CPT Monarch Factoid - King's Stuff Headlines

.

BBC - Royal baby: Moment birth of William and Kate's son was announced

Royal baby: It's a boy for William and Kate, as world celebrates future king
 
Royal Baby: Boy Joy For Kate And William

William and Kate 'couldn't be happier' about baby boy

Royal baby weighing 8 lbs, 6 oz delivered at 4:24 p.m. BST Monday

 

Tony Appleton, a town crier, announces the birth of the royal baby, outside St. Mary's Hospital exclusive Lindo Wing in London, on Monday. (Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press)

Congratulations to William and Kate for the birth of their boy who is 3rd in line to be King of Britain.  He will be the 2nd King of Britain after his yet to be King father, William, who is part American in his blood line thanks to Thomas Gerrard, who brought his family to St. Clements Island in Maryland and established the St. Clements Manor in 1634 in what is today Coltons Point.

For the benefit of those of you not into monarchies, succession and royal heraldry, and particularly the survivors of the dreaded 7th District in Southern Maryland where St. Clements Island and Coltons Point remain to this day, let me simplify what I said.

 

 

Much to the horror of the British royalty genealogists it was discovered that Prince William, son of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, will be the first King in English history to be part American.

They have the Gerrard family of London to blame for it.  Not only did Thomas wind up with the largest Manor House in America, over 25,000 acres, and somehow manage to contaminate the royal bloodline of Britain with American blood, but two of his daughters married George Washington's great-grandfather.

 

William's yet to be named son will be the second King of Britain with American blood.

How many queens ruled England?

Since the year 927, over 1,000  years, the monarchy has ruled England or Britain.

 

From: About.com Women's History

Queens who ruled England or Britain

1. Empress Matilda, Lady of the English (1141), never crowned

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (August 5, 1102 - September 10, 1167)
Widow of the Holy Roman Emperor, Matilda was named by her father, Henry I of England, as his successor. She fought a long war of succession with her cousin, Stephen, who seized the throne before Matilda could be crowned.

 

2. Lady Jane Grey (1553, 9 days)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(October 1537 - February 12, 1554)
The reluctant nine-day queen of England, Lady Jane Grey was supported by the Protestant party to follow Edward VI, to try to prevent the Roman Catholic Mary from taking the throne.

3. Mary I (1553 - 1558)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(February 18, 1516 - November 17, 1558)
Daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Mary attempted to restore Roman Catholicism in England during her reign. The execution of Protestants as heretics earned her the sobriquet "Bloody Mary."

4. Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603)

 

© Clipart.com

 

(September 9, 1533 - March 24, 1603)
Known as Queen Bess or the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I ruled at a key time in England's history, and is one of the most-remembered British rulers, male or female.

5. Mary II (1689 - 1694)

Mary II assumed the throne as co-ruler with her husband when it was feared that her father would restore Roman Catholicism. Mary II died childless in 1694 of smallpox, only 32 years old. Her husband William ruled after her death, passing the crown to Mary's sister Anne when he died.

 

6. Anne (1702 - 1714)

Sister of Mary II, she ruled when her brother-in-law William III died in 1702. She was married to Prince George of Denmark, and though she was pregnant 18 times, she had only one child who survived infancy. That son died in 1700, and in 1701, she agreed to designate as her successors the Protestant descendants of Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England, known as the Hanoverians. As queen, she's known for the influence over her of her friend, Sarah Churchill, and for getting the British involved in the War of the Spanish Succession. She was associated in British politics with the Tories rather than their opponents, the Whigs, and her reign saw the power of the Crown significantly reduced.

7. Victoria (1837 - 1901)

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Queen Victoria of Great Britain was the longest-ruling monarch of Great Britain. She ruled during a time of economic and imperial expansion, and gave her name to the Victorian Era. She married a cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, when they were both seventeen years old, and had seven children before his death in 1861 sent her into a long mourning period.

 

8. Elizabeth II (1952 - )

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom was born in 1926, eldest child of Prince Albert, who became King George VI when his brother abdicated the crown. She married Philip, a Greek and Danish prince, in 1947, and they had four children. She succeeded to the crown in 1952, with a formal and much-viewed televised coronation. Elizabeth's reign has been marked by the British Empire becoming the British Commonwealth, and a gradual further diminishment of the official role and power of the royal family amid scandal and divorce in her children's families.

 

 

For more on Prince William's American bloodline click on the following links to Coltons Point Times articles:

 

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Histories Mysteries - Next King of England (Prince William) Shares St. Clements Manor, Maryland bloodline

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/01/histories-mysteries-next-king-of.html

For more on the Gerrard family history in America see:

Friday, July 10, 2009
St. Clements Island and Manor - Four Centuries of Uninterrupted History

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/07/st-clements-island-and-manor-four.html
.

