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; while the style, "King of Great Britain" first arose at that time, legislatively the title came into force in 1707.
On 1 January 1801, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged, creating first the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland upon 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. Although Anne's great grandfather, James VI and I (r. 1603–1625), the monarch of the Union of the Crowns, proclaimed himself "King of Great Britain", and used it on coinage, stamps and elsewhere, the Parliament of England had refused to use that style in statutory law or address. [2] [3]
Anne's only children died young, so during her reign, Parliament settled the rules of succession in the Act of Settlement 1701, by 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 [4] 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 [5] 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, Elector of Hanover, and Sophia of the Palatinate | Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle Celle Castle 21 November 1682 [lower-alpha 2] 2 children div. 28 December 1694 | 11 June 1727 [lower-alpha 2] Osnabrück Castle Aged 67 | Great-grandson of James VI and I Act of Settlement 1701 | |
George II [6] 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 [7] 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 Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg | 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 [8] 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 | Son of George III | |
William IV [9] 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 | Son of George III | ||
Victoria [10] Alexandrina Victoria 20 June 1837 [lower-alpha 11] — 22 January 1901 (63 years, 217 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 24 May 1819 Kensington Palace Daughter of 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 | Niece of William IV | |
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |||||||
Edward VII [11] 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 and 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 [13] 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 [14] Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David 20 January 1936 [lower-alpha 15] — 11 December 1936 (abdicated) (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 4 route du Champ d'Entraînement Aged 77 | Son of George V | ||
George VI [15] Albert Frederick Arthur George 11 December 1936 [lower-alpha 16] — 6 February 1952 (15 years, 58 days) | ![]() | 14 December 1895 York Cottage 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 | Son of George V His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 | ||
Elizabeth II [16] Elizabeth Alexandra Mary 6 February 1952 [lower-alpha 17] — 8 September 2022 [17] (70 years, 215 days) | ![]() | ![]() | 21 April 1926 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair Daughter of George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon | Philip of Greece and Denmark Westminster Abbey 20 November 1947 4 children until 9 April 2021 | 8 September 2022 Balmoral Castle Aged 96 | Daughter of George VI | |
Charles III [18] Charles Philip Arthur George 8 September 2022 [17] [lower-alpha 18] — present (1 year, 333 days) | ![]() | 14 November 1948 Buckingham Palace Son of Elizabeth II and Philip of Greece and Denmark | (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 75 | Son of Elizabeth II |
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British Constitution. The term may also refer to the role of the royal family within the UK's broader political structure. The current monarch is King Charles III, who ascended the throne on 8 September 2022 upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II, his mother.
The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom are the arms of dominion of the British monarch, King Charles III. They are used by HM Government and by other Crown institutions, including courts in the United Kingdom and in some parts of the Commonwealth. Differenced versions of the arms are used by members of the British royal family. The monarch's official flag, the Royal Standard, is the coat of arms in flag form.
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 are presently either 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 use within Scotland and the other for use elsewhere.
The coat of arms of England is the coat of arms historically used as arms of dominion by the monarchs of the Kingdom of England, and now used to symbolise England generally. The arms were adopted c.1200 by the Plantagenet kings and continued to be used by successive English and British monarchs; they are currently quartered with the arms of Scotland and Ireland in the coat of arms of the United Kingdom. Historically they were also quartered with the arms of France, representing the English claim to the French throne, and Hanover.
In the United Kingdom, the Accession Council is a ceremonial body which assembles in St James's Palace in London upon the death of a monarch to make formal proclamation of the accession of the successor to the throne. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701, a new monarch succeeds automatically. The proclamation confirms by name the identity of the new monarch, expresses loyalty to the "lawful and rightful Liege Lord", and formally announces the new monarch's regnal name, while the monarch and others, in front of the council, sign and seal several documents concerning the accession. An Accession Council has confirmed every English monarch since James I in 1603.
The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, originally the Crown Jewels of England, are a collection of royal ceremonial objects kept in the Jewel House at the Tower of London, which include the coronation regalia and vestments worn by British monarchs.
Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, sex, 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.
The precise style of the British sovereign has varied over the years. It is chosen and officially proclaimed by the sovereign. In 2022, King Charles III was proclaimed by the Privy Council to have acceded to the throne with the style:
Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith
From the year 1340 to 1802, 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. Following the Hundred Years War, English and British monarchs continued to call themselves kings of France, and used the French fleur-de-lis as their coat of arms, quartering the arms of England in positions of secondary honour. This continued until 1802, 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 other Commonwealth realms for the transfer of the Crown upon the death or abdication 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.
The coat of arms of Scotland, colloquially called the Lion Rampant, is the coat of arms historically used as arms of dominion by the monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland, and later used within the coat of arms of Great Britain and the present coat of arms of the United Kingdom. The arms consist of a red lion surrounded by a red double border decorated with fleurs-de-lis, all on a gold background. The blazon, or heraldic description, is: Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory-counter-flory of the second.
The reliable sources of British history do not use the term "British Emperor," nor did the government. The term "British Empire" is an unofficial designation and does not imply there was a person called "emperor." The term "emperor" has sometimes informally been retroactively applied to a few mythical and historical rulers of Great Britain, Ireland or the United Kingdom. It was sometimes used informally to designate either Plantagenet and Tudor caesaropapism. The term "Emperor of India" was officially a title for Queen Victoria and her successors down to 1948. There was never an official entity named "Empire of India." See British Raj for the part of India that Britain controlled.
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.
The history of the monarchy of the United Kingdom and its evolution into a constitutional and ceremonial monarchy is a major theme in the historical development of the British constitution. The British monarchy traces its origins to the petty kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England and early medieval Scotland, which consolidated into the kingdoms of England and Scotland by the 10th century. Anglo-Saxon England had an elective monarchy, but this was replaced by primogeniture after England was conquered by the Normans in 1066. The Norman and Plantagenet dynasties expanded their authority throughout the British Isles, creating the Lordship of Ireland in 1177 and conquering Wales in 1283. In 1215, King John agreed to limit his own powers over his subjects according to the terms of Magna Carta. To gain the consent of the political community, English kings began summoning Parliaments to approve taxation and to enact statutes. Gradually, Parliament's authority expanded at the expense of royal power.