On This Day: January 15

1559 - Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England and Ireland at Westminster Abbey

The 25-year-old Queen in her coronation robes.

     Elizabeth Tudor had actually become Queen on November 17, 1558 upon the death of her childless half-sister, Mary I, but this ceremony marked Elizabeth's official crowning and anointing as a reigning monarch before her people. It was a mix of traditional Latin and new Protestant elements. She was crowned by Owen Oglethorpe, the Catholic Bishop of Carlisle (the only Bishop prepared to conduct the ceremony), and parts of the service were conducted twice - in Latin and English. The firmly Protestant Elizabeth instructed Oglethorpe not to elevate the Host (or sacramental bread), but he did so anyway, inciting the Queen's displeasure, which resulted in him losing his position. Aside from this, she emerged from the Abbey smiling and with a throng of crowds cheering her on as she carried the orb and sceptre - symbolic of the authority of her office.

     Elizabeth would go on to reign for 44 years, and this longevity produced a measure of stability for her kingdom in the wake of the short reigns of her half-brother Edward VI, her cousin Lady Jane Grey, and her half-sister Mary I. This period became known as the Elizabethan Era, which was marked the seafaring adventures of people like Sir Francis Drake and the early attempts of North American colonization by Sir Walter Raleigh, as well as by a renaissance in English art and literature, led by figures such as the playwright William Shakespeare. 

     It was also a period of religious struggle and tension between various factions of Catholics and Protestants following the Reformation, which resulted in the Elizabethan Settlement and the establishment of the Church of England, which adopted a Catholic appearance and Protestant doctrine with Elizabeth as Supreme Governor. This religious struggle was a source of her troubles with her Catholic cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, and partly lead to the attempted Catholic Spanish invasion of Protestant England, which failed when the Spanish Armada was defeated. The English victory further enhanced Elizabeth's standing among her people as Gloriana and Good Queen Bess. 

     She was also famously known as the Virgin Queen for not marrying and producing an heir, which resulted in her becoming the last Tudor monarch. Upon her death in 1603, she was succeeded by her cousin, James VI of Scotland (son of Elizabeth's rival, Mary) of the House of Stuart, who became James I of England and Ireland.

1945 - Birth of Princess Michael of Kent

Princess Michael of Kent in a photograph by Allan Warren.

     Today marks the 69th birthday of Princess Michael of Kent, the wife of Prince Michael of Kent, who is a first cousin of the Queen. She was born as Marie Christine von Reibnitz in Carlsbad (now known as Karlovy Vary), in the Sudetenland of what is now the Czech Republic. Being a descendant of generations of European royalty, she has been titled as a Baroness throughout her life.

     She married Prince Michael in a civil ceremony in 1978, following the annulment of her first marriage to a British banker, Thomas Troubridge, and upon receiving permission from Pope John Paul II, the couple were married in a Roman Catholic ceremony in 1983. Prince and Princess Michael have two children: Lord Frederick Windsor (1979) and Lady Gabriella Windsor (1981). By marrying a Catholic, Prince Michael forfeited his rights to succeed to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms, though his children remain in the line of succession since they have been raised as Protestants.

     Along with her husband, Princess Michael does not carry out regular royal duties, and does not receive public funding from HM Government. However, she has represented the Queen and other working members of royal family on some occasions, such as attending the independence celebrations in Belize in 1981 with her husband. In 2011, she presided over the launching ceremony of the Green Pilgrimage Network in Assisi, Italy on the behalf of Prince Philip, who founded the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, which organized the Network. In addition, she has supports Prince Michael in his work as the Patron of several organizations. In recognition of the charity work and limited royal engagements, the couple have received some financial support from the Queen's personal funds. 

     As a devout Catholic, she was a high-profile attendee of events marking Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom in 2010, including a Mass at Westminster Cathedral.

     In her professional life, Princess Michael has been an interior decorator, and is the author of four books (three nonfiction and one fiction). Her most recent book - a novel named The Queen Of Four Kingdoms - was released in 2013.

1991 - Victoria Cross for Australia is created by Elizabeth II

Obverse of the medal for the Victoria Cross

     It was on this day in 1991 that Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia signed letters patent which instituted the Victoria Cross for the sole use of Australians as part of that country's honors system. The Victoria Cross was established by Queen Victoria in 1856 as the highest military award for valor "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces in countries throughout the British Empire and later, the Commonwealth. In the later 20th Century, some Commonwealth countries developed their own honors systems independent of the British/Imperial orders, and it became necessary to create new awards and decorations that were the equivalent of the ones issued from the UK. With the Queen's letters patent, Australia became the first Commonwealth realm to create its own version of the Victoria Cross, which is the highest award in the Australian Honors System.



Photo Credit: Allan Warren via Wikimedia Commons cc, Richard Harvey via Wikimedia Commons cc

On This Day: December 17

King Henry VIII, circa 1535 in a painting by Joos van Cleve.

