After reigning for approximately 9 weeks, Edgar Atheling submitted to William the Conqueror, who had gained control of the area to the south and immediate west of London. [30] It was not until the late 9th century that one kingdom, Wessex, had become the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Its king, Alfred the Great, was overlord of western Mercia and used the title King of the Angles and Saxons, but he never ruled eastern and northern England, which was then known as the Danelaw, having earlier been conquered by the Danes from southern Scandinavia. His son Edward the Elder conquered the eastern Danelaw, but Edward's son Æthelstan became the first king to rule the whole of England when he conquered Northumbria in 927, and he is regarded by some modern historians as the first true king of England. [3] [4] The title "King of the English" or Rex Anglorum in Latin, was first used to describe Æthelstan in one of his charters in 928. The standard title for monarchs from Æthelstan until John was "King of the English". In 1016 Cnut the Great, a Dane, was the first to call himself "King of England". In the Norman period "King of the English" remained standard, with occasional use of "King of England" or Rex Anglie. From John's reign onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of "King" or "Queen of England".

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England provides brief biographical sketches of nine centuries worth of English monarchs. The book starts with William the Conqueror's 1066 invasion and briskly move through the ongoing reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Readers looking for reference material on the island's Anglo-Saxon days do be aware that they will need to look elsewhere. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum ("King of the English"). In addition, many of the pre-Norman kings assumed extra titles, as follows: Cnut the Great: Rex Anglorum totiusque Brittannice orbis gubernator et rector ("King of the English and of all the British sphere governor and ruler") and Brytannie totius Anglorum monarchus ("Monarch of all the English of Britain") The origins of kingship in England can be traced to the second century BC when Celtic and Belgic tribesmen, emigrated from continental Europe and settled in Britain displacing or absorbing the aboriginal inhabitants. The settlers established a number of tribal kingdoms, stretching as far north as Yorkshire, where the powerful Brigantes (from the area of modern Burgundy) and Parisii (whose name survives in the city of Paris, their original homeland) held sway.King Stephen came to an agreement with Matilda in November 1153 with the signing of the Treaty of Wallingford, in which Stephen recognised Henry, son of Matilda and her second husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, as the designated heir. The royal house descended from Matilda and Geoffrey is widely known by two names, the House of Anjou (after Geoffrey's title as Count of Anjou) or the House of Plantagenet, after his sobriquet. Some historians prefer to group the subsequent kings into two groups, before and after the loss of the bulk of their French possessions, although they are not different royal houses. John Beaufort's granddaughter Lady Margaret Beaufort was married to Edmund Tudor. Tudor was the son of Welsh courtier Owain Tudur (anglicised to Owen Tudor) and Catherine of Valois, the widow of the Lancastrian King Henry V. Edmund Tudor and his siblings were either illegitimate, or the product of a secret marriage, and owed their fortunes to the goodwill of their legitimate half-brother King Henry VI. When the House of Lancaster fell from power, the Tudors followed. There is some evidence that Ælfweard of Wessex may have been king in 924, between his father Edward the Elder and his brother Æthelstan, although he was not crowned. A 12th-century list of kings gives him a reign length of four weeks, though one manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says he died only 16 days after his father. [7] However, the fact that he ruled is not accepted by all historians. Also, it is unclear whether—if Ælfweard was declared king—it was over the whole kingdom or of Wessex only. One interpretation of the ambiguous evidence is that when Edward died, Ælfweard was declared king in Wessex and Æthelstan in Mercia. [4] Name

England came under the control of Sweyn Forkbeard, a Danish king, after an invasion in 1013, during which Æthelred abandoned the throne and went into exile in Normandy.

Hanley, Catherine (2016). Louis: The French Prince Who Invaded England. Yale University Press. pp.1066, 1208. ISBN 978-0-300-22164-0. Richard I Coeur de Lion ('The Lionheart') (r.1189–1199)". royal.gov.uk. 12 January 2016. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018 . Retrieved 16 January 2018. ; Fryde 1996, p.36.

I loved the section on the Plantagenets, the Tudors are always a favorite, but already knowing so much, I spotted what was glossed over, and then we get to the Stuarts, which somehow gets boring, which it shouldn't be, due to all the death and pomp - but no indication from this book that the monarchy might have been in real trouble there for a minute thanks to Cromwell. Nope, all is fine, and due to Anne I's tragedy of all 17 children dying at birth or shortly before, we get the Georges. Granted the Kingdom of England over elder brother Robert Curthose (who remained the Duke of Normandy) I found this book more tantalizing than anything. It doesn't content itself with being a book of short biographies, but it never quite manages to be anything else. The result was that it was constantly mentioning entire, fascinating issues in passing, as though I already knew everything about them. Moreover, it ignored questions which I consider important in the history of a monarchy. What, exactly was the role of an English monarch in 984? In 1370? Did England make a sudden shift to a completely symbolic monarchy with George I, or was that just the beginning of a more gradual process? When and how did the tension between parliament and the monarchy originate? Surely it wasn't unique to the reigns of the Charleses. What were the respective powers of monarch and parliament during, say the reign of Elizabeth I?Then we get to the 20th century - and - oh good lord - according to this text, the monarchy did no wrong ever, all the common people loved them, the press are just big old meanies with their modern attitudes of demanding transparency, and Elizabeth II is a goddess on earth. I was also surprised at how many of these monarchs had their last words recorded. Often these were almost meaningless in terms of their lives, one (can’t remember which now – probably one of the Georges) died talking about the Church – not really one of his key interests while he was alive. It is even recorded that George II died on the toilet, a victim to constipation – well and the stodgy English diet, I assume - or presume.