Eleanor: A 200-Mile Walk in Search of England's Lost Queen

by Alice Loxton

An extraordinary journey that uncovers historical secrets about England's forgotten queen. From Alice Loxton, author of the acclaimed bestseller Eighteen.

In 1290, England mourned the death of a queen, Eleanor of Castile, beloved wife of King Edward I. Her body was carried on a 200-mile journey from Lincoln to London, a solemn procession that would become immortalized in stone. To mark the places where her cortege rested, a heartbroken Edward commissioned twelve magnificent Eleanor Crosses.

More than seven centuries later, bestselling historian Alice Loxton set herself an epic following in history's footsteps by walking the entire 200-mile funeral route on the corresponding dates.

As Alice journeys in search of England’s forgotten queen, over ancient paths and modern motorways, history comes alive in surprising ways. Lively and entertaining, Eleanor uncovers the extraordinary life and formidable character of this lesser-known royal, revealing her inspiring legacy and the hidden history of Britain.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Travel, Biography, Historical, Audiobook, British Literature

335 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 13, 2025

Reviews

[charlotte, · Rating 1 out of 5]

i thought this would be your run of the mill popular history book, readability prioritised over serious academia-ness, but um. it's so much worse. the introduction has a fake interview with eleanor of castile which i thought i could get past but then it has lines like:

Today, she'd be winning prizes for Women in Business, photographed in a no-nonsense power suit surrounded by her brood of children. She'd write books like How Women Really Can Have It All. She'd be a judge on Dragon's Den, throwing out snappy remarks like, 'Your numbers are off, the presentation is sloppy. For that reason, I'm out.'

and,

She also loved to read. Eleanor was an early devotee of the Romantasy genre, particularly tales of King Arthur.

for that reason, i'm out.

[Laura and Literature · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author.

History buffs- you will love this book. I found it to be very fun, entertaining, and educational.

I honestly picked this up because my daughter’s name is Eleanor, and I thought it would be fun.

This isn’t a quick read, so go into this one ready to dedicate a good amount of time to it.

I also loved that the narrator took her mom along for the adventure. How fun!

[Eleanor · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

It's rare that I'm in the mood for non-fiction, but recently I had this itch to learn something new. I know nothing about Eleanor of Castile, and I was interested in having her story related to me in a unique way that combined some nice nature writing with it for good measure. Unfortunately, this book yearns to be quirky and humorous, and none of it landed for me. The constant (unoriginal) questions about how Eleanor might be feeling in a certain moment, the unending (unoriginal) speculative asides which were so unfunny and honestly kind of poorly written (I hope Loxton doesn't take up creative fiction writing), and the overly redundant prose--maybe it was all an elaborate metaphor, but by the end of the book I too felt I had walked 50,000 repetitive steps, and I still feel like I got the bare-bones of Eleanor's actual life story. All I really got was Loxton's projection of what she wanted Eleanor to be like, with a side of slightly condescending over-explanation of how using sources as evidence works.

I didn't know that Loxton was an influencer before I picked this book up, but it makes so much sense now. Everything is a fun fact, fed in bitesize chunks, and I don't think that Loxton's attempts to make serious or deep takes about the world were very inspired. History is all around us--no shit. It felt aimed at people who haven't touched grass in a while and may not realise that. Speaking of not touching grass, the Gen Z humour in this took me out because it felt so desperately millennial. From an awkward segue hinged on a GOAT joke to describing one of the historical crosses as 'thicc', it was all painfully unfunny. I feel you could tell that Loxton was running low on things to say when we had the full itinerary of her lunch every time she and her many companions stopped to eat (gotta respect the tangfastics game at least though).

I will say, this was readable and I did learn some interesting things. I think it leads with a strong concept, and did teach me about a period of English history that I'm not too familiar with. I'd recommend this if you've just started out reading historical non-fiction, but only if you can stomach one too many positive appraisals of Margaret Thatcher (I almost lost it at the end when Margaret Thatcher became one of the 'female friends we made along the way' - which is my phrase, though it wouldn't be out of place in Loxton's prose).

