Did You Know?

Queen Anne Boleyn was reported to have had six fingers?  This was refuted, but it’s quite possible she did have two nails on her right little finger.

Churchill and Hitler were both artists.

Margaret Thatcher, once a chemist, assisted in the creation of soft serve ice cream.

It is normally thought that Henry VIII finished his marriages as follows: Divorced, beheaded, survived.  It is commonly believed that Catherine Parr (his last wife) was the only queen to survive him.  However, both Anne of Cleves and Catherine of Aragon survived his royal malfeasance.  Catherine of Aragon was never divorced by the Catholic church nor was the marriage annulled by them.  King Henry was excommunicated from the church and pushed an annulment through after the reformation.  He ordered that Catherine should have the title of Dowager Duchess of Wales.

The queen owns the sturgeons, whales, and dolphins in the waters around the UK.

George II died on the toilet and may have shared the same fate as Edmund II who was rumored to have been stabbed to death by a Viking hiding in his privy.

The queen is the only person in Britain who legally drove without a license or number plate on her car.

Owain Glyndwr was the last native-born man to hold the title of Prince of Wales.

Queen Victoria used chloroform as an anesthetic during childbirth.

Shakespeare’s father made gloves for a living.

During Elizabeth I’s time, makeup containing lead was used as an anti-aging cosmetic.

In 1952, the Great Smog encompassed London and killed anywhere from 4,000 to 12,000 people.  The “Big Smoke” is still used in reference to London.

Wales has more castles than any other country in Europe!  With over 600 castles, you might think the Welsh loved building them, but in truth, many were built by the English to keep the Welsh under control.

Queen Elizabeth I was reputed to be a man! (Of course, a woman couldn’t have been such a strong monarch!)

A folly (virtually unknown in the U.S.) is an expensive ornamental structure with no practical purpose.

Queen Victoria was the first monarch whose likeness was pressed on a postage stamp.

Edward VIII, the king who abdicated his throne for an American divorcee, was a Nazi sympathizer.  Upon the Nazis winning the war, he would possibly have been replaced on the British throne as its monarch.  He also encouraged an infamous picture in 1933 of Princess Elizabeth and her family performing a Nazi salute!

Queen Boudica of the Iceni is rumored to be buried under platform 9 at Kings Cross Station.

Shakespeare was a great propagandist for the Tudors.  His Richard III had little bearing on the real Richard III who was by all reports a handsome and well-liked ruler.  There is a lot of controversy over Richard’s involvement with the Princes in the Tower, but he certainly wasn’t freakish or sporting a withered arm.  He was, however, judged to have had severe scoliosis rather than a hunched back.  All this propaganda ensured that the public viewed the Tudors as rightful heirs to the throne and the northern kings as abhorrent.

Do you have any trivia to add?  Let us know in the Comments section!