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Showing 621 - 640 of 1265 items
By Michael Bloch. 1988
In this brilliant and authoritative work, based on their private correspondence and papers, Michael Bloch describes the feud which developed…
between the Duke of Windsor and the British royal establishment after the Abdication, the humiliations which were suffered by the ex-King and his wife, and the plots to ensure that they remained in exile.By Anne De Courcy. 2009
The first proper biography of the man who married, and divorced, Princess MargaretAnthony Armstrong-Jones was born to a Welsh father…
and English-Jewish mother. Creative and inventive, he attended Eton and then Cambridge. The engagement of this motorbike-riding freelance photographer in 1960 to Princess Margaret was a bombshell.Friends privately predicted disaster. And so it proved. But meanwhile in the 1960s, mixing with actors, artists and pop stars, they were the epitome of stylish and unstuffy arts-loving Royals - and one of the iconic glamorous couples of that era.Tony continued to work and both began to have affairs. They divorced in 1978. Snowdon married again but this marriage collapsed after the birth of a secret love-child and the suicide of his mistress of twenty years.His low boredom threshold and waspish cruelty are balanced by his fabled charm and genuine concern for the disabled and underprivileged. One of the great British photographers, at 76 he now suffers from a recurrence of childhood polio. But by any standards he has had an extraordinary life.By Anthony Holden. 1985
By Lisa Hilton. 2015
A definitive portrait of one of the most compelling monarchs England has ever had: Elizabeth I.'We are a prince from…
a line of princes.'Lisa Hilton's majestic biography of Elizabeth I, 'The Virgin Queen', uses new research to present a fresh interpretation of Elizabeth as a queen who saw herself primarily as a Renaissance prince, delivering a very different perspective on her emotional and sexual life, and upon her attempts to mould England into a European state. Elizabeth was not an exceptional woman but an exceptional ruler, and this book challenges readers to reassess her reign, and the colourful drama, scandal and intrigue to which it is always linked.By Mike Ashley. 1999
A record of Britain's kings and queens over 2000 years of history. It includes more than 1000 monarchs who have…
at some time ruled all or part of Britain. This includes the host of tribal and Saxon rulers prior to 1066 as well as famous monarchs such as Richard III, Elizabeth I and Charles II and all the rulers of Scotland and Wales. The book gives full details of the lives of the rulers as well as their wives, consorts, pretenders, usurpers and regents and is a geographical guide to where all Britain's monarchs lived, ruled and died including their palaces, estates and resting places.By Michael Paterson. 2013
The British monarchy may be over a thousand years old, but the House of Windsor dates only from 1917, when,…
in the middle of the First World War that was to see the demise of the major thrones of continental Europe, it rebranded itself from the distinctly Germanic Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the homely and familiar Windsor. By redefining its loyalties to identify with its people and country rather than the princes, kings and emperors of Europe to whom it was related by birth and marriage, it set the monarchy on the path of adaptation, making itself relevant and allowing it to survive. Since then, the fine line trodden by the House of Windsor between ancient and modern, grandeur and thrift, splendour and informality, remoteness and accessibility, and influence and neutrality has left it more secure and its appeal more universal today than ever.By Michael Paterson. 2011
Elizabeth II is within a few years of becoming the longest-reigning British monarch. A personally quiet, modest and dutiful person,…
she is far better-informed about the lives of her subjects than they often realize. She has known every Prime Minister since Winston Churchill and every American President since Eisenhower.Yet what of the woman behind the crown?The book seeks to take a new look at this exhaustively-documented life and show how Queen Elizabeth became the person she is. Who, and what, have been the greatest influences upon her? What are her likes and dislikes? What are her hobbies? Who are her friends? What does she feel about the demands of duty and protocol? Is she really enjoying herself when she smiles during official events? How differently does she behave when out of the public eye? Examining the places in which she grew up or has lived, the training she received and her attitudes to significant events in national life, it presents a fresh view of one of recent history's most important figures.By Michael Walsh, Don Jordan. 2015
