Harold, though the son of her husband, was not her own son, and the ambitious spirit which led her to marry for her second husband her first husband's rival and enemy, that she might be a second time a queen, naturally made her desire that one of her own offspring, either on the Danish or the Saxon side, should inherit the kingdom; for the reader must not forget that Emma, besides being the mother of Hardicanute by her second husband Canute, the Danish sovereign, was also the mother of Edward and Alfred by her first husband Ethelred, of the Anglo-Saxon line, and that these two sons were in Normandy now.

The family connection will be more apparent to the eye by the following scheme: Ethelred the Saxon.

Emma.

Canute the Dane.
-- ----\/---------------/\-------------\/-------- Edward.

Hardicanute.
Alfred.
Harold was the son of Canute by a former marriage.