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Posted: Sun July 19th, 2009, 9:21 pm
by Susan
Oh my and wow! I just finished The Greatest Knight, and EC, you made me adore William Marshal! Thank you for the gift of making this man who lived 900 years ago come alive. I am so very glad that I have had the honor of standing before his effigy at the Temple Church. I am so pleased that you are continuing his family's saga in your work in progress. Sometime soon I will most definitely fit The Scarlet Knight into my reading.

Posted: Mon July 20th, 2009, 9:54 am
by EC2
Susan thanks - glad you enjoyed the novel.
I call writing his story my 'Peter Jackson' moment now. PJ says he used to lie in bed and say to his wife 'Someone ought to film Lord of the Rings,' and he eventually realised that it might have to be himself. I kept waiting for someone to write about William Marshal full on, and finally decided that perhaps I should stop thinking and do.
Whenever I go to London, I try to drop in at the Temple Church and pay my respects. My publishers have moved offices recently and they are now only 10 minutes walk from the Temple Church, so even if the interior isn't open, I always go there, even if it's only to put my hand on the door or the wall. There are copies of the effigies in the V&A Museum too.

Posted: Mon July 20th, 2009, 12:40 pm
by Susan
EC, I am very glad that you took up the challenge of telling William Marshal's story. I was doing a little genealogical research and he does have some famous descendants through his daughters. I saw that Robert the Bruce was among them and this means that the current British royal family and most other European royal families are among his descendants.

Posted: Mon July 20th, 2009, 1:17 pm
by EC2
And Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, so in part he's responsible for Elizabeth I!
Also the Stuarts descend from one of the Marshal lines. George Washington too so I understand. There's a very telling line in the Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal - almost like a premonition, even though it was written before any of his sons died.
'There are five of my daughters. If all of them hold together, so it please God, it could well be that great good could come of it.'

Posted: Mon July 20th, 2009, 1:22 pm
by Susan
Perhaps one of my summer projects will be to work on the genealogy of William Marshal!

Posted: Mon July 20th, 2009, 2:37 pm
by Ash
I saw that Robert the Bruce was among them and this means that the current British royal family and most other European royal families are among his descendants.

I remember first reading about Victoria and her descendants, how connected the whole of Europe was at that time. Seems like that happened much earlier than I suspected

Posted: Mon July 20th, 2009, 9:06 pm
by diamondlil
I remember watching a TV series not all that long ago which talked about a Danish King Christian being the father in law of Europe because all of his daughters were married into various royal families.

Posted: Mon July 20th, 2009, 9:26 pm
by Susan
[quote=""diamondlil""]I remember watching a TV series not all that long ago which talked about a Danish King Christian being the father in law of Europe because all of his daughters were married into various royal families.[/quote]

Yes, that was an excellent series and the king would be King Christian IX of Denmark. He was called "the father-in-law of Europe" and was a contemporary of Queen Victoria. In fact, his eldest daughter Alexandra married Victoria's eldest son and heir Edward VII. I wouldn't be surprised if King Christian was a descendant of William Marshal!

Christian IX's children were:
Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, later Frederick VIII of Denmark, married Princess Lovisa of Sweden
Princess Alexandra of Denmark, later the consort of Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Prince Vilhelm, later King George I of Greece, married Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinova of Russia
Princess Dagmar of Denmark, later the consort of Tsar Alexander III of Russia
Princess Thyra of Denmark, later consort of Ernst August of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland
Prince Valdemar of Denmark, married Princess Marie de Orleáns–Bourbon

Christian’s grandsons included:
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
King Constantine I of Greece
King George V of the United Kingdom
King Christian X of Denmark
King Haakon VII of Norway

Both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are his descendants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_IX_of_Denmark

Descendants of King Christian IX of Denmark
http://www.angelfire.com/in/heinbruins/Christian9.html

Posted: Tue July 21st, 2009, 12:48 am
by Susan
This website has descendants of William Marshal for six generations. You can click on the descendants to find out more about them and also click on their descendants' tab to list their descendants.
http://www.genealogics.org/descend.php? ... 8&tree=LEO

Posted: Tue July 21st, 2009, 3:56 pm
by Em
Hiya, :)

This is my first posting here, and would like to thank EC for taking me on the most wonderful journey with the Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion.

Thanks EC for rendering me a jibbering wreck ;) I have never enjoyed reading two books so much in my life.

You are a star!!

Having to wait until December to be enthralled again.

Take Care

Emxx :D