Kings, Queens, Bones & Bastards: Who's Who in the English Monarchy from Egbert to Elizabeth II Paperback – June 26, 2004

There is a lot of history in this book. Over 1500 years is covered. The author digs deep into history to give us the histories of the people that became the Kings and Queens of England from the reign of Egbert in the 800's to Queen Elizabeth II who is currently reigning.The book is broken down into sections. The first section details the lives of the King or Queen in question. The next details the people that they married. The next is how the person died and where they are buried. The next section details wither the King or Queen had any illegitimate children.Very informative book for people who are interested in the royal family or just want to learn more. It also has a family tree that connects the first King of England to Queen Elizabeth-fascinating stuff!

The book serves as a perfectly good primer on the English Monarchy. If, like me, you are confused by the sequence of kings or stumble over the nine dynasties - this may be the perfect book to help you get it straightened out. Author Hilliam organizes the book chronologically from the "First King" Egbert, right up to present day Queen Elizabeth II. He begins with a simple listing by dynasty of the monarchs, then covers each, and their consort with an interesting vignette of their reign and often their odd proclivities, or macabre deaths.I am surprised by the occasional criticism of inaccuracy made by other more astute readers, but suggest nonetheless that if you are somewhat uninformed about English Royalty and can bear an (esoteric?) inaccuracy or two in 1,210 years of history, then this is the book for you. It is a straightforward account with enough fun, facts and trivia to make individual descriptions "take hold" in your memory, e.g., "It is her [Elizabeth of York, 1485-1536] portrait that we see as the Queen on every pack of cards". Also, "As a baby Ethelred had caused some concern when he peed in the font while he was being baptised - obviously an omen of disaster". There are plenty more anecdotes of this sort. I give the book four stars because it is a collection of somewhat separate events, encyclopedia style and so, reads as such, but still very enjoyably.-----kindle edition-----The kindle format works well containing all of the expected hyper-links and a useful table of contents. It is the kind of book that you will want to bounce back and foreword within and search for a term, name or year - so the electronic format brings useful functionality to the content. No hardcopy page numbers at all - only the ephemeral "location", uncommunicative to any but another kindle. e-book publication quality, ★★★☆☆.

I can't get enough history for my mom. She reads every single day and this was such a great gift for her.

I would have liked more information on each of the royals would have been great, so many of the royals had such interesting lives

I did not pick up on the errors, but I certainly enjoyed the stories. It's not likely that my life or reputation will ever depend on historic accuracy of my knowledge of the English monarchy, but if I find that it does, I'll be sure to consult another source. It's great fun, though, and that is, after all, why I bought it - for all those silly little stories that rarely make it into the more reliable accounts.

I'll start by saying that this is a good book! I'm certainly not an expert in British history, so I can't tell you just how accurate it is. I did find it enjoyable, however. It's easy to read, has a nice touch of humor, and taught me some interesting things about those royals!

I was delighted when I saw the title of this book on Amazon and decided to order it because of my interest in the history of England, Scotland and Ireland. It lived up to my expectations - it provided what documentaion was available and notes when best information was not able to be documented. It was written in a nicely flowing narrative and with humor when appropriate. I thoroughly enjoyed this well written book on the monarchs, the mates and all their children. I highly recommend it for all those who are interested in English history and enjoy a good read.

This is an excellent book for learning basic english royal succession. The detail is brief but complete enough to allow a reader to select more detailed works if they are desired.

Brilliant book explaining each monarch in detail…perfect for my job as a guide at a stately home!

Fascinating, every bit as good as I had expected.

Just to say I loved it

This was a fun book. Not a book as such in that it is more of an encyclopaedia of sorts, with entries for monarchs, consorts, resting places etc. Very informative, full of a lot of quirky facts, it does have a few errors but considering the amount of info that's not bad going.I knew quite a bit in this area anyway but I still learnt some new facts so more than worth a read.

What I wanted