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They Never Reigned

Heirs to the British Throne Who Never Became the Monarch

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

British kings and queens are famous today. But many heirs to the British throne never became the actual king or queen due to various quirks of fate. This is their story. The stories include the oldest son of William the Conqueror, who lost the chance to become king because he was off fighting in the First Crusade; the White Ship disaster of 1120, England's medieval Titanic, in which the sole male heir to the throne, and many others, drowned; an intrepid woman who nearly became queen in her own right four centuries before a woman actually did so; two princes who should have become a second King Arthur; the romantic warrior known to history as the Black Prince; the Princes in the Tower, who were supposedly murdered by King Richard III; the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots, beheaded by Queen Elizabeth I after an utterly unfair trial; James, who was born the heir and then was overthrown while still a baby, and was later known as the Old Pretender; a beloved Nineteenth Century princess who tragically died in childbirth at the age of 21; and many more.

Who suspected that the heirs who never reigned are every bit as interesting as those who did reign?

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 15, 2024
      In this informative debut survey, legal writer and mystery novelist Hoffman (Murder for the Prosecution) profiles heirs who never ascended the British throne. Subjects range across the centuries from William the Conqueror’s oldest son Robert—who in the 1090s instigated multiple insurrections against his father and was eventually defeated and imprisoned by his brother Henry—to Queen Victoria’s grandson, Prince Albert Victor, who never ascended the throne because he was outlived by his grandmother. Each chapter muses on the extent to which the disinheritance or death of an expected heir influenced history. For example, Hoffman speculates about a Tudor England in which Prince Arthur, who died as a teen, survived to reign, leaving Henry VIII as a younger prince with little power over religion and politics, and not the notorious ruler he became. Some stories retain a powerful sense of tragedy, including that of the “Princes in the Tower”—the deposed and murdered 12-year-old king Edward V and his younger brother Richard, who were most likely assassinated by their uncle Richard III—and the happily married 21-year-old Princess Charlotte, who died of complications from childbirth in 1817. Drawn mainly from 20th-century sources (more recent research, especially on royal women, is not as well reflected here), Hoffman’s creative premise offers a unique and entertaining perspective on the British monarchy. It’s worth checking out for royal history buffs.

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