To refer to the private life of Charles II is to abuse the adjective. His personal life was anything but…
private. His amorous liaisons were largely conducted in royal palaces surrounded by friends, courtiers and literally hundreds of servants and soldiers. Gossip radiated throughout the kingdom. Charles spent most of his wealth and his intellect on gaining and keeping the company of women, from the lowest sections of society such as the actress Nell Gwyn to the aristocratic Louise de Kérouaille. Some of Charles' women played their part in the affairs of state, colouring the way the nation was run. Don Jordan and Michael Walsh take us inside Charles' palace, where we will meet court favourites, amusing confidants, advisors jockeying for political power, mistresses past and present as well as key figures in his inner circle such as his 'pimpmasters' and his personal pox doctor.The astonishing private life of Charles II reveals much about the man he was and why he lived and ruled as he did. The King's Bed tells the compelling story of a king ruled by his passion.'What a compelling read! Nancy Goldstone has brought to life the four female Stuarts in all their tragic glory' Amanda…
ForemanValentine's Day, 1613. Elizabeth Stuart, the sixteen-year-old granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Frederick V, a German count and ally of her father, James I of England. In just five years a terrible betrayal will ruin 'the Winter Queen', as Elizabeth will forever be known, imperil the lives of those she loves and launch a war that lasts thirty years.In a sweeping narrative encompassing political intrigue, illicit love affairs and even a murder mystery, Nancy Goldstone tells the riveting story of a queen in exile, and of her four defiant daughters.By Leonie Frieda. 2018
Francis I (1494-1547) was inconstant, amorous, hot-headed and flawed. Arguably he was also the most significant king that France ever…
had. A contemporary of Henry VIII of England, Francis saw himself as the first Renaissance king. A courageous and heroic warrior, he was also a keen aesthete, an accomplished diplomat and an energetic ruler who turned his country into a force to be reckoned with. Bestselling historian Leonie Frieda's comprehensive and sympathetic account explores the life of the most human of all Renaissance monarchs - and the most enigmatic.By Daniel Smith. 2021
Tender, moving, heartfelt and warm (and sporadically scandalous and outrageous too), these are the private messages between people in love.…
Yet they are also correspondence between the rulers of nations. From Henry VIII's lovelorn notes to Anne Boleyn and George IV's impassioned notes to his secret wife, to Queen Victoria's tender letters to Prince Albert and Edward VIII's extraordinary correspondence with Wallis Simpson - these letters depict romantic love from its budding passion to the comfort and understanding of a long union (and occasionally beyond to resentment and recrimination), all set against the background of great affairs of state, wars and the strictures of royal duty.Here is a chance to glimpse behind the pomp and ceremony, the carefully curated images of royal splendour and decorum, to see the passions, hopes, jealousies and loneliness of kings and queens throughout history. By turns tender, moving, heartfelt and warm (and sporadically scandalous and outrageous too), these are the private messages between people in love. Yet they are also correspondence between the rulers of nations, whose actions (and passions) changed the course of history, for good and bad.This morning I received your dear, dear letter of the 21st. How happy do you make me with your love! Oh! my Angel Albert, I am quite enchanted with it! I do not deserve such love! Never, never did I think I could be loved so much. Queen Victoria to Prince Albert (28 November 1839)From the #1 bestselling author of The Secret Wife, Another Woman's Husband will be adored by all fans of The…
