Why are we fascinated with royal descents? Most of our ancestors were ordinary people, not nobles or royalty.
Some royals were extremely prolific and lived a very long time ago, so have left vast numbers of traceable descendants, however, and royals are traceable into the distant past when ordinary folk generally are not. For instance, we have accurate dates for the birth, marriages and death of Edward I (born 17 June 1239, first marriage Oct 1254, second marriage 8 Sep 1299, died 7 Jul 1307) while I have only a possible death date for my poor Irish great-great-grandmother, born sometime in the earlier 1800s, and no marriage or birth dates.
People of pedigree
For us genealogists, the key feature of royalty is that they are people of pedigree, carefully recorded. It is quite fun to work out who would be King or Queen if certain rules of descent were followed or not followed. And, who ‘should’ be king or queen of the various old kingdoms now part of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Male line English royalty
Who would be king, if the rule were the king could be male only, the eldest surviving son (where known) and legitimate?
Plantagenets
The Plantagenets were good at producing sons in most generations, having two or more legitimate sons in every generation from Henry II to Edward the Black Prince, father of Richard II. On the other hand, the other sons all failed to sire legitimate male line descendants in the long term. When Henry IV usurped the throne from the childless Richard II, the succession disputes, the War of the Roses, lasted throughout most of the 1400s. This strife was between the descendants of Edward III’s many children which included eight sons, five of whom grew up. In fact, Richard III had a very good claim but lost the Battle of Bosworth, his life and his throne to Henry VII. The remaining male line claimant, Edward, son of George, Duke of Clarence, was executed by Henry VII. Henry’s claim came through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, descended from Edward III’s son, John of Gaunt.
Alfred the Great
Alfred, five ch ildren including two sons,
Edward the Elder, next king, had five sons,
Athelstan – no children;
Aethelweard – no children? Died 924.
Edwin, drowned 933. no children?
Eadred, king, never married, no children. Edmund – two sons,
Eadwig – no children
Edgar – three sons
Edward the Martyr, no children.
Aethelred the Unready – eight sons(!)
Aethelstan – no children
Ecgberht, died young? No children
