Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to British Royalty

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was browsing this book to decided if I should buy it when I came across the family trees in the back. Whether it was the author or the proofreader who should be held responsible is unclear, however it states that Elizabeth II and Margaret were the daughters of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. Anyone who knows anything about this century, can tell you that is simply WRONG! As most people know, George VI was father to Liz and Maggie, and that is why Liz is queen. Her father became king when his BROTHER, Eddy abdicated the thrown so he COULD marry Wallis!

Enjoyable sleaze, but there is a big mistake in the House of Windsor Family Tree on page 284. A misplaced line of descent shows Queen Elizabeth and Ptrincess Margaret Rose, (and consequently, all of their descendants) as originating from the marriage of Edward VIII AND Wallis Simpson! Obviously, the line should be shown as coming from the marriage of George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. A simple typo, no doubt, but it changes the course of English history!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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...

The rather stupid marketing-inspired titles aside, this series is often above average in quality and usefulness. Buskin, however, is not an historian but a journalist who especially covered Princess Diana, as well as an author of pop biographies of subjects like Marilyn Monroe and John Lennon, so one might not expect much. His work, while generally accurate -- though he manages, through poor proofreading, to attribute the parentage of Elizabeth II to Edward VIII and Mrs. Warfield in the lineage chart at the back -- and reasonably well written, does tend to cuteness and witty asides. For the rank novice in matters royal, however, this is a servicable primer on the history, traditions, and scandals of 1,200 years of the monarchy in Britain.