I am a student of English history and love the royals. If you want a natural vacation destination having to do with a monarchy, marry an immigrant! That's what I did. My husband is from Carlisle, England and I have been there about a dozen times. To see the effigies and tombs of the monarchs in Westminster Abbey in London and to see all the Victorian legacy is really cool.
This book would be twice as good if it were twice as big: the text is teeny-tiny and the fonts used in the diagrams are evem half the size! However, if you can't make the pages of the book larger, you must go with small and condensed to cover the material all together. I love all that is heraldry as well and you get a clue from the front cover that the authors do as well.
I got this book used and, perhaps from being favorite pages, my book opens to the chart entitled "Relationship of European monarchs before and at the time of the First World War" and then the next open page: "Common descent of the present European sovereigns since William the Conqueror." I like it that the prominent way the tables indicate the monarchs and their spouses is by their heraldic shield. As usual, women figure quite unimportant for the most part but it does show shields split and quartered to include "important" (read "royal") wives and reveal even more connections among dynasties.
I discovered one book on the most recent royal baby, Prince George of England, whose family lines are shown in a most unusual way: he is in the middle of a circle and his parents are in semi-circles to the right and left. Ever expanding in concentric circles is each person's parents. The "top" person is Queen Victoria and this image reveals that both Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip are direct decedents of Victoria: 4th cousins. Philip's claim to the throw was superseded by Elizabeth because she descended down the male line till she was the only descendant of the most recent king...no male heir in sight--yay! If she is still around--and God save the queen--by Sept 14, 2015, she'll surpass Victoria as England's longing reigning monarch. Good for her. (Elizabeth is likely never to be surpassed because of the good health care especially the royals enjoy. Look how old Charles will be when he's crowned...and then William...and then George. And the line will stay there since there's no longer primogeniture--girls are now equal to boys to be cast as monarch.) This book is:
The New Royal Family: Prince George, William and Kate, the Next Generation
I won't even get into the specific contents of the book. Let's just say it's extremely detailed and comprehensive. There is enough interesting information packed in these 224 pages to keep you busy for a long time.
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2014
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Top reviews from other countries
- Susanne MawmanReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2018
The book clearly has royal lines with colour crests for each royal house
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Canada on November 16, 2015
While this book contains much information, it has all ...
