeare – the Queen herself attending the first performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The Elizabethan era is popularly considered one of success and triumph, with the Queen often referred to as ‘Gloriana’ or ‘Good Queen Bess’. Her political guile and intellectual prowess had ensured a period of tolerance, prosperity and wealth. Perhaps the most lasting image of Elizabeth was, however, as the ‘Virgin Queen’ on account of her devotion to her role. She was surrounded by suitors such as Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, whose hand in marriage she refused despite continuing to enjoy his company until his death.

In fact, Elizabeth chose never to marry. Doing so with one of her many overseas suitors would have drawn England into another country’s foreign policy, and faced the risk of infighting with fellow countrymen. So instead she cultivated the image of a selfless woman “married” to England. She died alone on 24 March 1603, at the age of 63, having left an indelible legacy.

1564 Playwright William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England l 1580 Francis Drake returns from the first successful circumnavigation of the globe and receives a knighthood the following year l 1600 The East India Company receives a Royal Charter. At its peak, it would account for half of all the world’s trade

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James VI and I 1567/1603-1625

King James VI succeeded the Scottish throne at an age when a highchair would have been a more suitable seat for him. His mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, abdicated on 24 July 1567 when James was barely 13 months old, making him Scotland’s longest ruling monarch thus far when he died more than 57 years later.

The Edinburgh-born monarch’s key role in British history came about on 24 March 1603 with the so-called Union of the Crowns.

Following the death of the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, Queen Elizabeth I, James was identified as the closest acceptable heir to the English and Irish thrones. While England and Scotland remained individual sovereign states for a further century, this was the first time that one monarch had ruled the three realms simultaneously, which proved a major step towards the establishment of Great Britain.

While James suffered the ignominy of Guy Fawkes and friends attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament with him in it, His Majesty nevertheless oversaw a relatively peaceful reign, avoiding being drawn into the disastrous Thirty Years’ War in Europe and seeing great developments in the arts, particularly through playwright William Shakespeare and architect Inigo Jones. l 1605 The Gunpowder Plot is foiled l

1611 The King James Bible is first published

l 1620 The Pilgrim fathers set sail for the New World on The Mayflower ship

Charles I

PHOTOS: © MILES WILLIS PHOTOGRAPHY/DERRICK E. WITTY/NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES

1625-1649

As a monarch, King Charles I made a great art lover. His refined tastes defined his reign as he commissioned portraits from Van Dyck and collected works by Italian Renaissance masters such as Raphael and Titian. Yet one of his grandest artistic endeavours also acts as the perfect illustration of his limitations as a king.

Charles had Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens paint a set of giant canvases for the ceiling of the Banqueting House at Whitehall (pictured left), which were installed in 1636.

The central panel celebrates the House of Stuart’s twin beliefs in absolute monarchy and the Divine Right of Kings, something that would prove to be Charles’ downfall. Believing he was able to rule without Parliament, he dissolved them for more than a decade, making failed attempts to raise money via other means and sidestepping his constitutional responsibility.

As a result, Charles lacked the finances to quell a Scottish rebellion and was forced to backtrack but the damage was done.

The English Civil Wars broke out in 1642 between the royalists (the “Cavaliers”) and the parliamentarians (the “Roundheads”), culminating in not only Charles being tried for treason and executed, but also the very role of the monarchy being called into question. In a bitter twist, Charles was beheaded outside Whitehall, meaning one of his last sights would be that Rubens mural he commissioned in more optimistic times.

1625 The island of Barbados is claimed as a British colony l 1631 Work begins on Inigo Jones-designed buildings at London’s Covent Garden market

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Oliver Cromwell 1653-1658

The only non-royal to rule the country, Oliver Cromwell remains one of the most controversial figures in British history.

To some, he’s the father of democracy and a hero of the common man; to others, he’s little more than a military dictator who rose from obscure roots during the English Civil War to rule with his puritanical, iron-like will.

Born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on 25 April 1599, Cromwell was a gentleman of limited means. Little is known about his early life until a modest inheritance and a religious conversion transformed his circumstances. He stood for Parliament for Huntington in 1628 and later Cambridge in 1640 (his former home in nearby Ely is open to the public today as Oliver Cromwell’s House), but was not significantly involved in national politics until the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642. He sided with the Roundheads and soon became a principal commander of the New Model Army – his role in the 1644 Battle of Marston Moor crucial to victory. He was no great tactician: instead, success stemmed from his ability to instil self-belief in his men and share his conviction that God was willing them to win.

