Book dossier

The Royal Image and the English People

by Nicola Smith

"The image of the monarch is widespread in English life. Royal statues and monuments, sometimes rather shabby now, still occupy prominent positions in towns and cities throughout the country. At first sight they may appear solidly uncontroversial, as if simply representing a long, undisputed national tradition of stable leadership, but some of our predecessors viewed them differently. Far from representing national agreement, English royal memorials have frequently been either the products or the victims of factional rivalry and strife. Some of the earliest and fiercest 'heritage debates' in England centred on royal monuments. Aspects of the past enshrined in stone or bronze were celebrated or challenged to suit contemporary political positions, and until relatively recently such monuments continued to be a focus for the expression of some widely differing views on national leadership and history. In this volume, Nicola Smith traces the development and changing fortunes of the royal image in English public monuments from the late Middle Ages to the beginning of the twentieth century."--Jacket.