In early 927, King Aethelstan conquered the final Danelaw kingdom of York and officially came to control all of England.

Then soon after on the 12th of July that year, Aethelstan was officially recognised by all the lesser Celtic and Norse rulers as King of the English.

Incidentally, that day is also my birthday. So happy birthday to England and to me!

It was about this date in 1321, at Westminster, that Queen Isabella got down on her knees before Edward II to plead for the Despensers to be exiled.

Earlier that summer, the Marcher lords had ravaged the countryside on their way to London to demand the king exile the Despensers: https://old.reddit.com/r/UKmonarchs/comments/1m0qp9j/mayjuly_1321_the_marchers_ravage_the_countryside/

In July, Isabella had just given birth to her and Edward's daughter Joan, at the Tower. Her apartments were in such disrepair that water leaked from the ceiling onto her while she was giving birth, something that infuriated the king.

The Marcher lords, including Mortimer and the king's cousin Thomas of Lancaster, arrived at London to put forth a list of complaints against the Despensers. Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, quickly arrived to try to mediate between them and Edward II. Edward held firm. He would not banish the Despensers, even at the risk of being deposed.

Pembroke spoke to the queen and she agreed to intercede. She went before the king and begged on her knees to make peace and exile the Despensers, according to the Annales Paulini. Even then, it took the combined efforts of Isabella, Pembroke, the earl of Richmond, and the archbishops to convince Edward II. It was not until 14 August that he finally agreed to exile the Despensers.

1950 - Her Royal Highness the now Princess Royal is born at Clarence House, the second child and only daughter of HLM Queen Elizabeth II and HLRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

1979 - Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, is assassinated off the coast of Mullaghmore, County Sligo, ROI, by a bomb planted by IRA member Thomas McMahon. His grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, Nicholas’ paternal grandmother Lady Brabourne, and local boy Paul Maxwell are killed as well.

Portrait of George III in His Coronation Robes, c.1760 by Allan Ramsay.

2012 - After lying undisturbed for exactly 527 years, the remains of King Richard III, the last Plantagenet monarch and last English king killed in action, are discovered on the site of the former Greyfriars Friary in Leicester, England.

Incidentally today is also his birthday

This was the beginning of the end for Piers Gaveston.

He had returned from his third and final exile, reuniting with Edward II. A meeting of great lords and the archbishop Winchelsey met at St. Paul's on March 13 to come up with a plan to deal with this. Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, and John de Warenne, earl of Surrey, were appointed with capturing Gaveston.

They caught up with Gaveston in early May, when he left Tynemouth for Scarborough, and by the 17th Scarborough was besieged. The earl of Lancaster cut off the route towards Knaresborough, where Edward II was.

The agreed terms of surrender:

-- Aymer, John de Warenne, and Henry Percy agreed to take Gaveston to St. Mary's Abbey in York.

-- There they would present the agreement to the king and Lancaster.

-- They agreed to guarantee Gaveston's safety.

-- Gaveston agreed not to persuade Edward II to change the agreement to his favor.

On this day, Edward II and his queen Isabella were asleep in their silken pavilion in Pontoise, after spending several days partying and feasting with her family in Paris. A fire broke out (unknown cause) and fortunately the royal couple awoke. Isabella tried to save some of their items and was badly burned on her arms. Edward picked her up and carried her to safety, while both were toute nue (totally nude) according to Godefroy of Paris, a chronicler and eyewitness.

That being done, Edward then went back into the pavilion and saved MORE people, I'm guessing their servants and courtiers. Godefroy praises him for his bravery in the face of danger, saying "love made him do it" (Mes amor le fesoit ouvrer)

James II of Scotland was the only surviving son of James I of Scotland and Joan Beaufort. Joan herself was the granddaughter of John of Gaunt, tying the Stewarts to the English ruling family. More specifically, the Lancasters. He had a large birthmark on the side of his face, leading to his epithet of "Fiery Face". From at least my own research, many depictions neglect this feature of James.

Just six years old when he became king in 1437, following the brutal assassination of his father, James I, at Perth. Crowned at Holyrood amid political instability, his minority was dominated by power struggles among Scotland’s leading noble families, particularly the rival factions of the Crichtons, Livingstons, and the mighty Black Douglases. As a child, James was a pawn in their schemes. One of the most infamous episodes of this turbulent period was the “Black Dinner” of 1440, when the young William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas, and his brother were invited to dine at Edinburgh Castle, only to be summarily executed possibly with the tacit approval of those claiming to act in the king's name. The young king allegedly disapproved of his regents' actions, and begged for them to spare their lives. This likely contributed to his later activities in demolishing any who could rival the king for power as the regents dismissed James's concerns.

As James came of age, he gradually asserted his independence and authority. In 1449, he married Mary of Guelders, a politically advantageous union that also strengthened his personal base of support. The marriage, although politically arranged, seems to also have been genuine. The two would have seven children, five of which survived into adulthood. Their sons James (later James III), Alexander, and John would become powerful nobles, while their daughters Mary and Margaret would marry into influential Scottish families.

With his queen beside him and growing in confidence, James turned his attention to breaking the power of the Black Douglas family, who had grown so powerful they were described as a "kingdom within a kingdom." Tensions reached a peak in 1452, when James personally murdered William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, in Stirling Castle after accusing him of treason. Though the act was shocking across Europe, it marked a decisive shift in royal authority. Over the next few years, James led a concerted military campaign to dismantle the Douglas strongholds, eventually defeating the family in 1455 at the Battle of Arkinholm and confiscating much of their land.

Between 1455 and 1460, James toured the kingdom extensively, visiting regions no monarch had seen in decades, or even centuries. He developed a reputation for speaking directly with commoners, from peasants to pub landlords, offering assistance and taking a personal interest in local concerns. He viewed kingship not just as a right but a sacred duty. While renowned for his charisma and energy, James was also known for his fiery temper; a trait perhaps foreshadowed by both his epithet and his earlier dealings with the Douglases. Moreover, while James did not share his father's enjoyment of literature, he supported its' importance nonetheless. He was a patron of St Salvator's College in St. Andrews and the University of Glasgow.

James's cousin, Henry VI of England, sent ambassadors to treat with James, and offered to restore to Scotland the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Durham, as the price of his help against the Duke of York. James eagerly supported this as his maternal uncle, the John Duke of Somerset, was killed fighting for Henry at the battle of St. Albans, and after the defeat and capture of Henry himself at Northampton in July 1460, his wife Margaret and son Edward fled to Scotland for sanctuary, which James granted them.

Having restored royal authority and expanded the crown's holdings, James pursued ambitious plans to strengthen Scotland’s military and fortifications. In 1460, he launched a siege against Roxburgh Castle, one of the last English-held strongholds in the Borders, and brought with him a battery of modern artillery then a novelty in Scottish warfare. During the siege, Queen Mary and her entourage arrived over the hills to see the final parts of the siege. Wishing to honour his beloved wife with the cannons he received from her homeland, James ordered to fire them off to announce her arrival. However, disaster struck when one of his cannons exploded beside him. James was killed instantly, his thigh reportedly torn apart by shrapnel. He was just 29 years old.

His queen, Mary of Guelders, immediately took charge, keeping the army together and completing the siege. The castle fell shortly after James’s death. Their nine-year-old son was crowned James III, and Mary served as regent in the years that followed. James II’s reign had begun in chaos and regency but ended with the restoration of royal authority and the weakening of powerful magnates.