Events-British Royal Family

Chronography of the British Royal Family from 1760

Page last modified 1 February 2023

8 September 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral. Charles became King.

5 June 2022, A four-day holiday to mark Queen Elizabeth�s Platinum Jubilee (70th anniversary) concluded with street parties and festivities.

9 April 2021, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, wife of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, died aged 99.

8 January 2020, Harry and Markle angered and surprised the Palace by a surprise announcement, made without first informing �the Queen, that they were to withdraw from Royal duties.

22 July 2013, The first child of Prince William and Catherine Middleton was born. He was named George Alexander Louis.

29 April 2011, Prince William married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey, to become the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 2 billion people around the world watched the ceremony on TV.

16 November 2010, Prince William and Kate Middleton announced their engagement, eight years after meeting at Edinburgh University.

8 November 2010, Queen Elizabeth II joined Facebook. By late 2015 her page had over 2.2 million �likes�.

7 April 2008, The six-month-long official inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed in a car crash in a Paris road tunnel ended.� The inquest had cost �10 million, and concluded that Henri Paul, the driver, was drunk and crashed into a pillar whilst trying to avoid the paparazzi.

21 December 2007, Queen Elizabeth II became the oldest reigning monarch in British history.

9 April 2005, Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles, in a ceremony briefly postponed after the death of the Pope.� Camilla assumed the titles of Her Royal Highness and The Duchess of Cornwall.

9 April 2002, The funeral of the Queen Mother was held in Westminster Abbey, London.

30 March 2002. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died, aged 101. At 11.30am on 9 April 2002 Britain came to a halt for two minutes to commemorate her funeral, which was at 2pm in Westminster Abbey.

9 February 2002, Princess Margaret, UK royal, died.

25 September 2001, Queen Elizabeth II was given her first mobile phone.

16 August 2001, Paul Burrell, former butler to Princess Diana, was charged with stealing over 300 items worth US$ 10 million from the Royal Household.

31 August 1997. Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, born 1961, along with Dodi Al Fayed, born 1955, in a car �accident� in a road tunnel in Paris. See 28 August 1996.

28 August 1996. The Prince of Wales, Charles, and Princess, Diana Spencer, divorced. See 31 August 1997.

28 February 1996. The Princess of Wales, Diana, announced that she had agreed to divorce Prince Charles.

3 December 1993, Diana Princess of Wales announced her retirement from public life.

19 July 1993. A poll in the UK showed only 37% of Britons believed Prince Charles was fit to be King.

6 April 1993, Queen Elizabeth became liable for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.

11 February 1993. Buckingham Palace announced the Queen would pay income tax in April.

17 January 1993. Bookmakers cut the odds of the UK monarchy being abolished before the year 2000 from 100-1 to 50-1.

10 January 1993. Press reports emerged that Princess Diana, already separated from her husband Prince Charles, wanted to divorce him.

31 December 1992. The Queen described 1992 as an �annus horibilis�, one of the worst years for the UK monarchy since the abdication crisis of 1936. The Duke and Duchess of York had separated, Princess Anne had divorced, the Prince of Wales had reportedly attempted suicide through marital difficulties, and then separated from Diana, and Windsor Castle had suffered a major fire, on 20 November 1992. There was extensive damage to rooms, artwork, furniture, and other effects. There was public condemnation when it emerged the restoration cost would be met from the public purse. Six days after the fire the Prime Minister John Major announced that the Queen was reconsidering the scope of the Civil List and might end her exemption from income tax.

19 March 1992. It was announced that the Duke and Duchess of York were to separate.

23 March 1990, Princess Eugenie of York was born.

21 September 1986. In the UK, Prince Charles stated on TV that he talked to his plants.

24 April 1986, Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, for whom a British King abdicated, died in Paris aged 89.

19 March 1986, The engagement between Prince Andrew and Miss Sarah Ferguson was announced.

15 September 1984, Prince Harry (Henry Charles Albert David) was born to Diana, Princess of Wales.

15 June 1981, Zara Phillips, daughter of the Princess Royal, was born.

24 February 1981, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer announced their engagement.

24 May 1978, Princess Margaret obtained a divorce from Lord Snowdon.

15 November 1977, Peter Phillips, son of the Princess Royal, was born

7 June 1977, The Queen lit a bonfire in Windsor Park, starting a week of Royal Silver Jubilee celebrations.

6 June 1977, Derby was designated a city, to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

14 November 1973, Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey.

12 October 1973. Students jostled the Queen when she visited Stirling University.

28 May 1972. The Duke of Windsor, the abdicated King Edward VIII, died in Paris aged 77.

25 July 1970, Lord Nicholas Windsor was born.

19 February 1970. Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Charles would join the Royal Navy.

1 July 1969. Prince Charles was formally invested as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle. This event was watched by a TV audience of some 200 million worldwide.

