Talk:Monarchical ordinal

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In order to avoid controversy, it was announced after the accession of Elizabeth II that, in the future, the highest numeral from each sequence would be used.

I'm still confused. The next James to take the British throne will be:
  • James III, because of James II of England was the last official King to hold that name?
  • James VIII, becase he was James VII of Scotland?
  • James IV, because we should count James III the pretender?
  • James IX, becase the pretender claimed Scotland too?

It seems clear to me. The next King James would be James VIII, because eight is higher than three. I doubt the Jacobite pretenders would be included in the counting. (Perhaps it would be better if I changed the word 'sequence' into some other word, like 'counting'?)

BTW shouldn't this be moved to Wikipedia:Use of ordinals by monarchs? Mintguy 12:39, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Wikipedia already has its own conventions on the use of ordinals by monarchs. Erwin 14:06, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I think this makes a good article


I couldn't agree more :-) Erwin 14:25, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)
on its own and doesn't need to be moved. Rmhermen 14:08, Aug 14, 2003 (UTC)
I agree, I was just a bit thrown by the line This article is purely for the purpose of information.. assuming it was intended to assist editors. Mintguy 14:13, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)
I wrote that line in order to avoid deviations from the wiki conventions, which differ from the actual use of ordinals in some monarchies. If you're interested in the "full story" behind that line, you might want to read the last nine or ten messages at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (names and titles). Erwin 14:25, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)
I see that the article that you were thinking about merging this one with is gone. so i'll remove the message--Olsdude 08:48, 18 January 2006 (UTC)


I'm confused about this as well. Should we follow the english manner of naming monarchs with the ordinal only if there are more than one of the same name, or do we follow the conventions of the country of which the monarch is monarch (ugh)and put the ordinal for the first if they do? For example, Juan Carlos of Spain is refered to, in Spain, as Juan Carlos I. Stephen Kennedy 17:03, 25 Nov 2003 (UTC)


The article mentions that Edward VII was the second Edward to be king of Scotland but surely he was hte first unless you are counting Edward I of England's occupation of Scotland. Penrithguy 17:57, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

He is the second of Scotland, counting Edward Balliol, who actually reigned there. If counting also that occupation (untenable), would be as much as third. Marrtel 03:58, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] source of use of ordinals in medieval and later Europe

[1] Marrtel 04:09, 29 April 2006 (UTC)