Once again, despite my love of British history, the only thing that I seem to remember from my school days about King Alfred is that he was holed up somewhere in some sort of boggy terrain following a lengthy battle and, due to exhaustion had fallen asleep by a fire and managed to burn some cakes!

I can remember learning about King Richard III when I was but a “wee lassie” back in the late 1960s but the only thing I can really remember about him is that he was a strange looking bloke with a dodgy haircut, a hunch back and that he died in a battle back in the 15th century or thereabouts!

John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford can count many of Europe’s royal persons among their descendants, as well as some American presidents. John and Kate are also my 18th great-grandparents (though I’m not royal or at all famous). Still, I wanted to take the time and write about them and some of their royal descendants because a little of their blood runs through my veins, so I suppose I owe them that much. To simplify things, I thought I'd write a hub per generation. This is a hub about their children.