Forgotten Royalty Trivia Quiz

Answer: Catherine of Aragon

Had Henry, Duke of Cornwall been a healthy child, his father might never have sought a divorce from Catherine; never fathered Mary, Elizabeth and Edward; never established the Church of England. How different might British history have been if the boy had not died before he was two months old?

He did, however, die after just 52 days, and history unfolded without him, with each of his younger surviving siblings ruling in their turn, as his father married and discarded his various wives. Amongst all of the turmoil that followed, the infant Henry is often forgotten.

Answer: He was serving with the British army.

In 1879, some 64 years after his great-uncle Napoleon I Bonaparte was defeated by the British at Waterloo, the 23-year-old exile was serving in his adopted home's forces in southern Africa. It was hoped to keep him safe, as a member of Lord Chelmsford's staff during that year's campaign against the Zulu nation. An ambush on the first of June resulted in the death of the Prince Imperial and that of a number of his escorting party.

Born in 1856, Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte was the only child of Emperor Napoleon III. The family relocated from France to England after Napoleon III was deposed in 1870. Seen as the last hope of restoring the Bonapartes to power in France, the young prince was proclaimed Napoleon IV by supporters of that cause in 1873, whilst living in exile. His death a few years later was a blow to the cause.

Forgotten by many, he is at least remembered by students of Queen Victoria's "little wars", who will have encountered the story of his death in reading about the 1879 campaign.

Answer: Tatiana

The rumours occurred in the first place due to different names appearing on marriage documents and tombstone, and differing dates of birth on various documents. She apparently also bore a striking physical resemblance to Tatiana.

A persuasive case in support of this rumour was put forward by Michael Occleshaw in his book "The Romanov Conspiracies", which was later disproved by DNA testing of the remains of those executed.

Answer: Epilepsy

Born in 1905, Prince John Charles Francis suffered his first seizure at the age of four, and was subsequently diagnosed with epilepsy. For the most part he was kept out of the public eye, residing at Wood Farm near Sandringham, joining the family for Christmas and some other occasions. In early 1919 he died after suffering a particularly violent seizure.

His story was told in the 2003 BBC TV movie "The Lost Prince", which was my first introduction to this young prince.

Answer: Francisco Franco

Don Juan de Borbon, Count of Barcelona, was the third son of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, becoming heir to the throne in 1933 when his elder brothers both gave up their claim to the throne in his favour. The family was at that time in exile in Italy, the Second Spanish Republic having been declared in 1931. After the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, Franco came to power, which he retained until shortly before his death in 1975. Franco had restored the monarchy in name, and chosen Don Juan's son Juan Carlos to ascend the throne after Franco's death.

Don Juan died in Pamplona in 1993, aged 79. Juan Carlos I abdicated in favour of his son, Felipe VI in 2014.

Answer: Nepal

The alleged gunman was Crown Prince (later King) Dipendra, who turned a gun on himself after killing his parents and seven other family members. Dipendra survived long enough to be declared king whilst in a coma, but succumbed to his wounds after three days.

His uncle, Prince Gyanendra then became king, oddly enough for the second time. His first brief reign occurred in 1950-51 when he was just four years old, and the only male member of the royal family to remain in the country during some political upheaval. That reign ended when his grandfather, King Tribhuvan returned to reclaim his throne.

Answer: Netherlands

Princess Margriet was born 19 January 1943, the third daughter of then Princess (later Queen) Juliana of the Netherlands. The Dutch royal family had availed themselves of Canada's hospitality during World War II, after their homeland had been overrun by Hitler's Nazis. Making the ward extraterritorial (essentially international territory) ensured that the child would be of Dutch nationality, which would have been especially important had the child been a boy.

Margriet's mother became queen upon the abdication of Wilhelmina in 1948, and when Juliana abdicated in 1980, Margriet's sister Beatrix ascended the throne. In her turn, Beatrix abdicated in favour of her son (Margriet's nephew) Willem-Alexander in 2013.

Answer: 1885

Thibaw was deposed by the British colonial forces after his armies had been defeated in the Third Anglo-Burmese War late in the year 1885. This effectively ended the rule of the Konbaung Dynasty, which is now largely forgotten. Thibaw went into exile in India, where he died in 1916 Some members of the family, including a daughter, later returned to Burma, but not to power.

Answer: Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou

All four choices are pretenders to either the throne of France, or the French imperial throne, but only Luis Alfonso Gonzalo Víctor Manuel Marco de Borbón y Martínez-Bordiú, aka Louis Alphonse, can claim to be the great-grandson of both a Spanish king and El Caudillo (Franco), the latter on his mother's side.

He succeeded his father Alfonso to the pretence in 1989, when the father died in a skiing accident in Vail, Colorado. An older brother had died five years earlier in an automobile accident.

Answer: Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst

Crown Prince Leka spent most of his life in exile from Albania, having been born just days before his country was invaded by Italy in April of 1939. His education was not only at Sandhurst (from which he passed out as a 2nd Lieutenant), but also the Sorbonne in Paris and Aiglon College in Switzerland.

He spent time in Spain and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), as well as many years in South Africa where his son, also named Leka, was born in 1982. The son also graduated from Sandhurst, in 2006. Leka the father was eventually able to return to Albania, where he died in 2011.