What’s in a name: William IV or Henry IX?

Our last two monarchs (Charles III and Elizabeth II) have used their first names when deciding what their regnal names should be, but a monarch can actually choose any of their given names when deciding this. Elizabeth II’s father, George VI, was the most recent monarch to choose one of his other given names rather than use his first name - a choice made after the abdication crisis of 1936, providing continuity from the reign of his father, George V. George V chose to use his first name, the first monarch to do so since the reign of William IV almost 100 years earlier. But did you know that William had wanted to use a different regnal name?

Portrait of William IV, unknown artist. Image in the public domain, accessed via Wikimedia Commons

Introducing William IV

William IV is another monarch in the UK’s history who never expected to be on the throne. When he was born to George III and Queen Charlotte in 1765, he was third in line to the throne after his two elder brothers. Due to the early deaths of his niece, Princess Charlotte (daughter of George IV) in 1817 and his older brother Frederick in 1827, William became king after George IV’s death in 1830.

Henry IX and the ‘unsatisfactory prophecy’

William was given the names William Henry when he was born, meaning he could choose either William or Henry as his regnal name. When the time came, it seems as though William wanted to be King Henry IX. Mary Hopkirk wrote in her autobiography of William’s wife, Queen Adelaide:

‘The Sovereign told his Council that he proposed to be styled Henry IX, but he obligingly withdrew his proposal when they pointed out to him that owing to an unsatisfactory prophecy about the next King Henry it was not a good idea.’ (Hopkirk, 1946, p.84).

Finding the prophecy

There’s very little literature covering this apparent prophecy. I couldn’t find anything in any of the books I own on William IV or the Georgian kings, and it took numerous Google searches before a very specific search to find a newspaper article provided me with an answer. Interestingly, it came in the form of an article published in 1864 in an Australian newspaper.

The article explains that the prophecy said ‘Henry VIII ‘had pulled down monks and their cells, Henry IX would pull down bishops and their bells.’ This prophecy had been written in a book published in 1653 as a warning given in 1608 regarding the son and original heir to James VI and I, Prince Henry (who died in 1612 and his younger brother, Charles, would later become king as Charles I).

I’ve yet to find any contemporary sources from William’s accession that confirm this (and will update this article if I do!), but would William be more memorable in the modern era if he had followed the infamous Henry VIII in naming?

Sources

Hopkirk, Mary. (1946) Queen Adelaide. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.208606 (Accessed 24 September 2024)

Henry the Ninth of England. (1864, August 29). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13109977 (Accessed 24 September 2024)