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The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings 1066-2011

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This book takes an informative and entertaining look at royal weddings through English history.

The excitement surrounding the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton has prompted four of Britain's top historical biographers to look closely at Royal Weddings from 1066 to the present day. Professionally, Alison Weir, Kate Williams, Sarah Gristwood and Tracy Borman do events and television together, and are known affectionately, as the 'History Girls'. They bring an elan, and a passion for detail and dramatic narrative to all their subjects.

Each writer focuses on different areas of interest. Alison Weir deals with the medieval, Tudor and Stuart periods. Kate Williams scrutinises the Georgians and Victorians. Sarah Gristwood takes up the story in 1919, when Princess Patricia of Connaught revived the tradition of royal brides marrying in Westminster Abbey, and goes on to examine the weddings of the Queen Mother (1923), the Queen (1947), and Princess Margaret in 1960. Lastly, Tracy Borman brings the book right up to date, with accounts of the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer through to the fanfare that will celebrate the nuptials of Kate and William.

Every kind of wedding features -- from those attended by great public celebrations, to the many that took place in private chapels, parish churches and even in secret.

Fascinating anecdotal details are revealed in the course of this most informative and entertaining overview of royal weddings through history, some amusing, some poignant, some bawdy. The Ring and the Crown places the royal wedding of the heir to the throne in historical perspective, and it does so with carefully selected illustrations that help make the authors' insights come even more vividly alive.

5 pages, Audiobook

First published March 31, 2011

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About the author

Alison Weir

80 books8,409 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Alison Weir is an English writer of history books for the general public, mostly in the form of biographies about British kings and queens, and of historical fiction. Before becoming an author, Weir worked as a teacher of children with special needs. She received her formal training in history at teacher training college. She currently lives in Surrey, England, with her two children.

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5 stars
82 (19%)
4 stars
134 (32%)
3 stars
159 (38%)
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38 (9%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
Profile Image for Matt.
4,917 reviews13.1k followers
January 31, 2019
The idea of a royal wedding still gets the general public twitterpated. Mass spectacles and media events surround the event, with hours of coverage before the event even takes place, particularly those in the House of Windsor. But these events have not always been such a grand affair, as the authors of this book explore in detail. British Royal Weddings have come a long way over the centuries and continue to evolve with the times. Alison Weir begins the discussion, tackling the largest time period from 1066-1714. In this time, Weir explores some of the early weddings, which were affairs that helped solidify more recent land holdings the British Crown defends as its own. In her unique writing style, Weir looks at many of the unions as being political or strongly related to territorial acquisitions. Throughout, there is a theme of the ‘hesitant bride’, forced into the union by her family to secure peace and normally a chaste virgin, who may have sometimes only met her husband the day before (or morning of) the wedding. Kate Williams tackles weddings from 1714 through to the end of the Great War, an equally interesting time. She builds on Weir’s view of unions as a means of land or political stability, as well as exploring hesitant players. In one example, she tells of George, Prince of Wales, who set eyes upon his future wife (Caroline of Brunswick), but felt she was too plain to marry. He was coaxed into the union and did bring about an heir, though wanted it known that he still preferred his mistress. This was also the era of Princess Victoria, whose wedding cake was massive, weighing in at over 300 lbs. Williams adds that it was Victoria’s choosing a white dress that began the trend that is still in use today. Sarah Gristwood handles nuptials from 1918 through to 1960, which launched a new era of weddings, where the public was not only aware of events, but played a more active role. With fewer unions for political necessity, Gristwood describes these marriages as being more love-related, allowing the public to see the royals as human beings. Still, the public was also able to participate by actively listening to the ceremony on BBC (and eventually viewing it). Gristwood recounts protest to the BBC airing the wedding of the future George VI to Lady Elizabeth Bowles-Lyon over the air, as any common person could be listening to it in a public house and still wearing their hat (!!). This was also the time of the future Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding, one of the early events in televised royal pomp and circumstance. Tracy Borman writes of the last era of royal wedding (1961-2011), in which scandal and curses overshadowed many of the unions. The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret began the era, followed by some of the lesser royals, until the Queen’s own children (Anne, Charles, and Andrew) all wed in the 1970s and 80s. Their marriages drew pomp, but fizzled for reasons the Borman discusses in her narrative. It was not until the latter part of this era, that royal weddings seemed to recover and find a strong foundation of love and commitment, which is where they ended when the book was published, awaiting Prince William’s union to Kate’s Middleton. There is no doubt that weddings of all sorts draw the attention of people, but it would seem those of the royal persuasion seem to pull people in and beg them to make a little something of the affair (no curse intended). Wonderfully crafted by these four female historians! Anyone with an interest in all things royal will surely enjoy this piece, if only to lose themselves for a few hours, or to find something to place atop the coffee table.

