May – A Royal Wedding

By Patrick Dillon

Millions of people watched Kate Middleton getting married to Prince William. They loved the fact that Kate wasn’t grand; she was just like them. Most people expect  Princes to marry Princesses or great ladies.

 

But this month’s royal wedding wasn’t the first time an English Prince had married an ordinary girl.

 

Long ago, at a time when the royal family really was the most important in England, and Kings ran the country, a terrible war broke out over who should be King. The country divided into two factions, the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. Some supported King Henry VI, who was a Lancastrian, while others supported his rival, Edward of York. Battles were fought; thousands were killed. But Edward, who was supported by one of the most powerful of the English nobles, Richard Earl of Warwick, was the better soldier and at last he defeated Henry. Richard of Warwick took him to Westminster Abbey and crowned him King Edward IV.

 

“Now,” he said, “you must behave like a King and marry a great princess – the daughter of the King of France.”

 

But Edward had a secret. He was already in love. He didn’t want to marry a princess. He wanted to marry an ordinary girl called Elizabeth Woodville. Without telling Richard of Warwick, Edward and Elizabeth got married in secret. There were only a few people there to witness the ceremony, but it didn’t take long for the news to get out. When it did, Warwick was furious. He changed sides, fought for Henry of Lancaster to become King again, and Edward had to escape from England. Elizabeth took refuge in Westminster Abbey and it was there, where Prince William and Kate Middleton got married this month, that she gave birth to her first son.

 

Edward was determined to return to England. The next year he gathered an army, defeated Henry and Richard of Warwick, and became King again, so he and Elizabeth were reunited.

 

There would be many more struggles and battles in Elizabeth Woodville’s life. The wars didn’t come to an end until Henry Tudor became King Henry VII. He was a Lancastrian, but in choosing his own wife he selected the daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. So ordinary Elizabeth Woodville ended her life not only as a Queen but as the mother of a Queen as well.

Posted in Uncategorized on May 7, 2011 – 8:20 am | Comments (0)

April – Revolutions

By Patrick Dillon

If you watch the news at the moment, it’s full of revolutions. The Presidents of Egypt and Tunisia have fled. In Syria, people storm the streets, chanting slogans and hurling stones. In Libya, a civil war has started between the ruler, and the people who want to get rid of him.

Britain is so peaceful now that you’d think nothing like that had ever happened here. But it did. We had our own civil war, our own riots and our own revolution.

Just like in Egypt and Tunisia, it started because our ruler had too much power and refused to share it with anyone else.

“You have to ask us before making laws,” said the members of Parliament. “You can’t just do what you like!”

But the King ignored them, sent Parliament away and ruled without it. To make things worse, King James was of a different faith to most people in Britain, and everyone believed he wanted to change how they worshipped. So he grew more and more unpopular.

“At least he’s old,” people said. “He doesn’t have a son and his daughter, Mary, will be a much better Queen.”

His daughter was married to a Dutch Prince, William of Orange.

The King kept an army stationed outside London. He dismissed anyone who disagreed with him. When some Bishops tried to argue with him, he sent them to prison. Then King James’s wife gave birth to a son, meaning that his way of ruling would go on forever.

At last, people had had enough. They didn’t have an army to fight the King so they wrote to Prince William of Orange, asking him to come and help. He landed with an army of his own near Exeter and started marching towards London. Meanwhile, crowds gathered in London and other big cities, rioting and demanding change, just as they are in the Middle East now.

King James started to panic. He couldn’t sleep at night. He kept imagining what would happen if the crowds stormed his palace. At last he ran away. Prince William’s army rode into London and Parliament decided to make William and Mary joint King and Queen.

But they were determined there would be no more rulers who tried to govern without the people’s consent. So they issued a Declaration that from now on, no laws could be passed without Parliament’s agreement. From that day to this, Parliament has met every year.

Our revolution happened in 1688 – more than three hundred years ago. And ever since, there have been no more revolutions in Britain.

Posted in Uncategorized on April 3, 2011 – 9:51 am | Comments (0)