The Kings and Queens of England and Scotland

by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

Offers brief profiles of each British monarch, and looks at events, places, objects, and rituals associated with the British throne

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference, Biography, British Literature, Historical, Scotland

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb, beautifully illustrated and visual chronological history of Britain. Excellent for both children, young adults and older people who love their history. There is not much historical that you will not find in this book. Makes a superb present.

[Lennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book which really acts as a guide gives a summary of the British and Scottish monarchies from the beginning of history to the present. It includes the royal dynasties such as the Plantagenets, the Lancasters, the Yorks, the Tudors, the Stuarts, and the Hanoverians, as well as the Windsors. At the start of each section that introduces a new royal house, there is a family tree to illustrate how the crown was passed down in succession to the next person in line for the throne. Then for each King or Queen there is a timeline of the major events that happened during that monarch’s reign so the reader is able to understand some of the challenges that person faced during their time in power as well as some of the accomplishments that they achieved which only helped their country to become a better nation.

I absolutely loved this book! I belong to A History of Royals here on Goodreads and I’m always looking for books which would expand my knowledge of the Kings and Queens from England that is discussed in the group. Since this book contains an overview of them I feel like I now have the proper foundation to build on which will allow me to search for other books on some of the individuals that I read about that sparked my interest the most. For example, I want to find books on Edward VIII who abdicated the throne so he could marry Wallis Simpson or George III who was considered the “mad king” because he suffered from an illness that made him appear as though he was deranged. I just love a book that gets me excited about history!

[Tamara York · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice companion read for the book Unruly by David Mitchell. This added some extra information about the monarchs as well as pictures and dates to fill in the gaps.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good reference book dating all the way back 600 and the early Saxon Kings. Amazing!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: The Romans ended direct rule of England in the fifth century, and by the early seventh century the country had split into seven warring kingdoms.


Premise/plot: A nonfiction reference guide to the kings and queens of England...and Scotland. This one is divided into ten chapters: "The First English Kings," "The Normans," "The Plantagenets," "The House of Lancaster," "The House of York," "The Tudors," "The Kings and Queens of Scotland," "The Stuarts," "The Hanoverians," and "The House of Windsor."

The first chapter spans AD 600-1066. We've got one spread on Early Saxon Kings. One spread on Alfred the Great. One page on Saxons and Vikings. One page on Canute.

The other chapters cover the kings and queens the enthusiast is probably already familiar with to some degree. Each dynasty is introduced or summarized briefly (in a two-page spread) before introducing the individual monarch.

There will be some readers anxious about what he says about Richard III. After all, a measure of a book--for some--is what they have to say about one king.

Richard III was king for barely two years, but once he was dead, historians, clerics, and even playwrights fell over themselves to blacken his name. Most of the propaganda was designed to serve the Tudor dynasty, which began when Henry VII's army defeated and killed Richard at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. However, in more recent times, historians have questioned whether Richard III really deserves his evil reputation. (42)

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this one. It is concise. It is readable. It is filled with charts and illustrations and oh-the-bullet-points. It's just packed cover-to-cover with details. Now, that being said, this one is an overview. Whole books--long books--have been written about individual monarchs. This will be just a starting place for the real enthusiast, or perhaps a refresher course.

Some might call this a reference book, a guidebook. I see it as an absorbing cover-to-cover read, as compelling perhaps as a bestselling thriller or mystery.

A few years ago, I was completely obsessed with the British children's program, Horrible Histories. This book reminded me of the joys and thrills of watching the show.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry is a 96-page concise reference book about the monarchs of England, Scotland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. Though is primarily focused on the monarchs of England (and successor unions) with each ruler getting their own individual article from 1066-to-present, while the Scottish monarchs were only briefly covered in comparison. Not all the information given in monarch articles is correct, at least to those readers well versed in history, but overall the book is a good reference book.

[Read by Coco ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐ a great reference book. Not only provides facts about the person, but also on political and cultural events during their reign. Also found it very useful to have the book split into sections dependant on houses, each starting with the family tree.

[Susan ...relish every word!!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great!!!...it helped me to understand the history of Kings and Queens...while I am reading the series starting with the White Queen, by Philippa Gregory...

