3 July 1918 - Mehmed V, Ottoman Sultan 1909-18, died.

Half-brother of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, Mehmed was 64 when he was elevated to the Throne in the coup that deposed Abdul Hamid in 1909. The coup was led by a group known as the Young Turks who sought to impose a more liberal, Westernized form of government on Turkey. Mehmed was intended to be a mere puppet ruler and so it proved. His only significant act was to call for Jihad against the British in 1915. He presided over the loss of large portions of Ottoman territory in north Africa to the Italians and the British and saw Turkish the enclave in Europe dramatically reduced as land was lost to the Balkan States. He died just before Turkey's final collapse in 1918.

4 July 1672 - William, Prince of Orange elected Stadtholder of the United Provinces of The Netherlands.

The seven Provinces of The Netherlands was nominally an elected Monarchy, but in reality the post of Stadtholder had become hereditary in the House of Orange. However the Stadtholder William II died in 1650 leaving a pregnant widow almost at her full term. Eight days later she gave birth to a son William the new Prince of Orange, who, naturally could not become Stadtholder at such a tender age.

The seven Provinces failed to elect anyone to fill the role for three years until the ruler of the richest and most powerful of the Provinces Jan de Witt of Holland was chosen to fill the vacancy.

Under de Witt The Netherlands prospered, but in 1672 Louis XIV of France invaded with a huge army and rapidly overran the southern Provinces. De Witt ordered the opening of the dykes to flood vast areas of the countryside which halted the French advance but decimated Dutch agriculture and ruined the economy. De Witt was blamed and in June he was stabbed and wounded by an assassin. Holland had had enough and on 4 July the States General of Holland met and elected the 21 year old William, Prince of Orange as Stadtholder to replace de Witt.

With Holland leading the way four other Provinces quickly followed suit and appointed William as Stadtholder, the House of Orange was restored to power. Seven weeks lare de Witt was murdered by the mob, possibly with William's connaivance.

5 July 1717 - Pedro III, King of Portugal 1777-86, born.

Fourth but second surviving son of King John V and younger brother of King Jose who, after fathering four daughters, arranged in 1760 for Pedro to marry his niece Jose's eldest daughter Maria and heir to the Throne.

When King Jose died in 1777 Maria succeeded as Queen as joint-ruler with her husband Pedro. In reality power lay with Maria and Pedro was content to reign in name only preferring a life of hunting and enjoying the role of King without the daily responsibilities.

His death in 1786 had a devastating effect on his wife. Already showing signs of mental instability she broke down entirely and in 1792 the reins of government were taken up by her son John.

Normally on this date the city of Charlottesville, Virginia would be remembering Thomas Jefferson who died 4 July 1826.  He built the magnificent Monticello mansion, founded the University of Virginia (one of the best universities in the country from which my son is a graduate), and wrote that little document called the Constitution of the United States of America.  Charlottesville is no longer honoring Thomas Jefferson; instead, they will celebrate March 6, 1865, the date the Union captured Charlottesville.

That doesn't sound right. I always think of Jefferson when the Constitution is mentioned.

6 July 1553 - Edward VI, King of England 1547-53, died.

Only surviving son of Henry VII Edward was just nine years old when he became King. His entire reign was spent under the Regencies of firstly his uncle Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, then after he was overthrown in 1551, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. 

The young Edward was sickly but highly intelligent and a fervent Protestant, no doubt due to the direction in which the Regents steered him after his accession.

By early 1553 it became clear that he would not live much longer, so in order to ensure the Protestant succession and his own head as Edward's heir was his Catholic half-sister Mary, Northumberland firstly arranged the marriage of his son Guildford to Lady Jane Grey Edward's cousin. In June Edward, whether under pressure from Northumberland or of his own will is unclear, revised the laws of succession naming Lady Jane as his heir. Six weeks later he died of tuberculosis aged just 15.

Lady Jane was proclaimed Queen four days later.   

7 July 1572 - Sigismund II, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania 1530-72, died.

Son of Sigismund I with whom he reigned as joint-King until the elder's death in 1548, thence as sole ruler. Under Sigismund II Poland reached the height of its power rivalling Russia, Sweden and Brandenburg for supremacy in north-eastern Europe. Sigismund was the last King of the House of Jagiellon, his death without an heir enabled the Polish nobles to seize power by instituting an elected Monarchy over which they hoped to dominate.

