The Kings and Queens of England

Product Information

In 1604 James I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, adopted the title (now usually rendered in English rather than Latin) King of Great Britain.

On a positive note, Crofton smoothly presents the transition of ultimate monarchism to the ceremonial role it holds today; helping the reader understand the modern-day impact of their role. This is an excellent compendium of brief histories of the kings and queens of England; the previous similar book that I had read and reviewed, edited by Antonia Fraser, was also quite good except for the fact that it began with William the Conqueror and gave no indication that there had been any monarchs of England prior to his defeat of Harold. Brief biographies of all of the rulers of England mentioned above with art, pictures, and illustrations. The book describes how the power of the crown has changed as a result of both the character and ability of each monarch and evolving historical circumstances. He was spectacularly unsuccessful, inheriting England, Ireland and most of France but then losing control of almost all of it within two decades.Had he, as an ambitious minor prince, not suffered a sudden, violent bout of food poisoning while on board a ship in Barfleur harbour in 1120, he wouldn’t have disembarked before it headed into the Channel and sank. My ignorance was only mildly assuaged, but there was a nice sense of continuity over the centuries (with only gap the effective rule of Oliver Cromwell). Dieu et mon droit was first used as a battle cry by Richard I in 1198 at the Battle of Gisors, when he defeated the forces of Philip II of France.

Four days after his death on 6 July 1553, Jane was proclaimed queen—the first of three Tudor women to be proclaimed queen regnant. William was crowned King William I of England on Christmas Day 1066, in Westminster Abbey, and is today known as William the Conqueror, William the Bastard or William I. The visuals are good, the reading pleasant and the timelines are helpful, with some quick tidbits here and there. It's beyond informational and I find this information is useful to know especially if you watch Jeopardy. I have this thing about English Historical fiction, and this book makes it easy to keep all the different kings straight!This book does not suffer from that flaw; it begins with Alfred the Great, who reigned from 871-899. Sadly, Crofton doesn’t explore any new ground in “Kings and Queens of England” and thus those readers well-read on English royalty will be somewhat bored unless looking for a quick recap. King Alfred, the first king to lay claim to ruling the English as a people and the only English king to have been issued with the epithet “Great”, nevertheless spent a large part of his early reign hiding from the Vikings in a bog – by which I mean a marsh.