Complete Idiot's Guide to British Royalty

by Richard Buskin

Book Overview

In the wake of the tragic death of Princess Diana, the Royal Family has once again captured the world's attention and has renewed an interest about the monarchy, its history, and how it works. In an easy-to-understand format, this guide explains British royalty, past and present, from the Anglo-Saxon kings who conquered the Vikings to the medieval Tudors to the figureheads of today. 50 photos. $1.00 from every book purchased donated to a Diana charity...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0028623460
• ISBN13: 9780028623467
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Alpha Books
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A Cute and Fun Read

Even if you don't know where Britain is located, this book will amuse you with its strange historical trivia and amusing snippets about past and present rulers. This is a relatively complete guide to the Kings and Queens of England, and a bit more in-depth on the current Royal Family. There is only so much you can fit into one medium-sized book, so they did a good job of balancing the straight history with some fun facts.If you are an avid history buff, you might get upset about some of the errors in the book, but they are minor enough to overlook even for a seasoned British historian - though you'll already know most of the jokes. For a novice historian or someone who's just interested in the British Isles, history or Royalty, this is a great book and a ton of fun! You'll actually learn a lot more than you'd think, and you'll find yourself relating the funny tales at parties or to your kids. Its also a great reference to keep around in case you ever need a quick profile of a time period or politics, such as if you want to put a movie or a book into perspective.All around its a good bit of history for mostly anyone, its easy to read and has enough humor and little witty factiods to keep you flipping the pages (sometimes just reading the fact/story boxes on each page is more fun, if you don't want to get into the drier stuff). It would make a great gift, and if you get it for someone I'm sure you'll be flipping through it yourself before too long trying to see what the next crazy king did!

Good Information about Royal Family

The Complete Idiots Guide to British Royalty is a very good book. Like it says, it is a book for people that do not know much about the English Kings and Queens. By the time you are done though they have given you some very interesting insights about each King and Queen of England from Egbert (reigned about 830) to actually Prince Charles (b 1947) The book is divided into sections depending on what "branch" of the royal family the particular king or queen was in (for example Queen Elizabeth I would be in the section about the Tudors, but James I right after her would be part of the Stuart family.) The sections deal with the major things happening during that particular reign were and what the king or queen had to deal with at the time (for example during the reign of Elizabeth I they talk about the Spanish Armada as well as her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots wanting to be Queen of England.) The book also goes into details about what goes into the making of a Knight as well as background on Princess Diana. It also goes into detail about the Crown Jewels and some of the more well know Royal gaffs (such as Princess Diana saying she would take Phillip Charles Arthur George to be her lawfully wedded husband instead of Charles Phillip Arthur George)All in All a very good book for people who want to know more about the royal family of England or are just looking to increase your knowledge.

Fun Book

I bought this book for my wife who for some reason is afflicted with an intense interest in all things royal. I thought I would look though it becuase on this topic I could be called an idiot. Well, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the book. It is well laid out, it holds your attention and does a very good job in describing many items that I would normally glaze over. For the causal observer of the royals this is probably a very good guide. With that said, I have read in some of these other reviews that there are a few errors in the family trees of the book. That was not an important part of my enjoyment or use of the book, and speaking from experience (my wife's collection) if you are that into the royals there are many (many) books that detail family trees down to the family pets. Overall this is an enjoyable book to get the basics and I now can at least understand some of what my wife talks about on this topic.

13 centuries of happenings in less than how many pages?!?!?

What I spend four years of my lunch hour every Monday to Friday during high school reading all about the British rulers all comes down to one easy reading book. It's a good book for anyone interested in reading about the history of England and of course some good ol' gossips...

Even Royalists Can Be COMPLETE IDIOTS

It's about time someone narrowed-down a thousand years of Royal history into one EASY-TO-READ and VERY HUMOROUS manual. As a student of British royalty for 18 years, I still learned a lot--most likely things I had read over and over again in all of the other dry accounts out there, but never grasped because I had fallen asleep! Not here!! You thought British Royalty was full of scandal and intrigue BEFORE? Wait until you read about it NOW!