Marriage Ages of English Monarchs

Visualizing the ages of English Monarchs at the time of marriages

#TidyTuesday

{ggimage}

Author

Aditya Dahiya

Published

August 21, 2024

Figure 1: A horizontal lollipop bar chart, showing the ages of English monarchs and their consorts. The ages are in brackets along with names, below their potrait. The age difference is written in the intervening segment. The Y-axis represents the marriage age, and the X-axis shows the ages.

How I made this graphic?

Loading libraries & data

Code

# Data Import and Wrangling Tools
library(tidyverse)            # All things tidy

# Final plot tools
library(scales)               # Nice Scales for ggplot2
library(fontawesome)          # Icons display in ggplot2
library(ggtext)               # Markdown text support for ggplot2
library(showtext)             # Display fonts in ggplot2
library(colorspace)           # Lighten and Darken colours
library(seecolor)             # To print and view colours
library(patchwork)            # Combining plots

# Option 2: Read directly from GitHub

# english_monarchs_marriages_df <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2024/2024-08-20/english_monarchs_marriages_df.csv')

Data Wrangling

Code

# english_monarchs_marriages_df |> 
#   slice_tail(n = 20) |> 
#   mutate(
#     year_of_marriage = parse_number(year_of_marriage)
#   ) |> 
#   arrange(desc(year_of_marriage))

# Get Genders from ChatGPT coupled with Internet Search
# Prompt: I have the following data on English monarchs, and their 
# consorts and their marriage ages. Can you please add a column of 
# gender in front of each name (i.e. two gender columns in total - 
# one for king/queen, and one for consort), by searching the internet
# Write the output in form of an R Code to create a tibble. I want to 
# copy paste the code into my r-script

df <- tibble(
  king_gender = c("Female", "Male", "Male", "Male", "Male", "Female", "Male", "Male", "Male", "Male", 
                  "Male", "Female", "Male", "Female", "Male", "Male", "Male", "Male", "Male", "Male"),
  king_name = c("Elizabeth II", "Edward VIII", "George VI", "George V", "Edward VII", "Victoria", 
                "William IV", "George IV", "George IV", "George III", "George II", "Anne", "George I", 
                "Mary II", "William III", "James II", "Charles II", "James II", "Charles I", "James I"),
  king_age = c(21, 43, 28, 28, 22, 21, 53, 33, 23, 23, 22, 18, 22, 15, 27, 40, 32, 27, 25, 23),
  consort_gender = c("Male", "Female", "Female", "Female", "Female", "Male", "Female", "Female", 
                     "Female", "Female", "Female", "Male", "Female", "Male", "Female", "Female", 
                     "Female", "Female", "Female", "Female"),
  consort_name = c("Philip of Greece and Denmark", "Wallis Warfield Simpson", "Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon", 
                   "Mary of Teck", "Alexandra of Denmark", "Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha", 
                   "Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen", "Caroline of Brunswick", "Maria Anne Fitzherbert", 
                   "Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz", "Caroline of Ansbach", "George of Denmark", 
                   "Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg", "William III", "Mary II", "Mary of Modena", 
                   "Catherine of Braganza", "Anne Hyde", "Henrietta Maria of France", "Anne of Denmark"),
  consort_age = c(26, 41, 23, 26, 19, 21, 26, 27, 29, 17, 22, 30, 16, 27, 15, 15, 24, 22, 16, 15),
  year_of_marriage = c(1947, 1937, 1923, 1893, 1863, 1840, 1818, 1795, 1785, 1761, 1705, 1683, 1682, 1677, 1677, 1673, 1662, 1660, 1625, 1589),
  id = 1:20
)


plotdf <- df |> 
  mutate(
    king_image = paste0(
      "data_vizs/temp_english_monarch/king_", id, ".png"
    ),
    consort_image = paste0(
      "data_vizs/temp_english_monarch/consort_", id, ".png"
    )
  ) |> 
  mutate(
    king_age = case_when(
      (king_age == consort_age) & 
        (king_gender == "Male") ~ king_age + 2,
      (king_age == consort_age) & 
        (king_gender == "Female") ~ king_age - 2,
      .default = king_age
    ),
    consort_age = case_when(
      (consort_age == king_age) & 
        (consort_gender == "Male") ~ consort_age + 2,
      (consort_age == king_age) & 
        (consort_gender == "Female") ~ consort_age - 2,
      .default = consort_age
    )
  )

plotdf

Visualization Parameters

Code

# Font for titles
font_add_google("Alegreya",
  family = "title_font"
) 

# Font for the caption
font_add_google("Saira Extra Condensed",
  family = "caption_font"
) 

# Font for plot text
font_add_google("Mate SC",
  family = "body_font"
) 

showtext_auto()

