England
Charles I Stuart (1625-1649)
Charles I (19 November 1600 - 30 January 1649[a]) was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649.Charles was the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603, he moved to England, where he spent much of the rest of his life. He quarreled with parliament and wanted to rule by his own will.
Charles II Stuart (1660-1685)
Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the United Provinces and the Spanish Netherlands.A political crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649.
Mary I Tudor (1553-1558)
Daughter of Catherine of Aragon. Was very Catholic and tried to get England to be more Catholic. Was called "Bloody Mary" because she killed 300 plus people for being Protestant. Only high nobles though. She was married to Phillip II of Spain, but died from a tumor on her stomach that she thought was a pregnancy.
George III Hanover (1760-1820)
His life and reign, which were longer than any other British monarch before him, were marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places farther afield in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of its American colonies were soon lost in the American Revolutionary War. Further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
William II and Mary II Stuart (1688-1702)
King William III & II and Queen Mary II. Their joint reign began in February 1689 after they were offered the throne by the Convention Parliament irregularly summoned by William after his successful invasion of England in 1688, the so-called Glorious Revolution. They replaced James II & VII, Mary's father and William's uncle and father-in-law, who was "deemed to have fled" the country. Parliament offered William and Mary a co-regency, at the couple's behest. After Mary died in 1694, William ruled alone until his death in 1702. William and Mary were childless and were ultimately succeeded by Mary's younger sister, Anne.
James II Stuart (1685-1688)
King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII,[2] from 6 February 1685 until he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. The second surviving son of Charles I, he ascended the throne upon the death of his brother, Charles II. Members of Britain's political and religious elite increasingly suspected him of being pro-French and pro-Catholic and of having designs on becoming an absolute monarch. When he produced a Catholic heir, the tension exploded, and leading nobles called on his Protestant son-in-law and nephew, William of Orange, to land an invasion army from the Netherlands, which he did. James fled England (and thus was held to have abdicated) in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.[3] He was replaced by his Protestant elder daughter, Mary II, and her husband, William III.
Henry VIII (1509-1547)
King of England. Had six wives. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. Through all of the wives he was given three children: Mary I Tudor, Elizabeth I Tudor, and Edward VI Tudor. He split from the RCC and created Anglicanism. He wanted to stay "high church" or more catholic.
George I Hanover (1714-1727)
King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698. George was born in Hanover and inherited the titles and lands of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg from his father and uncles. A succession of European wars expanded his German domains during his lifetime, and in 1708 he was ratified as prince-elector of Hanover. At the age of 54, after the death of Queen Anne of Great Britain, George ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. Although over fifty Roman Catholics bore closer blood relationships to Anne, the Act of Settlement 1701 prohibited Catholics from inheriting the British throne; George was Anne's closest living Protestant relative. In reaction, Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Anne's Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, but their attempts failed.During George's reign, the powers of the monarchy diminished and Britain began a transition to the modern system of cabinet government led by a prime minister. Towards the end of his reign, actual power was held by Sir Robert Walpole, now recognised as Britain's first de facto prime minister. George died on a trip to his native Hanover, where he was buried.
James I Stuart (1603-1625)
King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union.James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a great-great-grandson of Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland (through both his parents), uniquely positioning him to eventually accede to all three thrones. James succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother Mary was compelled to abdicate in his favour.
George IV (1820-1830)
King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover following the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his father's final mental illness. George IV led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the Regency era. He was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace, and Sir Jeffry Wyattville to rebuild Windsor Castle. He was instrumental in the foundation of the National Gallery and King's College London.
William IV Hanover (1830-1837)
King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death. William, the third son of George III and younger brother and successor to George IV, was the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain's House of Hanover. He served in the Royal Navy in his youth and was, both during his reign and afterwards, nicknamed the "Sailor King".[1][2] He served in North America and the Caribbean, but saw little actual fighting. Since his two older brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, he inherited the throne when he was 64 years old. His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all the British Empire, and the British electoral system refashioned by the Reform Act 1832. Though William did not engage in politics as much as his brother or his father, he was the last monarch to appoint a Prime Minister contrary to the will of Parliament. Through his brother, the Viceroy of Hanover, he granted that kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution.
The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (1653-1658)
Offered the crown by Parliament, but refused, preferring to be a dictator. He killed Charles I. And started a revolution.
Anne (1702-1714)
Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a single sovereign state, the United Kingdom of Great Britain. She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death.
Edward VI (1547-1553)
Son of Jane Seymour. Became King at nine. He made England much more "low church" or more protestant. He was only King for a couple of years, because his dad had syphillus and it caused him to have health problems.
George II Hanover ( 1727-1760)
Spent time trying to govern from Hanover. He was pressured to support Maria Theresa of Austria with troops.
The Commonwealth (1649-1653)
The Commonwealth, or Commonwealth of England, was the period from 1649 onwards when England, along later with Ireland and Scotland, was ruled as a republic following the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I.
The Protectorate of Richard Cromwell (1658--1660)
The son and chosen successor of Oliver Cromwell, who headed what was effectively a military dictatorship with a written constitution. Oliver Cromwell's relatives began to take on the role of royal family and Richard, who may not have served in the civil war, was advanced to positions of prominence and official successor. On his father's death Richard became Lord Protector, of England, Scotland and Ireland. Richard did not inspire the trust of his father's associates and, lacking the instincts of an authoritarian, he attempted to mediate between the army and civil society. Suspicions that civilian councilors were intent on supplanting the army were brought to a head by an attempt to prosecute a major-general for actions against a Royalist. The army made threatening show of force against Richard, and may have had him in detention; he formally renounced power nine months after succeeding.
Elizabeth I Tudor (1558-1603)
Took over after her sister's death. Was called "Good Queen Bess" because she was good to the peasants and talked to them like normal people. She defeated the spanish armada and got more exploration and trade for England.
Henry VII (1485-1509)
Was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor.Henry won the throne when his forces defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle.
