Britain’s Real Monarch: As the son of a farmhand from the Australian outback, Simon Abney-Hastings was unlikely choice to receive an invitation to King Charles III’s coronation.
But when he takes his seat in Westminster Abbey next week, he will be the one person other than those in the line of succession who could actually have a claim on the throne.
Read on to know the details.
King Edward IV was illegitimate
According to British medieval historian Michael Jones, he uncovered a document two decades ago in Rouen cathedral in France which, he says, is proof King Edward IV was illegitimate.
During the five weeks when Edward might have been conceived, according to Jones, his father Richard of York was in fact 160 kilometres (100 miles) from his wife Cecily Neville, the Duchess of York.
As a result, Jones has argued, Edward was not the rightful heir to the throne and the line of succession should instead have gone through Edward’s younger brother George, Duke of Clarence, who is a direct ancestor of Abney-Hastings.
Inherited title of Earl
Although the family does 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 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 Simon, 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 current earl said on Twitter he was “delighted and sincerely honoured” to be asked to perform the same role as his ancestors on May 6.
The surprising implications of the Rouen cathedral discovery came as a shock to the Abney-Hastings family nearly 20 years ago.
Britain’s Real Monarch
A British documentary team visited an unsuspecting Michael Abney-Hastings at his home in Australia for the 2004 programme “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”.
Abney-Hastings responded that he had been aware of a “distant” link to the Plantagenet royal dynasty but confessed that the news that he might have been King Michael I was “a bit of a shock”.
An Australian, Simon 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”.
In fact, he had always been a “loyal and staunch supporter” of both Queen Elizabeth II and her son, he said.
“Indeed they exchange birthday or Christmas cards every year,” he added.
