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Eight books about the royal family of England and Britain, chosen to cover every era from 1066 to Elizabeth II, with the author, publisher and scope of each edition.

Eight Tudor books, from a short introduction and a one-volume history to lives of Henry VIII's wives, children and chief minister, plus the novel that brought Thomas Cromwell back to life.

How Britain's monarchy works: what the King does as head of state, the powers he holds only in name, how the Crown is funded through the Sovereign Grant, and how the monarchy got here.

British Empire vs UK: the United Kingdom was the state at the centre of the empire, not the empire itself. How the two relate, what the Commonwealth and the realms are, and what remains today.

The British Empire map explained region by region: which territories it held and when, how large it was in 1837, 1897 and around 1920, and where to see reliable historic maps.

The Elizabeth monarchy, twice over: Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and Elizabeth II (1952-2022) compared, from their paths to the throne to their reigns, plus the dispute over the numeral 'II' in Scotland.

The empire of Great Britain from its first voyages to the handover of Hong Kong: the main phases, key dates, how large it grew, and how it turned into the Commonwealth.

The England royal family from William I to Charles III: all 42 monarchs by house, how each reign began, the disputed claims, and today's royal family.

England under the Stuarts, reign by reign from 1603 to 1714: the union of crowns, civil war and republic, the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution and the 1707 union.

The complete list of English monarchs in order: the kings of England from Æthelstan in 927 to 1066, then every monarch since the Norman Conquest with reign dates and years on the throne.

The family tree of Queen Elizabeth II: her parents and sister, Prince Philip's family, her four children and eight grandchildren, and how the line of succession runs from her today.

Henry Plantagenet usually means Henry II (1133-1189), first of the Plantagenet kings: his lands, his legal reforms, the Becket murder, his sons' revolts, and the other Plantagenet Henrys.

Henry VIII's wives in order, from Catherine of Aragon to Katherine Parr: wedding dates, how each marriage ended, their children, and what the rhyme gets wrong.

The house of Plantagenet ruled England from 1154 to 1485: all 14 kings in order, the Angevin, Lancaster and York branches, and the naming dispute historians still have.

The house of Tudor ruled England from 1485 to 1603: the five Tudor monarchs in order, their reign dates, the family line, and the disputed nine-day claim of Lady Jane Grey.

The house of Windsor has been Britain's royal house since 17 July 1917: why George V changed the name, all five Windsor monarchs with their dates, and how the Mountbatten-Windsor surname works.

John Plantagenet, King John of England (1199-1216): how he became king, the loss of Normandy, the quarrel with the Pope, Magna Carta, and the civil war he died in.

What Plantagenet means: the nickname of Geoffrey of Anjou, the broom plant behind it, when the name first became a surname, and which English kings it covers.

Queen Victoria's family tree: her nine children with Prince Albert in birth order, whom each married, the grandchildren who sat on Europe's thrones, and the monarchs who descend from her today.

Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 to 22 January 1901: how she came to the throne, the key dates and events, her ten prime ministers, and how long the reign lasted.

The queens of England and Britain since 1066: the six queens regnant who ruled in their own right, the two disputed claims, and every queen consort from Matilda of Flanders to Queen Camilla.

Who was the shortest reigning English monarch? Edward V holds the shortest counted reign since 1066, Lady Jane Grey's nine days are disputed, and Sweyn Forkbeard's is shorter still before 1066.

How succession to the British throne works: who can inherit, the laws that set the order, the 2013 change that ended male preference, and the turning points since 1066.

The Stuarts ruled Scotland from 1371 and England from 1603 to 1714: every Stuart monarch in order, the Stewart-to-Stuart spelling change, and the Jacobite claimants after 1688.

Each Tudor monarch compared: birth and death, age at accession, length of reign, marriages, burial place and what each is best known for, from Henry VII to Elizabeth I.

The best DNA test for ancestry depends on what you want: relatives, a family tree, origins or one paternal line. Three kits and two bundles compared on matching, records and privacy, with a plain answer on royal descent.

The best family tree books for recording your ancestors by hand: fill-in genealogy notebooks for 8 or 12 generations, a lined research notebook, a keepsake family history book and a refillable binder.

Absolute monarchy examples from history and today: Louis XIV's France, Denmark's King Law, Russia's tsars, and the absolute monarchies that remain, such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brunei, Eswatini and Vatican City.

