Read Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy Online

Authors: Alison Weir

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Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (44 page)

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MARY I

She was born on 18 February, 1516, at Greenwich Palace, Kent. She was proclaimed Queen of England upon the deposition of Queen Jane on 19 July, 1553, although her regnal years were dated from 24 July. She was crowned on 1 October, 1553, at Westminster Abbey. She assumed the title Queen of Spain upon the accession of her husband, Philip II, to the throne of Spain on 16 January, 1556.

Mary I married
, on 25 July, 1554, at Winchester Cathedral:

Philip

He was the son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, by Isabella, daughter of Manuel I, King of Portugal, and he was born on 21 May, 1527, at Valladolid, Spain. He married firstly Mary (1527–1545), daughter of John III, King of Portugal, on 12 November, 1543, at Salamanca, Spain, and had issue:

1 Charles (Don Carlos) (1545–1568).

Philip was designated King of Naples, Jerusalem and Savoy in preparation for his marriage to Mary I (to give him equal rank), and was made a Knight of the Garter on 24 April, 1554. He succeeded his father as King of Spain on 16 January, 1556. After Mary’s death, he married thirdly Elizabeth (1545–1568), daughter of Henry II, King of France, in 1559 at Toledo, Spain, and had issue:

1 Unnamed daughter (
b
.1564).

2 Unnamed daughter (
b
.1564).

3 Isabella Clara Eugenia (1566–1633); she married Albert, Archduke of Austria (1559–1621).

4 Katherine Michela (1567–1597); she married Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (1562–1630).

5 Unnamed daughter (
b
.&
d.
1568).

Philip married fourthly Anne (1549–1580), daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1570 at Segovia, Spain, and had issue:

1 Ferdinand (1571–1578).

2 Edward (1575–1582).

3 Philip III, King of Spain (1578–1621); he married Marianna (1584–1611), daughter of Charles, Archduke of Austria, and had issue.

4 Mary.

Philip became King of Portugal in 1580. He died on 13 September, 1598, at the Palace of the Escorial, Madrid, Spain, where he is buried in the mausoleum. There was no issue of his marriage to Mary I.

MARY I

She died on 17 November, 1558, at St James’s Palace, London, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth.

Elizabeth I

F
ATHER
:
Henry VIII
(

see here
).

M
OTHER
:
Anne Boleyn
(

see here
, under
Henry VIII
).

S
IBLINGS
:
Elizabeth I did not have any full siblings.

ELIZABETH I

She was born on 7 September, 1533, at Greenwich Palace, Kent. She succeeded her half-sister Mary I as Queen of England on 17 November, 1558, and was crowned on 15 January, 1559, at Westminster Abbey.

ELIZABETH I

She died unmarried and childless, and probably a virgin, on 24
March, 1603, at Richmond Palace, Surrey, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

She was succeeded by her third cousin, James VI of Scotland.

Elizabeth I was the last Tudor monarch.

CHAPTER SIX

The Kings and Queens of Scotland from the 9th century to 1603

Before proceeding chronologically to the royal House of Stuart, it is time to retrace our steps through history to the 9th century, when the kingdom of Scotland was first established. Prior to this date, details of the early rulers of Scotland are obscure; the Scottish monarchy is said to have been founded by Alpin, founder of the House of MacAlpin or MacAlpine, which provided Scotland with kings until 1034, when the succession passed to the House of Dunkeld via the marriage of Bethoc, daughter of Malcolm II. The House of Dunkeld held sovereignty until 1290, when Queen Margaret, ‘the Maid of Norway’, perished at sea. Her death led to a great contest for the throne, with thirteen ‘competitors’ all contending for the crown. Edward I of England was asked to arbitrate, and he chose John Balliol, a lightweight whom he could easily manipulate to England’s advantage. The Scots naturally resented Edward’s interference in their government, and Balliol was obliged to abdicate in 1296. There followed the Second Interregnum, when Scotland was without a King from 1296 until 1306. Edward I was making strenuous efforts to bring Scotland under English rule during this period, until the emergence of Robert le Brus (or ‘the Bruce’), who declared himself King of Scotland in defiance of Edward in 1306, and who was destined to be one of the finest of Scotland’s rulers. Bruce’s dynasty did not long survive him; when his son died in 1371, the throne passed to Bruce’s grandson Robert II, son of Marjorie Bruce by Walter the Steward, who gave his name to the House of Stewart.

The Stewarts ruled Scotland for more than two centuries, and Great Britain for another century, yet their hold on the throne was often a tenuous one. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, each Scottish
monarch succeeded to the throne whilst still a child or a minor, and the country was subjected to continuous faction fights amongst power-hungry nobles. That the dynasty survived at all was nothing short of a miracle. Even the abdication of Queen Mary in 1567 did not ruin it, for her son James VI was guided by the magnates from his infancy along the Calvinist path they had marked out for him, and Elizabeth of England, of course, took care of the displaced Mary by first imprisoning and then executing her. Thus it was that the Stewarts – or Stuarts, as they had become when Mary had married into the French royal house – came to inherit also the throne of England. For Mary’s grandfather, James IV, had married Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England, and when Queen Elizabeth died without heirs in 1603, James VI of Scotland, the great-grandson of Margaret Tudor, was the English Queen’s nearest surviving relative.

The succession of the earliest monarchs of Scotland is often confusing, as until Norman influence from England led to the adoption of succession by primogeniture in the late 11th century, the Scots favoured the ancient system of tanistry, whereby the crown passed back and forth from one branch of the family to the other. This system evolved in a time when life expectancy was short, society was violent, and a ruler might well die while his son was an infant: it ensured that the fittest, maturest male would inherit the throne. And until the reign of Malcolm II in the early 11th century, the kingdom of Scotland was shifting its borders all the time, incorporating earlier, smaller kingdoms, or being subdivided between rival rulers. Malcolm II could therefore be said to be the first monarch of modern Scotland. Yet our chapter begins two hundred years before his time, with Alpin, founder of the Scottish monarchy and its first dynasty.

PART ONE

The House of MacAlpine

King Alpin

F
ATHER
:
Eochaid IV, King ‘of Scotland
’.

M
OTHER
:
She was the sister and heiress of Constantine, King of the Picts
.

S
IBLINGS
:
Alpin is not known to have had any siblings
.

KING ALPIN

He succeeded his father as a King in Scotland, and became also King of Kintyre in March/August, 834, thus establishing his power over a wide area. There is no record of his coronation.

King Alpin married
a Scottish Princess (whose name is not known) and had issue: