As societal rules around marriage, divorce, and partnership shifted, so did royal marriages. Both children of Prince Charles and Princess Diana were permitted to marry commoners: Prince William married Kate Middleton , the daughter of parents who own a party supplies company, in and his brother, Harry, married American actress Meghan Markle in Getting a royal divorce was a royal pain until very recently; It was only in that the Church of England allowed divorced people to remarry.
Given that the monarch is also the head of the Anglican Church, heirs to the throne were effectively forbidden from marrying divorced people—or getting divorced themselves. Since the Royal Marriage Act of granted the monarch veto power over marriages in the royal family, for centuries, the stigma around divorce meant any proposed union between royalty and a divorced person was a non-starter.
In , King George IV went before a parliamentary panel in an attempt to divorce his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, whom he accused of being unfaithful. Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox. More from Reuters. Sign up for our newsletter Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox.
This divorce caused the split from Rome and Henry declared himself the head of the Church Of England. The Dissolution of the Monasteries began in , and the money gained from this helped Henry to bring about an effective Navy. In an effort to have a son, Henry married four further wives, but only one son was born, to Jane Seymour. Henry had two daughters both to become rulers of England — Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, and Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn.
Edward succeeded his father at the age of 9, the government being carried on by a Council of Regency with his uncle, Duke of Somerset, styled Protector. Even though his reign was short, many men made their mark. She was proclaimed Queen but Mary entered London with her supporters and Jane was taken to the Tower.
She reigned for only 9 days. She was executed in , aged A devout Catholic, she married Philip of Spain. Mary attempted to enforce the wholesale conversion of England to Catholicism. She carried this out with the utmost severity. The place, in Broad Street Oxford, is marked by a bronze cross. The country was plunged into a bitter blood bath, which is why she is remembered as Bloody Mary. She died in at Lambeth Palace in London.
From first to last she was popular with the people and had a genius for the selection of capable advisors. The execution of Mary Queen of Scots marred what was a glorious time in English history. Shakespeare was also at the height of his popularity. Elizabeth never married. He was the first king to rule over Scotland and England.
James was more of a scholar than a man of action. In the Gunpowder Plot was hatched: Guy Fawkes and his Catholic friends tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament, but were captured before they could do so.
He encountered difficulties with Parliament from the beginning, and this led to the outbreak of the English Civil War in The House of Commons tried Charles for treason against England and when found guilty he was condemned to death. His death warrant states that he was beheaded on 30th January Following this the British monarchy was abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England was declared. He entered Parliament in and became active in events leading to the Civil War. A leading Puritan figure, he raised cavalry forces and organised the New Model Army, which he led to victory over the Royalists at the Battle of Naseby in In he finally expelled the corrupt English parliament and with the agreement of army leaders became Lord Protector King in all but name.
Unlike his father, Richard lacked military experience and as such failed to gain respect or support from his New Model Army. After the collapse of the Protectorate following the death of Oliver Cromwell and the flight of Richard Cromwell to France, the Army and Parliament asked Charles to take the throne. Although very popular he was a weak king and his foreign policy was inept. He had 13 known mistresses, one of whom was Nell Gwyn. He fathered numerous illegitimate children but no heir to the throne.
Many new buildings were built at this time. Although James converted to Catholicism in , his two daughters were raised as Protestants. James became very unpopular because of his persecution of the Protestant clergy and was generally hated by the people. William landed in England and James fled to France where he died in exile in Gathering local support, he marched his army, now 20, strong, on to London in The Glorious Revolution. William and Mary were to reign jointly, and William was to have the Crown for life after Mary died in James plotted to regain the throne and in landed in Ireland.
She had 17 pregnancies but only one child survived — William, who died of smallpox aged just A staunch, high church Protestant, Anne was 37 years old when she succeeded to the throne. Anne was a close friend of Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough. The 54 year old George arrived in England able to speak only a few words of English with his 18 cooks and 2 mistresses in tow.
George spent little time in England — he preferred his beloved Hanover, although he was implicated in the South Sea Bubble financial scandal of He was more English than his father, but still relied on Sir Robert Walpole to run the country.
George was the last English king to lead his army into battle at Dettingen in In the Jacobites tried once again to restore a Stuart to the throne. His reign was one of elegance and the age of some of the greatest names in English literature — Jane Austen , Byron , Shelley, Keats and Wordsworth.
It was also the time of great statesmen like Pitt and Fox and great military men like Wellington and Nelson. The American Colonies proclaimed their independence on July 4th George was well meaning but suffered from a mental illness due to intermittent porphyria and eventually became blind and insane.
He had a love of art and architecture but his private life was a mess, to put it mildly! He married twice, once in to Mrs. Fitzherbert, secretly as she was a Catholic, and then in to Caroline of Brunswick. Fitzherbert remained the love of his life. The British m onarch is also the Head of the Commonwealth, and the head of state in 15 of the other 53 Commonwealth member countries.
The most frequent arguments made in favour of a constitutional m onarchy revolve around:. Am impartial and symbolic head of state A c onstitutional m onarch is one who is above party politics or factional interests.
The monarch is thus said to be a focus of national unity. Supporters of a constitutional monarchy stress the benefits of the head of g overnment the p rime minister being separate from the role as head of state. A constitutional monarch is also able to give impartial non-political support to the work of a wide range of different types of organizations and charities that would not be possible in the same way for a political figure.
The British m onarch is also the Head of State of 15 other independent countries, as well as being the head of the commonwealth of 53 Nations.
A powerful global representation of Britain The international recognition of the British monarchy , with its associated foreign tours and state visits, is said to help support the influence of Britain around the world. This is said to bring notable benefits in terms of security, influence, and trade. A magnet for tourism The Royal Family are said to represent a strong draw for tourists to visit Great Britain.
Such figures are questioned by others, but supporters of the Royal Family pose the counter factual question as to how much tourism may not come to Britain, if the monarchy was abolished. The most frequent arguments made for the abolition of the monarchy are:.
Democracy It is argued that in a democracy, the public should be able to exercise democratic control over the Head of State. This relates to both electing the post, and having the instruments to check or even impeach whoever holds that role.
None of this is possible if the head of state is a hereditary monarch. They argue that only an elected head of state can change the political culture and the relationship with those in power. This is said to be evidenced by the volume of private letters written by the current Prince of Wales to government Ministers on a regular basis. The Established Church The continuing existence of the r oyal family also attracts criticism because of the way in which the m onarch is both the head of the church and head of state.
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