By One Vote . . .

Cardinal Pole, the last Roman-Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, was beaten to Pope by one vote by Julius III in 1549 and by two votes by Paul IV in 1555. One wonders how history would have been different had he been elected?

The World's Longest River

We have known for some time that the Amazon is the world's biggest river by volume of water, but now scientists think that it is even longer than the Nile -- the Amazon at 6,800km (4,250 miles) compared to the Nile's 6,695km.

Are Charles and Camilla married?

Since members of the royal family are exempt from the Marriages Act (1949) it would seem that their marriage was valid only if, (since they were married in England) they were married in a ceremony of the Church of England (which, of course, they were not -- though I don't know whether the reasons why not were to do with Charles or to do with Camilla). The present government, unlike its predecessor, thinks, however, that the Human-Rights Act 1998 (which, ironically, Charles himself, in a letter to the previous Lord Chancellor, denounced as “a threat to sane, civilised and ordered existence”) mandates a liberal interpretation of the Marriages Act such that Charles's human rights should not be infringed by his being prevented from contracting a civil marriage.

There is another question, of course, as to whether Charles could have married her had he been King and thereby Supreme Governor of the Church of England (since it was apparently for this reason that the Queen felt that she couldn't be present at the ceremony): Edward VIII famously had to abdicate in order to marry Mrs Simpson.

George IV

George IV also took part in a putative marriage ceremony that was null and void: in 1785, aged 23, he married the Roman-Catholic widow Maria Anne Fitzherbert. Under the Royal-Marriages Act, however, the union was null and void as he did not have the permission of his father, the king, and he was under 25. (The king would certainly not have given him permission as that would have meant that under the Act of Settlement his son would have forfeited the throne.) One wonders, however, why the couple did not wait till George was 25 before getting married. Perhaps it was done for the sake of Mrs Fitzherbert. In fact, Rome pronounced that the marriage was valid. Since Mrs Fitzherbert did not die till 1837 this invalidated George's putative marriage in 1795 to Caroline of Brunswick, though he continued to 'see' Mrs Fitzherbert (and other women) after the ceremony anyway. Since George was drunk during the ceremony and marrying under compulsion from his father the putative marriage wouldn't have been valid anyway. Interestingly George later tried unsuccesfully to divorce Queen Caroline, but never seems to have argued that the marriage was null and void. The only child of the putative marriage, Princess Charlotte Augusta would thus be illegitimate (certainly in the eyes of Rome).

First Divorced Bishop in Britain

Anthony Crockett, the Bishop of Bangor, is the first divorced (and remarried) bishop in Britain.

First Personal Genome Map

James Watson has become the first person to receive his own personal genome map.

First Person to be executed for Heresy

Priscillian has the dubious distinction of being the first person in the history of Christianity to be executed for heresy.

First King to have a marriage annulled?

Perhaps the first English monarch to have a marriage annulled was Ethelbald, whose marriage to his widowed stepmother Judith was annulled in 860, two years after Ethelbald had married her on the death of his father Ethelwulf and his accession to the full rights of king. It is not clear, however, that Ethelbald could rightly be called 'King of England'.

First English monarch with annulled marriage

It would appear that the first English monarch to have a marriage annulled (it wasn't a divorce) would be King John, with Isabel of Gloucester being the unlucky lady.

Law

The Scotsman tells us that:

One law every three hours has been created during Tony Blair's decade in power: over the past ten years, close to 30,000 new laws have been created - an average of 2,685 a year or more than seven a day.

The Guardian remarks that:
the statutes themselves have become longer, with five acts passed in 2006 totalling more than 100 pages, three more than 200, one more than 300, one more than 500 and one more than 700.

Henry VIII

Contrary to popular belief, Henry VIII was never divorced. On the contrary, his failed marriages were annulled.

So, how many marriages did he have? In the eyes of the English law it was only three: Henry annulled his putative marriages with Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn (on grounds of the affinity created between them thanks to Henry's relationship with her sister), and Anne of Cleves, leaving only the marriages to Jane Seymour, Katherine Howard (which was almost annulled), and Catherine Parr as valid. This means that his two daughters, Mary (by Catherine of Aragon) and Elizabeth (by Anne Boleyn) were illegitimate. His son Edward (by Jane Seymour) was legitimate in the eyes of the English law.

In the eyes of Rome it is more complicated: the Pope did not recognize his first annulment, so Henry VIII remained married to Catherine of Aragon till she died on 7th January 1536. This invalidated both his putative marriage to Anne Boleyn and his putative marriage to Jane Seymour, and made illegitimate his children Elizabeth and Edward. His next wife, Anne of Cleves, did not die till 16 July 1557. If the annulment with her was not recognized by Rome (the grounds given were that there was a precontract at the time to Francis, Duke of Lorraine, Henry did not consent, and he was impotent with respect to her) then neither of his subsequent putative marriages, to Katherine Howard in 1540, and to Catherine Parr in 1543, would be valid in the eyes of Rome. This gives a total of two. If, as seems plausible, however, this annulment was (or would have been) recognized by Rome then his marriage to Katherine Howard was the next valid one, and then the one to Catherine Parr, giving a total of 3 marriages.

Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson

Wikipedia, referring to the official documents, tells us that, letters patent dated 27 May 1937, which re-conferred upon the Duke of Windsor the "title, style, or attribute of Royal Highness," specifically stated that "his wife and descendants, if any, shall not hold said title or attribute.

Divorced monarchs

It is unclear to me whether Prince Charles is divorced, since his former spouse is dead. But he would by no means be the first divorced monarch: George I of Great Britain was divorced from his wife Sophia Dorothea of Celle in 1694, 20 years before he became king in 1714. Sophia died in 1726, Wikipedia tells us.

He may well be the first UK monarch to be married to a divorcee, however: Camilla's former husband remains alive, and Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry a divorcee, although legally Edward could have married Mrs. Simpson and remained king. This latter was, however, a very different case: there were religious reasons (the C of E did not then allow remarriage of divorced persons, and Edward would have been both supreme governor of the C of E and married to a divorcee) and legal grounds (her first husband was still living (he did not die till 1950) and not validly divorced from her under English church law).

Prince Philip

Prince Philip is not Prince Consort.

Wikipedia tells us that his official title is:
His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

The same article tells us that:
the surname of male-line descendants of the Duke and the Queen who are not Royal Highness or Prince or Princess is Mountbatten-Windsor.
Another article clarifies that:
The official name of the British Royal Family or Royal House remains Windsor.

Prince Philip is also 468th in the line of succession to the British Throne in his own right.

Camilla

Camilla's full style, Wikipedia tells us, is:
Her Royal Highness The Princess Charles Philip Arthur George, Princess of Wales and Countess of Chester, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Carrick, Baroness of Renfrew, Lady of the Isles, Princess of Scotland

The article in Wikipedia continues:
As she is the consort and wife of the Prince of Wales, Camilla legally holds the title and technical rank of Princess of Wales. The Queen has allowed her to use the style of her husband's subsidiary title, Duke of Cornwall, rather than Princess of Wales, except in Scotland, where both Charles and Camilla are formally styled as Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, a title historically associated with heirs to the Scottish throne.

The article goes on:

Clarence House has indicated that when Charles accedes the throne it is intended that she will use the title HRH The Princess Consort, although, as with the example of the Princess of Wales, technically as the wife of a king, Camilla would be Queen. However it is looking increasingly likely that the Duchess would become Queen. To create a position of Princess Consort, it would require new legislation as it is an area of debate as whether the initial position taken by Clarence House is against the constitution.