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Diana: The Last Days
Par Martyn Gregory. 2007
Was Diana murdered? Was the British Royal family involved? Was she pregnant and engaged to Dodi? Did the paparazzi or…
'a blinding white flash' cause the crash? Was driver Henri Paul really drunk or were his blood tests switched?Since Princess Diana died in Paris on 31 August 1997 there have been more questions than answers about the crash that killed her, despite lengthy official French and British investigations.This is the authoritative and up-to-date study into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, which includes unique access to Diana's close friends and bodyguards, French and British detectives who probed the crash, and the official French investigation's dossier into the crash.The Cradle King: A Life of James VI & I
Par Alan Stewart. 2003
As the son of Mary Queen of Scots, born into her 'bloody nest', James had the most precarious of childhoods.…
Even before his birth, his life was threatened: it was rumoured that his father, Henry, had tried to make the pregnant Mary miscarry by forcing her to witness the assassination of her supposed lover, David Riccio. By the time James was one year old, Henry was murdered, possibly with the connivance of Mary; Mary was in exile in England; and James was King of Scotland. By the age of five, he had experienced three different regents as the ancient dynasties of Scotland battled for power and made him a virtual prisoner in Stirling Castle. In fact, James did not set foot outside the confines of Stirling until he was eleven, when he took control of his country. But even with power in his hands, he would never feel safe. For the rest of his life, he would be caught up in bitter struggles between the warring political and religious factions who sought control over his mind and body. Yet James believed passionately in the divine right of kings, as many of his writings testify. He became a seasoned political operator, carefully avoiding controversy, even when his mother Mary was sent to the executioner by Elizabeth I. His caution and politicking won him the English throne on Elizabeth's death in 1603 and he rapidly set about trying to achieve his most ardent ambition: the Union of the two kingdoms. Alan Stewart's impeccably researched new biography makes brilliant use of original sources to bring to life the conversations and the controversies of the Jacobean age. From James's 'inadvised' relationships with a series of favourites and Gentlemen of the Bedchamber to his conflicts with a Parliament which refused to fit its legislation to the Monarch's will, Stewart lucidly untangles the intricacies of James's life. In doing so, he uncovers the extent to which Charles I's downfall was caused by the cracks that appeared in the monarchy during his father's reign.Cnut: The North Sea King (Penguin Monarchs)
Par Ryan Lavelle. 2017
'A reputation as a ruthless ruler was sealed that would last beyond his lifetime. In that respect, at least, Cnut…
had succeeded...'Cnut, or Canute, is one of the great 'what ifs' of English history. The Dane who became King of England after a long period of Viking attacks and settlement, his reign could have permanently shifted eleventh-century England's rule to Scandinavia. Stretching his authority across the North Sea to become king of Denmark and Norway, and with close links to Ireland and an overlordship of Scotland, this formidable figure created a Viking Empire at least as plausible as the Anglo-Norman Empire that would emerge in 1066. Ryan Lavelle's illuminating book cuts through myths and misconceptions to explore this fascinating and powerful man in detail. Cnut is most popularly known now for the story of the king who tried to command the waves, relegated to a bit part in the medieval story, but as this biography shows, he was a conqueror, political player, law maker and empire builder on the grandest scale, one whose reign tells us much about the contingent nature of history.Charles II: The Star King (Penguin Monarchs)
Par Clare Jackson. 2015
Charles II has always been one of the most instantly recognisable British kings - both in his physical appearance, disseminated…
through endless portraits, prints and pub signs, and in his complicated mix of lasciviousness, cynicism and luxury. His father's execution and his own many years of exile made him a guarded, curious, unusually self-conscious ruler. He lived through some of the most striking events in the national history - from the Civil Wars to the Great Plague, from the Fire of London to the wars with the Dutch.Clare Jackson's marvellous book takes full advantage of its irrepressible subject.Charles I: An Abbreviated Life (Penguin Monarchs)
Par Mark Kishlansky. 2014
The tragedy of Charles I dominates one of the most strange and painful periods in British history as the whole…
island tore itself apart over a deadly, entangled series of religious and political disputes. In Mark Kishlansky's brilliant account it is never in doubt that Charles created his own catastrophe, but he was nonetheless opposed by men with far fewer scruples and less consistency who for often quite contradictory reasons conspired to destroy him. This is a remarkable portrait of one of the most talented, thoughtful, loyal, moral, artistically alert and yet, somehow, disastrous of all this country's rulers.Charles: The Heart of a King
