The British monarchy

The British monarchy has been a fundamental part of the British history and a very important
part of the universal history. The British Empire was the largest formal empire that the world
had ever known. As such, its power and influence stretched all over the globe shaping it in all
manner of ways. I believe that the Royal British Family truly mirrors and, in fact, represents
the greatness of the British Empire. It is one of the most popular monarchies of the world and,
as I discovered myself, it is related to most monarchies in Europe. It is a vast institution that
influenced the world that we see today.

The royal family was brought about in the mid-1000s when King Edward the Peaceful was
crowned at Bath. Many Viking invasions and King Ethelreds weakness to be a powerful king
forced him out of the monarchy, and his son, Canute, took control of the nation but, when he
died, his stepson, Edward, took the throne even if he was not originally from England. After
Edwards death and Harold of Norway was killed in battle, the first distinctively important
king of the royal family took over, William I started the first major family in royalty, the
Normans. After the Normans ended there were five more dynasties of families to rule England
before the Union of the Crowns with Scotland. The next of these was the Angevin Empire
which started the time period when the English monarchy became the first European power to
work out a concept of government. The other five families -the Plantagenets, the House of
Lancaster, the House of York and the Tudors - were significant during their time.

The end of the Tudor line with the death of the 'Virgin Queen' in 1603 brought about the
Union of the Crowns with Scotland. Until then the English and Scottish Crowns were
separate, although links between the two were always close. Following the Accession of King
James VI of Scotland (I of England) to the English Throne, a single monarch reigned in
the United Kingdom. Then, another 4 families have ruled: the Stuarts, the House of Hanover,
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and, from 1917 the House of Windsor.

The last four hundred years have seen many changes in the nature of the Monarchy in
the United Kingdom. Even if from the end of the 17th century, monarchs lost executive power
and they increasingly became subject to Parliament, the Royal Family plays an important role
in supporting and encouraging the public and charity sectors, in recognising and supporting
the work of the Armed Services and in strengthening national unity.