British royal history proves that with great power comes great responsibility… and with many rules. While the role of the Crown in contemporary society is largely symbolic, the vestiges of traditions passed down during the monarchy’s millennial reign are powerful reminders of the past.
Who was the first king of England?
King Athelstan
Duncan 1890 / Getty Images
The first king of all England was Athelstan (895-939 AD) of the house of Wessex, grandson of Alfred the Great and 30e great-great-uncle of Queen Elizabeth II. The Anglo-Saxon king defeated the last of the Viking invaders and consolidated Britain, in power from AD 925 to 939.
Who is allowed to become king or queen?
From the reign of William the Conqueror, the monarchy passed from the king to his eldest son. This was changed in 1702 when the British Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, which stipulated that upon the death of King William III, the title or monarch would pass to Anne and the “heirs to her body”, meaning that a woman could inherit the throne – as long as there was no male heir available to replace her. At the time, English common law held that male heirs inherited the throne before their sisters. In a nod to the power of the Church of England, the Act of Settlement also declared that any heir who married a Roman Catholic would be removed from the line of succession.
The rules for who could inherit the British throne were not updated again until 2013, when Parliament passed the Succession to the Crown Act. He shifted the line of succession to an absolute primogeniture system, meaning that the kingdom would pass to the firstborn heir regardless of gender.
READ MORE: 10 Things You May Not Know About William the Conqueror
The British monarch has the right to veto the marriage of a family member.
Princess Margaret pictured with Peter Townsend (left) in South Africa on the royal tour, 1947.
Paul Popper / Popperfoto / Getty Images
The Royal Marriage Act of 1772 granted the monarch the right to veto any match within the royal family. It was adopted in response to George III’s anger over the marriage of his younger brother, Prince Henry, to commoner Anne Horton.
Since then, members of the royal family who hope to marry have had to ask the Crown for permission to marry. This permission was not always granted. Queen Elizabeth II refused her sister Princess Margaret’s request to marry Peter Townsend, a war hero the Queen considered inappropriate because he also happened to be a commoner and a divorcee.
This power was reduced slightly with the passage of the Succession to the Crown Act of 2013, which allowed heirs other than the first six of the royal line to marry without the permission of the monarch.
READ MORE: Why Princess Margaret sacrificed love for the crown
The kings and queens of England did not have a last name until WWI.
Until the early 1920se century, reigning rulers were referred to by their family or “house” names. For example, Henry VIII and his children were all Tudors, followed by a series of Stuarts.
This changed during World War I, when England was at war with Germany. King George V had awkward family relations: his grandfather, Prince Albert, was born in Germany, and through him George V inherited the title of head of the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. To create a sense of distance between the British throne and their relations abroad, the surname was replaced with a more modern English surname: Windsor. The name was inspired by Windsor Castle, founded by William the Conqueror.
Can British Royal Family Members Marry Commoners?
WATCH: What made these royal weddings so outrageous?
The British royal family married commoners from the 15the century, although in a family where bloodlines determine power, couples have always been controversial. In 1464, King Edward IV secretly married commoner Elizabeth Woodville, a widow. The future King James II also married a commoner: Anne Hyde, whom he had become pregnant (she died before he became king).
With the passage of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 in response to Prince Henry’s marriage to commoner Anne Horton, royal-commoner marriages virtually disappeared for nearly 250 years.
As the rules of society regarding marriage, divorce, and partnership have changed, royal weddings have evolved. The two children of Prince Charles and Princess Diana were allowed to marry commoners: Prince William married Kate Middleton, the daughter of parents who own a party supplies business, in 2011 and her brother, Harry, has married American actress Meghan Markle in 2018.
READ MORE: How Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding became a global phenomenon
Can royals get a divorce?
Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, and Edward VII, Duke of Windsor, in Nassau, Bahamas, in 1942.
Ivan Dmitri / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
Getting a royal divorce was a royal pain until very recently; It was not until 2002 that the Church of England allowed divorced people to remarry. Since the monarch is also the head of the Anglican Church, heirs to the throne have effectively been prohibited from marrying divorced people – or from divorcing themselves. (Ironic, because it was King Henry VIII who founded the church after the Catholic Church did not grant him an annulment of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.)
Ever since the Royal Marriage Act of 1772 granted the monarch the right to veto royal family marriages, for centuries the stigma surrounding divorce meant that any proposal for a union between royalty and a divorced person was a non-starter.
In 1820, King George IV appeared before a parliamentary committee in an attempt to divorce his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, whom he accused of being unfaithful. He only succeeded in raising a scandal and reinforcing the message that you cannot hold a crown and divorce papers at the same time.
In 1936, Edward VII abdicated the throne in order to marry the American Wallis Simpson, who was divorced twice. He was the last royal forced to choose between love and succession. Prior to the Church’s decision in 2002, Queen Elizabeth II’s sister, Princess Margaret, was allowed a divorce in 1978. And in 1996, Elizabeth II approved the divorce between her son Prince Charles and Princess Diana . Charles would marry Camilla Parker Bowles, also divorced, in 2005, while his son, Harry, would marry divorced Meghan Markle in 2018.
READ MORE: Who Were Henry VIII’s Six Wives?
The British monarch is more king or queen than just England.
As well as being head of the Anglican Church, the British monarch is also head of the Commonwealth, an association of 54 independent countries, most of which were once colonies or outposts of the British Empire.
Elizabeth II is queen of 16 countries that are part of the Commonwealth: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis , Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the United Kingdom.
READ MORE: What is the Queen’s role in UK government?