Par Catherine Mayer. 1988
The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller'Breathtaking' The Times'[The book that] made headlines around the world.' IndependentThe former Prince of Wales…
has lived his whole life in the public eye, yet he remains an enigma. He was born to be king, but he aims much higher. A landmark publication, Charles: The Heart of a King reveals Charles in all his complexity: the passionate views that mean he will never be as remote and impartial as his mother; the compulsion to make a difference and the many and startling ways in which the Prince and now King of the United Kingdom and fifteen other realms has already made his mark.The book offers fresh and fascinating insights into the first marriage that did so much to define him and an assessment of his relationship with the woman he calls, with unintended accuracy, his 'dearest wife': Camilla, now Queen Consort. We see Charles as a father and a friend, a serious figure and a joker. Life at court turns out to be full of hidden dangers and unexpected comedy.Now, updated and revised with a new preface and two new chapters - covering details of Harry and Meghan's exit and its implications, the cash-for-honours scandal, Prince Andrew, and more - this significant study reveals a monarchy threatened and a man in sight of happiness yet still driven by anguish and a remarkable belief system, a charitable entrepreneur, activist, agitator and avatar of the Establishment who just as often tilts against it.Based on multiple interviews with his friends and courtiers, palace insiders and critics, and rare access to Charles himself, before his kingship, this biography explores his philanthropy and his compulsive interventionism, his faith, his significant impact on politics and the philosophy that means when he seeks harmony he sometimes creates controversy.Gripping, at times astonishing, often laugh-out-loud, this is a royal biography unlike any other.'A must-read ... this important book is nothing short of a manual to our future King's world-view' GQ'A sustained piece of higher journalism' IndependentThe Life of Louis XVI
Par John Hardman. 2016
A thought-provoking, authoritative biography of one of history’s most maligned rulers: France’s Louis XVI “The definitive contribution to our understanding…
of Louis XVI as a man and a monarch.”—P. M. Jones, English Historical Review “Monumental. . . . Scholars probing the mysteries of the late Old Regime and French Revolution will be working in its shadow for many years to come.”—Thomas E. Kaiser, Journal of Modern History Louis XVI of France, who was guillotined in 1793 during the Revolution and Reign of Terror, is commonly portrayed in fiction and film either as a weak and stupid despot in thrall to his beautiful, shallow wife, Marie Antoinette, or as a cruel and treasonous tyrant. Historian John Hardman disputes both these versions in a fascinating new biography of the ill-fated monarch. Based in part on new scholarship that has emerged over the past two decades, Hardman’s illuminating study describes a highly educated ruler who, though indecisive, possessed sharp political insight and a talent for foreign policy; who often saw the dangers ahead but could not or would not prevent them; and whose great misfortune was to be caught in the violent center of a major turning point in history. Hardman’s dramatic reassessment of the reign of Louis XVI sheds a bold new light on the man, his actions, his world, and his policies, including the king’s support for America’s War of Independence, the intricate workings of his court, the disastrous Diamond Necklace Affair, and Louis’s famous dash to Varennes.Mary I: The Daughter of Time (Penguin Monarchs)
Par John Edwards. 2016
The elder daughter of Henry VIII, Mary I (1553-58) became England's ruler on the unexpected death of her brother Edward…
VI. Her short reign is one of the great potential turning points in the country's history. As a convinced Catholic and the wife of Philip II, king of Spain and the most powerful of all European monarchs, Mary could have completely changed her country's orbit, making it a province of the Habsburg Empire and obedient again to Rome. These extraordinary possibilities are fully dramatized in John Edward's superb short biography. The real Mary I has almost disappeared under the great mass of Protestant propaganda that buried her reputation during her younger sister, Elizabeth I's reign. But what if she had succeeded?Mary Queen of Scots: In My End is My Beginning
Par Dr James Mackay. 1999
In My End Is My Beginning is the story of Mary Queen of Scots (1542–87), the tragic heroine par excellence.…
