8 July
8 July 975 - Edgar the Peaceful, king of the English died
8 July 1640 - Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester was born
Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester was born at Oatlands Palace in Surrey. Henry Stuart was the youngest son of Charles I, King of England, Scotland, & Ireland, & his wife, Henrietta Maria of France. He is also known as Henry of Oatlands.
After his father's defeat at the end of the English Civil War, Henry (unlike his older brothers, who escaped with their mother to France) was captured & brought to London. His captivity was largely shared by his elder sister Elizabeth. He was lodged in the royal apartments in the White Tower of the Tower of London, under the "protection" of the Republican army. During the debates among Republican army leaders Oliver Cromwell & Henry Ireton about what kind of regime should succeed the now abolished rule of Charles I, it was briefly suggested that the young prince might be placed on the throne, & made to govern as the kind of limited, constitutional monarch that Parliament wanted. Part of the motivation for this came from the perception that, unlike his brothers Charles & James, he was sufficiently young to have not yet been "corrupted" by the Catholic & absolutist views of his mother & father respectively, & might be brought up by tutors who shared the Parliamentary perspective. However, this option quickly faded away, as the Rump Parliament opted instead for the establishment of a Republican Commonwealth. Henry was moved to more comfortable surroundings & allowed to live with relative freedom under the eyes of his Parliamentary guardians.
He & his sister were permitted to visit their father on the eve of his execution in January 1649. Elizabeth was then thirteen & Henry was eight. Eventually, in 1652, Oliver Cromwell agreed to release Henry, & he travelled to join his mother & brothers in Paris; however, at least some of the influences that Cromwell had hoped to exert appeared to have been successful, as Henry had become a staunch Protestant, & quarrelled bitterly with his mother over matters of religion & politics; it is said their dislike for one another reached such a level that Henrietta virtually expelled him from Paris, & he went to join the Spanish armies fighting at Dunkirk.
Henry consistently distinguished himself in battle, & gradually gained a reputation as one of Europe's foremost Protestant soldiers. It was during the course of the campaign that he met the renegade French military commander the Prince of Condé, who was leading the Spanish forces; their common dislike for the Roman Catholic Church (Condé was an agnostic & one of the leading defenders of the Huguenots), created a strong bond between them; not long before his death, it was suggested that Henry might marry Condé's niece.
After the conclusion of peace between France & Spain, Henry resided at one of Condé's estates, until the death of Oliver Cromwell & the gradual collapse of the Commonwealth led to calls for the restoration of the monarchy, & he was reunited with Charles. He returned to England as part of Charles's triumphant progress through London in May 1660, & took up residence in Whitehall. Charles II planned to engage Henry to Princess Wilhelmine Ernestine of Denmark to consolidate the British & Danish maritime alliances, & Frederick III of Denmark also agreed to the marriage.
In 1659 Henry was formally created Duke of Gloucester & Earl of Cambridge by Charles II, but suddenly died of smallpox shortly after, much to his brother's distress. Decades later, during the exclusion crisis, Henry was looked back on as a kind of 'lost leader'; as what might have been a legitimate, warlike, Protestant alternative to the unpalatable claims of the Catholic Duke of York & illegitimate Duke of Monmouth. He was buried in the south side of the Henry VII Chapel, Westminster Abbey, on 21 September 1660.
8 July 1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island.
The other New England colonies were hostile to Rhode Island, & both Massachusetts Bay & Connecticut Colony had made incursions into Rhode Island territory. After the restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660, it was imperative that Rhode Island receive a royal charter to protect its territorial integrity. It was Clarke's role to obtain such a document, & he saw this as an opportunity to include religious freedoms never seen before in any constitutional charter. He wrote ten petitions & letters to King Charles II & negotiated for months with Connecticut over territorial boundaries.
Clarke drafted the Rhode Island Royal Charter & presented it to the king, & it was approved with the king's seal on 8 July 1663. This charter granted unprecedented freedom & religious liberty to Rhode Islanders & remained in effect for 180 years, making it the longest-lasting constitutional charter in history.
John Clarke (October 1609 – 20 April 1676) was a physician, Baptist minister, co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, & a leading advocate of religious freedom in America.
8 July 1837 - William IV was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland & King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king & penultimate monarch of Britain's House of Hanover.
