Royal Book Challenge: The Royal Tombs Of Great Britain by Aidan Dodson

19/500

The Royal Tombs of Great Britain by Aidan Dodson
Published 2004
248 Pages
ISBN: 9780715633106

I've always had a fascination with royal death. With the addition of this book, I now own five on the topic. For some reason The Royal Tombs Of Great Britain is listed for exorbitant prices on Amazon, eBay and Alibris. Looking at the actual book there is no reason for it to cost that much. It is not written in gold script and it isn't even old (published in 2004). It took a while but I finally found a copy in good condition that I felt (at the time) was reasonably priced. If you're interested in buying a copy for yourself do not spend more than $100 on it. Unless you really want to own it I would even say that is too much.

My interest in royal death may sound macabre but death it is truly the great leveller. It happens to everyone, including royalty. But as this book reveals just because someone is a king or queen, does not necessarily mean their remains are treated with dignity or left to rest in peace.

The author details the burial places of sovereigns from the early English Kingdoms all the way to King George VI. There is some fascinating information about the various royal vaults and monuments along with photographs and illustrations. There is detailed information about embalming and the condition of corpses and skeletons which is interesting but I definately wouldn't advise reading about it while eating!

© Marilyn Braun 2012

Thank you for enjoying this article. If you use the information for research purposes, a link to credit the work I've put into writing it would be appreciated.

Why Prince William & Kate Middleton's engagement is a second best royal news story

Not to sound ungrateful.

I am extremely happy that Prince William and Kate Middleton have just announced their engagement to the world and put all of us out of our will-he/won't-he/should-she misery.

But, I feel a tad unsatisfied with this royal  news story. Sure it has all of the elements of romance and the elusive happily ever after. The afterglow will carry me for a week or so until the news dies down. We can now look forward to months and months of speculation, waiting for the wedding date announcement and then the wedding itself. It's almost agonizing in its lack of immediateness.

This is quite the contrast to the ultimate royal news story: death.

Yes, the great royal leveller. A royal death news story has a lot of advantages. It's immediate, occasionally unsurprising and filled more intense emotion depending on where he/she was on the royal food chain. For instance, say someone who is 355th in line to the throne will not elicit the same interest as, what I like to call a Royal Big 5 death. Who is on that list? The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry. When any of them die I know who I would buy souvenirs for.

When one of them dies there will be massive coverage and it will be immediate. Given the time-sensitivity of the occasion, this event cannot, unfortunately, be drawn out. It would be inappropriate. There will be no months upon months of waiting. If two or more of them die it could be extremely interesting to discuss what precedence the coffins will enter Westminster Abbey in. See? How much more interesting this coverage is?

Unlike death, royal weddings are a more difficult event to relate to. After all, we all die, right? Most of us will never wear tiaras, ride in glass carriages or have a golden page in the history books. It's enough to make you jealous. See, that doesn't happen with death now does it? No one gets jealous so we bypass that emotion altogether.

Like royal weddings we also see commemorative souvenirs. But better. I can't think of the last time I saw royal death tankards at a garage sale. Commemorative royal death mugs are different in the amount of guilt involved in throwing them away. They're an investment you can sell on eBay. Unlike royal wedding china, which you can't give away because there's so much of it.

Those souvenirs will have to wait. The reality is, we have a royal wedding to look forward to.

I guess it's better than nothing.

© Marilyn Braun 2010