Our Sporting Monarchs

Sports of all kinds have played a crucial role in the reigns of our kings and queens. Some used it for purposes both brutal and mercenary, others to boost courage and prowess for war, and many because they enjoyed physical exercise and the thrills and excitement sport brings. Our Sporting Monarchs traces the involvement of royalty with sport from the Norman Conquest to modern times. It is an exciting, romantic and colourful story spanning 1,200 years of British history. Brought up in the archery butts, it was the English bowmen who won the Battle of Agincourt for King Henry V, while the Tudor sporting star, Henry VIII, wrestled for prestige with the French king on the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Learn about Queen Elizabeth I's surprising passion for blood sports like bear-baiting, Charles I's bitter quarrel with the Puritans over Sunday sport (which hastened the onset of the English Civil War), and discover how George V and VI's racing pigeons were commandeered for messages in the two World Wars.