Rhyme to Remember British Royalty

Do you need a rhyme to remember British royalty?  Well, you are in luck, because there is a poem to help you remember the rulers of Britain. 

Rhyme to Remember British Royalty

Brit Royals has a rhyme to remember British Royalty. It covers the Kings and Queens of England since William the Conqueror from 1066:

Willie, Willie, Harry, Steve

Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three.

Edward One, Two, Three, Dick Two

Henry Four, Five, Six then who?

Edward Four Five, Dick the Bad

Harrys twain and Ned, the lad.

Mary, Lizzie, James the Vain

Charlie, Charlie, James again.

William and Mary, Anne o'Gloria,

Four Georges, William and Victoria

Edward Seven, Georgie Five,

Edward, George and Liz (alive).

It also has a cute mnemonic to help you remember the Royal Houses of Great Britain and England:

“Never A Plan Like Yours To Study Oral History So Wisely =
Norman, Angevin, Plantagenet, Lancaster, York, Tudor, Stuart, Orange, Hanover, Saxe-Coburg, Windsor”

John Owen Smith.co.uk also has a rhyme to remember British royalty.  It goes like this:

“Willy, Willy, Harry, Ste,

Harry, Dick, John, Harry three,

One, two, three Neds, Richard two,

Henries four, five, six – then who?

Edwards four, five, Dick the bad,

Harries twain and Ned the lad,

Mary, Bessie, James the vain,

Charlie, Charlie, James again,

William & Mary, Anna Gloria,

Four Georges, William and Victoria,

Edward, George, then Ned the eighth

quickly goes and abdicat’th,

leaving George, then Liz the second,

and with Charlie next it’s reckoned.”

English Nursery Rhymes

Most old nursery rhymes were used to parody the government and events of the present day.  If you went public with your criticism, you could have been sentenced to death.  It was also a way of getting the word around, as many people could not read or write and the rhymes were easy to remember. Here are some examples of what the nursery rhymes secretly referred to:

Ring a Ring o’ Roses - This rhyme refers to the Bubonic Plague. The ring was the round body rash, the posies were supposed to fight infection, “atishoo” refers to the sneezing, and “all fall down” refers to death.

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November - What happened on this day was Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary - The Mary in the rhyme is Mary I, who was also called Bloody Mary. She tortured Protestants and burned them at the stake. The garden was the graveyard of the martyrs and the silver bells and cockleshells stood for tools of torture.

Jack and Jill - Jack stands for Louis XVI who was beheaded and Jill stands for Queen Marie Antoinette, who followed him.

Humpty Dumpty - This was a large cannon that was protecting St. Mary's Wall Church in Colchester, England. The wall was damaged during the English Civil War and the cannon came tumbling down. There were attempts to raise it back up to another portion of the wall, but they were unsuccessful. Colchester fell after an 11 week siege.

Baa Baa Black Sheep - Sheep were very important to rural economics, and in 1272, Edward I imposed new taxes on wool. In the rhyme, a third went to the King, a third went to the Church, and the little shepherd boy got none. It was originally: “None for the little boy who cries down the lane.” Even though the taxes were not as bad as the rhyme suggests, it shows how tough it was for the working classes.

Georgie Porgie - This rhyme refers to Prince Regent George IV. He was very fat and so was ridiculed a lot. He was not well liked because of his adultery and harsh treatment of his wife and mistresses (kissed the girls and made them cry). He was also known for his cowardice, which was shown in this incident. He loved to watch prize fighting, which was illegal. During a match, a participant died, and, fearing he might be blamed, he ran away (when the boys came out to play, Georgie Porgie ran away).