Father of the King (or Queen) Trivia Quiz

Answer: King Edward VII

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married his first cousin, Queen Victoria, in February 1840. He was the younger son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the elder brother of Queen Victoria's mother. Albert and Victoria were famous for their loving relationship, their large family of nine children and for embodying the moralistic attitude that characterised the Victorian era. While Victoria was the ruler of the kingdom, Albert played an important supporting role and took charge of their family life. He was particularly involved in the education of his children - a somewhat unusual thing in the 19th century. Following his death in 1861 at the age of just 42, his wife remained in mourning for the rest of her long life.

Albert and Victoria's eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, inherited the throne in 1901 after his mother's death. However, he chose to become King Edward VII rather than King Albert so as not to overshadow the memory of his father. This touching sentiment belies the fact that Edward and Albert had vastly different personalities and their relationship was often strained. In fact one of Albert's last acts before his death was to travel to Cambridge to berate his son for conducting an indiscreet affair with an actress. This resulted in Victoria blaming Edward for his loss.

Answer: King Henry VII

King Henry VII became the first monarch of the famous House of Tudor when he defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. However, his father was not alive to witness his son's stunning military success - in fact he didn't even live to witness his son's birth; he died two months prior to that event after contracting bubonic plague.

Edmund Tudor was the eldest son of Owen Tudor, a Welshman, and Queen Catherine, the widow of King Henry V. After his mother's death, Edmund and his younger brother Jasper were accepted at the court of their half-brother King Henry VI and granted the titles of Earl of Richmond and Earl of Pembroke respectively. Despite this royal connection, Henry Tudor's claim to the English throne actually came from his mother's side of the family. Margaret Beaufort was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt and heir to the Beaufort claim to the throne - one which was slightly dubious since her grandfather had only been legitimised when his parents got married over 20 years after his birth and was later specifically excluded from the line of succession.

Answer: King Richard II

In 1377, at the age of 10, King Richard II inherited his throne directly from his grandfather, King Edward III. His father, Prince Edward, had suffered from ill-health for many years and had died the previous year. Edward was known by a range of titles both during and after his life. He was initially dubbed Edward of Woodstock since he was born at Woodstock Palace in Oxfordshire, he then became Earl of Chester in 1333, the first Duke of Cornwall in 1337 and was created Prince of Wales in 1343 (the first time that title was given to the monarch's heir apparent). In addition he had been known as Prince of Aquitaine while he acted as the king's representative in that Duchy. However, he became known to history as Edward, the Black Prince - a title thought to refer to either the black armour he wore in battle or his vicious conduct towards the people of Aquitaine, particularly the events of the Siege of Limoges in 1370.

King Richard II didn't have much more luck than his father - although he reigned for a total of 22 years, his time on the throne was beset with problems and crises. He was eventually deposed in 1399 by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke. He was then imprisoned in the Tower of London before being transferred to Pontefract Castle - where he is believed to have starved to death.

Answer: Queen Victoria

Prince Edward, who was granted the title of Duke of Kent and Strathearn in 1799, was the fourth son of King George III and therefore never expected to take the throne, or father a future monarch. However, the death of his niece, Princess Charlotte, in 1817 left his parents with 12 living children (out of a family of 15) but no legitimate grandchildren at all. This crisis in the royal succession meant that all of George III's unmarried sons engaged in a race to get married in order to father a new heir. Edward married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1818 and the birth of the couple's only daughter, the future Queen Victoria, soon followed. He died in 1820 at the age of 52 - his daughter was less than a year old at the time.

Queen Victoria was actually born as Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, but she was generally known as Victoria throughout her childhood. Although she had no full siblings, she did have an older half-brother and half-sister - the children of her mother's first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen. Her mother was also the sister-in-law of Princess Charlotte - the ill-fated cousin whose death directly led to the birth of the famous queen.

Answer: King George III

Frederick, Prince of Wales was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II, but he predeceased his father in 1751. George and Frederick had been estranged for many years by the time of his death. Frederick had been born in Hanover before his grandfather inherited the British throne and became King George I. George (at that time the new Prince of Wales) and his wife Caroline left Hanover for England, but left their seven-year-old son behind and didn't see him again for another 14 years. It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that as an adult Frederick had a poor relationship with both his parents and eventually ended up being banished from their court.

George III became king in 1760 after his grandfather's death. He had a loving and happy marriage with his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and together they raised a family of 15 children. His 60-year reign saw many important historical events including the American War of Independence, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic War. However, it is likely that he will simply be remembered for the mental illness that blighted his later life.

