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A Woman Loved
By Andreï Makine. 2013
Catherine the Great's life seems to have been made for the cinema. Countless love affairs and wild sexual escapades, betrayal,…
revenge, murder - there is no shortage of historical drama. But Oleg Erdmann, a young Russian filmmaker, seeks to discover and portray the real Catherine, her essential, emotional truth.When he is dropped from the film he initially scripted - his name summarily excised from the credits - Erdmann is cast adrift in a changing world. A second chance beckons when an old friend enriched by the capitalist new dawn invites him to refashion his opus for a television serial. But Erdmann is made acutely aware that the market exerts its own forms of censorship. While he comes to accept that each age must cast Catherine in its own image, one question continues to nag at him. Was the empress, whose sexual appetites were sated with favours bought with titles and coin, ever truly loved? In his search for an answer, Erdmann will find a love of his own that brings the fulfilment that filmmaking once promised him.Victoria (History Heroes #4)
By Damian Harvey. 2014
Queen Victoria was the longest ever reigning British monarch and saw extraordinary developments during her reign, from the development of…
the railways to the discoveries of Charles Darwin.Discover the stories of people who have helped to shape history, ranging from early explorers such as Christopher Columbus to more modern figures like Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web.These chapter books combine historical fact with engaging narrative and humourous illustration, perfect for the newly independent reader.The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder: An Untold History
By Andrew Rose. 2013
The royal family's darkest secret and the establishment cover-up. Half a century before Dodi and Diana, another Prince of Wales…
would be involved in a deadly love triangle with a fabulously wealthy Egyptian "prince." Prince Edward was the future King of England, a destiny he would famously forsake over his love for Wallis Simpson. But two decades prior he was involved in another love affair that threatened to jeopardize the royal family. The story took place in maisons de rendezvous, luxurious chateaux in the French countryside providing hospitality for the British upper classes, the richest food, the finest wines and the most beautiful women, the violent and dangerous Paris demi-monde - where many of the women came from - and the Savoy hotel in London, where a murder was committed. This major royal scandal, superbly covered up by the Royal family, the government and the judiciary has remained secret ever since.This is the story of a passionate and deadly love affair set against the dramatic backdrop of the Great War. Edward was enthralled by the 'crazy physical attraction' of Marguerite Alibert, queen of the Paris demi-monde. When he broke off their hidden relationship, Edward thought that he was free of Marguerite. He was wrong. After the war, as a violent thunderstorm raged outside the luxurious Savoy Hotel in London Marguerite fired three shots from a semi-automatic pistol. Her husband, and Egyptian multimillionaire and playboy, was shot dead at point blank range. Marguerite stood trial for murder at the Old Bailey. As Prince Charming and poster boy of the British Empire, Edward now risked exposure as a degenerate wastrel, partying behind the lines while thousands were blown away on the Western Front.Andrew Rose, using his long experience as a barrister and judge, has uncovered a royal scandal carefully airbrushed from history. Edward never quite escaped from Marguerite who had taught the arts of love to a once and future King.The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder is the product of several years' research, accessing unpublished documents held in the Royal Archives and private collections in England and France.Diana: The International Bestseller
By Tim Clayton. 2001
The life of Diana, Princess of Wales, has never before been told with such insight and authority. This book is…
a subtle, honest portrait, without the bias and exaggeration of the past. Drawing on new research and dozens of specially commissoned interviews - many with senior members of the royal household who have never spoken before - DIANA:STORY OF A PRINCESS explains how a shy teenager grew up to be the most talked-about woman in the world, and why she later became such a vigorous critic of the Royal Family. DIANA: STORY OF A PRINCESS is a tale of chicanery at the highest level, revealing in gripping detail how the Princess and her husband sought to influence how their failing marriage, and indeed their entire lives, were perceived by the outside world.Prince William: An intimate portrait
By Penny Junor. 2012
Prince William has emerged as the people's prince, surfacing from a lifetime of scrutiny and speculation as a discerning and…
charming young man, determined to serve the nation he loves.His wedding to long-term sweetheart Kate Middleton last year was watched by over two billion people around the world. Protective of his new bride, William has emphasised that he's keen to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. William has inherited her instinctive empathy for others and in both his professional and personal life he has demonstrated a rare ability to get on with people from all walks of life.In BORN TO BE KING acclaimed royal writer Penny Junor tells his fascinating story - from growing up in the spotlight; the tragic death of his mother; his career serving in the RAF; the love story with Kate and their fairytale wedding.This is the definitive portrait of a remarkable young man.Catherine the Great and Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair
By Simon Sebag Montefiore. 2000
'One of the great love stories of history, in a league with Napoleon and Josephine, and Antony and Cleopatra ...…
Excellent, with dazzling mastery of detail and literary flair' EconomistIt was history's most successful political partnership - as sensual and fiery as it was creative and visionary. Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin - wildly flamboyant and sublimely talented - was the love of her life and her co-ruler.Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, defining the Russian empire to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving Potemkin free to love his beautiful nieces, and Catherine her young male favourites. But these 'twin souls' never stopped loving each other.Drawing on their intimate letters and vast research, Simon Sebag Montefiore's enthralling, widely acclaimed biography restores these imperial partners to their rightful place as titans of their age.King Charles II
By Lady Antonia Fraser. 1979
Following a youth of poverty and bitter exile after his father's execution, the ousted king first challenged, then made his…
magnificent escape from, Cromwell's troops before he was eventually restored to his throne in triumph in 1660.Spanning his life both before and after the Restoration, Antonia Fraser's lively and fascinating biography captures all the vitality of the man and the expansiveness of the age.Henry VIII (Famous People, Famous Lives #12)
By Harriet Castor. 1999
Exciting stories about famous people, outlining their lives and the important events which made them memorable. Every page features easy-to-follow…
text and a black-and-white line drawing to help bring these events to life. Each title gives further facts about the famous person and the times in which he or she lived, plus a comprehensive time line detailing key dates. Henry VIII is an exciting tale of kings and queens, jousting knights and grisly executions. It explains how Henry took power away from the Church in his quest for an heir to inherit his kingdom.As the mistress and possible secret wife of George I, Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, was England's first Georgian queen…
in all but name. Her nickname amongst the English, who loathed her and found her scrawny, was 'the Maypole'. Others sources complained she was old: she was hideous; she had appalling dress sense and was bald; she was excessive in her greed; she had no love for George and would have 'sold him to the highest bidder'; she was dim-witted; she was dull; she stood by passively as George pursued younger and more attractive mistresses; she condoned incest, willingly sharing George's affections and his bed with his half-sister, Sophia Charlotte. Yet this scandalous gossip only tells one kind of story. It doesn't mention how Melusine charmed George away from his wife, the beautiful and tempestuous wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, and bound him to her until his death. Nor does it show how her gentle nature and good sense helped keep George's notoriously dysfunctional family from tearing itself apart. The brutal English press, who pursued her mercilessly, gave Melusine no credit for her astonishing rise from minor courtier to the ranks of the most powerful women in Europe, or for her love of music that saw her mixing with everyone from George Frideric Handel to the flamboyant theatrical impresario John James Heidegger. In The King's Mistress Claudia Gold brings Melusine, and the many contradictions that make her such a fascinating character to vivid life.The Elizabeth II Pocket Bible
By Teresa Paddington. 2012
Did you know the Queen loves pigeon racing?Did you know Elizabeth served with the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) as a…
mechanic during World War Two? And that she is the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe?If you're a fan of Queen Elizabeth II or just fascinated by the British monarchy then The Queen Elizabeth II Pocket Bible contains everything you need to know and more! Discover what the Queen enjoys doing on her `days off', what her royal duties include and the role the Queen plays in society today. Plus, inside you'll find:* The Queen's biography; from childhood through to the coronation and her reign* The latest up-to-date information about the Diamond Jubilee and Royal Wedding* Windsor family tree and profiles of each family member* Fact files of the royal palaces, including Buckingham Palace and St JamesPacked with quirky tips, historical trivia and funny facts, the Queen Elizabeth II Pocket Bible is the essential guide for tourists and British fans alike.This beautiful hardback edition has both dust-cover and gold embossing on the spine making it the perfect gift. Every Pocket Bible is lovingly crafted to give you a unique mix of useful references, handy tips and fascinating trivia that will enlighten you at every page. There is a Pocket Bible for everyone...Other titles in the series: The Baking Pocket Bible, The Mum's Pocket Bible, The London Pocket Bible, The Rugby Pocket Bible and The Wine Pocket Bible.Henry VIII (Famous People, Great Events #5)
By Harriet Castor. 1999
Exciting stories about famous people, outlining their lives and the important events which made them memorable. Every page features easy-to-follow…
