Britain's Real Monarch
Startling new facts came to light in research for a Channel 4 programme on Richard III. The historian Michael K Jones had uncovered what appears to be strong proof that the 15th-century English monarch Edward IV was, in fact, illegitimate, thus throwing the legitimacy of all the kings and queens who followed into question. In fact, it appears that the royal line should have extended, not through Edward, but through his brother, George, Duke of Clarence, and his heirs.Check out our to see who should have been occupying the British throne since the 15th century ? and who should be occupying it now. http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/heads/footnotes/monarchtree.html
Michael I (Michael Hastings, 14th earl of Loudoun)
1942?
Son of Barbara Hastings, 13th countess of Loudoun and Captain Walter Strickland Lord, Michael is the present earl of Loudoun and ? in the alternative royal line ? the rightful king of England. However, in 1960, when the present occupant of Buckingham Palace was in the first decade of her reign, the 17-year-old Michael (who then had the title Lord Mauchline) set sail for Australia.
He eventually joined Dennys, Lascelles Ltd (now Dennys Strachan Mercantile Ltd), a stocking station agency that bought and sold properties, sheep, cattle and so on. In 1966, they sent him to Jerilderie, New South Wales, population 1100, where he has lived ever since. However, today he works at the Australian Rice Research Institute, where he is engaged in an ongoing quest to find varieties of rice suitable for an arid landscape, to feed Australia and south-east Asia.
In 1969, he married the red-headed Noelene McCormick, and together they had five children, who in turn have given them five grandchildren (Noelene has since died). When Michael's mother died in October 2000, he inherited the earldom (if not the British throne). His heir is his eldest son Simon, the present Lord Mauchline.
When Tony Robinson told Michael that, according to the research, he should be the king of England, he accepted the news calmly, then said: 'I believe that Australia should be a republic. I'm not a mad monarchist.'