[Laura Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolute delight to read - sparky and massively entertaining. Yes it’s about a forgotten English Queen and the remarkable act of love her husband Edward I made to remember her - 12 stone crosses, only 3 of which survive. But, it’s about so much more than that - it’s about the layers of history that surround us if we bother to look. It inspired me enough to get into a car and drive to Geddington to look at one of the crosses!

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I wasn’t prepared for what this book was going to be. It was very light hearted in its approach and its spattering of modern references gave me the impression that it wouldn’t age well in a few years. I was expecting, as I do with any history book, more depth in the writing. However, after looking at the bibliography (or lack there of), I wasn’t surprised by it feeling loosely researched.

Overall, it was a fast, enjoyable read, but I would only recommend it to those who are first dipping their toe into historic non fiction.

[Gabriella · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHAT. A. PLEASURE.

Here I find myself crying at ANOTHER Alice Loxton book.

“Who in life we dearly cherished, and who in death we cannot cease to love”

ELEANOR follows Alice Loxton’s 200-mile pilgrimage of the funeral route of Queen Eleanor of Castile. From Lincoln to London,
It is a tale of love, grief, community, remembrance and lots of tea. Accessibly written for non-experts, without spoon-feeding, this book is a gold-mine of information about England, and I have learnt so much from it. I love LOVE the emphasis on women’s history, and the telling of a narrative severely understated in our current-modern zeitgeist. I’ve rallied some friends up to visit Westminster Abbey sometime soon, so I will definitely be bombarding my unwilling subjects with countless Eleanor and Edward facts.
I cannot wait to see what Loxton does next.

[Carolien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the concept of this book - in 2024 the author followed the route taken by Eleanor of Castile's funeral cortege in 1290 from Lincoln to London, travelling on the same days as the original cortege. As she travels, we are introduced to Eleanor and her family and times. We can appreciate changes in the landscape and some parts that would be very familiar to Eleanor. We also get to appreciate the stamina of the medieval traveller as the author wends her way to Westminster Abbey. When I come out of Charing Cross station, I will be reminded of Eleanor and her husband's love. Highly recommend.

[Elli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would give 6 stars if I could! Such an accessible and entertaining read, and absolutely full of fascinating historical tidbits. A wonderful story on a historic figure I knew nothing about, conveying the simple power of journeying by foot and the hidden historic wonders that are all around us :)

[Robin Pelletier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book recommendation!

This one just came out and it made me think of our senior trip to England! A historian walks 200 miles along the funeral procession route for Queen Eleanor of Castile on the same days it occurred in 1290. She passes the remaining of the 12 crosses that her bereaved King Edward commissioned for her. If ever there was a super pinpointed yet historically interesting modern pillgrimage, this is it. I thoroughly enjoyed the history, the insight and the honesty of this novel. It felt more like a travel blog to be honest. I highly recommend it if you liked Beowulf’s time period and you want to learn more about the Middle Ages. Medieval is derived from the Latin for Middle Ages. Learned in from this book.

And yes, I plan to binge the rest of Alice Loxton’s novels.

[Lily Castle · Rating 2 out of 5]

A more accurate title for this would be "a disjointed history of the towns that Queen Eleanor's body went through," also featuring complaining about walking and wild conjecture about the queen's personality.

[Abi Pellinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 200-mile walk in search of England's lost queen. This was a really, really interesting non-fiction. So, Queen Eleanor of Castile, beloved wife of King Edward I, died in Lincoln and they of course had to walk her body back to London. This was 1290, so she was in a carriage. It was going to take some time.

And so Alice is walking the old route, walking through fields, past motorways because obviously development has changed so much in the past 800 years and seeing the route that they would have taken, seeing the history of the towns that they passed through and also learning more about Eleanor of Castile, about her husband and also about the places that they went to.

