News about James II

Cumbrian farmer Mark Scott (left) said he taken his JCB Telehandler to a country lane and lifted boulders across the entrance to help the local parish council, which is fed up with attendees moving onto people's land. But this year things went frighteningly wrong when travellers arrived early and were already there when he began his task. In the confrontation he suffered a barrage of insults and veiled threats, but refused to back down.

This is the moment travellers staged a sit down protest during a row with a farmer who tried to make to make his land inaccessible to caravans in the run-up to the annual Appleby Horse Fair. Members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community have started arriving almost a month early for the event in the Cumbrian town which doesn't begin until June 6. The travellers reportedly prevented the farmer from blocking the entrance to his land at Belah, outside Appleby, with boulders using a JCB digger. His machine was surrounded by members of a travelling family - with one man standing directly behind the JCB to stop it reversing. Others - including one woman who said she would be turning 90 this week - took turns to berate the farmer.

The portrait titled Three Eldest Children of Charles I was on display beneath the staircase in Oxburgh Estate in Norfolk and viewed by thousands of visitors each year. Historians always believed it to be an oil painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck.

The Business Secretary and Equalities Minister said that UK's economic success is instead the result of 'British ingenuity and industry' as she welcomed a new book by a rightwing think tank. Despite the British Empire once being geographically the largest the world has ever seen, political economist Kristian Niemietz claimed Britain's growth was not financed by the slave trade or its imperial possessions. Writing for the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr Niemietz has argued that colonialism made only a 'minor contribution' to Britain's economic development, 'and quite possibly none at all', with the benefits outweighed by the military and administrative cost of running an empire. He added that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was no more important to the British economy than sheep-farming or brewing, and most trade was with North America and Western Europe rather than the colonies, even if some individuals did become 'very rich' from 'overseas engagement'.

With 1980s fashion coming back into style, which is mostly a good thing, there are a few items that can stay put. Sweatbands, for instance: Olivia Newton-John briefly made them trendy with the suggestive video for her hit song Physical. Unfortunately, on mere mortals they look rubbish. Oh, and then there's the Spandex bodysuit. Likewise the shell suit, the brightly patterned polyester trouser and jacket combo, has mercifully gone.

Kemi Badenoch today slammed claims Britain is only wealthy because of 'colonialism and white privilege'. The Business Secretary insisted the establishment of Parliamentary democracy and the rule of law was at the heart of the country's success. She also hit out at calls for mandatory ethnicity quotas in the financial sector, jibing that her job often involved 'killing bad ideas'. The comments came as Ms Badenoch spoke at the CityUK international conference.

A new series by Channel 4, The Jury: Murder Trial, dramatises a lawsuit, with two juries independently requesting verdicts on the same subject. It's an absurdity. A real jury, in a world where jurors are not supposed to merrily discuss the trial as they do in the program, would be very dull television. The C4 version is, on the other hand, much like a jury. And, thank goodness, the suggestion that we are getting a good trial is incorrect. I used to cover trials in my 20s in the Swindon Magistrates and Crown Court, and here snippets of evidence in the TV show are very different from the real thing.

On his father's side, the actor, 59, revealed on X that he is related to 11th Lord Lovat, who became Britain's last man to be executed on Tower Hill in 1747. Fraser's murder inspired the expression 'laughing your head off' because a scaffold holding spectators collapsed moments before he was executed, causing the rebel to break out in fits of giggles. The Scot was executed after helping Bonnie Prince Charlie, the doomed Jacobite figurehead who was defeated at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746.

Since photographs of Prince Frederik enjoying a night out with a Mexican socialite in Madrid in October, the Danish royal family has been rocked by rumors of an affair in recent weeks. Princess Mary, 51, was seen this week as she bid farewell to friends at Queenstown Airport in New Zealand after a four-day journey, amid the media storm surrounding the scandal. The Tasmanian-born royal started her Christmas break in Australia on December 6 with her two youngest children, twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, but without her husband. Prince Frederik, 55, was reunited with his wife a few days after the couple were seen touching down in separate planes in Queenstown on Monday. Isabella, the heir to the Danish throne, arrived in the country's 16-year-old daughter. However, amid the scandalous 'affair' rumors after Frederik's ouster with 47-year-old socialite Genoveva Casanova, he remains just as popular with Denmark's population, according to a recent survey.