8 July 1850 - Prince Adolphus died
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (born. 24 February 1774), was the tenth child & seventh son of the British king George III & Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He held the title of Duke of Cambridge from 1801 until his death. He also served as Viceroy of Hanover on behalf of his brothers George IV & William IV. His granddaughter Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, daughter of Princess Mary Adelaide, was the wife of King George V, & paternal grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Duke of Cambridge was married first at Kassel, Hesse on 7 May & then at Buckingham Palace on 1 June 1818 to his second cousin Augusta (25 July 1797 – 6 April 1889), the third daughter of Prince Frederick of Hesse. The Duke of Cambridge died on 8 July 1850 at Cambridge House, Piccadilly, London, & was buried at St Anne's Church, Kew. His remains were removed to St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle in 1930. His only son, Prince George (26 March 1819 – 17 March 1904), succeeded to his peerages.
8 July 1873 – Franz Xaver Winterhalter died (b. 1805)
Franz Xaver Winterhalter (20 April 1805 – 8 July 1873) was a German painter & lithographer, known for his flattering portraits of royalty & upper-class society in the mid-19th century. His name has become associated with fashionable court portraiture. Among his best known works are Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting (1855) & the portraits he made of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1865). Though my favourite is his portrait of Queen Victoria & her family. Below I have featured some of his finest works, enjoy.
Queen Victoria & Prince Albert's family in 1846 by Franz Xaver Winterhalter left to right: Prince Alfred (unbreeched at two years); the Prince of Wales; Queen Victoria; Prince Albert; & Princesses Alice, Helena & Victoria
The Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting (1855), Château de Compiègne. Taking its inspiration from 18th-century bucolic scenes, this monumental composition sets the empress & her entourage against the backdrop of a shady clearing in a forest. However, the composition is very artificial & formal. The empress, slightly to the left of centre, is encircled by & dominates the group.
8 July 1972 - Prince Richard, Married Birgitte Van Deurs
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, (born 26 August 1944) is the second son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester & Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, as well as the youngest of the nine grandchildren of King George V & Queen Mary. At birth, he was fifth in the line of succession to the British throne; currently he is 30th & the highest person on the list who is not a direct descendant of King George VI, who was his uncle. He practised as an architect until the death of his elder brother placed him in direct line to inherit his father's dukedom of Gloucester, which he assumed in 1974. He is a paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
On 8 July 1972, Richard married the Danish-born Birgitte van Deurs (20 June 1946) in St Andrew's Church at Barnwell, Northamptonshire; they have three children:
Alexander Patrick Gregers Richard Windsor, Earl of Ulster (born 24 October 1974 at St Mary's Hospital, London)
Lady Davina Elizabeth Alice Benedikte Windsor (born 19 November 1977 at St Mary's Hospital, London)
Lady Rose Victoria Birgitte Louise Gilman (born 1 March 1980 at St Mary's Hospital, London.
The Duke & Duchess of Gloucester's official residence is at Kensington Palace in London. They have leased their private home, Barnwell Manor, since 1994.
9 July
9 July 1540 - Henry VIII annuls marriage to Anne of Cleves
9 July 1947 - Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten officially announce their engagement
Elizabeth & Philip are second cousins once removed (by descent from Christian IX of Denmark & Louise of Hesse-Kassel) & third cousins (by descent from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert). Princess Elizabeth met Prince Philip in 1934, at the wedding of Philip's cousin Princess Marina of Greece & Denmark to Prince George, Duke of Kent, paternal uncle of Elizabeth, & again in 1937. After another meeting at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939, Elizabeth—though only 13 years old—fell in love with Philip & they began to exchange letters. The couple became secretly engaged in 1946, when Philip asked King George VI for his daughter's hand in marriage. The King granted his request providing any formal engagement was delayed until Elizabeth's 21st birthday the following April. Their engagement was officially announced on 9 July 1947. Philip proposed to Elizabeth with a 3-carat round diamond ring consisting of "a centre stone flanked by 10 smaller pave diamonds." The diamonds were taken from a tiara that belonged to Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, & were also used to create a quatrefoil bracelet for Elizabeth.
The King gave his formal consent to the marriage in his British Privy Council, in accordance with the Royal Marriages Act 1772. The same was done in Canada at a meeting of the King's Canadian Privy Council, with the Chief Justice of Canada, Thibaudeau Rinfret, standing in as deputy to the King's representative, the Governor General of Canada.
Elizabeth became the tenth member of the royal family to be married at the Abbey.
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9 July 1982 - The Queen awoke in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace to find an intruder, Michael Fagan, in the room with her.
Fagan entered the palace through an unlocked window on the roof & spent the next half hour eating cheddar cheese & crackers & wandering around. He tripped several alarms, but they were faulty. He viewed the royal portraits & rested on the throne for a while. He then entered the postroom, where Diana, Princess of Wales had hidden presents for her first son, Prince William. Fagan drank half a bottle
of white wine before becoming tired & leaving.