Queen of an unfamiliar and troubled nation when she was a week old, it was her misfortune to be a pawn in the game of international politics throughout her life. Even in the brief period from 1561 to 1567 when she was ruler of Scotland in fact as well as in name, she was beset with problems that would have defeated a much stronger, more experienced monarch. A talented poet and a charismatic leader, she contended with a treacherous, self-serving nobility, the religious ferment of the Reformation, and the political ambitions of larger and more powerful neighbours. With little real authority and few resources, Mary’s reign was successful, until her disastrous marriage to the dissolute Darnley set in motion the events that brought about her downfall. For the last 20 years of her life she was a prisoner in the hands of her cousin, Elizabeth I of England, and the subject of treacherous plots and conspiracies. A hostage to fortune, she represented a threat and a rallying-point for English Catholics. Her tragic end was inevitable. Yet her life, with all its adventurous, failures and disasters, produced the son – James – who ultimately brought about the union of Scotland and England.In the End Is My Beginning uncovers the true facts of Mary’s life in the context of Anglo-Scottish relations and shows why, after more than 400 years, she remains arguably the greatest character in popular Scottish history.Meghan and Harry: The Real Story: Persecutors or Victims
Par Lady Colin Campbell. 2018
**A Wall Street Journal bestseller** An updated edition of this blockbuster narrative provides the first behind-the-scenes, authoritative account of the…
Duke and Duchess of Sussex&’s marriage, by the New York Times bestselling author of Diana in Private.Meghan and Harry: The Real Story: Persecutors or Victims presents the reader with a strikingly forthright analysis of what happens when a vulnerable male, raised in the traditions of the Old World and protected by a lifetime of privilege, falls head over heels in love with a steely and ambitious doyenne of the New, who is careless of tradition, ignorant of its purpose, contemptuous of its consequences, and convinced that her own way is the best way even as the evidence to the contrary mounts. Exposing as she does a titanic clash of two civilisations, mores, and attitudes divided by a common language, Sunday Times best-selling author Lady Colin Campbell scrutinizes with insight, clarity, and precision the evidence of the circumstances, actions, and motives of Meghan and Harry with an impeccable and aristocratically experienced vision honed by five decades in the public eye. She catalogues in depth how this apparently brilliantly-favoured couple came to lose their way, how they exhibited profound contemptuousness for practices built up by a treasured institution over a millennium, and how they were unable to understand the potential benefits of their destiny to such an extent that they managed to turn their fate on its head. Contrary to their statements, Meghan and Harry prove through their own actions that they are ill-judged characters, unable to bring the dynamism of the New to the Old or represent the dignity of the Old to the New. Falling between these two stools, they conspire time and again against themselves and others, inviting nothing but unnecessary controversy and unintended failure, despite the fact that the vast majority of onlookers, who would ultimately become critics, originally wished them well and hoped they would successfully forge a unique way forward in their ground-breaking union. Lady Colin&’s pen allows the couple no escape from the consequences of their actions, whether these be royal and aristocratic customs governed by tradition, precedence, and conservation; the racial furore they unleashed and the damage they wrought throughout the Commonwealth; the speculation they engendered with regards even to something as straightforward as pregnancy; the very different laws on each side of the Atlantic and how these affect inheritance as well as other important factors; the differing attitudes to money of those who have had it for many a year and those for whom it is newly minted; the merits of position versus celebrity; the benefits of freedom of the press and the efforts of the couple to curtail them; the dangers of suppression of civil liberties or even simply the choice of everyday activities which Meghan and Harry have shown time and again will involve themselves and onlookers in controversy after controversy.Richard III: A Failed King? (Penguin Monarchs)
Par Rosemary Horrox. 2020
No English king has so divided opinion, both during his reign and in the centuries since, more than Richard III.…
He was loathed in his own time for the never-confirmed murder of his young nephews, the Princes in the Tower, and died fighting his own subjects on the battlefield. This is the vision of Richard we have inherited from Shakespeare. Equally, he inspired great loyalty in his followers. In this enlightening, even-handed study, Rosemary Horrox builds a complex picture of a king who by any standard failed as a monarch. He was killed after only two years on the throne, without an heir, and brought such a decisive end to the House of York that Henry Tudor was able to seize the throne, despite his extremely tenuous claim. Whether Richard was undone by his own fierce ambitions, or by the legacy of a Yorkist dynasty which was already profoundly dysfunctional, the end result was the same: Richard III destroyed the very dynasty that he had spent his life so passionately defending.Richard II: A Brittle Glory (Penguin Monarchs)
Par Laura Ashe. 2016
Richard II (1377-99) came to the throne as a child, following the long, domineering, martial reign of his grandfather Edward…
