The royal title was born on the shores of Foggy Albion in the 9th century. Since then, the highest throne of the state has been occupied by representatives of various English dynasties. However, the blood relationship of the kings and queens of England was continuous.
This was due to the fact that each new royal dynasty arose from the marriage of its founder with a representative of the previous one. is a state where over 12 centuries women became the head of the country six times.
History carefully preserves the names of Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anna, Victoria and the living Elizabeth II.
Normans
The first kings of England were representatives of the House of Normandy. Moreover, it is interesting that at first Normandy was just a special duchy, and only then a French province. It began with Norman raids on this northern part of France, and the invaders found refuge between their predatory attacks at the mouth of the Seine River.
In the 9th century, the ranks of the invaders were led by Rognvald’s son, Rolf (Rollon), who had previously been expelled by the Norwegian king. Having won several major battles, Rollo took root in the lands called the Land of the Normans or Normandy.
Seeing that the enemy turned out to be worthy of holding power, King Charles of France met with the invader and offered him the coastal part of the state on his own terms: Rollo had to recognize himself as a royal vassal and be baptized. The ambitious exile from the Norwegian kingdom not only accepted the rite of baptism, but also took Gisella, the daughter of Charles, as his wife.
Thus was the beginning of the Dukes of Normandy. Rollo's great-granddaughter became the wife of King Ethelred of England (House of Saxony) and thus the Norman dukes received the official right to lay claim to the throne of Britain. William II coped with this task perfectly, with whom the royal roots of the Normans began.
This wise leader began his reign by distributing the lands of England to his friends in arms.
And since more and more new detachments of Normans continued to arrive from the north, there was no shortage of replenishment of the army of William II’s comrades. The new rulers of England adopted Christianity and began to speak English, retaining, however, traces of the Scandinavian origin in the Norman dialect. The character of the Normans was visible in their desire to travel and conquer new countries.
After the death of William Longsword, the young Richard became the heir to the Norman duchy. This served as the basis for the claims of the French king, which, despite numerous intrigues, ended in nothing, and after the accession of Richard II to the throne, Normandy began to move closer to England.
This process, not without help, ended with the installation of the new King William on the English throne. Since then, the dynasties of British kings have made repeated attempts to unite England with Normandy, but each time the matter only ended in a new strengthening of family ties.
During the reign of Henry I, new claims to the throne of England began. This time the initiative came from his daughter Matilda, who was then recognized as the legal heir.
After the death of the English king Henry I, Stephen of Blois and Matilda entered into an open war. Matilda was then married for the second time, her husband was Godfrey Plantagenet of Anjou. The latter captured Normandy in 1141, and then King Louis VII recognized his son Henry as head of the Norman duchy.
Plantagenets
From this time the Plantagenet dynasty began. They ruled England from 1154 to 1399. The ancestor of this royal family, Godfrey, received his nickname from his habit of attaching to his military helmet a branch of gorse, the yellow flowers of which were pronounced planta genista.
He became Matilda's husband, and from their marriage Henry was born (1133), who became, after the death of Stephen of Blois, the founder of the dynasty, that is, the man who ascended the throne of England.
This dynasty lasted through the reign of eight kings. They were Henry II, Richard I, John Lackland, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III and Richard II. Edward III became the founder of the next dynasty - the Lancastrians.
Lancaster
This branch comes from the same house as the Plantagenets.
The first representative of the Lancastrian branch to officially ascend to the royal throne was Henry IV.
And his father, John of Ghent, was the son of King Edward III. However, the pedigree introduced its own interpretation into this situation: John of Ghent was the third son of King Edward III, and his second son was Lionel of Clarence, whose descendant in the person of Edmond Mortimer had better chances for the royal crown.
Another royal branch of England, the York dynasty, originates from the same very prolific King Edward III. She comes from Edmund, the fourth son of King Edward III.
Lancasters held the titles of earls and dukes. Henry III Plantagenet became the parent of Edmund, he was the youngest son of the king and he bore the modest title of earl. His grandson Henry became, through the efforts of Edward III, who ascended the throne at that time, a duke.
Henry's daughter Blanca became the wife of Edward III's son, John Plantagenet, who was later created Duke of Lancaster. The eldest son of John and Blanca became the founder of the dynasty, it was Henry IV.
