A Right Royal Place - Deaths Trivia Quiz

Answer: King Edward VIII

Since the eldest son of King George V abdicated his throne less than a year after the death of his father, it was not actually King Edward VIII who died at the house at Number 4, Route du Champ d'Entraînement in Paris, but the Duke of Windsor. The abdication crisis in 1936 was caused by Edward's desire to marry an American divorcee named Wallis Simpson and the British government's determination to ensure that he didn't. In the end, the government won the argument and Edward abdicated, famously telling the British public in his abdication address that he "found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love".

Edward and Wallis were married for nearly 35 years before his death in 1972. The couple spent the majority of the remainder of their lives in France; the house where they both died became better known as 'Villa Windsor'. Following the deaths of the royal couple it was rented to the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed.

Answer: King Charles I

To be precise, King Charles I actually died on a scaffold built outside Whitehall's Banqueting House. He was beheaded there on January 30th 1649 after being found guilty of high treason in a specially arranged trial - prior to that point in history no British monarch had ever been accused in a court of law. His death followed just over six years of civil war between the King and his supporters (the 'Cavaliers') and the Parliamentarians (or 'Roundheads'), whose leaders included Oliver Cromwell.

Banqueting House, the only part of the Palace of the Whitehall to survive into the 21st century, was designed by the famous architect Inigo Jones and constructed between 1619 and 1622. It was used for a variety of entertainment (including banqueting) and its lavish decoration includes ceiling panels painted by Peter Paul Rubens.

Answer: King Richard III

King Richard III died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 while fighting for his crown against Henry Tudor - who walked away from the battlefield as King Henry VII. The battle was one of the final engagements in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars that dominated English politics in the mid to late 15th century. Both Richard's place of death and place of burial became newsworthy in the 21st century.

In the late 2000s archaeologists raised doubts over the location of the Bosworth battlefield suggesting that the battle was probably fought a few miles away from the traditional designation of the site, while Richard's body was famously located under a car park in Leicester in 2012.

He was reburied (with a bit more dignity) in Leicester Cathedral in 2015.

Answer: King Edward VII

Although Buckingham Palace is famously known as the main residence of the British monarch, it has actually only held that position since Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. It actually started life in 1703 as the much smaller Buckingham House, constructed for the Duke of Buckingham, and was then renamed Queen's House when Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, took up residence there. The palace's East Wing - the famous façade visible to the public - was originally constructed in 1850 and remodelled to its 21st century appearance in 1913.

King Edward VII became the first monarch to die at Buckingham Palace on May 6th 1910, after a reign of just over nine years. His last words were purported to relate to the success of one of his racehorses earlier that day - a fitting end for a king who spent the majority of his life as a "playboy prince".

Answer: King Edward I

Burgh by Sands in Cumbria, in the far north-west of England, is an unlikely location for as momentous an event as the death of the King of England. It is a small village about eleven kilometres (seven miles) west of the city of Carlisle and is notable for being located on Hadrian's Wall. Its proximity to Scotland is actually the reason for it going down in history as the place of death of King Edward I - he was on his way north to battle the Scots when he went down with dysentery and expired at his encampment just outside the village on July 7th 1307.

Edward I was known as 'Longshanks', because he was over six feet tall. His alternative nickname of 'Hammer of the Scots', came from a term inscribed on his tomb. He had claimed sovereignty over Scotland during the Scottish succession crisis of the early 1290s, invaded the country in 1296 and taken away their coronation stone known as the 'Stone of Scone'. War with Scotland then dominated the final years of his reign and ultimately contributed to his death.

Answer: King James II

King James II of England (and VII of Scotland) reigned from 1685 to 1688, but lost his throne to his daughter and son-in-law in the Glorious Revolution. The basic problem was that James was a Roman Catholic and England had broadly been a Protestant country since the time of King Henry VIII and the Reformation. While James's heir presumptive was his Protestant daughter Mary, Parliament was willing to tolerate him. However, when James remarried to the Catholic Mary of Modena and had a son, Parliament invited William of Orange (the aforementioned son-in-law) to invade and take over as king. James fled to France where he lived in exile at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye until his death in 1701.

The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye was a French royal palace located around 19 kilometres (12 miles) west of Paris. The building dates back to the mid-16th century and was turned into a museum of archaeology in 1867.

Answer: King William II

England's second king after the Norman invasion of 1066 was William Rufus (otherwise known as William II), the second surviving son of William the Conqueror. He reigned from 1087 until his death in 1100 in an unfortunate incident in the New Forest near the south coast of England. The forest was one of the King's favourite hunting grounds and it was during a hunt that he was killed by arrow, probably shot by a nobleman named Walter Tirrel. The exact circumstances have been lost to history and it is unclear whether it was simply an unfortunate accident or if he was assassinated. The supposed site of William's death is commemorated by the Rufus Stone - but it is unlikely that it is actually in the right place!

Despite the name, the New Forest is not actually very new and wasn't even new in the time of William II. The area now forms part of the New Forest National Park, which is relatively new - having been established in 2005.

Answer: King John

Although most famous for being the king who affixed his seal to the Magna Carta in 1215, King John also pops up as a villain in the stories of the English folk hero, Robin Hood - who is said to have lived in Nottinghamshire's Sherwood Forest. Newark Castle is located around 25 kilometres (15 miles) south-east of Sherwood Forest and was founded by the Bishop of Lincoln around 50 years before King John died there from dysentery in 1216 at the age of 49.

By the end of the English Civil War, the castle was in ruins and much of it was dismantled or demolished.

The remains that are still standing in the 21st century were largely rebuilt and restored during the late 19th century.

Answer: Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 until her death in 1901, was a regular visitor to the Isle of Wight. Osborne House, on the north coast of the island near the town of Cowes, was developed by her and husband, Prince Albert, in the mid-1840s as a summer holiday residence for them and their growing family. However, it became one of their favourite homes and the royal family traditionally spent Christmas there as well. After the death of Albert and her retreat from public life, Victoria spent a lot of time at Osborne and eventually died there at the age of 81.

Following the death of Queen Victoria, Osborne House was handed over to the nation and used as a naval training facility and a convalescent home for military officers. It was then opened to the public as a museum to the family life of the monarch and her nine children.

Answer: Lady Jane Grey

Although the Tower of London served as a royal palace for hundreds of years, it is now probably best known for the prisoners, royal and otherwise, who were held within its walls and then executed on its grounds. Lady Jane Grey - also known as the Nine-Day Queen - was one of the unfortunate members of the royal family to be both imprisoned and executed at the Tower. King Edward VI appointed her as his heir shortly before his death in 1553, but her (often disputed) reign of just nine days was ended when Edward's eldest half-sister, Queen Mary I, established her right to the throne instead and ousted Jane from the position. Jane was swiftly convicted of treason, but given a stay of execution until the following year when a further plot against Mary sealed her fate.

The Tower of London dates right back to the time of William the Conqueror and has seen numerous royal deaths over its (almost) thousand-year history. King Henry VI was murdered there in 1471, King Edward V is believed to have been killed there in around 1483 and two of King Henry VIII's wives (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) were also executed there. Other kings or queens to have been imprisoned but escaped with their lives include King Richard II, Queen Elizabeth I and Margaret of Anjou (the wife of King Henry VI).