III. He suffered from the disastrous combination of a most exalted sense of his own power and an inability to impress that power on those closest to the throne. Neither trusted nor feared, Richard battled with a whole series of failures and emergencies before finally succumbing to a coup, imprisonment and murder.Laura Ashe's brilliant account of his reign emphasizes the strange gap between Richard's personal incapacity and the amazing cultural legacy of his reign - from the Wilton Diptych to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Piers Plowman and The Canterbury Tales.Richard I: The Crusader King (Penguin Monarchs)
Par Thomas Asbridge. 2018
Richard I's reign is both controversial and seemingly contradictory. One of England's most famous medieval monarchs and a potent symbol…
of national identity, he barely spent six months on English soil during a ten-year reign and spoke French as his first language. Contemporaries dubbed him the 'Lionheart', reflecting a carefully cultivated reputation for bravery, prowess and knightly virtue, but this supposed paragon of chivalry butchered close to 3,000 prisoners in cold blood on a single day. And, though revered as Christian Europe's greatest crusader, his grand campaign to the Holy Land failed to recover the city of Jerusalem from Islam.Seeking to reconcile this conflicting evidence, Thomas Asbridge's incisive reappraisal of Richard I's career questions whether the Lionheart really did neglect his kingdom, considers why he devoted himself to the cause of holy war and asks how the memory of his life came to be interwoven with myth. Richard emerges as a formidable warrior-king, possessed of martial genius and a cultured intellect, yet burdened by the legacy of his dysfunctional dynasty and obsessed with the pursuit of honour and renown.The Queen's Houses
Par Alan Titchmarsh. 2014
The Queen's life was dedicated to her public - every move was scrutinised, every word noted. But her homes were…
havens where peace could be found, away from watchful eyes; sanctuaries of private calm in a whirlwind life of public duty.In The Queen's Houses, Alan Titchmarsh takes us on a tour of the royal residences, examining the personal family stories behind these magnificent buildings. Through personal reflections, interviews with royal staff and meticulous historical research, Alan looks beyond the formal grandeur of Buckingham Palace, the imposing structure of Windsor Castle and the private escape offered by Balmoral and others.Illustrated with intimate family photographs and evocative memorabilia, The Queen's Houses offers a glimpse of life lived behind the state banquets and sovereign duties - a respectful study of the royal family at home.Philip Sidney: A Double Life
Par Alan Stewart. 2000
Courtier, poet, soldier, diplomat - Philip Sidney was one of the most promising young men of his age. Son of…
Elizabeth I's deputy in Ireland, nephew and heir to her favourite, Leicester, he was tipped for high office - and even to inherit the throne. But Sidney soon found himself caught up in the intricate politics of Elizabeth's court and forced to become as Machiavellian as everyone around him if he was to achieve his ambitions. Against a backdrop of Elizabethan intrigue and the battle between Protestant and Catholic for predominance in Europe, Alan Stewart tells the riveting story of Philip Sidney's struggle to suceed. Seeing that his continental allies had a greater sense of his importance that his English contamporaries, Philip turned his attention to Europe. He was made a French baron at seventeen, corresponded with leading foreign scholars, considered marriage proposals from two princesses and, at the time of his tragically early death, was being openly spoken of as the next ruler of the Netherlands.The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish
Par Christopher Hitchens. 2012
As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex bring renewed focus to the monarchy, now is the perfect time to re-examine…
Christopher Hitchens’s powerful polemic.In this scathing essay, Christopher Hitchens looks at the relationship of the press and the public to the royal family, unpacking the tautology and contradictory arguments that prop it up. In his inimitable style, Hitchens argues that our desire not to profane or disturb the monarchy is a failure of reason and a confusion of reality. Fealty to the magic of monarchy stops us looking objectively at our own history and hinders open-minded criticism of our present. It is time we outgrew it. With the recent birth of royal baby Archie, during a time of austerity and national inequality, Hitchens’s 10,000-word critique is even more relevant today than when it was first published in 1990. 'Christopher is one of the most terrifying rhetoricians that the world has yet seen' Martin AmisBritain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy
Par Alison Weir. 2011
Fascinating and authoritative of Britain's royal families from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I to Queen Victoria, by leading popular historian…