Sigismund was married three times; his first wife, Elizabeth of Austria died aged 18 in 1545. He married secondly his mistress Barbara Radziwill in a secret ceremony in 1547 only informing his father the following year, shortly after which he died. Barbara was extremely unpopular with the increasingly powerful nobility and her death in 1550 after a long illness was alleged by some to be the result of a gradual poisoning on the orders of the treasonous nobles. His third marriage in 1553 was to his former sister-in-law, Catherine of Austria; the union was purely political and consequently unhappy. Catherine returned to Austria in 1565, there were no children.

8 July 1249 - Alexander II, King of Scots 1214-49, died.

A pragmatic King who, after a brief war with England at the beginning of his reign, adopted a more realistic policy of only fighting battles he could win. Thus in 1237 he gave up Scotland's ancient and hopeless claim to Northumbria, instead he decided to take on the Norwegians who still nominally controlled the Hebridean Islands off the west coast of Scotland. In an expedition against the Vikings in 1249 King Alexander was taken ill on board ship. It put into the island of Kerrera where there was supposedly a healing spring, but after being taken ashore but died in his tent on the island. 

9 July 1746 - Philip V, King of Spain 1700-46, died.

Second son of the Dauphin of France Philip was named as heir to the Spanish Throne by the childless Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs. His accession in 1700 led to the long and bitter War of Spanish Succession between France, who naturally supported Philip and the Austro-British alliance in support of the Habsburg candidate Charles of Austria. In the end in 1713 Philip was recognized as King, but in return he lost all of Spain's possessions in Italy and the Netherlands. This proved to be no bad thing as Philip was able to rebuild Spain's economy without the drain on his finances maintaining and defending his other European lands had hitherto been.

Always of a melancholic disposition Philip fell into a depression in the 1720s and abdicated to become a monk in January 1724. His son Luis became King, but within eight months he died of smallpox and Philip was persuaded to leave his monastry and take up the Crown once more.

He is also remembered for his second marriage to the formidable Elisabeth Farnese in 1714. During Philip's increasingly severe bouts of depression she was the effective ruler of Spain directing efforts to restore the lands lost in Italy with some success. His reign ended as it had begun in war over a Throne, this time that of Austria.

10 July 1559 - Henri II, King of France 1547-59, died.

The King who won back Calais, England's last possession in France. He is chiefly remembered though for the manner of his untimely death.

On 30 June he took part in a jousting tournament and challenged the Captain of his Scottish Guards, Gabriel Montgomery to tilt with him. As the two riders met Montgomery's lance shattered on the King's shield, wooden splinters penetrating his helmet and piercing his throat and right eye. He barely recovered consciousness before infection set in and he died on 10 July.

Montgomery was pardoned by the King on his death bed, but he was unsurprisingly ostracized at Court and retired to his estate in Normandy. He came to a violent end, he converted to Protestantism and fell victim to the anti-Protestant purge in 1574 when he was beheaded for treason.

11 July 1844 - Peter I, King of Serbia 1903-18 & King of Yugoslavia 1918-21, born.

Eldest surviving son and heir of Alexander I Karadjordjevic, Prince of Serbia, Peter was just 14 when his father was overthrow in a coup by the Obernovic clan who took over the Serbian Throne.

From his exile in Switzerland Peter, who after his father's death in 1885 became head of the family, became involved in a number of plots to overthrow the ruling Obrenovic King. But it was not until 1903 when King Alexander I Obrenovic was murdered that Peter was restored to the Throne (see 10 June).

Under his reign Serbia extended her territory in the two Balkan Wars 1912-13, but by 1914 Peter was worn out and in June just before his 70th birthday he resigned his powers to his son and heir Alexander who ruled as Regent. Five weeks later Serbia was at war with Austria and the First World War erupted. The aged King made several morale-boosting visits to the front line, at one point taking up a rifle and joining his men in the trenches. But a combined Austro-German offensive in 1915 forced the Serbian Royal Family to flee into exile on the Greek island of Corfu where they remained until the end of the war.

In December 1918 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was proclaimed out of the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire plus the annexation of the tiny Kingdom of Montenegro, Peter was its first King, although Prince Alexander continued as Regent. Peter died aged 77 in 1921.

12 July 927 - Athelstan, King of Wessex recognized as King of England.

Every country has its National Day, in England it's St George's Day 23 April, but it's not celebrated very much as St George has no direct connection with England whatsoever.

