- This article or section should be merged with English claims to the French throne
From 1339 to 1801, with only brief intervals in 1360-1369 and 1420-1422, the Kings of England also bore the title of King of France. This title was first adopted by King Edward III, who claimed the throne of France after the death of his uncle Charles IV of France, thereby precipitating the Hundred Years' War. Edward's claim ignored the Salic law, under which the heir-male succeeds, and to which the French crown was subject. However, Edward was not even the heir-general of Charles IV, though he was his nearest male relative. Edward continued to use this title until the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, when he abandoned his claims in return for substantial lands in France. However, after the resumption of hostilities between the English and the French in 1369, Edward resumed his claim and the title of King of France. His successors also used the title until the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, in which the English recognised Charles VI as King of France, but with his new son-in-law King Henry V of England as his heir (disinheriting Charles VI's son, the Dauphin Charles). Henry V then adopted the title Heir of France instead. Henry V and Charles VI both died within two months of each other in 1422, and Henry V's infant son (Charles VI's grandson) Henry VI became King of France. He was the only English king who was de facto King of France, rather than using the style as a mere title of pretence. However, by 1429 the Dauphin Charles, with the support of Joan of Arc, had proclaimed himself Charles VII, and the English were gradually driven out of France (with the exception of Calais, which was held until 1558). Nevertheless, the Kings of England, and later of Great Britain, continued to use the title of King of France. In July 1797, during the peace negotiations at the Conference of Lille, the French delegates demanded that the King of Great Britain abandon the title of King of France as a condition of peace.
Since the abolition of the French monarchy in 1792, there was no longer a kingdom of France at all, and George III was certainly not its king. The negotiations were broken off in November 1797, so the title was retained for the while, but following the Act of Union which led to the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801, the title of King of France was omitted from the new royal style. Britain finally recognised the French Republic by the Treaty of Amiens of 1802.
"Kings of France" (1339)
"Kings of France" (title resumed 1369)
"Heirs of France" (1420)
"Kings of France" (1422) - Henry VI, King of England (1421-1471), deposed 1461
- Edward IV, King of England (1442-1483)
- Edward V, King of England (1470-1483), deposed 1483
- Richard III, King of England (1452-1485)
- Henry VII, King of England (1457-1509)
- Henry VIII, King of England (1491-1547)
- Edward VI, King of England (1537-1553)
- Lady Jane Grey (1537 - 1554), proclaimed Queen in 1553 and deposed days later.
- Mary I, Queen of England (1516-1558)
- Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603)
- James I, King of England (1566-1625)
- Charles I, King of England (1600-1649)
- Charles II, King of England (1630-1685)
- James II, King of England (1633-1701), deposed 1689
- William III, King of England (1650-1702)
- Mary II, Queen of England (1662-1694) (jointly with her husband William III)
- Anne, Queen of Great Britain (1665-1714)
- George I, King of Great Britain (1660-1727)
- George II, King of Great Britain (1683-1760)
- George III, King of Great Britain (1738-1820), title abandoned in 1801
The Jacobite pretenders continued to claim the title King of France as well as that of King of England, Scotland and Ireland.
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