The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy

by John Cannon, Ralph Griffiths

The rich pageant of Britain's history emerges nowhere more colorfully than in the story of its kings and queens. This spectacular book offers the most authoritative account of the British monarchy ever published for the general reader. With over 400 illustrations--a third of them in color--it
traces the crown's full history from Anglo-Saxon times to the present.
The authors present a vivid picture of the lives of individual monarchs as well as of the monarchy as a political and social force. They begin the story in the fifth century with the rise of recognizable kingdoms in Scotland, Wales, and England and conclude with a discussion of the crown's
constitutional role, which emerged in Queen Victoria's reign, and how this has affected the symbolic and popular monarchy of today. Along the way, we gain a clear view of how key traditions the right of succession, coronations and marriages, oaths of loyalty and military service, the
granting of lands and titles, and the propagation of a powerful image of royalty.
The book not only explains the monarch's political struggles and styles of governing; it is filled with fascinating details that give the story life. We learn, for instance, that Elizabeth I's famous journeys to various corners of her realm were not simply to show her off to her
"The standard of Tudor sanitation," the authors note, "meant that the royal palaces became unbearable after several weeks of occupation and the court's absence for several months in the summer gave an opportunity to clean up." We discover that Victoria's coronation was "a splendid mixture of
majesty and muddle": when it came time for the Archbishop to bestow the ceremonial ring, the already befuddled cleric placed it on the Queen's wrong finger, "causing considerable delay [and] some pain." And we read George VI's touching wedding message to his daughter (the present queen): "Your
leaving us has left a great blank in our lives but do remember that your old home is still yours."
Supporting the text and carefully selected pictures are sidebars on each of the monarchs and on key general themes; color maps; an illustrated section on royal residences and tombs; a consolidated list of monarchs; genealogies; annotated lists of further reading; and a full index with
personal dates.

Genres: History, Reference, Nonfiction, Biography, British Literature, World History

738 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 1988

About the author

John Ashton Cannon was an English historian specialising in 18th-century British politics. He was educated at Hertford Grammar School where he gained a scholarship to Peterhouse, Cambridge, and gained his PhD at Bristol University (where he was appointed Lecturer in 1961 and Senior Lecturer in 1967 as well as Reader in 1970). During his time at Bristol, he also became involved in Radio Bristol when it was first aired and was Chairman from 1970 to 1974. In 1976 he was appointed Chairman of Modern History at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1979. He was Pro Vice Chancellor from 1983 to 1986 and was also employed by the History of Parliament Trust. In recognition of his contribution to Education, he was awarded a CBE in 1985

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good readable resource. The prose is not dull, and each ruler seems to be dealt with fairly.

Perhaps this book’s greatest flaw is that monarchy comes across as the most awesome thing on the face of the earth. There is some criticism but at no time is there a feeling that living under any of the monarchs would be a bad thing.
Still it is full of historic information and brings up some good points about monarchs who may have gotten so bad raps.

[Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit that I wanted more information about the individual monarchs than was presented in the book, but it is a history of British monarchy (as the title says), not monarchs. However, it is a decent reference book and engagingly enough written.

[Regina Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short descriptions, but I loved the lists of dates in the back and family tree. I was mostly sad how short it was on descriptions of first few 500 years of the kings. Additional pre-reading required otherwise thre is a possibility of being lost in all of the cities, kingdoms and so forth.

[Doris Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

NICE BOOK,

[Mandee Karp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry reading, but very informative! Overall, enjoyable read!

[Peter Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying and learning from this book, but it's not an easy read, in no small part due to the sheer weight of the volume! The average human cannot lie in bed with this book on his or her chest, but must have it on a table or a well-supported lap.
I must admit that I didn't read every page of this most informative tome. It's more of a reference work than something to sit down and read through. I need the Reader's Digest version.

[D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It's got great illustrations and histories of each of the kings and queens of England, and also from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. I pick it up to reread or for reference regularly.

[Russ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a quite meandering structure, lazily weaving in and out of history, politics, sociology. I was looking for something more structured in a history of the monarchy. But, there were interesting parts.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great resource on the history of the British monarchy from the 5th century to modern times.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous resource for history buffs, anglophiles, and writers alike!

[Peter Haik · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyed the historical preview; illustrations were most enlightening

[Melinda Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved British History and my parents gave me this book over 20 years ago. I have used it as a reference since then, but this is the first time I have sat down and read it cover to cover. I really enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed seeing how the monarchy has changed over the last 1300 years going from a King that ruled over roughly 1/3 of England all the way to the constitutional Monarchy of today.