Regnal years of English monarchs

The following is a list of the official regnal years of the monarchs of the Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Great Britain and United Kingdom from 1066. The regnal calendar ("nth year of the reign of King X", etc.) is used in many official British government and legal documents of historical interest, notably parliamentary statutes.
==Overview==
For centuries, English official public documents have been dated by the regnal years of the ruling monarch. Traditionally, parliamentary statutes are referenced by regnal year, e.g. the Occasional Conformity Act of 1711 is officially referenced as "10 Anne c.6" (read as "the sixth chapter of the statute of the parliamentary session that sat in the 10th year of the reign of Queen Anne"). In the event of a second session, or a second Parliament, in the same regnal year the chapter numbering would reset. As a result either an "s. 2" or "sess. 2" to indicate the second session, or an "Stat. 2" to indicate a second Parliament would be added. For example the Queen Regent's Prerogative Act 1554 is cited as "1 Mary s. 3 c. 1" because it was the first act passed in the third session of the parliament begun in the first year of the reign of Queen Mary, and the Riot Act is cited as "1 Geo 1 Stat. 2. c. 5.", being the fifth act passed in the second parliament of the first year of the reign of George I.
Regnal years are calculated from the official date (year, month and day) of a monarch's accession. For example, King George III acceded on 25 October 1760. That marks the beginning of his first regnal year. His second regnal year starts on 25 October 1761, his third regnal year on 25 October 1762, and so on. When a monarch dies, abdicates or is deposed, the regnal year comes to an end (whether the full year has run its course or not). A new regnal year begins from a new date, with a new monarch.
As different monarchs begin their reigns at different times, the exact month and day when a regnal year begins varies across reigns. For example, Elizabeth I's regnal year starts on 17 November, James I's on 24 March, Charles I's on 27 March, and so on.
The regnal year is distinct from the official "legal year" – that is, the calendar used for legal, civic and ecclesiastical purposes. The legal year also did not always coincide with the start date for the historical year. Until the 13th century, the English legal year began at Christmas (25 December). From the 14th century until 1752, the legal year began on 25 March. It is only since 1752 that the legal year was re-set to coincide with the start of the historical calendar year (1 January) (see Calendar (New Style) Act 1750).
These date differences can also be confusing when sorting dates in old documents before 1753. For example, the reign of Charles I came to an end with his execution on 30 January 1649, but contemporary legal records such as the House of Commons Journals record this as 30 January 1648. To account for this complication, it is customary for historians referring to legal events between 1 January and 25 March to write the year down in "double-barreled" format (e.g. "30 January, 1648-49", the former being the legal year, the latter the historical year).
The regnal years listed below are given in normal historical date (not legal year). So a parliamentary statute that was passed on, say, 10 February 1585 (in normal calendar date) would be dated in the official record as 10 February 1584 (the legal year), and simultaneously said to have been passed in the 27th year of Elizabeth I (the regnal year that started on 17 November 1584).
The 1750 Act reforming the legal year also officially introduced to England the Gregorian calendar on Thursday 14 September 1752. Up until then, England had been using the Julian calendar, which by that time was eleven days behind the calendar of most countries on the European Continent. So events before 1752 in English records often differ from European records, and it is sometimes necessary to refer to both sets of dates using "Old Style" (Julian) and "New Style" (Gregorian) notation, e.g. William of Orange's armada landed in England on 5 November 1688 (OS) or 15 November 1688 (NS)(see Old Style and New Style dates). The dates in the table below follow the English calendar (OS until 1752, NS thereafter).
The following table gives the dates of the regnal years for Kings of England (and subsequently Great Britain), from 1066 to the present day. These are official de jure dates, and may or may not coincide with whether a particular king had de facto power or not at that time. For example, as the Commonwealth era was suppressed in the official record, the regnal years of Charles II are measured from 30 January 1649 (the day his father Charles I was executed); as a result, when Charles II actually became king, on 29 May 1660, he was already in his 12th regnal year. (For the de facto tabulation of English rulers, see any conventional list of English monarchs.)
==Regnal calendar table==
To calculate the regnal year from a particular date, just subtract the first regnal year from the calendar year in question. If the month and day fall before the regnal date, do nothing; if it falls on or after the regnal date, add one. Finally — for the regnal year of William III after Mary’s death (that is, from 28 December 1694 onwards) — you must also add 6.
