List of monarchs in the British Isles

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This is a list of the monarchs of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, that is, the monarchs on the thrones of some of the various kingdoms that have existed in the British Isles, namely:

• The Kingdom of Scotland, from 843 up to 1707;
• The Kingdom of England, from 871 (including Wales from the Act of Union 1536–1543) up to 1707;
• The Lordship of Ireland, from 1199 up to 1541;
• The Kingdom of Ireland, from 1541 up to 1801;
• The Kingdom of Great Britain, from the Acts of Union, 1707, between England and Scotland, up to 1801;
• The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from the Act of Union, 1801, between Great Britain and Ireland, up to 1927;
• The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (The UK after the Irish Free State was formed and became a separate state).

To see the rulers of certain states prior to the formation of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and the principality of Wales, see:

[edit] Complications over title and style

Royal titles are complicated: sometimes a monarch might be referenced as ruler of a kingdom which did not, in fact, officially come into existence until later; on other occasions, when the name of a kingdom has changed, the royal styles of the monarch might not immediately be changed to reflect this.

In 1328, on the death of the French king, Charles IV, his nephew Edward III claimed the French throne, a claim maintained, with varying degrees of success, by himself and his successors until 1801. After the defeat of the English in the Hundred Years War, no real attempts were made to enforce the English claim to France, and by the time of George III, the title was merely a tradition. With the French Revolution, followed by the establishment of the United Kingdom in 1801, the English claim to France was dropped.

• Since 1559 English monarchs, and subsequently British monarchs, have also had the title Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

• Note that the numbering of English monarchs starts afresh after 1066 (although this affects only the Edwards). The numerical system prefers the divided national approach; thus James II of England was also James VII of Scotland and William III of England was also William II of Scotland. After the Union, the ordinal has been the English number (for "George", "Edward" and "Elizabeth") and, until recently, there was no formal rule (see List of regnal numerals of future British monarchs).

• All Scottish monarchs held the title King of Scots or Queen of Scots, with the exception of the last three: Mary II, William III and Anne I used the style "of Scotland" rather than "of Scots".

• In October 1604, one year after James VI of Scotland had become King of England, he decreed that the Royal Title would use the term Great Brittaine to refer to the "one Imperiall Crowne" made up of England and Scotland[1]. However using that title is problematic because unified offices of state for Great Britain, were not in total cohesion until the Act of Union 1707 which established the Parliament of Great Britain. Nor was the united crown generally referred to as "imperial", but accentuated the decrees of Henry VIII who declared himself equal in deference with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Some historians thus refer to all monarchs up to 1707 as monarchs of England and Scotland, but for simplicity's sake, the whole realm is considered British because of the Celtic nature behind the Renaissance Tudor-Stuart Establishment and "Britannia's" empire overseas. Courtiers upon the death of Elizabeth, considered James to be a new Brutus of Troy. What further undermined this sense of "British", was separatist Jacobitism amongst the Scots until the union with Ireland. Nevertheless, people in parlance refer to rulers of Great Britain as English in reference to rebellions associated with the Scottish, Irish and Americans.

• In different documents, the terms Kingdom of Great Britain and United Kingdom of Great Britain feature, even documents as official as the Act of Union 1707. Most historians presume the United was meant to be descriptive, indicating a union as a form of unity by marriage rather than coercion. For clarity and because the United is far more strongly associated with the later name United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland produced in the Act of Union 1800, the 1707 Kingdom is generally referred to as the Kingdom of Great Britain.

• Similarly, though most of Ireland ceased to be part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when it became the Irish Free State in 1922, neither the full name of the United Kingdom nor the royal title were changed until the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927. In this instance historians generally retrospectively date the coming into being of the modern United Kingdom to December 1922, even though in this case the formal change did not occur for another five years.

• Due to fierce dissent in Scotland over EIIR postboxes, all monarchs henceforth are numbered according to either English or Scottish reckoning, whichever was higher (per a 1953 announcement)

[edit] Monarchs

Succession to the many thrones often did not pass smoothly from parent to child; lack of heirs, civil wars, murders and invasions affected the inheritance in ways that a simple list does not show. The relationships that formed the basis for claims to throne are noted where we know them, and the dates of reign indicated.

[edit] Notes

• A mnemonic verse lists the Kings and Queens of England then Great Britain then the United Kingdom.

[edit] See also

• British monarchy
• Bretwalda
• List of UK monarchy records
• List of British monarchs by longevity
• List of longest reigning Monarchs of the UK
• List of monarchs of the British Isles by cause of death
• List of regnal numerals of future British monarchs
• Other lists of incumbents
• UK topics
• British monarchs family tree
• English monarchs family tree
• Scottish monarchs family tree
• Style of the British Sovereign
• Line of succession to the British Throne
• Emperor of India
• Genealogy of the British Royal Family
• Direct descent from William I to Elizabeth II
• Mnemonic verse of monarchs in England
• Burial places of monarchs in the British Isles

[edit] References

• The official website of the British Monarchy
• Britannia.combe:Спіс брытанскіх манархаў

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