Prince Christian's Danish royal family has released a new portrait (pictured), marking a crucial moment for the Danish royal family. Christian, who recently celebrated his 18th birthday, is second in line to the throne after his father Prince Frederik and current monarch Margrethe. He made a "solemn promise" that the constitution would be followed. This formal pledge to uphold the country's constitution is a major step forward in his career as a king-in-waiting. It is a condition that the Prince be able to be named Governor in the event that both Her Majesty and His Royal Highness are disqualified from leading the administration,' a social media post from the royal house explained.' The family portrait depicts the family putting on a united front, amid rumors that Christian Prince Frederik spent an evening out in the Spanish capital with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova in October, without his wife of 19 years Princess Mary.

Prince Frederik of Denmark (pictured inset with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova), 55, grinned while guiding Prince Christian (left and right), 18, to his seat at the The Council Chamber in Copenhagen, Denmark. A video of the occasion from TV2 was posted on the Kongehuset Instagram account, and Queen Margrethe II's eldest son pulled the chair out for his mother. Princess Mary, the husband and son's, was not in attendance, but the family was later seen dancing in the car (pictured bottom right), all in good spirits.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Genoveva Casanova's photographs on a night out in Madrid without his wife Crown Princess Mary have emerged. In the Spanish capital last month, the heir to the throne and the Mexican socialite had a night out. The royal and reality TV stars are seen enjoying a stroll through the park last week before changing into a new set of clothes and heading out again for the evening.

James Litston takes on the Somerset Levels and walks across the marshes from the village of Westonzoyland with 'no one around.' The 'low-lying wetlands' are described as'very steeped in history and folklore.' The area is believed to have ties to King Arthur...

Camilla Tominey, a British royal reporter, told Today that after the Danish heir to the throne, 55, was photographed by Lecturas magazine in Madrid alongside reality star Genoveva Casanova, she said she did not make a statement. Divorcee Genoveva (pictured left) - the former daughter-in-law of the billionaire Duchess of Alba - told Hola! She 'categorically' disputes any suggestion that the two are romantically involved by refusing to believe that they are connected, by naming the rumors as both "malicious" and untrue. However, Ms Tominey said Princess Mary, 51, and her husband would avoid addressing the rumors and instead opting for the British Family's unofficial slogan of 'never complain, never explain.'

Most believe the new Prince of Wales will be titled after the four British kings previously referred to him. Not so - his name comes from a little-known British prince who died in a plane crash 51 years ago, unmarried and without children.

With his real estate heiress wife Belén Corsini, the Count of Osorno (pictured) is expecting his first child. The couple's lavish May 2021 nuptials were revealed by Spanish media, prompting their happy news. Carlos Fitz-James Stuart y Sols, the Count of Osorno, is Spain's richest woman and the youngest son of the 19th Duke of Alba, who inherited a £2.2 billion estate after the late Duchess of Alba died in November 2014. In the meantime, his wife, who was born in one of Spain's richest families, also comes from one of the country's richest families. Belén is Carlos Corsini Senespleda's great-granddaughter, engineer and founder of Corsan, a building and public works company that was sold for 325 million euros in 2004.

The Royal Family is proud of its Scottish roots and wishes to make the majority of them, not least at this time of the year, when senior members decamp to Balmoral in Aberdeenshire. If King Charles can claim a direct descendant from James VI of Scotland and I of England, his sons William and Harry have notably more Scottish blood in their veins, despite the fact that they are not allowed to be seen in kilts. No fewer than seven Stuart monarchs ruled Scotland and England from 1603-1714.

The stunning 17th century estate on which television star Midsomer Murders (right) and films Maleficent and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were shot has hit the market for £6 million. Bulstrode Park (left) is in need after Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, dates back to 1686 and is the home of infamous Judge Jeffreys, and is just 40 minutes from central London. Jeffreys, nicknamed the 'Hanging Judge,' served as Lord Chancellor under King James II in the 17th century and died at the countryside estate in 1709.

