The virgin queen, monarch blown up by gases and other myths about the British monarchy

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It is no secret to anyone that British monarchs have left their mark almost all over the world since the nation became an empire "over which the sun never sets." Entire eras are named by historians after Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. And at the same time, the British monarchy is fanned by a number of myths and misconceptions that people still believe in today. In this review, we will dispel the most popular ones.

1. Magna Carta of 1215 was a key part of the American revolution

Many history students believe that when King John II signed this document, it was practically the birth of the American Revolution, which took place five and a half centuries later. In fact, it was a legal precedent that the powers of the monarch should be controlled by external forces. The document contained provisions prohibiting the king from levying taxes at his own discretion, in order to regulate seemingly easy things like uniform measurements of the price of a piece of cloth or corn. In fact, many of the original articles of this law were subsequently deleted.

The rewriting of the Magna Carta began almost immediately. Already in 1216, John's heir, Henry III, issued a new version of the Charter. It was then changed again in 1217, and again in 1225. These weren't minor fixes at all. For example, the 1225 revision reduced the number of points from 63 to 36. And it is particularly interesting that the 1225 revision, which was the most important precedent in 1628, included the king's right to levy taxes at will. Given that one of the main rallying calls of the American Revolution was “no taxation without representation,” Magna Carta was actually not useful as a legal precedent for those seeking independence.

2. Richard the Lionheart was the most successful and memorable monarch

In many stories about Robin Hood, King Richard I is described as a worthy ruler of England, and his younger brother John as a poor usurper. In many traditions, Richard was one of the main figures in the third and most successful of many European crusades to the Holy Land.

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On the one hand, Richard's crusades put a huge strain on his country's finances. In 1190 he openly accepted bribes for political and legal positions. By 1192, he found himself in a stalemate against the Muslim forces and eventually received the right to enter Jerusalem only for unarmed Christians. The king then drove the country even further into debt when he was captured after a shipwreck, and his ransom cost about two years in the income of the English crown. When Richard returned in 1194, he named John as his heir, indicating that he either approved of what John was doing in his absence or did not care, and then went to Normandy to regain British control over it. There he was killed in 1199 without winning any of the wars in which he fought and spending little time in his home country.

3. Henry V was a renowned leader

In 1415, the hungry British army, outnumbered by the French (reportedly ranged from 2: 1 to 5: 1), used stealth, long bows and mud to confidently defeat a well-equipped French army. After that, Prince Hal (as Henry was nicknamed before the coronation), in fact, was erected on a pedestal of glory among monarchs and generals. Generations have grown listening to his thrilling St. Crispin's Day speech, more precisely the one William Shakespeare wrote for Henry.

In truth, his glorious war in France was marred by two great atrocities. At Agincourt, when Henry's army took a large number of prisoners, the king ordered their execution, which was a violation of the rules of war even at that time. In 1417, during the siege of Rouen, he surpassed even this atrocity when he allowed 12,000 French refugees to starve to death between his trenches and the city.

4. King George III was a mad tyrant

Madness and the loss of colonies are the only two things that George III will remember. It also highlights the fact that during the last decade of his reign, the king was so insane that Prince George IV was regent of Great Britain.

The truth was that the king in the first 50 years of his reign was much more enlightened and tolerant of freedom than many monarchs before or after him. He had a sharp mind, and George was also the first king in British history to receive an education in science and was so interested in it that he created the royal observatory (the king used it to accurately predict the trajectory of Venus). The Royal Library was made publicly available to scholars during his reign. He made it an established policy to veto any law that would restrict the rights of preachers who criticize the crown, stating that there should be no persecution under his rule. George also allowed the UK courts to rule independently of his decision.

5. Queen Victoria - the main bigot of the empire

At one time, there were rumors that skirts were worn on tables in Victorian England, fearing that the curves of the table legs might be too arousing. Although it was complete nonsense, it was quite consistent with the image of the era in the mass perception. Since Queen Victoria was the main figure in the country during this period, it should come as no surprise that she came to be regarded as a stoic prude.

When Victoria and Prince Albert were married in 1840, the press was thrilled with how charming and passionate Victoria was. Feelings for Albert came as a surprise to the public. Victoria wrote in her diary that she "never had such an evening" and how "Albert's excessive love and affection gave her a sense of heavenly love and happiness that they could never have even expected before." She also literally sang laudatory odes to Albert's appearance, from his "thin mustache" to his "broad shoulders and thin waist." And these thoughts were not at all a secret with seven seals. But in an era when serious scholarship argued that women didn't have orgasms, something definitely "went wrong."

6. King John is a loser

When Richard I left for the Holy Land and Europe, three times bankrupt England, the regent (and possibly the king) John Landless took over the country in a rather bad place for her, almost from scratch. While Richard was winning battles, John was supposed to be the "bad guy" who took the accumulated wealth from the churches to fund military campaigns. It is worth adding to this the fact that his own barons threatened the king with rebellion to sign the aforementioned Magna Carta. Everything was against the king to such an extent that he seemed like a parody of the monarch. But this man had some positive aspects as well.

Although a number of lands were lost during his reign, the king carried out a series of skillful sieges, such as Le Mans in 1200 and Rochester in 1215. He also fought off Mirbeau and rescued the defenders of Château Gaillard in 1203 with a successful landing that was praised by military historians. John also managed to retain English rule over Scotland and Ireland, which was especially impressive when he was already embroiled in a costly war with France.

In terms of governance, John was industrious to the point that he was credited with "modernizing" the government, which was rather "backward" at the time. As for Magna Carta, it should be noted that only 39 barons out of 197 in his kingdom rebelled against the king, while about the same number supported him. Otherwise, the barons, of course, would not have bothered to force him to sign any documents, but would have simply overthrown the unwanted king.

7. King Alfred the Great saved England from the Vikings

For centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, Britain seems to have been mostly easy prey for the Vikings. Only in the 9th century, a particularly powerful king was able to unite many of the island's states and expel the raiders and their colonies. And King Alfred is described as a fierce defender of education, as well as a talented military leader.

While it is true that by the time his reign ended in 899, Alfred had conquered London for the Anglo-Saxons and fought the Danes, eventually concluding a peace treaty with them, but his descendants failed the king in both military and humanitarian terms. In 1002, King thelred the Fool ordered the murder of all Danes on the island, leading to the massacre on Saint Bryce's Day. This caused the fury of the Danes under the command of King Sven Forkbeard, who subsequently conquered all of England. Thus, it can hardly be said that Alfred saved England from the Danes - he only postponed the complete surrender to them by about a century.

8. Virginity of Queen Elizabeth I

Since during her reign (1558-1603), Queen Elizabeth I never married and had no children, she received the nickname "The Virgin Queen". During this time, many men, primarily the incest king of Spain Philip II, who was already married to her sister Mary Tudor, fought for her hand. Recently, evidence has emerged that Elizabeth was not celibate, even after her accession to the throne.

In 2018, The Telegraph reported that Dr. Estelle Paranc had published letters written by Bertrand de Salignac de La Motte Fenelon, a French nobleman who worked as a diplomat in England from 1568 to 1575. His letters, including one to Catherine de Medici, described how he received a number of invitations to the private chambers of Elizabeth I, where they had an intimate conversation, and that she once "dragged him into a side corridor." The tone of this correspondence was hardly boastful, and Fenelon wrote admiringly about how "amazing" the queen looked and admired that she had strong enough hands to use a crossbow (which was unusual for noble women at the time).

9. Henry VIII exploded

After the death of King Henry VIII in 1547, an interesting story emerged. Catholic historians began to claim that the king did so much to persecute the church that his body ignominiously exploded after death from all the gases stored in it. It sounds like a grim joke today, but it was taken seriously back then.

Naturally, the reports of the explosion of the corpse of the king of the Tudor dynasty are untrue. There was another myth that Mary Tudor secretly removed and burned her father's body, in exactly the same way as Henry VIII did with the corpse of Thomas of Canterbury.

10. The monarchy has no power at present

As far as the modern era is concerned, the British monarchy seems much less influential, so there is some controversy over whether Britain should continue the monarchy's tradition. Ceremonies such as the annual naval inspection or these closely guarded royal weddings can be quite costly, not to mention Her Majesty's fortune is estimated at $ 425 million and the Crown's property value (land and ownership) is 12. £ 4 billion.

Her Majesty currently possesses abilities that many are unaware of. As head of state, the Queen has the authority to dissolve parliament and appoint a new prime minister, not only in Great Britain, but in all states of the Commonwealth of Nations. She has the right to veto all bills that are signed. The Queen also appoints bishops and archbishops in the Church of England.

But what is definitely not a myth is Queen's secret signals, to whom, like Elizabeth II, lets know that the interlocutor is bored with her.