Regnal years of English monarchs
The following is a list of the official regnal years of the monarchs of the Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Great Britain and United Kingdom from 1066. The regnal calendar is used in many official British government and legal documents of historical interest, notably parliamentary statutes.
Overview
For centuries, English official public documents have been dated by the regnal years of the ruling monarch. Traditionally, parliamentary statutes are referenced by regnal year, e.g. the Occasional Conformity Act of 1711 is officially referenced as "10 Anne c.6". In the event of a second session, or a second Parliament, in the same regnal year the chapter numbering would reset. As a result either an "s. 2" or "sess. 2" to indicate the second session, or an "Stat. 2" to indicate a second Parliament would be added. For example the Queen Regent's Prerogative Act 1554 is cited as "1 Mary s. 3 c. 1" because it was the first act passed in the third session of the parliament begun in the first year of the reign of Queen Mary, and the Riot Act is cited as "1 Geo 1 Stat. 2. c. 5.", being the fifth act passed in the second parliament of the first year of the reign of George I.Regnal years are calculated from the official date of a monarch's accession. For example, King George III acceded on 25 October 1760. That marks the beginning of his first regnal year. His second regnal year starts on 25 October 1761, his third regnal year on 25 October 1762, and so on. When a monarch dies, abdicates or is deposed, the regnal year comes to an end. A new regnal year begins from a new date, with a new monarch.
As different monarchs begin their reigns at different times, the exact month and day when a regnal year begins varies across reigns. For example, Elizabeth I's regnal year starts on 17 November, James I's on 24 March, Charles I's on 27 March, and so on.
The regnal year is distinct from the official "legal year" – that is, the calendar used for legal, civic and ecclesiastical purposes. The legal year also did not always coincide with the start date for the historical year. Until the 13th century, the English legal year began at Christmas. From the 14th century until 1752, the legal year began on 25 March. It is only since 1752 that the legal year was re-set to coincide with the start of the historical calendar year .
These date differences can also be confusing when sorting dates in old documents before 1753. For example, the reign of Charles I came to an end with his execution on 30 January 1649, but contemporary legal records such as the House of Commons Journals record this as 30 January 1648. To account for this complication, it is customary for historians referring to legal events between 1 January and 25 March to write the year down in "double-barreled" format.
The regnal years listed below are given in normal historical date. So a parliamentary statute that was passed on, say, 10 February 1585 would be dated in the official record as 10 February 1584, and simultaneously said to have been passed in the 27th year of Elizabeth I.
The 1750 Act reforming the legal year also officially introduced to England the Gregorian calendar on Thursday 14 September 1752. Up until then, England had been using the Julian calendar, which by that time was eleven days behind the calendar of most countries on the European Continent. So events before 1752 in English records often differ from European records, and it is sometimes necessary to refer to both sets of dates using "Old Style" and "New Style" notation, e.g. William of Orange's armada landed in England on 5 November 1688 or 15 November 1688. The dates in the table below follow the English calendar.
The following table gives the dates of the regnal years for Kings of England, from 1066 to the present day. These are official de jure dates, and may or may not coincide with whether a particular king had de facto power or not at that time. For example, as the Commonwealth era was suppressed in the official record, the regnal years of Charles II are measured from 30 January 1649 ; as a result, when Charles II actually became king, on 29 May 1660, he was already in his 12th regnal year.
Regnal calendar table
To calculate the regnal year from a particular date, just subtract the first regnal year from the calendar year in question. If the month and day fall before the regnal date, do nothing; if it falls on or after the regnal date, add one. Finally — for the regnal year of William III after Mary’s death — you must also add 6.- Example 1: 4 July 1776. This falls in the reign of George III, whose first regnal year is 1760; so 1776 1760 16th year of his reign.
- Example 2: 2 May 1662. This is in the reign of Charles II, whose first regnal year is 1649. So 1662 1649 13, add 1 because 2 May is after 30 January, so the date falls in the 14th regnal year of Charles II.
