royal wedding celebration

1. Although the title is traditionally given to the monarch's second son, several Dukes of York eventually inherited the throne. Who were they?
Five of the 14 Dukes of York eventually became king. Edward IV was the first Duke of York to take the throne--literally. A great-grandson of King Edward III, he defeated the Lancastrian King Henry VI.

Henry VIII's older brother Arthur Prince of Wales had died in his teens leaving behind a young widow, Catherine of Aragon, whom Henry married and later divorced. [Read Catherine's story.]

Charles I's older brother Henry Prince of Wales died of typhoid at age 18.

James II became king when his older brother Charles II failed to have any legitimate children, although the noble houses of England are filled with descendants of his bastards. Even Prince William is a descendant through his mother.

George V's older brother Albert Victor Duke of Clarence died of pneumonia at age 27 shortly after becoming engaged to Princess Mary of Teck, whom George then married. [Read their story.]

George VI assumed the throne following the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII. His story is depicted in the recent award-winning film, "The King's Speech."

2. Which Duke of York earned the popular nickname the "Grand Old Duke of York"?
It is not clear which Duke of York has been immortalized in this nursery song. There are three possible contenders: Edward IV's father Richard Duke of York; King James II; and George III's second son Frederick Duke of York. Frederick seems the most likely candidate but there is no way to know whether the story even has a tie to an historical event at all.

3. For which Duke of York was the city of New Amsterdam renamed?
As Lord High Admiral, James Duke of York played an important role in England's war with the Dutch. When England captured the Dutch colony of New Netherland and its main city New Amsterdam, King Charles II renamed them both in honor of his brother, who later succeeded him as King James II. The city of Albany was also names in honor of James's Scottish title, Duke of Albany.

4. Queen Victoria did not give the Duke of York title to her second son. What title did he receive instead?
King George III had a host of disreputable sons who had been given the royal dukedoms of York, Clarence, Kent, Cumberland, Sussex and Cambridge. When George's granddaughter became Queen Victoria, she opted not to use any of these titles for his sons, not even Kent, which had been her father's title. Cumberland and Cambridge were still in use, but she could have used any of the others. However, she made her second son Prince Alfred the Duke of Edinburgh. He later inherited the German dukedom of Saxe-Coburg from his paternal uncle. Victoria gave her other younger sons the royal dukedoms of Connaught and Albany. Interestingly,three previous Dukes of Albany had also been Dukes of York. The choice of Edinburgh and Albany may have reflected Victoria's love of Scotland while Connaught, a new creation, underscored the British domination of Ireland. The title has been vacant since the death of Victoria's great-grandson in 1942. Since Connaught is now part of the Republic of Ireland, this title is unlikely to ever be re-created.

As her family grew, Victoria did resurrect the titles of Clarence and York for her grandsons, the sons of the Prince of Wales.

5. Which Dukes of York passed the title to his heir?
The title Duke of York has only passed directly from father to son twice. The first Duke of York, Edmund of Langley, fourth son of Edward III passed it to his son Edward of Norwich. By the time Edward of Norwich died, the Yorkist branch of the royal family had been attainted due to treason and the title did not pass immediately to his son Richard. A decade later, however, the title was re-created for Richard, who then passed it to his son, the future Edward IV.

Of the remaining Dukes of York who did not inherit the throne, one died as a child, two never married and one had no children with his wife. The current Duke of York, Prince Andrew, has no heir for the title either because it is limited to the male line. Unless he re-marries and has a son, the title will die out again with him.

Even in the closest of families, a second marriage can have a devastating effect. Throw the Scottish and English crowns into the mix and you have a recipe for strife, distrust and rebellion.

Such was the case when James Duke of York, heir to his brother, King Charles II, married Mary Beatrice of Modena in 1673. Just 15 years old, the Italian princess had been chosen specifically to help the Duke father legitimate, Catholic sons to inherit the English throne. Although the 40-year-old bridegroom wrote his 11-year-old daughter Mary, that he had provided a “playfellow for her,” Mary and her eight-year-old sister Anne could hardly have been enthusiastic about this new member of the family.

Having been restored to the throne following a bloody Civil War (in which Charles’ and James’ father had been beheaded), the royal family’s role in England was hardly stable—rocked as it still was by the religious turmoil between Protestants and Catholics initiated by Henry VIII more than a century earlier. The family was outwardly and officially Protestant, but well-founded rumors abounded that both the king and his brother were secret Catholics. The English were clear, however, that they did not want a Catholic king. So, the royal family presented a Protestant front. Having no legitimate heirs of his own (although much of today’s British aristocracy is descended from his many illegitimate children), Charles II wisely decided to have his brother’s daughters raised as Protestants, diligently tutored by the Bishop of London.

In time, Mary would have inherited the throne from her uncle and father and England would perhaps have found some religious and political stability. But, daddy had other plans. As quickly as possible, he made Mary Beatrice his own “playfellow” and started a second family. At first, his second wife was even less successful than his first at producing healthy children. Each one, mostly girls, died very young. By the time he became King James II in 1685, he still only had two children: Mary, now married to her Protestant cousin William of Orange, and Anne, who had an infant daughter by her Protestant husband, George of Denmark.

For the next couple of years, the second wife had no more pregnancies and it seemed that the childless Princess Mary would be queen, followed by the very fertile Princess Anne, who was conceiving at least one child a year, although only two, Princess Marie and Princess Anne Sophia, had been born alive.

Then, Anne’s luck really changed. In 1687, she gave birth to another stillborn. Just days later, her beloved George and both of her young daughters contracted small pox. Having survived the disease as a child, Anne personally nursed her family. First nine-month-old Anne Sophia and then 19-month-old Marie died. Exhausted and heartbroken, Anne stayed at George’s side. In the words of Lady Russell, “sometimes they wept, sometimes they mourned. . .then sat silent, hand in hand.”

George recovered slowly and the couple once again found that they were expecting. Then, after years of waiting, Anne’s stepmother announced that she also was pregnant—the hoped-for male heir would supplant Anne and her sister in the line of succession. Anne gave birth prematurely to a dead son in late October. Distraught as she was over the deep, personal losses she had suffered in such a short period, she was highly mistrustful of her stepmother.

Like many staunch Protestants, she alleged that Mary Beatrice’s pregnancy was fake and that the king planned to foist a false heir on the nation. Anne told others that her stepmother would not allow her to touch her belly to feel the child move as, Anne falsely claimed, she had done in her earlier pregnancies. Throughout that winter and spring, Anne sent harsh letters to her sister at The Hague, accusing the queen and king of nefarious intentions. Anne herself conceived again and suffered a miscarriage in April. Pleading ill health, she convinced her father to let her go to Bath and thereby managed not to be present at the birth of her half-brother, James Francis Edward, on June 10.

She wasn’t the only one who found an excuse to stay away. Even though they were entitled to attend the queen’s delivery, scarcely any Protestant nobles and officials came. The large attendance of Catholics only helped spur the wild rumor that the new prince was actually an impostor, brought into the room in a warming pan and foisted on the nation as a threat to Protestantism.

Tensions rose quickly. Within a year, the king and queen and their infant son fled the country, Parliament declared that, by fleeing, the king had abdicated, and Princess Mary and her husband William were invited to be the first and only co-monarchs in British history. They named the perpetually pregnant Anne as their heir and prayed that her new pregnancy would result in the next generation of Protestant heirs to ensure stability for the land. In July 1689, Anne gave birth to a baby boy, named William in honor of the new king, and all seemed well for a while. . .