The Wheel of Fortune (novel) the auspices of the National Trust. Shortly after the inauguration ceremony, the Godwin family enjoys one last dance in Oxmoon's now restored ballroom before closing for the night. Howatch acknowledges that this novel is in fact a re-creation in a modern form of the story of the Plantagenet family of Edward III of England, the modern characters being created from those of his eldest son Edward of Woodstock ("The Black Prince") and his wife Joan of Kent, John of Gaunt and his mistress, later wife, Katherine Swynford, Richard II (son of Edward of Woodstock), Henry IV (son of John of
Coronation of the British monarch to mark the high point of his reign, or that he reached the age of 30, the age at which Jesus Christ was baptised. Harold II was crowned on the day after the death of his predecessor, Edward the Confessor, the rush probably reflecting the contentious nature of Harold's succession; whereas the first Norman monarch, William I, was also crowned on the day he became king, 25 December 1066, but three weeks since the surrender of English nobles and bishops at Berkhampstead, allowing time to prepare a spectacular ceremony. Most of his successors were crowned within weeks, or even days,