At a glance - Monarchs of British islands

Chronologically by year of accesion

Explanation of selected terminology and symbols

Label	Explanation
Year of accession	Year of the monarch's accession to the throne prior to coronation
Issue (leg.)	Number of children born to the monarch and recognised as legitimate heirs by virtue of having been conceived in wedlock.
Issue (illeg.)	Number of children born to the monarch deemed illegtitimate due to having conceived out of wedlock.
W	Monarch was a woman
Uncrowned	Monarch recognised as having acceeded to the throne but with no subsequent coronation.
Disputed	Subject's claim to the specific is disputed, in most if not all cases indicating they ruled over a majority of the realm, not its entirety.
Lifespan / reign	Monarch's overall lifespan % of lifespan as monarch

As of the 1707 Acts of Union

Monarch	Title	Born	Year of accession	Died	Issue (Leg.)	Issue (Illeg.)
	Charles III	1948	2022	--	2	0
	Elizabeth II	1926 W	1952	2022	4	0
Brother	George VI Also final monarch of Ireland and India	1895	1936	1952	2	0
	Edward VIII Uncrowned Voluntarily abdicated after ten months	1894	1936	1972	0	0
	George V	1865	1910	1936	6	0
	Edward VII Also first Emperor of India and first King of British Dominions	1841	1901	1910	6	0
Niece	Victoria Also Empress of India from 1876	1819 W	1837	1901	9	0
Brother	William IV Also final King of Hanover	1765	1830	1837	2	10
	George IV Also first King of Hanover from 1814	1762	1820	1830	1	0
Grand- son	George III	1738	1760	1820	15	0
	George II	1683	1727	1760	8	0
2nd Cousin	George I	1660	1714	1727	2	3
Sister-in-law	Anne	1665 W	1702	1714	5	0
	Continuing from William III

As of the Restoration of the British monarchy in 1660

MONARCH	Title	Born	Year of accession	Died	Issue (Leg.)	Issue (Illeg.)
Husband	William III aka William of Orange and as William II in Scotland	1650	1689	1702	0	0
	Mary II	1662 W	1689	1694	0	0
Brother	James II As James VII in Scotland	1633	1685	1701	15*	7*
	Charles II	1630	1660*	1685	0	14+

As of the Commonwealth of England established in 1649

Title	Born	Year of accession	Died	Issue (Leg.)	Issue (Illeg.)
Richard Cromwell	1626	1658	1712	8	n/a
Oliver Cromwell	1599	1653	1658	9	n/a

Of England (also Wales from 1283 and Ireland from 1542)

Monarch	Title	Born	Year of accession	Died	Issue (Leg.)	Issue (Illeg.)
	Charles I	1600	1625	1649	9	0
1st cousin twice removed	James I Already James VI in Scotland since 1567	1566	1603	1625	7	0
Half-sister	Elizabeth I	1533 W	1558	1603	0	0
1st cousin once removed	Mary I with Philip of Naples / Philip II of Spain	1516 W	1553	1558	0	0
1st cousin once removed	Jane Disputed aka Lady Jane Grey	1536 / 1537 W	1553	1554	0	0
	Edward VI	1537	1547	1553	0	0
	Henry VIII Also King of Ireland from 1542	1491	1509	1547	4	1+
4th cousin once removed	Henry VII	1457	1485	1509	8	1
Uncle	Richard III	1452	1483	1485	1	2
	Edward V Uncrowned	1470	1483	1483*	0	0
3rd cousin twice removed	Edward IV Deposed for six months and replaced by Henry VI between 1470 and 1471.	1442	1461	1483	10	5+
	Henry VI Deposed for nine and a half years before a second brief reign between 1470 and 1471.	1421	1422	1471	1	0
	Henry V	1387	1413	1422	1	0
Cousin	Henry IV	1367	1399	1413	6	0
Grand- son	Richard II	1367	1377	1400	0	0
	Edward III Also claimed King of France from 1337	1312	1327	1377	9	0
	Edward II	1284	1307	1327	4	1
	Edward I aka 'Longshanks', also de facto King of Wales from 1283	1239	1274	1307	14+	3
	Henry III	1207	1216	1272	5	0
Brother	John Also Lord of Ireland from 1177	1166	1199	1216	5	0
	Richard aka Richard The Lionheart	1157	1189	1199	0	1
	Henry II aka Henry Plantaganet	1133	1154	1189	10	0
Cousin	Matilda Disputed Former Holy Roman Empress 1114-1125. Disputed reign, as Lady of the English, disrupted the reign of King Stephen between 1141 and 1148.	1102 W	1141	1167	3	0
Nephew	Stephen aka Stephen of Blois. Reign disrupted by the disputed reign of Matilda between 1141 and 1148.	1092 / 1096	1135	1154	5	0
Brother	Henry Also Duke of Normandy from 1106	1068	1100	1135	2+	25+
	William II aka William Rufus	1056	1087	1100	0	0
	William aka William The Conqueror	1028	1066	1087	9+	0
Great nephew	Edgar Disputed Uncrowned aka Edgar the Ætheling	1051	1066	1126	0	0
Brother-in-law	Harold II aka Harold Godwinson	1022	1066	1066	7	0
	Edward aka Edward The Confessor	1003	1043	1066	0	0
	Hartha-cnut additionally as King of Denmark	1018	1040	1042	0	0
	Harold Harefoot Uncrowned	1016 (est.)	1035	1040	0	1*
	Cnut aka Canute, additionally as King of Denmark & Norway	c.995	1017	1035	4	0
	Edmund Ironside	c.991	1016	1016	2	0
	Æthelred aka Ethelred 'the Unready'. Deposed for three months between 1013 and 1014 by Sweyn Forkbeard	c.967	978	1016	13+	0
	Various Rulers of House Wessex	c.450-500	519	978

Of Scotland only

Monarch	Title	Born	Year of accession	Died	Issue (Leg.)	Issue (Illeg.)
	James VI Also King of England and Ireland from 1603 as James I	1566	1567	1625	7	0
	Mary 'Queen of Scots'	1542 W	1542	1587	1	0
	James V	1512	1513	1542	3	9+
	James IV	1473	1488	1513	4	5+
	James III	1451	1460	1488	3	0
	James II	1430	1437	1460	7	1
	James I	1394	1406	1437	8	0
	Robert III	1337 (est.)	1390	1406	7	2+
Nephew of David II	Robert II	1316	1371	1390	14	0
	Edward Balliol Disputed	1283	1332	1367	0	0
	David II	1324	1329	1371	0	0
	Robert aka Robert The Bruce	1274	1306	1329	5	6
	Various Interregnum 1296-1306 House Balliol 1292-1296 Interregnum 1290-1292 House Sverre 1286-1290 (DISP.) House Dunkeld 1034-1286 House Alpin 848-1034		848

About this page

This page was first published in December 2016 and has been updated occasionally since then. Information on this page may change as a result of any inaccuracies identified. Key sources of information for this page include Wikipedia.

Monarchs of British islands

Kings and Queens of England, Scotland, Great Britain and/or the United Kingdom since 1000AD

Monarchs ranked

Oldest at accession

Youngest at coronation

Longest reign

Shortest reign*

Earliest female monarchs*

Most offspring (legitimate issue only)

Most offspring (all known alleged issue)