He wasn’t, at first, completely against the monarchy but, after placing King Charles I under house arrest, they failed to agree a settlement. The king escaped Roundheads’ custody, sparking a second civil war in 1648.

In 1649, Cromwell was a signatory to Charles’s death warrant and went on to defeat the claimant to the throne, Charles II, at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651. Charles II fled to mainland Europe as Cromwell returned triumphantly to London.

In 1653 he dismissed the ‘Rump’ parliament by military force in a bid to establish his parliament of saints, but was then invited to rule as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. Cromwell was even offered the crown itself, which he refused. Although during his five-year rule the country was a de facto republic, he claimed monarchic prerogatives, including chosing his inexperienced son Richard as his successor.

Cromwell died from natural causes in 1658 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

However, after the Reformation in 1660, royalists had his remains dug up, hung in chains and beheaded.

1651 Charles I’s eldest son, Charles II, is crowned King of Scotland l 1655 Britain seizes the Caribbean island of Santiago from the Spanish, renaming it Jamaica

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Charles II Known as the ‘Merry Monarch’, Charles II’s reign came in direct contrast to the previous Puritan regime; his was an era of flamboyant fashions and courtly excess.

Born on 29 May 1630, Charles was the eldest surviving son of King Charles I. After the parliamentary victory in English Civil War, he was forced into exile and was living in the Netherlands when he learned of his father’s execution.

The following year, Charles made a deal with the Scots that saw him proclaimed their king. He invaded England only to be defeated by Cromwell and forced to flee to mainland Europe. He spent the next nine years in exile, until a crisis following the death of Cromwell in 1658 and his son Richard’s ineffectual rule resulted in the Restoration of the monarchy. In 29 May 1660, was received in London to public acclaim as King Charles II. Hedonism was paramount in Charles’ court despite the early years of his reign being marred by tragedy, as plagues and great fires wiped out great swathes of the population.

He tried to pursue a policy of religious tolerance, largely due to his own Catholic leanings, but this caused clashes with his Protestant parliament, which he dissolved in 1681.

He ruled alone until his death four years later. Without an heir, the crown passed to his Catholic brother James.

1665 An outbreak of bubonic plague wipes out 15 per cent of the English population l 1666 A blaze at the King’s Bakery in Pudding Lane ignites the Great Fire of London l

PHOTO: © JOHN HAMMOND/NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES

1660-1685

William III & Mary II 1689-1702

PHOTOS: © ACTIVE MUSEUM/ALAMY/ANDY GALLACHER/NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES

A Protestant Dutchman of the House of Hague, William was born the sovereign Prince of Orange on 4 November 1650 in the Dutch Republic, his father having died the week before his birth. His route to the English throne came via his mother, Mary, who was the daughter of Charles I. In 1677, William married his 15-year-old English cousin Mary, whose father became James II in 1685, following Charles II’s death. James II was an unpopular king who alienated his Protestant subjects.

William, supported by influential British political and religious leaders, was invited to invade by James’s opponents. On 5 November 1688, he landed at the southern English port of Brixham, Devon.

James had little support from his subjects and fled to France. William and Mary were offered the throne and became joint sovereigns in what became known as the ‘Glorious Revolution’, which marked the transition to the parliamentary monarchy that still we know today. They reigned together until Mary’s death on 28 December 1694, after which William ruled as sole monarch until his death in 1702. l 1694 The Bank of England is founded l

1698 Devon-born Thomas Savery creates the world’s first steam-powered machine

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Anne

1702-1714 The 18th century was a time of radical change across Britain. Advances in technology transformed the landscape, particularly across the north of England where canals and steam railways connected ever-expanding towns and cities, while coal mines and cotton mills dotted the fields and waterways. The gradual shift from rural to urban areas coincided with an almost doubling in the population.