24 June 1969. The 20 year old Prince Charles tackled the �awfully difficult� question of his future marriage. �You have to chose somebody very carefully, I think� said the Prince.

28 April 1964, Lady Helen Taylor, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, was born,

10 March 1964, Prince Edward (Edward Antony Richard Louis) was born in Buckingham Palace, the third son of Elizabeth II.

2 April 1962, Prince Charles arrived as a new pupil at Gordonstoun School, near Elgin, Scotland, the school his father Prince Philip attended.

1 July 1961. Lady Diana Spencer was born, in Park House, Sandringham.

19 February 1960, Prince Andrew (Andrew Albert Christian Edward), third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II, was born in Buckingham Palace.

26 July 1958. Queen Elizabeth II created her eldest son Prince Charles as Prince of Wales.

3 July 1958. The last debutantes were presented to the Queen. British high society mourned the passing of this tradition; the Queen had decided this had no place in modern society.� Presentation at Court had been reserved for the daughters of the aristocracy and those prominent in society.� Those who made their curtsies to the Queen were sponsored and chaperoned by those who had been presented themselves earlier.� But some socially ambitious parents had fallen on hard times to finance the fees and expenses of qualified chaperones.� Prince Philip was reported to have suggested the move.

31 October 1955, Princess Margaret decided not to marry divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend. Had she married, she would have lost her Civil List income and place in line to the throne.

2 June 1953. Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (see 6 February 1952). Britain was still recovering from World War Two.. Just 4% of homes had TV sets. Few had fridges or washing machines, for commercial TV had yet to arrive and ignite the consumer boom, much of which was to be on credit, or �never-never�. Just one marriage in a hundred ended in divorce.

16 April 1953. Queen Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht Britannia.

4 March 1953, The RAF made a special Coronation Dish for Queen Elizabeth II, using lampreys � the food which allegedly killed Henry I.

15 February 1952, King George VI was buried at St George�s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

6 February 1952. The accession of Queen Elizabeth II, born 21 April 1926. Her coronation was on 2 June 1953, on a dull showery day; it was the first Coronation to be televised. The funeral of King George VI was at Windsor on 15 February 1952, when over 300,000 paid their respects to his coffin at Westminster Abbey.. King George VI had died of lung cancer from smoking, aged 56, during the night at Sandringham, and Elizabeth I was on safari in Kenya at the time.� King George VI had had a lung removed in September 1951 by surgeons at Buckingham Palace.

22 September 1948, Captain Mark Phillips, husband of Princess Anne, was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

20 November 1947. Princess Elizabeth married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in Westminster Abbey. Austerity and rationing were temporarily forgotten.

17 July 1947, Camila, Duchess of Cornwall, was born.

20 June 1946, The Duchess of Gloucester was born.

4 July 1942, Prince Michael of Kent was born.

7 June 1939,HM King George V1, along with Queen Elizabeth,� crossed the border from Canada into the USA at Naigara Falls, on his way to visit the World Fair in New York.� He was the first British monarch to visit the USA.� He and Queen Elizabeth also became the first British monarch to eat hot dogs.

17 May 1939. George VI and Queen Elizabeth began a short visit to North America to strengthen Anglo-Saxon solidarity.

3 June 1937, The Duke of Windsor, the abdicated King Edward VIII, married Mrs Wallis Warfield Simpson in Mondis, France. Mrs Simpson was an American divorcee and the marriage both upset the Royal Family and outraged the Church of England. A constitutional solution � for King Edward to marry Mrs Simpson but for her not to attain the title of Queen � might have become acceptable to the country, but was forestalled by massive media coverage of the affair, forcing Edward to choose between romance and title.

12 May 1937. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the mother of Queen Elizabeth II) were crowned.

4 February 1937, The German Ambassador gave King George VI a Nazi salute.

11 December 1936. Abdication of King Edward VIII, after a reign of just 325 days. See 20 January 1936. Accession of his brother, Prince Albert, the Duke of York, who became King George VI to the British throne. The coronation of George VI (born 14 December 1895) was on 12 May 1937. King Edward VIII had abdicated because of his love for Mrs Simpson (who became the Duchess of Windsor), otherwise known as Bessie Walls Warfield. She had been born in Baltimore on 19 June 1896. Edward VIII, as the Duke of Windsor, married Mrs Simpson on 3 June 1937 at Monts in France.

