We are the Royal Verse Makers, We Are Quiz

Answer: Charles Edward Stuart

The son of James Francis Stuart, "The Old Pretender", and the grandson of James II, Charles Edward Stuart was known as "The Young Pretender" and by his Scots supporters as "Bonnie Prince Charlie". In 1743 his father James named him as regent "Charles III" and in 1745 he raised money to sail for Scotland in two small ships. Support from France was not forthcoming so Charles was left to raise an army when he arrived in Scotland, where he found support from many of the Highland clans.

They marched on Edinburgh which quickly surrendered, and in September 1745 defeated the only government forces in Scotland at the Battle of Prestonpans. Spurred on by this victory more Scots rallied to the Jacobite cause and Charles and his army marched south into England with around 6,000 men.

They took Carlisle and reached as far as Derbyshire before the almost complete lack of the support they had expected from English Jacobites forced them to turn back. Charles escaped and spent several months being hunted. According to legend Flora MacDonald helped him to escape his pursuers and sail to the Isle of Skye disguised as her maid. Eventually he escaped back to France on a French ship.

Answer: Prince Albert

In 1840, Prince Albert married his cousin, Queen Victoria. Albert's role as advisor to his wife came into full force after the death of Lord Melbourne, Victoria's first prime minister. Albert began to act as the queen's private secretary. He encouraged in his wife a greater interest in social welfare.

His constitutional position was a difficult one. It wasn't until 1857 that he was formally recognised and awarded the title "Prince Consort". Albert took an active interest in the arts, science, trade and industry.

He masterminded the Great Exhibition of 1851, with a view to celebrating the great advances of the British industrial age and the expansion of the empire. When he died suddenly of typhoid, Victoria was overwhelmed by grief and remained in mourning until the end of her life.

She commissioned a number of monuments in his honour, including the Royal Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens completed in 1876. Albert and Victoria had nine children, most of whom married into the other royal houses of Europe.

Answer: Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great was the king of Wessex from 871 to 899 and he prevented the Danish conquest of England. He finally defeated them at Athelny (in modern Somerset) after a protracted period of guerrilla warfare. During this unsettled wandering part of his life he is said to have sheltered in a peasant's hut, giving rise to the legend that the peasant wife asked him to watch her bread cakes. Busy with planning his strategy he let them burn. On her return, unaware of his true identity she scolded him roundly.

Alfred built up a navy of warships to defend the south coast, built a chain of fortifications and he took London thus controlling all England. He also did a great deal to revive learning.

Answer: Henry Tudor

Richard III ruled England from 1483 to 1485. He was the youngest brother of Edward IV and on Edward's death he made himself Lord Protector for Edward V who was still a minor. He imprisoned Edward and his brother in the Tower of London and seized the throne.

It was, and still is, alleged that he had the two boys murdered - though this is hotly disputed. He was defeated and killed by Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth. His remains were found buried under a car park in Leicester in 2012, his skeleton dispelling the myth that he was a hunchback.

In fact he had suffered from adolescent scoliosis.

Answer: Edward VIII

Edward VIII, 1894-1972, succeeded his father George V in 1936 as monarch of the United Kingdom, the Dominions and the British Empire. He abdicated on December 11, 1936 because of objections to his liaison with the twice divorced Mrs Wallis Simpson whom he married in France in 1937.

He became Duke of Windsor and was appointed governor of the Bahamas during World War II. He died in Paris in 1972.

Answer: Katherine Parr

Henry VIII's Katherines were all astonishingly different personalities. Of the three, Katherine of Aragon, his first wife, commands a sympathetic hearing. Katherine Howard was a thoughtless young wanton, manipulated by an ambitious family and Katherine Parr was kind, worthy and rather dull. Imagine poor little Princess Katherine of Aragon, a bewildered toddler of three, trying to understand that she was betrothed to young Prince Arthur, heir apparent of England! Then, at around sixteen becoming a wife and widow in the space of five months! She was a faithful wife to Henry for almost a quarter of a century enduring six pregnancies in eight years, which resulted in only one living child. But Henry's desire for a son and his growing lecherousness meant that she was soon abandoned.
Katherine Howard was his fifth wife. Born into a highly influential family she was sacrificed on the altar of their ambition. She was brought up, rather neglected, in an immoral household and by the age of twenty had had affairs with Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpepper, among others. She continued these affairs after her marriage - a very dangerous game for Henry's wife and it led to her execution.
The last wife was a warm friendly woman who was generally liked but, perhaps fortunately for her, her life seems to lack the liveliness, and danger, of her predecessors.

Answer: Harold

Harold was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England and was killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Harold was born in the early 1020s, the son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex. He succeeded to his father's titles in 1053, becoming the second most powerful man in England after the monarch. He was also a focus for opposition to the growing Norman influence in England encouraged by the king, Edward (known as 'the Confessor' for his piety).

In 1064, Harold was shipwrecked on the coast of Normandy. William, Duke of Normandy considered himself to be the successor to the childless Edward and is believed to have forced Harold to swear an oath to support his claim. Edward died in January 1066 and Harold assumed power, claiming Edward had designated him as heir. William now used Harold's oath of 1064 to secure Papal support for his invasion of England.

William landed in England. Harold hurried south with his army and, on 14 October, met William in battle near Hastings. A day-long battle ensued and Harold was defeated and killed.

Answer: Mary Tudor

In 1553 Mary succeeded her half brother Edward VI as sovereign of England. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon and she became queen after the failure of a conspiracy to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne. Her avowed intention was to restore Roman Catholicism in England. Her persecution of Protestants and the burning of many of them as heretics led to her nickname of "Bloody Mary".

Answer: Henry V

The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 in northern France Henry V's victory at Agincourt, against a numerically superior French army, crippled France and started a new period in the war during which Henry married the French king's daughter and then Henry's son, Henry VI, was made heir to the throne of France.

Answer: Canute

Canute (985-1035) was a king of Denmark, England, Norway, and parts of Sweden. The legend that surrounds him is that his obsequious courtiers told him that even the sea would obey him and that he tried unsuccessfully to stop the tide from turning. Satirical authors Sellars and Yeatman in "1066 and all that" say this about it - "Canute began by being a Bad King on the advice of his Courtiers who informed him (owing to a misunderstanding of the Rule Britannia) that the King of England was entitled to sit on the sea without getting wet.

But finding that they were wrong he gave up this policy and decided to take his own advice in future - thus originating the memorable proverb, "Paddle your own Canute" ..."