The Plantagenet petition leads to a man who didn't want to be king

George, father of Edward Plantagenet

Has the Plantagenet dynasty disappeared with the execution, in 1499, of Edward Plantagenet? Maybe not. That unique child had nevertheless a relative, the brother o Edward IV, who had royal blood and was a legitimate child. His descent is still alive, far from England, far from Anjou, in New South Wales, Australia. Jerilderie is the name of the little city where the heir of the Plantagenet dynasty settled in the 60's.

Michaël Abney-Hastings

Michaël Abney-Hastings was a rice farmer. The man was a committed Australian republican and publicly expressed no interest in pursuing his claim to the UK throne, although he was amused by it. Regarding the throne he said he "didn't want it. I am not going to write a letter to the queen saying : you have three weeks to go and you owe me 500 years pension". He died on June 30 of this year.

Simon Abney-Hastings

He had a son, Simon Abney-Hastings, born in 1974 who lives and work for a textile company in the Victorian city of Wangaratta.  Following his father's death, he would become the rightful monarch of England under this alternative path of succession. But he calls himself a "reluctant royal", preferring a cap on his head to a crown, and fiercely protects his privacy. If he hasn't ruled out staking a claim to the monarchy, he recalls the motto of his family, "I Byde My Tyme" adding : "given the Abney-Hastings have had to wait six centuries to stake any claim, a little longer won't make much difference."

[Pictures and quotations are excerpt from Wikipedia]