The Stuarts in England : I Trivia Quiz

Answer: 9

The first child, a son called Henry Frederick, was born on 19 February 1594, while James was still King of Scotland only. The 'Frederick' in his name was after Anne's father, Frederik II of Denmark. He was followed by a stillborn child in July 1595, then Princess Elizabeth, 'First Daughter of Scotland' was born on 19 August 1596.

She was named after Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England, whom James hoped to succeed as King of England. Elizabeth had consented to be Henry's godmother, and sent a generous gift to his christening, but she was irritated at being asked to be young Elizabeth's godmother too, and only consented with bad grace - she sent no gifts this time. Princess Margaret, the next child, was born on Christmas Eve 1598, but died in March 1600. On 19 November the same year, Prince Charles was born in Dunfermline Palace.

A weak, puny child, he was not expected to live long. The rest of the children were Prince Robert, Duke of Kintyre (January-May 1602), stillborn (May 1603), Princess Mary (1605-1607) and Princess Sophia (1606).

By the time the younger children were born, their parents were King and Queen of England, James having succeeded the ageing Queen Elizabeth in 1603.

Answer: 1612

Henry caught typhoid, and died on 6 November 1612 aged only 18. His family were distraught, especially Elizabeth, but she had to put her grief aside, since she was about to be married.

Answer: Elector of the Palatinate

Frederick made a good impression at the English court, beloved by all, except Queen Anne, still grieving for her late son the Prince of Wales. She made no secret of the fact that she didn't consider Frederick good enough to marry her daughter, and teased Elizabeth that after the wedding she would be called 'Goody Palsgrave'. But Elizabeth was quite content, and she and Frederick were married amid great celebrations on Valentine's Day 1613.
Elizabeth had already had quite an interesting life. When the Gunpowder Plot was hatched in 1605, the intention had been to put her on the throne as Elizabeth II, though the plan had of course failed.
After the wedding, Elizabeth and Frederick departed to Heidelberg, where Elizabeth charmed everyone and at the same time drove them to distraction with her extravagant spending.

Answer: King Felipe III of Spain

The visit was a disaster, to say the least, with Infanta Maria saying she would sooner enter a convent than marry Charles. Buckingham and his young protege were forced to return to England in disgrace. They were so annoyed, the demanded that James declare war on Spain.

The King ignored this suggestion and instead turned to the Catholic French royal house to find a suitable bride for his son.

Answer: Ferdinand II

Unfortunately, Frederick got no support from his supposed Protestant 'allies' in Germany, and was defeated at the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620. He had to flee Prague with Elizabeth, earning them the nickname of 'the Winter King' and 'the Winter Queen'. Baby Prince Rupert, the couple's son, was almost left behind in all the rush. By this time, Elizabeth had given Frederick four children - Frederick Henry (born 1614), Charles Louis (born 1617), Elisabeth (born 1618) and Rupert (born 1619). Over the course of their marriage, she proved very fertile, producing nine more children. After losing Bohemia, Frederick was also deprived of the Palatinate, and had to flee into exile in the Netherlands with his family, where they settled (in none too comfortable circumstances) in the Hague.

Answer: 27 March

His death brought his son, the young, inexperienced Prince of Wales to the throne as King Charles I. In Holland, the Winter Queen hoped Charles would be more sympathetic to her (mostly financial) problems than their late father had been, but he was still very much under the thumb of the Duke of Buckingham.

When James I died, he had been in the middle of negotitations with France to wed Princess Henriette Marie, daughter of the late King Henri IV, to the Prince of Wales. The negotiations continued after James's death. Henriette Marie, or Henrietta Maria as she has gone down to history (she continued to sign herself Henriette Marie, and was sometimes called 'Queen Mary' by the English), was born in 1609 as the daughter of France's King Henri IV and his queen, the redoubtable Marie de Medici.

Her father had been murdered when she was barely a year old, and her mother was regent for her brother Louis XIII. She was not beautiful, and very short, but with ivory skin, beautiful, large, animated eyes and good (albeit prominent) teeth.

This suited Charles fine - he was only five foot four inches himself.

Answer: The Duc de Chevreuse

Chevreuse was related to Charles by mutual descent from the House of Lorraine. Henrietta Maria set out for England on 9 June 1625 and arrived at Dover Castle. Her new husband came to meet her the very next day. She was unimpressed by him - he was short, solemn and melancholy. Charles, on the other hand, found her spoilt and childish (forgetting perhaps that she was still only fifteen!).

The marriage seemed doomed from the beginning - Buckingham saw Henrietta Maria as a threat to his influence with the King, whereas Henrietta Maria resented the King's closeness to Buckingham.

When Charles sent her French retinue home, Henrietta Maria flew into hysterics and had to be physically restrained. It was three years before the couple's relationship improved.