text and a black-and-white line drawing to help bring these events to life. Each title gives further facts about the famous person and the times in which he or she lived, plus a comprehensive time line detailing key dates. Henry VIII is an exciting tale of kings and queens, jousting knights and grisly executions. It explains how Henry took power away from the Church in his quest for an heir to inherit his kingdom.Las fascinantes vidas de seis reinas marcadas por la tragedia que no pudieron elegir su destino y que dejaron una…
profunda huella en la Historia. Excéntricas, caprichosas, rebeldes, ambiciosas... Más allá de un mundo de privilegios, riqueza y poder, todas fueron mujeres de carne y hueso obligadas a llevar sobre sus hombros la pesada carga de un imperio. La vida de estas reinas dista mucho de ser un romántico cuento de hadas. Aunque infinidad de películas y novelas nos han mostrado el rostro más amable de su reinado, en general, fueron muy desdichadas. Todas tienen en común la soledad, el desarraigo, la nostalgia, la falta de amor o el sufrimiento por no poder dar un heredero al trono. También comparten la dolorosa pérdida de sus hijos, los fracasos matrimoniales o el sentirse extranjeras en una corte donde no eran bien recibidas. Las suyas no fueron grandes historias de amor porque sus matrimonios eran un «asunto de Estado». Algunas, como Sissi, fueron emperatrices en contra de su voluntad y enfermaron de melancolía; otras, como Cristina de Suecia, escandalizaron con su extravagante comportamiento y sus ansias de libertad. María Antonieta y Alejandra Romanov comparten un trágico final, mientras que la reina Victoria de Inglaterra y Eugenia de Montijo asumieron con extraordinaria dignidad su papel en los momentos más difíciles. A través de los diarios personales y correspondencia familiar, Cristina Morató nos descubre el lado más humano y menos conocido de unas reinas y emperatrices, maltratadas por la historia, que no pudieron elegir su destino. Reseña:«La corona de Francia es una corona de espinas.»Eugenia de Montijo, emperatriz de los francesesFabulously Feisty Queens: 15 of the brightest and boldest women who have ruled the world
By Valerie Wilding. 2020
Who needs a Prince Charming when you're busy running the world?From ancient empresses and warrior queens, to fearsome pirates and…
modern-day monarchs, Fabulously Feisty Queens explores the lives and legacies of history's most powerful women.Made of stronger stuff than beauty and grace, discover just how bright, brave, brilliant and clever the world's female rulers have been throughout the centuries.With a foreword by historian and Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, Lucy Worsley and illustrations by Pauline Reeves.El rey al desnudo: El fraude
By Ernesto Ekaizer. 2021
El libro más polémico sobre el rey emérito Juan Carlos I y su caída en desgracia. - ¿Qué hay detrás…
de la trama judicial, económica y pasional cuyo gran protagonista ha sido el rey Juan Carlos I, ahora emérito? - ¿Qué hay detrás de la guerra entre quien fuera Jefe de Estado y su examante Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn por el botín de cien millones de dólares «regalado» por el rey Abdulla de Arabia Saudí? - ¿Qué papel han jugado el omnipresente comisario Villarejo y otros personajes secundarios, pero igualmente sugerentes, de esta historia? - ¿Quién teme ver al rey emérito Juan Carlos I despojado de todos sus «ropajes»? Con su característico espíritu incisivo, el periodista de investigación Ernesto Ekaizer recrea en El rey al desnudo los principales episodios de la caída de Juan Carlos I, uno de los reyes más longevos y populares de la historia de España. A partir del análisis de documentos fidedignos, este relato de abuso de poder e impunidad detalla cómo el rey dilapidó su prestigio, en una serie de truculentos episodios que han puesto en riesgo la estabilidad de la monarquía de España. Con esta obra, lectores e historiadores ya disponen ahora del libro de referencia en torno a la materia.The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication
By Alexander Larman. 2020
In December 1936, Britain faced a constitutional crisis that was the gravest threat to the institution of the monarchy since…
the execution of Charles I. The ruling monarch, Edward VIII, wished to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson and crown her as his Queen. His actions scandalised the Establishment, who were desperate to avoid an international embarrassment at a time when war seemed imminent.An influential coalition formed against him, including the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, his private secretary Alec Hardinge, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the editor of The Times. Edward seemed fated to give up Wallis and remain a reluctant ruler, or to abdicate his throne. Yet he had his own supporters, too, including Winston Churchill, the Machiavellian newspaper proprietor Lord Beaverbrook and his brilliant adviser Walter Monckton. They offered him the chance to remain on the throne and keep Wallis. But was the price they asked too high?Using previously unpublished and rare archival material, and new interviews with those who knew Edward and Wallis, The Crown in Crisis is the conclusive exploration of how an unthinkable and unprecedented event tore the country apart. This seismic event has been written about before but never with the ticking-clock suspense and pace of the thriller that it undoubtedly was for all of its participants. Painstakingly researched, incisively written and entirely fresh in its approach, The Crown in Crisis brings the events of that time to thrilling life, and in the process will appeal to an entirely new audience.The Power of Love: The Royal Wedding Sermon
