Bizarre British Monarchy Facts That Sound Fake

The Descent of Britain’s Monarch from the Founder of Islam

A descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, named Abu al Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad, became ruler of Seville in 1023. In 1091 the Almoravids, a Berber Muslim dynasty from Morocco invaded Muslim Spain, and Abu al Qasim’s grandson, al Mu’tamid ibn Abbas, lost his throne. His daughter Zaida fled Seville, and took refuge in the Christian kingdom of Castile. There, she became a mistress of its ruler, King Alfonoso VI. Zaida eventually converted to Christianity, and took the name Isabella. When Alfonso’s sickly wife died, he married Zaida, and she bore him three children. Two centuries later, Maria de Padilla, a descendant of Zaida and Alfonso became the mistress of King Pedro “The Cruel” of Castile. She bore him four children, and two of her daughters, Constance and Isabella, married sons of King Edward III of England.

Constance married Prince John of Gaunt, and became Duchess of Lancaster. Isabella married John of Gaunt’s younger brother Edmund of Langley, and became Duchess of York. Isabella bore Edmund Richard of Conisburgh, 3^rd Earl of Cambridge. He in turn became the grandfather of kings Edward IV and Richard III, and an ancestor of the Hanoverian line from which King Charles III is descended. As it stands at present, the king’s official title is Charles III, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her Other Realms and Territories King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. It seems that if he so wished, Britain’s monarch could add something along the lines of “and Direct Descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, Founder of Islam“.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Andrews, Allen – The Follies of King Edward VII (1975)

Atlas Obscura – Why the King Owns All the Swans in England

Bates, David – William the Conqueror (2004)

Bond, Jennie – Elizabeth: 80 Glorious Years (2006)

Cracked – 14 British Monarchy Strange Now-You-Know Facts

Dobson, Richard Barrie – The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 (1983)

Dodd, Gwilym – The Reign of Richard II (2000)

Douglas, David C. – William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England (1964)

Economist, The, April 7^th, 2018 – Muslims Consider Queen Elizabeth’s Ties to the Prophet Muhammad

Edwardian Promenade – The Amorous Life of Edward VII