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The Kings and Queens of England: A Tourist Guide
Informally surveys the lives and reigns of England's monarchs, in reverse chronological order from Elizabeth II to Edward the Confessor, and identifies places and buildings associated with each
337 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 6, 2022
The Kings and Queens of England: A Tourist Guide
By Jane Murray
June 10, 2022
The Kings and Queens of England, A Tourist Guide by Jane Murray is a look at the men and women who have ruled England from Edward the Confessor to Queen Elizabeth II. As the subtitle might suggest (“A Tourist Guide”) it is lighthearted in tone, reminiscent of one of those Hollywood tell-alls that are so much fun to read. If there were such a thing as time travel, this would be a great guide to take with you as you visited the thousand-plus years of English monarchy.
As my own favorite period of time is medieval England and the Plantagenets, those are the chapters I focused on. And though I am hardly a fan of the Tudors (other than Queen Elizabeth I, who I quite admire), I found myself interested in what Ms. Murray had to say about them as well.
Channeling my inner Ricardian, I will start with my critique of her chapter on Richard III. And no, I'm not apologizing for having a positive opinion of this much maligned king.
When it comes to the last Plantagenet king, author Jane Murray is willing to give credit where credit is due. She writes that, “Being intelligent, he made a very good king. He concluded a truce with Scotland, convened a progressive Parliament, patronized the publication of Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, put down an insurrection led by his cousin and former friend Buckingham, and had King Henry VI’s body moved to a move splendid burial place at Windsor Castle.” That’s a nice change from the usual Richard-bashing that was still the prevailing school of thought even into the 1970s, when this book was published.
On the not-so-good side it’s the disappearance of the “Little Princes” that she spends the most time upon. According to the author, young Edward V was “intercepted” on the Ludlow/London road, intercepted being “a very polite word for the holdup and abduction that took place” and shutting the lad away in the Tower. At least the author has the decency to point out that the Tower of London “was a palace then as well as a prison” and that up to the time of Charles II, “it was customary for kings to spend at least the night before coronation there.” She also suggests that Richard blackmailed Elizabeth Woodville into releasing her other son, Richard. Oh well...
In spite of all this, she doesn’t see him as the Wicked Uncle of Shakespeare, looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame and “exuding waves of pure evil.” She writes that whether or not he is guilty of doing away with his nephews is something about which everyone will have to make up his or her own mind. Her own conclusion is that while much of the detailed account of what happened is fictitious (she even uses the term “Tudor propaganda”) “only a stupid man would have failed to do so (have the boys eliminated), and Richard III was not a stupid man.”
She also calls into question Richard’s justification for accepting (or as she keeps saying, usurping) the throne, saying the revelation of Edward IV’s pre-contract with Eleanor Butler is a thin story presented by Richard’s “sycophantic priest.”
This book was published almost 50 years ago, and it’s obvious the author’s intent was not to do another hatchet job on King Richard. Instead, she presents a man who did good things and bad. Since its publication much more has been learned about Richard the man and the times during which he lived and I can’t help but I wonder if the author were to write her book today, would she be a little more open to other interpretations of events that took place in 1483.
On the other side of the scale, there is one of my least favorite monarchs, Henry VIII. I’m not going to spend as much time on Tubby Tudor...oops! I’m sorry, I meant Henry VIII...as I did on Richard III, but will simply present these two quotes.
First there’s this one.
“King Henry was never the same after Catherine Howard. He had really believed her what he called her, his “rose without a thorn.” As if he had never seen in the mirror the enormously gross, diseased, predatory monster of his later portraits, he really believed that this beautiful young girl had married him for love.”
From all I've read about Henry VIII (not as much as on Richard III, but still more than the average viewer of shows like The Tudors) my own opinion is that he began going from bad to worse much earlier than his marriage to Catherine Howard. In his treatment of Anne Boleyn and her brother, we already see early signs of the monster he would become. By the time of his marriage to Catherine Howard, this transformation had already taken place.
The second quote is this.
“But the King Henry who gave these orders (the orders in 1544 to sack Leith and ‘burn and subvert it and all the rest, putting man woman and child to fire and sword’) had come a long way. He was changed as much as he had changed England. This cruel, vindictive man had no resemblance to the kind, gay, studious young man who had married the first Catherine. This enormous, repulsive, bloated hulk could not be the beautiful, spectacular athlete his oldest subjects remembered.”
I guess I’m not the only one who doesn’t get the warm fuzzies when it comes to Good King Henry.
All in all, this is a fun book that is quick to read. Part history, part gossip. What more can you ask for?
By Jane Murray
June 10, 2022
The Kings and Queens of England, A Tourist Guide by Jane Murray is a look at the men and women who have ruled England from Edward the Confessor to Queen Elizabeth II. As the subtitle might suggest (“A Tourist Guide”) it is lighthearted in tone, reminiscent of one of those Hollywood tell-alls that are so much fun to read. If there were such a thing as time travel, this would be a great guide to take with you as you visited the thousand-plus years of English monarchy.
As my own favorite period of time is medieval England and the Plantagenets, those are the chapters I focused on. And though I am hardly a fan of the Tudors (other than Queen Elizabeth I, who I quite admire), I found myself interested in what Ms. Murray had to say about them as well.
Channeling my inner Ricardian, I will start with my critique of her chapter on Richard III. And no, I'm not apologizing for having a positive opinion of this much maligned king.