The ceremony is hosted by the Mounted Bands of the Household Cavalry and the Massed Bands of the Household Division, as a vibrant display of military music and precision drill. This year, a member of the Royal Family salutes the Duchess of Edinburgh, while Princess Anne takes the award on Thursday's grand finale.

Today, as King Charles receives the Honours of Scotland, the country's oldest crown jewels, he will honor a Scottish monarchy that dates back to the tenth century and before. It's a line of royal descent that includes renowned yet far-away figures such as Kings Duncan and Macbeth, Robert the Bruce and Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1745, the prospect of a Scottish king did not seem so distant, as Bonnie Prince Charlie led a army of Jacobites south from Scotland toward London. The future of the United Kingdom hung in the balance.

On July 1, King Willem-Alexander (pictured right with his wife Queen Maxima) is set to make a formal apology on what is referred to as Keti Koti, or Emancipation Day in the Netherlands. According to a report conducted by the country's government, the Dutch royal house earned more than £800 million from the trade and the conquest of subjugated regions. Experts have confirmed that King Willem-Alexander's decision could have a huge effect on Charles' next move. In April, he sponsored a groundbreaking UK study into the monarchy's role in the slave trade. Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal biographer, told MailOnline that the Dutch King's forthcoming apology will'influence the way that others behave in European monarchies where there are former emperates.' Charles (left) may consider'an apology and will be placed under'more pressure' if other European royal families decide to apologise, according to fellow commentator Phil Dampier. Norman Baker, a leading critic of the royal family's finances, said the Dutch vote will place more pressure on Charles and that he'probably will'apologize. Inset: The landing of Dutch colonial chief Jan van Riebeeck at what is now Cape Town in South Africa in the 16th century

On July 1, King Willem-Alexander (pictured left with his wife Queen Maxima) is set to make a formal apology on the country's 160th anniversary of slavery's liberation on what is known as Keti Koti, or Emancipation Day. According to a report published by the Dutch government, Princes of Orange, including William III, who became the King of England, aided in the establishment of a programme of exploitation, slavery, and slave labour in Asia and the Caribbean. Last week, the new report, titled 'State and Slavery,' was unveiled to MPs. During the Dutch slave trade and the colonialism period, the House of Orange earned the equivalent of €1 billion (£853 million) in today's money. It came after King Charles endorsed a landmark UK report into the king's involvement in the slave trade. The study is expected to examine past kings' relationships with slave-trading organizations, including the Royal African Company and Edward Colston, whose statue was unveiled in Bristol Harbour by anti-racism demonstrators in 2020. Also pictured: Jan van Riebeeck's landing in Cape Town, South Africa, in the 16th century (right); slaves are led by Dutch soldier Gabriel Stedman (inset).

Henry I is far from the only English king whose remains have been lost to time. Among those without a confirmed burial site is Alfred the Great and King Edward V. Edward and his brother, who went missing in 1483 and are thought to have been killed on the orders of their uncle, Richard III. King Harold II, who was defeated at the Battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror in 1066, is also missing. King Stephen, a priest who died in 1154, was initially buried at Faversham Abbey, but his remains were discovered in 1538 after the Monasteries' dissolution. After being deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, King James II died in exile in France. His body was later discovered dissected, and his intestines were interred in a French church. His brain's whereabouts remain a mystery. And although Oliver Cromwell didn't have aspired to be king, he did rule as Lord Protector after Charles I's execution. His body is thought to have been thrown in a pit after the monarchy's restoration in 1660, but his head could have been buried beneath Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

"Everywhere you look there's history," Neil Clark says of Colyton: "Everywhere you look there's history." For example, it was once referred to as 'Devon's most rebellious place' as a result of a 1685 rebellion against the new Catholic King James II. According to him, the town has steep narrow streets built on the circular Saxon model, and if you visit in summer, you'll see vibrant heraldic banners proudly fluttering from its buildings.