Absolute rulers explained: the theory behind absolute power, from divine right to Hobbes, the tools rulers used, the real limits they faced, and profiles of famous absolute monarchs from Louis XIV to Peter the Great.

What a ceremonial monarch does: the constitutional and ceremonial duties, the 'reserve powers' kept for emergencies, and real cases where they mattered, from Belgium in 1990 to Luxembourg in 2008.

Countries having monarchy today: all 43 sovereign monarchies listed by region, with the monarch's title and the type of monarchy, plus the realms that share the British King and the monarchies that ended since 2000.

Define monarch: the meaning of the word, the many titles monarchs hold, how a reigning monarch differs from a consort, regent or heir, and the other meaning of 'monarch' in English.

Define monarchy: the dictionary and reference definitions compared, where the word comes from, the features every monarchy shares, the main kinds, and the words it is often confused with.

Emperor vs king compared: where each title comes from, why an emperor was seen as higher, how kings could serve under emperors, which empires used the title, and why only Japan has an emperor today.

Empire meaning explained: the dictionary definitions, the Latin root imperium, the features historians use to identify an empire, the main kinds of empire, and how an empire differs from a kingdom or a nation-state.

The largest empire in history by land was the British Empire in the 1920s; the largest contiguous empire was the Mongol Empire. See the rankings by area, population share and duration, and why the estimates differ.

Limited monarchy explained: what it means, how it grew from Magna Carta to modern constitutions, the difference between parliamentary and executive forms, and examples from the UK, Sweden, Liechtenstein and Bhutan.

A list of ancient cultures with their dates, regions and forms of rule: which had kings, pharaohs or emperors, which had other systems, and where the evidence about rulers is too thin to say.

Lists of monarchs on Ellone-Loire: every English and British monarch since 1066, the Romanov tsars, the Roman and Byzantine emperors, the Holy Roman emperors and today's monarchies, with reign dates, sources and every disputed record flagged.

How Ellone-Loire checks every monarch record against named published sources, what 'reviewed' and 'disputed' mean, how dates and calendars are handled, and the log of corrections made after publication.

Monarchies explained by type: hereditary and elective, absolute and constitutional, unitary and federal. Includes the succession rules of Europe's monarchies and a compact list of today's monarchies by type.

Monarchy examples from every era and continent: ancient Egypt and Persia, medieval Byzantium and Mali, early modern France and the Mughals, and today's monarchies from the UK to Saudi Arabia and Japan.

How monarchy government works: who holds power, how laws are made, how governments are formed, how the monarch is funded and replaced, with the UK, Japan, Jordan and Saudi Arabia compared side by side.

What a monarchy is, the main types (absolute, constitutional, elective and more), how the crown passes, how monarchy developed from the ancient world, and how many monarchies remain.

Noble ranks in order in the British peerage, from duke to baron, with the female titles, forms of address, where each title comes from, how they compare with continental ranks, and the ranks below the peerage.

What 'reign' means, how reigns are dated and numbered (regnal years, regnal numbers and era names), the longest and shortest reigns, and the common mix-up between reign and rein.

The royal family last name explained: why British royals had no surname before 1917, how Windsor and Mountbatten-Windsor came about, why princes use names such as 'Wales' at school and in the army, and what other royal families use.

Seven Roman history books that cover Rome from its founding to the fall of Constantinople: Mary Beard, Tom Holland, Suetonius, Chris Scarre and Anthony Kaldellis, with the author, publisher and scope of each edition.

The Byzantine Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire ruled from Constantinople: the complete list of emperors by dynasty from 395 to 1453, the key events, its religion and culture, and why 'Byzantine' is a later name.

Caligula, the Roman emperor from 37 to 41 CE: his family and childhood, his popular first months, his illness, the famous stories about his cruelty and what the evidence supports, and his assassination.

Charles V, Holy Roman emperor and King Charles I of Spain: his inheritance of the Netherlands, Spain and Austria, his election in 1519, Luther and the Reformation, wars with France and the Ottomans, the Americas, and his abdication in 1555-1556.

The decline of the Roman Empire explained: the Crisis of the Third Century, the recovery under Diocletian and Constantine, the invasions and lost revenues of the 5th century, and the causes historians have proposed, from Gibbon to climate and plague.

