I recently looked into a few might-have-beens of English
history in the form of half-a-dozen
people who could, or even perhaps should, have been the King (or Queen) but
through the cruel hand of fate were denied the chance. They weren’t the only
ones, of course – and here are half-a-dozen more…
Edgar Aetheling (c.1051-c.1126)
– would have been King Edgar II
‘Aetheling’ was, roughly speaking, the Anglo-Saxon term
for the heir to the King. During the latter part of the Edward the Confessor’s reign (1042-1066) this title was held by Edgar, grandson of Edward’s half-brother Edmund Ironside
(who had himself been King for a mere seven months in 1016) and, aside from
Edward himself, the only surviving male member of the royal House of Wessex. The
childless Edward, however, made no effort to entrench Edgar’s position as heir.
The designs of both the King of Norway and Duke William of Normandy on the
English throne meant that, after Edward’s death in January 1066, the assembly of the English nobility known as the Witan chose to elect Harold Godwinson, the country’s senior nobleman and a renowned
warrior, to be King rather than the young, untested Edgar. After Harold’s death
at the battle of Hastings later that same year, Edgar was proclaimed as King
but the surviving English nobility quickly submitted to William the Conqueror. Thus
deprived, Edgar would later be linked with various anti-Norman rebellions, and
eventually became a Crusader.
Henry, the Young
King (1155-1183) – would have been an alternative King Henry III
The Plantagenets were a famously unruly royal family.
Henry II had five sons by his wife, the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine, and
the eldest of those to survive infancy was the one who was named after him. Described
by contemporaries as a charming but feckless playboy, in 1170 this younger
Henry became the only heir to the English throne to be crowned before the death
of his predecessor. It is unclear why Henry II decided to do this, but as he got the Archbishop of York to do it, it became part of that king’s feud
with Thomas Becket, who as Archbishop of Canterbury should have been the man to
perform the ceremony. Probably frustrated by his father’s reluctance to
relinquish any actual control of any of his lands, the Young King – as he
became known after his coronation – led the rebellion against Henry II in 1173-74
and was joined by his mother and two of his brothers. He was in revolt against
his father again in 1183 when he died. Six years later, his father died and the
crown passed to his brother Richard.
Edward of
Westminster, Prince of Wales (1453-1471) – would have been another alternative
King Edward IV, or maybe V
Born at a time of strife, this Prince Edward was the only
son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou but he was disinherited in 1460 when his
father was captured after the battle of Northampton – Henry was allowed to
remain as King but he was forced to make the Duke of York his heir. A year
later, York was dead and his son, the Earl of March, had defeated the
Lancastrians at Towton, seizing the crown and becoming King Edward IV in the
process. Prince Edward and his mother went into exile, where Margaret allied
herself with the Earl of Warwick; Edward married his daughter, Anne Neville, in
1470. Warwick briefly restored Henry VI to the throne, but was defeated and
killed by the Yorkists at Barnet in 1471. Deprived of their best military
leader, the Lancastrians rallied around the inexperienced Prince of Wales for
the battle of Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471; they were defeated and
Edward killed – making him the only heir to the English throne to have died in
battle. His father died (or was murdered; no-one knows for sure) a few days
later. A teenage widow, Anne went on to marry Edward IV’s brother, the Duke of
Gloucester – who would become King Richard III.
Arthur, Prince of
Wales (1486-1502) – would have been a real rather than legendary King Arthur
Much was expected of this Tudor prince, the eldest son of
Henry VII and Elizabeth of York and as such viewed as living proof of the union
between the houses of Lancaster and York (Elizabeth being the daughter of
Edward IV) and the end of the Wars of the Roses. He was said to have been
academically bright, as well as an accomplished archer and dancer. His father
wanted him to marry Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of the Spanish monarchs
Ferdinand and Isabella, in order to forge a union between England and Spain;
the marriage eventually took place in late 1501. Within months, though, Arthur
fell ill and died. His brother Henry – the ‘spare’ who would succeed their
father as King in 1509 – married Catherine but, as she was his brother’s widow,
he could only do so after getting special dispensation from the Pope; the
consequences of this would lead to the break with Rome some years later.
James Stuart
(1688-1766) – styled himself as James III of England and James VIII of Scotland
The Old Pretender sparked controversy merely by being
born – opponents of his father, James II, alleged that his mother’s pregnancy
had been faked and that he had been smuggled into the Queen’s bed in a
warming-pan. The Glorious Revolution followed shortly thereafter, and as such
James Stuart grew up in exile, assuming the title of King – and being
recognised as such by the Pope and by his cousin Louis XIV of France – after his
father’s death in 1701. He made three serious attempts at recapturing his
father’s kingdoms, his best chance being in 1715 after his half-sister Queen
Anne’s death plunged Britain into political uncertainty. A rebel army was
raised in Scotland and some rebel forces entered England, but before James
could arrive in person defeats at Sheriffmuir and Preston had put government
forces in control. James spent much of his life in Rome, where his court-in-exile
was popular with British visitors regardless of their faith or political affiliation (he
was even given permission to hold Protestant services for said visitors, although
he himself remained a Catholic). In later life he quarrelled with his eldest
son Charles (the Young Pretender) to the extent that he only knew of the 1745
rebellion after the latter had landed in Scotland. He died in Rome and is
buried in the Vatican alongside his two sons – the younger of whom became a
cardinal and in old age received a pension from George III.
Princess Charlotte
of Wales (1796-1817) – would have been Queen Charlotte I
As the only legitimate grandchild of George III, Charlotte
was second in line to the throne after her father who became Prince Regent in
1811 (and would become George IV in 1820); unlike him, she was very popular
with the British people. She married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld,
and in 1817 her pregnancy was the subject of intense public interest.
Unfortunately her obstetrician, Sir Richard Croft, followed outdated medical
advice and put her on a strict diet and bled her regularly; this weakened her
to the extent that after a two-day labour the 21 year-old princess died after
giving birth to a stillborn boy. Croft later killed himself. As well as deep
mourning across the country, Charlotte’s death prompted a succession crisis
which led to two of her uncles quickly ditching their mistresses and getting
married in a bid to ensure the survival of the House of Hanover; one of them, the Duke
of Kent, married Leopold’s sister Victoria, after whom their daughter – the
future Queen Victoria – was named.