Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon
"I have a plan...a plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a fox."
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Tony Robinson played the character Baldrick, who is being quoted above. He is active in politics and has done some documentaries. I recommend
"Britain's Real Monarch" first shown on 3 January 2004.
The legitimacy of several British monarchs has been open to considerable debate in the past. The claim that King Edward IV was illegitimate is one of the strongest in history. In a very entertaining way, Tony traces the alternative line to the present day to King Michael, who lives in a small home in Australia. Michael has no inherited money left, but he still has the title of 14th Earl of Loudon. In the USA, Loudon county is a suburban county of Washington DC, and is the home of Dulles Airport.
The documentary also sheds light on the difficulty of maintaining family wealth over a period of 6 centuries through all the political turmoil. As such it would dovetail with some of the themes in Downton Abbey.
The oldest monied family in the USA is the Astor family who emigrated in the 1780's. In the alternate succession to the British throne, that would be about the time of Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, who fought in the American war of Independence (for the British) and was 17th out of 28 people in the alternate line.
I don't know if they will put it on Netflix, but you can find it on youtube.
As a side note, Queen Elizabeth II is monarch because of her descent from George I who became king in 1714. Her legitimacy is established by Parliamentary Law in 1701. Anything that happened in history prior to that date is now considered irrelevant. Rumors of illegitimacy have always been rampant regarding royal bloodlines. Mostly because legitimacy is so important to the institution. Prince Harry probably gets the worst of it today, mostly because he has red hair, and Diana's lover for 5 years in her self confessed extra-marital affair also had red hair. Former cavalry officer James Hewitt had denied he was Prince Harry's father, saying that the affair began when Harry was already a toddler.
The line of descent governed by law goes back to the 17th century governed by the Act of Succession of 1701.
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
George VI
George V of the United Kingdom
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Victoria I of the United Kingdom
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (died before becoming King)
George III of the United Kingdom
Frederick, Prince of Wales (died before becoming King)
George II of Great Britain
George I of Great Britain
Sophie of Hanover (died before becoming Queen)
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