"The Sovereign Mother"

The new Princess Sarah Silver Crown

The new ROSARDAN CROWN Honouring Princess Sarah (132 - 222), "The Sovereign Mother"

After the death of the long reigning Princess Susannah I (109 - 156), the title Sovereign Princess passed to her one and a half year old great granddaughter, Princess Susannah II. (Susannah I had outlived her husband, Hugh of Derry, and all of her children. Hereditary Prince Charles Devereaux, father of little Susannah, had died of fever the previous year.)

On the accession to the title by the infant Susannah II, the Parliament appointed her mother, the widowed Princess Sarah, as Regent of the Principality, to serve until the Princess turned 21 years of age. As Regent of the Principality, Princess Sarah was empowered to exercise all of the powers of Sovereign Princess, subject to the veto of the Parliament. The veto was never exercised.

Princess Sarah ruled Rosardan with great wisdom during the minority of the Sovereign Princess. In the year 172 the 17 year old Susannah was allowed to marry Sir Henry Cannon, O.C.R., a knight 15 years her senior. Loose tongues wagged that Sir Henry was nearer in age to the mother than the daughter, yet the match proved one of true love, which produced a house full of young princes and princesses.

The Regent of the Principality, while considered a worthy object of courtship by the nobility of Vexillium, remained devoted to the memory of the late Prince Charles Devereaux, and dressed in mourning clothes for the from the time of his death when she was 23 years old, until her death at the age of 90.

The choice of Sir Henry as consort to the Sovereign Princess proved beneficial not only to the happiness of the Princess, but also to the security of the Principality. A soldier since the age of 20, Henry Cannon, the son of a squire, was twice wounded defending the Principality in 163, and was Knighted to the Order of the Cross of Rosardan in 165. In the year 176, when the Regency was dissolved and Susannah II assumed full powers as Sovereign Princess, she appointed her consort, Sir Henry her Minister of Defence. Sir Henry worked tirelessly to build and strengthen the defences of the Principality, and during the balance of his lifetime no enemy attempted to cross our borders.

The end of the Regency did not result in the retirement of Princes Sarah. She continued to serve as a trusted advisor to the Sovereign Princess.

PRINCESS SARAH AT THE AGE OF 70, DURING THE CO-REGENCY

In the year 199, Susannah II died of the same fever which had taken her father 44 years before. Although survived by several older daughters, the Hereditary Prince was the 7 year old Thomas. Once again a Regency was required. For the first time in the history of Rosardan, the Parliament created a Dual Regency. The Princess Sarah, now popularly called "The Sovereign Mother" was once again named a Regent of the Principality, this time for her grandson. Parliament named Sir Henry as Co-Regent for his son. "The Sovereign Mother" and her son-in-law worked well together, and Rosardan continued to prosper under their Co-Regency.

Thomas assumed power as Sovereign Prince on his 21st birthday, 28 November 213. His father, Sir Henry, served as military advisor to his son until the old knight's death in 218. "The Sovereign Mother" retired from public duties in 213 at the age of 81, and assumed the role of tutor to her great grandchildren until her death in 222.

The new Rosardan Crown is minted to celebrate the life and service of "The Sovereign Mother" of Rosardan. The image used is from a portrait of Princess Sarah made just before her wedding to Hereditary Prince Charles Devereaux, when she was 21 years of age.

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