Divorced, Beheaded, Died: The History of Britain's Kings and Queens in Bite-sized Chunks

by Kevin Flude

Encompassing murder, civil war, adultery, usurpation, and madness, here is the essential guide to Britain's Kings and Queens, written with a lively wit and packed with useful facts and information The tales of the various monarchs of Britain are some of the most interesting in the country’s vast history. From Henry VIII and his six wives and Edward VIII's abdication to some of the lesser-known and mythical monarchs such as King Arthur, this delightfully witty and informative guide takes you on a gallop through the history of Britain's monarchs. Stories begin with the legendary King Brutus, through the houses of Tudor and Stuart, and up to the Windsors, including the major monarchs of Scotland and Wales. Discover the sticky end that befell Edward II, the story of the teenage queen of England who reigned for less than a fortnight, and find out whether Macbeth really was a king of Scotland. Presented in an accessible, chronological format, this book is filled with fascinating and amusing facts that are guaranteed to entertain any history enthusiast.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Historical, Reference, Biography, British Literature, Tudor Period

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 17, 2009

About the author

Kevin's main interests are telling stories, narrative; the history, archaeology and museums of London.

He has worked in the Museum world since 1976. First at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, then as a archaeologist including at the Museum of London (1977-84). He was an Assistant Keeper at the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1984-1987. Since 1987 Kevin has worked freelance as a consultant in many museums, lecturing on the museums, history and archaeology of London and directed the transformation of the Old Operating Theatre Museum from 1988 to 2014.

He has been proprietor of 'And Did Those Feet' (Cultural Heritage Resources) since 1982. It has allowed him the opportunity of working in a variety of fields in the Heritage world. He is currently Creative Director of the Old Operating Theatre Museum in Southwark; Associate Lecturer at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts, London, at Worcester University, University of Westminster and honorary lecturer at University College London (UCL). He is Course Director for the Road Scholar programme in London which is a charity which for which Kevin organises study tours. lectures and walks on the history, archaeology architecture and art of London (and elsewhere).

Kevin passed his Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching In Higher Education at CLTAD at the University of the Arts, London in 2007. Kevin managed the Old Operating Theatre Museum from 1988 to 2014. The Museum won the 2007 Museum and Heritage Award for excellence in the Best Project on a Limited budget category.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short and easy introduction to the monarchies of Britain. As a history student it was great to plug some of the general knowledge gaps that I have, but perfect for anyone who wants a quick read to update their general english history knowlege.

[Anthony Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very useful and entertaining book.

[ally!!! · Rating 1 out of 5]

The type of book I could only read while waiting 6 hours for my London flight

[Alfie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book with some interesting bite-sized facts about the kings and queens of England. There was also an interesting section about Scottish and Welsh kings which are very under-discussed.

[Kaitlyn Bancroft · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book at the British Museum and read it in train stations and hotel rooms and a ferry terminal, sharing the juiciest bits with my friends while we travelled. We laughed a lot and gasped a little, and had some great discussions about how history seems to so often hinge on who’s married to who, who’s sleeping with who, and who murdered who. I recognize that this book is a very, very brief overview of some complicated people and situations, but wow, it seems like being a royal rarely ended well for anyone.

I appreciated how Kevin Flude broke so much history down into small, manageable bites, and how his pithy humor made this an enjoyable read. The writing could’ve used a little more copy editing and clarity at times, but the book was solid overall and a great complement to our U.K. trip.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a royalist and want to know your British history, this is an easy, comprehensive list of the entire monarchy. Easy to read, bite size chunks of information, written in a quick and witty way.

[Becki · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would have been easier to follow if there were some family trees in there! I had to keep flipping back and forth to remind myself who was related to who.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A handy little reference book providing the most vital information on the reign of each English/British monarch. The inclusion of legendary, Roman, Scottish and Welsh rules is an added bonus.

[Eowynselixure_book Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting little book detailing the history of our monarchy in a digestible way.

The first part of the book details legendary Kings, Emporers who ruled from Britain and Saxon Kings. These I found less interesting as it's quite hard to keep track of events.

William the Conqueror onwards was fascinating however, the author details the important events in each monarchs reign and their own quirks of personality.

I did feel that typically, the women that surrounded the King's were sorely neglected, mentioned at best. Catherine of Valois, the queen whose genes are thought to be held responsible for the madness of Henry Sixth and George the Third. As Widow to Henry the fifth she married her servant Owen Tudor and this inheritance led to part of Henry the Seventh's claim to the throne. She was mentioned in just two sentences. Such is the fate of most women in the chronicle of our monarchical history.

But aside from that it was and interesting and thorough little book and I enjoyed it very much.

[Vipra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does what it says: tells us the "history of Britain's kings and queens in bite-sized chunks".

Reading a list of names with byte-sized descriptions would not be very informative on its own. What makes the book useful is that it also connects different names into something of a coherent whole. For example, many of us may have heard mention of the "War of the Roses", and more of us have heard (and read!) about the Tudors. We know that the latter wasn't long after the former. How did Britain get from one to the other? Such questions become clearer.

I was particularly fascinated by Britain's earlier history: many tribes and kingdoms and leaders, many 'foreign' invasions, multiple instances of 'natives' being conquered or sidelined by outsiders, instances of attempted ethnic cleansing, Christianisation, assimilation, and eventual unification.

