Last of the Stuarts; First of the Hanoverians

     300 years ago today, a Queen died and was succeeded by a King.

     But this was no ordinary change of the guard for the British monarchy. Indeed, this day marks one of the most significant turning points in the history of Britain and its ancient and venerable institution. It marked the end of one royal dynasty which had gone through much social, political, and religious upheaval, and the beginning of another, which paved the way to the development of the modern pattern of British governance that we know today.

Statue of Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch, outside of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Image Credit: Peter Weis via Wikimedia Commons cc

     It had been over twelve years since Queen Anne had acceded her brother-in-law, William III & II, to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. During that period, her armies had won many a great victory in Continental Europe during the War of the Spanish Succession under the command of her leading captain-general - John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, whose greatest triumph was arguably the defeat of the French at the Battle of Blenheim.

     However, Anne's finest hour may have been the moment when two of her kingdoms - England and Scotland - were joined together to form a new country under the name of Great Britain, and it was the United Kingdom of Great Britain that rose to new heights to become the greatest power in Europe, and which was on its way to becoming a world power.

     But for all of the public achievement, Anne was unable to do the one thing required of every sovereign: producing an heir to the throne. Having gone through 17 pregnancies (from 1684 to 1700) via her husband, Prince George of Denmark, only one child - Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, survived infancy, but he was in precarious health throughout his life, and died aged 11 in 1700. The result was that there was nobody to succeed Anne, who was heir to the throne following her brother-in-law King William.

William III & II and Mary II.

     William himself became King during the Protestant-led Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, in which William's Catholic father-in-law and uncle - James VII & II - had fled Britain and was more or less deposed. Under the English Bill of Rights and the Scottish Claim of Right, William and his wife, Mary (James' eldest daughter) were made joint monarchs of England, Scotland, and Ireland. If they died without heirs, then the crowns would pass on to Anne - the younger daughter of King James - and her heirs. The point was to prevent the restoration of James and (after his death in 1701) his only surviving son, James Francis Edward Stuart, who were now exiled in France.

     In 1694, Queen Mary died aged 32 without having produced an heir, and William ruled alone until his death in 1702. With the passing of Prince William two years earlier, the prospect of a Catholic Stuart restoration seemed imminent, so in 1701, the English Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, which barred Catholics from succeeded from the throne, as well as anybody married to a Catholic. It also provided that in lieu of any legitimate heirs by either William or Anne, Sophia of Hanover and her heirs would inherit the throne of England.

The Act of Settlement, which largely governs succession to the British Crown to this day.
Image Credit: Torsten Bätge via Wikimedia Commons cc

     Sophia of Hanover was a daughter of Elizabeth Stuart, who in turn was the only surviving daughter of James VI of Scotland and I of England and Ireland. She was married to the German Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Elector of Hanover and had a grown son, Georg Ludwig, who by this time had succeeded to his hereditary titles and offices. Though there were over 50 Catholic's ahead of them, Electress Sophia and her son were the first Protestant's on the list, and that was all that mattered.

     In England the issue of the succession was settled, but in Scotland, whilst there were similar feelings towards having a Catholic king, there was also a sense of loyalty to the Stuart family, who had originated from Scotland and reigned in that country since 1371.

Flag of Scotland

     In response to the English, the Scots Parliament passed – and Queen Anne granted Royal Assent to – the Act of Security in 1703, which declared that the next monarch of Scotland should be Protestant and of the royal line, but should not be the same person who succeeded Anne to the Crown of England (probably in the hope that James Stuart would convert), unless the English granted freedom of trade to Scottish merchants within England, Ireland, and the overseas colonies.

Flag of England

     With the ball back in England’s court, it then passed – with Anne’s assent – the Alien’s Act of 1705, which declared that all Scots were to treated as aliens in England (save for those already living there) unless Scotland either repealed the Act of Security or agreed to a union with England. The Scots chose the latter option, and a set of commissioners from both countries were appointed by the Queen, who met in London to hash out an agreement.

