The rich pageant of Britain's history emerges nowhere more colorfully than in the story of its kings and queens. This spectacular book offers the most authoritative account of the British monarchy ever published for the general reader. With over 400 illustrations--a third of them in color--it traces the crown's full history from Anglo-Saxon times to the present.
The authors begin with the rise of recognizable kingdoms in Scotland, Wales, and England in the fifth century and conclude with a discussion of the crown's constitutional role, which emerged in Queen Victoria's reign, and how this has affected the monarchy of today. Along the way, we see how key traditions evolved: the right of succession, coronations and marriages, oaths of loyalty and military service, the granting of lands and titles, and the propagation of a powerful image of royalty.
Supporting the text and illustrations are sidebars on each of the monarchs and on key general themes, color maps, an illustrated section on royal residences and tombs, a consolidated list of monarchs, genealogies, annotated lists of further reading, and a full index with personal dates.
- ISBN10 0192893289
- ISBN13 9780192893284
- Publish Date November 2000 (first published 29 September 1988)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 14 September 2004
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Oxford University Press
- Imprint Oxford Paperbacks
- Edition 2nd Revised edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 736
- Language English