“The Kings and Queens of England: A Tourist Guide”, by Jane Murray

 

 

Charles Scribner’s Sons, 308 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0684138893

Why would I buy a book like Jane Murray’s The Kings and Queens of England: A Tourist Guide? I mean, it’s as old as I am almost (published in 1973) and really can’t add anything that other, more recent books I have read on the subject. Partly it was the title, and I was expecting there to be several terrestrial locations explored and described in connection with the kings and queens in question – say, William the Conqueror’s landing place, or a tour of Bosworth Field…something like that – but no, what Murray has written are a series of thumbnail sketches of all of the monarchs of this sceptred isle in reverse chronological order, for as the author says in the introduction, when you talk about your ancestors you always start from your parents and work your way back (oh, and the price: $3.25 from 2^nd & Charles).

Although typically skimpy in political and social contexts (each ruler only gets three or four pages each, give or take), The Kings and Queens is a pleasant read, particularly for one who loses track of which Henry is which or can’t remember who built this castle or that one. Each chapter begins with a statement of how each ruler copped the crown, either by divine right or unholy wrong (each option is equally viable). Some purists will not like some of Murray’s snap estimates – is Elizabeth I really “more celebrated for being the Virgin Queen than for any other of her achievements”? – but the author is not offering a scholarly dissection of these men and women, rather a grand procession to keep the tourist marginally informed and entertained while on that slow boat down the Thames to the Tower.