     The result was the 1707 unification of Britain into a single country under a single parliament and a single crown, which was governed under the terms of the Act of Settlement - ensuring that there would be a Protestant Hanoverian succession throughout the island nation.

The original Union Flag of Great Britain.

     This island nation of Great Britain - Britannia - would go on to emerge as a leading world power, but Queen Anne would not long savor this triumph. Plagued by ill health throughout her life, she became increasingly corpulent and lame in her later years, and her end finally came on August 1, 1714. Her heir, Electress Sophia of Hanover, had died on May 28th of that year following a collapse resulting from running to shelter during a storm.

     This meant that Sophia's eldest son, Georg Ludwig (with his name Anglicized as George Louis) was proclaimed King of Great Britain and Ireland. George I - great-grandson of James VI & I - arrived in Britain on September 18th and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on October 20th.

First of the Hanoverian's - George I of Great Britain and Ireland

     His accession and coronation marked the end of the House of Stuart - which had ruled for 343 years - and with it, the theory of Divine Right, in which many of its members believed. It was this belief in Divine Right and Absolutism, and the very rejection of these principles by the British people, which arguably cost Charles I and James VII & II the throne, and led to the creation of a limited - or constitutional - monarchy in which the monarch respects the will of Parliament and observes limitations on his or her authority.

     With George I being German, not knowing English, and more interested in foreign affairs and the affairs of his native Hanover, he left the day-to-day business of running Britain to trusted and capable ministers, one of whom, Robert Walpole, emerged in 1721 as the first Prime Minister. As the century went on, it would be relationships between the early Hanoverian monarchs (George I, his son - George II, and great-grandson - George III) and Parliament that would decisively change the way Britain was governed.

     The monarchy itself took on a German identity, and even though every monarch beginning with George III was born and raised in Britain and spoke English as their first language, members of the Royal Family continued marrying Germanic royalty and practiced German customs. This would continue for the next 200 years until the House of Windsor was born in 1917, and it was from this royal line begun by George I that we have the reigning monarch - Elizabeth II.

     Indeed, the arrival of the Hanoverian's in 1714 changed the trajectory of the monarchy and of Britain.

The Royal Union of England and Scotland into Great Britain

     307 years ago on May 1st, Great Britain was born.

     Of course, the ancient kingdoms of England and Scotland had been in existence on the island of Great Britain for nearly a thousand years, and for a substantial part of that time, the kings, queens, and peoples of each country fought – sometimes with each other, but often against each other in several conflicts.

Queen Elizabeth, the last of the Tudors.

     Then on March 24, 1603, Elizabeth I of England and Ireland died without an heir, and her closest blood relation was her cousin – James VI of Scotland, who journeyed from Edinburgh to London to peacefully – and amid much celebration – take his place as James I of England and Ireland. With Wales having been annexed into the Kingdom of England during the reign of Henry VIII, King James was now the first person to rule over all Britain in an arrangement that has become known as the Union of the Crowns.

King James.

     But the kingdoms over which he reigned remained separate and distinct from each other, and they had their own parliaments, along with their own national interests. James VI & I sought to change that by attempting to persuade the parliaments of England and Scotland to agree to a full political and economic union, which would create a new kingdom under the name of Great Britain.

     Indeed, King James was a passionate supporter of the concept. In his Accession speech to his first English Parliament, James made references to his great-great grandfather, Henry VII of England, who united the warring royal houses of York and Lancaster under the Tudor dynasty, which had brought peace to England following the Wars of the Roses. He went on the say that “union of these two princely houses is nothing comparable to the union of two ancient and famous kingdoms, which is the other inward peace annexed to my person.” 

St. Andrew's Saltire

     With this message, he saw himself and his Stuart dynasty as bringing peace to the whole of Britain by ending the ancient Anglo-Scottish feuding. He also emphasized the similarities between the English and Scots “in language, religion, and similitude of manners”, and believed that God had meant for the kingdoms to be united in such a way as to make the border between the two indistinguishable. (“What God has conjoined then, let no man separate.”) Persons opposed to bringing the countries together were “blinded with ignorance, or else transported with malice.” 