3 December 1936, In Britain the Press ended its self-imposed silence on the affair between King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson.

13 November 1936. King Edward VIII told Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin he intended to abdicate because of his intention to marry twice-divorced Mrs Simpson. See 11 December 1936.

28 January 1936, The funeral of King George V.� General Franco from Spain attended.

20 January 1936. Accession of King Edward VIII. He succeeded his late father, George V, who died at Sandringham this day. See 11 December 1936. George V, Grandson of Queen Victoria, had reigned for 26 years; he changed the surname of the Royal Family from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor during World War One to distance himself from his German cousins.

29 November 1934, Marriage of George Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece.

14 February 1933, Oxford students declared that �they would not fight for King and Country�.

4 January 1931, Princess Louise, eldest daughter of King Edward VII, (born 20 February 1867) died.

21 August 1930, In Britain, Princess Margaret Rose was born.

21 April 1926. Queen Elizabeth II, crowned 1952, was born at 17 Bruton Street London. She was then called Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the eldest daughter of George VI.

10 June 1921, Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was born on the Greek island of Corfu.

27 December 1918, King George V and Queen Mary greeted President and Mrs Wilson of the United States.

25 March 1915, HRH Prince George of Hanover was born (died 8 January 2006).

6 May 1910. Accession of King George V 44, to the British throne. His coronation was on 22 June 1911. He succeeded Edward VII, who died aged 68 from pneumonia. The funeral of Edward VII was on 20 May 1910.

12 July 1905, In Britain, the Princess of Wales gave birth to a son, Prince John.

11 August 1902, King Edward VII gave Osborne House, where Queen Victoria had died, to the nation.

24 June 1902, King Edward VII contracted appendicitis, delaying his coronation (scheduled for 26 June), see 9 August 1902.

14 February 1901, King Edward VII, aged 59, opened his first UK Parliament.

4 February 1901, Queen Victoria was buried at Windsor, next to Albert.

22 January 1901. Queen Victoria died, at of a cerebral haemorrhage Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, aged 81; the longest reigning and longest lived monarch of Britain. Accession of King Edward VII to the British throne. His coronation was on 9 August 1902. King Edward VII was born on 9 November 1840, and was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Crowned at 60 years of age, he proved a popular monarch who gave his name to the Edwardian era. He was made Prince of Wales by his mother when only one month old. His free and easy social life made him a prominent figure in society and he was involved in several scandals. His coronation was elaborate and was a departure from the rather dour image of the monarchy in the latter part of Queen Victoria�s reign. Edward VII is remembered as a popular man who tried to ensure peace in Europe, touring European capitals in a diplomatic role. An estimated 500,000 watched the funeral. procession of Queen Victoria as it travelled through the silent streets of London, on 2 February 1901. The funeral took place at Windsor.

19 January 1901, Queen Victoria became seriously ill.

4 August 1900. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was born in St Pauls, Waldenbury, Hertfordshire, as Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, the 9^th of 10 children.

4 April 1900, The Prince of Wales escaped unhurt after an attempt on his life by a 16-year old anarchist, Jean-Baptiste Sipido, in Brussels railway station,� Belgium. The would-be assassin said he targeted the Prince because he held him responsible for the many deaths in the Boer War under Lord Kitchener.

28 March 1902, The British Royal Family received its first motor car, a Daimler Mail Phaeton.

22 June 1897. Queen Victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee.

19 June 1896, Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, was born.

14 December 1895. The future King George VI was born in Sandringham, Norfolk, second son of George V and Mary, see 11 December 1936.

3 June 1865, King George V, second son of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, was born at Marlborough House in London.

25 February 1883, Princess Alice Mary, later Countess of Athlone, was born.

2 March 1882. Roderick MacLean tried unsuccessfully to assassinate Queen Victoria, as she sat in a railway carriage at Windsor station.

26 May 1867, Queen Mary, wife of King George V, was born in Kensington Palace as Princess Mary of York.

10 March 1864, Prince Edward was born.

10 March 1863, King Edward VII, as the Prince of Wales, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The marriage was in St Georges Chapel, Windsor.

