The ultimate Kings and Queens pub quiz from David Mitchell’s Unruly

Quizzing is most certainly a year-round sport, but there's arguably no better time to gather the family and partake in an intellectual showdown than Christmas. So we’ve got together with David Mitchell – the comedian, history buff and Sunday Times bestselling author of Unruly (a very funny book on the very serious subject of Britain's most famous monarchs) – and come up with the ultimate quiz of queens and kings to keep you entertained.

Whether you need something to fill the post-Christmas dinner slump or the never-ending period of Betwixtmas, why not put your royal knowledge to the test and see how many answers you can get?

There's five rounds, 21 questions and 40 points up for grabs. So, buzzers at the ready – and good luck!

Round 1 - General knowledge (max. 8 points)

Q1) Where is King Arthur buried?

Q2) How many proper Cnuts were English kings?

A) All of them are complete Cnuts
B) One
C) Two
D) One and a half

Q3) Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy, earned the nickname ‘Plantagenet’ thanks to what stylish accessory?

Q4) Aethelred the Unready married Emma of Normandy and made her Queen of England. He made her change her name to that of his first wife. What was her name?

Q5) Put these four royals in order of succession: Edward II, Henry II, Richard II, William II.

ANSWERS:

Q1) Trick question. He didn’t exist and so he wasn’t buried anywhere. (1 point)

Q2) D) One and a half: Cnut the Great (1016–1035) and Harthacnut (1040– 1042) (1 point)

Q3) His hat (in which he wore a yellow sprig of broom blossom, or planta genista) (1 point)

Q4) Aelfgifu (1 point)

Q5) William II, Henry II, Edward II, Richard II (1 point for each correct position, up to 4 points)

Round 2 - Royal connections (max. 10 points)

Q6) We’ve had a lot of royal Teddies. For Kings Edward I to VI, sort each Edward into his royal house of York, Plantagenet or Tudor.

Q7) Before Normandy, where were the Normans originally from?

A) Brittany
B) Guernsey
C) Scandinavia
D) Germany

Q8) Who married her dead husband’s younger brother to become Queen Consort of England?

Q9) Henry VIII was Elizabeth I’s father. Who was her mother?

Q10) Which king was Richard the Lionheart’s brother?

ANSWERS:

Q6) EI–EIII: Plantagenet, EIV and EV: York and EVI: Tudor (6 points)

Q7) C) Scandinavia. They were Vikings: Northmen (1 point)

Q8) Catherine of Aragon (married Henry VIII after his elder brother Arthur died) (1 point)

Q9) Anne Boleyn (1 point)

Q10) King John (1 point)

Round 3 - Royal geography (max. 7 points)

Q11) In which English county is Sutton Hoo?

Q12) Where did King John lose the Crown Jewels?

Q13) Where was Richard III found and later reburied?

Q14) Which town is closest to the site of the Battle of Hastings?

Q15) What was the last piece of mainland France lost by a British monarch? Name the place and the monarch.

ANSWERS:

Q11) Suffolk (1 Point)

Q12) In The Wash (the estuary between Lincolnshire and Norfolk) (1 point)

Q13) Found: Leicester City Council car park; Reburied: Leicester Cathedral (2 points, 1 each)

Q14) Battle (built later, on the site of the actual battle on Senlac Hill) (1 point)

Q15) Calais, lost by Mary I (in 1558) (2 points, 1 each)

Round 4 - Royal statistics (max. 7 points)

Q16) Who is our shortest-reigning monarch and for how long did they reign?

Q17) How many children is Henry I reputed to have sired?

A) Under 10

B) 15 to 20

C) 25 to 30

D) More than 30

Q18) How tall was our tallest monarch, Edward IV?

A) 1.91 metres or 6 ft 3
B) 1.94 metres or 6 ft 4
C) 1.96 metres or 6 ft 5
D) 1.98 metres or 6 ft 6

Q19) Henry VIII famously had six wives... and six age gaps between him and his six wives. Which was the largest age gap between him and a wife?

A) Under 20 years
B) 20 to 24 years
C) 25 to 27 years
D) At least 28 years

Q20) Henry VIII’s last suit of armour was colossal to cope with his expanding girth. What was the armour’s waist size?

A) Under 50 inches
B) 51 to 60 inches
C) 61 to 70 inches
D) More than 70 inches

ANSWERS:

Q16) Lady Jane Grey, 9 days (2 points)

Q17) C) Probably 27 to 29, but only two of them were legitimate and neither ended up on the throne. (1 point)

Q18) B) 1.94 metres or 6 ft 4 (1 point)

Q19) D) At least 28 years. He was 49 and she was between 15 and 21. (1 point) Bonus point: Catherine Howard, wife number five. (1 point)

Q20) B) His armour’s waist size was 58 to 60 inches. (1 point)

Round 5 - Royal deaths and rumoured royal deaths (max. 8 points)

Here are your eight monarchs:

Elizabeth I, Edward III, Edward II, Harold, William II, Edmund II, Henry VIII, Henry I

Here are your eight royal deaths:

Cesspit assassin, Love of eating lampreys, Arrow in the eye, Hunting accident, Poker shoved up his anus, Seized by a stupor, Festering leg wound as a result of jousting, Worn out by sexual excess (or syphilis)

On a piece of paper match the monarch to their death

ANSWERS (1 point for each correct match):

Harold – Arrow in the eye

William II – Hunting accident

Edmund II – Cesspit assassin

Henry I – Love of eating lampreys

Edward II – Rumoured to have been killed by a poker shoved up his anus

Edward III – Worn out by sexual excess (or perhaps it was syphilis; one tended to follow the other)

Henry VIII – Festering leg wound as a result of jousting

Elizabeth I – Seized by a stupor after falling ill