# United Kingdom Monarchs and US States..
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 15, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261 "2002-05-15T20:22:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gephydrophobia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gephydrophobia)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/1 "2002-05-15T20:22:40Z")
Does anyone know who was the first Monarch of the United Kingdom? Also what is the most easterly of of the States of the USA?
š
---
### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/2 "2002-05-15T20:33:59Z")
The most easterly state is Alaska.
The first monarch of the UK was James VI/I.
Zev Steinhardt
---
### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/3 "2002-05-15T20:35:40Z")
My turn.
What, exactly is Gephydrophobia?
(BTW, welcome to the boards. Just a note: trivia questions should go to MPSIMS. GQ is for questions for which you are looking for an answer for.)
Zev Steinhardt
---
### Author:  [@Gephydrophobia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gephydrophobia)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/4 "2002-05-15T20:52:04Z")
Hello ! I am looking for an answer ! Because Iāve had different responses to who is supposed to be the first Monarch of the United Kingdom. BTW I know itās not James VI/I. Iāve read in a Collins Gem book that Queen Anne was the first monarch of the United Kingdom but I think that maybe erroneous.
:eek:
Gephydrophobia is the fear of crossing bridges particularly those that cross water.
---
### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/5 "2002-05-15T20:52:47Z")
**Gephydrophobia** condition in which person upon hearing about, seeing or otherwise being connected with Dick _Gep_hart (House of rep. Democrat) starts to foam at the mouth. :rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/6 "2002-05-15T20:58:17Z")
You are doing fine. However, we do not quiz people here. The people here are some of the best experts in the world in their particular subject matter. This is not a typical message board in which a bunch of yahoos spout off their opinion. We have rigorous standards for the quality of citation and for debate. Here you will meet some of the smartest
---
### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/7 "2002-05-15T21:02:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Gephydrophobia \*
> \*\*Hello ! I am looking for an answer ! Because Iāve had different responses to who is supposed to be the first Monarch of the United Kingdom. BTW I know itās not James VI/I. Iāve read in a Collins Gem book that Queen Anne was the first monarch of the United Kingdom but I think that maybe erroneous.
> :eek:
>
> Gephydrophobia is the fear of crossing bridges particularly those that cross water. \*\*
Sorry. It was your use of the biggrin smiley at the end of your post that made it sound like you knew the answer and were looking to quiz people. I apologize if I interpreted that incorrectly.
As to your question, the [Official page of the British Monarcy](http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page13.asp) states that James VI (of Scotland)/ I (of UK) was the first monarch of the UK.
Zev Steinhardt
---
### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/8 "2002-05-15T21:14:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \*
> \*\*As to your question, the [Official page of the British Monarcy](http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page13.asp) states that James VI (of Scotland)/ I (of UK) was the first monarch of the UK.
> \*\*
Itās all a question of what the UK means, I guessā¦James VI/I was the first monarch of both Scotland and England, and if you want to date the United Kingdom from then, thatās your answer. If, on the other hand, the United Kingdom dates from the Act of Union, which combined the England, Scotland and Ireland into one country, then your answer would be Queen Anne in 1707.
---
### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/9 "2002-05-15T22:55:32Z")
The most easterly state (or easternmost as I prefer) is Alaska if you go strictly by lines of longitude, but since the decision to declare one meridian the zero meridian is entirely arbitrary I think Maine makes more sense.
You want to head out to Quoddy Head in Maine which is at N44Āŗ48ā54.6" W66Āŗ57ā02.0"
---
### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2002, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/10 "2002-05-15T23:04:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by BobT \*
> \*\*The most easterly state (or easternmost as I prefer) is Alaska if you go strictly by lines of longitude, but since the decision to declare one meridian the zero meridian is entirely arbitrary I think Maine makes more sense.