An alarm sensor detected him. A member of the palace staff thought the alarm was faulty & silenced it. En-route to see the Queen, Fagan broke a glass ashtray, cutting his hand.
The Queen woke when he disturbed a curtain, & initial reports said Fagan sat on the edge of her bed. But in a 2012 interview, he clarified that she in fact left the room immediately, seeking security. The queen phoned twice for police but none came. Fagan then asked for some cigarettes, which were brought by a maid. When the maid did not return to base for some time, footman Paul Whybrew appeared. The incident happened as the armed police officer outside the royal bedroom came off duty before his replacement arrived. The incident was one of the 20th-century's worst royal security breaches.
Since it was then a civil wrong rather than a criminal offence, Fagan was not charged for trespassing in the Queen's bedroom. He was charged with theft (of the wine), but the charges were dropped when he was committed for psychiatric evaluation. He spent the next six months in a psychiatric hospital before being released on 21 January 1983. It was not until 2007, when Buckingham Palace became a "designated site" for the purposes of section 128 of the Serious Organised Crime & Police Act 2005, that what he did became criminal. Fagan's mother later said, "He thinks so much of the Queen. I can imagine him just wanting to simply talk & say hello and discuss his problems."
10 July
10 July 1451 - James III of Scotland was born
10 July 1460 - Battle of Northampton (Wars of the Roses)
10 July 1553 - Lady Jane Grey becomes Queen
Lady Jane Grey (1536 or 1537 – 12 February 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) & as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman & de facto Queen of England & Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553.
"My devise for the Succession" by Edward VI. The draft will was the basis for the letters patent which declared Lady Jane Grey successor to the Crown. Edward's autograph shows his alteration of his text, from "L Janes heires masles" to "L Jane and her heires masles". Inner Temple Library, London.
10 July 1642 - Siege of Hull (English Civil War)
11 July
11 July 1274 - Robert I of Scotland was born
Although Robert the Bruce's date of birth is known, his place of birth is less certain, although it is most likely to have been Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, the head of his mother's earldom. However, there are claims that he may have been born in Lochmaben in Dumfriesshire, or Writtle in Essex.
11 July 1469 - George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence married Lady Isabel Neville
The sketch shows the Plantagenet family: Richard the third King of England, Anne Neville Queen of England, Edward Prince of Wales, Margaret Countess of Salisbury & Edward 17th earl of Warwick.
11 July 1751 - Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Queen Consort of Denmark & Norway was born (d. 1775)
11 July 1818 - The Duke of Clarence (later William IV) married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
William & Adelaide had no surviving children.
Princess Charlotte Augusta Louisa of Clarence (27 March 1819), Princess Adelaide caught pleurisy & gave birth prematurely at the Fürstenhof Palace in Hanover.
A Stillborn child (5 September 1819). Born dead at Calais or Dunkirk.
Princess Elizabeth Georgiana Adelaide of Clarence (10 December 1820 - 4 March 1821). Elizabeth seemed strong but died less than three months old on 4 March 1821 of "inflammation in the Bowels".
Stillborn twin boys (8 April 1822). Born dead at Bushy Park.
William was survived by eight of the ten illegitimate children he had by the actress Dorothea Jordan, with whom he cohabited for twenty years, prior to his marriage to Princess Adelaide.
11 July 1866 - Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine was born
12 July
12 July 1472 - The Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) married Anne Neville.
Following a decisive Yorkist victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury, Richard married Anne Neville on 12 July 1472. By the end of 1470 Anne had previously been wedded to Edward of Westminster, only son of Henry VI, to seal her father's allegiance to the Lancastrian party. Edward died at the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, while Warwick had died at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471. Richard & Anne had one son, Edward of Middleham, who was born between 1474 & 1476. He was created Earl of Salisbury on 15 February 1478, & Prince of Wales on 24 August 1483, & died in March 1484, less than two months after he had been formally declared heir apparent.
12 July 1543 - Henry VIII married Catherine Parr
12 July 1905 - Prince John of the United Kingdom was born
Prince John (John Charles Francis) was the fifth son & youngest of the six children of King George V & Queen Mary. At the time of his birth, his father was heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, King Edward VII. In 1910, the Prince of Wales succeeded to the throne upon Edward VII's death & Prince John became fifth in the line of succession to the British throne. In 1909, John was discovered to have epilepsy. As his condition deteriorated, he was sent to live at Sandringham House & was kept away from the public eye. There, he was cared for by his governess, "Lala" Bill, and befriended local children whom his mother had gathered to be his playmates. he died at Sandringham in 1919, following a severe seizure, & was buried at nearby St Mary Magdalene Church. His illness was disclosed to the wider public only after his death. Contrary to the belief that he was hidden from the public from an early age, Prince John for most of his life had the role of a fully-fledged member of the family, appearing frequently in public until after his eleventh birthday, when his condition became severe.