This guide through the world of royal weddings came out at the time that Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged and awaited their big day. A wonderful collection of stories and images that helped personify the royal nuptials, as well as giving some well-known historians the chance to recount tales of the different unions. Collected in this book that I might call ‘coffee table literature’, it should not be discounted as having superficial writing. It is full of wonderful descriptions of events, just enough for the reader to have a general understanding without bogging them down. Tied to the writing, the book is full of sketches, etchings, paintings, and eventually photographs that add excitement to the stories being told. The authors have been able to accentuate their work with these colourful depictions, including some photos that take the reader back in time. Wonderfully collected, the four parts of the book read easily and the reader gets a general idea of what happened and how things progressed nicely. I can only hope that many will take the time to read this, if only for their own interest, to explore how royal weddings have progressed and some of the little-known facts that emerge. A great read that needs the printed book to give it the full impact, especially with all those photos throughout.

Kudos, Madams Weir, Williams, Gristwood, and Borman. This was the perfect compendium of royal weddings and I applaud you all for your dedication to this massive project.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Profile Image for BAM doesn’t answer to her real name.
2,042 reviews456 followers
December 4, 2019
I wanted to give this book 🌟🌟🌟🌟. In fact before I started reading I was sure I would. But I was so disappointed by Weir’s section, which I realize was probably the one with the least known information. However, that section was just so expansive that as it creeped closer to the 1700s more detail could have been given. It was just so rote. Not like her style at all.
The other three sections were much more pleasant to read, much more informative.
Profile Image for Shirley Revill.
1,197 reviews285 followers
October 28, 2017
Really loved this book it was very interesting. The narration was superb and had me listening till the end. Very well written and I really enjoyed this audiobook. Recommended.
Profile Image for Lynn.
3,399 reviews71 followers
January 29, 2024
Nicely read audiobook. I’d also get the book edition in order to look at paintings and photos that probably accompany books like these. Well written.
Profile Image for Diana.
1,562 reviews86 followers
June 11, 2019
This was a unique book, written around the time of the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Each era of marriages that begin with William the Conquerors is written by historians that focus on specific eras. I liked that the book was divided up so each writer focused on their area of expertise. The book looks at how marriages for royalty changed over the years and what parts of those marriages became trends and traditions for everyone. It's a unique spot history and a very enjoyable read.
486 reviews13 followers
February 16, 2018
Wow. I am amazed at how people either love or hate this book. I logged on to GoodReads, expecting a flood of positive reviews for this book and find it fascinating how many people didn't.

Reading the reviews, I can why they didn't. It's true that it ends prior to William and Kate's wedding (though their engagement is in there) and that immediately makes it less fun. And it's also true that there aren't a ton of photographs -- they are quite a few but not enough that you could sit down and really indulge in spectacular photography.

Here's the best way I can explain it (and this is just off the cuff, based on what I liked and disliked): If what you want is something that will make you feel the way a royal wedding makes you feel, this book will probably disappoint. If you love the spectacle and pageantry and sheer beauty of it all, this is probably going to come across as dry and reference-book-like. There aren't nearly enough big, gorgeous photographs of balcony appearances and intricate wedding gowns and dazzling tiaras and glowing couples riding in open-air landaus.

On the other hand, if what you want is a broad overview of royal weddings over quite a few decades (even centuries), with some insight into how traditions have changed over time (and why) AND if you know enough about the royal family's family to separate them out (e.g. how is Edward VII related to George VI, who is Princess Vicky, etc.), you might enjoy this. If you've got an academic bent this book fills a real niche.

I fall in-between. I really like the soaring pageantry of British royal weddings, and this book didn't necessarily capture that for me. On the other hand, I knew little about what royal weddings were like in 1066 or for centuries later (never thought about why we have no contemporary images of any of Henry VIII's weddings), and hadn't really paid attention to just how much these weddings all resemble each other (and why), so I really enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Katie.
366 reviews7 followers
February 21, 2013
My sister was right:

What a disappointment!