\*\*
(Just to be a pain in the neck)
You have to put the ālineā somewhere. After all, the earth is round and, as such, you can keep going east or west forever. As such, you have to have a line where āeast endsā and āwest begins.ā
While the current placement of the 180th meridian is arbitrary, youāre disregard of it (and, presumably, placing it somewhere outside the U.S.) is just as arbitrary. If thatās the case, then Iād have it run right through Kansas and call Kansas the easternmost state. š
Zev Steinhardt
---
### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/11 "2002-05-16T00:20:31Z")
But if you were to shrink down the U.S. so it could fit on a cookie sheet and looked at it that way, the easternmost point would be in Maine.
---
### Author:  [@Big\_Kahuna\_Burger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Kahuna_Burger)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/12 "2002-05-16T00:22:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by kniz \*
> \*\ ***Gephydrophobia** condition in which person upon hearing about, seeing or otherwise being connected with Dick _Gep_hart (House of rep. Democrat) starts to foam at the mouth. :rolleyes: \*\*
Thatās sort of right. Itās an irrational fear of anyone who does not have eyebrows.
---
### Author:  [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/13 "2002-05-16T00:30:17Z")
Queen Anne. The United Kingdom was established in 1707.
---
### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/14 "2002-05-16T02:46:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by BobT \*
> But if you were to shrink down the U.S. so it could fit on a cookie sheet and looked at it that way, the easternmost point would be in Maine.
Gee, if we could do that and bake it, Iād want to concentrate some nuts to a few areas of the gigantic USA cookie.
ā¦ Just to reflect the realities of America ā¦
Hey, let the (chocolate) chips fall where they may.
š
---
### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/15 "2002-05-16T03:06:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by BobT \*
> \*\*But if you were to shrink down the U.S. so it could fit on a cookie sheet and looked at it that way, the easternmost point would be in Maine. \*\*
Ah, yes. The well known Cookie Sheet projection.
---
### Author:  [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/16 "2002-05-16T03:25:14Z")
I donāt think that it makes any sense to consider east and west as having any absolutes. If I were standing at the 180 degree line, toes right up to the end of the western hemisphere, I could still go west. If someone else were right on the other side of me, Iād think of him as being two inches west of me, rather than several thousand miles east of me. I would therefore consider the most appropriate way to measure the US to be to consider it as a somewhat contiguous mass extending from Maine in the east to the end of the Aleutian Islands in the west.
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/17 "2002-05-16T03:35:47Z")
Well, you _could_ put all of Europe and Asia in the middle of the cookie sheet, with most of North America on the left edge and Alaska and Hawaii on the right edgeā¦
Really, the Prime Meridian is the only well-defined way to answer this question. Otherwise, youāve got questions like āwhatās the easternmost point in the (former) British Empireā, for which there is clearly no cookie-cutter solution. Either that, or declare that the term āeasternmostā is meaningless.
---
### Author:  [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/18 "2002-05-16T04:09:43Z")
Umm, 1707 was when England officially became Great Britain. Jan 1, 1801 was when it officially became The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
> [@](#):
>
> \*From the Act of Union of 1800
> ARTICLE FIRST - That it be the first article of the union of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, that the said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon the first day of January [ā¦] in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, and for ever after, be united into one kingdom, by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
So that would make George III the first official king of the UK. James I called himself King of Great Britain even though it wasnāt made official till 1707.
---
### Author:  [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/19 "2002-05-16T04:14:39Z")
Zev, your link makes a misleading but correct statement. It says āa single monarch reigned in the United Kingdom.ā So while there was one physical man there were still seperate kings. He was the king of Ireland and the king of Great Britain, but not at the same time. At least thatās my interpretation.
---
### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261/20 "2002-05-16T04:21:08Z")
The United States Geographic Survey considers that both the easternmost and westernmost points in the U.S. are in Alaska, separated by less than a hundred miles. This is what you get when you let the gubmint decide. We had a thread about it once, but I canāt find it any more.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom-monarchs-and-us-states/109261.md?page=2)