The incredible UK city that's not London where king was crowned 985 years ago

England has had a litany of whose are endlessly fascinating. Usually, when one thinks of one of these being coronated, they think of scenes from Westminster Abbey. But, before this building became the traditional site, the crowings of the nation's sovereigns took place elsewhere. A prominent example is that of Harthacnut, the son of King Cnut, who sat on his throne for the first time as a fully anointed monarch in Canterbury in 1040.

The Kentish city is more than 50 miles from the modern capital of the UK but has already been a major spiritual and political hub for centuries. Canterbury Cathedral's origins date back to 579, the year of its founding by St. Augustine, although the building we see today was built later. He was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the , who had settled in England after the Romans, to Christianity.

Viking Sweyn Forkbeard conquered England in 1013, forcing King Æthelred of the English House of Wessex, today known as "The Unready", to go into exile.

But Sweyn died in February 1014, and the Danes proclaimed his son, Cnut, as king.

The English nobility recalled Æthelred to the throne, who then successfully expelled the Danes by the summer of that same year.

The Scandinavians, however, returned, and between 1016 and 1042, England was ruled by Danes after Cnut's conquest in 1016.

He was supported by allies Eiríkr Hákonarson, Earl of Lade, Governor of Norway and later Earl of Northumbria, and military commander Thorkell the Tall.

The invasion meant that the sovereign ruled over a "North Sea Empire" comprising England, Norway, and Denmark.

Cnut died in 1035, and the monarch was initially succeeded by his illegitimate son, Harold Harefoot.

He then died in 1040, and Cnut's son Emma of Normandy, who had also been married to Æthelred, Harthacnut, was left to take the throne.

In preparation for this relentless turnover of kings continuing, Harthacnut named Magnus, the King of Norway, as his successor.

But when Harthacnut died after a short reign in 1042, the English selected Harthacnut's Anglo-Saxon half-brother, , as king instead.

He died in 1066, and we're all very familiar with what happened after that.