Trooping the Colour – The Queen’s Birthday Parade

The alternatives are the last of the Plantagenets the descendents of the Pole family. Lord Hastings is the last official person of this line and he lost it all gambling away the family fortune, but he went to Austrailia and the line goes down to a present family who live out there at the moment. However, they are not likely to come over and claim the throne.

This line goes back to the middle adult son of Richard, Duke of York cousin to Henry Sixth. He claimed the throne as a better, stronger alternative to Henry who had mental health problems. His eldest son became Edward IV in the Wars of the Roses, then George Duke of Clarence was next and the youngest son was the famous Richard Duke of Gloucester;;;;;Richard 111. The children of George Duke of Clarence claim to be the rightful heirs as there was doubt about the legitimacy of Edward. His daughter Margaret married Sir Richard Pole Earl of Salisbury and became his next heir. The family after the extintion of the Plantagenet males after Bosworth in 1485 served the Tudor line faithfully, but secretly held onto their lost claim. In the mid 1530s Henry VIII saw the entire family as trouble and Margaret’s eldest son Henry, Lord Montague was executed. Two other sons died, and another one Geoffrey Pole was put in prison and then let out as he went mad. He went into exile, Their other brother, her thrird son was Cardinal Reginald Pole and he always claimed to be the real heir. The line that we have to follow to rival Elizabeth goes to the youngest daughter Ursula Pole who was the last of the family alive. Her children and grandchildren lead this unbroken line down to Lord Hastings and then out to the people in Austrailia. It is very complex but a documentary by the actor who played Boldrick in Black Adder traced the entire history.

However, there is a big catch here. The Plantagenets were ousted by the Tudors at Bosworth and all sorts of laws made them and their heirs the only legitimate claimants to the throne. It is this line that, although not directly, leads down to Queen Elizabeth. She is descendent of both the Plantagenets through Elizabeth of York who married Henry Tudor after Bosworth. She was the eldest daughter of Edward IV, and a niece of Richard III. The Tudor and her hosue were united and the present monarchs are descendents of both houses. However, there is a bit of a question over the legitimacy of the banch that Elizabeth comes from.

In 1603 when the last Tudor Elizabeth I died she had no kids to leave the crown to so it had to go to a near relative or a cousin. There were a couple of possible choices, but the one that seemed to fit best was the son of Mary Queen of Scots, James VI of Scotland, a cousin of the Queen. His great-grandmother had been a sister of Henry VIII called Margaret Tudor and so he had a claim via her. Then his son followed: Charles I, then his son Charles II: he had no legitimate kids so his brother came to the throne James II and here is the problem.

James II was a Roman Catholic and the English were paranoid about this going back to Henry VIII’s eldest daughter Mary. Although James and his Queen Maria of Madonna had a son, the Parliament and the leaders did not want him to succeed so they rebelled and James was forced into exile. Instead of James they invited his eldest daughter and her husband William of Orange to rule instead. Mary II and William III were joint KIng and Queen, but the real King James was still across the sea and many people still wanted him as King. When William died the last of the Stuarts was Anne, the other daughter of King James and his son was excluded by law. All Catholic monarchs are excluded. But when Anne died the line was exstinct as all of her 14 kids died before she did. So they had to look for an alternative.

They found that King Charles I had a sister called Elizabeth and she had married a Protestant Prince of Bohemia. Her youngest child Sophia had married the Elector of Hanover and he was the only one left alive who could claim the throne. But he died before Anne and it was his son George the new Elector of Hanover who was accepted as King George I. The Hanoverian George’s more or less lead to our Elizabeth. Up to George IV it was simple and then his brother became William IV but he had no kids, so his niece Victoria became Queen and then her son, his son, George V, and then his first son became Edward VIII. But he abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorcee, and it was his brother George VI and his wife Elizabeth who were the present Queen’s parents. George VI died in 1952 and the Queen succeeded aged 25. She was crowned in 1953 which is why we have her official anniverary this year. Prince Charles is her heir, and Prince William his heir, and whatever sex this one is, will be the next heir as we changed the law. Now the oldest child even if they are a she will succeed.

Confused: well I did say it was complicated. But you see some people do see that the Stuart line should have come down via James II’s son and not his daughters. James had a son called James and he had a son called Bonn Prince Charlie. Both led risings with the Scots in support and many peopel abroad and in England claimed they were the true Kings. In fact in some histories and docuemnts James was declared James iii and Charles as Charles iii. Bonny Prince Charlie had children, but I am afraid I do not know if the Stuart line continued after that. If it did then who knows one may return to throw the German Hanoverian Windsors of the throne of Scotland.

In 2014 Scotland will vote for independence. Who knows: if they succeed they may declare a distant Stuart as their new King or Queen?

But I am afraid we are stuck with this lot for now. The Pole line and the Stuart line are not likely to return now: the House of Windsor are too popular and they are too firmly established. I think most people today are more worried about prices going up than rebellion and new claims to the throne or if Elizabeth and Charles and William are the true heirs or not.

Cheers
Lyn-Marie