And to think I gave her this book--Goodreads, you let me down. This is not a 3.9-star book.

Four talented, smart women should have produced a much better book.

I blame their editor.

What I would have given for a snapshot of a family tree for each royal bride and groom (especially when it came to Queen Victoria's large brood). It doesn't have to be the entire tree--just a couple of branches with an entire, albeit abbreviated, family tree in the front of the book. I couldn't keep anything straight--and I know quite a bit of British history!

And more photos. Yes, more photos. And did you really have to include that blurry photo of Queen Elizabeth at her wedding TWICE?! It made no sense. The star of the show was just a white blur.

And paragraphs that are more cohesive. And sentences that did less--packing twenty facts into one sentence does not make for good read. It just makes for a long slog.

And headings. This book would benefit from headings. People just run together--which is not how this book should be. It should be scannable, easy to find your favorites.

See, I am right: a good editor would have made this book wonderful, rather than just mediocre.
Profile Image for Jessica.
643 reviews
February 22, 2013
Marginal at best. I think I gave it two stars because it's a minimum for royal books in my sub-conscious. My first gripe is that the book was published after Prince William and Kate Middleton's engagement. Long enough to know and publish the date, so why didn't they wait six months and include it? I don't think at this point it would be worth buying an updated version. Maybe after Prince Harry?

Most of the sections are a blur to me. It's very difficult to keep track of all of Queen Victoria's kids. I think one bride called May eventually became a Mary, but I'm not sure. Everything was so rushed. Some weddings received a paragraph and others a couple pages. Obviously, my favorite weddings were King George VI and on. The Queen Mum had a lot of spunk!

At best this book is good for a coffee table for the occasionally random reading.
Profile Image for Tiffany.
248 reviews
March 2, 2014
Superficial. I was amazed that such eminent historians could collaborate on such a once-over-lightly telling of some amazing stories. Where were the footnotes, the sources, the evidence for the claims made? It was too obviously a work rushed out quickly to meet a public demand for anything royal wedding-related in 2011. Disappointing.
89 reviews
September 20, 2019
Quick read about the history of England's Royal Weddings (just like the title says). But, since I read a lot of historical fiction concerning England's Kings and Queens this book is a nice history lesson of who married whom and when, what the wedding traditions of the day were.
Profile Image for Emy.
332 reviews2 followers
January 27, 2019
I really loved this although I think more details should have been included about earlier weddings.
Profile Image for Katie.
275 reviews
June 12, 2015
Yes, I've read every other book on British royals.

Yes, this was one of the worst I've read.

You'd think with authors like Alison Weir and Kate Williams, excellent royal scholars in their own rights, this book would be fairly decent. Instead, I was sorely disappointed. The book skipped around madly, and didn't clarify too many details - I knew most of the historical figures they were talking about from the War of the Roses and later, but I know that most people normally won't. Several family trees would have been enormously helpful, as well as some decent clarifications. One example: the authors refer to Prince Albert Victor as "Eddy," which is certainly correct. However, they never actually say that Albert Victor was called Eddy, which leads to a lot of confusion. Mistakes like these, as well as not framing historical figures within the context of the rest of those mentioned, littered the pages of The Ring and the Crown.

Overall: 1.5/5. Might be the lowest rating I've given a book, aside from the drivel by Stephanie Meyer, but god knows it doesn't deserve anything higher.
Profile Image for Cheryl.
838 reviews
April 10, 2018
This was mostly about who wore what and where they got married with the occasional fun fact sprinkled in. Up until the Victorian Era the information is sparse for most of the weddings and after the Victorian Era it becomes an exercise in trying to keep people and relationships straight. I was hoping for more history and examination of the British royal marriages and marriage customs and instead felt like I got the 'Us Weekly' version of history which was quickly thrown together in the run up to Will and Kate's wedding.
Profile Image for Martine Bailey.
Author 8 books134 followers
July 5, 2013
I'm afraid that after being terribly keen to read this and expecting a lovely wallow in all things weddings, I found it rather boring and downbeat. How was it possible to turn such a fascinating subject into a rather tiresome string of facts, I'm not quite sure. Where was the joy, the glitter and the pageantry? Hearing again the treacherous tale of Charles and Diana simply made me so sad and rather undid any pleasure gained from the earlier tales.
Profile Image for Sarah Beth.
1,408 reviews44 followers
September 26, 2022
In this non-fiction work, four historical biographers join forces to present an overview of royal weddings in England from 1066 through 2011. Each author takes on a different time period: Alison Weir focuses on the earliest history and the medieval, Tudor and Stuart Periods. Kate Williams focuses on the Georgians and Victorians. Sarah Gristwood focuses on royal weddings from 1919 through 1960. And in the final chapter, Tracy Borman covers the most recent weddings from 1960 through the time of the book being written when Kate Middleton and Prince William marry.