Memories of Youth in America - 1776 Revolution to 1969 Woodstock

-





With the media fascination surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival that began August 15, 1969, I think our reflection should also not forget other incidents when our youth stepped to the forefront. I am a baby boomer and was in my early 20's when Woodstock took place. By then several of my classmates and friends had been killed in Viet Nam.

Yes it was a time desperately in need of peace and tranquility. Coming from the Midwest we were raised to be patriots and taught that there was a price to be paid for freedom and we were more than willing to pay that price. Then things seemed to change.





A few years earlier I went to the University of Arizona where I was in ROTC as anti-war demonstrations rocked our campus. There was considerable co-mingling of students from various West Coast schools like UCLA, USC, and other California schools along with the Arizona students.

We were in the same conference, the PAC Ten and competed in athletics. At the time UCLA was becoming the dominant force in college basketball. Unfortunately I was on the Arizona basketball team and had to face the Bruins.





Then I was injured, lost my athletic scholarship and volunteered for the military draft. To my dismay I was rejected because of the sports injuries. In case you were not around then if you were not a full time student you were eligible to be drafted and if you volunteered for the draft you went to Viet Nam earlier and served one year less active duty. You could then return and go to school under the GI program.

In 1969 my brother was in the Marines and the year before was in the Tet offensive in the war zone. The Viet Cong attacks on over 100 cities stunned the military, the Johnson Administration and the public. We had been led to believe the war was winding down and we were winning. The stunning action drove the President from office that year.





Also the year before Woodstock I was a volunteer in Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign and saw him just before he was assassinated in California. It was the second Kennedy I volunteered to work for to be murdered. Just a few weeks before Kennedy was murdered Martin Luther King, Jr. had been murdered. He was about to undertake the Poor People's March on Washington, DC and Resurrection City had been built on the nation's Mall. I had visited the city where up to 3,000 poor people lived and up to 50,000 gathered for the March.





King's assassination led to deadly riots across the nation and even in Omaha where I worked for the Mayor we had policemen murdered during the riots leaving behind young families. The radicals of the 1960's were attempting to hijack every cause that was legitimate. In time I got to personally know Coretta Scott King, Martin's widow, and came to appreciate the severe price her family paid to help others.

All of this was in the year leading up to Woodstock.





By the time Woodstock came around I was 23 years old, married with kids, involved in politics and trying to change the world from within the system. My work took me from Omaha to Washington, DC often. I was also into music and rock groups were dominating the music scene.

On one trip out east I heard about the upcoming Woodstock event and the line up of potential artists going to perform. Unfortunately, tickets for the event were only on sale in New York City and the surrounding area. Several of the scheduled acts performed that summer in Omaha at the auditorium and when I talked to them they were unsure of the event and if they would appear.





I was not a hippie nor did I even know any hippies though I had lived from the east coast to the west coast, and I did not grow up in the drug culture though I knew people who were exposed to it. Like many kids at the time, I was drawn to the music and the message in the music.

When Woodstock took place and nearly 500,000 showed up I was amazed it went so well but concerned that this festival would become recognized for much more than it represented because of the size of the crowd. For every ten people showing up at Woodstock to party one person had died in Viet Nam to protect their right to freedom, with nearly 55,000 of our nation's youth killed in the war.





I remembered an earlier time when our youth came together to promote an unpopular cause. The average age at Woodstock was 18-25. The average age of the Colonial Army that fought the mighty British Empire for the right to create the United States was 18-25. There was little food, clothing, money, and medical help for both groups.

While there were about 450,000 youth at Woodstock there were 231,771 who fought for freedom in the Revolution. One was a peaceful revolution to stop a war while the other was forged of battles, deaths and fighting against all odds to lay the foundation of freedom that would spawn the youth at Woodstock nearly 200 years later.





Both came at a terrible time for the people when the poor suffered, racial prejudice was dominant, there was high unemployment, excessive taxes and little opportunity. Those youth in the Revolution risked their lives, families, property and futures for a dream and were willing to pay the ultimate price to get it.

I only hope the nation does not forget the extreme difference in roles played by our youth over time. I only hope the Woodstock generation does not forget what was behind the desire for peace that summer weekend both in terms of the terrible sacrifices of the generation of youth 200 years earlier and the events of the previous year.

There was terrible war, racial prejudice, the environment was being destroyed, education was poor, unemployment was high, Madison Avenue materialism was dominant, Wall Street corruption was out of control, politicians did not listen, special interests got their way, confidence in government was at an all time low and too many people were indifferent. Sound familiar?

And I really hope the youth of today look around and see what previous generations of youth did to get you where you are today. Are you willing to take up the mantle of peace or war to defend what you inherited? Or have you let America slip back to where it was when earlier youth rose to the challenge?


-