Charged with bringing the nation kicking and screaming into this brave new world, the century’s first new monarch, Anne I, was not particularly ambitious or intellectual, and the successes of her reign were the result of strong military and parliamentary leadership. Profiles of Anne have often portrayed her as weak and ineffective, something of a gambler and an alcoholic (she earned the cruel nickname ‘Brandy Nan’ in recognition of her tipple of choice), but there can be no doubting she was also a dutiful Queen, regularly attending cabinet and privy council meetings and being the last British monarch to veto an act of Parliament.

The defining success of Anne’s brief reign is one of the few in which she did take an active role. The Treaty of Union in 1706 and the Acts of Union that followed brought England and Scotland together under a single Parliament of Great Britain. Anne had encouraged political integration since the start of her reign and the parliaments of both countries obliged, with England enforcing the Settlement Act of 1701 north of the border and Scotland keen to access the empire’s lucrative foreign trade contacts.

Perhaps the most tragic element of Anne’s story was the lack of a surviving heir.

She became pregnant at least 17 times over a 16-year period, although only five lead to live births and just one survived infancy – Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, was 11 when he died in 1700.

As such, when Anne died of ill health on 1 August 1714, the royal House of Stuart ended with her. A life plagued by tragedy, rheumatism, gout, obesity and overindulgence was over; as her doctor John Arbuthnot noted sagely at the time, “I believe sleep was never more welcome to a weary traveller than death was to her.”

1702 The world’s first daily newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London l 1706 The Treaty of Union leads to the creation of Great Britain and a political unity between England, Wales and Scotland

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George III 1760-1820

With no surviving heir, the death of Queen Anne saw Germany’s House of Hanover assume the British throne under the Settlement Act of 1701. George I spoke no English so communicated with subjects in French, while George II faired little better, spending many summers in Hanover, even if he did succeed in growing the British Empire in India, Canada and beyond.

Continuing that lineage, London-born George III was nevertheless proud of his fluency in English and snubbed the chance to return to Hanover. He was a cultured sort, founding the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768 and amassing some 65,000 books in a royal library that now resides in the British Library.

His keen interest in agriculture on the royal estates saw him labelled as ‘Farmer George’, while his passion for sciences include the founding of the King’s Observatory in Richmond.

Opinions vary on the success of George’s reign and the less generous accounts highlight his meddling in political matters and failure to win the American War of Independence, resulting in a diminished empire. Others point to victories in the Seven Years’ War and the Napoleonic Wars, relative financial frugality and advances in science and industry as the markers of a diligent and conscientious monarch.

Regardless, such events took their toll. By the end, George was blind, frail and suffering from both mental illness and the blood disease porphyria, his eldest son serving as Prince Regent for his final decade. Nevertheless, ‘Farmer George’ remains Britain’s third-longest serving monarch.

1776 America declares independence from Britain l 1800 The Acts of Union create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland l 1815 Napoleon is defeated by Britain and her allies at the battle of Waterloo l 1817 England’s oldest public gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery, opens to the public

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George IV PHOTOS: © CHRISTOPHER HURST/JOHN HAMMOND/NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/BRITAIN ON VIEW/VISITBRITAIN

1820-1830

Having kept the throne warm since 1811 as Prince Regent during his father’s illness, George IV was eventually crowned at the ripe old age of 57 – some 16 years above the average life expectancy in that era. Nevertheless, he initially threw himself into the role with aplomb, becoming the first monarch to make state visits to Ireland and Scotland since 1399 and 1651, respectively.

This willingness to embrace the pageantry of the role came as no surprise to followers of his previous princely exploits. Such was George IV’s commitment to the arts, architecture, fashion and furniture that the period from 1811 to 1837 (the end of his brother William IV’s reign) is known as the Regency era. Working with the architect John Nash, he commissioned major projects including the Royal Pavilion in Brighton (pictured left), the King’s Opera House in London’s Haymarket (now Her Majesty’s Theatre), and Regent Street, now one of the capital’s most popular shopping streets.

1823 William Webb Ellis invents the game of rugby by picking up a football during a match l 1825 The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens, the world’s first to use steam locomotives l 1828 ZSL London Zoo, the world’s oldest scientific zoo, opens l

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V

ictoria

Queen Victoria was the matriarch of the British Empire, epitomising the values of the era and carving a new role for the monarchy. During her 63-year reign, a length surpassed only by our current Queen, Victoria presided over the social and industrial transformation of Britain, as well as a massive expansion of the empire.

