June 23rd - 29th
On 23rd June…
Edward VIII was born
1894 - King Edward VIII was born. He was king for just under a year before abdicating the throne so that he could marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Edward VIII is the only British monarch to abdicate (voluntarily give up the crown). Upon his abdication, his younger brother became King George VI.
1912 - Alan Turing was born in London. He was a mathematician and early computer scientist who invented the Turing Machine and helped to decode the German Enigma machine during World War II.
On 24th June…
King Edward III lost the Battle of Bannockburn
1314 - The Battle of Bannockburn was won by the Scots. Starting on the 23rd June, the battle took place between the Scottish armies led by King Robert the Bruce and the English led by King Edward II. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Scots won, easily defeating the English. This battle is seen as the end of the Scottish Wars of Independence although this was not officially recognised for another fourteen years.
1497 - John Cabot, landed in eastern Canada. He was an Italian explorer who had sailed west from Bristol under the commission of King Henry VII in the hope of finding a new route to Asia. When he spotted land, Cabot believed he had found Asia and claimed it for England calling it Newfoundland.
Coronation of King Henry VIII
1509 - King Henry VIII was formally crowned King of England at his coronation in Westminster Abbey. His wife, Catherine of Aragon was crowned Queen Consort.
On 25th June…
King Edward V declared illegitimate
1483 - The English Parliament declared King Edward V to be illegitimate and therefore not eligible to be king. He was the son of King Edward IV and had become king at the age of 12 when his father died. His uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester was made protector of the realm whilst the young king reigned because Edward was so young.
On 26th June…
Richard, Duke of Gloucester became King Richard III
1483 - Richard, Duke of Gloucester became King Richard III because Parliament had decided his nephew, King Edward V to be illegitimate. It was declared that his mother and father were never married and therefore Edward did not have a rightful claim to the throne. Edward V and his younger brother Richard were taken to the Tower of London shortly afterwards and never seen again. It is believed that they were murdered by their uncle so that Edward V could never reclaim the throne although evidence of their survival has recently been discovered.
On 27th June…
Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped in disguise
1746 - Following his defeat at the Battle of Culloden, and two months in hiding, Bonnie Prince Charlie evaded capture with the help of Flora MacDonald. She disguised him as an Irish maid and took him to the Isle of Skye where he was able to flee to France.
On 28th June…
Coronation of King Edward IV
1461 - King Edward IV was crowned king of England (for the first time) at Westminster Abbey. He had been declared king in March when he defeated the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Towton in the Wars of the Roses. It was his sons who were imprisoned in the Tower of London by Richard III.
Birth of King Henry VIII
1491 - King Henry VIII was born in London. He is possibly the most famous of all English kings for marrying six times, beheading two wives, and breaking from the Roman Catholic Church to declare himself Head of the Church of England.
Coronation of Queen Victoria
1838 - At 19 years of age, Queen Victoria was crowned at her coronation in Westminster Abbey. The ceremony lasted five hours and quite a few things went wrong. First off she was handed the orb at the wrong moment, then the ring was pushed onto the wrong finger and took over an hour to remove, then an elderly peer fell down the steps whilst paying homage to the new queen, and finally a bishop told her the ceremony was over when it wasn’t and Victoria had to return to the coronation seat to finish the ceremony.
1914 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were assassinated whilst on an official visit to Sarajevo. This event is seen as the instigation of World War I.
On 29th June…
The Globe Theatre burnt to the ground
1613 - The Globe Theatre caught fire during a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII when a ‘special effects’ cannon was fired, and the thatched roof caught alight. The theatre burnt to the ground very quickly - in the space of about an hour. Although nobody was hurt, one man’s breeches did catch fire; his burning clothes were quickly put out when a bystander threw his beer over them.
The theatre was soon rebuilt using the original brick foundations, but this time with a tiled roof.