This royal house lasted from 1399 to 1461, just a short time. And all because the grandson of Henry IV - Henry VI - died on the battlefields, just like the son of Henry VI - Edward. 24 years after this family name, representing the dynasties of England, died out, the throne was headed by Henry from the Tudor family - relatives of the Lancasters on the female side.
Tudors
The history of this royal house is very interesting. It comes from Wales, a branch of the Coilchen family, and any member of this family automatically has the right to own England. Owen Tudor's son, Maredid, married Henry V's widow, Catherine of France.
The sons of these Tudors, named Edmund and Jasper, were half-brothers of Henry IV. Having ascended the throne, this king of England bestowed earldoms on the sons of the Tudor family.
Thus, Edmund became Earl of Richmont, and Jasper - Earl of Pembroke. After this, the family ties of Lancaster and Tudor were sealed once again. Edmund took as his wife Margaret Beaufort.
She was the great-granddaughter of the founder of the Lancastrian branch, John of Gaunt Plantagenet. Moreover, this happened thanks to the legalized line, which included the descendants of John’s mistress, Katherine Swynford, who previously could not lay claim to the highest throne of England. From the marriage of Edmund and Margaret Beaufort, the future king of England, Henry VII, was born.
The fading Lancastrian branch provided significant assistance to the Tudor dynasty by supporting Henry Tudor, despite the fact that the Beaufort relatives also included the notorious Duke of Buckingham.
Richard III seized power in England, but could not maintain it, and then Henry ascended the throne, marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV, and marking the beginning of the unification of the Lancaster dynasty with the Yorks.
The Tudor royal dynasty after the death of Henry VII continued with the reign of Henry VIII. He had three children. They headed the highest throne of England after his death. These were representatives of the Tudor branch, King Edward VI and queens - Mary I "Bloody" and Elizabeth I.
After the death of Elizabeth I, the Tudor dynasty died out. The closest surviving relative was the Scottish king James VI, who was the son of Mary Stuart, daughter of James V. He, in turn, was born into the world by Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. Thus began a new royal dynasty - the Stuarts.
Stuarts
The Stuart dynasty ascended to the throne in 1603. This surname belongs to the descendants of Walter, who rose to prominence under Malcolm III (11th century). Since then, the glorious dynasty has known many heroes, victories and disasters.
There is a lot of French blood in the Stuart branch (Magdalene of Valois, Mary of Guise and other royal names).
Mary Stuart, the mother of James V, was an orphan and found herself entirely in the hands of Elizabeth I. She deposed the Scottish heiress from the throne and executed her in England. The survivor, Mary's son, James VI, united England, Scotland and Ireland, although he ruled for only 22 years.
In general, historians speak unkindly about the reign of the Stuarts. Representatives of this dynasty are Charles I, James II, Mary Stuart, Anne Stuart and James III. This branch died out with the death of Henry Benedict, who was the grandson of James II.
Hanover
This royal dynasty ruled England from 1714-1901. They originate from the German Welfs. They ascended the throne due to the fact that Catholics close to the Tudors were cut off from the opportunity to take the government of the country into their own hands.
The first Hanoverian king did not speak English at all. Historians believe that we are talking about the Regency, which was replaced by the Victorian era. Ruling persons: George III, George IV, William IV and Victoria. Another branch of this dynasty is the Dukes of Cambridge.
Yorks, Windsors and other dynasties
No list of names in the royal dynasties would be complete without the Yorks, whose reigns were minimal (Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III), the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty (Edward VII and George V), and the ruling Windsor dynasty (George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II).
Egbert the Great (Anglo-Saxon. Ecgbryht, English Egbert, Eagberht) (769/771 - February 4 or June 839) - king of Wessex (802 - 839). A number of historians consider Egbert to be the first king of England, since for the first time in history he united under the rule of one ruler most of the lands located on the territory of modern England, and the remaining regions recognized his supreme power over themselves. Officially, Egbert did not use such a title and it was first used in his title by King Alfred the Great.
Edward II (English: Edward II, 1284-1327, also called Edward of Caernarfon, after his birthplace in Wales) was an English king (from 1307 until his deposition in January 1327) from the Plantagenet dynasty, son of Edward I.
