Author: David Starkey
Genre: Non-Fiction, Historical
Rating: A-
This book could be divided into three parts, beginning, middle, and end, each part which is rather different and each part which I have different feelings about. Throughout it, historian David Starkey describes the rise and falls (and there are many, many falls) of the men and women who have served as monarch of the nation that is now known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Covering literally two thousand years of history Starkey traces the history of the monarchy, and the history of the nation itself, from its inception in the Celtic British period to the modern day Windsors.
The beginning part of this story, in my opinion, is the period of Britons, Anglo-Saxons, and Danes, ending with the death of Harold Godwinson and the Norman invasion. William the Conqueror starts the middle section, and it continues on through the Normans, into the Plantagenets, and its cadet branches the Lancasters and Yorks, and ending with the rise of the House of Tudor. The final part starts with the children of Henry VIII, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, and the Nine Days Queen, Jane, and continues through the Stuarts, Hanovers, the short-lived Saxe-Coburg and Gothas, and the current Windsors. While each part is in itself extremely interesting and well linked - both with the contents of itself, and with the overall arch of the story it's telling - the way they're handled is somewhat different. You can tell that Starkey prefers what I'm calling his middle part to the other points in British history, simply by the amount of detail that he uses when discussing the Normans, Plantagenets, and the first Tudors. The bulk of the book is in itself a glance at the Kings and Queens of Britain and the making of the monarchy, but somehow it feels as though there is more detail to the stories of some of the earlier monarchs than there is in the later monarchs, or at least more of an attempt. Obviously there is considerably less in regards to the Britons or the early Anglo-Saxons, who existed in a largely unrecorded period, but following the rise of Wessex and the subsequent rise of the Normans the amount of detail grows and it feels as though Starkey is really interested in what he's writing about. Then, suddenly the amount of detail begins to drop and his interest appears to wane.
This can be seen just through the division of the chapters. No monarch gets their own chapter in "Part I - Beginnings," although for a good portion of this section the reigns are short and factual knowledge is limited - and it should be noted Edward the Confessor and Harold Godwinson, the latter whom had a very short reign, don't share their chapter with any earlier monarchs. Each of the Norman kings gets his own chapter, as do the early Plantagenet kings - yes, Stephen and Matilda share one, but in a way they also share a reign. Things move quicker with the later Plantagenets, particularly as the War of the Roses comes into force, but once again this kind of makes sense - the Richards, Henrys, and Edwards all kind of go together in terms of their historical greatness. Where Starkey kind of loses me, however, is in giving Henry VIII his own chapter (deserving), but then dividing the reign of Elizabeth I into two, to be shared in a chapter with her siblings (no special chapter header for Jane Grey) first, and a shared chapter with her successor James VI & I and his son Charles I. The reign of Elizabeth I is kind of a big deal - so big, in fact, that the era was named after it. It is one of those reigns that kind of deserves its own chapter. Likewise, Victoria deserves her own chapter, if only because of the length of her reign. Dividing into two and wedging it into chapters that deal first with her uncles, George IV and William IV, and then with her son, grandson, and great-grandsons, in order Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, and George VI, does not do her justice.
Nor, for that matter, does the whole way that he treats the 20th century (or several other centuries for that matter). The closer to the present day the more the the reigns seem to be a bit squished together, the more the story becomes rather rushed. Events like the two World Wars, the Jacobite Risings, Napoleon, the Abdication Crisis, etc, are all kind of glanced over. There's also the idea of the Hanoverian monarchs having poor relationships with their parents, or conversely their eldest children. While Starkey touches on it he seems to be unaware of it at times - even going so far as to inaccurately say that the relationship between Prince Philip and Prince Charles shows the resumption of this Hanover tradition for the first time in three generations - it's not, not at all. While there was a good relationship between George VI and Elizabeth II, the relationship between brothers Edward VIII and George VI with their father, George V, was at best less than stellar. Likewise, while the relationship between George V and his father, Edward VII, was great, he was the younger brother, his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, having had a very bad relationship with the King. This trend continues too; Edward VII and his father, Prince Albert; Victoria and her mother the Duchess of Kent; George IV and George III; George II and George I... it continues.
The one thing that I really want to give Starkey credit for is the fact that while this book is very much historical, Starkey uses a narrative approach to make it interesting and appealing. It was really great. I also really enjoyed how he addressed and made reference to the different myths and legends that have been attached to the monarchs he's discussing, like the means of the death of Edward II. I actually kind of want to re-read this book just so that I can take note of every time homosexuality, homoeroticism, etc, comes up. It's actually a lot more than one might expect. I also wouldn't mind re-reading to take extra note of ever usurping, rebellion, revolt, civil war, revolution, etc. It's actually a lot more than one would think - in all honesty, going into this, I knew of the Norman Conquest, the struggles between Stephen and Matilda, the back-and-forth between Henry VI and Edward IV, and the subsequent usurpers Richard III and Henry VII, the Civil War and rise of Cromwell, and then of course the banishing of James II. In a lot of ways, though, that's only the tip of the iceberg; there's so much more to it all.
