Greenwich has a lot of royal history – dating back to the now long-gone Tudor palace. The palace was the place where future Queens Mary I and Elizabeth I were born, among others. Unfortunately, it fell into disrepair during the English Civil War and was eventually demolished. Only the Queen’s House, completed in the 1630s, still stands and was used as a royal residence, and it now forms part of the National Maritime Museum.
Perhaps it is no surprise that the author Pieter van der Merwe worked for the National Maritime Museum. Royal Greenwich leads us through the history of Greenwich through the eyes of the successive monarchs. The illustrations and portraits are all wonderful and truly add to the experience. I also enjoyed the design of the book, with the page edges in different colours for the different royal houses. You can tell that the author is quite knowledgeable about Greenwich, and he manages to convey the story in a compelling manner.
There were just three errors in the royal history itself. First, Margaret Tudor is mentioned as having married James V of Scotland and being the mother of Mary, Queens of Scots. In truth, she married James IV and was the mother of James V, and thus the grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots. The second is that King William III is mentioned as being his wife Mary’s second cousin when they were really first cousins. And the third is that Queen Victoria is listed under the “House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha” she was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover, even though she had married into the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In contrast, Queen Anne, who married Prince George of Denmark, is listed under the House of Stuart (as she should be).
Overall, this is an excellent look at the history of Greenwich, and I would highly recommend it, despite the three errors.
Royal Greenwich: A History in Kings and Queens by Pieter van der Merwe is available now in the US and the UK.
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