Kings & Queens: A Chronicle of History's Most Interesting Monarchies

by Brenda Ralph Lewis

From Philip IV of France's persecution of the Knights Templar in the fourteenth century to the troubled lives of Monaco's current royal family and from the Norman invasion to Windsor family feuds, Kings & Queens reveals the scandals, secrets, and sadness behind continental Europe's monarchies.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Reference, Coffee Table Books

512 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Brenda Ralph Lewis is a writer with over 200 books on history and numerous magazine articles and television documentaries to her name. Her fascination with Scottish history and culture began early in her career and she has since returned to the subject at every opportunity. She regards [her] book on tartans as a labor of love.

Reviews

[Marine Ruth Kail · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the book is interesting and covers a good amount of kings and queens, it is not to be taken too seriously. I found the writing to be poor and the choice of words was bad to say the least.

Exemple from page 275 " beautiful, charismatic and clever, Eleanor of Aquitaine was too sexy to meet the approval of the prudish clerics of her day"

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the Kings and Queens of Europe down thru the ages and so interesting to read.
Some of them were murderers, barbaric humans, had many lovers and wives. Squandered their wealth and the wealth of their country, were insane, were sick, and so much more.

It was sad that almost all of them thought only of themselves instead of the people they served yet claimed to believe in a God and their religion but changed the religion to suit themselves or just ignored it.,

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining compendium of Europe’s finest royal families, and the most salacious of their “secrets.” This is fantastic coffee table fodder. Not intended for serious scholarship, written largely in layman’s terms. Readers searching for a fun take on Europe’s (largely England’s) monarchs, look no further.

[Michelle Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent informational picture book. The content is definitely my cup of Tea. This made it to the coffee table for my viewing pleasure and reference. Thanks mom!

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre.

It is clear that Ms. Lewis only understands history through a Western European lens and is a sensationalist writer with surface level historical knowledge. In the chapter about "The Blood Countess", Lewis writes that 15th century southeastern Europe was "barely civilized" and implies that it was a more violent and superstitious place than anywhere else in Europe at the time (44). This is inaccurate and ignores the widespread superstitions and violence present elsewhere in Europe at the time. In addition, her sensationalist writing was distracting and unprofessional. See here:

"Eleanor of Aquitaine was too sexy to meet the approval of the prudish clerics of her day"(275)

"Anne of Cleves was ugly, skinny, and loud-mouthed. Neither was she much concerned about personal hygiene." (356)

Her writing begins to feel like it was pulled straight from a "Top 25 craziest facts about monarchs!" list. Rumors were often stated as fact and felt sensationalist in nature.

And finally my biggest gripe with this book. Why is it named "A Chronicle of History's Most Interesting Monarchs" and yet there are no non-European monarchs. Most interesting monarchs? What about mentioning the incredible life of Empress Wu Zetian or one of the richest men ever to exist: Mansa Musa? If she only wanted to write about European Monarchs (which she is entitled to do so) why pick a title that implied the "interesting" rulers in history were all European ones?

2/5 stars. Though the content was not good and seemed to only want to focus on Europe and was written with sensationalism in mind, for what it was I'll admit it was a little entertaining.

[Henrik Moller · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever wanted to delve into the lives of the perverts, imbeciles, and sociopaths in charge of Europe over the last thousand or so years, this is a lovely source. It's a bit on the sensationalist side, with occasional bits of nausea thrown in, but it's well researched--it's quite consistent with what I know from other sources, though it's a bit overwhelming to have all these sick souls chronicled all in one place.

[C.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the book does have interesting information regarding Europe's monarchies, it fell a bit short with its inconsistency in being chronological and grammatic mistakes. A fun read, not as heavy as other texts on the subject.

[Brittania · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, though I do find that the author inserts their opinion too often and their research is a little off in places. However, overall I found it a fascinating tale and learned about some royals I had never heard of before.

[Mandi Lavoie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and a great resource for history and my writing.

I finally know what the War of the Roses was all about that inspired the Game of Thrones series


The latter half of the book is simply about England. Even the more recent events have new details and clarifications.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this work was very interesting; however there was a lot of focus on the monarchy of England. My hope was that the monarchies discussed in this work would be more varied.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A skimming type book. Some interesting information

[Judith the Book Gobbler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a whole lot about European history and timelines by reading this book.

[Missi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missed out some things I expected to read about, but still good!

[Andressa Da Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book led me to discover the iconic Elizabeth Bathory so 4 stars

[anarchoyoungadult (mournful soul arc)[#hiatus] · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this for Christmas and while it is an okay book, it reads a bit like a tabloid.

[Saritza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this a book cursory glance at the bookstore and bought it knowing my daughter would likely enjoy the easy-to-read historical accounts of European monarchs. While the book is easy to read, the sensational writing is akin to a tabloid magazine.