[Romano Perelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno splendido volumetto che si complementa benissimo con "Britain's Royal Families" di Alison Weir. La dove quest'ultimo inizia con i "Re Sassoni" (circa 800 DC), Kevin Flude si spinge addietro fino al fatidico 1137 AC (data che per alcuni suggerira' qualcosa) ai tempi del Re leggendario Brutus, diretto discendente dell'eroe troiano Enea.
Unico rammarico la scarsa lunghezza ("bite-sized" come da titolo) dei paragrafi dedicati ai singoli re. D'altronde per far entrare oltre tremila anni di storie in un libro di sole 176 pagine andavano fatti significativi tagli.
Super consigliato agli amanti della storia britannica.

[John Naylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read a few books in this series. They are all informative and a good place to start further research if you so wish on the topics involved.

This gives accounts of English, Scottish, Welsh and British monarchs as well as some that might just be legends dating back over the past 3000 years or so. There are obviously more details to be found as the monarchs get closer to the present day.

The writing style is free-flowing and easy to read. I feel that this book isn't one you necessarily recommend to anyone else but if someone wants to know more about the subject then they could start in a lot worse places.

[Sian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a nice, succinct, comprehensive and easy-going book - it’s certainly been nice to break up all the intense thrillers I’ve been reading! Normally, these sorts of books only go into detail about the monarchs from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth. However, this one had some interesting sections on the ancient Kings of England, as well as the Kings of Scotland and Wales, areas which I know much less about. It certainly beat having to read the big historical tomes that dominated my history degree!

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a series of bytes/thumbnails on the royals of the UK through time. I read it slowly, just reading one mini-bio at a time. In turns familiar, unknown, strange, fascinating, dramatic, salacious, and even criminal, it offers quite an overview of the arc of history over thrones of the UK. Of course each is uber brief, and any one of them could have been developed into a much fuller biography (and probably have), but this zoomed-out view is necessary to allow the full arc to run.

[Beth Huddleston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bite sized bits certainly describes this book as more breadth than depth which is what I was looking for. The over arching patterns in government are represented as well as the monarchs most notable qualities or achievements. I certainly enjoyed the book more as I recognized certain points in history, but the tidbits for all the monarchs are generally interesting even without too much prior knowledge.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pretty much does what it says on the tin. A brief study of the various Kings and Queens of England, Scotland and Wales, from pre-Roman times onwards, obviously becoming more detailed as it goes on and there's more information available. It offers a decent introduction and puts the various reigns into context.

[Aamil Syed · Rating 3 out of 5]

George’s drunkenness and gluttony increased during his final years. When drunk he was wont to claim participation in a famous charge at the Battle of Waterloo. He would shout to Wellington, ‘Was that not so?’ To which Wellington would reply, ‘I have often heard Your Majesty say so.’

Hahahahaha.. I can imagine this on Jeeves and Wooster. But there are only a few such anecdotes in the book and although it's quite brisk and tries to be comprehensive, I'd have preferred he had picked a few to focus on and also included famous spouses or other characters. Instead of making it just about the monarchs.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Mr. Flude does a fantastic job synthesizing lots of information and presenting it in an entertaining way. Also, I appreciate how the book is clearly divided into time periods. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a clear overview of British history; I also think it is ideal for student readers.

[Hettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book. Yes it only has very short sections on each monarch, but as someone who is from the generation that only learnt about WWI, WWII and the interwar period at school, it was perfect.
This has given me a great overview of the history of the monarchy, with a number of very pithy stories.

[mollyreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t read loads of non-fiction but this little introduction to Kings and Queens was an enjoyable read. Not only did I like it but it was a fun read!

Any History/Non-Fiction fans will love it! It doesn’t cut loads of key information out but at the same time it shortens it to make it easier to understand!

[River · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this .. it's an succinct introduction to all of our British Kings and Queens. Short 1 page summaries are written about each Monarch in a really accessible manner, introducing you to their character and any notable achievements or historic and well known life events. Loved keeping this copy handy whilst watching documentaries and films to cross reference. (Geeky I know 🤷‍♀️🤭)

[Rochelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, easy to absorb. Breaks the complexity of the many monarchs down into easily understood and easily digestible chunks.

Reading this (which one can manage fairly quickly) enabled me to learn and understand more about the overall history of England and Great Britain than I did in years of school.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting read, especially for the Kings prior to The Tudors. A light read and covers all you need to know, great for an introduction to the British Monarchy or a quick refresh of your memory.

3-3.5/5

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little reference guide to the monarchs of England (with a bit on Scotland and Wales). I'm not convinced that it's 100% accurate, but it's useful for separating your Henry's from your Edwards or Richards.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read that covers British royal history from the warrior kings and queens of Britain, before Christ, through the House of Windsor. Little bite-size chapters make this easy reading. I'm not usually a big history buff, but I did enjoy this quick little read.

[Greg James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect text for instant answers to grandchildren's historical questions. Did Harold get shot through the eye? Was George really mad? Which Edward was the tall one? Did Anne bat for the other side? All is revealed in "bite-sized chunks"!

[Mr A. K. Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

the British monarchy in bite sized chunks…

A not-too-heavy but sufficiently factual skate through Britain’s monarchs. Who knows, I might even remember something about them now, or at least who followed who.

[Jai Mutreja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked how far back into English history it went. I also enjoyed that they put the Scottish and Welsh kings and queens at the back.

[Emma Dargue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look at royalty with information about both welsh and scottish royalty.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!