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March 20, 2008
Royal Panoply - Carolly Erickson
The book, Royal Panoply: Brief Lives of the English Monarchs by Carolly Erickson is a satisfying historical biography of Britain. While I'm sure it wouldn't assuage English Monarch buffs, the book is a perfect entry point for the uninitiated. After watching a few movies on the Queens Elizabeth and the Showtime Series: The Tudors, I figured it was worth my time to learn just how far history had been stretched, and so I took the plunge into the wonderfully interesting world of British Monarchs.
While the history of England is quite interesting, Royal Panoply is stuck in no-man's-land. At times too lengthy, and at times horrifically short on details, the book left me bored at times... but also still curious. However, if you remember that it's only a survey of the monarchs, then you'll get what you paid for.
Each monarch, from William the Conqueror through Elizabeth II, gets about ten pages. This equal treatment seems out of sorts when you consider some monarchs reigned a few years, and others a few decades. At the frays of each reign, the author tends to repeat facts as the book is intended as a stand-alone reference for each monarch, but do not fear to read it straight through, the repetition is not too often, and the point of view generally changes.
For someone interested in learning about English history and the monarchy, this is a very good first step. I'll give it 3 out of 5 stars. Oh, you'll need a dictionary, too. Any author who sticks 'Panoply' in their title isn't going to go easy on the vocabulary-challenged.