It was a really interesting look at history. It's obviously very southern focused. It's very specific to this location, but it's absolutely fascinating and it's also a really interesting look at love at this time because of course this was an arranged marriage. Clearly, King Edward the first has such a depth of feeling for his wife and learning more about her, a little bit about him and about that time period in history, one that isn't really taught often in schools, was really, really interesting. So, this if I hadn't read from Alice Loxton before, this would have been something that I was like, why would I be interested? But I promise you, if you care in the slightest about British monarchic history, it's fascinating. It's really interesting and it's very easy to read.

The photos are printed throughout rather than being on photo paper in like the because normally when it's photo paper, it's just like in a section of the book, but instead the photos are printed throughout. And so you actually get to reference them along with the text. And that makes a big difference because often we're talking about monuments and these crosses that were erected to honour Eleanor. And so I really enjoyed that and it's just a very interesting read. So I had a great time with this one.

[W.S. Luk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't share what seems to be a peculiarly British compulsion to walk and hike ridiculous distances, but nevertheless found myself drawn into Alice Loxton's 200-mile journey following the path of Queen Eleanor of Castile's funeral procession. Loxton's biography of Eleanor broadens from this theme to discuss the architectural and artistic legacy that her era of the Medieval world left, and the histories of the different locations this strange pilgrimage passes through. ELEANOR is written for a non-specialist audience (hence Loxton's explanations of concepts like Purgatory or the four humours), which may account for why I would've liked the book to delve further into historical minutiae, but she entertainingly reconstructs the personalities of Eleanor and her husband Edward I in fictitious episodes, and discusses historical detail in a lighthearted and accessible tone (at one point she describes a "chunky and strong" cross by saying "Gen Z would call it 'thicc'", which I am afraid are precisely the words I'd use).

[Phoebe Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75 ⭐️

Almost perfect! The weird Gen Z references weren’t needed and probably won’t age well. Other than that I adored it

[Becky]

ultimately this just wasn’t for me. I like pop history and even travelogue history but something about this fell flat where others did not. none of the magic of rural England translated for me personally.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that combines a long walk through England with visiting old buildings and with tidbits of history and a woman who shares the same name as my daughter? I'm in.

[Ellie (bookmadbarlow) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this look into Queen Eleanor in the form of a 200mile pilgrimage by the author.
Its quite a niche topic and I wouldn't expect that many people to know about this queen, but having grown up in a location with a cross the subject fascinated me.
I loved following the authors journey and hearing about places I had visited myself.
A very easy listen about what can sometimes be a boring subject.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant history also such a humorous writer ! She should be on telly x

[Erin Sexton (Micale) · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it! creative, witty, and just overall interesting.

[Bethany Currie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful

[Albarnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not non-fiction. The bulk of the content is about the author's assumptions of Eleanor and Edward's feelings, conversations, and relationship dynamics, with no factual or historical evidence to back these assumptions.

[Rebecca Juliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whimsical and heartwarming, and a cozy read in the run up to Christmas. It was really special to enjoy the journey with Alice and Eleanor from Harby to Westminster Abbey, and reflect on life and love.

Immediately going to give this to my mum for her to read!

[Laura Bloom · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant book! This was a wonderful light introduction to medieval British history. It’s not hardcore academic history and it’s not trying to be. It is a very accessible look at the period.
When Queen Eleanor died near Lincoln in 1290, her body was taken to London for burial. Afterwards, at each place where her body rested overnight along the way, her husband, King Edward I had a memorial built - known as Eleanor crosses.
Alice follows the journey Eleanor’s body took - 200 miles from Harby to London - on foot! The book is a mix of history about Edward and Eleanor, a walking travel journal, local history along the way, and the impact of Eleanor’s story on the people and places she touched through her life and through her death.
I really enjoyed the humour in this book - I laughed a lot and, while I realise as a millennial medievalist, I am the absolute target audience for this book - I think many people will also enjoy this!
It’s funny, very interesting (loads of fun facts about medieval life in general, stone masonry, architecture, and cathedral life specifically) and quite poignant as well.
The love story of Edward and Eleanor really shines and chapter 15 The Forgotten Women was absolutely brilliant!
I can’t wait to recommend this book to people - it would make a wonderful gift to anyone interested in British history, the monarchy, walking trips and heritage!