Cross of St. George

     James continued on his theme of a destiny towards union by reminding his audience that England was once divided into seven kingdoms (known as the Heptarchy) and Wales, and that Scotland was also an amalgamation of Picts, Scots, Gaels, and others.

     With unification to become Great Britain, the peoples of this new country would become part of a stronger entity, where they could work with a common purpose and toward a common cause. In other words, they were better together.

English Coat of Arms under James VI & I
Photo Credit: Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc

     This was all very well, but on both sides of the border, there was lukewarm reaction as well as outright hostility to the concept of union – some of it driven by xenophobia. There was already some consternation amongst the English political elite at the fact that they were now being ruled over by a Scot, whilst some in Scotland were fearful of their country being annexed into England as a mere province. In addition, there were other nagging questions on trade, commerce, religion, and political representation.

Scottish Coat of Arms under James VI & I
Image Credit: Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc

     During remainder of James’ reign, the differences and fears between the two kingdoms proved insurmountable and the union did not come to pass. However, he did enact the merger symbolically by using his powers under the Royal Prerogative to proclaim himself as “King of Great Britain”, combine the royal arms of England and Scotland (with the English lion balancing the Scottish unicorn), and to mesh the flags of St. George (England) and St. Andrew (Scotland) into a new Union Flag.

     Over the next hundred years, there were other attempts to create an official union, but one country or the other had reasons to resist.

Queen Anne

     Then in 1702, Queen Anne ascended to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland, succeeding her childless brother-in-law, William III & II.

     Like her predecessors going back to James VI & I, Anne was a believer in the political integration of Britain, but what finally made the circumstances favorable to union on both sides during her reign was a mixture of religion, monarchical succession, politics, and economics.

     For starters, it had been nearly fourteen years since Anne’s father – James VII & II, a Catholic – had been deposed in the Protestant-led Glorious Revolution, in which the Dutch prince, William of Orange, invaded Britain. William, along with his wife (and Anne’s older sister) Mary were eventually declared joint monarchs of England, Scotland, and Ireland, but they failed to produce a healthy heir to the throne by the time Mary died in 1694.

     Then in 1700, Anne’s only child to survive infancy – Prince William, Duke of Gloucester – died aged eleven. This meant that loyalty to the House of Stuart could only lead to one thing – the return of the Stuart male line, embodied by the ex-King James, and following his death in 1701, his son (and also Anne's half-brother) James Francis Edward Stuart, who were living in exile in France.

The Act of Settlement, which largely governs succession to the British Crown to this day.
Image Credit: Torsten Bätge via Wikimedia Commons cc

     In England, parliamentarians were determined not to have a Catholic back on the throne, so they passed – and King William granted Royal Assent to – the Act of Settlement in 1701, which barred Catholics from the succession, and handed it to Sophia of Hanover in Germany. She was a granddaughter of James VI & I, and though there were about 50 other claimants ahead of her, she was the first Protestant on the list.

     Meanwhile in Scotland, there were similar feelings towards having a Catholic king, but there was also a sense of loyalty to the Stuart family, who had originated from Scotland and reigned in that country since 1371.

     In response to the English, the Scots Parliament passed – and Queen Anne granted Royal Assent to – the Act of Security in 1703, which declared that the next monarch of Scotland should be Protestant and of the royal line, but should not be the same person who succeeded Anne to the Crown of England (probably in the hope that James Stuart would convert), unless the English granted freedom of trade to Scottish merchants within England, Ireland, and the overseas colonies.

The English rose and Scottish thistle growing from the same stem.
Photo Credit: Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc

  
     With the ball back in England’s court, it then passed – with Anne’s assent – the Alien’s Act of 1705, which declared that all Scots were to treated as aliens in England (save for those already living there) unless Scotland either repealed the Act of Security or agreed to a union with England. The Scots chose the latter option, and a set of commissioners from both countries were appointed by the Queen, who met in London to hash out an agreement.

