The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-02-02
THE KING AND HIS KIN.

Edward, name uorne, as h. says
hy SIX Of his ancestors, and he wa
accordingly proclaimed yesterday a,
King Edward VII. In speaking Of tn,
six Edwards as his 'ancestoIs" he. o
course, used that word in its origina
sense of predecessors and not as syn
onymous with forefathers. for, rs q
matter Of fact, he is descended from
only four OF the numbered Edwards
the NTH and sixth kings Of that name
having left no issue OF the two Ed
wards before the conquest. who are
not numbered. he is descended from one.
1t was said If Victoria that she was
at thu very outset Of her reign strong
! ly commended to her people by the fact
that she was the first really English
sovereign they had had for many years.
We shall, indeed. fini few sovereigns
more truly Identified with their coun-
tries than she was and her son is. The
hrgs English ancestry is actually old
er than the name of England itself.
iating away back to the time when
the Saxon part Of the island was still
known as Saxony. a fact which gives
peculiar fitness to his choice Of the
fine old Saxon name Of Edward.
We may perhaps best begin the
kings genealogy with the early Saxon
family OF Cerdic, a member Of which,
Ealhmund, bore rule in Kent In
the eighth century. His son Egbert.
in the last year Of that country be-
came king OF the West Saxons, AMI in
the year S2S became the FIRST king Of
England. Egterts son was Ethelwolf.
aud his son in turn was that great AL
fred, the millenial anniversary Of whuse
death is to be comm"mora..l next Oc-
tober. From Alfred the lin Of descent
runs through Edward the Elder. Ell
mund l., Edgar, Ethelred the Un-
ready and Edmund Ironside. Then it
passes away from the reigning line in
10 the collateral line Of Edward Athe-
ling who dld not reign; St. Margaret.
the patron saint Of Scotland. and wife
Of that King Malcolm III. Of Scotland
whose father, Duncan, was murdered b. /
Macbeth and who himself avenged /
hat crime IN the overthrow Of Dun !
shame; Matilda. the wife Il Henry l. |
If England, and Geoffrey Plantagenet.
L becomes the reigning line again in
Henry H.. and thence proceeds through
King John Henry III and the three
3lwards, L, H.. and Ill Then it be-
'omes a dual line. One branch runs
through John Of Gaunt, "time-hon-
,red Lancaster" John, Marquis Of Dor
'et; John Beaufort, Duke Of Somerset;
md Margaret Countess Of Richmond.
o Henry VII. The other runs through
Prince Edmund, son Of Edward Ill;
Richard Duke of York; a second Rich
-rd, Duke Of York, and King Edward
V. to Elizabeth, wife cf Henry VII.
Thus in the first Tudor reign the two
re united into single line. Thence it
roceeds through Margaret, wife Of
anes ". Of Scotland; James V. Of
cctand, Mary Stuart, Queen Of Scots;
anles l Of England. Elizabeth, wife Of
ling Frederick Of Bohemia; Sophia, wife
Ernest Augustus, Elector Of Hanover;
Ieorge l. and George H. Of England.
frederick Lewis, Prince Of Wales;
gorge Ill, Of England, Edward Angus
is, Duke of Kent, and Victoria, queen :
nd empress.
Edward VII is thus in the thirty
fth generation from Egbert, the first !
ing Of England, though he Is the fifty
ghth sovereign in the line. It will be
Oserved that many famous soverelgns
re not among his progentors, among L
lese being Edward the Confessor, all
le Normans, Richard, the Lion Heart
i. Henry VIII, the two Charleges
10 William and Mary. The line in I
udes members Of the houses of Pan
genet, York, Tudor, Stuart and Han
'er, and non-reigning Lancastrians
the wars of the Roses it was di- .
ded between the two sides It has a
zen said that the name Of Edward
III not be pleasing to Scotland. But
is exceedingly doubtful that the Scots
today cherish any animosity on ac.
unit of what occurred six centuries
70. especially toward a king who is Il
scsnded from, their patron saint, a.
leen Margaret; from Mary, Queen OF G