[Ruth Crawley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely easy gentle history read. A real starting point to learn more about Eleanor of Castile. This would make a wonderful gift.

[Bungaku Shoujo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book reminded me a lot of Mia Kankimaki’s The Women I Think About at Night, seeing as both of them are travelogues where the authors visit places associated with women they admire. Some of the best parts of Kankimaki’s book (mainly the first part) show her reassessing her affection for these women in light of the less admirable aspects of their lives, coming away with a better appreciation of them as people and finding out new things about herself. While Loxton has similar moments, pointing out how Eleanor benefited from, for instance, the expulsion of Jews, she never goes as far, and her narrative is both less gendered and less political than Kankimaki’s. Maybe Karen Blixen was just a worse person than Eleanor.

My knowledge of Eleanor of Castile prior to reading this book was practically non-existent, so I did learn much about her from this book. I can’t say I feel the same enthusiasm about her as the author, but it was nice to see that other people cared and still do care about her. However, much of the digressions about the historical Eleanor consisted of Loxton’s imagination. While this is a common thing to have to do with premodern figures, it made Eleanor feel like a distant figure in a book written in tribute to her. Like The Women I Think About at Night, there was a decent bit of projection in Loxton’s imaginings on Eleanor.

Meanwhile, the actual traveling sections of the book covered so much minutiae that it became dull– at one point, Loxton buys an iced bun and goes on an aside about how they manage to be so delicious. The details of the walk adds much filler to the book, as does the information about other periods of English history, like the reign of Charles I, that have nothing to do with Eleanor. The quirky tone of the writing was not appreciated, with the lowest points perhaps being the fictional interview between Loxton and Eleanor and the claim that Eleanor was an early Romantasy fan.

Overall, this book emerges from earnest love for a woman long dead, but would probably have been better as a documentary instead of a book. As it stands, reading it gives one the same feeling as your friend showing you their vacation pictures.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter introduced me to Alice Loxton, who is mostly known for history videos on social media, aimed at - I suspect - a much younger audience than me. However, I enjoy them and am apt to watch them if they pop up if I venture into YouTube.

This is in much the same vein - a lighthearted and charming history book, which is undoubtedly aimed at her audience (i.e. mainly young). It begins with Alice Loxton joining the queue to pay respects to the late Queen, before discussing other public mournings. One queen, she states, was commemorated with more extravagance than any other British royal - Eleanor of Castile, Queen Consort of King Edward I, who died on the 28th November 1290.

Edward and Eleanor married when she was twelve, and he was fifteen in 1254. On her death, Edward wrote: 'whom in life we dearly cherished, and whom in death we cannot cease to love.' On her funeral procession, Edward commissioned twelve stone crosses in every town the procession stopped in on the way to London. In this book, Alice Loxton retraces this funeral procession, from Harby to London, ending at Charing Cross and her tomb in Westminster Abbey.

This is part history, part travelogue, and, along the way, the author muses about all sorts of things. I found it a very enjoyable read and would definitely read more by Alice Loxton. If you are unsure, have a look at her social media presence. Personally, I applaud her enthusiasm to make history engaging to younger audiences and I found this an interesting read about the Eleanor Crosses.

