8 Comments

I always enjoy reading your excerpts on history. The line between the Stuarts and Hanoverian lines confused me. Your telling made it clearer. Thank you.

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Thank you so much for reading! I am glad I could help clarify!

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Part 1 of 1000 in trying to explain the English Civil War and its consequences! I’ve recently learned a bit about Henry Benedict Cardinal Stuart and his story. A fascinating figure that marks a true “what-if” in the history of the British isles.

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He is on my list to write about. Almost totally overlooked!

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Worth remembering that Charles II had been crowned King of Scots at Scone on 1 January 1651, and proclaimed King of England, Ireland and France. It was a big affair: the coronation was performed by the Lord Chancellor of Scotland, the Earl of Loudoun, using the Honours of Scotland (the Scottish Crown Jewels etc), the Duke of Rothes carrying the sword and the Earl of Crawford and Lindsay the sceptre. The Marquess of Argyll, the Earl of Eglinton and Rev Robert Douglas, once and future Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, were also present (Douglas preaches for an HOUR).

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Yes! Thank you for that!! A great addition to the piece and so important!

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This idea of "distance" irks me, too. Queen Anne and George I were both great-grandchildren of James I and VI. Neither is more or less distant from him, genetically speaking. The perceived distance is only from each other, but I think that's partly because these days most of us hardly know our cousins beyond the first degree. In the context of the human family, a second or third cousin is actually a rather close relation.

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Exactly! And of course too, today many can easily keep up with more distant cousins via social media. Back then, they spoke different languages, and were culturally completely different. So while it was a change, it was not just a very distant person out of the woodwork, though, it could have seemed as such.

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