Customer Reviews

The Royal Palaces of London

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was hesitant to purchase this book since there were no reviews and I couldn't see any of the pages. Well, I'm so glad I went for it because I love it! This book covers 11 palaces...

1.Whitehall 2.Tower of London 3.Greenwich 4.Eltham 5.St. Jame's 6.Westminster 7.Hampton Court 8.Richmond 9.Buckingham 10.Kew 11.Kensington

There's an in-depth history of each palace...how they came to be, the families that inhabited them and when, famous events that occurred at each place, and what's become of them today. The pictures that accompany each place are absolutely beautiful. Even the buildings that no longer exist, Mr. Souden has wonderful pictures of paintings and sketches that were made in the heyday of that particular palace.

Basically, if you're a fan of London Palaces, British history, or even a Tudor fan(many of these palaces were playgrounds for Henry VIII) then I absolutely recommend this. It's a great book to have on your coffee table for the pictures alone, but the information in it is very interesting as well.

I was expecting The Royal Palaces of London to be nothing more than a coffee table book filled with beautiful pictures but short on real information. I was pleasantly surprised because I was only half-right. It does consist of many beautiful pictures and illustrations. But it also includes extensive and readable histories of each of the palaces it covers. I found it to be informative without being dry or text-booky. Not only is it a nice book to have on display, but it's one that I find myself actually picking up to read.

Several of the buildings described are well known, such as the Tower of London, Hampton Court and Buckingham Palace. But it also covers many lesser known palaces such as Eltham Palace and Richmond Palace.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interesting in the royal history of London or architecture of history buildings.

For me the book doesn't provide enough pictures of the palaces still in existence. Had there been more pictures, I might be motivated to go to London and pay money to see them in person. However it was still a wonderful book filled with information about them.