The King of England They Never Told You About
Louis I of England, the once and almost king
As a kid in Primary school, way back in the 1980’s, I dutifully learned my Kings and Queens of England by rote.
I still recall them, thirty-odd years later, like a Game of Thrones family tree recital:
William Conqueror, the First of His Name
Henry Bolingbroke, the Fifth of His Name
Henry Six Wives, the Eighth of His Name…
It always started with William, no matter that there were Kings of England before him. They sort of lurked there, in the mists of time, various Haralds and Edwards, but there wasn’t a lot of substance to them.
I guess it’s true, the winners do get to write the history books.
A fascination with the reign of King John in adulthood — it’s a Robin Hood thing, stay with me here — led me to discover that England briefly had a King Louis on the throne.
No-one in history class ever mentioned him.
Despite being a favourite of his father, King John was the black sheep of the Plantagenet family. He tried to steal the throne…
