House of Winton
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The House of Winton is a fictional Royal Family of David Weber's Honorverse.
The current reigning monarch of the Star Kingdom of Manticore is Her Majesty Elizabeth III, who succeeded to the Throne after her father's(King Roger III) assassination by agents of the Peoples Republic of Haven.
Prior to leaving for Manticore A, Robert Winton, founder and administrator of the colony of Manticore set up the Manticoran Colony Trust of Zurich which was to invest the capital that remained after the expense of mounting the expedition. The interest that this trust accrued was to be used to watch over the colonist's interest during the 650 years that it would take for the colony ship, Jason to reach its destination.
The Trust did its job well. So well in fact that upon Jason's arrival in 1416 PD (post diaspora), Manticore found itself with a very favorable bank balance. Which was a very good thing because thirty eight years after the colony's establishment a plague which was resistant to everything available to Manticoran doctors struck the colonists. It took ten years for a vaccine to be developed and in that time, 60% of the original colonists died.
New colonists needed to be recruited, but the surviving settlers of Manticore were concerned about remaining in control of their own colony. The solution was an interesting one.
Since the colony's foundation Roger Winton had served as Planetary Administrator. Although now over eighty years old, he remained active and his daughter, Elizabeth, herself President of the Board of Directors was as good an administrator as Roger.
Because the Wintons had served Manticore so well, a convention of colony shareholders elected to convert the planetary government from a Board of Directors to a Monarchy with Roger Winton as its first king. The Wintons have ruled the Star Kingdom of Manticore ever since.
Since King Roger's ascension to the throne there have been sixteen monarchs of Manticore.
- Roger I 1471–1474 pd (32–34 al)
- Elizabeth I 1474–1507 pd (34–53 al)
- Michael 1507–1539 pd (53–72 al)
- Edward I 1539–1544 pd (72–74 al) (boating accident; succeeded by sister)
- Elizabeth II 1544–1601 pd ( 74–107 al)
- David 1601–1642 pd (107–131 al)
- Roger II 1642–1669 pd (131–147 al)
- Adrienne 1669–1681 pd (147–154 al)
- William 1681–1690 pd (154–158 al) (assassinated)
- William II 1690–1741 pd (158–188 al)
- Caitrin 1741–1762 pd (188–200 al)
- Samantha 1762–1785 pd (200–214 al)
- George 1785–1802 pd (214–224 al)
- Samantha II 1802–1857 pd (224–255 al)
- Roger III 1857–1883 pd (255–270 al)
- Elizabeth III 1883 pd–present (270 al–present)
Individually and as a group the Wintons have proven to be unusually strong and respected rulers.
[edit] Sources
More than Honor by David Weber, David Drake, and SM Stirling. Line of Succession excerpted from: More than Honor by David Weber, David Drake, and S.M. Stirling. The Universe of Honor Harrington by David Weber. page 337-338.
