The Kings and Queens of England

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A thoughtful parent also shouldn’t fail to note, how often strong (to the point of overbearing) fathers produce weak, and at times even effeminate sons (William II from William I, Edward II from Edward I, Edward VIII and George VI from George V), some of whom manage to rise above their oppressive legacy (George VI, most famously), while others of course do not. This book serves up bite-sized portions, describing each of the 59 British rulers dating back to Alfred the Great in 871 and continuing on through most of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.

This book does not suffer from that flaw; it begins with Alfred the Great, who reigned from 871-899. The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) saw the throne pass back and forth between the rival houses of Lancaster and York.

England, Scotland, and Ireland had shared a monarch for more than a hundred years, since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones from his first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered how it all happened without having to delve into too many details. Dynasties, battles and religious differences are discussed in some detail, but these discussions are pointless without any mention of the societies in which the dynasties quarraled, or the technology used in the battles. Now history wise, it is rather dull, oversimplified at times, with a lot of the author's personal opinions sometimes being presented in the same tone as the other "facts".

The subsequent dynastic struggles of the Angevins and Plantagenets heralded the great age of English kingship under the Tudors and Stuarts, who united the crowns of Scotland and England, before the Hanoverians combined personal rule with parliamentary government, ushering in the modern age and the royalty of today. Coins were minted showing the heads of both Mary and Philip, and the coat of arms of England was impaled with Philip's to denote their joint reign. Henry II’s infidelities so enraged his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, that she incited their sons into civil war just to wind him up.The Angevins formulated England's royal coat of arms, which usually showed other kingdoms held or claimed by them or their successors, although without representation of Ireland for quite some time. in the happy administration of her Grace's realms and dominions" [70] (although elsewhere the Act stated that Mary was to be "sole queen"). In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with occasional use of Rex Anglie ("King of England"). The medieval monarchy is a succession of brutes and fools, with the occasional foolish brute and one or two ruthlessly efficient tyrants.

David Mitchell’s Unruly book tour includes events at Newcastle City Hall (26 September) in conversation with Alan Davies; Shepherd’s Bush Empire (29 September) in conversation with Ben Elton, and New Theatre Oxford (16 October) in conversation with Jeremy Paxman.The tree below displays linage from Celtic Britain before the Roman invasion to the Norman Conquest of 1066: the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the coming of Christianity and the unification of England.