In my opinion the first King of England was Alfred the Great (871-899). Although King Egbert had temporarily more or less united the English his dominance was temporary and he did not refer to himself as King of England, the English broke apart again into their several Kingdoms and mostly were then conquered by the Vikings. Alfred was the first sole King of the English, although much of England was still under rule of the Danes. He resisted the Danes and rebuilt his Kingdom and expanded it, and in particular: "By the 890s, Alfred's charters and coinage (which he had also reformed, extending its minting to the burhs he had founded) referred to him as 'king of the English'," His descendants continued to recover territory from the Danes and King Athelstan (924-39) was the first to rule all of England. But in my opinion his being the first sole King of the English, his building the foundation in many ways of the Kingdom, and his coins and charters referring to him as "King of the English" make Alfred the Great the most appropriate person to consider first King of England.
Source(s):
http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheAng...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_England
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egbert_of_Wessex
http://www.royal.gov.uk/pdf/alfred.pdf


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