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Message:: [QUOTE="John Conduitt, post: 4770995, member: 109923"]Yes you can go from William I to Edward VI and not be certain which king it is just by the portrait. (You probably have to go back to the Romans before you can do that, and even they mixed and matched). I think most kings used their predecessor’s portraits to start with, not that these were portraits in any true sense of the word. They even used their predecessor’s legends, sometimes still including their names. Apart from Henry III, they didn’t use regnal numbers until Henry VII. If you want an Edward V you can get one at great expense, and yet still not be sure it’s definitely Edward V at all. It’s only because Henry VII’s later portrait (and therefore Henry VIII’s earlier portrait) is the first to actually look like an identifiable person that you have the problem you have (and these start being called posthumous). Otherwise there would be no doubt it was Henry VIII with a portrait of a ‘king’ on it.[/QUOTE]