If we were to chose another day, one more English, today ought to be the day, as 12 July is England's birthday.

Athelstan succeeded his father as King of Wessex in 924. Both his father and grandfather had extended the borders of Wessex to take in pretty much all of England as we know it today, all except the northern areas of Northumbria which was a Viking Kingdom centred around York and the northern part of Cumbria which was the southern outpost of the Kingdom of Strathclyde.

In 927 Sithric, King of Northumbria died leaving a child Olaf as his heir. Athelstan invaded and in a short campaign seized control of Northumbria. Whilst in the north he took the opportunity to obtain recognition of his position by calling all the sub-Kings and Lords of the island together at Eamont in Cumbria where on 12 July they swore fealty to him as overlord. The exact make up of the historic gathering is unknown, but among those who attended were Owain of Strathclyde, Constantine of Scotland and Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, the most powerful of the Welsh Kings. Thus England as born.   

13 July 1807 - Henry Stuart "Henry IX", died.

The Stuart claimant to the Throne 1788-1807. He was born in Rome in 1725 the second son of James Stuart the titular King "James III" and was styled Duke of York. Intensely religious he was ordained Cardinal in 1747 and spent the rest of his life in the service of the Catholic Church becoming Bishop of Frascati in 1761.

In 1788 upon the death of his elder brother Charles "Bonnie Prince Charlie" Henry became the Stuart claimant to the Throne taking the empty title Henry IX.

In 1798 Napoleon's armies invaded Italy and occupied the Papal States, Cardinal Stuart lost his property and his fortune forcing him to seek sanctuary in Venice. Here, on the advice of the British consul, George III granted him a pension of £4000 a year, a sign that the Stuarts were no longer considered a serious threat to the Hanoverian Monarchy.

He returned to Rome in 1803 and died four years later aged 82, the last of the direct line of Stuarts. Upon his death the Stuart claim passed to a distant relative, Charles Emmanuel IV, King of Sardinia who made no clams upon the British Throne.

14 July 1223 - Philippe II, KIng of France 1179-1223, died.

Joint-ruler with his ailing father Louis VII from 1179 until Louis' death in 1180. Phillipe was one of the leaders of the Third Crusade with Richard "The Lionheart" of England, but the two fell out over leadership and Philippe returned to France in 1191. He spent the next few years attempting to conquer Richard's domains in France taking advantage of his absence, but failed when Richard returned and defeated him at the battle of Freteval in 1194.

However after Richard's death in 1199 Philippe saw an opportunity to try again with England under the uninspiring leadership of King John. Between 1202 and 1208 the French conquered all of England's possessions in France leaving only Gascony in the south.

In 1216 Philippe gave permission for his son and heir Louis to cross to England at the request of the rebellious Lords opposed to King John with the aim of overthrowing John and installing himself as King. The plan failed however when John died and the former rebel Lords swore allegiance to John's son, the boy-King Henry III. 

15 July 1685 - James Scott, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch, executed.

Eldest illegitimate child of Charles II and his mistress Lucy Walter, born in 1649 in Rotterdam where Charles was living in exile after the Parliamentarian takeover in GB.

The Monarchy was restored in 1660 and in 1663 King Charles sent for James whom he created Duke of Monmouth and married off to a wealthy noblewoman Anne Scott, Ducness of Buccleuch, whereupon James took his wife's surname and additional title.

By the late 1660s it was apparent that King Charles' wife Catherine would not produce any children and therefore his brother James, Duke of York remained heir to the Throne. This caused great consternation in the country as James had converted to Catholicism and there was a fear among the establishment of a Catholic King. This manifested itself in the suggestion to legitimize Monmouth and name him as heir. Charles however always resisted such a move. Nevertheless Monmouth was given the highest military honour in the land, that of Captain General of the King's Forces in 1670 at the age of just 20. In 1679 he led the government forces in Scotland that put down a Covenanter Rebellion. By now he was an extremely popular figure and Parliament twice attempted to have the Duke of York excluded from the succession in the hope that Monmouth would be appointed heir, but King Charles twice rejected the Bills.

Monmouth's increasing popularity also made him many enemies and in 1683 he was named in a plot to assassinate the Duke of York. He was almost certainly innocent, but fled nevertheless to The Netherlands where, in 1685, he heard of his father's death and the accession of his uncle as the Catholic King James II.

