The customs of mourning the passing of Queen Elizabeth II are rooted in centuries-old customs. a regal remembrance of this family’s more than a thousand-year heritage.
Hugo Vickers, one of the foremost royal family biographers, has had around 40 encounters with the Queen.
“You have images of you with the Queen around us here,” said correspondent Seth Doane.
“I do. In that, I’m not alone “Vickers answered. “You usually have a photo of yourself with the Queen somewhere,” she said.
The British royal family has a genealogy that dates back more than 11 centuries. Vickers said, “The crown moves up and down, sideways, and down the line. However, it succeeds in the end, doesn’t it?”
Doane questioned, “Are there any other royal families in Europe that are related to the royal family here in the U.K. via blood?”
Yes, pretty much all of them.
Alfred the Great, the first monarch of England and great, great, great (repeat that 32 times fast!) grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II, defeated the Vikings.
She belongs to the House of Windsor, which came after the Houses of York, the Tudor, and the Stuart.
What is a residence within the same family, inquired Doane?
According to Vickers, “the male customarily donates his name to the home when the daughter marries.”
There has been a lot of family drama throughout the course of more than ten centuries. For example, Henry VIII had six wives, two of whom were divorced and two of whom were executed.
There were many nefarious aspects, as you can see when you look back, Doane remarked.
“Well, I believe you could discover a lot of nasty stuff if you went back at a lot of families,” Vickers remarked.
However, family politics becomes geopolitics when you are a royal. Vickers said, “The Kaiser was a grandchild of Queen Victoria and he’s on one side in the First World War, and George V is also a grandson of Queen Victoria on another side.”
The House of Windsor was once known as the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha until World War I, when King George V made the decision to change the family’s name to Windsor, after the castle and the town it is named after.
Vickers said that Windsor Castle “runs through the fabric of British history”—much like the royal family he so admires.
There is a nice continuity, he observed. “We’re really fortunate to have a leader like the one we just lost. What nation wouldn’t have wished for our Queen to serve as its leader?”
She was recognised with modernising and preserving the monarchy throughout her reign as queen. That presents a difficulty as well as a legacy for future sovereigns.