* Example 1: 4 July 1776. This falls in the reign of George III, whose first regnal year is 1760; so 1776 1760 16th year of his reign (4 July is before 25 October).
* Example 2: 2 May 1662. This is in the reign of Charles II, whose first regnal year is 1649. So 1662 1649 13, add 1 because 2 May is after 30 January, so the date falls in the 14th regnal year of Charles II.
* Example 3: 31 December 1695. This falls in the reign of William III alone (after Mary’s death), whose "first" regnal year is 1694; so 1695 1694 1, add 1 because 31 December is after 28 December, and also add 6 because the date is after Mary’s death (on 27 December), so the date falls in the "8th" year of his reign.
Monarch 	No. of years 	First regnal year	Regnal year start date	Regnal year end date	End of final year
William I 	21 	1066 	14 October 	13 October 	9 Sep 1087
William II 	13 	1087 	26 September 	25 September 	2 Aug 1100
Henry I 	36 	1100 	5 August 	4 August 	1 Dec 1135
Stephen 	19 	1135 	26 December 	25 December 	25 Oct 1154
Henry II 	35 	1154 	19 December 	18 December 	6 Jul 1189
Richard I 	10 	1189 	3 September 	2 September 	6 Apr 1199
John 	18 	1199 	May (Ascension Day) 	May (varied) 	19 Oct 1216
Henry III 	57 	1216 	28 October 	27 October 	16 Nov 1272
Edward I 	35 	1272 	20 November 	20 November 	7 Jul 1307
Edward II 	20 	1307 	8 July 	7 July 	20 Jan 1327
Edward III 	51 (England), 38 (France)	1327 	25 January 	24 January 	21 Jun 1377
Richard II 	23 	1377 	22 June 	21 June 	29 Sep 1399
Henry IV 	14 	1399 	30 September 	29 September 	20 Mar 1413
Henry V 	10 	1413 	21 March 	20 March 	31 Aug 1422
Henry VI 	39 + 1 	1422 	1 September 	31 August 	4 Mar 1461
Edward IV 	23 	1461 	4 March 	3 March 	9 Apr 1483
Edward V 	1 	1483 	9 April 	25 June 	25 Jun 1483
Richard III 	3 	1483 	26 June 	25 June 	22 Aug 1485
Henry VII 	24 	1485 	22 August 	21 August 	21 Apr 1509
Henry VIII 	38 	1509 	22 April 	21 April 	28 Jan 1547
Edward VI 	7 	1547 	28 January 	27 January 	6 Jul 1553
Mary I 	2 	1553 	6 July 	5 July 	24 Jul 1554
"Philip and Mary" 	5 & 6 	1554 	25 July 	24 July 	17 Nov 1558
Elizabeth I 	45 	1558 	17 November 	16 November 	24 Mar 1603
James I 	23 	1603 	25 March 	24 March 	27 Mar 1625
Charles I 	24 	1625 	27 March 	26 March 	30 Jan 1649
Charles II 	37 	1649 	30 January 	29 January 	6 Feb 1685
James II 	4 	1685 	6 February 	5 February 	11 Dec 1688
"William and Mary"	6 	1689 	13 February 	12 February 	27 Dec 1694
William III 	8 (7 to 14) 	1694 	28 December 	27 December 	8 Mar 1702
Anne 	13 	1702 	8 March 	7 March 	1 Aug 1714
George I 	13 	1714 	1 August 	31 July 	11 Jun 1727
George II 	34 	1727 	11 June 	10 June 	25 Oct 1760
George III 	60 	1760 	25 October 	24 October 	29 Jan 1820
George IV 	11 	1820 	29 January 	28 January 	26 Jun 1830
William IV 	7 	1830 	26 June 	25 June 	20 Jun 1837
Victoria 	64 	1837 	20 June 	19 June 	22 Jan 1901
Edward VII 	10 	1901 	22 January 	21 January 	6 May 1910
George V 	26 	1910 	6 May 	5 May 	20 Jan 1936
Edward VIII 	1 	1936 	20 January 	11 December 	11 Dec 1936
George VI 	16 	1936 	11 December 	10 December 	5 Feb 1952
Elizabeth II 	(ongoing; = ) 	1952 	6 February 	5 February 	
==See also==
* List of English monarchs
* List of British monarchs
==Notes==
==References==
Category:British monarchy
Category:Lists of British monarchs