Nine Dukes and One Drake Trivia Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Square in front of the British Museum refers to their family name. Another Square that is nearby refers to their title. Which of these Dukes are the Dukes on whose estates the British Museum was built?

Answer: Dukes of Bedford

The British Museum is on Russell Square. In the same area there is a Bedford Square as well. John Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Bedford (1389- Rouen 1435) commanded England's army during a critical period of the Hundred Years' War. John Russell, 4th Duke of B.(1710-1770) was the Leader of the so-called Bedford Whigs. Francis Russell, 5th Duke of B., regarded Charles James Fox as his leader and belonged to the circle of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV.

2. Aptly called FitzRoy,he was indeed the illegitimate son of an English King, rebelled against his father's successor and was defeated by an ancestor of Sir Winston Churchill at Sedgemoor. What Duke's title was his?

Answer: Duke of Monmouth

Born in 1649. Lost battle of Sedgemoor in 1685. His opponent was the Duke of Marlborough. He paid for his rebellion with his life: executed in 1685. Thomas Woodstock, (1355-1397) was created Duke of Gloucester in 1385. He was an opponent of Richard II.

There also was Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (1390-1447) who, by favouring the humanists, earned himself the nickname Good Duke Humphrey. George, the fourth son of George V (1865-1936) got the title of Duke of Kent. William Cavendish was the 1st Duke of Devonshire( 1640-1707).

He was an opponent of James II. The 4th Duke of Devonshire became Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1756.

3. They created a title for him when he preferred the love of a twice-divorced American to the 'pomp and circumstance' of the English crown. They relegated him to the rank of Duke of ______.

Answer: Windsor

Well there are EARLS of Wentworth but no Dukes. Thomas Wentworth Strafford (1593-1641) was a leading adviser of Charles I. Richard Neville was the first Earl of Warwick and the second Earl of Salisbury. Wembley has its Baron (the first Baron of W. was Walter Mc Lennan Citrine.) But of course the real Kings of Wembley will always be the team that with Bobby Moore (1941-1993)as skipper, won the world soccer championship there in 1966.

4. He had a more than usually distinguished military career and won one of the most resplendent victories of the British army in the course of their history. After having been Prime Minister he accepted the lower-ranking job of Foreign Secretary. His nickname smacks of Heavy Metal.You find his tomb in the Crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral.He was the Duke of _________

Answer: Wellington

He was born as Arthur Wellesley. His day of glory was in 1815, when he stopped Napoleon at the doorstep of Brussels, on the battlefield of Waterloo. He was Prime Minister from 1828 till 1830; he ran the Foreign Office from 1834 to 1835.

5. They were the Dukes of Albany (Prince Leopold), of Connaught (Prince Arthur) and of Edinburgh (Prince Alfred). Their eldest brother had to wait till he was sixty before he could take over the throne. Their dad was called Albert. Who was their mom?

Answer: Victoria

In 1876 she had become Empress of India. She gave her name to a whole era: the Victorian Age. She was eighteen when she was told she was to be Queen. Her spontaneous first reaction: 'I'll be good'!

6. He was for sure a Grand Old Duke, and they had called him Frederick Augustus. He commanded the English army in Flanders (1794-95). The famous nursery rhyme about him misrepresents his age (he was thirty-one), the number of his troops (30,000 rather than 10,000) and no, there were no hills in the area where he was fighting. But still he was the Grand Old Duke of ____ ?

Answer: York

'Oh, the grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men, He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched Them down again. And when they were up, they were up. And when they were down, they were down. And when they were only halfway up, They were neither up nor down. '

The Grand Old Duke of the nursery rhyme was possibly Frederick Augustus who commanded an English army in Flanders (1794-1795). The hill may have been the town of Cassel, but the number of his troops was at least three times as large as mentioned in the song.

7. And who was that Grand Old Duke the second son of?

Answer: George III

George III was the one who suffered for a while from porphyria, as could be seen in the movie 'The Madness of King George'. He was born in London 1738, died at Windsor Castle in 1820. He was the grandson of George II. As a young boy he had been a slow learner. Also as a King , he was - though conscientious - not too bright.

He was able, however, to strongly focus on one target at a time. For instance, he took a strong interest in botany. He had some excellent mentors such as Bute, North, and Pitt. Charles Fox and the Whigs were most of the time his opponents. Sadly enough George III's son publicly associated with the King's political opponents.

When from 1811 he was intermittently mad, it was exactly THAT son who had to take over as a Regent. All this trouble, together with the loss of the American colonies, overshadowed the positive results of his reign as a King.

In the Seven Years' War Britain had won so many successes that George's reign might have been a Golden Age for England.

8. His wife Sarah (born Jennings) was a good friend of the Queen. He won many victories in the War of the Spanish Succession, and the Queen gave him all he needed to build a splendid palace in commemoration of his most famous one: Blenheim. Being a brilliant soldier and statesman, he set a fine example for his 20th century descendant, Sir Winston Churchill. Who was he?

Answer: the Duke of Marlborough

Born 1650, Ashe in Devon. Died 1722 at Windsor. For a short while he had been out of favour with the new King, William of Orange. When Queen Anne started her reign, he was already very much in the good books of the Palace. Because he had married for love rather than for money (his wife was an attendant of Princess Anne), he depended all his life on his career for a 'decent' income. Among his finest victories were those of Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706) and Oudenaarde (1708).

9. Charles II raised him to the peerage and called him the Duke of Albemarle. But his contemporaries probably remembered him best as the distinguished military leader he had been at the end of the Civil War, General ______ ?

Answer: Monck

George Monk was born in 1608 and died in 1669. He had already fought with the Dutch against the Spaniards (1629-1638),then with the King (Charles II) against the Parliamentarians, when after the King's defeat he accepted a commission from the Parliamentarians against the Irish, later also against the Scots. Though at first he had supported Cromwell's son, he soon understood that the Puritan wave was over, and that a peaceful return to the monarchy was the best solution. For his contribution to that bloodless restoration he was rewarded with the title of Duke of Albemarle.

10. The best-known seafarer in Elizabethan times was not a Duke but just Sir Francis Drake. He was knighted on board his ship on returning from a journey around the world that had lasted from 1577 till 1580. What was the name of his ship?

Answer: The Golden Hind

'Gloriana' is the name given by Edmund Spenser to Queen Elizabeth in his 'Faery Queen'. The Great Harry (built in the dockyards of Woolwich) and the Mary Rose (now docked at Portsmouth) were ships built for Henry VIII. Drake was born on the estate of Lord Francis Russell, the 2nd Earl of Bedford.

His family being poor, he became a seaman. A sea-captain for whom he had worked, left him his ship. He showed a real talent for pilotage. After a while he was allowed to take on more important enterprises.

He made voyages to the West Indies, America and circumnavigated the world. It was during one of those voyages that he changed the name of his light-weight ship (only 100 ton) from 'the Pelican' into 'the Golden Hinde'. In 1581 he became Mayor of Plymouth. During the episode of the Spanish Armada it was Drake who prompted the use of fireships to drive the Armada out of Calais.

His last voyage was in 1596. While at sea he caught a fever and succumbed to it.

Source: Author flem-ish

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor thejazzkickazz before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Dukes are next in line to Kings. Some of them played a major role in English History. Yet let us remember there is not just Dukes that matter in the games of life, also a simple Drake can change the course of history.

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