#Rulers of england series#

William Rufus (II) (King of England 1087-1100) When she got permission to divorce her husband, Edward, by then King, wanted to marry her, but marrying a divorced woman was deemed impossible for a British monarch. Ultimately, this was to be his downfall as a monarch he fell in love with Wallis Simpson, the wife of an American businessman.

#Rulers of england series#

While popular before his short reign for his tours of the Empire and visits to areas of economic deprivation, he had a series of scandalous affairs with married women. The current Queen's uncle didn't distinguish himself to the same extent as his daughter. When he fathered a (Catholic) heir, a group of Protestant nobles decided enough was enough and invited William of Orange to invade, who ultimately deposed James in the 'glorious revolution.'Įdward VIII (King of the UK, January-December 1936)

When he reissued his 'declaration of indulgence,' which granted more freedoms to both Catholics and Protestant dissenters, in 1888, it infuriated the Church of England, usually one of the monarch's most powerful allies. A Catholic, he promoted religious tolerance (though was arguably less than tolerant himself towards Protestants and Scottish Presbyterians). One of England's shortest-reigning kings, James's unpopular policies were viewed as the early modern equivalent of political correctness gone mad. James II (King of England and Scotland (as VII) 1685-8) He spent much of the rest of his time as regent and later on the throne constructing a court to rival Napoleon's, and by the end of his life had almost become convinced that he was primarily responsible for the defeat of the French emperor, who fell in 1815. From his birth-when he was mistakenly pronounced to be a girl-to his death in seclusion as a constitutional irrelevance, George's only real contribution to the monarchy was his determined dismantling, via a string of cruel affairs, of the reputation for sexual restraint and family values his father had forged. 'With a personal income 'exceeding the national revenue of a third-rate power, there appeared to be no limit to his desires, nor any restraint to his profusion,'' such was the verdict of an 1830-1 biography of George IV. She was put to death for treason in 1587 as a result.

She was suspected of involvement in the murder of her husband, Henry Stuart, at Kirk o'Field in 1565, following which she married another suspect, the Earl of Bothwell, forcing her to flee to England where she was thought to be involved in a range of plots against the English queen Elizabeth I. Mary was notable less for ruling a country than for being implicated in basically every murder and plot that happened in it. Mary Queen of Scots (Queen of Scotland, 1542-1567) He is presumed to have been executed at Berkley castle in 1327, though the rumour that this was carried out by inserting a red-hot poker into his anus is likely a myth. After he and a male favourite alienated his queen, Isabella of France, she invaded England with her own favourite, the Baron Roger Mortimer, and put Edward's 14 year old son Edward III on the throne. An unconventional character who by many accounts preferred romping around with lusty peasant folk to actually doing any governing, he is best-known for his defeat by Robert the Bruce of Scotland at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The first English King to be forced to abdicate, Edward's reign was defined by incompetence. So what better way to celebrate the Queen's success than by comparing her to some of the most forgettable or just plain rubbish monarchs Britain has ever had? Here are six particularly ineffective ones.

But one can't say the same about all her ancestors.

As a symbol of constancy and visible public service, Elizabeth II has helped reinstate the monarchy as a popular institution. Whatever your view of the monarchy as an institution, you'd have to admit that the Queen has done something right the royal family are enjoying one of their most popular periods of the past 50 years. James II: really rubbish king The Queen! She's great, isn't she? Isn't she great? Today, as Elizabeth II becomes Britain's longest-serving monarch, the nation unites to say 'aw, bless her,' and listen to a series of lofty platitudes from every elderly male historian the BBC can dredge up.