Ironically, Victoria wasn’t expected to rule. Born on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace, she began life fifth in line to the throne.

Her father, Prince Edward, and grandfather, King George III, both died the following year, after which her uncle, George IV, acceded the throne. She became heir presumptive to her next surviving uncle, William IV, who ruled from 1830 yet lacked an heir given his four legitimate children all died during infancy.

Victoria’s childhood was an unhappy one thanks to an over-protective upbringing by her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her advisor Sir John Conroy, under the strict ‘Kensington System’, a set of rigorous rules named after their Kensington Palace home.

So when Victoria became queen upon the death of William IV in 1837, she relished the independence. Britain was already a constitutional monarchy, in which she yielded little power but significant influence – something she did not refrain from using. Her first prime minister was Lord Melbourne who became a trusted friend although his influence waned after Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840.

Albert was the love of Victoria’s life and became, in effect, her chief adviser and private secretary. He encouraged her to be less partisan with parliament and assume the more ceremonial role that the monarchy still performs today. Meanwhile, the Victorian era became associated with industrial expansion and no one championed this more than Prince Albert. One of his greatest achievements was organising the Great Exhibition of 1851 at London’s Hyde Park, which showcased the best in technology and design. He became known as a great reformer, backing educational advances, the abolition of slavery and workers’ welfare.

Albert and Victoria’s marriage was a happy one and they went on to have nine children. As parents, the pair placed a strong emphasis on morality and family values, and thought it was better to set a good example to their children rather than chastise. They enjoyed seclusion at their new residences of Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight, and Balmoral in the Scottish Highlands, where they could live a private life not all that different from their subjects.

When Albert died of typhoid in 1861, Victoria was devastated and withdrew from public life, which made her unpopular with the public. She began to fully resume duties between 1874 and 1882, encouraged by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and her family.

It was during this later era of her reign that Victoria’s influence helped bring peace and stability to Europe and the British Empire.

She encouraged ministers not to intervene in the Second Schleswig War of 1864 between Prussia, Austria and Denmark, while a letter to the German Emperor, Wilhelm I, helped avert a second Franco-German war in 1875.

But what really boosted the Queen’s popularity was imperial sentiment.

At the height of the empire, a quarter of the world’s land surface was ruled by Victoria.

She was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877 and, by the end of her reign, Australia and Canada were dominions, South Africa was soon to become a united nation, and large parts of Africa, the Far East and Oceania were under British rule. Victoria also exerted a strong, albeit different, influence over Europe. The queen was related to nearly all the ruling houses on the continent, either through her own relatives or her children’s marriages, giving rise to the popular epithet ‘Grandmother of Europe’. Victoria died in 1901, aged 81, having outlived her beloved Albert by 40 years.

A quarter of the world’s land surface was ruled by Queen Empress Victoria

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1839 JMW Turner paints The Fighting Temeraire, often cited as the nation’s favourite artwork l 1863 The Metropolitan line, the world’s first underground railway, opens in London l 1876 Scotland-born scientist Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone

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George V

PHOTO: © SHUTTERSTOCK/HILARY MORGAN/ALAMY

1910-1936

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As a descendant of Prince Albert and the Germanic house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, King George V found himself in an awkward position following the outbreak of the First World War. Having maintained a high profile during the early war efforts, he bowed to anti-German sentiment and changed the family’s name to Windsor.

Aside from the war, George V did much to promote and extend the reach of the British Empire. As Duke of Cornwall and York in the decade prior to his coronation, he visited its many far-flung corners, including Canada, Singapore, South Africa and Australia, even opening the first Parliament of the latter on 9 May 1901.

Meanwhile, a 1911 visit to India saw him become the first monarch to make that journey.

Following the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in the aftermath of the First World War, the Empire gained control of several countries, including Iraq and Palestine. The result was that the Empire accounted for 13.7 million square miles or just less than a quarter of the total land area on earth.

Back in Britain, George would oversee the first Labour government in 1924, while the political crisis that followed a worldwide economic slump in 1931 saw the king promote the idea of a coalition government between the three major parties: Conservatives, Labour and Liberals.

He died on 20 January 1936, leaving a legacy as a popular and unifying monarch.

