United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | |
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Royal coat of arms (common version on the left; Scottish version on the right) [lower-alpha 1] |
There have been 13 British monarchs since the political union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland on 1 May 1707. England and Scotland had been in personal union since 24 March 1603. On 1 January 1801, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged, which resulted in the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the secession of southern Ireland in the 1920s.
Queen Anne became monarch of the Kingdom of Great Britain after the political union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland on 1 May 1707. She had ruled England, Scotland, and the Kingdom of Ireland since 8 March 1702. She continued as queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death. Her total reign lasted 12 years and 147 days.
During the reign of Queen Anne, Parliament settled the rules of succession in the Act of Settlement 1701, defining Sophia of Hanover (granddaughter of James VI and I) and her non-Catholic descendants as the future royal heirs. The Crown passed from Queen Anne to Sophia's son King George I as Sophia had already died. Queen Anne and King George I were second cousins as both were great-grandchildren of James VI and I. For a family tree that shows George I's relationship to Anne, see George I of Great Britain § Family tree.
Name | Portrait | Arms | Birth | Marriage(s) | Death | Claim | |
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House of Stuart | |||||||
Anne [2] 1 May 1707 [lower-alpha 2] [lower-alpha 3] – 1 August 1714 [lower-alpha 2] (7 years, 93 days) (Queen of England and Scotland from 8 March 1702) [lower-alpha 4] (12 years, 147 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 6 February 1665 [lower-alpha 2] St James's Palace Daughter of James VII and II and Anne Hyde | George of Denmark St James's Palace 28 July 1683 [lower-alpha 2] 5 children until 28 October 1708 | 1 August 1714 [lower-alpha 2] Kensington Palace Aged 49 | Daughter of James VII and II Bill of Rights 1689 | |
House of Hanover | |||||||
George I [3] George Louis 1 August 1714 [lower-alpha 2] [lower-alpha 5] – 11 June 1727 [lower-alpha 2] (12 years, 315 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 28 May 1660 [lower-alpha 2] Leineschloss Son of Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Sophia of the Palatinate | Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle 21 November 1682 [lower-alpha 2] 2 children div. 28 December 1694 | 11 June 1727 [lower-alpha 2] Osnabrück Aged 67 | Great-grandson of James VI and I Act of Settlement 1701 | |
George II [4] George Augustus 11 June 1727 [lower-alpha 6] [lower-alpha 7] – 25 October 1760 (33 years, 126 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 30 October 1683 [lower-alpha 2] Herrenhausen Palace Son of George I and Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle | Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach Herrenhausen Gardens 22 August 1705 [lower-alpha 2] 8 children until 20 November 1737 | 25 October 1760 Kensington Palace Aged 76 | Son of George I | |
George III [5] George William Frederick 25 October 1760 [lower-alpha 8] – 29 January 1820 (59 years, 97 days) | ![]() | Until 1801:![]() 1801–1816: ![]() From 1816: ![]() | 24 May 1738 [lower-alpha 2] Norfolk House Son of Prince Frederick and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha | Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz St James's Palace 8 September 1761 15 children until 17 November 1818 | 29 January 1820 Windsor Castle Aged 81 | Grandson of George II | |
George IV [6] George Augustus Frederick 29 January 1820 [lower-alpha 9] — 26 June 1830 (10 years, 149 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 12 August 1762 St James's Palace Son of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel St James's Palace 8 April 1795 1 daughter until 7 August 1821 | 26 June 1830 Windsor Castle Aged 67 | Sons of George III | |
William IV [7] William Henry 26 June 1830 [lower-alpha 10] — 20 June 1837 (6 years, 360 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 21 August 1765 Buckingham Palace Son of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen Kew Palace 13 July 1818 2 daughters | 20 June 1837 Windsor Castle Aged 71 | ||
Victoria [8] Alexandrina Victoria 20 June 1837 [lower-alpha 11] — 22 January 1901 (63 years, 217 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 24 May 1819 Kensington Palace Daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha St James's Palace 10 February 1840 9 children until 14 December 1861 | 22 January 1901 Osborne House Aged 81 | Granddaughter of George III | |
