(quote, excerpts)
1.
How the Palace agreed to silence 'King' Anthony's claim to throne
By Peter Day
(Filed: 28/07/2006)
For a pretender to the throne it was an inauspicious place to raise his
standard - 75 years ago on a rainy night in the Bull Ring, Birmingham.
But Anthony Hall managed to attract a crowd of more than 100 with his
banner which read: "A New King, a New Country".
Anthony Hall claimed he was the rightful heir
Among them were two police constables taking notes, and when the
rightful incumbent, George V, heard what his rival was saying he agreed
he must be silenced.
A Home Office file released at the National Archives yesterday shows
that the Palace was consulted before Hall was prosecuted for "using
quarrelsome and scandalous language" liable to cause a breach of the
peace.
The King's private secretary, Sir Clive Wigram, wrote: "His Majesty
quite agrees that a stop should be put to his effusions but feels that
it might not look very well for a man who is obviously demented to get
six months imprisonment.
"He approves of the proceedings. So long as it is quite understood that
His Majesty is in no way responsible for the initiation of them." Sir
Clive added that the Palace had a large file of correspondence about
Hall but for some years had chosen to take no notice of him.
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He maintained that he was descended in a direct male line from Henry
VIII, apparently through a secret son born to Anne Boleyn before she
became the second of his six wives.
He regarded James I as an imposter and he was scornful of the claims to
the throne of George V and his German ancestors.
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King Anthony proposed to pay off the national debt while simultaneously
building millions of homes for the working classes, providing free
hospitals and dental treatment and electrifying the railways.
The houses would be of Tudor robustness and a stateliness fitting to
the dignity of the first nation of the world. A serious effort would be
made to popularise portrait painting.
A ministry of pleasure would revive public pageants and encourage the
manly sports of wrestling and boxing.
It would be an offence to sell beer that was not made with pure malt
and hops.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/28/npretend28.xml
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2.
The man who told George V: I'm Henry VIII's rightful heir - move over
· Papers reveal how claim on throne rattled King
· Doctors refused to declare former policeman insane
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Friday July 28, 2006
The Guardian
King Anthony, a former Shropshire police inspector who insisted he had
a better claim to the throne than King George V, provoked panic at the
palace when two doctors refused to silence him by quietly certifying
him insane.
Details have emerged from the National Archive of the royal family's
anxiety at the way Anthony Hall, who was said to be tall and always
impeccably dressed, drew crowds of up to 800 people to hear his claims
of direct lineage from Henry VIII.
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According to a Home Office file released by the archive today, he
traced his ancestry back to Thomas Hall, a "bastard son" of Henry VIII
who died in 1534.
To add to his claim to the throne he argued that the real James I of
England had been murdered as an infant and his remains lay in a coffin
in Edinburgh Castle. His place was taken by an "impostor and
changeling", James Erskine, whom he dubbed "goggle-eyed Jim".
Hall argued that Erskine could not have been the rightful heir, not
only because he was goggle-eyed but also his head was too large for his
body and his rickety legs meant he couldn't ride a horse.
"Having proved he is an impostor it is obvious that all the kings who
claim and have claimed to be descendants of his are not entitled to
their jobs and are not part of the blood royal," he thundered to one
large crowd.
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The chief constable of Birmingham reported to the palace that, after a
swansong meeting in the Bull Ring, Hall finally left the city, ending
the public campaign of the last Tudor claimant to the throne. Hall is
believed to have died in 1947 leaving no male heirs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/monarchy/story/0,,1832130,00.html
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August 22, 2006
Joseph Pearce writes:
The English have an amiable, if bizarre, fondness for eccentricity,
especially if the eccentricity is peculiarly English. The English
landscape is dotted with architectural follies, and English history is
dotted with the sort of eccentric who would build them. Edith Sitwell,
who was something of an ornamental oddity herself, wrote a book in the
1930s documenting these lovable and laughable eccentrics, such as the
amphibious Lord Rokeby, whose beard reached his knees and who seldom
left his bath.
Since I share with my fellow countrymen this predilection for the
mildly preposterous, I was particularly taken by the story of the
seemingly humble eccentric who caused quite a stir by claiming to be
the true king of England. It is a story worth retelling.
The story begins seventy-five years ago, in the centre of Birmingham,
England's second-largest city. Picture the scene. It is a rainy night
and about a hundred people are gathered round Anthony Hall, the "true
king of England," as he raised his standard under a banner that read:
"A New King, a New Country." Among the hundred people were two
police officers, studiously taking notes. When reports of the "true
king's" words were reported to King George V, he agreed that the
Pretender must be silenced. "King" Anthony was charged with
"using quarrelsome and scandalous language" liable to cause a
breach of the peace. Evidently, it was thought that the charge of
"high treason" could be overlooked.
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As an Englishman who suffers eccentrics, if not fools, gladly, I am
amused by "King" Anthony's histrionics. I am not, however, amused
by his history.
The fact is that, even if he was who he claimed to be, his claim to the
throne is bogus. One born outside wedlock is quite literally
illegitimate; that's the first objection. The second objection is
that Anne Boleyn's marriage to Henry VIII was also invalid because
the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon had not been
authoritatively dissolved. As such, Elizabeth I, strictly speaking, was
also illegitimate, as indeed she was declared to be by her own father
after he had beheaded her mother and had married his third wife, Jane
Seymour, in 1536.
Contrary to "King" Anthony's claims, James I, as the son of the
true heir to the throne, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was legitimate.
The last legitimate king to sit on the throne of England was James II,
who was overthrown by the Inglorious Revolution of 1688.
Thereafter, the Jacobites tried in vain to restore the true king to the
throne, but as "King" Anthony rightly laments, we've had a
dynasty of German usurpers on the throne ever since.
It might indeed be the sad truth that the English are destined to wait
until Doomsday for the Return of the King, but it is at least consoling
to know that several of the true kings in exile are now buried in St.
Peter's in Rome. If the English monarchy is really dead and buried,
then what better resting place than in the company of the saints and
martyrs.
I realize, of course, that this reading of history makes me somewhat
eccentric. At least, as an Englishman, I am in very good company!
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=419