Alison Weir 'George III is alleged to have married secretly, on 17th April, 1759, a Quakeress called Hannah Lightfoot. If George III did make such a marriage…then his subsequent marriage to Queen Charlotte was bigamous, and every monarch of Britain since has been a usurper, the rightful heirs of George III being his children by Hannah Lightfoot...' Britain's Royal Families provides in one volume, complete genealogical details of all members of the royal houses of England, Scotland and Great Britain - from 800AD to the present. Drawing on countless authorities, both ancient and modern, Alison Weir explores the crown and royal family tree in unprecedented depth and provides a comprehensive guide to the heritage of today's royal family – with fascinating insight and often scandalous secrets.'Staggeringly useful... combines solid information with tantalising appetisers.’ Mail on SundayReinventing Yourself with The Duchess of York: Inspiring Stories and Strategies for Changing Your Weight and Your Life
Par Sarah, The Duchess of York, Weight Watchers. 2001
Are you ready to change your life? Join Sarah, The Duchess of York on an inspiring journey to help you…
rediscover -- and achieve -- your true goals.Today, The Duchess of York is a confident, single working mother of two girls. But, as most of the world knows, that wasn't always the case. Once targeted by the international press, The Duchess has learned one of life's great lessons: how to uncover what you want out of life and get it. She reveals how the ups and downs of her life -- including her divorce, her financial problems, and the deaths of those close to her -- have made her a stronger, wiser person and a better mother.In the first chapter, "Transforming My Life," The Duchess explores how, when and why she decided to take charge and reinvent her life. In the chapters that follow, readers will discover how they, too, can change their own lives. The book provides a series of self-assessment quizzes and questionnaires, as well as concrete steps you can take to initiate change. Throughout, The Duchess offers her insights, including how each chapter topic relates to her life and what she has learned from others.Reinventing Yourself with The Duchess of York supplies a blueprint for action for anyone seeking to change her life. In an easy-to-follow format, the book provides concrete information and advice on how to use an eight-step plan to achieve your goals -- whether it's losing weight, getting fit, or simply improving your health. Reinventing Yourself also explains how to apply the plan to other areas of life, including changing careers, starting over after divorce, and more.To help inspire you toward your goals, Reinventing Yourself also includes heartwarming and motivating profiles of women who have redefined their lives: Weight Watchers Leaders, real women who have lost weight and transformed their lives in countless ways. In interviews with The Duchess and profiles throughout, these women explore how to make the best of your circumstances, live a happier, healthier life, and change your destiny.Theodora: Portrait in a Byzantine Landscape
Par Antony Bridge. 2005
&“First rate popular history/biography, evoking the Byzantine empire at its peak. A remarkable story in an entertaining, informative book.&” —The…
Wall Street Journal This is the biography of a Byzantine courtesan who rose from the gutter to the throne of an empire. It is a romantic and improbable story, and Theodora is an extraordinary woman, indeed. Her background and her many actions were scandalous, but she had qualities of greatness and this book sets the record straight. This account of her life is a pageant in which Emperors and barbarian kings, Popes and Patriarchs, eunuchs and generals, heretics and orthodox opponents, charioteers and ladies of easy virtue, saints and sinners move in a formal and splendid rhythm. This formality was often marred by violence: one of the worst riots in Byzantine history took place when Theodora had been empress for a short time, and during much of her reign there was war in Italy, marked by appalling suffering and barbarity. Toward the end of her life, Constantinople was devastated by Bubonic plague. Yet Theodora triumphed over every adverse circumstance, tough and clever to the end. &“ . . . Bridge&’s book, with its exceptionally vivid and evocative style, brings the period alive.&” —Library Journal &“Puts [Theodora] in her own time and place in the vast panorama of the golden age of an empire which lasted 1,100 years.&” —Boston Herald &“Conveys the passion and the fervor of the sixth century A.D.&” —Los Angeles Herald ExaminerStephen: The Reign of Anarchy (Penguin Monarchs)
Par Carl Watkins. 2015
Known as 'the anarchy', the reign of Stephen (1135-1141) saw England plunged into a civil war that illuminated the fatal…
flaw in the powerful Norman monarchy, that without clear rules ordering succession, conflict between members of William the Conqueror's family were inevitable. But there was another problem, too: Stephen himself.With the nobility of England and Normandy anxious about the prospect of a world without the tough love of the old king Henry I, Stephen styled himself a political panacea, promising strength without oppression. As external threats and internal resistance to his rule accumulated, it was a promise he was unable to keep. Unable to transcend his flawed claim to the throne, and to make the transition from nobleman to king, Stephen's actions betrayed uneasiness in his role, his royal voice never quite ringing true.The resulting violence that spread throughout England was not, or not only, the work of bloodthirsty men on the make. As Watkins shows in this resonant new portrait, it arose because great men struggled to navigate a new and turbulent kind of politics that arose when the king was in eclipse.