[Nattapan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good (but very short) reference guide for British monarchs.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great reference to build a framework for understanding the succession of the English & Scottish monarchy throughout the years. Not a lot of detailed history, but great bullet points & highlights.

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! A fantastic primer on British royalty.

[Z King · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this was a rather quick read, it was still very informative and I enjoyed it.

[Will Hoover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! One of my absolute favorites, in fact, about one of my absolute favorite subjects: BRITISH HISTORY. Okay, okay, I confess. I'm a sucker for just about ANYTHING British. I just love it all to pieces. I even teach ENGLISH for a living, for crying out loud! However, all that shamelessly Anglophilic stuff aside, this recent revisionist history CRAP about going easy on Richard III is positively annoying as all get out.

Crikey! In order to become king, the man either had his own nephews put to death or... he bloody well MURDERED those two CHILDREN (aged 12 and 9) all his very own damn self! The former explanation (that someone else actually did the dirty deeds on Richard's regal behalf) is of course more likely, but still, those poor little lads just up and "disappeared" while in THE man's custody -- and nobody involved at the time ever even so much as bothered to offer any sort of plausible public explanation for their eerily abrupt and quite inexplicable sudden absence.

That's right, folks, "zero, zip, zilch, nada." Just... one minute the two princely tykes were conveniently declared "illegitimate" (while, embarrassingly enough, STILL loitering around on royal premises), and the next thing you know.... POOF!! The regal Lost Boys, the former heirs to the English throne, were just plain... GONE BABY, GONE. Vanished without a trace; lock, stock, and both princely barrels, both at the very same time! Just. Like. That. Suspicious?

Not if you're you happen to be a card-carrying member of the vaunted, revisionist history "Richard III Society," it ain't. So, go ahead, forget all about those sniveling little brats who apparently eked out their last sad days in that nasty, bloody... uh... I mean, now ever so picturesque and touristy Tower! And besides, it was nothing especially personal on Richard's part, was it? I mean, a whole lot of British royalty, and various others who'd fallen from grace, ended up spending their last days in "Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress." So, there's that!

But then... how else did the skeletons of two youngsters end up being found later on at the bottom of a pile of debris under a staircase in the infamous Tower of London? Which just happens to be THE most notorious PRISON/"royal residence" in the entire world, no less! Not to mention that that just happens to be the last place the boys are known to have been seen alive....

But forget about all that, will ya? Because the hard, cold, sad Truth of it all is that we may never know for absolute sure what really happened to those two ill-fated young royals. But then, just because, in 2012, somebody suddenly stumbles upon Richard III's wicked old bones (although he was actually only 32 when he got ever so unceremoniously hacked up on the field at the Battle of Bosworth), long buried in obscurity under the parking lot of Greyfriars Church in Leicester, it doesn't mean the SOB was suddenly a blinkered saint, now does it? Maybe it does. But also, probably.... NOT. Not in the Real World of REAL historically accurate royals anyway.

And I also don't give a BIG FLYING CRAP if Richard III wasn't actually the theatrical epitome of the snearing, dastardly, deformed hunchback of Shakespeare's fevered fancy, OR whether he never actually committed most of the high crimes and misdemeanors "the immortal bard" posthumously (and yes, falsely) pinned on the man (presumably for the sake of "dramatic license"), Richard III was almost certainly, by no means an early Age of Enlightenment boy scout! Not by ANY stretch of revisionist history imagination, he wasn't. Uh-uh. So sorry, NOT SORRY, but I just don't buy it. No way, Jose. Uh-uh. Nope.

I mean, although you won't find any of the following in this particular book, if we're going to be brutally honest and really dig just a wee bit deeper, we may (some of us, anyway), just might therefore be forced to admit that Edward I, while busily making a name for himself as the infamous "Hammer of the Scots," in a single instance (because believe me, he did a whole lot more - and not just in Scotland), murdered over 8,000 men, women, AND children at the end of just one single military campaign -- until the desperately pleading Roman Catholic clergymen of pre-Protestant Britain FINALLY got the vicious psychopath to FINALLY cease and desist his vengeful, whole-scale butchery.

But then, Scottish king Robert the Bruce himself was, sadly, no the greatest sparer of civilian lives either - English OR Scottish - in his quite literally bloody quest to maintain his oft-contested kingship. And hey, that's just how things were often done way back then, right? All across the world, too, and most definitely not just in little old (but now most certainly great) Great Britain. In feudal Japan, in fact, if you dared stand against the wrong overlord, you'd have expected to have your head summarily removed. And your wife's head, too. And your children's heads, too. And EVERYBODY ELSE'S head in your entire clan, for that matter! So... why then, must we let a long established rat fink like Richard III off the hook with such sappy newfound sentimental ease? Why, indeed.

Oh well. It's just a pretty little picture book filled with cherry picked historical facts, after all. So, best to not get too bent out of shape about the depiction of a single English monarch, eh? Can't have it all, now can we? It's still a wonderful little reference guide of a book, The Kings and Queens of England and Scotland, most certainly, really is. But then I'm a royal sucker (if you'll be so kind as to pardon the shamelessly cheeky, tongue-in-cheek pun, that is) for almost any Dorling Kindersley guidebook of this sort. And why not? All (or most) of the most pertinent information is all there at your fingertips -- and lavishly illustrated with dozens and dozens of color photos and paintings to boot!

So I suppose I'll just have to forgive the author for going far too easy on the almost certainly villainous Richard III. After all, I'm just a humble little American, a "yank," just one of the redheaded English-speaking stepchildren of the former British Empire. And hey, I'm not even sure when or why my Scottish, Welsh and Irish ancestors made that fateful leap across ye old pond to the grand old US of A anyway, but... I still think Richard III must have had plenty to do with those two poor kids being so suddenly and unceremoniously wiped from the pages of history.

One thing's for sure; SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE down the line knew damn good and well what really happened to those two poor little kids. Count on it. And last but not least, if the skeletal remains found under that staircase WEREN'T all that was left of "the princes," then WHY, when found later, did King Charles II have those bodies re-interred in Westminster Abbey, the final resting place of many well known British nobles? Think THAT ONE over, mates. After all, one really needn't be an overly brilliant, famed British detective to come to an obliviously "elementary" conclusion on that particular matter. At least, one would certainly hope not anyway.

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOTTOM LINE: Sumptuously illustrated, with minimal (but enough) text, and a nicely gentle/quirky sense of humor. Don't let the dry title or the fulsome author's name put you off - I found it to be quite entertaining.

Filled with page after page of photographs and illustrations, this colorful and informative book was fun to leaf through, and might appeal to younger readers who enjoy history. While obviously written with the tween/young teen in mind, this adult enjoyed it very much. Nicely arranged, making it easy to see just how the various reigns and groupings of monarchs relate to each other and to English and Scotish history, with some of the general history encorporated along the way, and informative time-lines generously sprinkled about. Easy-going narrative, a sense of humor, and glorious pictures, what's not to like? The only caveat I might have would be that the size of the book made it unwieldy to use - it's not that thick and heavy, but is large in overall size, making it a chore for my hands to hold. On a tabletop it would have been fine.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short volume by an improbably named author is not the sort of book that will give a reader a deep insight into the history of the royal family, but it will provide a reader with at least some familiarity with the rulers of England and Scotland and the major achievements or struggles of their reigns.  The author appears to be someone with a high degree of interest in the strength of rulers as well as the extent to which they were able to draw upon the favorable feeling of the common people.  As a fairly notable Anglophile myself [1], this sort of book is appealing to me as it is written by someone whose name suggests a great reason to be interested in royal matters and who has a skill at writing about the reigns of England and Scotland's monarchs in a concise fashion that would likely aid someone who had to take A-levels in history or AP European History (if they were Americans).  For those reading it for fun, this book has a lot to commend itself as a thoughtful and brief history of the royal family, albeit one that looks at culture and electoral politics as well as military history as a way of putting the royal family in a context of what they faced as rulers.