This reminded me of a taking a survey course in college; it moves swiftly through time and gives a tremendous amount of information about a wealth of royals, particularly the early chapter covered by Alison Weir. But it did a good job of providing a sense of the different traditions and practices surrounding royal marries and conveying interesting tidbits from some of the most memorable marriages. The later chapters provided more in depth coverage, but more is known about more recent individuals.

However, I was less interested in the learning about the marriage of royals in the twentieth century and it did feel as if the bulk of the book was devoted to those figures. For instance, early royals only got a few sentences while Diana earned a signfiicant chunk of the book. I wish Alison Weir's chapter had been given more length and depth, particularly since she covered the greatest span of time.

Although I have read bits and pieces of much of the knowledge featured in this book, it was an entertaining read. It is a great introductory text for someone wanting to learn a bit more about royals and their marriages and families over the years without needing to read a dozen biographies of different individuals. It was well researched and well presented by its authors.
Profile Image for Sarah.
297 reviews10 followers
March 1, 2022
As it says on the tin: this book is a history of royal weddings from 1066 to the modern day. It was written in anticipation of William and Kate's wedding, so stops just before there.

This should have been a perfect book for me; I love ritual and I love weddings and I love history of the British royals, but I ditched this book just after half way.

The likes: This book is a good testament to the changing nature of marriage and the ceremonies that formalise them. It is undoubtedly thorough, briefly stopping at what feels like every marriage of a monarch and some immediate family members as well.

The dislikes: The information feels very drily told, and it just feels boring. Upon reflection, I think this is for several reasons. Firstly, there is little analysis or comment on the significance of the rituals and detail - just recounting information. I think I'd have liked more guidance through this journey through history. Secondly, the pace feels too rushed for the first half as we flee through many significant monarchical moments and people. But the opposite then happens when we get to Queen Victoria where there is a lot more known information and everything just feels so needlessly detailed (it doesn't help that she had about 20 children, and we hear about all of their weddings too; Page after page of "So and so got married on 27th September, had ten bridesmaids, and wore white, and her cake was just so").

So in some ways it feels overly detailed but at the same time I think it needs more detail in order to make the details more interesting.

Overall, I think this book is just not well told and is in need of significant revision. I can see why it's out of print.
Profile Image for Chelsea.
1,733 reviews47 followers
January 13, 2021
This reads like a high school group project, bland essays distributed unfairly and all. There was so much potential for this book - they could have drawn from a number of interesting anecdotes and illustrations, but instead it was filled with dry rambling paragraphs that glossed over the wedding events from one royal to the next. (Also, how do you not have an image of Kate Middleton in her infamous wedding gown? Such an error when wedding dresses and their importance/symbolism is frequently discussed in detail is unfathomable. There's even a picture of Queen Mary I's wedding dress, and she was married in the 16th century! Surely you can add a modern photograph of Middleton's from the early 2000s.) An editor dropped the ball on this one.
Profile Image for Colleen.
361 reviews27 followers
October 27, 2024
I don't know the term for this size book. It's too small to be a coffee table book, but bigger than a hardcover. Glossy pages with full color pictures on almost every page - I guess you could call it a museum book, something you pick up at the gift shop.

Four of Britain's leading historians have contributed a chapter each, focusing on a time period between 1066 and 2011. Each author examines the royal weddings of their period and how they reflect and impact the culture of the time. We get a look at wedding locations, fashions, and chosing a spouse across the centuries.

