Artist Alexander Bazano
Victoria
Alexandrina Victoria
Alexandrina Victoria
Years of life: May 24, 1819 - January 22, 1901
Reigned: June 20, 1837 - January 22, 1901
Father: Edward August
Mother: Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Husband: Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Sons: Edward, Alfred, Arthur, Leopold
Daughters: Victoria, Alice, Elena, Louise, Beatrice
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873) Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at a costume ball. May, 1842
According to the wife of a Russian ambassador, the royal house of England in the first third of the 19th century reminded her of a lunatic asylum led by a king - an unrestrained drunkard. True, things were no better for the predecessors. Representatives of the Hanoverian dynasty were distinguished by unworthy behavior, some of them were simply mentally abnormal.
And if things had continued like this, perhaps today the institution of the British Monarchy would have to be mentioned exclusively in the past tense.
George III (June 4, 1738, London - January 29, 1820, Windsor Castle, Berkshire) - King of Great Britain and Elector (from October 12, 1814 King) of Hanover from October 25, 1760, from the Hanoverian dynasty.
The long (almost 60 years, the second longest after the reign of Victoria) reign of George III was marked by revolutionary events in the world: the separation of the American colonies from the British crown and the formation of the United States, the Great French Revolution and the Anglo-French political and armed struggle, which ended with the Napoleonic Wars. George also went down in history as a victim of a severe mental illness, due to which a regency was established over him from 1811. Despite the fact that the "mad" George III had 12 children, none of them managed to leave legitimate offspring. Heirs succeeded each other on the throne at a feverish pace. At some point, it really seemed that the third of the royal sons, Edward, Duke of Kent, had every chance to get the crown over time, but fate wanted his daughter, Victoria, to head the British Empire, and she was the head of this neither more nor less - 64 years.
Princess Victoria, 1823 and 1834
Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (Eng. Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, November 2, 1767 (17671102) - January 2, 1820), the fourth son of King George III, father of Queen Victoria.
In 1791-1802 he served in Canada, from 1799 he commanded British troops in America. In 1799 he received the title of duke and the rank of field marshal. Participated in the Napoleonic Wars (was the commandant of Gibraltar during the naval war with France). Constant financial difficulties forced him to settle in Brussels in 1816, where he was subjected to great hardships. In 1818, after the death of his niece Princess Charlotte, who put the Hanover dynasty in danger of extinction, he married Victoria, the daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Franz, widowed Princess of Leiningen (1786-1861). In this marriage, a daughter, Victoria, the future Queen of Great Britain, was born. Shortly before his death, he returned to England, died 6 days before his father.
Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent (German: Victoria von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld; August 17, 1786 (17860817), Coburg - March 16, 1861, Frogmore House) - Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria of Great Britain. To her son-in-law, the husband of her daughter Victoria, Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, son of Ernst of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, she was an aunt.
Winterhalter Francois Xavier.The Young Queen Victoria1842
Victoria was born at Kensington Palace on May 24, 1819. Her parents made a long and difficult journey from Bavaria specifically for the baby to be born in London.
Victoria with her mother
Edward sincerely rejoiced at the appearance of a strong and healthy first-born, for the mother of the future monarch, this girl was a special child. Despite the fact that Victoria of Saxe-Coburg already had two children - Karl and Theodora, from her first marriage to Emich Karl of Leiningen, she was well aware that only this newborn could seriously enter into a dynastic battle for the British crown.
Queen Victoria, after Franz Xavier Winterhalter
The name of the baby was chosen for a long time. At first, her parents decided to name her Georgina Charlotte Augusta Alexandrina Victoria. However, the prince-regent, being the godfather of the baby, for some secret reasons known only to him, refused to give her his name - George, offering to leave only the last two, and as a result, the girl was named Alexandrina Victoria. The first name was given in honor of the Russian godfather of Emperor Alexander I, while the second, which became the main one, was given in honor of the mother. Much later, when Victoria had already become queen, her subjects did not really like that their ruler was called in the German manner.
Stephen Catterson Smith (1806-1872)Princess Victoria, Aged Nine, In A Landscape
In the meantime, this child has become a truly royal gift to the country and, moreover, a kind of atonement for the previous sins of the Hanoverian dynasty. True, Victoria's childhood could not be called either frivolous or cloudless. When she was only 8 months old, her father, who was famous for his excellent health, suddenly died of pneumonia. And shortly before his death, a fortuneteller predicted to Edward the imminent death of two members of the royal family, to which he, without thinking for a second that he himself might be among the “sentenced”, hastened to announce publicly that he would inherit the royal title and his descendants. And suddenly, having caught a cold while hunting, he becomes seriously ill and very quickly departs to another world, leaving only debts to his wife and children.
Queen Victoria John Partridge.
And so the family had to save literally on everything. As a child, Victoria, whom everyone at home, except for her mother, called Drina, wore the same dress until she grew out of it, and was firmly convinced that the ladies who endlessly changed outfits and jewels are not mere windings, but highly immoral persons. Subsequently, already in power, she was never fond of toilets, and the famous decorations of the British crown were more of a tribute to prestige.
L'accession au trône de la reine Victoria le 20 juin 1837
Konigin Victoria von England.Alexander Melville
As a girl, Victoria always slept in her mother's bedroom, as the Duchess of Kent lived under constant fear that her daughter might be assassinated. At first, her upbringing differed little from the upbringing of any noble lady. Her home education can be called classical - languages, arithmetic, geography, music, horse dressage, drawing. By the way, Victoria painted beautiful watercolors all her life.
Queen Victoria, 1838 - Alfred-Edward Chalon.
When she was 12 years old, she first learned about the brilliant prospect that awaits her. And since that moment, the methods of her upbringing have undergone very significant changes. The frighteningly long list of prohibitions that formed the basis of the so-called "Kensington system" provided for the inadmissibility of talking to strangers, expressing one's own feelings in front of witnesses, deviating from the established regime once and for all, reading any literature at one's discretion, eating too much sweetness, and so on, so on. other. The German governess, whom the girl, by the way, loved and trusted very much, Louise Lenhsen, diligently recorded all her actions in special “Books of Conduct”. For example, an entry dated November 1, 1831 characterizes the behavior of the future queen as “naughty and vulgar."
Engraving of Queen Victoria (Kings and Queens series) W.C. Ross, W. Holl
On June 20, 1837, King William IV died and his niece Victoria ascended the throne, who was destined to become both the last representative of the unfortunate Hanoverian dynasty and the ancestor of the ruling House of Windsor in Britain to this day. There has been no woman on the English throne for more than a hundred years.
Queen Victoria receiving the news of her accession to the throne, June 20, 1837. From the picture by H. T. Wells, R.A., at Buckingham Palace
On a summer afternoon in 1837, 18-year-old Victoria, seated in a "golden carriage", went to Westminster Abbey for her coronation, the ceremony of which turned out to be unrehearsed.
Queen Victoria, 1838. Thomas Sully
Embarrassed, Victoria whispered to the courtiers: "I beg you, tell me what I should do?" Even the ring that she was supposed to wear was not enough, and the archbishop almost sprained the queen's finger. Moreover, on the same day, a black swan was seen in the sky over London, and this circumstance gave reason to say that Victoria would not sit on the throne for a long time. It wasn't long before the young queen made it clear that the question "I beg you, tell me what should I do?" left in the past. During the government crisis that erupted after the change of monarch, Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, who raised the question of the removal of two court ladies, whose husbands belonged to the previous government, received the following answer from Victoria: - I will not give up any of my ladies and leave them all. not interested in their political views.
Victoria in her Coronation.Franz Xavier Winterhalter
Constitutional doctrines were taught to Victoria in her youth. She knew her duties very well, and therefore she never tried to make adjustments to them or ignore those state decisions that were taken by the entire cabinet of ministers. But this by no means negated the full and universal accountability to Her Majesty “in each given case, so that she knows what she gives her royal assent." More than once in her messages to the government, she reminded in a threatening tone that in case of violation of her right to be privy to all matters on which decisions are made, ministers risk being "removed from office."
Victoria holding a Privy Council meeting. Sir David Wilkie
In 1839, Tsarevich Alexander, the future Emperor Alexander II, arrived in London to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Queen. The tall blue-eyed handsome man was 21 years old. Impeccable manners, courtesy, and finally, a uniform of exceptional beauty, like a glove that sat on a Russian prince, caused a real stir among the ladies. It also turned out that the heart of the queen is not made of stone.
Queen Victoria .1839
But no matter how well they went, that was the end of it. It is possible that the increased attention of the young queen to the heir to the Russian throne caused alarm in British government circles. Despite the efforts of Russian diplomacy to get closer to England, the arrival of the Tsarevich was further evidence of this. Prime Minister Melbourne advised Victoria to stay away from Russia. It was he who began to sow the first seeds of distrust and apprehension, which were successfully continued by the future advisers of Victoria, who asserted: “Russia is constantly growing stronger. It is rolling like an avalanche towards the borders of Afghanistan and India and represents the greatest danger that can exist for the British Empire.
Queen Victoria 1843.Franz Xaver Winterhalter
In January 1840, the queen made a speech in parliament, which she was terribly worried about. She announced her upcoming marriage.
Franz Xaver Winterhalter - Prince Albert the Prince Consort (1819-61).
Her chosen one was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. He was Victoria's maternal cousin, they were even taken by the same midwife at birth, but for the first time the young people had a chance to see each other only when Victoria was 16 years old. Then a warm relationship immediately developed between them. And after another 3 years, when Victoria had already become queen, she no longer hid the fact that she was passionately in love.
The couple spent their honeymoon at Windsor Castle. These delightful days the queen considered the best in her long life, although she herself reduced this month to two weeks. “It is absolutely impossible for me not to be in London. Two or three days is already a long absence. You have forgotten, my love, that I am a monarch." And soon after the wedding, a desk for the prince was also placed in the queen's office.
Queen Victoria painted by Franz Zavier Winterhalter on her wedding day.
The young queen did not possess beauty in her conventional sense. But her face was intelligent, her large bright, slightly protruding eyes looked intently and inquisitively. All her life she in every possible way, however, almost unsuccessfully, struggled with fullness, although in her youth she had a rather elegant figure. Judging by the photographs, she has completely mastered the art of looking presentable, although she wrote to herself, not without humor: "We, however, are rather short for a queen."
Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873). Portrait Queen Victoria 1843
Her husband Albert, on the contrary, was very attractive, slim and elegant. And besides, he was known as a "walking encyclopedia."
Prince Albert Franz Xavier Winterhalter
He had the most diverse interests: he was especially fond of technology, loved painting, architecture, and was an excellent swordsman. If Victoria's musical tastes were unpretentious and she preferred operetta to everything, then Albert knew the classics well.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert 1854
However, the difference in tastes in no way prevented the relationship of the spouses from becoming the standard of an almost exemplary family. No betrayals, no scandals, not even the slightest rumors discrediting marital virtue.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert 1861
True, it was said that Albert's feelings for his wife were not as ardent as hers. But this did not affect the strength of their union. They were an example of an ideal marriage. Everyone had only to follow them - not only bad examples are contagious!
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873. Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Princess Victoria. 1841-45.
In the meantime, as an exemplary wife, the queen, without any hesitation, at the end of the same “wedding” year of 1840, presented her husband with her first child - a girl who, by tradition, was named after her mother Victoria Adelaide.
Are you satisfied with me? she asked Albert, barely recovering herself.
Yes, dear, he replied, but won't England be disappointed to know that the baby was a girl and not a boy?
I promise you that next time there will be a son.
Victoria of the United Kingdom.Franz Xaver Winterhalter
The royal word was firm. A year later, the couple had a son who was to become King Edward VII and the founder of the Saxe-Coburg dynasty, which during the First World War, in order not to annoy compatriots with a German sound, was renamed the Windsor dynasty.
Queen Victoria with Prince Arthur. Franz Xavier Winterhalter (2)
In 1856, the Queen addressed the Prime Minister with a message, the purpose of which was to constitutionally recognize and secure the rights of Prince Albert. Not without delay, only a year later, by the decision of Parliament, Prince Albert received a special “royal patent”, which henceforth called him the prince consort, that is, the prince consort.
Prince Albert.
In her desire to raise both the status and authority of Albert, the queen acted not only as a devoted and loving woman.
Prince Albert.Alexander de Meville
If at first she, with her characteristic irony, wrote: “I read and sign papers, and Albert gets them wet,” then over time his influence on Victoria, and therefore on state affairs, steadily increased, becoming undeniable. It was Albert, with his penchant for technology, who managed to defeat the queen's prejudice to all sorts of new products.
Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London in 1851.
Victoria, for example, was afraid to use the railway built in the north of the country, but convinced by her husband of the unconditional prospects and necessity of railway travel, she quite consciously acted as an ardent supporter of the country's transition to industrial rails, giving impetus to its rapid industrial development. In 1851, again at the initiative of Albert, the First World Exhibition was held in London, for the opening of which the famous Crystal Palace was built.
The exhibition was a huge success. With the money received from the fair, the South Kensington Museum was built, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Queen Victoria with Prince Arthur in front of the Duke of Wellington, his godfather. Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Her Majesty Queen Victoria with the Prince of Wales and Princess Victoria, fig. W. Drummond
Queen Victoria and Princess Beatrice
Although there were many people at court who did not like the prince consort and considered him to be both a bore, and a miser, and a petty pedant, and in general a person with a difficult character, no one ever questioned the almost incredible impeccability of the royal matrimonial union. Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine what a tragedy the death of Albert at the age of 42 turned out to be for Victoria. Having lost him, she lost everything at once: as a woman - love and the rarest spouse, as a queen - a friend, adviser and assistant. Those who studied the multi-volume correspondence and diaries of the queen could not find a single divergence in their views.
Queen Victoria,Prince Albert,and children by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The Royal Family - painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Winterhalter Franz Xavier. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with the Family of King Louis Philippe
Victoria wrote several books of memoirs about him and about their lives. On her initiative, a grandiose cultural center, an embankment, a bridge, an expensive monument were built - all in his memory. The queen said that she now considers her whole life as a time for the implementation of her husband's plans: "His views on everything in this world will now be my law."
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Prince Albert John Partridge.
Very gradually and difficultly, causing the irritation of her surroundings, Victoria returned to her immediate duties. Apparently, therefore, many considered that now she would be on the throne a purely decorative figure.
Queen Victoria (1819-1901) after Baron Heinrich von Angeli (1840-1925)
William Charles Ross
And they were wrong. Victoria managed to build her life in such a way that the grieving widow in her in no way interfered with a woman politician, and of the highest rank. Thanks to her, Bismarck, during the Franco-Prussian War, abandoned the idea of bombing Paris.
Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen (German: Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen; April 1, 1815 - July 30, 1898) - prince, politician, statesman, first chancellor of the German Empire (Second Reich), nicknamed the "Iron Chancellor". He had the honorary rank (peacetime) of the Prussian Colonel General with the rank of Field Marshal (March 20, 1890).
And she firmly stood for the policy of the kulak in relation to Ireland, where in the late 60s a wave of terrorist attacks swept in protest against British rule.
But even among the loyal subjects of the English there were critics who were convinced that the country had made a “fetish or an idol” out of the queen, that any dissent was anathema in England, and the opinion of the monarchy, as far from being the only form possible in England, was called nothing more than a betrayal. the interests of the nation. Yes, the word "socialism", perhaps, was the most hated for the queen, but the whole country began to think the same way.
Queen Victoria and John Brown Walking, 1866 by Sir Edmund Landseer
Fate turned out to be favorable to the queen, bringing Benjamin Disraeli to the post of prime minister in the 70s. With this smart, prudent politician, the queen could have any number of differences, except for one - they were both true apologists for imperial politics.
Benjamin Disraeli (since 1876 Earl of Beaconsfield; English Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield,; December 21, 1804, London - April 19, 1881, ibid) - English statesman of the Conservative Party of Great Britain, 40th and 42nd prime minister minister of Great Britain in 1868, and from 1874 to 1880, member of the House of Lords since 1876, writer, one of the representatives of the "social novel".
Queen Victoria was a supporter of the most active steps to expand the territories subject to England. To solve this grandiose task, all means were good - this is what Prince Albert once taught his wife - cunning, bribery, power pressure, speed and onslaught. When she and the Prime Minister acted in concert and together, the results were obvious.
Flatters Johann Jacob-Queen Victoria-Victoria and Albert Museum
In 1875, an incredibly clever intrigue brings Britain a major stake in the Suez Canal. Whereas France, which had the same views on the canal, has to retreat. “The deed is done. He is yours, madam, - the channel,” the queen reads the victorious report of the prime minister and a smile appears on her face.
Yair Haklai.Bust of Queen Victoria by Count Gleichen at Victoria and Albert Museum
The following year, India appears among the overseas possessions of England - the main pearl in the imperial crown. Great Britain is knocked down from a triumphal step by Russia's successes in the war with Turkey in 1877-1878. The Russians then had a stone's throw to Istanbul. The Treaty of San Stefano, according to which part of the Balkan Peninsula goes to the Slavic peoples, is perceived by Victoria as a tragedy. She was not afraid to go into conflict with Russia, and now English ships are heading for the Dardanelles. Disraeli, in turn, seeks the convocation of the Berlin Congress, where, succumbing to massive pressure, Russia was forced to retreat. The queen, who by then was 60 years old, looked triumphant.
Statue of Victoria at Cubbon Park in Bangalore, India
During these years, she, who did not like fashionable events, more often than usual is shown to the people, surrounded by a large family. Not a single lady who has ever sat on the throne has succeeded with such a high return in placing both the natural course of life and the most ordinary female joys at her service. And the British were almost glad to see in this gray-haired, blurry woman with a puffy face the mother of the whole nation.
Linda Spashett. Busts of Victoria and Albert, 1863. Town Hall, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.
On June 20, 1887, the 50th anniversary of Victoria's reign on the throne was celebrated. 50 European kings and princes were invited to the solemn banquet.
HK CWB Victoria Park. Queen Victoria Statue.
The "Diamond Jubilee" of the Queen in 1897 was conceived as a festival of the British Empire, to which the rulers of all British colonies with their families were invited. The solemn procession was attended by military detachments from each colony, including soldiers sent by Indian princes. The celebrations were marked by great outpourings of affection for the Queen, who by then was already confined to a wheelchair.
Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II are the two longest-reigning monarchs in British history, with a combined reign of over 125 years. The BBC provides facts and figures from the lives of the two queens, through which you can see how the monarchy has changed over the years.
Young years
Queen Victoria belonged to the German Hanoverian dynasty, ascended the throne at the age of 18 and ruled the United Kingdom for 23,226 days - 63 years, 7 months and 2 days.
Elizabeth II is the successor of the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty, which during the First World War was renamed the Windsor dynasty for patriotic reasons. Elizabeth ascended the throne at the age of 25 and on September 9, 2015, her reign will exceed the record length of Queen Victoria's reign.
Personal data
Victoria was very short (1 meter 50 centimeters) and became very fat with age, as can be judged from regularly put up for auction: the waist circumference of her underwear fluctuated at different times from 94 to 113 cm.
Elizabeth's height is 1 meter 60 centimeters, and the size of the clothes is kept secret by the royal tailors.
Marriage and children
Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on 10 February 1840 at the age of 21. They were married for 21 years - Prince Albert died in December 1861. Queen Victoria had nine children, four of whom became reigning monarchs or married reigning monarchs.
Elizabeth II married the grandson of the Greek King George I, Philip Mountbatten (who on the eve of the marriage received the titles of Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Marionette and Baron Greenwich) on November 20, 1947, also at the age of 21. Elizabeth became the first British monarch to celebrate a diamond wedding anniversary - at the moment she has been married to Prince Philip for almost 68 years. The Queen has four children - three sons and a daughter. 
Coronation
At the coronation of Victoria in London in 1837, a crowd of subjects and foreign guests gathered, numbering at least 400,000 people.
In 1953, thanks to the first ever live television broadcast, 27 million people in the UK followed and another 11 million listened to the report on the radio. 
population of the united kingdom
During the reign of Queen Victoria, the population of the kingdom doubled from 16 million people in 1837 to 32.5 million people in 1901.
In 1952, when King George VIII died and the throne passed to Elizabeth, the UK population was 50 million. As of July 2014 (), 64.6 million people live in the country.
The rise and fall of an empire
Under Queen Elizabeth, Great Britain became an empire that occupied a quarter of the globe, and the total number of subjects of the crown was almost 400 million people.
Under Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom lost its last colonies (1997 - Hong Kong). Now she heads the Commonwealth of Nations, which includes 53 countries - former colonies and dominions of the British Empire. The Commonwealth is voluntary, and some countries in different years left it and sometimes returned, in accordance with the political conjuncture.
International affairs
Queen Victoria only once left the UK: in 1849, she paid an official visit to Ireland.
Queen Elizabeth II made official visits to 116 countries, and the total length of her foreign trips exceeded 70,000 kilometers (for comparison: the length of the Equator is 40,075 kilometers).
welfare
The British Parliament gave Queen Victoria £385,000 on the occasion of her ascension to the throne. Subsequently, with this money, the Queen bought the Scottish castle of Balmoral and built Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
The property of Queen Elizabeth II is estimated at 340 million pounds.
prime ministers
During the reign of Queen Victoria in the UK, 10 prime ministers were replaced. William Gladstone held this post four times.
Under Elizabeth II, there were 12 prime ministers. Winston Churchill was the first of them, and Margaret Thatcher held the post of head of government for the longest time (eleven years). 
Money
During the reign of Queen Victoria, the Mint of the United Kingdom minted 2.5 billion coins.
During the reign of Elizabeth II, the Royal Mint minted over 68 billion coins - 8.1 billion before the reform of the monetary system and 60.3 billion coins after the transition to the decimal settlement system. 
Streets
In the United Kingdom, 153 streets are named after Queen Victoria and 237 streets are named after Queen Elizabeth II.
Egbert the Great (Anglo-Saxon. Ecgbryht, English Egbert, Eagberht) (769/771 - February 4 or June 839) - King of Wessex (802 - 839). A number of historians consider Egbert the first king of England, since for the first time in history he united under the rule of one ruler most of the lands located on the territory of modern England, and the remaining regions recognized his supreme power over themselves. Officially, Egbert did not use such a title and for the first time it was used in his title by King Alfred the Great.
Edward II (eng. Edward II, 1284-1327, also called Edward of Caernarvon, at his place of birth in Wales), is the English king (from 1307 until his deposition in January 1327) from the Plantagenet dynasty, the son of Edward I.
The first English heir to the throne, who bore the title of "Prince of Wales" (according to legend, at the request of the Welsh to give them a king who was born in Wales and did not speak English, Edward I presented them with his newborn son, who had just been born in his camp) . Having inherited his father's throne at the age of less than 23, Edward II fought very unsuccessfully against Scotland, whose troops were led by Robert the Bruce. The popularity of the king also undermined his commitment to the favorites hated by the people (as it was believed, the king's lovers) - the Gascon Pierre Gaveston, and then the English nobleman Hugh Despenser Jr. Philip IV the Handsome, who fled to France.
Edward III Edward III .
Richard II (eng. Richard II, 1367-1400) - English king (1377-1399), representative of the Plantagenet dynasty, grandson of King Edward III, son of Edward the Black Prince.
Richard was born in Bordeaux - his father fought in France on the fields of the Hundred Years' War. When the Black Prince died in 1376, during the life of Edward III, the young Richard received the title of Prince of Wales, and a year later inherited the throne from his grandfather.
Henry IV Bolingbroke (Eng. Henry IV of Bolingbroke, April 3, 1367, Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire - March 20, 1413, Westminster) - King of England (1399-1413), founder of the Lancaster dynasty (a younger branch of the Plantagenets).
Henry V (Eng. Henry V) (August 9, according to other sources, September 16, 1387, Monmouth Castle, Monmouthshire, Wales - August 31, 1422, Vincennes (now in Paris), France) - King of England from 1413, from the Lancaster dynasty, one of the greatest commanders of the Hundred Years War. Defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). Under an agreement in Troyes (1420), he became the heir of the French king Charles VI the Mad and received the hand of his daughter Catherine. He continued the war with the son of Charles, who did not recognize the treaty, the Dauphin (the future Charles VII) and died during this war, just two months before Charles VI; if he had lived these two months, he would have become the king of France. He died in August 1422, presumably from dysentery.
Henry VI (eng. Henry VI, fr. Henri VI) (December 6, 1421, Windsor - May 21 or 22, 1471, London) - the third and last king of England from the Lancaster dynasty (from 1422 to 1461 and from 1470 to 1471). The only one of the English kings who wore the title "King of France" during the Hundred Years War and after it, who was actually crowned (1431) and reigned over a large part of France.
Edward IV (April 28, 1442, Rouen - April 9, 1483, London) - King of England in 1461-1470 and 1471-1483, a representative of the York Plantagenet line, seized the throne during the War of the Scarlet and White Roses.
Eldest son of Richard, Duke of York and Cecilia Neville, brother of Richard III. On his father's death in 1460, he inherited his titles of Earl of Cambridge, March and Ulster and Duke of York. In 1461, at the age of eighteen, he ascended the English throne with the support of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.
He was married to Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492), children:
Elizabeth (1466-1503), married to King Henry VII of England
Maria (1467-1482),
Cecilia (1469-1507),
Edward V (1470-1483?),
Richard (1473-1483?),
Anna (1475-1511),
Catherine (1479-1527),
Bridget (1480-1517).
The king was a great hunter of the female sex, and in addition to his official wife, he was secretly engaged to one or more women, which later allowed the royal council to declare his son Edward V illegitimate and, together with his other son, imprison him in the Tower.
Edward IV died unexpectedly on April 9, 1483.
Edward V (November 4, 1470 (14701104) -1483?) - King of England from April 9 to June 25, 1483, son of Edward IV; not crowned. Deposed by his uncle the Duke of Gloucester, who declared the king and his younger brother Duke Richard of York illegitimate children, and himself became King Richard III. 12-year-old and 10-year-old boys were imprisoned in the Tower, their further fate is not exactly known. The most common point of view is that they were killed on the orders of Richard (this version was official under the Tudors), however, various researchers accuse many other figures of that time, including Richard's successor Henry VII, of the murder of the princes.
Richard III (Eng. Richard III) (October 2, 1452, Fotheringay - August 22, 1485, Bosworth) - King of England c 1483, from the York dynasty, the last representative of the male Plantagenet line on the English throne. Brother of Edward IV. He took the throne, removing the minor Edward V. At the Battle of Bosworth (1485) he was defeated and killed. One of only two kings of England to die in battle (after Harold II, who was killed at Hastings in 1066).
Henry VII (Eng. Henry VII; )
