Written by Andrew Redfern, and launched as a Kickstarter project in July 2025, Minifigure Monarchs was successfully funded within 24 hours.
At 336 pages this hardback was a definite addition to my Christmas list! It’s a history of the kings and queens of Great Britain, from Egbert (King from 802-839 AD) right up to Charles III (acceded 2022) with over 200 colour illustrations of historic moments in Lego bricks and minifigures.
I was brought up on RJ Unstead’s ‘Looking at History from Cavemen to the Present Day’ and I wish Andrew’s book had been available instead when I was in junior school. No offence RJ!
The story begins with Egbert, who was king of Wessex but by battle gained all of England and Wales south of the Humber, staking his claim to be the first king of Britain. It covers the Viking incursions and Alfred the Great’s resistance. Each king (or queen) gets a mention and a vignette depicting significant scenes from their reign. Here is Edward the Confessor’s page:
The picture depicts the building of Westminster Abbey, commissioned by EtC in 1042 AD.
Our island story continues with the last successful invasion, by William I in 1066 AD. After Hastings, Saxons were very much second class citizens. Here are pics of the Harrying of the North and the compilation of the Domesday Book:
The story mentions that Henry II introduced trial by jury in the 12th century (currently being somewhat restricted by David Lammy…) and there is a vignette of Thomas Becket’s fatal encounter with some of Henry’s knights.
Andrew takes a leaf from the Horrible Histories books and covers some ghoulish subjects, such as the execution of Edward II with a red-hot poker. Ouch!
Agincourt in 1415 gets covered, when English archers defeated the flower of French nobility, and also Towton, in 1461 in the Wars of the Roses:
Result: Lancastrians 0, Yorkists 1, a decisive victory involving 50,000 soldiers, with 28,000 of them losing their lives and the battle came to be known as Bloody Towton.
Events covered include the Black Death, the Peasants’ Revolt, Henry VIII and his six wives, Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish Armada, and lots of wars – the English Civil, the Napoleonic, and the First and Second World Wars.
The text is a serious but readable history, with bits that were new to me, interspersed with good quality pictures and vignettes illustrating significant events, and not just the battles. There is even a picture of the queen parachuting into the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.
And there is a quiz at the end!
Andrew has produced a video which is worth a watch:
To order your copy, go to: minifiguremonarchs.com
It’s £35.00 but at 10p a page I think it’s good value.
© Jim Walshe 2026