It's interesting to see everything laid out in a neat timeline. The reader can clearly see how each wedding builds on the last, adapting to their current time and culture.
Profile Image for Carolyn Harris.
Author 7 books68 followers
January 10, 2018
Good overview of the history of royal weddings, especially the weddings from 1919 to 2005. A little dated now as the book does not discuss the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (their engagement in referenced in the opening and closing chapters) or the subsequent changes to the Royal Marriages Act. The book focuses on wedding dresses, gifts and public celebrations. The earlier chapters would benefit from more attention paid to marriage contracts and negotiations, key aspects of medieval and early modern dynastic marriages. The audiobook is well read.
Profile Image for James.
72 reviews8 followers
July 27, 2020
Each of these four Historians specialise in different parts of England/Britain's history whether it's Medieval, Tudor/Elizabethan, Georgian, Victorian or even post World War II, here in this book they all come together to put their expertise into making a historical book on Royal Weddings, and it comes off brilliantly.

The Royal wedding of 2011 was a massive boost for the British Monarchy during the early/mid nineties a lot of people began to question it's relevance in society, with divorces, affairs, certain Panorama interviews baring all and of course usual money scandals ( *cough Fergie cough*) the Royal family literally had become a living soap show, then following the tragic of Princess Diana things where at an all time low- although The Queen has always remained a very popular figure, there was talk of where can the Monarchy really go after her reign ends... Of course the Golden Jubilee in 2002 really showed the public's continued respect and admiration for her, there was always a question on whether the younger Royals could continue that same interest..

Of course the 2011 Royal Wedding of Prince William and Katherine Middleton surpassed everyone's expectations of how much interest and excitement there was- not even the most ardent Royalist could have predict the popularity that would excite the world over- Times square in New York for example coming to a stand still to watch the Wedding, the street parties taking place all over Britain, the different reporters coming in from all over the world to report on it, it really skyrocketed the Monarchy's popularity and showed the interest will continue after the Queen's reign and into the next generations.

What this book does is show us how the other Royal weddings from as far back as before 1066 with the wedding of the infamous William the Conqueror to his bride Matilda of Flanders, mattered in terms of alliances, politics and occasionally even romance- William and Matilda's for example was all the more important because Williams illegitimacy was always a great stain on him ( often being called 'William the Bastard') and even though he did have a claim to the English throne Matilda's was far stronger and his marriage with her strengthened his influence in Normandy, England and Europe. Other royal marriages produced ( or at least intended to produce) successful alliances- Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine- creating an Angevin Empire, Henry V and Catherine of Valois was designed to bring about England and France under one Corwn, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York brought an end to the 'Wars of the Roses', the future Mary II and William of Orange brought about the Glorious Revolution and the first and only time a King and Queen would rule together.

Other Royal weddings where controversial usually down to the unpopularity of the union such as Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou- due to the handing back of the lands of Maine and Anjou to France,Edward Iv of Elizabeth Woodville- which nearly called his legitimacy into question, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn- causing the split with Rome and the possible threat of foreign invasion, Mary I and Philip of Spain brought about a rebellion!!

Some ended in tragedy or mysteriously Edward II and Isabella of France ended with his murder, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's ended with her being falsely accused of incest and treason and her execution, Henry VIII and Katherine Howard ended in her execution at such a tender age- and only because she took a lover similar to her own age... When Henry had taken many mistresses as well- in fact you could all Henry's marriages ended in some sort of tragedy :p!! George I and Sophia Dorathea of Celle's was unhappy- she was imprisoned after her lover was murdered ( possibly on George's orders and even after he had taken mistresses) George IV and Caroline of Brunswick was a complete disaster from start to finish- first with her exile then her death after trying to storm the abbey during his Coronation, their daughter Princess Charlotte's Union with Prince Leopald was the hope of the nation- though she tragically died in childbirth along with her stillborn son, and of course who could forget the sad ending of Charles and Diana, due to both their unfaithfulness.

Of course there have been genuine love and loyalty in these marriages- Henry III and Eleanor of Provence, Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Victoria and Albert, George V and Mary of Teck, George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and of course our current Queen Elizabeth II and Philip Duke of Edinburgh!!

This book is great for anyone with even the slightest bit of interest in history, it will not bog anyone down, as it only goes into detail of how each marriage came about, the mood of the public at the time and the weddings themselves, i completely recommend this to anyone. It ends on the successful celebrations of the modern 21st century Royal of Prince William and the girl from no Royal or aristocratic background but actually from fairly working class roots- self made millionaires parents Kate Middleton and how their wedding combined the tradition of Royal Weddings whilst also adding a modern touch. This book will show how Royal Weddings have always been a keen interest for the public and even now in the 21st century, continues to do so with even more fascination.
Profile Image for Sabrina.
349 reviews12 followers
February 6, 2017
I didn't hate this book. It wasn't the worst. But it wasn't great either.

It's too fluffy to be taken seriously by anyone interested in history and too threadbare in storytelling to be any fun to read.

The authors had a lot of years to cover in not a lot of pages (fewer than 200). I believe they tried, but there just wasn't the space to flesh out any interesting stories, so the book ended up feeling more like lists of names than stories about people.

The pictures were nice.
Profile Image for Kathleen.
1,330 reviews22 followers
August 23, 2017
Weddings? British royal history? ALISON WEIR? Sign me up! Sadly, the book is not as good as that sounds. That's not to say it's bad, it's just sort of lackluster.

The Ring and the Crown is a history in four parts of the British royal family and weddings. Each historian takes a chunk of time and elaborates on the royal weddings that took place during that time, to the best of their ability (Weir takes up the medieval crown up through the Stuart era, Williams picks up with the Georgians and Victorians, Gristwood runs from post-WWI to the sixties, and Borman carries through to the present-- in this case, the engagement of William and Kate). The book seems to have been put together as a sort of historical backdrop to their wedding.

And, I mean, it's interesting, but sadly much of the book is purely description of the weddings and some anecdotes about the events. It can be confusing, jumping around between time periods with no family trees (!!), and it's heavily weighted toward the more modern weddings. There's not a lot of historical context or the politics surrounding the marriages. I know, that would probably be about sixteen books, but it would definitely be more interesting.

That said, the pictures are fantastic and I did actually enjoy the descriptions of the weddings. I just wish there was something more substantial to this book than descriptions.
Profile Image for Rachel White.
330 reviews7 followers
December 7, 2018
I found this book interesting as someone who has a huge love of history but for the most part, it just glossed over things I wanted to know more about. If you read this just for Will and Kate, it would be disappointing as it barely talks about their engagement and doesn't mention the wedding.

it was interesting to see how far back some royal traditions went and even more interesting to see how things have changed from Medieval times.

Overall this was enjoyable and a quick read.
Profile Image for Kristen.
1,556 reviews7 followers
July 7, 2017
Glossy overview of royal weddings with a heavy focus on the British. Enjoyable to pick up and page through, not really a book you sit and read. I understand it was published to capture sales in the hysteria before William + Kate got married, but it would have been nice to end with photos of their wedding - seems kind of incomplete without it.
Profile Image for Sarah.
393 reviews15 followers
November 21, 2018
This is an interesting overview of the entire history of English marriage, but for me the most interesting part was (surprisingly) the modern take. Lady Diana died when I was a child, and this was interesting look into how her marriage, divorce, and death effected the way that people viewed the royal company and what it meant for Kate and Meghan. Overall I enjoyed this!
2,439 reviews6 followers
December 2, 2018
Written in four parts by four authors. The first section from 1066 to 1714 wasn’t that interesting, being quite listy - this person married, then that person. The other three sections were better with more about the actual weddings. Could have done with more clarity about all the people involved. If you’re not knowledgeable about the Royal Family then all the different titles gets confusing.
61 reviews
July 31, 2023
No-one can resist a wedding and a Royal Wedding is even more exciting
From Henry 1 and Maltilda in 1100 at West Minster Abbey , through to Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Beautiful photographs and illustrations throughout the book, written by four renowned Historians.
If you like Royal history you will enjoy this book
Profile Image for Erika.
526 reviews
July 23, 2025
I am slowly making my way through all of Alison Weir’s books. I love her writing and she’s probably my favorite historian.

This is a very quick history of royal weddings in England. It does explain how some of our traditions came to be, some are not as old as you might think.

The frenzy around royal weddings is still going strong in this day and age and I don’t expect that to end anytime soon.
Profile Image for Lindsay.
869 reviews1 follower
February 21, 2023
I was so bored with this book. I listened to it as an audiobook…that was probably a bad choice. I felt like they were just listing the names of royals and their wedding dates with a couple of facts about the couple thrown in.
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