Answer: King Henry II

The Plantagenets ruled England for over 300 years, from the beginning of the reign of King Henry II in 1154 to the death of King Richard III in battle in 1485. However, the name did not originate from a king; it came from Geoffrey, Count of Anjou who married the Empress Matilda in 1128. Matilda was the only surviving legitimate child of King Henry I. She waged a bitter civil war, known as 'The Anarchy', against her cousin, King Stephen, when he usurped her and took the English throne for himself. The war lasted for most of Stephen's reign and only ended when Stephen adopted Matilda and Geoffrey's son, Henry, as his heir. Geoffrey died three years before his eldest son became King of England.

King Henry II was one of England's most successful monarchs. His reign lasted for 35 years and saw the country's empire expand to include large chunks of Wales, Ireland and France. However, there were also great difficulties: his tumultuous relationship with his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, led to both her and several of their sons rising in revolt against him; he was also famously responsible for the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, after supposedly saying "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?"

Answer: King James I (and VI)

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (sometimes known as Henry Stewart or the Duke of Albany) was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. The couple were married in 1565; they were also first cousins as they were both grandchildren of Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of King Henry VIII. However, the marriage fell apart after Darnley was accused of murdering his wife's private secretary, David Rizzio. A year later, Darnley was himself murdered with suspicion falling on the Earl of Bothwell who swiftly became Mary's third husband. These events directly led to Mary losing the support of the Scottish nobles and being forced to abdicate in favour of the infant Prince James, her only child by Darnley. She fled to England where she ended up spending many years in imprisonment and was eventually executed for treason by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

King James VI of Scotland later became King James I of England when he succeeded Elizabeth in 1603 and united the two crowns. He is credited with sponsoring the creation of the King James Version of the Bible and remembered for being the intended victim of the infamous Gunpowder Plot.

Answer: King Henry IV

John of Gaunt was the fourth son of King Edward III. His name did not derive from the term for thin or haggard - in fact, it is actually an English translation of the name of the Belgian city of Ghent. He was born in the city in 1340 during the early years of the Hundred Years War, as his mother, Queen Philippa, often accompanied her husband abroad on campaign. John became Duke of Lancaster in 1362; his connection to the city and its lands came from his marriage to one of the country's most eligible heiresses, Blanche of Lancaster, three years earlier.

King Henry IV was John and Blanche's only son to survive infancy. He was known as Henry of Bolingbroke for most of his early life (after his own birthplace), but came to fame when he deposed his unpopular cousin, King Richard II, and claimed the throne for himself. This act marked the start of the royal House of Lancaster - which would go on to dispute the Wars of the Roses against the House of York.

Answer: King Edward IV

Richard, Duke of York was actually the father of two English kings - King Edward IV and his younger brother King Richard III. The elder Richard was a descendent of King Edward III by his fifth son, Edmund of Langley. It was Richard who began his family's quest to take the throne from the unsuccessful and weak King Henry VI. He initially succeeded in being named as Henry's heir, was named Protector of the Realm when Henry suffered a mental illness and then finally captured the king at the First Battle of St. Albans. However, his luck ran out when Henry's wife, Margaret of Anjou, regained controlled of her husband and forced Richard to flee the country. He and his second son, Edmund of Rutland, were later killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460.

Richard's eldest son, Edward, continued his father's campaign to take the throne for the House of York and succeeded in the task in 1461 with victory at the Battle of Towton. He reigned as King Edward IV from 1461 to 1483 - with a short gap in 1470-71 after he was dethroned by his former ally and mentor the Earl of Warwick in favour of the former King Henry VI. On his death in 1483, the throne was supposed to pass to his eldest son, Prince Edward. However, his brother Richard intervened, conveniently had all of Edward's children declared illegitimate and declared himself King Richard III.

Answer: King William I

William, Duke of Normandy invaded England in 1066, defeated King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings and became King William I of England, aka William the Conqueror, by right of conquest. His victory changed the path of British history - Norman lords and William's loyal followers were granted control of vast swathes of the country, many of the elite Anglo-Saxon population emigrated for Europe and modern English began to develop from the Anglo-Norman dialect that was introduced.

William's background was unusual as he was an illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy and his mistress, Herleva. Despite this, he was recognised as his father's legal heir and assumed control of the Duchy when his father died in 1035. His decision to invade neighbouring England was not as random as it might seem at first - William had probably been named as heir to King Edward the Confessor in the early 1050s, but his claim was usurped by Harold when King Edward died in January 1066. The Norman Conquest was William's method of reclaiming his position.