Royal Panoply
Brief Lives of the English Monarchs
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From medieval conqueror to Renaissance autocrat to Victorian Empress to modern melodrama, Royal Panoply is the story of some of the most fascinating people in world history.
With her trademark blend of probing scholarship, lively prose, and psychological insight, Carolly Erickson focuses on each monarch's entire life---from the puny, socially awkward Charles I, to the choleric, violent William the Conqueror, to the well-meaning, deeply affectionate Queen Anne, who was so heavy she had to be carried to her coronation. Royal Panoply recaptures the event-filled, often dangerous, always engaging lives of England's kings and queens, set against the backdrop of a thousand years of Britain's past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Erickson, author of several royal biographies, offers an entertaining history of English rulers from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II that proves why this rather old-fashioned genre is still popular. Erickson devotes about 10 pages to each monarch as much to Queen Anne as to Queen Victoria. Each chapter stands independently: material is often repeated about transitions in reign, convenient for use as a reference but not suitable for reading cover to cover. Obviously some subtlety of interpretation is lost in this format: there's no assessment of recent research suggesting Edward II survived his assassination or analysis of the increasingly cultural role of the monarch in the early modern era. Yet patterns can be detected: kings and queens get fat, kings mentally deteriorate, heirs misbehave, illegitimate children abound. Although Erickson doesn't offer an overarching analysis, anyone who reads the entire book will see steady change in the nature of kingship and be surprised when the author presents the current reign as a break with a past in which monarchs were held in awe rather than continued evolution. But taken as they are, these accounts remain fascinating and, in the end, great stories. 16 pages of color photos not seen by PW.