1912 The RMS Titanic sinks four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton l 1914 War is declared on 28 July l 1925 Scottish engineer John Logie Baird transmits the world’s first television pictures l 1930 The first British Empire Games, now known as the Commonwealth Games, is held in Canada l

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Edward VIII 1936

Fleeting, fascinating and intensely romantic, Edward VIII’s reign lasted only 326 days yet it captured the attention of onlookers across the globe. Five years prior to his coronation, Edward met Wallis Simpson, a 34-year-old American socialite on her second marriage.

Mixing in similar circles with her shipbroker husband, she spent weekends at the prince’s country retreat and love blossomed. When King George V, died on 20 January 1936, Edward took the throne from his disapproving father and continued his relationship with Mrs Simpson, holidaying with her on a Mediterranean cruise that courted press attention.

The Simpsons’ decree nisi arrived on 27 October. Divorce was a taboo subject and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin warned that the public wouldn’t accept Wallis as queen. Edward was adamant and forced a cabinet vote on the prospect of a morganatic marriage that was rejected outright. The king was faced with a stark choice: leave Wallis, marry her in defiance of Parliament or abdicate his throne. There was only one answer. Edward VIII remains the only British sovereign to ever resign voluntarily – and he did it in the name of love.

1936 The Spitfire takes its first test flight

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1936 Crystal Palace, built for 1851's Great Exhibition, burns down

George VI 1936-1952

Made famous by actor Colin Firth in the Oscar-winning 2010 film The King’s Speech, the stammering Prince Albert reluctantly accepted the throne following his brother’s abdication and styled himself as King George VI in an attempt to restore public confidence in the monarchy.

Little did he know at the time but the country would very soon require strong leadership. In less than three years, an axis led by Hitler’s Nazi Germany would invade Poland, marking the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. George VI led by example, visiting the United States in the summer of 1939 to shore up Anglo-American relations, embracing rationing in the royal household and making morale-boosting visits to munitions factories and army barracks to support the war efforts at home.

While George was able to celebrate winning the war in May 1945 from the balcony of Buckingham Palace with Winston Churchill, his reign wasn’t entirely successful. In the aftermath of the war, the economy faltered and the dissolution of the British Empire continued apace. Many colonies either joined the informal Commonwealth community or declared independence – most notably India in 1947.

PHOTO: ©CHRONICLE/ALAMY/GETTY

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1940 Winston Churchill begins his first term as prime minister l 1946 The National Health Service (NHS) is established l 1950 The world’s longest-running radio soap opera, The Archers, first airs on the BBC l 1951 The Festival of Britain takes place, promoting British prowess in science, the arts and industry l

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Elizabeth II Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, HM The Queen’s tenure can be defined by a sense of duty that has made her one of the world’s most respected heads of state.

Born Princess Elizabeth Windsor on 21 April 1926, she was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York. During the Second World War, determined to do her bit, the 18-year-old princess joined the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service. She married Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in 1947, then welcomed her first child, Prince Charles, in 1948, and Princess Anne, in 1950.

Her relatively quiet life as a wife and mother came to an abrupt end in 1952 when she learned of the death of her father, King George VI – who came to the throne after his brother’s abdication – while on a royal tour of Kenya. She was crowned Queen at the tender age of 27 in 1953.

Her family grew to include two more princes – Andrew and Edward – in the 1960s, a decade of political and social change that was overseen by Elizabeth II’s diligent reign. A public outpouring of respect for the monarch would follow in 1977 to mark her Silver Jubilee.

Another decade, the 1990s, proved more challenging. In particular, the Queen’s self-proclaimed “annus horribilis” in 1992, which saw Princess Anne divorce and Prince Andrew and Prince Charles separate from their wives amid tabloid scandal. Then, in November, fire ripped through her favourite home, Windsor Castle. The next few years continued in a tragic vein with the death of Princess Diana in 1997 and the loss of her mother and sister in 2002. Yet the Queen would ride out these storms, charting a course to smoother waters for a modernised monarchy.

The loss of her beloved husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, in April 2021, marked the end of an era. Despite speculation that she plans to abdicate, the Queen appears as steadfast as ever. Her Platinum Jubilee in June 2022 will celebrate an astonishing 70-year reign: a first for any British monarch.

1973 Britain joins the European Economic Community 1979 Conservative party leader Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first female prime minister l 1989 English scientist Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web l l

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