     In 1538, Pope Paul III excommunicated Henry VIII of England and Ireland. Henry had clashed with the Church for several years over the issues of his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, his second marriage to Anne Boleyn, and his proclamation of supremacy over the pope in England. But the final straw for Pope Paul was Henry's Dissolution of the Monasteries, in which monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales, and Ireland were disbanded. In this process, the wealth and income of these institutions were redirected to the King and their members were pensioned off. Some of the physical buildings were modified to serve the needs of the Church of England, but many were left to ruin and rot. Under Henry's program, Westminster Abbey would have been among those places destroyed by the new order, but Henry spared it because of its significance to the coronation.  

Sir Francis Drake in a 16th century canvas portrait by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.

     In 1577, Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth, England on a mission to explore the Pacific coast of the Americas for Elizabeth I of England and Ireland. For his efforts, he was knighted by the Queen in 1581.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex

     In 2007, James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn was born. He is the second child and only son of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and the Queen’s youngest grandchild.

Photo Credit: Carfax2 via Wikimedia Commons cc

Royal Birthday Profile: Mary, Queen of Scots

Queen Mary I of Scotland

     On this day in 1542, Mary Stewart was born to King James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. She was James’s only surviving legitimate child, and became Queen of Scots upon his death six days later, making her the youngest monarch in British history. She was also one of the most consequential, for without her, the monarchy and Britain as we know it today, may not have come into existence.

     Throughout the annals of history, Mary, Queen of Scots has been portrayed in a negative yet captivating light – as an adulteress, seductress, possible accomplice to murder, and figurehead of a conspiracy against her cousin, Elizabeth I of England and Ireland.

     Whereas Elizabeth became Queen in her 20's, Mary succeeded to the Scottish throne when her father was killed in battle. She was eventually sent to live in France because she was married as a child to the heir to the French throne. Mary was briefly Queen consort of France upon her husband's accession as Francis II in July 1559. On his death the following year, she returned to Scotland, where she eventually married her cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, with whom she had a son named James. Their marriage became estranged, in part due to Darnley's unreliability, vanity, and violent streak aggravated by a drinking problem. When Darnley was assassinated, there was suspicion that Mary might have been an accomplice - especially after she married (for the third time) the man who was suspected of plotting the murder. Mary was forced to abdicate the throne and fled to England to seek sanctuary. There, she was held prisoner and a trial was held on the issue of Darnley's death, which resulted in no definitive ending. Mary was kept in England for the remainder of her life, which was hardly a comforting prospect for Elizabeth I.

     Queen Elizabeth had feared her royal cousin, for Queen Mary 

Elizabeth feared that her Scottish cousin would
become the figurehead of Catholic opposition to her.

had a legitimate claim to the English and Irish thrones through her grandmother – Margaret Tudor – who was the eldest daughter of Henry VII of England and sister to Henry VIII, who had Elizabeth through his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Mary was also a Catholic, and became a focal point around the opposition toward the established Protestant church, of which Elizabeth was Supreme Governor. Elizabeth’s fear was that Mary would lead a Catholic uprising against her, with the ultimate goal of attaining the throne for herself. When Mary was implicated in the Babington plot to depose Elizabeth, she was put on trial, convicted of treason, and beheaded in 1587. 

     In contrast to Mary, Elizabeth is viewed as a just, stable, and moral leader who put her country before her personal life. She was the Virgin Queen who commanded the respect of people throughout Europe (including the pope who had excommunicated her) and inspired men to fight in her name. And yet, Queen Mary succeeded in one area where Queen Elizabeth did not: producing an heir.

James VI & I

     Her only child, James Stuart, became King of Scots in 1567 at barely over one year old following his mother’s forced abdication. In 1603, Elizabeth I died and James VI of Scotland, as her closest Protestant relation (first cousin, twice removed), became James I of England and Ireland – thereby uniting the crowns of the British Isles under a single monarch for the first time. This eventually resulted in the political mergers of England (including Wales), Scotland, and Ireland into a single country – the United Kingdom. 

     So in an ironic twist of fate, though Mary, Queen of Scots had failed to gain the English throne, her son did so, and in so doing had helped to forge a new, unified, and modern Britain with a single royal line. To this day, the current royal family is directly descended from Queen Mary I of Scotland – with Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom being Mary’s 10^th great-granddaughter. 

Ironincally, Elizabeth II's direct ancestor - Mary, Queen
of Scots - was executed on the orders of Elizabeth I.

     Simply put, without Mary, Queen of Scots, the British monarchy and the British nation as we know them today may never have come into existence. For all of her personal faults, she did produce an heir to the Scottish throne, who eventually went on to succeed to the other thrones of Britain, and in doing so, changed the course of British history.