Names of Kings and Queens

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in Toronto

Though most British Kings and Queens have used their first baptismal name as their regnal name, on four occasions monarchs have varied from this trend:

• King Robert III was christened John;
• Queen Victoria was christened Alexandrina Victoria, but was known as Princess Victoria from birth and took the throne under that name.
• King Edward VII was christened "Albert Edward"
• King George VI was christened "Albert George"

In the case of Robert III, he ascended the throne of Scotland in 1390, known as John, Earl of Carrick, he deemed it imprudent to become "John II", as recent kings named John had turned out badly; King John of England had a cruel reputation and suffered rebellion, and John Balliol in Scotland was portrayed as a betrayer. John Baliol was left off the king lists, portrayed as no legitimate king, which the crowning of a "John II" would contradict. This John of Carrick took the regnal name of Robert III, honouring his father and great-grandfather.

In 1901 Albert Edward, Prince of Wales took the name "Edward" against the wish of his late mother Queen Victoria that her descendants would bear the name "Albert" indefinitely, and rather than rule as "Albert-Edward" as the Queen had intended, he chose to be Edward alone, saying that he did not wish to diminish the status of his father, Prince Albert. In 1936, after the abdication crisis the Duke of York, Albert Frederick Arthur George, ascended the throne as King George VI perhaps with the same considerations in mind.

Regnal number

On her accession to the throne in 1952, Princess Elizabeth (who was baptized Elizabeth Alexandra Mary), chose to use her own name in accordance with precedent. In Scotland there had never been an earlier Elizabeth however and a few characters decided to be offended by the "II", and went as far as to vandalise some Royal Mail post boxes which bore the Royal Cypher EIIR, and one even brought a claim in the Court of Session (MacCormick v. Lord Advocate, (1953 SC 396)) to contest Her Majesty's right to entitle herself Elizabeth II within Scotland. The case was dismissed.

No similar upset was claimed for the numbers of King Edward VII nor of King Edward VIII.

This fuss over two letters led to a decision, announced to the House of Commons by Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister, that where the Scottish and English numerals conflict, the higher of the two would be chosen.

In Her Majesty's other realms in the Commonwealth, She ruled as "Elizabeth II" notwithstanding that Elizabeth I was never Queen in any of them.

List of names and numbers

Some royal names have been used only once, and some repeatedly. The highest regnal number is "VIII", used by Henry VIII and Edward VIII, though three unnumbered Edwards ruled England before King Edward I (who in his day was on occasion known as "Edward II" in succession to Edward the Confessor, the canonised king who died in 1066). Therefore English numbering is considered to begin from the Norman Conquest simply to avoid confusing the Edwards. If this is the case, any reuse of the name of an Anglo-Saxon king would presumably not make the bearer "II", though no such name has been used in England since the Norman conquest other than 'Edward'.

Some kings are left off the usual king lists, for example Edgar II, also known as Edgar the Ætheling, who was proclaimed after the death of Harold II but was overtaken and surrendered to William the Conqueror, and Lady Jane Grey, the nine-days' queen. Some early monarchs amongst the Scots and Picts are uncertain, heard of in a chronicle or a poem somewhere but otherwise unknown and so are discounted as doubtful.

The kings of Scotland and of England only are listed as the throne is in succession to them, not to regional kings whose kingdoms have been dissolved.

Name	Kingdoms	Numbers	Another would be
Áed	Scotland
Alexander	Scotland	I, II, III	IV
Alfred	England
Anne	Gt Britain		II
Athelstan	England
Canute	England
Charles	Gt Britain	I, II	IV
	UK	III
Colin	Scotland		II
Constantine	Scotland	I, II, III	IV
David	Scotland	I, II	III
Donald	Scotland	I, II, II,	V
Duff	Scotland		II
Duncan	Scotland	I, II	III
Eadred	England
Eadwig	England
Edgar	England		II
	Scotland
Edmund	England	I, II
Edward	England	i, ii, iii, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VI	IX
	UK	VII, VIII
Egbert	England
Elizabeth	England	I	III
	UK	II
Æthelbald	England
Ethelbert	England
Ethelred	England	I, II
Æthelwulf	England
George	Gt Britain	I, II, III	VII
	UK	III, IV, V, VI
Hardicanute	England
Harold	England	I, II
Henry	England	I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII	IX
Indulf	Scotland		II
James	England	I, II	VIII
	Scotland	I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII
John	England		II
	Scotland
Kenneth	Scotland	I, II, III	IV
Lulach	Scotland		II
Macbeth	Scotland		II
Malcolm	Scotland	I, II, III, IV	V
Margaret	Scotland		II
Mary	England	I, II	III
	Scotland	I, II
Matilda	England		II
Richard	England	I, II, III	IV
Robert	Scotland	I, II, III	IV
Stephen	England		II
Victoria	UK		II
William	England	I, II, III	V
	Scotland	I, II
	UK	IV