13 July
13 July 1174 - Battle of Alnwick (1174)
13 July 1249 - Alexander III, king of Scots coronation
13 July 1469 - James III of Scotland married Margaret of Denmark at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh.
James III (10 July 1451/May 1452 – 11 June 1488) was King of Scots from 1460 until his death in battle in 1488. He was the son of James II of Scotland & Mary of Guelders.
Margaret of Denmark (23 June 1456 – 14 July 1486) was Queen of Scotland from 1469 to 1486 by marriage to King James III. She was the daughter of Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, & Dorothea of Brandenburg.
James & Margaret had three children;
James IV of Scotland (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513)
James Stewart, Duke of Ross (March 1476 – January 1504)
John Stewart, Earl of Mar (December 1479 – 11 March 1503)
13 July 1807 - Henry Benedict Stuart died
Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York (6 March 1725 – 13 July 1807).
He was a Roman Catholic cardinal, as well as the fourth & final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of England, Scotland, France, & Ireland. Unlike his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, & brother, Charles Edward Stuart, Henry made no effort to seize the throne. After Charles's death in January 1788 the Papacy did not recognise Henry as the lawful ruler of England, Scotland, & Ireland, but referred to him as the Cardinal Duke of York.
He spent his life in the Papal States & had a long career in the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, rising to become the Dean of the College of Cardinals & Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia & Velletri. At the time of his death he was (& still is) one of the longest-serving cardinals in the Church's history. In his youth, Henry's father made him Duke of York (in the Jacobite Peerage), & it was by this title that he was best known. Upon the death of his brother in 1788, Henry became known by Jacobites, & within his personal entourage, as Henry IX of England & Ireland, & Henry I of Scotland, although publicly he referred to himself as Cardinal-Duke of York nuncupatus.
13 July 1966 - Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha died
Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, (20 April 1884 – 13 July 1966) was a member of the British royal family, a male-line granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She later married into the Spanish royal family, & was the wife of Prince Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante of Spain. Her father was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of Queen Victoria & Albert, Prince Consort. Her mother was Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia & Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine
14 July
14 July 1486 - Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scots died
Margaret of Denmark (23 June 1456 – 14 July 1486) was Queen of Scotland from 1469 to 1486 by marriage to King James III.
Margaret was born in Denmark to King Christian I & Queen Dorothea of Denmark, Norway & Sweden. Not much is known about Margaret's upbringing. By the time she was four years old there were talks about her marriage to the Scottish Prince James. In 1468 Margaret was betrothed to James of Scotland as a means to stop a feud regarding the debt Scotland owed Denmark over the taxation of the Hebrides & Isle of Man. The marriage was arranged on the recommendation of king Charles VII of France. In July 1469, at the age of 13 she married James III at Holyrood Abbey. Upon their marriage all of the Scottish debt was cancelled. William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, was at that time the Norse Earl of Orkney. In 1472 he was made to exchange his Orkney fief for Ravenscraig Castle, so the Scottish throne took the earl's rights to the islands too.
Queen Margaret was given the largest jointure allowed by Scottish law in her marriage settlement. She was interested in clothes & jewellery, & known for always being dressed in the latest fashions of the time. Following the birth of her son James, in 1473 she went on a pilgrimage to Whithorn. She may have taught her son James to speak Danish. She became a popular queen in Scotland & was described as beautiful, gentle, & sensible. The relationship between Margaret & James III was not described as a happy one. Reportedly, she was not very fond of her husband & had intercourse with him only for procreation, though she did respect his position as a monarch. One reason for their estrangement was the fact that James favoured their second son over their eldest. In 1476, James had decided that he wanted the Earldom of Ross for his second son & accused John MacDonald, the Earl, of treason. Macdonald was then put on trial before the Parliament, but upon Margaret's request he was allowed to remain as Lord of Parliament. During the crisis of 1482, when James III was deprived of power by his brother for several months, Margaret was said to have shown more interest in the welfare of her children than her spouse, which led to a permanent estrangement. Politically, she worked for the reinstatement of her spouse in his powers as monarch during this incident. After the crisis of 1482, the couple lived apart: James III lived in Edinburgh, while queen Margaret preferred to live in Stirling with her children.
Margaret died at Stirling Castle on 14 July 1486 after falling ill, & was buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey. Her husband, James III, was interred with her after his death in 1488. The abbey has mostly been reduced to ruins, apart from its bell-tower, which is still standing today. The grave was enclosed & restored in 1865 at the expense of Margaret's descendant, Queen Victoria.
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