Urged on by a number of Protestant supporters, who promised him a general uprising across the country in his favour, Monmouth suddenly announced that he had documents proving that his parents had been legally married and that therefore he was the rightful King. He raised a small army and sailed to England landing at Lyme Regis on 11 June where he proclaimed himself King James. For the next three weeks he marched towards Bristol but failed to raise enough men to attack the city. On at dawn 6 July his army was attacked by the King's forces at Sedgemoor, the result was a rout of the rebels. Monmouth escaped but was discovered hiding in a dith dressed as a shepherd a few days later.

There was need for a trial, he had been proclaimed a traitor by an Act of Attainder within a few days of his arrival in England and was therefore condemned to death. He requested a meeting with his uncle the King which took place on 13 July where Monmouth begged for his life, but to no avail. He was beheaded on Tower Hill two days later, the axeman taking between five and eight blows to sever his head.

16 July 1951 - Leopold III, King of the Belgians 1934-51, abdicated.

King Leopold's decision to surrender to the advancing Germans in May 1940 was severely criticised by the Allies, especially the French, who made him the scapegoat for France's subsequent poor performance in the battlefield. Leopold bravely refused to flee to GB, instead he remained with his troops and was captured by the Germans and confined to Laeken Palace. Here he met Hitler in November and this, followed by his second marriage in 1941, made him a collaborator in the eyes of many.

His first wife Queen Astrid had died in a car accident in 1935, his second wife, Lilian Baels, was the daughter of the Governor of West Flanders who was accused of abandoning his post as the Germans advanced (he was in fact driving his family to safety in France). Lilian, who had known the King for years, returned to Belgium after the surrender and visited Laeken Palace many times and it was here that the couple were married in December 1941.    

In 1944, following the D-Day landings, the King and his wife were taken firstly to Germany and then Austria where they were liberated by American troops in May 1945. However such was the hostility towards them that he was advised not to return to Belgium but to seek sanctuary in Switzerland and reign under the Regency of his brother Prince Charles, Count of Flanders who had been acting as Regent since the liberation of Belgium in September 1944.

This situation continued for five years until a referendum was held on his future in March 1950. The result was 57.7% to 42.3% in favour of his return as King in his own right, which he did in July. However the large minority of opponents to his return organized a series of strikes which became increasingly violent with deaths on the streets. Fearing civil war Leopold announced that he would relinquish power to his son Baudouin who would act as Regent and after his son had established himself, he was only 20 years old, he Leopold would formally abdicate. Baudouin took over as Regent on 11 August 1950 and King Leopold abdicated 11 months later on 16 July 1951.

Leopold and his wife (who was never styled Queen) lived in exile in Switzerland until his death in 1983, she died in 2002.

17 July 1918 - Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia 1894-1917, murdered along with his entire family.

See Death of the Romanovs.

17 July 1918 - Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia 1894-1917, murdered along with his entire family.

See Death of the Romanovs.

‍It is at http://historylovers.aimoo.com/topic/Death_of_the_Romanovs-426276-8125-1 .

It helps to include the link.

Due to my PC breaking down I'll post only brief facts to cover the next few days, I can give further details if anyone's interested enough once I'm back to normal. 

18 July 1100 - Godfrey of Bouillon, King of Jerusalem 1099-1100, died.

Leader of the First Crusade who was elected the first Christian king of Jerusalem in 1099. To be accurate he never took the title of King in the city in which Christ was King, instead he adopted the title Defender of the Holy Sepulchre. He died just days short of the first anniversary of his elevation.

19 July 1553 - Jane, Queen of England 1553, deposed.

Better known as Lady Jane Grey. She was the 15 year old cousin of Edward VI whom he named as his heir as he lay dying (see 6 July). She was proclaimed Queen on 10 July, but an uprising in favour of the rightful Queen Mary saw her support among the nobles vanish and she was deposed nine days later, thus she was GB's shortest reigning Monarch. 

