KINGS AND QUEENS OF BRITAINJANA BARTOOV

CONTENSBOUDICCAALFRED THE GREATWILLIAM IHENRY VIIIELIZABETH ICHARLES IEDWARD VIIITHE QUEEN TODAY

BOUDICCAIn AD 43 there were a lot of kings and queens all over Britain.The Roman emperor, Claudius, wanted to be emperor of all Britain. His Roman soldiers came to Britain to take the country from the British kings and queens.

In the east of England there was a young queen called Boudicca. Her husband died and she became Queen. The Roman soldiers hit her and her children. Boudicca and hundreds of her people killed the Roman soldiers. They burned the Roman city of London. Thousands and thousands of Roman soldiers came to Britain and Boudicca`s men began to run away. Six month later Boudicca died. We remember her because she was the first famous British queen.

ALFRED THE GREATHe was born in 849. At that time there were a lot of Danish soldiers in the north of England. They killed Alfred`s brothers, burned English towns and came to south of England. But Alfred and his men learned to fight better and better. Danes began to lose.

He was king for 28 years. In his time, English people made a lot of new schools. They began to write the first books in England. He was strong and good king.

WILLIAM IA Frenchman, William of Normandy, wanted to be king of England after the old king Edward. He had to fight the Norwegians. William`s men killed Harold Godwinsson. It was The Battle of Hastings 1066. So then he was king of England. His wife and her women made a beautiful long picture called The Bayeux Tapestry to tell this story.

William was king for 21 years. We know a lot about England in William`s time from Domesday Book.William was a strong king. His children and his children`s children were kings for 200 years.

HENRY VIIIHe was born in 1491 and in 1509 he married Catherine of Aragon. She had a daughter but Henry wanted a son. England was a Catholic country at the beginning of Henry`s reign and the Pope refused to let Henry divorce his wife and marry again. Henry decided the English church should become independent from the Catholic church. England became a Protestant country and Henry went on to marry again and again.

Henry`s wives 1.Catherine of Aragon divorced, mother of Queen Mary I

2.Anne Boleyn beheaded, mother of Queen Elizabeth I

3.Jane Seymour died, mother of King Edward VI

4.Anne of Cleves, divorced

5.Catherine Howard, beheaded

6.Catherine Parr, died 1548

Henry died in 1547. He was 56 years old. Because of him The King and Queen of England is always The Head of The Church of England.Ann Boleyn`s daughter, Elizabeth, was one of England`s most famous queens.

ELIZABETH IThe young Elizabeth had a very difficult time. Her father, King Henry VIII, killed her mother Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary, Catherine of Aragon`s daughter, was Queen. Elizabeth was in prison. Elizabeth died in 1603. She was 70 years old. After her, Mary`s son, James, was king. He was king of Scotland. He was the first king of England and Scotland.

Mary died in 1558 and Elizabeth was Queen of England and Wales for 45 years. She had no husband and no children. Many people think she was England`s best queen.

England at that time was strong and happy country. Queen and parliament worked well. An Englishmen, Francis Drake, went around the world in his ship, the Golden Hinde.

In London, William Shakespeare began to write his famous plays.For 20 years the Scottish queen, Mary, was in prison in England. She was beheaded in 1587.

CHARLES IKing Charles did not work well with his Parliament. The King`s soldiers began to fight the soldiers of Parliament. Oliver Cromwell was Parliament`s most important man. Cromwell`s men killed the King.

For 12 years there was no king in England and Oliver Cromwell was the most important man in the country.In 1659 Cromwell died.

EDWARD VIIIIt is not easy for an English king to marry. He can`t marry a Catholic or marry a divorced woman.In 1936 Edward VIII was the new king of England. He was 43 and he loved an American lady called Wallis Simpson. She wasn`t a Catholic, but she was divorced. Edward wanted to marry her and be her third husband.

The most important people in the Church and Parliament didn`t want her to be Queen.Edward decided to marry her and so in 1936 the new King was Edward`s younger brother George. Edward went away from England with his new wife and never came back.

THE QUEEN TODAY Queen Elizabeth II was born in 1926 and she was Queen in 1952. She is Queen of England, Wales, Scotland and Nothern Ireland.Once a year she opens Parliament and once a week she talks to the Prime Minister. The Queen is Head of The Church of England.

She is Head of the Commonwealth, too. In 1996 there were 51 countries in the Commonwealth. A hundred years ago all these countries were British. Now they are free, but they are in the Commonwealth and their Prime ministers meet and talk every year.Queen Elizabeth is also Queen of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and a lot of smaller countries

.She is important because people like her and want to have a Queen. She visits people all over the world. Thousands of people come to London every year to see her.

Thank you for your attention