     From April to July 1706 at the Palace of Whitehall, the commissioners worked out a Treaty of Union, which contained the following key provisions:

• That from May 1, 1707, the kingdoms of Scotland and England were to be “united into one kingdom by the name of Great Britain”, with the flags of St. George and St. Andrew to be combined,

• That the succession to the monarchy of Great Britain would be vested in the House of Hanover, and to the exclusion of Catholics, as well as people marrying Catholics, and

• That the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain were to be represented by one and the same parliament, known as the Parliament of Great Britain.

     These were main objectives of the English commissioners. On the other side, the Scots replied that they would agree to them in exchange for free trade throughout the United Kingdom and access to the combined colonies of a British Empire. The English promptly accepted this on the principle that such free trade - including a customs and monetary union - was necessary for a full and complete union.

The Scottish copy of the Articles of Union.
Image Credit: Scottish Parliament (Public Domain)

     There were other provisions as well, including ones for Scottish representation in the House of Commons and the House of Lords within the new British Parliament, where MP’s and peers from both sides of the border were afforded equal rights and privileges.

     Language was eventually added in the parliamentary debates on both sides of the border which guaranteed the independence of the Scottish legal system, education system, as well as the Presbyterian Church of Scotland (the Kirk), and the Scottish Crown Jewels were to remain in Edinburgh. Similar language would also protect the independence and status of the Church of England.

     On July 23, 1706, the articles of the Treaty were presented to Queen Anne at St. James’s Palace, and from there, they had be ratified by the Parliament of England in London and the Parliament of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Illustration of the Opening of the original Scottish Parliament.
Image Credit: Atlas Historique (Public Domain-US)

     The Scottish Parliament took up the Treaty first in October, and clause-by-clause debates were held through the rest of year and into January when the last article was approved, and a formal bill was presented to the assembly. That bill, known as the Union with England Act, was passed by a healthy majority of 110 to 67 on January 16^th.

     To this day, there has been debate on the extent to which members of the parliament were bribed in order to ensure passage of the Act. It is known that the Treaty and the Act basically provided for the compensation of losses in the Darien scheme, which was Scotland’s failed attempt to establish a colony in Central America. 

     But there were also some back-room deals regarding pensions, honors, titles, and appointments which has given rise to the idea that Scotland was "sold out" by its own politicians at a time when there was considerable opposition amongst Scots toward the Union, and it is a debate which may never fully be settled.

The original Palace of Westminster, home to the houses of the parliament for England and Great Britain.
Image Credit: HJ Brewer - 1884 (Public Domain-US)

     With the Scots Parliament having done its work, the English Parliament took up the issue of the Union in February 1707, where the Commons required only two sessions to pass the articles.

     But in the House of Lords, some members of the Tory Party held up the proceedings by voicing concerns over some provisions, especially with regard to the status of the Church of England, and they also had issues with the confirmation of the Scottish Kirk. Objections were raised on every article, but the opposition did not gain much traction, and the articles were approved at the end of February.

     The Commons then drafted and passed the Union with Scotland Act, which was passed by the Lords and received Royal Assent from Queen Anne in the Lords’ chamber on March 6, 1707.

Statue of Queen Anne, the first monarch of a unified Britain, outside of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Image Credit: Peter Weis via Wikimedia Commons cc

     Almost two months later, the date of April 30, 1707 marked the last day of England and Scotland being separate and independent sovereign states. On the following day of May 1^st, Anne came to St. Paul’s Cathedral to attend a service of thanksgiving in honor of the Acts of Union that had taken effect.

The original Union Flag of Great Britain

     It was a grand celebration involving 400 horse-drawn coaches, and the Queen herself wore the combined honors of the English Order of the Garter and the Scottish Order of the Thistle. A Scottish nobleman who attended the service wrote: "nobody on this occasion appeared more sincerely devout and thankful than the Queen herself."

