Random royal stories or facts

[JustAnotherWhinger]

A random fact about King Harald of Norway got me think about all the random/interesting/bizarre stories and facts about royals and thought a thread of them could be interesting.

Harald, who died today, was the first monarch to be born in Norway for over 600 years.
His grandfather, Prince Carl of Denmark, was selected to be the new King of Norway in 1905 (he became King Haakon VII.

Another Danish prince, George, was selected to be the King of Greece in 1863 and reigned until he was assassinated in 1914. He was Prince Philip’s grandfather.

The ultimate in that is the House of Saud.

Founder of "modern" Saudi, Abdulaziz (ibn Saud) had 22 wives and 45 sons, at least 1000 grandchildren. I was reading on some of the background and one of the surviving princes is described as someone else's "double step son". I can't even work out how that happens

The prince they called that was the step-son of the King and his father was the King’s brother (maybe half brother). I could never work out the double step-son name as he was step-son and nephew. He also married to one of the King’s granddaughters.

The Saudi family tree, infuriatingly also only ever bothers showing the Princes rather than the women. They seem to be interchangeable.

Right "step-son of the King and his father was the King’s brother (maybe half brother)."

So the king got that Prince as his step son because..he married his brother's (or half brother's) ex wife? Aiiiiiieee

Lucky they don't have to do the Christmas day rounds, imagine the arguments, But we went to your step step mother's brother last year!

And then their cousins are the Moroccan royal family

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2DKNo7Cd6X/?hl=en

Worse than that - he married her, then got rid of her and got her to marry his brother, then ordered him to divorce her so he could marry her again.

As well as the double step-son (maybe the double was because he married the mother twice?) she was the mother of King Fahd and the current king, King Salaman.

Ah here ! 🙄
I’ll get me coat.

I can’t figure out all those permutations

Makes Henry VIII sound rather restrained ...

It does .
I heard Phillipa Gregory being interviewed yesterday on Newstalk by Clare Byrne.
She is definitely no fan of Henry V111 !!!!
Very strong in her condemnation of him.
She calls him a psychopath and a serial killer.
A toxic narcissist.
There is to be a programme on Channel 5 soon called The 6 Wives of a Serial Killer that she is involved in with.
Should be interesting and a different slant on the man.

I heard Phillipa Gregory being interviewed yesterday on Newstalk by Clare Byrne.
She is definitely no fan of Henry V111 !!!!

When I read The Daughter of Time as a teenager one comment really struck me. Richard III is accused with no concrete evidence of having murdered two boys. Henry VII and VIII ruthlessly and as a matter of settled policy exterminated every possible claimant to the throne or little or sometimes no more evidence than royal paranoia. Yet it's R III who gets slated as a murdering monster.

Henry VIII overturned 1,000 years of religion in England, destroyed a whole religious and social culture, was directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of religious men and women and executed two queens - one on charges that were wholly trumped up. Psychopath is a bit mild, under the circumstances.

And was extremely cruel to Catherine of Aragon, was on the path to get Catherine Parr arrested and executed (there was a warrant out and only her wiles saved her), and was also cruel to his daughters.

Gregory sensationalises everything and is a novelist, not a historian. Starkey's Six Wives is excellent, even if the author himself is a dreadful person. When it comes to the Tudors he knows his stuff. As does Suzannah Lipscomb. I'd always recommend their books over PG's.

Let’s be honest here….in the real world….Henry the eighth….was a complete wanker!!!

Again, I'd advise getting your information from historians rather than novelists.

I have….still think he’s a bit of a wanker.

Yes, I would agree with you on all counts! Starkey's book is excellent. We know that PG is writing popular novels and there's nothing wrong with that, they're entertaining.

That's an extraordinary story, isn't it? Still, better in a flat above a beauty salon than the alternative.

In a nutshell please, what is Starkey’s take on Henry V111 @KillingMeDeftly?
Love your username.

She's also tone deaf for the period she writes about. I started reading her novel about Jane Rochford and gave up when JR, as a lady in waiting, addresses Catherine Howard - the wife of the king - as 'Kitty.' Mind you, that book was streets better than her novel about CH herself, which sounded like a 13 year old's diary.

Gregory just churns out the same old formula.

Oh, the 13 year old's diary. So irritating.

I think my issue with PG is that she now posits herself as a historian, not just a novelist, but her PhD is in English literature!

@Banjas It's been a while since I read Starkey's Six Wives and granted it's more about the wives, but his theory is that Henry was unusual for his time as he expected marriage to make him happy! And when it didn't, he moved heaven and earth to change that. He also demolishes some myths around the wives, Katherine Parr acting as nursemaid to Henry for one.

It's been a while since I read Starkey's Six Wives and granted it's more about the wives, but his theory is that Henry was unusual for his time as he expected marriage to make him happy!

i've seen that elsewhere - that he wanted a family life and that his wives (apart from Anne of Cleves) were all women he was familiar with and attracted to; which was why the Cleves marriage didn't work.

I do think Sid James whenever Henry VIII is mentioned. The right level of middle aged lech

Big issue at start of Cleves marriage was Henry dressing up and going down to see her before it was arranged and she having never met him had no idea who he was - other wives had advantage of knowing him and playing along.

She didn't know the courty game often played by the king so hurt his ego by rejecting him and the marraige never recovered. That was a lot to get over with middle aged King and then she had language barrier and a very sheltered upbinging also hampering her.

Henry was very much stuck in playing by courtly rules like dressing up and pretending to be someone else so he could be 'discovered' as the king, even when it as obvious he was too old and too overweight for that role. But of course, who was going to point that out?

In his head he was always the young, virile athletic king.