Princess Louise, c. 1870s
The Princess Louise (born Louise Caroline Alberta, also known as Marchioness of Lorne and Duchess of Argyll by marriage; 18 March 1848 – 3 December 1939) was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.
King Henry V of England
Coin of Ardashir III, Sasanian king
Ardashir III (c. 621–27 April 630) was the twenty-fourth Sassanid King of Persia from 628 to 630. He was a son of Kavadh II/Shiroes (r. 628)and “Anzoy the Roman”. His mother was probably from the Byzantine Empire. He was raised to the throne as a boy of seven years, but was killed 18 months later by his general, Shahrbaraz (who ruled briefly in 630).
The “Hampden” portrait of Elizabeth I of England, an early full-length portrait of the young queen in a red satin gown
The “Hampden” portrait, by Steven van der Meulen, ca. 1563. This is the earliest full-length portrait of the queen, made before the emergence of symbolic portraits representing the iconography of the “Virgin Queen”.
Effigy of Henry III from his tomb in Westminster Abbey
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272) was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready. England prospered during his reign and his greatest monument is Westminster, which he made the seat of his government and where he expanded the abbey as a shrine to Edward the Confessor. He is the first of only five monarchs to reign in the Kingdom of England or its successor states for 50 years or more, the others being Edward III (1327–1377), George III (1760–1820), Victoria (1837–1901) and Elizabeth II (1952–present).
An illuminated manuscript miniature, c.1430-40, of Edward III of England. The king is wearing a blue mantle, decorated with the Order of the Garter, over his plate armour
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377) was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. His reign saw vital developments in legislation and government—in particular the evolution of the English parliament—as well as the ravages of the Black Death. He remains one of only six monarchs to have ruled England or its successor kingdoms for more than fifty years.
Queen Elizabeth I’s funeral cortège, 1603, with banners of her royal ancestors
Elizabeth’s coffin was carried downriver at night to Whitehall, on a barge lit with torches. At her funeral on 28 April, the coffin was taken to Westminster Abbey on a hearse drawn by four horses hung with black velvet. In the words of the chronicler John Stow:
Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads and gutters, that came out to see the obsequy, and when they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man
Elizabeth was interred in Westminster Abbey in a tomb she shares with her half-sister, Mary. The Latin inscription on their tomb, “Regno consortes & urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis”, translates to “Consorts in realm and tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters, in hope of resurrection”.
Farthing of King George VI, 1951