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |||||||
Edward VII [9] Albert Edward 22 January 1901 [lower-alpha 12] — 6 May 1910 (9 years, 105 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 9 November 1841 Buckingham Palace Son of Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha | Alexandra of Denmark St George's Chapel 10 March 1863 6 children | 6 May 1910 Buckingham Palace Aged 68 | Son of Victoria | |
House of Windsor [lower-alpha 13] | |||||||
George V [11] George Frederick Ernest Albert 6 May 1910 [lower-alpha 14] — 20 January 1936 (25 years, 260 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 3 June 1865 Marlborough House Son of Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark | Mary of Teck St James's Palace 6 July 1893 6 children | 20 January 1936 Sandringham House Aged 70 | Son of Edward VII | |
Edward VIII [12] Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David 20 January 1936 [lower-alpha 15] — Abdicated 11 December 1936 (327 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 23 June 1894 White Lodge Son of George V and Mary of Teck | Wallis Simpson Château de Candé 3 June 1937 | 28 May 1972 Neuilly-sur-Seine Aged 77 | Sons of George V | |
George VI [13] Albert Frederick Arthur George 11 December 1936 [lower-alpha 16] — 6 February 1952 (15 years, 58 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 14 December 1895 Sandringham House Son of George V and Mary of Teck | Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Westminster Abbey 26 April 1923 2 daughters | 6 February 1952 Sandringham House Aged 56 | ||
Elizabeth II [14] Elizabeth Alexandra Mary 6 February 1952 [lower-alpha 17] — 8 September 2022 [15] (70 years, 215 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 21 April 1926 Mayfair Daughter of George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon | Philip Mountbatten Westminster Abbey 20 November 1947 4 children until 9 April 2021 | 8 September 2022 Balmoral Castle Aged 96 | Daughter of George VI | |
Charles III [16] Charles Philip Arthur George since 8 September 2022 [15] (127 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 14 November 1948 Buckingham Palace Son of Elizabeth II and Philip Mountbatten | (1) Diana Spencer St Paul's Cathedral 29 July 1981 2 sons div. 28 August 1996 (2) Camilla Parker Bowles Windsor Guildhall 9 April 2005 | Living Age 74 | Son of Elizabeth II |
Comparative reigns of the British monarchs |
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The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, became disqualified to inherit the throne. This had the effect of deposing the descendants of Charles I, other than his Protestant granddaughter Anne, as the next Protestant in line to the throne was Sophia of Hanover, a granddaughter of James VI and I from his most junior surviving line, with the crowns descending only to her non-Catholic heirs. Sophia died shortly before the death of Queen Anne, and Sophia's son succeeded to the throne as King George I, starting the Hanoverian dynasty in Britain.
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. The current monarch is King Charles III, who ascended the throne on 8 September 2022, upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The House of Windsor is the reigning royal house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. In 1901, a line of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha succeeded the House of Hanover to the British monarchy with the accession of King Edward VII, son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1917, the name of the British royal house was changed from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor because of anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during the First World War. There have been five British monarchs of the House of Windsor since then: George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II, and Charles III. The children and male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip also genealogically belong to the House of Oldenburg since Philip belonged to the Glücksburg branch of that house.
The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, or the royal arms for short, is the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. These arms are used by the King in his official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom. Variants of the royal arms are used by other members of the British royal family, by the Government of the United Kingdom in connection with the administration and government of the country, and some courts and legislatures in a number of Commonwealth realms. A Scottish version of the royal arms is used in and for Scotland. The arms in banner form serve as basis for the monarch's official flag, the Royal Standard.
