Friday, September 24, 2010

Question from Robert - Murray Gray claim to the throne

i recently listen to a program on the radio where the subject was about a gentleman called murray gray who he was the rightful heir to the crown due to his lineage from the Tudors true or false

2 comments:

Marilyn R said...

Apparently it was a radio play – this piece about it can be found on a website called ‘Phorum’.

“Afternoon Play - The Last Tudor

BBC Radio 4 (FM only)

Synopsis

A reality show contestant decides that he has a greater claim to the throne than the current Royal Family. This improvised drama, told in a documentary format, charts his rise and fall, in a satire on celebrity, delusion and spin.

The story is based on a true story of Anthony Hall, a former policeman who in 1931 started to give public speeches claiming that he was the descendant of an illegitimate son of Henry VIII and therefore the last Tudor. Documents released by the National Archives show that his threats to the Royal Family started to alarm the police and Home Office, and that George V lobbied to have him quietly declared insane and put away without trial.

The drama supposes that Anthony Hall's great grandson, a local government employee at Bristol City Council, discovers his family history and decides to exploit the royal claim as part of his bid to win a television talent show called the Fame Factor. This central character, called Murray Gray, dresses up as Henry VIII to raise money for charitable causes, and seeks pop stardom to escape his boring job dealing with parking fines.

Initially the case of Murray Gray is simply one story in a history documentary about royal pretenders, but as Murray's gets more and more successful in the Fame Factor, events, and the documentary, spiral out of control.

The "documentary" is presented by real life presenter and producer Jolyon Jenkins, who also devised the drama with Abigail Youngman. Murray Gray is played by Jonathan Alden and his girlfriend Chantelle by Nadia Williams. Murray's PR agent Memphis Garfield is played by real life music promoter Conal Dodds.

Duration
45 minutes”


(There is a forklift truck driver called Mike Hastings living in the Australian outback who claims to be the real King of England by virtue of the fact that Henry VIII’s grandfather, Edward IV, was really the son of the Duchess of York and a French archer. Hastings can trace his ancestry to Edward’s younger brother the Duke of Clarence, the one who conveniently drowned in the barrel of wine before he was due to be executed.)

Anonymous said...

It has been argued that Edward IV may have been illegitimate, born to Cecily Neville by an English archer named Blaybourne while her husband, Richard, Duke of York was fighting elsewhere in France. In a recent documentary, Britain’s Real Monarch, Dr Michael Jones is shown finding a document in Rouen Cathedral which states that Richard, Duke of York, and Cecily Neville were a hundred miles apart during the five-week period when Edward's conception would have occurred.

The document records that the clergy were paid for a sermon for the safety of the Duke of York, who was going to Pontoise on campaign. He was on campaign from July 14 to August 21, 1442, several days' march from Rouen. By calculating back from Edward's birth on April 28, his conception must have occurred around the first week of August 1442.

Who is to say that Cecily did not follow her husband at a discrete distance?

The future Edward IV was born in Rouen on 28 April 1442 and privately baptised in a small side chapel without fanfare. If indeed he were illegitimate, it would make the heirs of his younger brother Richard’s son, George, Duke of Clarence, the 'real' heirs to the kingdom. Such a line would currently be represented by Michael Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun (born 1942), who emigrated to Australia in 1960, married, fathered five children, and currently lives in Jerilderie, New South Wales. Abney-Hastings is a committed Australian republican and supports the abolition of the monarchy.

Regarding his possible illegitimacy, he may have been premature, thereby rendering the above calculations by Dr Michael Jones incorrect. Alternatively, it is possible that Cecily and her husband did indeed meet during the appropriate period: Cecily was quite capable of following her husband on campaign. Edward’s appearance and extraordinary height in comparison with his siblings need to be taken into consideration, although his sister Margaret was also very tall.

Edward would later be accused of illegitimacy by his cousin, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick; by his brothers, George, Duke of Clarence and Richard of Gloucester (Richard III); and also, perhaps, by his own mother, Cecily Neville. These allegations may have been taken out of context, or politically motivated.

The matter is raised in William Shakespeare's Richard III, in the following lines from Act 3 Scene 5:

Tell them, when that my mother went with child
Of that unsatiate Edward, noble York
My princely father then had wars in France
And, by just computation of the time,
Found that the issue was not his begot