A popular history book. I enjoyed reading about the qveens. And learned for the first time to distinguish Mary I from Mary Queen of Scots! No wonder that period had always seemed confused to me. ( )

Have just started reading and is so far proving to be a nice easy read. It is about the 6 Queens of England (Mary, Elizabeth I and II, Victoria, the other Mary and Anne). ( )

This is a very effective look at the six women who have been queen regnants in England. Until Bloody Mary, there had never been a queen in power. There had only been Queen consorts. For all of her faults, Mary earns a healthy respect from this book's analysis of the unique predicament she found herself in. Women were thought of as helpless, worthless beings and here she found herself with no precedents in the history of mankind for a woman in charge. Her step-sister Elizabeth found herself faced with the same challenges, although thanks to her elder sister and also Elizabeth's excellent instincts, she managed to navigate the sexism much more effectively. This book illuminates Elizabeth's sheer lifetime genius for dealing with all of the related complications of being a queen regnant for the first time in history. The book continues throughout the other queens....Victoria and onto the current Queen Elizabeth II and effectively weaves an analysis of the adaptation and precedence that were set by each of these remarkable women. Each lived in a distinctly unique period of history and had to shape their reigns based upon the prejudice and the very limited precedence set for her by her predecessors. ( )

An interesting concept, focusing on the queens regnant in England. I had no idea that there had been six - Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anne, Victoria and Elizabeth II. Unfortunately for the story, however, the power of these reigning queens really falls away after Elizabeth I, and the stories of the latter queens suffers for it. Victoria was a fascinating woman and a powerful personality, but as a monarch in a constitutional monarchy, she didn't rule in the same way that Elizabeth I ruled. And poor Elizabeth II - a very nice person to have over for tea, I am sure - but a powerful queen? Hardly. Still, this was a well written book that told the stories of the queens well. ( )