14 December 1861. Prince Albert Consort of Queen Victoria, died, of typhus in Windsor Castle.

1 December 1849, Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV, died.

19 May 1849, William Hamilton attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria.

30 May 1842. An attempt was made on the life of Queen Victoria as she drove down Constitution Hill with Prince Albert. The would � be assassin was John Francis.

9 November 1841, King Edward VII, second child and oldest son of Queen Victoria, was born at St James Palace, London.

8 December 1841, Prince Albert Edward was created Prince of Wales; he later became King Edward VII.

10 June 1840, Edward Oxford, a servant in a pub, fire two shots at Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as they drove up Constitution Hill in an open carriage. Both shots missed. Oxford was sent to a mental hospital, then exiled.

10 February 1840. Marriage of Queen Victoria, born 24 May 1819, to her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, born 26 August 1819 at Rosenau, near Coburg, Germany. They were married in the Chapel Royal at St James Palace.

15 October 1839. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert became betrothed. She proposed to him, as recorded in her diary, �it was a nervous thing to do, but Albert could not propose to the Queen of England. He would never presume to take such a liberty�.

20 June 1837. (1) King William IV died at Windsor. He was born on 21 August 1765 and was known as the sailor king, for his service in the Royal Navy. His numerous affairs included 10 illegitimate children born to the Irish actress Dorothy Jordan.

(2) Accession of William IV�s niece Queen Victoria, born 24 May 1819; crowned on 28 June 1838, aged 19. She was originally named Alexandrine Victoria but instructed the Privy Council to delete her first name.

8 September 1831, Coronation of King William IV.

26 June 1830. King George IV died, aged 67. He was England�s fattest king, and his favourite breakfast was 2 pigeons, 3 beefsteaks, a bottle of Moselle, a glass of champagne, two of port, and one of brandy. William IV, his brother, succeeded him. With no legitimate children to succeed him, Victoria was to be the next monarch.

29 January 1820. King George III, longest lived and longest reigning (over 59 years) King of England, died at Windsor aged 81. (See 26 October 1760, coronation of George III). Accession of King George IV; his long-separated wife Caroline returned form the Continent to claim her position as Queen. Caroline was warmly welcomed by the British public, who perceived her as having been badly treated by her husband. George IV nevertheless persuaded his Cabinet ministers to immediately begin divorce proceedings.

26 August 1819, Prince Albert was born at Rosenau, near Coburg, in Bavaria.

5 February 1811. King George III, 73 years old, was officially declared insane; the Prince of Wales, 49 years old, became Prince Regent.

21 August 1765, King William IV, known as the �Sailor King� because he joined the Royal Navy at 13, was born in Buckingham Palace.� He was the third son of King George III and Queen Charlotte.

12 August 1762, King George IV was born in St James Palace, London.� He was the eldest son of George III. His lavish lifestyle and cruelty towards his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, undermined popular support for the monarchy.

22 September 1761, Coronation of King George III, see 26 October 1760

26 October 1760. Accession of George III. His coronation was on 22 September 1761. He was the son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta. George III became one of the longest reigning monarchs in Britain. He saw the emergence of Britain as a leading European power after the Seven Year�s War as well as the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. He had a devoted wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg, who bore him 15 children. But George III faced problems at home, fighting with Parliament to recover Royal Prerogative, and having Revolutionary France for a neighbour. He also had the debilitating disease porphyria. He died deaf, mad, and blind at Windsor Castle on 29 January 1820, leaving a legacy of social unrest and an outmoded constitution.

25 October 1760, George II died suddenly at 8am, in Kensington, London, aged 76. His successor George III was inclined to concentrate on British, not Hanoverian, interests, and disliked William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, who had promoted the Anglo-Prussian Alliance. Without British help, Prussia could not continue fighting.

19 April 1733, Elizabeth Hamilton, Countess of Orkney, mistress of English King William III, died in London.

8 September 1650, Elizabeth, 2nd daughter of Charles I if England, died of a chill after getting soaked in the rain upon arriving at Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight. Born 28 December 1635, when the English Civil War broke and Charles left London with his two elder princes, Elizabeth was left under the care of Parliament. Cared for by various nobility, she bid farewell to her father on 29 January 1649, the day before his execution. In June 1650 she was entrusted to the care of the earl and countess of Leicester at Penshurst, but when King Charles II landed in Scotland she was taken to Carisbrooke for security.

28 December 1635, Elizabeth, 2nd daughter of Charles I, was born. See 8 September 1650.

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