# Colours to use as background and borders
mypal <- c("#C35BCAFF", "#418FDEFF", "#02066F")

bg_col <- "transparent"

text_col <-  mypal[3]
seecolor::print_color(text_col)

text_hil <- mypal[3]
seecolor::print_color(text_hil)

bts <- 80

# Caption stuff for the plot
sysfonts::font_add(
  family = "Font Awesome 6 Brands",
  regular = here::here("docs", "Font Awesome 6 Brands-Regular-400.otf")
)
github <- "&#xf09b"
github_username <- "aditya-dahiya"
xtwitter <- "&#xe61b"
xtwitter_username <- "@adityadahiyaias"
social_caption_1 <- glue::glue("<span style='font-family:\"Font Awesome 6 Brands\";'>{github};</span> <span style='color: {text_hil}'>{github_username}  </span>")
social_caption_2 <- glue::glue("<span style='font-family:\"Font Awesome 6 Brands\";'>{xtwitter};</span> <span style='color: {text_hil}'>{xtwitter_username}</span>")

plot_title <- "Marriage Ages of English Monarchs"

plot_subtitle <- glue::glue("Age difference between English Monarchs, and their consorts, at the time of<br>their marriage has narrowed. But, <b style='color:{mypal[2]}'>males</b> have always been older than <b style='color:{mypal[1]}'>females</b>.")
plot_subtitle

plot_caption <- paste0(
  "**Data:** Wikipedia ; Ian Mansfield", 
  " |  **Code:** ", 
  social_caption_1, 
  " |  **Graphics:** ", 
  social_caption_2
  )

rm(github, github_username, xtwitter, 
   xtwitter_username, social_caption_1, 
   social_caption_2)

A custom function to download monarchs’ portraits

Code

# Colours to use as background and borders
mypal <- c("#C35BCAFF", "#418FDEFF", "#02066F")
seecolor::print_color(mypal)

bg_col <- "transparent"

text_col <-  mypal[3]
seecolor::print_color(text_col)

text_hil <- mypal[3]
seecolor::print_color(text_hil)

##### Getting potraits of English Monarchs #########

# Get a custom google search engine and API key
# Tutorial: https://developers.google.com/custom-search/v1/overview
# Tutorial 2: https://programmablesearchengine.google.com/
# google_api_key <- "LOAD YOUR GOOGLE API KEY HERE"
# my_cx <- "GET YOUR CUSTOM SEARCH ENGINE ID HERE"


# Load necessary packages
library(httr)
library(magick)

# Define function to download and save movie poster
download_potrait <- function(monarch_name, id, monarch_gender, filename) {
  
  api_key <- google_api_key
  cx <- my_cx
  
  # Build the API request URL
  url <- paste0("https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?q=", 
                URLencode(paste0(monarch_name, " english monarch potrait")), 
                "&cx=", cx, 
                "&searchType=image&key=", api_key)
  
  # Make the request
  response <- GET(url)
  result <- content(response, "parsed")
  
  # Get the URL of the first image result
  image_url <- result$items[[1]]$link
  
  im <- magick::image_read(image_url) |> 
    image_resize("x400")
  
  # Crop the image into a circle 
  # (Credits: https://github.com/doehm/cropcircles)
  ic <- cropcircles::crop_circle(
    im, 
    border_colour = if_else(monarch_gender == "Female", "#C35BCAFF", "#418FDEFF"),
    border_size = 10
    ) |> 
    image_read() |> 
    image_background(color = bg_col)
  
  # set background as white
  image_write(
    image = ic,
    path = here::here("data_vizs", "temp_english_monarch", 
                      paste0(filename, "_", id,".png")),
    format = "png"
    )
}

# Getting potrait photos of Kings/Queens and Consorts

# for (i in 1:20) {
#   download_potrait(
#   monarch_name = df$king_name[i],
#   monarch_gender = df$king_gender[i],
#   id = df$id[i],
#   filename = "king"
#   )
# }
# 
# for (i in 1:20) {
#   download_potrait(
#   monarch_name = df$consort_name[i],
#   monarch_gender = df$consort_gender[i],
#   id = df$id[i],
#   filename = "consort"
#   )
# }

