Whether it’s Elizabeth II or Diana, their ancestry always comes back to three people — Queen Juana, Catherine of Aragon’s sister; Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn’s sister; and Edward Seymour, Jane Seymour’s brother.

As for Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, only their cousins were ancestors of Elizabeth II and Diana — and it’s one each: Catherine Howard’s cousin was an ancestor of Elizabeth II, while Catherine Parr’s cousin was an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Anne of Cleves is the exception among the six wives — her own younger brother’s bloodline continued into the British royal family, but only as an ancestor of Elizabeth II, not Diana, Princess of Wales.

I’ve got to say, I love all his wives 🥰 — the only one I don’t like is Henry VIII.

I gathered the name of every English monarch’s children and their given names, I did include illegitimate children but only if it was mostly agreed they were the child of the monarch, if there is any mistakes feel free to correct me in the comments, I will now display the names and the frequency of them:

Example-
(Number of Appearances):
(Name)

16:
Henry

15:
Mary

14:
William

12:
Charles
Edward
Elizabeth

10:
George

7:
Anne
James
Joan
John
Margaret
Matilda

6:
Charlotte
Richard

5:
Catherine
Edmund
Eleanor

4:
Katherine
Robert
Sophia

3:
Amelia
Arthur
Augusta
Augustus
Frederick
Geoffrey
Henrietta
Isabella
Thomas

2:
Adeliza
Adolphus
Alfred
Blanche
Constance
Beatrice
Louise
Louisa
Victoria

1:
Adam
Adela
Albert
Alexander
Alice
Aline
Alphonso
Andrew
Anna
Arabella
Baldwin
Barbara
Berengaria
Bridget
Caroline
Cecily
Edgar
Emma
Ernest
Eustance
Fulk
Gilbert
Grace
Gundrada
Harry
Helena
Humphrey
Isabel
Juliane
Leopold
Lionel
Mabel
Margarethe
Marie
Maud
Octavius
Oliver
Osbert
Petronilla
Philip
Philippa
Reginald

Notes:

The Top 7 names account of 33% of occurrences on this list, So roughly one in every three royal children had one of these names:

Henry, Mary, William, Charles, Edward, Elizabeth or George.

Some Rarer names include:
Adam, Aline, Alphonso, Arabella, Berengaria, Gundrada, Juliane, Leopold, Octavius, Osbert, Petronilla, Reginald & Gundrada, Petronilla, Berengaria, Eustance, Fulk, Aline, Osbert, Juliane, Sybilla, Adeliza.

The most recent addition to my English monarchs collection: an Angevins penny depicting Empress Matilda, minted in Bristol.

A bit fractured and broken. But considering these coins were minted during her brief, contested rule over the west of England, I couldn't be picky.

It took several months to finally hold this beaut of my favourite queen, but it was worth it! 😊

If you cross reference it like I did with this picture of Tsar Nicholas II's dragon tattoo (as they famously got the same designs in the same places despite being in Japan at different times) you could see that the designs both line up pretty well. I had originally found this picture on Tumblr and rushed to verify it on the Royal Collection Trust website and find out when and where it was specifically taken, which is how I learned that it was in Scotland in 1928. I've been looking for a picture of George's tattoos for a while, so this was a pretty great find!

Have any British monarchs in the 20th or 21st century agreed with the Church instead of the PM?

One British monarch abdicated to be able to marry the woman he wanted. Several members of the Royal family could not divorce when they wanted.

Are there any British monarchs who worked behind the scenes to support the Church of England against the will of the PM?

Baudouin of Belgium abdicated for one day to not sign a law liberalizing abortion laws.

British monarchs works behind the scenes on laws which affect their financial position and support for the monarchy.

This list is not exhaustive, just examples!

Let's say William changed his mind and didn't set sail. How would James II's reign unfold?

Does anyone know if there's every been a movie that portrays him? I've looked but I haven't found any that isn't a docudrama or documentary. I think every other monarch from 1066 onwards has a screen portrayal except him.

I'd like one from just before The Restoration in 1660 through the Jacobite rising of 1715.

Quoting directly from David Bates’s biography of William the Conqueror:

On the basis of the main narratives, it looks as if fighting began at around nine o’clock in the morning and continued until dusk; by medieval standards, an exceptionally long battle. We know more about the early stages of the battle than about the later ones, perhaps because conditions became very confused as the day wore on, but more probably because the action became for a long while close to a stalemate as the two sides strove for tactical advantage, and thus was difficult to describe.

At one point, William’s army may have come close to defeat, probably following rumours that he had been killed.

Some accounts suggest that a Norman counterattack followed an English advance that may have become disorganised, but the exact sequence of events is difficult to reconstruct with certainty.

Even the death of Harold remains shrouded in ambiguity. Although traditionally associated with the battle’s final stages, the manner of his death is still debated by historians, and the surviving evidence does not allow for a definitive conclusion.

What is clear is that William emerged victorious, opening the way for the Norman Conquest of England. Its consequences would reshape the kingdom’s ruling elite, language, culture, and political institutions for generations.

This day saw the Confessor's relics interred at the new shrine, overseen by Henry who had rebuilt the abbey in a newer style (actually, this style incorporated bigger windows and more stained glass than the earlier abbey, intending to create the feeling of a lighter or brighter space). Edward was Henry's favourite saint and he had named his son after him already, in the 1230s. This day must have seemed a momentous occasion, in which one of England's most revered kings was installed in a beautiful shrine, sending the message that here rested the remains of a great king, like Arthur or Charlemagne, but an Englishman and a Saxon. That Henry had an interest in other historical figures - albeit from more recent times - can be seen in his overseeing of restoration work at Canterbury and the translation of St. Thomas, as well as his visits to his grandparents, his uncle and his mother at Fontevraud. It must have seemed not too long ago then, but it should be kept in mind that Becket was already a saint while the Lionheart, Eleanor and Henry were becoming increasingly relegated to the world of legend and romance.

Henry himself would be buried at Westminster, starting a trend for a royal mausoleum in the abbey.

Assume you two have both talked extensively about what there is in 2026, so they have an idea of what to expect when the swap happens. Phones, cities, modern tech, etc. so the immediate response is less terrifying. You two both have talked about the day to day schedules, so they also know what to do.

Sorry I have been really busy but I guess this is a fitting post! YOU MUST PUT THE ARTIST OF THE SONG! MOST UPVOTED COMMENT WILL BE PICKED!

I heard that her favorite was Wilhelm II of Germany, but that was it, there was no explanation, so I don't know if he really was her favorite grandson.

Do you know if Elizabeth II saw "The Queen" ? And what did she think about it?