[Podge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just happened on this and it was a very good read by Historian Alice Loxton who had the clever idea to retrace the steps of the journey of Queen Eleanor of Castille's funeral cortege in 1290 from Harby in Lincolnshire to Westminster Abbey in London.The book tells the story of Eleanor and Edward I Longshanks, Englands greatest and most terrible king whilst tracing this last final journey. The story is told over 300 pages and was a pleasure to read, when I took it anywhere Women kept asking me as the dust cover attracted attentio . I felt like I was acting as a salesman for the book promoting its virtues! I knew the story as Edward I is my favourite monarch and so was interested at first whether Alice was going to deal with the negative spin that existed about her as a landlord and the claims of greed and high handed behaviour.The author covered all the story from the Holy land sucking poison from Edwards wound to Edwards grief on the funeral procession.
The travelogue made me want to visit the areas and so on my travels to Lincoln I called at Harby.Its a light read but factual and told in a self effacing manner...maybe doing it in winter waa not the best idea but she managed it! Great book thank you Alice Loxton

[Katherine Attwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This journey is not a curated walking tour, designed to max out on picturesque views and picnic stops. This is a warts-and-all route, through pretty villages and industrial estates, past stately homes and high-rise office blocks, across green fields and deafening motorways. But there is history every step of the way and it is this random cross-section that makes it all the more exciting. “. I loved this - maybe because I’ve recently walked The Ridgeway and like Alice enjoyed connecting to the history and landscape of the places I was walking through. Alice brought to life the local history, the things that sometimes go unnoticed in our day to day lives whilst following the path Eleanor’s funeral procession took from Harby to London. It maps the medieval period, tells the story of Eleanor and the love story of Eleanor and Edward and the crosses he erected in her memory. “It is the great unsung love story in the history of the British monarchy, and the Eleanor Crosses–an architectural tribute to that–are England’s answer to the Taj Mahal”.

Not an area of history I knew much about but I really enjoyed it.

“Above Eleanor, in a flowing ribbon, are echoes of those divine words of Edward I: ‘whom living we dearly cherished and whom in death we cannot cease to love’.”

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seems like a harsh rating considering I did enjoy elements of the book and a lot of effort has gone into it. But I really struggled to stick with it. I was putting it down for days and having to force myself back.

As a travel blog/Podcast, this would have worked better but as a book, I really struggled. It felt confused as to the purpose. Was it a history book spurting facts about Eleanor, the medieval period and the locations visited or was it there to lost every food the author ate and from which cafes and who she ate with. It was these bits that totally lost me.

The elements that focused on the history were enjoyable,. especially as I live in the middle of several of the locations.

The writing style also started to grate on me. It was very informal and at times felt like it had been written to get grumpy teenagers interested in history.

The photos weren't the best in the ebook. They were all in black and white which lost alot of the detail and wasnt that impacting. There was one of a sunrise but it was in black and white, so utterly pointless.

Definitely bits I enjoyed, but for the most part a bit of a struggle. I'd probably have enjoyed a weekly podcast more.

[Hbomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

What started as an interesting read soon became a mix of 'here's what I ate this day' and historical anecdotes not necessarily related to Eleanor.
I liked the idea of this book, and very much enjoy Loxton's videos - she should have her own TV show - but sadly, this book felt more like a short story that was forcefully padded out to meet the word quota.
I'm mostly bothered by Macmillan who published this, not allowing Loxton to have coloured images in the centre, meaning every heavily inked image within the chapters is a dark smudge I have to closely examine and imagine in colour. It also appears that no-one proofread 'til the end as there were incorrect words and a spelling mistake in the final chapters.
Story wise, if you're interested in Queen Eleanor and her final movements, you'll enjoy this light-hearted read. I still can't believe Loxton walked 28 miles on day 1 with no training and new boots!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of this are really excellent — the history is well grounded; she does an outstanding job of considering things like grief and pilgrimage and the roles they play(ed) both in the medieval era and our own; and the writing is engaging.

But this ends up as either a high three or a low four for me because it’s so IMPOSSIBLY twee sometimes. The ongoing comparison between the role of Arthurian legend in Eleanor’s day with that of romantasy novels now was so cringeworthy I assumed the author was in her 50s and trying to sound cool (she’s 29). And the continual flights of “what would Eleanor say to me if her statue came to life right now?” “It was almost as if Edward’s stained glass was there to point me in the right direction” -style whimsy made me think of Madeline Bassett in the Bertie Wooster novels (I sometimes think that the stars are god’s daisy chain!).

So… I liked it; I just need it to grow up a bit.