In England Cletus would have been King or at least some kind of a "Sir", but in West Virginia he was a lumberjack.

What, no coal mines in his neighbourhood.

20 April 1839 - Carol I, King of Roumania 1866-1914, born.

In February 1866 the Roumanian Parliament forced the abdication of its ruling Prince Alexander and sought a new ruler from the Royal Houses of Europe. In April they settled upon 27 year old Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who had valuable connections with both France and Prussia, a month later he arrived in Bucharest and adopted the Roumainian spelling of his name - Carol..

He proved to be an adept and popular ruler and after supporting Russia in its victory over Turkey in 1878 the Roumanian Parliament raised him to the rank of King in 1881.

In 1869 he married Elizabeth of Wied, an unconventional member of a minor Austrian Royal Family who published novels, short stories and volumes of poetry under the name Carmen Sylva.

King Carol extended his territory with victory over Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War in 1913, but within a year a wider war erupted, in which he was inclined to support Germany. The Roumanian Parliament however declared neutrality. Two months later King Carol died aged 75.

Mark re: Carol - Your post said the Romanian Parliament appointed him King. Is this the normal way of ascending to the throne? If not, when did the procedure change?

Roumania gained independence from the Turks in 1859 and chose an ethnic nobleman, Alexander Cuza, as King. He ultimately proved unsuitable and was forced to abdicate.

With the Throne vacant the Roumanian Parliament met to elect a successor and decided upon Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from a choice of candidates.

Most of the Balkan states who gained independence from Turkey followed a similar procedure, they either had no suitable ethnic candidate or not one that could unite the country, so they looked around for a European Prince with connections to the Great Powers.   

That's how the Kings of Roumania, Greece, Bulgaria and Albania were chosen. Only Serbia and Montenegro had a ruling family who could take on the Kingly role.

Today is the Queen's 93rd birthday, but we already know so much about her so she's not the subject for today. It is also Art's birthday today, but he's not the subject either.

21 April 1509 - Henry VII, King of England 1485-1509, died.

One of our most overlooked and underrated Monarchs, coming as he does between the two much chronicled Kings, Richard III and Henry VIII.

By 1471 the 14 year old Henry Tudor was the last male representative of the Lancastrian line and consequently he was taken to safety in Brittany well away from the Yorkists who ruled England at that time.

His first attempt to seize his "rightful" Crown in 1483 failed, but two years later he landed in Wales and marched east where he defeated and killed Richard III at the battle of Bosworth. He was hailed as King, the first of the Tudors.

His reign was one of increasing prosperity; he avoided war as far as possible (entirely after 1493) and concentrated on restoring England's economy and finances after 30 years of civil war. This has led to him being thought of as a rather uninteresting King compared to others of the time, but he left England in a much stronger position at his death, a position that his son Henry VIII was to squander and abuse with his extravagence. 

22 April 1852 - William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1905-12, born.

William had six daughters but no sons, so in 1907 the laws of succession in Luxembourg were changed to allow female succession.

In 1908 after just three years William fell seriously ill and reigned under the Regency of his wife Grand Duchess Marie Anne until his death three and a half years later.

St George's Day, therefore a popular day for coronations in England.

23 April 1661 - Coronation of King Charles II. Unusually for the time he had a long wait, just two weeks short of a year, for his coronation as King of England due to the fact that there was no coronation regalia with which to perfom the ceremony. The Parliamentarians had sold it off or destroyed it in 1649, so a new set of regalia had to be ordered and made. These included two crowns, the orb and sceptre. It was the most lavish coronation to date so as to enhance the role and prestige of the restored Monarchy.

23 April 1685 - Coronation of King James II. As a Catholic James' coronation was a shortened version with certain Protestant elements omitted. The day before he had taken a secret coronation oath from his Catholic confessor which satisfied his religious beliefs.

23 April 1702 - Coronation of Queen Anne. Even at the age of 37 she was too overweight to climb into the carriage, so she was carried in a sedan chair to and from Westminster Abbey.

24 April 1986 - (Bessie) Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, died.

The American divorcee who was the cause of Edward VIII's abdication in 1936. Her own decline after her husband's death in 1972 was long and slow. She was bedridden for the last eight or nine years of her life, confined to one room in her house in Paris before she died aged 89. She is buried alongside Edward in the Royal Burial Ground at Windsor.

Whooorrrrr I've never actually  seen a fresh bullet wound but I think my rear end looks like one right now.

Sent pictures, I need a good laugh.

25 April 1284 - Edward II, King of England 1307-27, born.

The son of the warlike Edward I, Edward II proved to be an inadequate leader unable to emulate his father's successes. Most notable was the loss of Scotland which had been subdued by his father, but under Edward II the Scots restored their independence.

He fought off a rebellion in 1322 but fell to a second over the winter 1326/27 led by his wife and her lover the Earl of March. King Edward was forced to abdicate and brutally murdered eight months later.

He is also remembered as the first Prince of Wales, a title created for the son and heir of the Monarch in 1301.

26 April 1923 - (Albert) George, Duke of York married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.

He was the second son of King George V and she was the youngest daughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorn. They were married in Westminster Abbey. They went on the have two daughters, the present Queen and Princess Margaret. The Duke of course became King George VI in 1936.

A wonderful couple and a great team. He was thrust into a position he dreaded and thought he was not up to but the Queen got a grip of matters and consequently he overrode all to become a great King and leader of the people throughout the second world war. Queen Lizzie was a doughty, courageous and pragmatic ol' darlin' who drove and supported the King through his darkest hours and was positively Churchillian during the war. The armed forces loved her and she loved them. Morale is such a sensitive and vital item during such a global war and they kept it high and mighty. When people's houses had been bombed, there they were on the streets, mixing with Mr and Mrs Joe Bloggs and it's no wonder that the Queen said she was happy Buckingham Palace had been bombed, so she could look the Eastenders in the face because that's the kind of women she was.

27 April 1848 - Otto, King of Bavaria 1886-1913, born.

"Mad" King Otto who reigned but did not rule for 27 years.

After a normal but somewhat strict upbringing followed by Army service Otto, the younger son of King Maximilian II, showed signs of serious mental Illness in the 1870s. He was withdrawn from public sight in 1875 and held a virtual prisoner, finally at the Furstenreid Palace.

In 1886 his brother King Ludwig II was also pronounced insane and placed under the Regency of their uncle Prince Leopold. Three days later Ludwig was found drowned in a lake in the grounds of Schloss Berg and Otto was proclaimed King under the continuing Regency of his uncle. 

Otto never left the Furstenreid Palace and it is doubtful if he ever fully understood that he was King. The Regent Prince Leopold died in 1912 whereupon his son Ludwig assumed his father's role. However within a year he had Otto deposed and was himself proclamed King as Ludwig III. Otto died three years later.