Q 01/05

What is Westminster Abbey's formal title?

A) The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul

B) The Collegiate Church of Saint Peter

C) The Royal Chapel of Saint Edward

D) The Minster Church of Saint George

Answer · why

B) The Collegiate Church of Saint Peter

It has not been an abbey with monks since 1559, and it is not a cathedral either; it is a 'royal peculiar' answering directly to the sovereign.

Q 02/05

Since 1066, how many English and British monarchs have been crowned at the abbey?

A) 48

B) 40

C) 55

D) 62

Answer · why

B) 40

The first documented coronation was William the Conqueror's on Christmas Day 1066; Harold Godwinson was probably crowned there earlier that year.

Q 03/05

Which king built the first large church on the site in the 1040s and is buried inside?

A) Edward the Confessor

B) Alfred the Great

C) Cnut

D) William the Conqueror

Answer · why

A) Edward the Confessor

His church was consecrated on 28 December 1065, about a week before he died; he was canonised in 1161.

Q 04/05

Construction of the present Gothic church began in 1245 on the orders of which king?

A) Henry II

B) Edward I

C) Henry III

D) Richard II

Answer · why

C) Henry III

He wanted a shrine to Edward the Confessor to rival Reims Cathedral and the Sainte-Chapelle, and a burial place for his own family.

Q 05/05

The abbey originally stood on an islet in the Thames known as what?

A) Eel Pie Island

B) Isle of Dogs

C) Chiswick Eyot

D) Thorney Island

Answer · why

D) Thorney Island

Dunstan and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks there in about 959.