Who is your favorite English monarch - and why?

[Vasillisos Markos]

My favorite is the one who occupies the throne. May He or She live long and prosper.

[EleanorOfAquitaine]

Eleanor of Aquitaine(i think she was a very amazing tough woman with a strong personality, and i really adore her)

Richard the Lionheart(i think he was one of the most likeable english Kings, and the ideal of a knight.)

[Vasillisos Markos]

I concur with your opinion about Eleanor of Aquitaine--just think she occupied the thrones of France and then England and lived to a very old age (especially in those times). But do you feel Richard was well-liked? I admire him but he spent most of his reign outside the country and did very little ruling.

[EleanorOfAquitaine]

@Vasillisos

You are right, Richard was more a soldier than a king.
I like him most from all english kings, because i think, he was the one with the most courage, sense of honor, wisdom and mercy. And i really love the song he hard wrote(you can hear it by you tube:Ja nus hon pris)
I think he was a man with a lot of interesting features and a lot of skills.
But in this forum i learned to correct my picture from the perfekt king.
Now i think, that he was more a soldier than a king.
But i think, he earns to admire for his courage, his skills as soldier and his talents as troubadour.
And i read, that he was interested in diverse things like the roman culture. On his crusade he stayed an half year in italy and make sightseen(so we would call it today). He had climbed on the vesuv even, and watched old roman buldings.
And i think one of his good featueres as king was, that he showed mercy to his enemys and forgive them. A lot of kings in the middle ages didnt show such mercy.

[Plantagenet]

My 23rd Great Grandparents Edward & Eleanor : )

[Vasillisos Markos]

Originally Posted by Plantagenet

My 23rd Great Grandparents Edward & Eleanor : )

Welcome to the Forums! Was it difficult to trace your lineage?

[Katharine]

Favorite as in: Most looked up to? Ruler during favorite time period? Most like to know? Know most about?

Richard II was king during my favorite time period, but I can't say that he was always a particularly nice chap.

[Mirabel]

Originally Posted by EleanorOfAquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine(i think she was a very amazing tough woman with a strong personality, and i really adore her)

Richard the Lionheart(i think he was one of the most likeable english Kings, and the ideal of a knight.)

Richard may have been an ideal knight, but he was a terrible king, imo. He almost bankrupted the country.

My favorites:
Henry II
Edward I
George V
George VI
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth II



My current favorite royals are:
Queen Elizabeth II
Prince Charles
Prince William of Wales

The ones I can't stand:
Prince Edward
Sarah Ferguson (though technically she isn't a royal)

[Lenora]

My favourites are:
-Richard the Lionheart
-Edward III
-Edward IV
-Elizabeth I
-Charles II
-Queen Victoria
My current favourite :
Queen Elizabeth II
Princess Diana
Princess Anna
My least favourite
Henry VIII(he killed so many women)
Georhe IV
Sarah Ferguson(I dislike a little some of her attitudes)

[Benedikte]

Originally Posted by Anne-fan

Elizabeth I
She represents some kind of female independence. She was clever and powerful. I admire her for never marrying and comlying a man. There's something about her I can't really describe. But I'm really proud to have the same gender, after all she is one of the best example for female leadership!

I do agree.

I think she knew a husbond would tunr into a master and not an equel.

I also admire her for solving the catholic versus protestant issue by creating the english church.
That was geniusly done.

[Aliza]

Originally Posted by CrownPrincess5

Elizabeth II. I feel like she really gave her life for God and country. And it helps that she's still living.

I'm so glad to see I'm not the only one who uses that exact expression when commenting about HM. She absolutely has given her life as completely as a soldier who accepts death for God and Country. There are many things we envy about Kings and Queens, but really thinking about it - they must lose all personal ambition, can't voice personal opinions, can't vote, and basically know what they are going to be doing every day of their lives for years ahead. I can't imagine a child not being able to dream of "when I grow up I want to be, etc". That must be dampening, to say the least. Princess Margaret said it best when informed of the abdication, she asked her sister if that meant "Lilibet" would be Queen, and Elizabeth replied, "yes, someday"'; Margaret immediately commented sympathetically, "oh, poor you!".

