King of Mercia

The King or Queen of Mercia was the title given to the ruler of the Saxon kingdom of Mercia.

Egfrith was crowned the King of Mercia in 785. He was the first king of a part of the United Kingdom to be anointed with holy oil during his coronation ceremony. (PROSE: The Dying Days)

During the reign of Alfred the Great in the late 9th century, Mercia was conquered by King Guthrum. The Sixth Doctor assured Alfred that fighting him was not useless and that Guthrum would soon become a Christian and peacefully join him in prayer. (PROSE: The Man Who Wouldn't Give Up)

In the early 10th century, Æthelred ruled Mercia. He pulled the wayward northern lands into union but holding the country together wore him ragged and he died in 911. In his stead, his wife Æthelfrid ruled as the Queen and Lady of Mercia.

By 918, Mercia stretched from North Wales to the coast of Yorkshire with John Bleak arguing that Æthelfrid was the founder of England as it was known in 1983. The exact circumstances of her deposition and the fate of her descendants was unknown to history. In fact, her brother Edward of Wessex killed her and took control of the country.

Edward eventually united the north of England with the south, (AUDIO: The Lady of Mercia) paving the way for Athelstan to become "the first King of Britain" in 924. There was still a separate King of the Welsh at this time (TV: Planet of the Dead) but Wales was absorbed into Great Britain in the following centuries. (TV: Boom Town, The New World)