Cheat sheet · Life in the UK test
Kings & Queens of England (and Britain)
Every monarch from William the Conqueror to Charles III — dynasty, regnal dates and a one-line legacy you can actually remember.
Norman (1066–1154)
| William I | 1066–1087 | Won at Hastings; commissioned the Domesday Book (1086). |
| William II | 1087–1100 | Killed by an arrow in the New Forest. |
| Henry I | 1100–1135 | Strong administrator; only legitimate son drowned in the White Ship. |
| Stephen | 1135–1154 | The Anarchy — civil war with Empress Matilda. |
Plantagenet (1154–1399)
| Henry II | 1154–1189 | Established English common law; Thomas Becket murdered. |
| Richard I ("Lionheart") | 1189–1199 | Led the Third Crusade; mostly absent from England. |
| John | 1199–1216 | Sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede (1215). |
| Henry III | 1216–1272 | First English Parliament summoned (1265). |
| Edward I | 1272–1307 | Conquered Wales; "Hammer of the Scots"; Model Parliament (1295). |
| Edward II | 1307–1327 | Lost Bannockburn (1314); deposed by his wife and barons. |
| Edward III | 1327–1377 | Began the Hundred Years' War; won Crécy (1346). |
| Richard II | 1377–1399 | Peasants' Revolt (1381); deposed by Henry Bolingbroke. |
Lancaster & York (1399–1485)
| Henry IV (Lancaster) | 1399–1413 | First Lancastrian king; usurped Richard II. |
| Henry V | 1413–1422 | Won the Battle of Agincourt (1415). |
| Henry VI | 1422–1461, 1470–71 | Wars of the Roses began under his reign. |
| Edward IV (York) | 1461–1470, 1471–83 | Defeated the Lancastrians; restored Yorkist rule. |
| Edward V | 1483 | Boy-king; one of the "Princes in the Tower." |
| Richard III | 1483–1485 | Last Yorkist king; killed at Bosworth Field (1485). |
Tudor (1485–1603)
| Henry VII | 1485–1509 | Ended the Wars of the Roses; founded the Tudor dynasty. |
| Henry VIII | 1509–1547 | Six wives; Act of Supremacy (1534) created the Church of England. |
| Edward VI | 1547–1553 | Boy-king; pushed England further toward Protestantism. |
| Mary I ("Bloody Mary") | 1553–1558 | Tried to restore Catholicism; persecuted Protestants. |
| Elizabeth I ("Virgin Queen") | 1558–1603 | Defeated the Spanish Armada (1588); Elizabethan golden age. |
Stuart (1603–1714)
| James I (VI of Scotland) | 1603–1625 | United the crowns of England and Scotland; survived the Gunpowder Plot (1605). |
| Charles I | 1625–1649 | Lost the Civil War; executed at Whitehall in 1649. |
| Interregnum (Cromwell) | 1649–1660 | Oliver Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector — no monarch. |
| Charles II ("Merry Monarch") | 1660–1685 | Restoration of the monarchy; Great Plague (1665) and Great Fire (1666). |
| James II | 1685–1688 | Deposed in the Glorious Revolution for being Catholic. |
| William III & Mary II | 1689–1694 (joint); William alone 1694–1702 | Joint monarchs after the Glorious Revolution; Bill of Rights (1689). Mary II died of smallpox in 1694. |
| Anne | 1702–1714 | Last Stuart monarch; Act of Union with Scotland (1707) created Great Britain. |
Hanover (1714–1901)
| George I | 1714–1727 | German-born; first Hanoverian king; spoke little English. |
| George II | 1727–1760 | Last British monarch to lead troops in battle (Dettingen, 1743). |
| George III | 1760–1820 | Lost the American colonies (1776–1783); suffered episodes of severe mental illness in later life. |
| George IV | 1820–1830 | Prince Regent from 1811; flamboyant and unpopular. |
| William IV | 1830–1837 | "Sailor King"; passed the Great Reform Act (1832). |
| Victoria | 1837–1901 | Reigned 63 years; the British Empire at its peak. |
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha & Windsor (1901–present)
| Edward VII | 1901–1910 | Of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; oversaw the Entente Cordiale (1904). |
| George V | 1910–1936 | Renamed the royal house Windsor (1917); led through WWI. |
| Edward VIII | 1936 | Abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson; reigned just 326 days. |
| George VI | 1936–1952 | Led Britain through WWII; father of Elizabeth II. |
| Elizabeth II | 1952–2022 | Longest-reigning British monarch (70 years). |
| Charles III | 2022– | Current reigning monarch; ascended on his mother's death. |