King Harold II

On this date in 1066, the last Orthodox king of England, Harold Godwinson, mere days after battling Viking raiders in the north, died in defense of his homeland against the invading Norman forces in the Battle of Hastings on the southern coast of England. The leader of the invasion, William, duke of Normandy, often known today as "William the Conquerer," had long believed himself entitled to the English crown, but had found his nobles less than enthusiastic about risking an invasion. Only when William had secured a papal blessing for the invasion--in return for promising to suppress the English Church and install Norman bishops loyal to Rome--was he able to raise an army suitable for the undertaking.

Christians of Anglo-Saxon England had always recognized the Pope as their patriarch and most of them were probably not aware that, twelve years prior, the church of Rome had severed ties with the churches of the East. Thus, it must have come as a terrible shock to see their attackers, thundering toward them on their massive war horses, flying the papal banner.

On the day he died,

the God-loving King Harold, together with his loyal troops, commended themselves to God, for those whom they had honored as brethren and leaders in the Faith had foresaken them. Shouting the Orthodox English battle cry, which invoked the aid of the Holy Cross, King Harold and his faithful soldiers faced down their foes and would have had the victory in a closely matched battle...

The blessed King Harold was shot in the eye with an arrow. He plucked it out and continued to fight bravely. In the end, however, he was cut down by Norman knights and hacked to pieces. His body was desecrated, and many Norman Crusaders abused the remains of the fallen king, a thing to which not even pagans and Turks had been wont to do with the remains of their foes (Orthodox Tidings).

After the Norman invasion, English bishops were imprisoned, exiled or put to death, and were replaced by French-speaking Norman bishops. Thus England became Roman Catholic and remained so until 1534, when King Henry VIII declared himself the head of the Church of England. It is a well-known story, but one with a little-known epilogue:

To the Orthodox mind, there is an even more direct link with Hastings. Harold's daughter (born 1056) was to flee England after the Invasion for friendly Denmark and thence Russia. Here she married the future Grand-Prince of Kiev, Vladimir Monomach, in the Cathedral of Our Saviour in Chernigov in April 1074. Vladimir, himself half-Greek, was the grandson of St Anne of Novgorod, who had been baptised by the Glastonbury monk and missionary, St Sigfrid of Sweden. Among the children of Vladimir and Gytha was St Mstislav-Harold (in holy baptism, Theodore, feasted on 15 April), who bore a Slav name as well as that of his maternal grandfather. According to chroniclers, 'no woman in all the world was ever happier than her', Gytha had twelve children, another of whom, George (Yuri), founded Moscow. (Orthodox England)

Read more here:
The Fall of Orthodox England
Entry from OrthodoxWiki
Entry from Wikipedia
King Harold's Battle Force
About Bosham and the Battle
BBC article about grave of King Harold II
Royal Mystery on Brink of Solution