The first English heir to the throne who bore the title “Prince of Wales” (according to legend, at the request of the Welsh to give them a king who was born in Wales and did not speak English, Edward I showed them his newborn son, who had just been born in his camp) . Having inherited the throne of his father at the age of less than 23, Edward II was very unsuccessful in his military operations against Scotland, whose troops were led by Robert the Bruce. The king's popularity was also undermined by his commitment to the people's hated favorites (who were believed to be the king's lovers) - the Gascon Pierre Gaveston, and then the English nobleman Hugh Despenser the Younger. Edward's reign was accompanied by conspiracies and rebellions, the inspiration of which was often the king's wife, Queen Isabella, the daughter of the French king Philip IV the Fair, who fled to France.
Edward III, Edward III (Middle English Edward III) (November 13, 1312 - June 21, 1377) - king of England from 1327 from the Plantegenet dynasty, son of King Edward II and Isabella of France, daughter of King Philip IV the Fair of France .
Richard II (eng. Richard II, 1367-1400) - English king (1377-1399), representative of the Plantagenet dynasty, grandson of King Edward III, son of Edward the Black Prince.
Richard was born in Bordeaux - his father fought in France on the fields of the Hundred Years' War. When the Black Prince died in 1376, while Edward III was still alive, the young Richard received the title Prince of Wales, and a year later inherited the throne from his grandfather.
Henry IV of Bolingbroke (English: Henry IV of Bolingbroke, April 3, 1367, Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire - March 20, 1413, Westminster) - king of England (1399-1413), founder of the Lancastrian dynasty (junior branch of the Plantagenets).
Henry V (English Henry V) (August 9, according to other sources, September 16, 1387, Monmouth Castle, Monmouthshire, Wales - August 31, 1422, Vincennes (now in Paris), France) - king of England since 1413, from the Lancaster dynasty, one of the greatest commanders of the Hundred Years' War. Defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). According to the Treaty of Troyes (1420), he became the heir of the French king Charles VI the Mad and received the hand of his daughter Catherine. He continued the war with Charles’s son, the Dauphin (the future Charles VII), who did not recognize the treaty, and died during this war, just two months before Charles VI; if he had lived these two months, he would have become king of France. He died in August 1422, presumably from dysentery.
Henry VI (English Henry VI, French Henri VI) (December 6, 1421, Windsor - May 21 or 22, 1471, London) - the third and last king of England from the Lancaster dynasty (from 1422 to 1461 and from 1470 to 1471). The only English king who bore the title “King of France” during and after the Hundred Years’ War, who was actually crowned (1431) and reigned over a significant part of France.
Edward IV (April 28, 1442, Rouen - April 9, 1483, London) - king of England in 1461-1470 and 1471-1483, a representative of the York Plantagenet line, seized the throne during the Wars of the Roses.
Eldest son of Richard, Duke of York and Cecilia Neville, brother of Richard III. On his father's death in 1460, he inherited his titles as Earl of Cambridge, March and Ulster and Duke of York. In 1461, at the age of eighteen, he ascended the English throne with the support of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.
Was married to Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492), children:
Elizabeth (1466-1503), married to King Henry VII of England,
Maria (1467-1482),
Cecilia (1469-1507),
Edward V (1470-1483?),
Richard (1473-1483?),
Anna (1475-1511),
Catherine (1479-1527),
Bridget (1480-1517).
The king was a great lover of women and, in addition to his official wife, was secretly engaged to one or more women, which later allowed the royal council to declare his son Edward V illegitimate and, together with his other son, imprison him in the Tower.
Edward IV died unexpectedly on April 9, 1483.
Edward V (November 4, 1470(14701104)-1483?) - King of England from April 9 to June 25, 1483, son of Edward IV; not crowned. Deposed by his uncle the Duke of Gloucester, who declared the king and his younger brother Duke Richard of York illegitimate children, and himself became King Richard III. A 12-year-old and a 10-year-old boy were imprisoned in the Tower; their further fate is precisely unknown. The most common point of view is that they were killed on the orders of Richard (this version was official under the Tudors), but various researchers accuse many other figures of that time, including Richard’s successor Henry VII, of the murder of the princes.
Richard III (English: Richard III) (October 2, 1452, Fotheringhay - August 22, 1485, Bosworth) - King of England since 1483, from the York dynasty, the last representative of the Plantagenet male line on the English throne. Brother of Edward IV. He took the throne, removing the young Edward V. At the Battle of Bosworth (1485) he was defeated and killed. One of two kings of England to die in battle (after Harold II, killed at Hastings in 1066).
Henry VII (eng. Henry VII;)