For the most part, this book of less than 100 pages is a straightforwardly and mostly chronologically organized book.  Beginning with a discussion of the early Anglo-Saxon and Viking monarchs between the rise of the Heptarchy and the conquest of England by William the Conqueror, the author then moves on to the Norman and Blois kings, the Plantagenets, the houses of Lancaster and York, and the Tudors before moving to discuss the pre-unification rulers of Scotland.  After that the author continues his thread and talks about the later Stuarts (including the pretenders), the Hanoverians/Saxe-Coburg Gotha, and the House of Windsor.  Aside from having brief discussions of most of the kings and queens of England and Scotland, especially after 1066, the author includes timelines and occasional special discussions of Princes of Wales, the wives of King Henry VIII, as well as the future king of England after the death of Elizabeth II.  As might be expected, the timelines are considerably more dense for those rulers whose reigns were short, and considerably less dense for those rulers whose reigns were long.  Overall, though, this book provides enough information that someone who wanted more information could do additional research and have some handy dates and names to search with.

Overall, there is one quality above all I noticed about this book that increased my goodwill for the author, and that was the author's considerable politeness in talking about the various rulers of England and Scotland.  For example, the author refers to Queen Anne as plump, not as less polite terms, and comments how some historians in recent years have viewed King John and Richard III in more favorable lights.  Overall, the author has an anti-Catholic bias, which I do not necessarily disagree with but feel it worthwhile to note and has a strong tendency to dislike royal absolutism, but is generally favorable towards those rulers who were peaceful, fiscally responsible, and generally had favorable relations with the common people.  I must say that as far as biases go with regards to rulers, that is a good bias to have.  The author also shows considerable concern for those monarchs who were deeply shy and/or diffident and seems to treat such rulers graciously, for shyness is one of those qualities that can easily be confused for arrogance or unfriendliness.  If you want a brief and generally good-natured view of the royals of England and Scotland, this is certainly a worthwhile book.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has come to me a bit out of left field but seemed rather accessible along with the book about HM the Queen for quick reads.

Kings and Queens of England and Scotland was made to tackle the subject of royal history starting with the Anglo-Saxon as well as Danish rulers thus overlooking the Celts. As a result the illustration material for these entries are the rather more manuscript illustrations for the first part, a bunch of often harder to know how to pronounce names for those who don't them and really not too much information about these rulers.

The book does a great job otherwise in tackling this subject by dividing the various branches of the royal tree into "dynastic" chapters that explores the various major familial groups whether they are the Norman branch, the Plantagenets, the Tudors and Windsors just to name a few. As a result each chapter explores the start of that particular lineage and any of the rulers who fall under that timeline up until the "last" member before the next change. As a result each chapter start of this has a two-page spread family tree that provides only the most important names in most regards as well as two brief paragraphs with the most brief providing some trivia while the next page explores the family collective a bit deeper.

From there each king and queen is provided a page or two depending upon their importance to history. Each entry provides the reader with a manuscript-type illustration, a painting recreation or statue of the mentioned individual with caption that provides some information about looks as well as personality of said individual. There is also a statistic box with the information about where they were born, who they married, amount of child, when they acceded, where they were coronated and where they died.

Meanwhile the rest of the entry provides the name of the king/queen, the years they were in reign and then depending upon the size of the remaining page a few paragraphs to provide some of the most important information of said individual. All of this is then wrapped up with a timeline of events at the bottom of the page that explores not only important royal events, battles or contributions from them during their reign but also some dates that explore other important contributions from the rest of society or unfolding events like plague.

Since the book is so small this is most definitely not a very thorough book but it does provide the reader who wants to know a bit more about English history, especially its royalty, a start to attain that information. But again given to its age it will most likely also be quite outdated now should a reader pick it up since although Prince William is included photo-wise the last entry is based upon his father as the next king with no nods to him as the future, future king.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of info is crammed into this handy beautifully illustrated reference book.

It follows the British chronology through the Tudors after which the Scottish monarchs are inserted. Scottish succession joins the British with James VI of Scotland/James I of England. . Oliver Cromwell is only mentioned as the leader of the Army that defeated the Royalists.. his "reign" is not noted.

Each monarch has a page or two (Elizabeth II has four) with a color portrait, biographical data and "Events of the Period". The pages for the monarchs are headed by a color coded strip that signifies their affiliation; The First Kings, Norman, Plantagent, House of Lancaster, etc. Starting with the Normans, each family has a genealogical chart.

While the format makes it easy to find what you are looking for, there is also an index.

While I haven't reviewed them, I have two other similar small illustrated guides. This, my third, stands out for its clarity and the amount of information it delivers.

