# Longest time between two British monarch regnal names **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165 "2022-09-24T21:10:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/1 "2022-09-24T21:10:54Z")
Time is defined as from the death of the previous holder and the accession of the next. The one I have gotten thus far. Elizabeth I (1603) to Elizabeth II (1952)=349 years Edward VI (1553) to Edward VII (1901)=348 years Charles II (1685) to Charles III ((2022)=337 years. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/2 "2022-09-24T21:43:23Z")
The longest might be: William II Rufus (1100) to William III of Orange (1689) = 589 years After that I think you got the next three. Edward the Confessor (1066) to Edward I (1272) = 206 years ETA: Hah! First! 😀 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/3 "2022-09-24T21:43:50Z")
nm … ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/4 "2022-09-24T22:03:13Z")
The time between John I and John II is infinite (or about 800 years), considering there hasn’t been a John II and isn’t likely to be one. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/5 "2022-09-24T22:04:27Z")
The gap between Stephen I and Stephen II beats that. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/6 "2022-09-24T22:06:57Z")
Well if we’re going down that road, I haven’t seen many princes named Æthelstan lately… ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/7 "2022-09-24T22:53:47Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > William II Rufus (1100) to William III of Orange (1689) = 589 years Yep, that one seems to be the tops of those that _are_ repeats. (can’t fail to observe BTW that the accesion of two out of the four Williams so far involved landing from the continent with an army) > [@Tamerlane](#): > > Edward the Confessor (1066) to Edward I (1272) = 206 years Here we also run into this curiosity of how they seem to have set the official English ordinals to start with the Normans, so it is Longshanks who gets the “I” attached to him. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/8 "2022-09-25T07:27:56Z")
I keep thinking of William and Mary as well _William and Mary_. Even though strictly speaking they were William III and Mary II. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/9 "2022-09-25T07:30:21Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > The time between John I and John II is infinite > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The gap between Stephen I and Stephen II beats that > [@Tamerlane](#): > > I haven’t seen many princes named Æthelstan lately… It’s probably gonna be awhile before there’s an Arthur II. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/10 "2022-09-25T09:47:46Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > (can’t fail to observe BTW that the accesion of two out of the four Williams so far involved landing from the continent with an army) It’s also observed that of the 4 William, only the last is known by his regnal number. The first three are “the Conqueror”, “Rufus”, “of Orange” or “&Mary”\*. As aside is the College of William and Mary after the joint sovereigns or some other couple name Bill and May. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/11 "2022-09-25T15:15:28Z")
After Mary’s death, William was known as William III; see the statute citation for the Act of Settlement: > **[Act of Settlement 1701](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Settlement_1701)** > > The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701.\[b\] More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, became disqualified to inherit the throne. This had the effect of deposing the descendants of Charles I, other than his Protestant granddaughter Anne, as the next Protestant in line to the throne was Sophia of Hanover, a granddaughter of James VI and I from... ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-time-between-two-british-monarch-regnal-names/972165/12 "2022-09-25T15:33:51Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > As aside is the College of William and Mary after the joint sovereigns or some other couple name Bill and May. Established under letters patent issued by authority of the royal couple. So they ~~sucked up~~ honored them in naming the school.