When it comes to the last Plantagenet king, author Jane Murray is willing to give credit where credit is due. She writes that, “Being intelligent, he made a very good king. He concluded a truce with Scotland, convened a progressive Parliament, patronized the publication of Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, put down an insurrection led by his cousin and former friend Buckingham, and had King Henry VI’s body moved to a move splendid burial place at Windsor Castle.” That’s a nice change from the usual Richard-bashing that was still the prevailing school of thought even into the 1970s, when this book was published.
On the not-so-good side it’s the disappearance of the “Little Princes” that she spends the most time upon. According to the author, young Edward V was “intercepted” on the Ludlow/London road, intercepted being “a very polite word for the holdup and abduction that took place” and shutting the lad away in the Tower. At least the author has the decency to point out that the Tower of London “was a palace then as well as a prison” and that up to the time of Charles II, “it was customary for kings to spend at least the night before coronation there.” She also suggests that Richard blackmailed Elizabeth Woodville into releasing her other son, Richard. Oh well...
In spite of all this, she doesn’t see him as the Wicked Uncle of Shakespeare, looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame and “exuding waves of pure evil.” She writes that whether or not he is guilty of doing away with his nephews is something about which everyone will have to make up his or her own mind. Her own conclusion is that while much of the detailed account of what happened is fictitious (she even uses the term “Tudor propaganda”) “only a stupid man would have failed to do so (have the boys eliminated), and Richard III was not a stupid man.”
She also calls into question Richard’s justification for accepting (or as she keeps saying, usurping) the throne, saying the revelation of Edward IV’s pre-contract with Eleanor Butler is a thin story presented by Richard’s “sycophantic priest.”
This book was published almost 50 years ago, and it’s obvious the author’s intent was not to do another hatchet job on King Richard. Instead, she presents a man who did good things and bad. Since its publication much more has been learned about Richard the man and the times during which he lived and I can’t help but I wonder if the author were to write her book today, would she be a little more open to other interpretations of events that took place in 1483.
On the other side of the scale, there is one of my least favorite monarchs, Henry VIII. I’m not going to spend as much time on Tubby Tudor...oops! I’m sorry, I meant Henry VIII...as I did on Richard III, but will simply present these two quotes.
First there’s this one.
“King Henry was never the same after Catherine Howard. He had really believed her what he called her, his “rose without a thorn.” As if he had never seen in the mirror the enormously gross, diseased, predatory monster of his later portraits, he really believed that this beautiful young girl had married him for love.”
From all I've read about Henry VIII (not as much as on Richard III, but still more than the average viewer of shows like The Tudors) my own opinion is that he began going from bad to worse much earlier than his marriage to Catherine Howard. In his treatment of Anne Boleyn and her brother, we already see early signs of the monster he would become. By the time of his marriage to Catherine Howard, this transformation had already taken place.
The second quote is this.
“But the King Henry who gave these orders (the orders in 1544 to sack Leith and ‘burn and subvert it and all the rest, putting man woman and child to fire and sword’) had come a long way. He was changed as much as he had changed England. This cruel, vindictive man had no resemblance to the kind, gay, studious young man who had married the first Catherine. This enormous, repulsive, bloated hulk could not be the beautiful, spectacular athlete his oldest subjects remembered.”
I guess I’m not the only one who doesn’t get the warm fuzzies when it comes to Good King Henry.
All in all, this is a fun book that is quick to read. Part history, part gossip. What more can you ask for?
January 8, 2021
The Kings & Queens of England: A Tourist Guide I read this book in May 1976 and decided to reread since we are watching The Crown on Netflix. The book is a good read, with lots of salacious details, and written in lively style, i.e., not an academic, scholarly tome. But all the names and connections are somewhat confusing for an American, so that every now and then I had to go back and forth from different chapters to check this person’s relationship to that person, king or not. Written in reverse history, going from Elizabeth II (born 1926) to Edward the Confessor (born c. 1005). An excellent Index, too.
June 5, 2022
This book was very informative yet it also had a sense of humor. Each section about making or queen described the royal personality, accomplishments or lack thereof, and the publics view of them. The author has a gift for condensing tons of information into a short and meaningful description of the person and the history around them!I would have rated it five stars but I think that a small map of England and a small illustration of each subject would have helped make the book perfect! I must say that the index was very thorough and contain a lot of helpful information about some places you might want to visit!This book would be extremely helpful to take on a visit to England !
August 5, 2017
Provided a good overview.
October 6, 2017
dated, but engaging; fun to see how much some information has changed. Reading about them in reverse order (from oldest to newest) was unsettling, but I went. Along with it
January 9, 2013
A free book I picked up at the library. It was very interresting as it went through all of the kings and queens of England from present day back through the first Norman King, William the Conqueror. Lots of lying cheating stealing and murdering all for greed and power. Rear your history and understand the world today. It really hasn't changed.
June 21, 2014
Who is this author? As far as I can tell, this person doesn't exist. Someone writing under a pseudonym?
This not a book that I especially enjoyed reading straight through. However, it has served as a great reference when you need to quickly remember which Edward or which Henry was ruling at a certain time. Descriptions are short and highlight important associations.
This not a book that I especially enjoyed reading straight through. However, it has served as a great reference when you need to quickly remember which Edward or which Henry was ruling at a certain time. Descriptions are short and highlight important associations.
August 31, 2014
This was informative and a whole bunch of fun!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews