Queen's Beasts

What we love about Queen's Beasts app

Queens Beast's app builds its content around the 10 heraldic statues commissioned at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. Each one has a meaning within the Queen's ancestry and so together they are an original and useful way of representing one aspect of the history of Britain.

The app makes the most of this structure by using the heraldic beasts and who they represent to describe the passage of history that explains how Queen Elizabeth II came to be the head of state of the United Kingdom as well as some other countries.

The app's presentation matches its content well. The images of people, heraldry, and the beasts themselves are all crisp and clear. Each passage of text is easy to read and sharp and can be read aloud if the student requires it. The narration is clear and precise and can be read by a male or female voice.

What skills does it improve?

Students of British history will be most interested in Queen's Beasts but those with a general interest in the history of Britain's monarchy and its evolution are well served by the app, too.

What age is it appropriate for?

While there is nothing in Queen's Beasts app that would be unsuitable for primary-school children, its style and detail are most suited to secondary-aged children and above.  

Is Queen's Beasts easy to use?

Navigation through the app is logical and intuitive to anyone who is used to using apps.

How will students benefit?

Having relevant information and being able to access it easily are two separate things. Queen's Beasts app declutters the various threads of the British Royal Family, and so of the development of the nation itself. In doing this it makes the facts, the causes, and the effects, stand out ready to inform a history student's understanding.

How will teachers benefit?

History teachers will love the flexibility that this app provides. Projected on to a class display, teachers can illustrate their explanations quickly and easily. Whether this is providing an image of a person in history, their heraldry, or traversing their lineage, it is all very easy to do with a swipe, scroll or click of the app.

The very useful and flexible timeline also deserves a mention. It is a great reference tool that is both clear and comprehensive. Unusually for an app, Queen's Beasts does not keep this timeline confined to its device but also allows it to be easily printed. It would deserve its place pinned to a history classroom's wall.

How will parents benefit?

The British Royal Family is a popular subject for television and film. Queen's Beast's app is a useful reference app to provide extra context to these dramas and use them to develop a greater awareness of history for all of the family.

What Queen's Beasts can improve on?

Much of the written content in this app is based around articles found on Wikipedia although it is edited to be more readable and to the point.  

Whether this is something that could be improved is a matter of personal opinion. Some might prefer their app's to contain fully bespoke content while others will see nothing to gain from reinventing the wheel. During the review of Queen's Beasts app, no inaccuracies or typos were found showing the text has been edited with care.

How much does Queen's Beasts App cost?

This app is available only in a premium version for a single purchase price. There is no trial available. You can, however, gain a very clear overview of what it contains and how it works by watching the supporting video and reading the descriptions upon its dedicated web site.

Is Queen's Beasts app safe to use?

History is not without violence and ill deeds and so they are found in this app about history. However, it is not graphic and is entirely relevant to the subject matter.

Overall rating of the app

Queen's Beasts app has earned its four-star rating by covering its topic comprehensively and effectively but it is important not to expect more of it than it was ever designed to be. It is focused on the direct lineage of Queen Elizabeth II and is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to the history of Britain or its Royal Family.

If you are looking for an app to provide a full and detailed history of Britain's Royal family, this may not be the one for you. If, however, you are looking for the narrative of which people of the past led to the present monarch of Britain, Queen's Beasts app tells the story well and with style.  Those who are interested in or studying the topic covered by this app will find it useful and fascinating.

You can download Queen's Beasts on your iOS or Android devices from the app stores. Download the Queen's Beasts app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.