Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy

by Alison Weir

'George III is alleged to have married secretly, on 17th April, 1759, a Quakeress called Hannah Lightfoot, daughter of a Wapping shoemaker, who is said to have borne him three children. Documents relating to the alleged marriage, bearing the Prince's signature, were impounded and examined in 1866 by the Attorney General. Learned opinion at the time leaned to the view that these documents were genuine. They were then placed in the Royal Archives at Windsor; in 1910, permission was refused a would-be author who asked to see them. If George III did make such a marriage when he was Prince of Wales, before the passing of the Royal Marriages Act in 1772, then his subsequent marriage to Queen Charlotte was bigamous, and every monarch of Britain since has been a usurper, the rightful heirs of George III being his children by Hannah Lightfoot, if they ever existed.' From Britain's Royal Families Britain's Royal Families is a unique reference book. It provides, for the first time in one volume, complete genealogical details of all members of the royal houses of England, Scotland and Great Britain - from 800AD to the present. Here is the vital biographical information relating not only to each monarch, but also to every member of their immediate family, from parents to grandchildren. Drawing on countless authorities, both ancient and modern, Alison Weir explores the royal family tree in unprecedented depth and provides a comprehensive guide to the heritage of today's royal family.

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

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 1989

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Alison Weir is an English writer of history books for the general public, mostly in the form of biographies about British kings and queens, and of historical fiction. Before becoming an author, Weir worked as a teacher of children with special needs. She received her formal training in history at teacher training college. She currently lives in Surrey, England, with her two children.

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alison Weir is renowned for her historical fiction and her historical works. One of the problems I have when perusing her works is keeping the players straight. Who was related to whom? Who were the children (legitimate and illegitimate) of kings and lords? In this work, Weir provides us with a resource that can be consulted while reading works on Britain's rulers over time--and keeps the players a little straighter!

Weir notes at the outset (Page 3): "This handbook is about the monarchy, and it begins with the first ruler who properly may be accorded the title of monarch, Egbert of Wessex." For each ruler, one to three or so pages suffices. We learn details of the family (mother and father), siblings, wife/husband/lover, children (legitimate and not so), and death details. The work begins, unsurprisingly, with Egbert. Other early rulers--Alfred (born in 846-849), Canute (born 995), Harold II (overthrown by the Normans, ending the Saxon reign), William the Conqueror (born in 1008 and beginning the Norman Dynasty). The Norman dynasty included Henry I.

Then he Plantagenet line, beginning with Henry II in 1154. The line ended with Richard III, in the battle at Bosworth in 1485. Among the monarchs in this line--Richard I (the Lion heart), Edward I (Longshanks), Edward III (and note John of Gaunt, one of his sons, and his role in the line of monarchs), Richard II, Edward IV. Then, after this lineage came the Tudors, beginning with Henry VII and ending with Elizabeth I. After that? The book runs through the different families--Stuarts, House of Hanover, House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha morphed into Windsor, with Elizabeth II being the latest monarch.

All in all, a useful resource, helping to keep the players straight in English/British history.

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes a good companion to all those historical fiction novels when you are trying to keep of the Elizabeths, the Edwards and the Richards.

[Lily S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reference book should not be this fun to read.

[Cas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential and comprehensive reference material for anyone who is interested in the kings and queens of Britain and their families, but sometimes needs help in clarifying the relationships between various historical characters. Something I dip in and out of for fun and always come away from it having learned something new.

[Glyn Pope · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book. Not only as a quick thumb through, 'goodness I didn't know that...' but as a reference. A must for any student of British history.

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely well researched book giving quite a lot of detail about various kings and queens throughout the history of Britian.

A very useful reference for anyone who is interested in royalty, as well as those whose family eventually connects to the royal one.

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic as a reference book for those who love reading historical fiction.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and informative book. Certainly not a book to read cover to cover or for entertainment purposes, an excellent reference book packed full of the British Royal Family lineage.

A lot of information to process and digest, especially when it comes into siblings and their offspring, of which there is an abundance.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alison Weir has written a fabulous research book regarding the Royal Families of Britain, including the Anglo-Saxon and Danish rulers. I don't think there is any point in marking this book 'finished' as I am constantly referring to it to clarify my own research.

Alison uses an outline style to indicate the particular monarch, parents, siblings, marriages and issue. The book is meant to identify clearly confirmed children and possible children of a monarch, including illegitimate issue. There is no reference to any historical events of the monarch's life, just the familial relationships.

A good reference book if you are researching your own family history and have links into British Royalty.

[Beccy Cree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful resource. Anytime I get confused about the complicated family trees (which is often) this book helps me trace it back to a familiar point.

[Romano Perelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un opera fantastica, quello che stavo cercando da anni. Alison Weir elenca, come si evince dal titolo, la genealogia completa dei reali britannici partendo da Re Egbert (825 D.C.) fino a Elisabetta II e la sua progenie. La genealogia é suddivisa per "casate": Re Sassoni, Normanni, Plantagenets, Tudors e cosi' via fino arrivare ai Windsor dei giorni nostri.
Un volume indispensabile per tutti gli appassionati di storia inglese.

[Lyn Sweetapple · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book as it includes the females in the families. I doubt many people read it straight through like I did. I wish the book was larger so the outline was not so cut up. I needed to go back several times to keep track of 1,a,i and so forth. Thank you Ms. Weir for putting in 22 years of research.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't recommend this as something to read from cover to cover unless you're an anglophile like I am, but this is a great resource for anyone who enjoys reading British history or historical fiction. I will definitely be keeping this on hand as a reference when reading other books.

[Malin Knutsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that there is a book like this. And it's good, but there seems to be a few flaws here and there? Especially when it comes to titels. I check with other sources online, and when one is mentioned as "6th earl of X" he was actually 5th earl of X". Tiny flaws, but still.

[Evelyn McConkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A GREAT book for reference for all things royal in England back to AD! It's not a good "read" as such but I did learn while pursuing it that Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots were second cousins - not cousins once removed (I just don't know how that works).

[Pam Shelton-Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of a reference book much like the Visitations of old. It is very comprehensive and easy to follow. There is a thorough bibliography, though I would have like some footnotes as well. Very useful.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Essentially a list of the royal families of Britain with some details about each house.

[Annette O'grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

i had to keep going over some of it to make sure i knew that i had read it correctly but was very interesting

[Broughps · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who does genealogy this was right up my alley.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been extremely helpful with family genealogy. I love the attention to detail the author shows.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So helpful in understanding my ancestors and their places in history better!

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best reference book ever. Can get lost in this for hours.

[R Uffner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good resource book.

[Brenda Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing.

If you read and love historical fiction, then this is your 'go to' for any member of the royal family that you cant place. Its incredible.

Highly recommend it.

[Ricky DeVries · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I have identified some inaccuracies, I've found this genealogy endlessly fascinating, and sometimes even a bit addictive.

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

More a listing than a book.

[The History Mom]

Fascinating genealogy of the British Royal family.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched but, sometimes, got a little complicated following the layout although TBH I don’t know how it could have been laid out any better!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have so many British history nonfictions to read so this will be a good basis to contextualise my reading in the historical timeline. There were so many interesting tidbits throughout this too