- Example 3: 31 December 1695. This falls in the reign of William III alone, whose "first" regnal year is 1694; so 1695 1694 1, add 1 because 31 December is after 28 December, and also add 6 because the date is after Mary’s death, so the date falls in the "8th" year of his reign.
| Monarch | No. of years | First regnal year | Regnal year start date | Regnal year end date | End of final year |
| William I | 21 | 1066 | 14 October | 13 October | 9 Sep 1087 |
| William II | 13 | 1087 | 26 September | 25 September | 2 Aug 1100 |
| Henry I | 36 | 1100 | 5 August | 4 August | 1 Dec 1135 |
| Stephen | 19 | 1135 | 26 December | 25 December | 25 Oct 1154 |
| Henry II | 35 | 1154 | 19 December | 18 December | 6 Jul 1189 |
| Richard I | 10 | 1189 | 3 September | 2 September | 6 Apr 1199 |
| John | 18 | 1199 | May | May | 19 Oct 1216 |
| Henry III | 57 | 1216 | 28 October | 27 October | 16 Nov 1272 |
| Edward I | 35 | 1272 | 20 November | 20 November | 7 Jul 1307 |
| Edward II | 20 | 1307 | 8 July | 7 July | 20 Jan 1327 |
| Edward III | 51, 38 | 1327 | 25 January | 24 January | 21 Jun 1377 |
| Richard II | 23 | 1377 | 22 June | 21 June | 29 Sep 1399 |
| Henry IV | 14 | 1399 | 30 September | 29 September | 20 Mar 1413 |
| Henry V | 10 | 1413 | 21 March | 20 March | 31 Aug 1422 |
| Henry VI | 39 + 1 | 1422 | 1 September | 31 August | 4 Mar 1461 |
| Edward IV | 23 | 1461 | 4 March | 3 March | 9 Apr 1483 |
| Edward V | 1 | 1483 | 9 April | 25 June | 25 Jun 1483 |
| Richard III | 3 | 1483 | 26 June | 25 June | 22 Aug 1485 |
| Henry VII | 24 | 1485 | 22 August | 21 August | 21 Apr 1509 |
| Henry VIII | 38 | 1509 | 22 April | 21 April | 28 Jan 1547 |
| Edward VI | 7 | 1547 | 28 January | 27 January | 6 Jul 1553 |
| Mary I | 2 | 1553 | 6 July | 5 July | 24 Jul 1554 |
| "Philip and Mary" | 5 & 6 | 1554 | 25 July | 24 July | 17 Nov 1558 |
| Elizabeth I | 45 | 1558 | 17 November | 16 November | 24 Mar 1603 |
| James I | 23 | 1603 | 25 March | 24 March | 27 Mar 1625 |
| Charles I | 24 | 1625 | 27 March | 26 March | 30 Jan 1649 |
| Charles II | 37 | 1649 | 30 January | 29 January | 6 Feb 1685 |
| James II | 4 | 1685 | 6 February | 5 February | 11 Dec 1688 |
| "William and Mary" | 6 | 1689 | 13 February | 12 February | 27 Dec 1694 |
| William III | 8 | 1694 | 28 December | 27 December | 8 Mar 1702 |
| Anne | 13 | 1702 | 8 March | 7 March | 1 Aug 1714 |
| George I | 13 | 1714 | 1 August | 31 July | 11 Jun 1727 |
| George II | 34 | 1727 | 11 June | 10 June | 25 Oct 1760 |
| George III | 60 | 1760 | 25 October | 24 October | 29 Jan 1820 |
| George IV | 11 | 1820 | 29 January | 28 January | 26 Jun 1830 |
| William IV | 7 | 1830 | 26 June | 25 June | 20 Jun 1837 |
| Victoria | 64 | 1837 | 20 June | 19 June | 22 Jan 1901 |
| Edward VII | 10 | 1901 | 22 January | 21 January | 6 May 1910 |
| George V | 26 | 1910 | 6 May | 5 May | 20 Jan 1936 |
| Edward VIII | 1 | 1936 | 20 January | 11 December | 11 Dec 1936 |
| George VI | 16 | 1936 | 11 December | 10 December | 5 Feb 1952 |
| Elizabeth II | 1952 | 6 February | 5 February |