The future King Charles IV of Spain was born on 11 November 1748 in Naples, the second son of Charles, King of Naples and Sicily, and Maria Amalia of Saxony. He was christened Carlos (Charles to the Anglophone speakers) Antonio Pascual Francisco Javier Juan Nepomuceno José Januario Serafín Diego, and given the title of the… Read more Charles IV of Spain
The woman history records as Queen Matilda of Scotland, wife of King Henry I, was born Edith of Scotland in 1080 (or thereabouts), the eldest daughter of Malcolm III and his English bride Saint Margaret. Edith’s mother was an Wessex princess, sister of Edgar Ætheling, grandniece of King Edward the Confessor, whose family was displaced… Read more Matilda of Scotland
Bridget of York, the 10th and youngest child and of King Edward IV of England and Queen Elizabeth Woodville, was born on 10 November 1480 at Eltham Palace. At the time of Bridget’s birth, she had seven of nine full siblings and two half brothers still living, the only exceptions being a sister, Margaret of… Read more Bridget of York, King Edward IV’s Last Child
Late in the evening of 9 November 1518, Katherina of Aragon delivered her last child, an unnamed daughter that was either stillborn or did not survive very long past her birth. The ambassador from Venice, Sebastian Giustinian, wrote a letter the next day, reporting that, “In the past night the Queen had been delivered of… Read more Katherina of Aragon’s Last Childbirth
Let’s talk about the courage shown by Isabella of Valois, who was married to King Richard II and was Queen of England for the last four years of the 14th century. She was born on 9 November 1389, the third child of King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. Her older siblings died… Read more Let’s Talk About Queen Isabella of Valois
Katheryn Howard, the very young fifth wife of King Henry VIII, spent the second week of November 1541 being interrogated by special investigators – led by no less a personage than Archbishop Thomas Cranmer – to determine the extent of her tawdry sinfulness and lewd shenanigans. Katheryn, though barely in her twenties at the time… Read more Wondrous Naughty?
Princess Augusta Sophia of the United Kingdom was born on 8 November 1768, and most unusually for a king, her father was hoping for a girl. King George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz already had four strapping, healthy little boys, but only one daughter. The king in particular was adamant he hoped for another daughter,… Read more Princess Augusta … Mrs Spencer?
(Today I am lucky enough to have a guest blog post by Mary Anne Yarde, the fabulous author of the fabulous Du Lac Chronicles. The books are set in the Dark Ages Britain, when politics was still a matter of combat and moistened tarts lobbing swords at you from overly-large ponds, and are great reads!… Read more Guest Post: Henry Tudor and the King Arthur Claim by Mary Anne Yarde
On 7 November 1775 the royal governor of Virginia, John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, issued Dunmore’s Emancipation Proclamation, offering freedom to any slave who would fight for the British during the American Revolutionary War. This caused the slave-owning elites of Virginia, both loyalist and rebel, to shit a brick. In the last quarter of… Read more Dunmore’s Emancipation Proclamation
Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March and 7th Earl of Ulster, was born on 6 November 1391, at New Forest, Westmeath, in Ireland, the eldest son of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, and Eleanor Holland. The newborn baby Edmund was third in line to the throne while King Richard II lived. His father,… Read more Edmund de Mortimer, Rightful King of England