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I've decided to go with the wording “most interesting” rather than “favourite”, because it doesnt come with any ambiguity of implicit endorsement. For example, I'm quite sure that there is a decent number of historians out there who thinks that there is no political leader in the history of humanity who is more interesting than Adolf Hitler, yet who would never for all the tea in China wish to live in that man's vicious Nazi dictatorship.

This is one of the things that I find most annoying when asked whom my favourite monarch of Great Britain is. As a republican, I guess I cannot have a favorite without endorsing them, but if its the one closest to me politically, then I guess it is Queen Elizabeth II, who has gracefully and respectfully fullfilled her role as a glorified figurehead and like no other monarch in modern history mastered the art of shuting up completely as far as political matters are concerned. But, then again, I find her, as I find most other modern royalty, outrageously boring. Let's face it, the dead old tyrants are far more interesting as characters than the nice old lady in the mink cape.

And thus, here's the question, what is the most interesting dynasty ever to rule England or any of her successor states?

I'm gonna go with the Stuarts. Religious quarrels with both Protestant and Catholic radicals almost continuously eager to kill the king, civil wars and gunpowder plots, revolutions and political transformations. What more can you ask for?

Note: I've included the Lancasters and the Yorks under the Plantagenets, and the House of Orange under the Stuarts.
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