Kings and Queens Great Britain

It was just over 200 years ago that Britain as we experience it now was unified however Kings and Queens have ruled over British land since the dawn of time in some way or form. The Romans ruled England and parts of Wales for over 300 years from roughly AD 43 to 410AD. Scotland during this time had numerous Celtic Kings ruling over tribal groupings, the boundaries of which were ever changing.

The Vikings invaded in and around 800AD and disturbed the Anglo-Saxon balance that had been left behind after the Romans left. However there was no real powerful monarch until the Normans invaded in 1066, where in the Battle of Hastings, King William I known as William the Conqueror brought in the Norman Dynasty. The relative stability and power that was now centred in the thrown meant that it now held significant influence across the lands.

Below you can see the families that have had the pleasure to sit as Kings and Queens of Britain,

• The Normans (1066-1154)
• Plantagenets (1154 - 1399)
• The House of Lancaster (1399 - 1461)
• The House of York (1461 - 1485)
• The Tudors (1485 -1603)
• The Stuarts (1603 - 1649) (1660 - 1714)
• The House of Hanoverians’ (1714 -1901)
• Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1901 -1910)
• The Windsors’ (1910 - Today)

The only time when there was no King or Queen in Britain was when the country was a republic between 1649 and 1660. (In 1649 King Charles I was executed and Britain became a Republic for eleven years. The monarchy was restored in 1660.) Scotland had its own Royal kingdom until 1603 where it merged with the English throne while Wales has been considered a principality since the 13th century.

Today we have The Windsors as the royal family with Queen Elizabeth II as a ‘constitutional monarch’ which means although she is officially the head of the state, the country is actually run by the democratically elected government and is led by the Prime Minister. Queen Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926 in London. Her birthday is officially celebrated in Britain on the 3rd Saturday of June each year and so she celebrates her birthday twice. She became queen in 1952 after the death of her father King George the VI and celebrated her golden jubilee of 50 years of rule in 2002.

She remains head of state for 16 former colonies including Australia, Canada and New Zealand and is the head of the common wealth the body that was created to mark former territories of the British Empire.
The British royal family changed their last name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917. After the outbreak of World War One in 1914 and anti-German sentiment was its height by 1917. In protest, King George V renounced all the German titles belonging to him and his family and adopted the name of his castle, Windsor.

Among the official royal residences are Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, St. James Palace, Balmoral Castle, Frogmore House, The Palace of Holy Roodhouse, Sandringham House and Kensington Palace.

Diana Spencer was married to Prince Charles eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Philip Duke of Edinburgh in 1981 but divorced by 1992, in that time she gave birth to Princes William and Harry. Prince Charles is set to inherit the thrown when Queen Elizabeth II either on her death or if she chooses to step down with Prince William as eldest be the next in the hereditary line after his father to become King.

There are many events through out the year involving the royal family and for latest news and events or for a more detailed account of the History behind the royal family visit their official website at http://www.royal.gov.uk/