     Indeed, she told her cheering subjects that this day marked the true happiness of her reign – the day that England and Scotland became the UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN.

     To this day, England and Scotland have remained together as part of a country that has proudly spread its wings far and wide over the last 307 years, and the monarchy is a living symbol of the unity that has made Britain what it is today. Indeed, it is better to be together. Long may this Union continue.

The current flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with St. Patrick's Cross added for Northern Ireland.

George III on George Washington

In honor of Washington's Birthday (2/22), here is a story that probably best describes George III's respect for the leader of the American Revolution. 

George III of Great Britain and Ireland

     
     When the United States won its independence from Great Britain, King George III asked his American painter, Benjamin West, what George Washington - the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army - would do after winning the Revolutionary War. West replied, “They say he will return to his farm.”

     The King - knowing that the victors usually took charge after a war - said, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

Happy Birthday, George Washington

Royal Profile: Robert II of Scotland

Robert II of Scotland

     On this day in 1371, Robert Stewart, Earl of Strathearn ascended to the Scottish throne as King Robert II – the first Stewart monarch of Scotland.

     He was the son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland and Marjorie Bruce, the daughter of Robert the Bruce, the Scottish king who had decisively defeated Edward II of England and his army at Bannockburn in 1314 as part of Scotland's quest for independence.

     Robert Stewart's early life was mostly occupied by conflict with England. Scotland’s independence was recognized in 1328, but the English – led by Edward III – continued to exert influence on Scottish affairs and backed the claim of Edward Balliol, the son of John Balliol, who was the Scottish king best remembered for his weakness and incompetence against Edward I of England during the Wars of Scottish Independence. At times during this period, Stewart was a Guardian of Scotland during the minority of his uncle, David II (who was eight years his junior), which meant that he was the de facto head of state in Scotland. He was also a Guardian when the King was held captive by the English following the Battle of Neville’s Cross.

     At the time of his accession as King of Scots, Robert II had already begun a program of centralizing power to the Scottish Crown and to end the feudal strife that had stopped Scotland from advancing as a modern state. This aim of consolidation and building up Scotland continued as Robert II had his nobles gradually recapture land still dominated by the English, ended trade with England, and renewed the strategic alliance with France known as the Auld Alliance. However, King Robert wished to avoid all-out war with England, and when the English and French entered into peace negotiations, he wanted to be a party to it. This move was unpopular with the Scottish nobility, and he faced a mutiny that included his own sons, and which resulted in the King having his power stripped away.

     Robert II died in 1390, and was succeeded by his eldest son, John Stewart, Earl of Carrick as Robert III of Scotland.

     One of his lasting legacies is the establishment of the House of Stewart, which continued to preside over Scotland’s transformation from a loose collection of fiefdoms to a unified and modern nation-state. Power was consolidated to Edinburgh as the Scottish Crown gained more authority and influence over the nobility, especially in areas populated by Scandinavians and Gaels.

British Royal Coat of Arms under Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch

     In 1603, the Stuarts extended their dominion with the accession of James VI to the thrones of England and Ireland as James I, thanks to the 1503 marriage between James IV and Margaret Tudor (the eldest daughter of Henry VII of England and sister to Henry VIII), which made King James the closest living Protestant relative of the childless Elizabeth I. The Stuart dynasty would rule the Anglo-Celtic (British) Isles until 1714 upon the death of Queen Anne, during which significant advances in the arts and sciences took place, and institutions such as the Royal Mail and the Royal Society were established.

     Altogether, the House of Stewart/Stuart reigned for 343 years – longer than any other royal house in British history, and it produced fourteen monarchs (though an eleven-year interregnum occurred in the 1650’s, during which monarchy was abolished as a result of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms). By the end of the Stuart period, England and Scotland had been formally and politically united into the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Photo Credit: Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc