About the website "Kings and Queens of England"

Index of Kings and Kings of England

• I have started at the Battle of Hastings. You have to start somewhere. A few of the Anglo-Saxon and Danish kings are important, but we don't know much about most of them, and I wanted a continuous record.
• I end with the current Queen. You could say that the present is not history. But it will become history, so why not?
• These are the Kings and Queens of England, not Britain. Many are monarchs of Wales, and Scotland, and Ireland as well. But I know little about the non-British history of these countries, and it seems insulting to assume that their own leaders only became important when they joined with Britain. So I am giving an English viewpoint only. This has the advantage that I don't have to renumber some of the monarchs from James I onwards, to balance the difference between English and Scottish numbering. If any Scots, Welsh or Irish want to make up a list of their kings and queens, tell me and I'll happily link to it (as long as it's not too provocative!)
• I realise that this may not feel like the history of many people who live in England but were born elsewhere, or their parents or grandparents were. But this is a website about a place (England) over a period of time (1066 to the present day). Again, I'll link to useful websites giving histories of immigrants.
• I do not attempt to give a complete description of each reign. I try to give one or two facts about each reign which I think are generally known. Sometimes this is difficult, so I give an event which seems important to me (and it is my website!) But if anyone wants to persuade me to add anything else, then do contact me, and we'll discuss it.
• I certainly do not want to evaluate the importance of a particular monarch. Opinions vary, sometimes wildly. I am not a historian, and I do not want to join in! However, sometimes my descriptions may seem to give an opinion of a monarch. By all means, let me know if you disagree, but this is not a website for minority views. You might persuade me to alter the wording a little!
• My description of events is very brief. It is easy to look up longer accounts on the web. Try Wikipedia.
• One problem with accessing history via monarchs' reigns is that you can start thinking that all monarchs have reigns the same length. It is definitely not true! There is a timeline on the index page to compare lengths of reigns.
• I have used Roman numbers to number the monarchs, since this is the usual practice. If you have problems with this, here are the modern equivalents:

  1 - I
  2 - II
  3 - III
  4 - IV
  5 - V
  6 - VI
  7 - VII
  8 - VIII

  There is no English monarch with a higher number than 8.
• In my list, I do not necessarily give who was legally king at any time, but rather, who was reigning or in control at that time. So I give the Commonwealth (Oliver Cromwell) although legally Charles II became king immediately his father was killed. I also give the Regency period, when George III became mad, and his son started governing as regent. I do not put Lady Jane Grey in the list (although she's mentioned in the Mary I page). I also say that Stephen was king throughout his reign, even though at one point he was a prisoner! I am sure that these are all debatable points.