The static plot

Code

g <- plotdf |> 
  ggplot(
    mapping = aes(
      y = id
    )
  ) +
  geom_segment(
    aes(
      x = king_age,
      xend = consort_age
    ),
    colour = text_col,
    linetype = 3,
    linewidth = 0.5
  ) +
  geom_text(
    aes(
      x = ((king_age + consort_age)/2),
      label = paste0(abs(king_age - consort_age), " years")
    ),
    family = "caption_font",
    size = bts / 5,
    hjust = 0.5,
    nudge_y = 0.15,
    colour = text_col
  ) +
  
  # Labels on Year of Marriage
  geom_text(
    mapping = aes(
      x = 11,
      label = year_of_marriage
    ),
    family = "body_font",
    size = bts / 3,
    colour = text_col,
    hjust = 0,
    fontface = "bold"
  ) +
  
  # Image, Name and Age of King/Queen
  ggimage::geom_image(
    mapping = aes(
      x = king_age,
      image = king_image
    ),
    size = 0.05
  ) +
  ggimage::geom_image(
    mapping = aes(
      x = consort_age,
      image = consort_image
    ),
    size = 0.05
  ) +

  # geom_point(
  #   mapping = aes(
  #     x = king_age,
  #     colour = king_gender
  #   ),
  #   size = 20
  # ) +
  geom_text(
    mapping = aes(
      x = king_age,
      label = str_wrap(paste0(king_name, " (", king_age, ")"), 
                       20)
    ),
    family = "caption_font",
    colour = text_col,
    size = bts / 7,
    hjust = 0.5,
    nudge_y = -0.5,
    lineheight = 0.25,
    vjust = 1
  ) +
  
  # Image, Name and Age of Consort
  geom_text(
    mapping = aes(
      x = consort_age,
      label = str_wrap(paste0(consort_name, " (", consort_age, ")"), 
                       20)
    ),
    family = "caption_font",
    colour = text_col,
    size = bts / 7,
    hjust = 0.5,
    nudge_y = -0.5,
    lineheight = 0.25,
    vjust = 1
  ) +
  
  
  # Scales and Coordinates
  scale_y_reverse(
    name = "Year of the Marriage",
    labels = NULL,
    expand = expansion(0.05)
  ) +
  scale_x_continuous(
    name = "Age at the time of marriage (years)",
    limits = c(11, 55),
    breaks = seq(15, 55, 5),
    expand = expansion(0)
  ) +
  coord_cartesian(clip = "off") +
  
  # Labels and Themes
  labs(
    title = plot_title,
    subtitle = plot_subtitle,
    caption = plot_caption
  ) +
  theme_minimal(
    base_family = "body_font",
    base_size = bts
  ) +
  theme(
    plot.margin = margin(10,5,10,5, "mm"),
    text = element_text(
      colour = text_col,
      lineheight = 0.35,
      margin = margin(0,0,0,0, "mm")
    ),
    plot.title.position = "plot",
    plot.title = element_text(
      family = "title_font",
      size = 2.7 * bts,
      hjust = 0.5,
      margin = margin(0,0,0,0, "mm")
    ),
    plot.subtitle = element_markdown(
      lineheight = 0.35,
      hjust = 0.5,
      margin = margin(5,0,0,0, "mm"),
      family = "title_font",
      size = 1.2 * bts
    ),
    plot.caption = element_textbox(
      family = "caption_font",
      hjust = 0.5,
      margin = margin(10,0,0,0, "mm")
    ),
    panel.grid = element_blank(),
    axis.ticks = element_blank(),
    axis.ticks.length = unit(0, "mm"),
    axis.text.y = element_blank(),
    axis.text.x = element_text(
      colour = text_col
    ),
    axis.title = element_text(
      colour = text_col,
      family = "title_font",
      margin = margin(0,0,0,0, "mm")
    ),
    legend.position = "none"
  )

Savings the graphics

Code

ggsave(
  filename = here::here("data_vizs", "tidy_english_monarchs.png"),
  plot = g,
  width = 400,    # Best Twitter Aspect Ratio = 5:4
  height = 500,   
  units = "mm",
  bg = "white"
)

library(magick)
# Saving a thumbnail for the webpage
image_read(here::here("data_vizs", "tidy_english_monarchs.png")) |> 
  image_resize(geometry = "400") |> 
  image_write(here::here("data_vizs", "thumbnails", "tidy_english_monarchs.png"))