Simon Abney-Hastings, the son of a farmhand from the Australian outback, might be an unlikely choice to receive an invitation to King Charles III’s coronation at Westminster Abbey next week, but he is the one person other than those in the line of succession who could actually have a claim on the throne.
Unlikely though it might seem, the scenario is based on research by British medieval historian Michael Jones.
Two decades ago he uncovered a document in Rouen Cathedral in France which he says is proof that King Edward IV was illegitimate.
Photo: Reuters
During the five weeks when Edward might have been conceived, his father, Richard of York, was 160km from his wife, Cecily Neville, the Duchess of York, Jones says.
As a result, Jones says that Edward was not the rightful heir to the throne, and the line of succession should instead have gone through Edward’s younger brother, George, the Duke of Clarence, who is a direct ancestor of Abney-Hastings.
Although the family do not possess any lands or stately homes in the UK, by virtue of their lineage they inherited the ancient Scottish title of Earl of Loudoun.
Abney-Hastings’ father, Michael Abney-Hastings, emigrated from the UK to Australia in 1960.
Michael inherited the title from his mother, the 13th Countess of Loudoun, in 2002 and it passed on his death in 2012 to his son, who is the 15th earl.
In recognition of the family’s heritage, Simon Abney-Hastings, 48, is one of just 13 individuals carrying out ceremonial roles largely because they successfully proved that their forebears played a particular role at previous coronations.
The earls of Loudon have traditionally been the bearers of the golden spurs as far back as the 12th century.
In earlier centuries the spurs — signifying the monarch’s role as head of the armed forces — were attached to the new sovereign’s feet. In more recent times they have just ceremonially touched the heels of the monarch before being placed on the altar.
The surprising implications of the Rouen Cathedral discovery came as a shock to the Abney-Hastings family nearly 20 years ago.
A British documentary team visited an unsuspecting Michael Abney-Hastings at his home in Australia for the 2004 program Britain’s Real Monarch.
To the amusement of his family, they were told that new research pointed to Edward IV being illegitimate, which “means that you are the rightful king of England.”
Michael Abney-Hastings responded that he had been aware of a “distant” link to the Plantagenet royal dynasty, but said that the news that he might have been King Michael I was “a bit of a shock.”
An Australian, Simon Abney-Hastings lives in Wangaratta in the southeastern state of Victoria, and appears to have no plans to press any claim.
His lawyer and private secretary Terence Guthridge said that although historians might believe he has the right to inherit the throne, the 15th earl “has never held this view.”
He has always been a “loyal and staunch supporter” of both Queen Elizabeth II and her son, Guthridge said.
“Indeed, they exchange birthday or Christmas cards every year,” he added.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including