In UK, the death of Elizabeth II automatically should place her son Charles, Prince of Wales, on the throne. There should be no difficulty at all as to who inherits the crown; no civil strife between her children, Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward. In the past, however, this peaceful state of crowning was not common, on the contrary, coronations often led to bloodshed; the first in succession to the throne did not always manage to mount the throne. When King Edward the Confessor died childless in 1066, a question, who should succeed the throne, occurred naturally. Edgar, who was the grandson of King Edmund, was one, Norwegian-Danish King Harald was also one, and Guillaume, the Duke of Normandy was another. Nevertheless Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, took a drastic measure: he had two services on the same day; King Edward's burial and his own coronation, which was extremely unusual even at that time, and which eventually aggravated the matter. The above three people appealed Harold's coronation. Edgar, however, was regarded too small to succeed the throne. King Harald from Norway invaded the north of England and occupied York temporarily but was finally defeated by newly crowned King Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Guillaume with a stronger claim against Harold was different from the two. He was waiting for the good time for a battle with Harold. Guillaume was born in 1027 at Falaise in Normandy, France, as an illegitimate child of the sixth Duke Robert of Normandy. King Edward's mother, Emma, was from Normandy, and Guillaume and King Edward were relatives. Guillaume made an invasion at Pevensey with a great fleet of warships in 1066. As is well-known, he completely beat King Harold's army at the Battle of Hastings. Nevertheless, it was more than two months before he crowned himself as William the Conqueror, King of England. This summer, I visited cities and towns in Normandy which were related to Guillaume, and also drove along the south-eastern coast of England. This means that I tried to follow the steps of Guillaume's conquest of England.

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