The Five Guinea was a machine-struck gold coin produced from 1668–1753. Measuring 37 millimetres in diameter and weighing between 41 and 42 grams, it was the largest regularly produced gold coin in Britain. Although the coin is commonly known as the "Five guinea" piece, during the 17th and 18th centuries it was also known as a Five-pound piece, as the guinea was originally worth twenty shillings — until its value was fixed at twenty-one shillings by a Royal Proclamation in 1717 the value fluctuated rather in the way that bullion coins do today.
The guinea was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where much of the gold used to make the coins was sourced. It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally representing a value of 20 shillings in sterling specie, equal to one pound, but rises in the price of gold relative to silver caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings. From 1717 to 1816, its value was officially fixed at twenty-one shillings.
The Royal Standards of the United Kingdom refers to either one of two similar flags used by King Charles III in his capacity as Sovereign of the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies, and the British Overseas Territories. Two versions of the flag exist, one for general use in Scotland and the other for use elsewhere.
The royal arms of England are the arms first adopted in a fixed form at the start of the age of heraldry as personal arms by the Plantagenet kings who ruled England from 1154. In the popular mind they have come to symbolise the nation of England, although according to heraldic usage nations do not bear arms, only persons and corporations do. The blazon of the arms of Plantagenet is: Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or armed and langued azure, signifying three identical gold lions with blue tongues and claws, walking past but facing the observer, arranged in a column on a red background. Although the tincture azure of tongue and claws is not cited in many blazons, they are historically a distinguishing feature of the arms of England. This coat, designed in the High Middle Ages, has been variously combined with those of the Kings of France, Scotland, a symbol of Ireland, the House of Nassau and the Kingdom of Hanover, according to dynastic and other political changes occurring in England, but has not altered since it took a fixed form in the reign of Richard I of England (1189–1199), the second Plantagenet king.
The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, originally the Crown Jewels of England, are a collection of royal ceremonial objects kept in the Tower of London which include the coronation regalia and vestments worn by British monarchs.
The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's private estate.
The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom is a seal that is used to symbolise the Sovereign's approval of state documents.
Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, gender, legitimacy and religion. Under common law, the Crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest collateral line. The Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 restrict succession to the throne to the legitimate Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover who are in "communion with the Church of England". Spouses of Catholics were disqualified from 1689 until the law was amended in 2015. Protestant descendants of those excluded for being Roman Catholics are eligible.
From the 1340s to the 19th century, excluding two brief intervals in the 1360s and the 1420s, the kings and queens of England and Ireland also claimed the throne of France. The claim dates from Edward III, who claimed the French throne in 1340 as the sororal nephew of the last direct Capetian, Charles IV. Edward and his heirs fought the Hundred Years' War to enforce this claim, and were briefly successful in the 1420s under Henry V and Henry VI, but the House of Valois, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, was ultimately victorious and retained control of France, except for Calais and the Channel Islands. English and British monarchs continued to prominently call themselves kings of France, and the French fleur-de-lis was included in the royal arms. This continued until 1801, by which time France no longer had any monarch, having become a republic. The Jacobite claimants, however, did not explicitly relinquish the claim.
Demise of the Crown is the legal term in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms for the transfer of the Crown upon the death of the monarch. The Crown transfers automatically to the monarch's heir. The concept evolved in the kingdom of England, and was continued in Great Britain and then the United Kingdom. The concept also became part of the constitutions of the British colonies, and was continued in the constitutions of the Commonwealth realms, until modified within those realms.
In modern heraldry, a royal cypher is a monogram or monogram-like device of a country's reigning sovereign, typically consisting of the initials of the monarch's name and title, sometimes interwoven and often surmounted by a crown. Such a cypher as used by an emperor or empress is called an imperial cypher. In the system used by various Commonwealth realms, the title is abbreviated as 'R' for 'rex' or 'regina'. Previously, 'I' stood for 'imperator' or 'imperatrix' of the Indian Empire.