Royalty in History

[koshergrit]

I'll be bringing the cocktails.

Wow. This is like a combination of Game of Thrones and The Maury Povich Show ("you are not the father!").

[smitten]

Even if it came out that QE wasn't on the throne by birthright, would it really matter? Most people seem to view the monarchy as a joke and the whole "God-given right/bloodline" seems to be part of what the anti-monarchy folks use to dismiss it.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Yeah, even if they are able to determine where the infidelity actually occurred, I can't see this affecting QE II very much. Following the correct bloodline would be a nightmare and there's too much room for doubt/error. What if the true heir to the throne turned out to be Joe Schmoe from Cleveland. The horror!

[eclair]

Oooh, very interesting! I love what they can find out with DNA tests, even centuries later. So the names Barbara and Margaret have been around 700+ years and we still like them but Everhilda not so much? Maybe some celeb will name their daughter (or son) that one of these days.

[gremlin45]

It won't make any difference at all, regardless of how true these claims are. Aren't there still descendents kicking around from the Grey sisters (Lady Jane was the eldest, but the other two survived). According to Henry VIII's will, if his 3 children died without heirs, the throne went to the Greys first and Mary, Queen of Scots' descendents second. Instead, James VI of Scotland (Mary's son) inherited and the Greys were completely ignored. A century or so later, James II of England fled with his 2nd wife and only son. That led to the Jacobite rebellion, but when James II's daughters both died without heirs, the British government ignored that part of the family tree and invited George of Hanover to become George I.

If no one managed to kick EII off the throne for any of that, they won't manage it with this latest 'revelation'.

The DM stated:

If that occurred before Edmund, the 2nd Duke of Somerset, who was born in 1406, then it could call in to question the Tudors claim to the throne, and so the current Royal family whose lineage is traced back to the Tudors through Henry VI.

But Henry VII (Henry Tudor, the one who killed Richard III and took the throne) married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth. So even if Henry VII's ancestry is a pile of bunk, EII is still directly descended from William the Conqueror through Henry's wife.

Having said that, there were rumours that Edward IV was the result of an affair his mother had...

[Carolinian]

Ha! Perhaps King Ralph will become a documentary...

[Mouse]

Royal houses have been intermarrying for centuries, even before Queen Victoria. So there's a good chance QEII can claim some sort of descent from William the Conqueror.

[koshergrit]

Dec 3, 2014 9:09:45 GMT -4 Carolinian said:

Ha! Perhaps King Ralph will become a documentary...

I thought of that, too!

[heyalice]

So I am watching that trash that is THE ROYALS--Don't you judge me--and a couple of questions. Could the Queen ask the Prime Minister for a referendum on the monarchy? Do you think Chuckles would do such a thing? And if they decided to give up the monarchy and had to divide assets, other than Balmoral and Sandringham which, correct me if I am wrong, belong to the royals, what else would they have to give up?
These are the things I ponder.

[Auroranorth]

I can't see the Queen ever asking that. Her life has been devoted to the throne, and the thought of her deciding to surrender it is really hard to fathom. Charles the same.

This article is a rough breakdown of what she actually owns in her own right.