Christie le Goy · 29 September 2003

I enjoyed today’s poem about the old English counties, and wonder if you have ever heard the lines of doggerel listing all the kings and queens of England. It begins:

Willie, willie, henry, john

(I think)

and goes on in a very catchy way to list the lot in sequence.

Have often wished to have a complete version of it; it used to be chanted by a few well-informed guides in Westminster Abbey.

Christie le Goy

Steve Chernicoff · 30 September 2003

Loved the poem on the English monarchs; but I do want to correct a minor factual error in Christopher Martin’s explanatory comment:

Mary I (Queen of Scots)

Er, um, nope. Queen Mary I of England was “Bloody Mary,” the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon–not her cousin Mary Queen of Scots, granddaughter of Henry VIII’s sister Margaret Tudor and mother of James I. Even I know this–and I’m a Yank! :-)

–Steve

Merrill Pye · 30 September 2003

ERROR - in your explanatory list, you say that the Mary before Elizabeth I was Mary, Queen of Scots. Not so.

She’s Henry 8th’s eldest child, the daughter of him & his first wife Katherine of Aragon. It was because of her not being male that he divorced Kate & broke with the Roman Catholic church.

When the young Edward 6th (Henry’s only son & a strong Protestant) died young, she was the next in line. Being a fervent Catholic, she engaged in a lot of persecution of the Church of England and Protestant people who had come up through Henry’s & Edward’s reigns. They called her
Bloody Mary - now mostly commemorated in liquid terms.

Henry’s final child Elizabeth - daughter of the Anne Boleyn for whom he divorced Mary’s mother - then became Queen because Mary’s (extremely
unpopular) marriage to Philip of Spain left no children.

Mary, Queen of Scots (not of English - they were separate kingdoms at the time) was related to Henry (niece?). She was Queen of Scotland at the same time Elizabeth was Queen of England, Wales & (sort of) Ireland.

When Bess, The Virgin Queen, died childless,
Mary’s child James 6th, King of Scotland, was also able to claim the English throne & proclaim a “United Kingdom” through that relationship … eventually leading to the Civil War, Cromwell’s Puritans setting up their Commonwealth, the
Restoration, the Bloodless Revolution & a whole buncha other stuff we often forget it took to get to democracy & other things we value (as well as troubles that continue) today.

Abraham Thomas · 30 September 2003

Well, I didn’t add the gloss “Queen of Scots” and I don’t know who did. It’s an error - Steve Chernicoff is quite right, and I’m glad to hear that U.S. standards of education were so high in his day.

Oops, mea culpa. Christopher’s original poem submission email had a few nicknames typed in; I added the rest from memory. Evidently my memory wasn’t up to scratch; in short, I goofed. I will email an apology and correction to the list along with tomorrow’s poem.

Christopher, please accept my apologies for the error (and worse still, allowing readers to form the impression that the error was yours).

cheers,
thomas.

Lynd Mike · 30 September 2003

There are various endings to this for the recent monarchs, as follows:

Edward the Seventh, and then
George the Fifth in 1910.
Edward the Eighth did abdicate,
Then George the Sixth did rule the state.

or

Edward the Seventh, George the Fifth,
Edward the Eighth and George the Sixth.

or

Ned Seventh ruled till 1910,
When George the Fifth came in, and then
Ned went when Mrs Simpson beckoned,
Leaving George and Liz the Second.

Best wishes,
Mike Lynd

Dafydd Urchurdan · 1 October 2003

Just a note on the comments following the poem for Sept. 30. In the list of English monarchs it states that Mary I was Queen of Scots which is incorrect. Mary I was Mary Tudor, also known as Bloody Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Mary Stuart, Mary Queen of Scots, never ruled England. Actually she was imprisoned by Elizabeth I of England from 1568 to 1587 when she was executed by the Elizabeth’s order.

ceb56 · 3 October 2003

Another alternative ending is

Edward Seven, Georgie Five,
Ned and George and Liz (alive).

Caroline

ps - links to most recent poems seem to be mixed up - I think the numberings gone wrong somewhere; this is supposed to be a comment on ‘English Monarchs’ so apologies if it ends up attached to the wrong poem!

Fluffykt · 18 December 2004

Does anyone know the Monarch listing poem that starts:

William the Conquerorm ten-sixty-six,
Then William called Rufus, as red as old bricks, Then Henry the First, but nobody reckoned
He’d ever be followed by Henry the Second
‘Cause the barons broke out under Stephan and Maude To pillage and plunder, to rob and maraud

I remember more, but not all of it. Read it many years ago but have never been able to find it again!

Pat Myers

Alison Randall · 3 November 2005

Love the mnemonic. Does anyone know the one for remembering all of the battles in the English Civlil War?

Kevin Morley · 30 December 2005

I really enjoyed this poem as a boy but does anyone remember the poem which starts “William the first was the first of our kings not counting Ethelreds Egberts and things. He had himself crowned and anointed and blessed in 106-, I need’nt tell you the rest”
Kevin Morley