Trin Tragula posted:

This is a real table-breaker in dead-tree form, but well worth it:

http://www.amazon.com/London-Biography-Peter-Ackroyd/dp/0385497717/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1328827394&sr=8-4

It's not a history of kings and queens, it's a history of ordinary people (best exemplified by the bits where it mentions how various and numerous monarchs issued various and numerous proclamations to the effect that the growth of London Must Be Curtailed At All Costs, all of which were politely ignored); but it does have the wide thousands-of-years span you're looking for. It's a decent enough starting point, since an awful lot of things in English/British history either happened in London or had some sort of consequence for London.

Now, for a classic kings-and-queens story you really can't beat the seminal Our Island Story, which is by no means an ideal treatment of history (some parts of it are recountings of myths or legends, some parts of it are patrician and patronising, some parts of it treat Shakespeare as a reputable historian), but it's a good starting point for you to read through, with constant convenient marker points as the monarchs come and go, and see what makes you think "This period sounds interesting, I'll find out a bit more about it" or "I'm not sure I agree with that, I'll see what other people have to say about the time". If you do read it, please make sure and read 1066 And All That right afterwards, though.