King Twice Over Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jan III

Ladislaus was king of Poland 1386-92, when he became king he was already Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania. Zygmunt III was the Polish king 1587-1632 and, as Sigismund I, was king of Sweden 1592-99. Henry was the younger brother of the French kings Francois II and Charles IX. He was elected king of Poland in 1572 but was king for only a year before returning to France where, in 1574, be became Henri III.

Jan III, or John Sobieski as he is often known, was a native Pole and was king of Poland 1674-96.

Answer: James VI

James's grandson, also James, was known as James II & VII. William of Orange was known as William III in England but William II in Scotland.

Answer: George VI

George ceased to be emperor of India when it became independent of Britain in 1947. He remained king of India until the country became a republic in 1949.

Answer: Qing

Pu Yi was deposed when China became a republic in 1911 and in 1925 he was expelled from the capital, Beijing. Although his family had lived in Beijing since overthrowing the Ming Dynasty in 1644, they were ethnic Manchus rather than Han Chinese. When the Japanese set up a puppet government in occupied Manchuria they offered the throne to Pu Yi which he readily accepted, ruling as the Emperor Kangde.

After the Second World War Pu Yi was captured by the Soviets and handed over to the Chinese Communist forces. He was sent to a rehabilitation camp and later became a supporter of the Communist Party, dying in 1967.

Answer: France

Henry became Henry IV of France but as a Protestant king in a staunchly Catholic country at first met a great deal of resistance to his rule. He converted to Catholicism in 1593 but in 1598 allowed French Protestants full freedom.

Answer: Franz

Franz II was the last Holy Roman Emperor (1792-1806) when the Empire was abolished by Napoleon. He named himself Emperor Franz I of Austria (1804-1835) to maintain his imperial title. The others were all subsequent Austrian Emperors and, in the cases of Franz Josef and Charles, kings of Hungary also.

Answer: Portugal

Ferdinand became king of Aragon in 1479. In the same year he married Isabella I of Castile and ruled jointly with her as Ferdinand V until Isabella's death in 1504 (he then served as regent for their daughter Juana, later known as Juana (or Joanna) the Mad). Ferdinand also ruled Sicily as Ferdinand II from 1468 and Naples as Ferdinand III from 1504.

Answer: Brazil

The Portuguese royal family had fled to Brazil during the Napoleonic Wars. After the war King Joao VI returned to Portugal leaving his son, Dom Pedro (full name: Pedro de Alcantara Francisco Antonio Joao Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquin Jose Gonzaga Pascual Cipriano Serafim), in Brazil.

In 1822 Brazil declared its independence with Pedro as Emperor. In 1826 he became Pedro IV of Portugal but abdicated in favour of his daughter, Maria II, later the same year. In 1831 he abdicated as emperor of Brazil in favour of his son, Pedro II.

Answer: France

Charles was the son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad. Philip was the son of the Emperor Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy. Joanna was the daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. On the death of his father in 1516 Charles inherited the Burgundian lands in what became known as the Spanish Netherlands and is now Belgium. He also became joint ruler of Castile with his mother. The death of Maximilian, also in 1516, made Charles the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1556 Charles abdicated, his brother Ferdinand inherited the Imperial throne and his son Philip inherited Spain and the Spanish Netherlands as Philip II - he would later also succeed to the Portuguese throne as Philip I.

Answer: Saxony

Eric became king, but credit for the Union of Kalmar goes to his great-aunt, Margrethe. She was the daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark and the wife of Haakon VI of Norway who was himself the son of Magnus II of Sweden. She came to power originally through her son, Olaf (III of Denmark and IV of Norway) and after winning control of Sweden, had Eric placed on the throne of all three countries although she remained the real ruler.

The Union lasted until 1523 when it was dissolved by Sweden. I hope you enjoyed this quiz, if so please feel free to try my follow up quiz, "King Again".