April book recommendation: Crown and Sceptre by Tracy Borman

                 Crown and Sceptre by Tracy Borman

This month I recommend this fabulous book by Tracy Borman, a history of the British monarchy from 1066 to our current monarch, Charles III. The book goes into a lot of detail on each monarch and how every monarch reigned, if they reigned well if they were successful or were a really terrible monarch. 

Tracy doesn't pick favourites when it comes to each monarch, she gives a very unbiased view but is very level-headed. You end up learning a lot about each monarch so you have a general history of all the monarchs yourself.

I was lucky enough to get this book for Christmas and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I can be quite slow at reading but I practically ate this book up. It is engaging, thorough and well-written.

When reading about these monarchs it is interesting to see how much has changed, but also how we still have some of their royal practices hundreds of years later. This book also goes into depth about how some of the actions these royals made, sent ripples throughout the world, for example, Henry VIII changed the religion of the whole country and that decision affected the country and future monarchs for the next 500 years. Tracy tries to show us that they might have been royal but they were still human and made mistakes.

Tracy also shows how the monarchs could be scandalous sometimes, for example, George I locked away his wife for the rest of her life because he caught her cheating. Her children would never see her again, something George II would never forgive his dad for. Of course, the monarchy wasn't always smooth sailing, Charles I lost his head for thinking he was above the law, and we then had a constitution with Oliver Cromwell. This impacted the whole country for over 40 years.

This book is informative, enjoyable and fascinating to read. Tracy Borman is a superb writer and I recommend reading some of her other work too. So, that is April's book recommendation for the month, you best go and buy it then!

Until next time,

                       UnHolyTudor 💛