20 July 1927 - Ferdinand, King of Roumania 1914-27, died.

Ferdinand was less than a year old when his father Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was chosen as King of Roumania. As a result Ferdinand was personally disposed towards Germany when he ascended the Throne in 1914, but parliament insisted on neutrality. It was not until 1916 that he reluctantly joined the Allies in declaring war on Germany. The campaign went badly and by the end of the year he and the government were reduced to the far north east around Jassy as the Austro-Germans occupied the rest of the country and a peace treaty was signed with the Central Powers. Only the collapse of Austria and the imminent fall of Germany allowed Ferdinand to re-declare war on Germany on 10 November 1918, thus giving Roumania a seat at the 1919 peace conference in which his country was greatly enlarged by the annexation of former Austrian and Russian territory.

21 July 1831 - Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha proclaimed King of Belgium.

The first King of an independent Belgium. Belgium, formerly the Austrian Netherlands, was awarded to the Kingdom of The Netherlands after the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. In 1830 the province rebelled against the Dutch and proclaimed a Provisional Government. At a conference in London the Powers recognized and guaranteed Belgium's independence. After much searching the Provisional Government elected Leopold as King due to his close links with GB being the widower of Princess Charlotte of Wales and uncle of Princess Victoria, the heir to the British Throne.

And now there is a boy King eh? Nothing odd about that Tommy. You have a 12 year old playing President and no one seems to mind that.

24 July 1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots 1542-67, abdicated.

For the complex background to this story see 10 February and 15 May.

A month after her marriage to Bothwell the rebel Lords met Mary's and Bothwell's forces at Carberry Hill outside Edinburgh. Outnumbered Bothwell's men fled and Bothwell himself escaped to his castle at Dunbar. Mary however surrendered to the Lords, she and her husband never saw each other again.

After a night in Edinburgh she was taken to Lochleven Castle, an island fortress in Loch Leven where she fell into a severe depression cut off as she was from her son, husband and allies. Some time around 20-24 July she miscarried of a three month gestation child (possibly twins). In her despondent state she was persuaded, under threat of violence, to abdicate on 24 July in favour of her 13 month old son James.

25 July 1554 - Mary I, Queen of England married Philip of Spain. The marriage between the two Catholic Monarchs was purely political on Philip's part, but a love (or infatuation) match for Mary. Philip, heir to the Spanish Throne, was a 27 year old widower, Mary was prematurely aged at 38. Philip had a son and heir, so he had no need of a second marriage for solely dynastic reasons. But Spain did need an ally against France, so the union was arranged. He travelled to England in July 1554 and the two met for the first time just days before the wedding took place at Winchester Cathedral. Under the convention of the time Philip technically became King of England upon his marriage.   A month later he returned to Spain, he only returned once to see Mary for a few months in 1557 before her death the following year. They had no children, but Mary suffered two false pregnancies, possibly confusing the symptoms of her illness with a pregnancy.   Philip became King of Spain upon his father's abdication in 1556. The main consequence of the marriage was England being dragged into a war with France which resulted in the loss of England's last possession on mainland Europe, Calais in 1558.

26 July 1867 - Otto, King of Greece 1832-62, died. Greece secured independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1827 and established itself as a Republic. However after five years of chaos and mismanagement it was decided they needed a King to unify the country. The search began for a suitable Prince and in 1832 Prince Otto of Bavaria, the 17 year old second son of King Ludwig I, was chosen. He reigned under a Regency until he was 20 when he assumed absolute power. Despite his best efforts he was never popular, he surrounded himself with Bavarian advisors and soldiers and in 1843 a revolution forced him to cede some of his powers into a Constitutional Monarchy. His wife, Amalia of Oldenburg, whom he married in 1836 was especially disliked. In 1854 during the Crimean War he invaded Ottoman territory but was defeated and forced to retreat. In 1862 a second coup proved successful and he was deposed. He returned to Bavaria where he died five years later aged 52.

27 July 1128 - William, Count of Flanders 1127-28, died.

Only son of Robert III, Duke of Normandy who was the eldest son of William the Conquerer. In 1106 when William was just three years old his father was deposed as Duke of Normandy and imprisoned by his brother Henry I, King of England. Initially brought up by his half-sister and her husband the young William had a precarious existence living in fear of kidnap or murder at the hands of his uncle.

As a youth he found sanctuary in Flanders where he twice enlisted the support of the Count of Flanders and the King of France in his failed attempts to restore his father as Duke of Normandy. 

When Charles, Count of Flanders was murdered in 1127 the French King Louis invaded Flanders and forced the nobles to accept William as Count. However the following year much of the County rebelled against him and in July he was wounded at the siege of Aalst, the wound became infected and he died aged just 25.