The Eastern Roman Empire, later called Byzantine, ruled from Constantinople for more than a thousand years: its founding, dynasties, key emperors, the 1204 and 1453 falls of the capital, and every page in the Rome and Byzantium section.

The emperors of Rome in order, from Augustus in 27 BCE to the end of the Western empire in 476-480 CE: every recognised emperor with reign dates and dynasty, the crisis years, and the disputed last emperor.

The complete list of Holy Roman emperors, from Charlemagne in 800 and Otto I in 962 to Francis II in 1806, with dates of imperial coronation or election, dynasty, and how the title was won and lost.

The Holy Roman Empire from Charlemagne or Otto I to its dissolution on 6 August 1806: the timeline, the seven electors of the Golden Bull, how the emperor, Diet and territories worked, the Reformation and Thirty Years' War, and why it ended.

Every Roman dynasty in order: the Julio-Claudians, Flavians, Nerva-Antonines and Severans of the early empire, the Constantinian and Theodosian houses, and the Byzantine dynasties from Justinian to the Palaiologoi.

Tiberius, the second Roman emperor: his military career under Augustus, his reluctant accession in 14 CE, the rise and fall of Sejanus, his retreat to Capri, the treason trials, and how ancient writers judged him.

The Roman Empire of the East from the division of 395 to the death of Heraclius in 641: its emperors, its capital Constantinople, why it survived when the West fell, Justinian's reconquests, and its shift from Latin to Greek.

The Roman Empire from Augustus in 27 BCE to the fall of the West in 476 and of Constantinople in 1453: its phases, its size at its peak, how it was governed and defended, its religion and citizenship, and what it left behind.

Claudius, the fourth Roman emperor: the unlikely heir chosen by the Praetorian Guard, his conquest of Britain, his reforms and building works, his four marriages, and the disputed poisoning that ended his reign.

The 'Sacred Roman Empire', Sacrum Romanum Imperium, is the Latin name of the Holy Roman Empire. How the words Roman, Holy and 'of the German Nation' were added between the 10th and 16th centuries, what they meant, and why Voltaire mocked them.

When did the Western Roman Empire fall? The traditional answer is 476 CE, when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, but the last legitimate Western emperor, Julius Nepos, lived until 480. The timeline, the dates historians use and why they disagree.

Who is the first Roman emperor? Augustus, from 27 BCE. How Octavian rose to power, why Julius Caesar is not counted as an emperor, how Augustus ruled, and the other 'first emperors' of Rome's successor states.

Eight books about the Romanovs, from Simon Sebag Montefiore's full dynasty history to Robert K. Massie and Helen Rappaport on Nicholas II's family, with the author, publisher and scope of each edition.

Alexei Romanov usually means Alexei Nikolaevich (1904-1918), the haemophiliac heir of Nicholas II, killed at 13 and identified by DNA in 2008. This page also covers the earlier Tsar Alexis I (reigned 1645-1676) and how to tell them apart.

Peter the Great, tsar from 1682 and first Emperor of Russia from 1721: his joint reign with Ivan V, the Grand Embassy, the Great Northern War, the founding of Saint Petersburg, his reforms, and the succession he left unsettled.

Every Romanov tsar and emperor of Russia from Michael I in 1613 to Nicholas II in 1917, with reign dates, how each came to power, the disputed reign of Ivan VI, and the end of the dynasty in 1917-1918.

"Romanov Empire" usually means the Russian Empire, ruled by the House of Romanov from 1721 to 1917. Its growth, government, and how it differs from the Soviet Union.

The Romanov execution of 16-17 July 1918: who was killed in Yekaterinburg and by whom, the disputed question of who ordered it, how the remains were hidden, found and identified by DNA, and what happened to them afterwards.

The Romanov family: Nicholas II, Alexandra and their five children, the grand dukes and duchesses of the wider dynasty, who was killed and who escaped in 1917-1919, and the disputed headship claims among descendants today.

Every Russian czar from Ivan IV, crowned in 1547, to Nicholas II, who abdicated in 1917: the Rurikid, Godunov and Romanov rulers, the disputed claimants of the Time of Troubles, and how the title changed to emperor.

How the Russian Empire's borders grew from 1721 to 1917, region by region, since no single year's map covers the whole period accurately.

The Russian Empire existed from 1721 to 1917 under continuous Romanov rule: its government, economy, wars, and how it ended in the February Revolution.