Structure

The Monarchs

When we originally reviewed all the kings and queens of England from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II, we reviewed 57 individuals (counting William & Mary as one). One of these was Oliver Cromwell who was not, of course, a monarch, so we are discounting him. Another is the current monarch, Elizabeth II, who we decided not to consider for the Rex Factor due to the complication of her still being the monarch and thus not a finished reign. For the same reason, we are also not including her in this Twitter tournament.

So, that leaves us with 55 monarchs: all the kings and queens of England from Alfred the Great to George VI.

The Seedings

We considered doing either a partly or fully randomised draw, but instead we’re making this a test of the original Rex Factor scores, so the draw will be entirely seeded based on their original total score and whether or not they received the Rex Factor.

The top seeds will be the 18 monarchs who received the Rex Factor: Henry II (top scorer and thus 1st seed); Edward I (2nd seed); Edward IV (3); Victoria (4); Henry I (5); Edward III (6); Henry VIII (7); Alfred the Great (8); William the Conqueror (9); Cnut (10); George V (11); Richard the Lionheart (12); Henry V (13); Athelstan (14); Elizabeth I (15); William & Mary (16); Charles II (17); William IV (18).

For the 37 monarchs not to get the Rex Factor, they are seeded according to their original total score on the podcast So, George III is the 19th seed as the highest scoring monarch not to get the Rex Factor, going all the way down to Edward V, who had the lowest score and so is the 55th seed.

How to Vote

In order to vote in the polls, you need to have your own Twitter account. There will be one poll running each day, which will be pinned to the top of the @rexfactorpod Twitter profile, so hopefully it should be easy to find. All you need to do is click on which monarch you want to win that day’s poll. Each poll will run for 24 hours before closing.

The Draw

55 is not the ideal number for a tournament, so we are having 4 preliminary polls between the 11 bottom seeds, with the 4 winners joining the top 44 seeds in the quarter finals, where 48 monarchs will be completing in 12 polls with 4 monarchs in each contest. The 12 winners will go into the Semi-Finals, with 4 polls involving 3 monarchs each, with the 4 winners going into the Grand Final. In total, 21 votes to decide England’s greatest monarch.

Preliminary Round

  • P1: Edward the Confessor (45) / Eadwig (49) / Harold I (53)
  • P2: Eadred (46) / Henry VI (50) / Edward the Martyr (54)
  • P3: Edward VIII (47); Edward VI (51); Edward V (55)
  • P4: Edmund Ironside (48) / Harthacnut (52)

Quarter Finals

  • QF1: Henry II (1) / Henry V (13) / John (25) / George I (37)
  • QF2: Henry I (5) / Charles II (17) / Æthelred the Unready (29) / Charles I (41)
  • QF3: William the Conqueror (9) / Edward the Elder (21) / William Rufus (33) / P1 Winner (TBC)
  • QF4: Edward IV (3) / Elizabeth I (15) / George VI (27) / Edmund I (39)
  • QF5: Henry VIII (7) / George III (19) / Henry III (31) / Sweyn Forkbeard (43)
  • QF6: George V (11) / Henry VII (23) / Harold II (35) / P3 Winner (TBC)
  • QF7: Victoria (4) / William & Mary (16) / Richard III (28) / James II (40)
  • QF8: Alfred the Great (8) / Edgar the Peaceable (20) / Edward II (32) / Mary I (44)
  • QF9: Richard the Lionheart (12) / George II (24) / Richard II (36) / P4 Winner (TBC)
  • QF10: Edward I (2) / Athelstan (14) / Edward VII (26) / Anne (38)
  • QF11: Edward III (6) / William IV (18) / James I (30) / Stephen (42)
  • QF12: Cnut (10) / Henry IV (22) / George IV (34) / P2 Winner (TBC)

Semi-Finals

  • SF1: QF1 / QF2 / QF3
  • SF2: QF4 / QF5 / QF6
  • SF3: QF7 / QF8 / QF9
  • SF4: QF10 / QF11 / QF12

Grand FInal

  • SF1 / SF2 / SF3 / SF4

If all goes according to the seedings, the Grand Final should see Henry II storm to victory ahead of Edward I, Edward IV and Victoria, but will that be what happens? You decide who will be crowned England’s greatest monarch on 2020, so please vote in all the polls and spread the word!