[Elma Voogdt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland is a concise 96-page reference book on the monarchs of England, Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. It focuses primarily on the monarchs of England, describing each monarch in a short biography from 1066 to the present. It is striking, however, that the Scottish monarchs are described very briefly in comparison with the English monarchs.

In addition to a brief biography, the main events of their reign are also described. The book also provided information on each of the family lines that ruled England, including The Normans, The Plantagenet, The House of Lancaster, The House of York, The Tudors, The Stuarts, The Hanoverians, and The House of Windsor.

The book looks simple, yet is very informative. The book is therefore a good source if you just want a brief overview. You can think of it as a timeline of the monarchs England and Scotland have known. Do not expect any depth in this overview. Just a handy, compact reference book.

[Rebecca Crull · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for Christmas and was super excited to delve into it to put all the pieces of the British monarchy together. Is it a hard read? Heck no! I think it’s actually for kids.🤷🏻‍♀️ Did it help me understand all the parts and people and important events of the last 1000+ years of British rulers? 100%! I have quite extensive notes on everybody! I really liked the way it had a runny timeline of sorts at the bottom of each page that told what other things were happening during each rulers reign. It also had great family trees for each group of rulers and pages dedicated to explaining each ruling group (Tudors, Stuarts, Hanovers, etc.) I will definitely be referring back to this books and my copious notes as I watch all the White Queen, White Princess, Spanish Queen, etc. shows! It has been so fascinating to figure out how certain things are connected. I just love history!!! 😊

[Dorothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the years, upon reading and watching many things about the British monarchs of the 15th and 16th centuries, I have remained very confused about who came when and how. So I read this book to try to decipher this twisted path and it basically comes down to one thing - Edward the III had too many sons. This book did a great job of clearly showing how England evolved, starting at the very beginning with the vikings and the Norman conquest, etc. and making its way through the convoluted history of greed, ambition and bloodshed. I actually stopped reading once I got through Henry the VIII and hope to pick it up again someday. But for now, I have to return it to the library because I've renewed it many times.

[J. T. K. Tobin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone who knew absolutely nothing about the history of England or Scotland (me), this was a great introduction to some of the names and faces.

It's a short, easy read with a lot of pictures. It's also nice to see bullet points listed at the bottom of most of the pages which give you an indication of where in overall history each King or Queen reigned.

Also interesting was how abruptly the rule of a King/Queen was reduced to little more than pageantry.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very brief overview of the monarchy of England and Scotland (the latter, extremely briefly). Each King and Queen is given a single page or two pages spread with a summary of their lives, with key dates and events during their reign.

Unfortunately, it's not the kind of book someone with anything more than a casual interest in British history might take much from, it serves as a basic reference only.

[Kathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Week 17 of the 2017 Reading Challenge: A book with illustrations. I have always been fascinated by the history of the British Monarchy. It's a real life soap opera - so many things have happened and they have shaped the story of the entire planet. This was a quick read I really liked the format. It gave the important details and helped keep the relationships and timelines clear.

[Amanda C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic brief resource on the kings and queens of England and Scotland, beginning with the first English kings of C. 600. I frequently use this as a reference when doing English and Scottish genealogy. I highly recommend it as a resource for genealogy as well as teaching kids about the history of these monarchies.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

With no background of history I felt the writer did a good job of bullet pointing events in history. Obviously there is a lot more that could be written given the subject. I feel the book give a good "top line" to the king's and Queen's. Would recommend for a bit more knowledge if you've watched the crown and want a few more facts, or for quick studying.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so if the name of the author,Plantagenet Somerset Fry, doesn't impress, the title will. A very basic but thorough covering of all things pertinent to the Royals from the 100 Years War to the adaption of Buckingham Palace. Excellent illustrations and accessible text.

[Cat. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect, bite-sized chunks about each ruler of England that we know anything about (i.e. some of the really old ones don't have much info). I have a slightly clearer picture of the order of the Edwards and Henrys and Georges now.

Slightly.

[Jeannine · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only complaint is there are no maps to put places into perspective.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast read but love the timeline of events during each reign.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It gives a small family tree for each house. It also gives a short overview of each monarch's reign.