I'm still moved when listening to the Queen's "dedication" that she made on turning twenty-one; it is said it made her cry because there was such truth and burden lying ahead of her and those words said it so simply and so beautifully. However, she has fulfilled the promises she made that birthday, every single day of her life, and she is now eighty-five! I can't think of a person alive today who is a better example of duty, love of country and Christian selflessness than Elizabeth II. Long may she reign!

[LadyGrinningSoul]

Elizabeth I by far. She is my heroine. If it wasn't for her, we'd be speaking Spanish and being told what to do by the Pope. No offense Spaniards and Catholics. :) But I think part of what makes England (well OK Britain now) what it is, is that it stands alone both geographically and in ruling itself.

She truly was the saviour of my beautiful country and all it stood for. She also, for the most part, embodied what's great about it. Its obvious she truly loved her people, remarking famously that she was married only to her country. God bless her!


My second favourite is our wonderful current monarch. Like her namesake, she is everything that the world admires the British for. Dignified, kind, dutiful, resilient, kind, and tolerant. God save The Queen.

[Artemisia]

There is already a thread on the topic - Who is your favorite English monarch?

My favourites are:

- Alfred the Great
His successful defence against the Vikings, his many reforms, the very fact he is the only English/British Monarch to be accorded the epitet "Great" make him my top choice.

- Harold Godwinson
He had a very short reign but I think Harold showed himself as a capable leader and able commander. Given the time and chance, he probably would do great things.

- William the Conqueror
Wasn't he a lucky bastard?

- Henry V
The Battle of Agincourt alone is an ever-lasting tribute to him. I read the speech part of Shakespeare's again and again (our teacher made us learn it by heart too):
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
...
And Crispine Crispian shall ne're gone by,
From this day to the ending of the World,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers:
For he to day that sheds his blood with me,
Shall be my brother: be he ne're so vile,
This day shall gentle his Condition.
And Gentlemen in England, now a bed,
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here;
And hold their Manhoods cheap, whiles any speaks,
That fought with us upon Saint Crispine's day.

- Robert the Bruce
One of the greatest Kings and heroes of Scotland, he defended his Kingdom's independence and united it like no King of Scots before him.

- Edward III
A Monarch during whose reign the battles Crecy and Poitiers were fought deserves a special mention.

- Elizabeth I
For proving woman can rule, and do so much more efficiently than most men.

- Queen Victoria
After the many Georges and their less-than-savoury ways, Victoria was exactly what Britain - and the British Empire - needed.

- Edward VII
Not much was expected of him, yet during his short reign he managed to become the Peacemaker King.

- George VI
For steering the country and uniting people during World War II.

- Elizabeth II
I could go on about the present Queen for ages, but I'll just mention one thing: for being the constant, the element of stability through times of changes and turmoil.

[cepe]

George VI: Was never trained for the role; had to overcome a speech impediment; was a shy individual; stabilised the monarchy after the abdication; did a wonderful leadership role during the war. It was a great pity his reign was so short.

[carlfraley]

The Empress Matilda. Hands down. I know that the Official Royal website does not list her, but if you truly believe in a direct & immediate hereditary succession , from the moment of her fathers death until her sons accession she was the de-jute Queen of England or Domina. I know that some have written her as naughty & "snobbish, arrogant". However if you were to also look at the records of her time as Regent of Normandy, she is labeled as "Matilda the wise, lion of justice, or her father all over again. Stephen was and always will be a usurper IMO. No matter how history tends to be re-written

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Henry VII
Elizabeth I
George VI

Special Mentions; William The Conqueror

Consorts: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Anne Boleyn, Katherine Parr, Prince Albert, The Queen Mother, Katharine of Aragon

[BritishRoyalist]

Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Victoria
King George V
Queen Elizabeth I
King George VI
King Edward VII

[An Ard Ri]

Henry II,Richard I The Lionheart and Edward III

[padams2359]

Eleanor of Aquataine. What a gal.

[nascarlucy]

Queen Elizabeth II is my favorite English monarch. When she came to the throne, she was 25 years old with 2 small children. Hugh responsibility for a young woman. Over the decades she has done the job well.