Stewart of Darnley Stewart of Darnley Stewart of Darnley was a notable Scots family, a branch of the Clan Stewart, who provided the English Stuart monarchs with their male-line Stuart descent, after the reunion of their branch with the royal Scottish branch, which led to the ultimate union of the two main kingdoms of Great Britain: England and Scotland. In 1565 the House of Stewart of Darnley was re-united with the Royal House of Stewart when Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley married his first cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, both being grandchildren of Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England, and hence
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,