Who invented the House of Windsor as a royal name? Who founded Westminster Abbey? Which king had twenty-one illegitimate children? David Halliam answers all these questions & more. Here is a continuous history of the English monarchy showing how the nine dynasties rose & fell. The book describes the most memorable features of the life & times of each king or queen
- from Egbert crowned in 802 & considered the first king of England to Queen Elizabeth II
- as well as recording the extraordinary lives of their queens consorts mistresses & bastard children. It also tells the story of the Saxons describes what has happened to the monarchs mortal remains & relates many lively incidents of royal history that rarely appear in the text books. Read of the saintly Edward the Confessor who is believed to have refused to consumate his marriage; of the rumbustious Henry VIII given to beheading those who displeased him; of the little gentleman in black velvet who caused the death of William III; & of Queen Victorias strange servant the Munshi Queen Emma who endured a trial by ordeal; & Anne Boleyn widely suspected of being a witch. A complete list of the monarchs reigns & a genealogical table showing the royal descent down thirty-seven generations from Egbert to Elizabeth II adds to the volumes reference value.