The Henrician succession to the Throne of England
by William Addams Reitwiesner
wargs@wargs.com
As described in fuller detail here,
Henry VIII was authorized by Parliament to set the succession to
the English Crown in his will. Henry did so, specifying that after
his own descendants died out, the Crown was to go the descendants of
his younger sister Mary, and leaving out the descendants of his
older sister Margaret. Because of a poorly documented marriage of
one of Mary's granddaughters, when the last descendant of Henry VIII
died (on 24 March 1603), Mary's heir appears to have been the
22-year-old Lady Anne Stanley, oldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Derby,
and great-great-granddaughter of Mary. Had Henry VIII's
will been followed, this Lady Anne should have succeeded to the
English Throne as Queen Anne I. Instead, Henry's will was ignored,
and Margaret's descendant James VI, King of Scotland, succeeded to the
Throne of England as James I. He is the ancestor of all English Monarchs
since then.
Lady Anne's right to the English Throne, under the terms of the will of
Henry VIII and accepting the illegitimacy of Lord Beauchamp, has long been
recognized. See, for example, the note in the second edition of
The Complete Peerage, vol. IV, p. 213, note (f), continued
onto p. 214. Recently (in the first decade of the 21st Century), some
alternate-history fantasists have gone further and constructed a
parallel reality in which James I is a usurper, as are all of his heirs,
and Lady Anne is regarded as Queen Anne I, the legitimate (i.e.,
de jure) English Monarch, as are all her heirs.
This alternate reality does not (currently) have a name. Because of
its similarities with the Jacobite alternate reality, particularly with
the claims by Jacobites about the post-1807 Jacobite succession, an
appropriate name for this scenario (and its adherents) could be
"Henrician", as the claims are based on a strict reading of the will
of King Henry VIII. (Most of) the rest of this webpage will be
written from a Henrician perspective.
The following chart illustrates the Henrician succession from 1603
to the present. More precise details on the descendants of Queen Anne I
[in real life, Lady Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven] can be found
here,
HENRY VII King of England m. Elizabeth of England
|
-------------------------------------------------
| | |
HENRY VIII, d. 1547 Margaret Mary m2. Charles Brandon
| | | Duke of Suffolk
-------------------- | |
| | | V |
MARY ELIZABETH EDWARD VI descendant |
died d. 1603 d. 1553 (James VI & I) |
1558 succeeded 1603 |
|
---------------------------------
| |
Frances Brandon Eleanor Brandon
m1. Henry Grey m. Henry Clifford
| 3 M Dorset | 2 E Cumberland
| |
-------------------------------------- -----------
| | | |
Jane Grey Katherine Grey Mary Grey Margaret Clifford
m. Guilford "m2" Edward Seymour m. Thomas Keyes m. Henry Stanley
Dudley | 1 E Hereford no issue | 4 E Derby
no issue | |
| ------------------------------------------
| | |
Edward Seymour Ferdinando Stanley William Stanley
Lord Beauchamp 5 E Derby 6 E Derby
| m. Alice Spencer |
V | V
Baroness Kinloss | Earl of Derby
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
Anne Stanley Frances Stanley Elizabeth Stanley
[ANNE I, r 1603-1647] m. John Egerton m. Henry Hastings
m1. Grey Brydges, 5 B Chandos | 1 E Bridgwater | 5 E Huntingdon
| m2. Mervyn Tuchet 2 E Castlehaven | |
| | ----------
| ---------------------------------- |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- | V
| | | | Earl of Loudoun
George Brydges William Brydges daughters John Egerton
6 B Chandos 7 B Chandos (known issue 2 E Bridgwater
[GEORGE I, r 1647-1655] issue apparently extinct 1679) m. Elizabeth Cavendish
m1. Susan Montagu extinct |
| m2. Jane Savage ---------------
| | |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | | |
-------------------------------------------------- | | |
| | | | |
Margaret Brydges Elizabeth Brydges Lucy Brydges Catherine Brydges John Egerton
[MARGARET I, r 1655-1732] m1. 3 B Herbert m. Adam Loftus m. Richard Parsons 3 E Bridgwater
m1. William Brownlow m2. 2 E Inchiquin | 1 V Lisburne 1 V Rosse m. Jane Powlett
| m2. Sir Thomas Skipwith 2 Bt m3. 4 B Howard | no issue |
| | m4. NN George V |
| --------------------------------- no issue issue extinct 1761 -----
| | |
---- | |
| | |
Elizabeth Brownlow Sir George Brydges Skipwith 3 Bt Scroop Egerton
[possibly ELIZABETH II] [GEORGE II, r 1732-1756] 1 D Bridgwater
m. Philip Doughty no issue m. Elizabeth Churchill
| |
| ----
-------------------------------------------------------- |
| | |
George Brownlow Doughty Elizabeth Doughty Ann Egerton
d. 1743 m. Carrington Turville m. William Villiers
m. Frances Cicely Tichborne Issue exinct 1735 | 3 E Jersey
| |
| -------
---------------------------------- |
| | |
Henry Doughty other issue George Bussy Villiers
[HENRY IX, liv. 1760s] apparently d. s.p. 4 E Jersey
m. Anna Maria Byrom m. Frances Twysden
| |
| -------
------------------------ |
| | |
Henry Doughty Elizabeth Doughty George Child-Villiers
[HENRY X, r -1796] [ELIZABETH II/III, r 1796-1826] 5 E Jersey
unmarried unmarried [GEORGE III, r 1826-1859]
m. Sarah Sophia Fane
|
|
---------------------------------------
|
|
George Child-Villiers 6 E Jersey
[GEORGE IV, r 1859]
m. Julia Peel
|
|
-------------
|
|
Victor Child-Villiers 7 E Jersey
[VICTOR I, r 1859-1915]
m. Margaret Leigh
|
|
-------------
|
|
George Child-Villiers 8 E Jersey
[GEORGE V, r 1915-1923]
m. Cynthia Needham
|
|
-------------
|
|
George Child-Villiers 9 E Jersey
[GEORGE VI, r 1923-1998]
m1. 1932 % 1937 Patricia Kenneth Richards
| m3. 1947 Bianca Mottironi
--------------------------- |
| -----------------
| |
| |
Caroline Child-Villiers (b. 1934) George Child-Villiers Vct Villiers
m1. Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynymound 6 E Minto (d. 1998)
m2. John Stuart m. Sacha Valpy
m3. James Ogilvy |
|
-------
|
|
William Child-Villiers 10 E Jersey
[WILLIAM III, r 1998-]
(b. 1976)
Given what we currently know of dates and issue, the Henrician
succession appears clear until 1998, the death of George VI
[in real life, the 9th Earl of Jersey].
Ordinarily it would be supposed that he would be succeeded as the
de jure (i.e., Henrician) monarch by William III [in real
life, the 10th Earl of Jersey], the oldest son of his oldest son, but
some Henricians point out that the 9th Earl of Jersey entered three
marriages, and claim that only the first marriage would be valid for
Henrician succession. The reason for this claim is that civil
remarriage after a divorce did not become possible in England until
the Marriage Act of 1836. These Henricians point out that the
Parliament which passed this Act was summoned by one of the successors
of the usurper James I, not by the rightful [Henrician] monarch,
and that the rightful monarch did not assent to the Act,
whereas one of the usurpers did. As a consequence,
George VI was succeeded at his death in 1998 by the only child of
his first (and only valid) marriage, Lady Caroline Ogilvy, who thus
became de jure Queen Caroline I. Her heir would be her son,
the Earl of Minto.
It's difficult to know how far to take an argument like this,
as the Marriage Act of 1836 is just the tip of a very large
iceberg -- not only the peerage titles of the Earls of Jersey and
Minto but even their surnames were established by action of the
usurpers, as were American Independence, the adoption of
the Gregorian calendar, and so on.
In any case, the above is an introduction to the concept of Henrician
succession to the English Throne.
My thanks to Michael Andrews
for various helpful suggestions,
including the name "Henrician".
William Addams Reitwiesner
wargs@wargs.com