Son of the King (or Queen) Trivia Quiz

Answer: King George II

Prince Frederick was born in 1707 in Hanover, prior to his grandfather becoming King George I of England. When this event occurred in 1714, his parents, the future King George II and Caroline of Ansbach, moved to England but left Frederick behind in Germany. They weren't reunited with him for a further 14 years, when George II took the throne and Frederick became the Prince of Wales. Needless to say, Frederick was not close to his parents and the animosity between them was well-known, especially thanks to Frederick's support for opponents of his father's government.

He died in 1751, possibly due to a pulmonary embolism, although older sources suggest a lung injury caused by being hit by a cricket ball. The latter explanation would have been more ironic as the prince was a keen player and supporter of that sport. Since he pre-deceased his father by nearly ten years, the throne passed to his eldest son, King George III.

Answer: King Edward III

Prince Edward, the eldest son of King Edward III, was born at Woodstock Palace in 1330 and created Prince of Wales in 1343. His nickname is supposedly derived from the black armour he wore when he led his troops at the Battle of Crécy in 1346 - one of the many confrontations of the Hundred Years' War. The Black Prince was a noted military leader and was responsible for several English victories over the French, including the 1356 Battle of Poitiers where he captured the French king, John II, and a large number of French nobles.

The Black Prince died in London of dysentery in 1376, just one year before the death of his father. His son, the future King Richard II, took up his position as heir apparent to the English throne.

Answer: King James I (and VI)

Prince Henry, the Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Lord of the Isles became the heir apparent to the English throne at the age of nine, when his father King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England in 1603. At that point he gained the additional title of Duke of Cornwall, but it was another seven years before the young prince was officially invested as Prince of Wales along with the lesser title of Earl of Chester. He was the first British prince to hold all six titles traditionally or automatically granted to the eldest son of the monarchs of England and Scotland.

However, just two years later he died of typhoid fever at the age of 18, leaving his position as heir apparent (and eventually all of those titles) to his younger brother, the future King Charles I. It's doubtful though that Charles was the luckier of the two brothers - after all, in 1649 he became the first English king to be tried and executed for high treason.

Answer: King Stephen

The exact year of Eustace's birth is unclear, but it likely that he was born a few years prior to 1135, when his father made a grab for the English throne and became King Stephen. While a son and heir was usually seen as the most important thing for a medieval king to be in possession of, Eustace's position as heir to the throne was surprisingly fragile. Many of the English nobles refused to support him as a result of the ongoing civil war between Stephen and his cousin, the Empress Matilda - the daughter and heiress of the previous king, Henry I. Eustace died in 1153, just one year before his father, and his death gave Stephen the opportunity to name Matilda's son (the future King Henry II) as his heir in the hope of achieving a peaceful end to a period of history known as The Anarchy.

His title of Count of Boulogne was inherited from his mother, who had held the title of Countess of Boulogne in her own right.

Answer: King Henry VII

The birth of Prince Arthur in 1486 came shortly after the end of the 30-year long Wars of the Roses, when the royal houses of Lancaster and York had fought each other for control of the English throne. Arthur's father was the first Tudor king, Henry VII, who was a descendent of the House of Lancaster, while his mother, Elizabeth, was the eldest daughter of the Yorkist King Edward IV. An heir to the throne descended from both houses provided hope for long-lasting peace in England.

Arthur is also remembered for being the first husband of Catherine of Aragon, who, after his early death at the age of 15, went on to marry his younger brother, King Henry VIII.

Answer: King Henry I

William Adelin was the only legitimate son of King Henry I, although it is believed that Henry had around nine illegitimate sons and up to 15 illegitimate daughters. William was born in Winchester in 1103, shortly after his father came to the throne. He was granted his father's title of Duke of Normandy in 1115 and, after the death of his mother, Matilda of Scotland, occasionally acted as regent of England when Henry was away in France.

However, William's position as heir apparent to the English throne was cut short when he drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120, while travelling back to England from the French port of Barfleur. His death left his father with a succession crisis and the English barons' eventual refusal to support his sister's claim to the throne led England into the civil war known as The Anarchy.

Answer: King Richard III

Prince Edward, the only child of King Richard III and his wife Anne Neville, was born at Middleham Castle in North Yorkshire in around 1473. Like many princes in the medieval period he was known by his place of birth and referred to as Edward of Middleham. He was created Prince of Wales shortly after his father claimed the English throne in 1483 by having his young nephews declared illegitimate and placed in the Tower of London - from where they later disappeared, presumed murdered.

This young prince also died suddenly, after spending less than a year as heir apparent to the throne. Historical records suggest that this would not have been entirely unexpected as Edward was often described as sickly and fragile. The fact that Richard III was left without a legitimate heir by Edward's death became a moot point when he was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and the Tudors seized the throne instead.

Answer: Queen Anne

Queen Anne, the first monarch of Great Britain, is perhaps best remembered for having endured at least 17 pregnancies without a single child surviving into adulthood. In fact, only five of her babies survived long enough to be named and Prince William, Duke of Gloucester was the only one to survive early infancy. Technically Prince William was never the son of a king or a queen because he died in 1700, nearly two years before his mother acceded to the throne.

Although William lived to the age of 11, he suffered from extremely poor health. Sources suggest that he suffered from convulsions when only a few weeks old, which may have been symptoms of meningitis and were the probable reason why he developed hydrocephalus. His death resulted in a succession crisis for the House of Stuart and was the direct cause for the passing of the Act of Settlement, 1701 - which placed the Hanoverian descendants of King James I's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, next in line to the England and Scottish thrones.

Answer: King Henry VI

Edward of Westminster was born in the Palace of Westminster in 1453 and was the only child of King Henry VI and his wife, Margaret of Anjou. He was installed as Prince of Wales in a ceremony at Windsor Castle the following year. He is also sometimes referred to as Edward of Lancaster as he belonged to the House of Lancaster, which was founded by his great-grandfather, King Henry IV, in 1399.

Much of Edward's tenure as Prince of Wales was spent in exile after his father, who suffered from several bouts of debilitating mental illness, was ousted from the throne by the Yorkist King Edward IV in 1461. Edward was killed at the Battle of Tewksbury in 1471, when he and his mother led an army against Edward's forces. He was also the first husband of Anne Neville, who became England's queen consort when her second husband became King Richard III in 1483.

Answer: King Edward VII

Prince Albert Victor was the eldest son of the future King Edward VII and his wife Alexandra of Denmark. His birth and death both took place during the reign of his grandmother, Queen Victoria - he was born at Frogmore House, Windsor in 1864 and died at Sandringham at the age of just 28. He was replaced in both the line of succession and as the fiancé of Mary of Teck, by his younger brother, who later became King George V.

This particular heir to the throne didn't exactly conform to the high morals expected of the royal family. He was involved in several scandals and rumours in the press at time suggested that he had been implicated in the Cleveland Street Scandal (where upper class men were found to have been frequenting a male brothel); that he had an affair with a chorus girl who then committed suicide; and, since the 1960s, some sources have even accused him of being the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. So, clearly, he wasn't very popular!