The Duke of Buckingham was murdered by a madman on 23 August 1628. With him out of the way, the astonishing happened - Charles and Henrietta Maria fell in love.

Answer: Charles James

It was an extremely difficult breach-birth that nearly killed the Queen, and the puny child lived only a few hours. Thankfully, after 'taking the waters' at Tunbridge Wells, the Queen soon became pregnant again, and gave birth to the future Charles II on 29 May 1630.

The baby, who was very dark, was thought by the Queen to be 'so ugly' that she was 'ashamed' of him, but the nation rejoiced at the birth of an heir to the throne.

Answer: 1632

His death, while still in exile in the Hague, left his widow in an unenviable position indeed. She was the mother of ten children: of those mentioned earlier, the eldest, Frederick Henry, had drowned in 1629. In addition, there were Maurice (born 1620), Louise Hollandine (born 1622; her unusual name was in honour of the Dutch States General, who had given Elizabeth financial help), Louis (1624-1625), Edward (born 1625), Henrietta Maria (born 1626), John Philip Frederick (born 1627), Charlotte (1628-1631), Sophia (born 1630) and Gustav Adolf (born 1632). Elizabeth had to provide for them all, and it wasn't easy.

She adored her eldest surviving son, Charles Louis, but her relations with her daughters were less easy; they often felt neglected by her.

Answer: Given two first names

She was also the first British princess to be styled Princess Royal. Henrietta Maria wanted to imitate the way in France, the king's eldest daughter was called 'Madame Royale'. Charles had, by this time, grown fed up with his parliament and dissolved it, embarking on his eleven year personal rule.

His family with the Queen continued to grow - Prince James, Duke of York, was born in 1633, Princess Elizabeth was born in 1635, Princess Anne in 1637, Princess Katherine in 1639 (sadly, she lived only one day) and Prince Henry in 1640.

By the standards of the day, the King, Queen and their children were unusually close, though the King was very vigilant lest the Queen attempt to convert any of the children to her beloved Catholic faith. Religion was the only thing she and the King didn't agree on, so they avoided discussing it.

Answer: One month

Known as the 'Short Parliament', it was dissolved by Charles in May 1640 after only a month, since it wanted to 'discuss' Charles's conduct during his personal rule. After another defeat by the Scots, he recalled Parliament in November 1640. It was in an ugly mood.

Answer: Triennial Act

The act stated that parliament must assemble every three years, and that if the King failed to summon them, they could assemble on their own. It was a major blow to Charles's prerogative. He was forced into another concession in May - an act that prevented parliament from being dissolved without its consent. Parliament, led by the radical John Pym, was determined to assert its right to run the country, leaving Charles as a mere spectator.

This infuriated Henrietta Maria, who urged Charles to take a hard line with the 'rebels'.

Answer: Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford

Strafford ('Black Tom' as his enemies called him) was an able politician and a great asset to Charles. Charles had promised Strafford that he would see that no harm came to him, but sadly it was a promise he didn't keep. At first, Pym attempted to have him impeached. Strafford argued his case so well, though, that the impeachment failed in April.

Instead, parliament produced a bill of attainder, meaning that Strafford could be executed without trial. It was passed in the Commons by 204 to 59. Then the bill was passed by the Lords, so that all it required was Charles's signature.

He was in a terrible position - he had promised to defend Strafford, but Whitehall was surrounded by an angry mob and Charles feared that if he didn't sign, his family would be in danger.

He gave his assent on 10 May. Strafford was executed two days later. Charles I never quite forgave himself.

Answer: Felipe IV of Spain

The man she ended up marrying - William II, Prince of Orange - had originally been put forward as a suitor for Mary's sister Elizabeth. Charles I felt though that at the present time it would be unwise to marry his daughter to a Catholic (the Spanish King), so Mary was married to William on 2 May 1641. Charles Louis, Mary's cousin, was indeed a possible suitor, though he wasn't seriously considered.

He had spent much of the 1630s at his uncle's English court, though Charles I didn't like him, preferring his brother Rupert. Charles Louis had supported the execution of Strafford, and had alarmingly parliamentarian leanings.

He returned to his mother in the Hague in the early 1640s, to the dismany of, well, no one.

Answer: Lady Carlisle

Charles was in even more trouble by now. Parliament had threatened to impeach Henrietta Maria (and it is highly unlikely that she, like Strafford, could have argued her way out of it!). Intending to arrest five MPs whom he considered dangerous agitators, he entered the House of Commons with an armed force, only to find the MPs had fled - they had been alerted by Lady Carlisle, whom Henrietta Maria had told, mistakingly thinking she were trustworthy. England was spiralling swiftly into civil war.