MORTAL MONARCHS written and read by Suzie Edge - audiobook extract
A humorous deep-dive into the varied\u2014and oft-gruesome\u2014deaths of the king and queens of England and Scotland.\n\nHow the monarchs of England and Scotland met their deaths has been a wonderful mixture of violence, infections, overindulgence and occasional regicide. In Mortal Monarchs, medical historian Dr Suzie Edge examines 1,000 years of royal deaths to uncover the plots, accusations, rivalries and ever-present threat of poison that the kings and queens of old faced.\n\nFrom the "bloody" fascinating story behind Oliver Cromwell's demise and the subsequent treatment of his corpse and whether the arrow William II caught in the chest was an accident or murder, to Henry IV's remarkable skin condition and the red-hot poker up Edward II's rear end, Mortal Monarchs captivates, grosses-out and informs.\n\nIn school, many of us learned the dates they died and who followed them, but sadly never heard the varied\u2014and oft-gruesome\u2014way our monarchs met their maker. Featuring original medical research, this history forms a rich record not just of how these people died, but how we thought about and treated the human body, in life and in death.