British Kings and Queens

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England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been part of a United Kingdom since the start of the 19th century but their monarchs and leaders have vied for power ever since the Romans left the colony of Britannia at the start of the fifth century A.D. As they left, Celtic Britain was already seeing the influx of numbers of European Angles, Jutes, and Saxons whose kingdoms would shortly form the basis of English culture. By the ninth century the monarchs of Anglo-Saxon England - such as Alfred the Great - were facing attack from Scandinavia from the Vikings. Danish King Canute ruled England and Denmark in the 11th century. No sooner had the Anglo-Saxon monarchy been restored than Britain was invaded again, this time by the Normans. William the Bastard conquered England and his successors such as Edward I would take Wales and Ireland. For the next five hundred years Britain and the continent were joined by land, by fealty, and by the desire for power. English kings claimed the throne of France and fought the 100 Years War to gain it. By the time that Queen Mary came to the throne only Calais remained in English hands and in 1558 even Calais was lost. Mary's successor, Elizabeth, had to lead her country in a fight for survival against the Catholic powers, particularly Spain. But the 17th and 18th centuries saw Britain develop an empire on which the sun never set, even after the loss of the American colonies. The two hundred years since have seen the crown lose its direct power to become a constitutional monarchy. This book tells the story of over a thousand years of history through the lives of its great monarchs.