• MEETING - Wednesday 19 November 2008  : Peter Dewar: Right Royal Bastards - the fruits of passion

  • Preceded by AGM at 9.45am


    • Peter Dewar RD, JP, FSA Scot, FHG, FCMI

    You can read more about Peter Dewar RD, JP, FSA Scot, FHG, FCMI on his website. Extracts from the website.....


    Although an accountant by profession, Peter Dewar is also a professional researcher - as Heraldry Consultant to Christie`s Art Auctioneers (since 1979) - as Falkland Pursuivant Extraordinary to the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Edinburgh - as a genealogist and a former Chairman of the Association of Genealogists & Record Agents - as a head-hunter and career consultant - and as Naval Intelligence Officer, having served in the RNR as a Lieutenant Commander.

    He is the editor of Burke`s Landed Gentry of Scotland as well as a co-author of Right Royal Bastards. He has written three other books and has contributed to many genealogical books and publications including Burke`s Peerage.

    He has also lectured widely in UK and USA (including at the Smithsonian in Washington DC on Treasure Houses of Britain Exhibition) and will be lecturing in Australia. He is a Trustee of Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies and other charities, Vice President of the Royal Stuart Society, a member of the Queen`s Body Guard for Scotland, The Royal Company of Archers, a Knight of Malta and a Justice of the Peace for Inner London.

    Right Royal Bastards – The Fruits of Passion

    This talk is based upon Peter Dewar's book of the same name. Although the book deals with the lives of many natural children of English Kings over the last 500 years, the lecture takes a closer look at eight of them who would certainly have been among some of the great ‘ifs’ of history, were they to have succeeded their Royal fathers – so close to the throne and yet so far.

    The kings most responsible for royal bastards were Henry I, who resorted to ‘outsourcing’ to produce 22 bastards that he could marry off to cement his foreign policy.

    Then there was Charles II, the Merry Monarch, with 16 (by 8 different mothers), and then William IV, with 10 out of Mrs Jordan, the actress, as a result of his ‘bathing in the River Jordan’ as the press put it.

    The most flamboyant were the Stuart bastards, who received titles, and riches in proportion to the greed of their mothers. Of note were the Duke of Monmouth for his tragic kingly ambitions and the Duke of Berwick who was a great military leader.

    Kings Edward VII and VIII both had mistresses who had children, but whether their fathers were their mother’s husbands or their Royal lovers is a moot point.

    Of these many bastards, there are now only the four ducal families of Buccleuch, Grafton, St. Albans and Richmond that are still represented in the male line. Nevertheless there are many thousands of other descendants of royal bastards, including most of the House of Windsor.