This is a wonderful introduction the Georgian kings and I have to admit, the more I learn, the more I move away from my obsession with the Tudors and the Victorians. I would recommend this to someone who maybe wants to know more about the Georgians but isn't sure they really want to invest in any of the more hardcore histories.

An interesting and informative look at the history of the Kings of Georgian Britain.

I didn't know much about the Georgian era except what I learned from Horrible Histories songs, so this book was quite interesting for me! The author makes it very engaging and I learned a lot, although there are occasions where I got confused as there were large skips of time.

But I recommend this book anyway. It's really interesting!

I wish that history books like this one had been around when I was at school! I might have rushed to history classes instead of finding ways to avoid them! Found this to be a really fascinating insight into 4 extremely interesting, but totally different, Kings over a fascinating period in British history.

The author presents the 4 Kings in a really clever way, taking each in turn and looking at where they came from, their personalities, the changing face of Britain and how they were as rulers in the soap opera that is the Royal Family!

From George I, The German King, through to George II, the last British monarch to lead troops into battle, to George III, better known as The Mad King and to George IV who seemed to be the King of spending!

Each King has such a turbulent life from childhood onwards, and this book was an amazing wealth of knowledge for me. I have found that some history books focus on just the dates but this one really gets behind each King and flags up the most interesting things that happened in their lifetimes Have to say I enjoyed the chapter on George III the most as he seemed the most caring, despite his later mental illness, and the methods they used to treat him were horrifying to say the least.

There are also some fasinating accompanying illustrations and paintings that were a welcome bonus and added to a wonderful read!


Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for this advanced copy!

4 stars

This book is just full of tidbits that I did not know. First off was that the four kings of Georgian Britain were German. They hardly ever set foot in England and refused to speak English. Oh wow!

This book is a good introduction to the era. It talks about each of the four Georges and their families, friends, enemies and of course, the Georges themselves. It has interesting little factoids interspersed here and there.

We get to know their personalities fairly well. They were both colorful and detestable in some cases. As Ms. Curzon states in her introduction, the four Georges were “sometimes passionate, sometimes shocking, but never, ever dull.”

I want to send a thank you to Netgalley and Pen & Sword/Pen & Sword History for forwarding to me a copy of this most interesting book for me to read.

I would describe Kings of Georgian England as an introductory text. In the small page count, there is only a limited amount of space in which Curzon can describe each of the four kings' personalities and reigns, but she manages to include some fun facts and enticing details, all written in a readable, straightforward prose that never feels too stodgy. For me, this is a great book to turn to if you are relatively unfamiliar with the period and looking for a quick overview. This work won't tell you everything, but it provides a good place to start and includes an extensive bibliography for further reading. The Georgian era is one I love, so most of the information in Kings of Georgian England was familiar to me. However, there were a few little side stories I'd not come across before, and the book certainly reigniting my enthusiasm for further reading about the period. If you are a scholar of the 18th century, this book may not have much to offer. Nonetheless, I am awarding it four stars because it is perfect for the novice historian coming to era for the first time.