By Bishop Michael Curry. 2018
The text of the celebrated 2018 royal wedding sermon, plus four other sermons touching on themes of love, commitment, and…
social justice, by Bishop Michael CurryTwo billion people watched Bishop Michael Curry deliver his sermon on the redemptive power of love at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex) at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Here, he shares the full text of that sermon, plus an introduction describing the context, along with four of his favourite sermons on the themes of love and social justice. The world met Bishop Curry at the wedding and was moved by his riveting, hopeful, and deceptively simple message: love and acceptance are what we need in these strange times.Henry VIII and the men who made him: The secret history behind the Tudor throne
By Tracy Borman. 2018
'An outstanding work of historical artistry, a brilliantly woven and pacy story of the men who surrounded, influenced and sometimes…
plagued Henry VIII.' Alison WeirHenry VIII is well known for his tumultuous relationships with women, and he is often defined by his many marriages. But what do we see if we take a different look? When we see Henry through the men in his life, a new perspective on this famous king emerges.Henry's relationships with the men who surrounded him reveal much about his beliefs, behaviour and character. They show him to be capable of fierce, but seldom abiding loyalty; of raising men only to destroy them later. He loved to be attended and entertained by boisterous young men who shared his passion for sport, but at other times he was more diverted by men of intellect, culture and wit. Often trusting and easily led by his male attendants and advisers during the early years of his reign, he matured into a profoundly suspicious and paranoid king whose favour could be suddenly withdrawn, as many of his later servants found to their cost. His cruelty and ruthlessness would become ever more apparent as his reign progressed, but the tenderness that he displayed towards those he trusted proves that he was never the one-dimensional monster that he is often portrayed as. In this fascinating and often surprising new biography, Tracy Borman reveals Henry's personality in all its multi-faceted, contradictory glory.The King's War
By Mark Logue, Peter Conradi. 2017
The broadcast that George VI made to the nation on the outbreak of war in September 1939 - which formed…
the climax of the multi Oscar-winning film The King's Speech - was the product of years of hard work with Lionel Logue, his iconoclastic Australian-born speech therapist. Yet the relationship between the two men did not end there. Far from it: in the years that followed, Logue was to play an even more important role at the monarch's side.The King's War follows this relationship through the dark days of Dunkirk and the drama of D-Day to eventual victory in 1945 - and beyond. It is written by Peter Conradi, a Sunday Times journalist, and Mark Logue, Lionel's grandson, whose previous book, The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy, was a best-seller in Britain and America and translated into more than 20 languages.The book draws on exclusive material from the Logue Archive - the collection of diaries, letters and other documents left by Lionel and his feisty wife, Myrtle. It provides a fascinating portrait of two men and their respective families - the Windsors and the Logues - as they together faced up to the greatest challenge in Britain's history.Queen Victoria
By Elizabeth Longford. 1987
Drawing upon Queen Victoria's previously unpublished journals, Elizabeth Longford's classic biography recalls the contrasts and curiosities of an earlier era…
with exquisite detail - and transforms the queen from a severe, time-worn effigy into a human being who loved, feared and fumed. Longford probes the contradictions of a woman who wore a bonnet instead of a crown at her Golden Jubilee and yet was recognised always as both dignified and formidable. She chronicles both the Queen's public life and her emotional travails, including surprisingly stormy passages in her and Prince Albert's otherwise loving marriage. A refreshingly human image of the Queen emerges: voluble, passionate, politic and articulate, with an irresistible mixture of grandeur and simplicity.Henry VIII: The Decline and Fall of a Tyrant
By Robert Hutchinson. 2018
The Tudors retained only a precarious grip on the crown of England, founded on a title that was both tenuous…
and legally flimsy. This left them preoccupied by two major obsessions: the necessity for a crop of lusty male heirs to continue the bloodline, and the elimination of threats from dynastic rivals. None was cursed more by this rampant insecurity than Henry VIII, who embodied not only the power and imperial majesty of the monarchy, but also England's military might. His health always had huge political consequences at home and overseas - hence his unbridled hypochondria.Drawing on the latest historical and medical research, Robert Hutchinson reveals the extent to which the king also grappled with accelerating geriatric decay in his last six years, made more acute by medical conditions that were not only painful but transformed the monarch into a 28-stone psychotic monster, suspicious of everyone around him, including those most dear to him.