Crown. Wallis Simpson is brought enticingly to life in this gripping, moving novel about two women thrust into the spotlight, followed by scandal, touched by loss.'One of my favourite books of this year. Fascinating, glamorous and utterly compelling... historical fiction at its best' Tracy Rees, author of The Hourglass.'Another Woman's Husband is a marvellous, perfect read' The SunTwo women who challenged the Crown.Divided by time. Bound by a secret...1911At the age of fifteen, carefree Mary Kirk and indomitable Wallis Warfield meet at summer camp. Their friendship will survive heartbreaks, separation and the demands of the British Crown until it is shattered by one unforgivable betrayal...1997Rachel's romantic break in Paris with her fiancé ends in tragedy when the car ahead crashes. Inside was Princess Diana. Back in Brighton, Rachel is haunted by the accident, and intrigued to learn the princess had visited the last home of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, only hours before the crash. Soon, the discovery of a long-forgotten link to Wallis Simpson leads Rachel to the truth behind a scandal that shook the world...Readers love ANOTHER WOMAN'S HUSBAND:'Riveting! I thoroughly enjoyed this intriguing tale of friendship and betrayal' Rosanna Ley'With superb story-telling and a lush backdrop of period detail...a novel that is impossible to put down, about two women who are impossible to forget. I loved it!' Hazel Gaynor'I devoured Another Woman's Husband in a few days. This has bestseller written all over it.' Louise Beech'With seamless ease Gill evokes the events and characters of two eras...with great verve and a smattering of delicious fictional licence. Delightful' Liz Trenow'Gill Paul has taken two of the twentieth century's most enigmatic women, one revered, the other reviled, and woven them into a deft story of friendship and betrayal' Kate Riordan'Compelling and full of surprises ****' The Lady'Sheds light on a scandal and a love story which deserves to be read by many. A fascinating read which made me lose several hours to this story. I have no hesitation in recommending it and am keen to see what time in history Gill Paul will turn her hand to next' Shaz's Book BlogBy Anthony Holden. 1985
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.By Chris Skidmore. 2016
'Fresh, gripping and vivid' Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Exhaustively researched and scrupulously even-handed' David Starkey 'A portrait that chills you to…
the bone' Leanda de Lisle, The TimesA dedicated brother and loyal stalwart to the Yorkist dynasty for most of his early life, Richard's personality was forged in the tribulation of exile and the brutality of combat. An ambitious nobleman and successful general with a loyal following, he could claim to have achieved every ambition in life except one: the crown.By stripping back the legends that surround England's most controversial king and returning to original manuscript evidence, Chris Skidmore's compelling biography reveals Richard III as contemporaries saw him.By Leonie Frieda. 2017
Francis I (1494-1547) was inconstant, amorous, hot-headed and flawed. Arguably he was also the most significant king that France ever…
had. A contemporary of Henry VIII of England, Francis saw himself as the first Renaissance king. A courageous and heroic warrior, he was also a keen aesthete, an accomplished diplomat and an energetic ruler who turned his country into a force to be reckoned with. Bestselling historian Leonie Frieda's comprehensive and sympathetic account explores the life of the most human of all Renaissance monarchs - and the most enigmatic.By Terence Blacker. 2013
The Queen is the most iconic figure in modern Britain. For more than sixty years she has been on every…
stamp, every coin, and starred in every one of our Christmas days. But how well do we really know our beloved monarch?Her Majesty has written a letter to her most trusted private secretary, Sir Jeremy, every week for several years. For the first time, she has allowed these letters to be published. Honest, charming, and hilarious, they show what she has really been thinking: about her mischievous grandson Harry, her beloved baby great-grandson George, the press, Dame Helen Mirren, and the various politicians she has known over the years. Yours E.R. offers a glimpse into what life might be like for our Queen - and what, in her private moments, she might make of it all.By Tim Heald. 1991
THE DUKE is the biography of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, a celebrity in his…
own right and yet an enigma still, even after 60 years in the public eye. What is he really like? Bombastic, autocratic, say his critics. Colourful, stimulating, say his admirers. Tim Heald was given a unique opportunity to find out for himself. Not for twenty years had a biographer been allowed such access to talk to Prince Philip and watch him at work - still very much a man in a hurry, still speaking and questioning on an astonishing variety of subjects and treading the most impossible tightrope between the breezy informality which he first introduced to the royal family and the parade-ground traditions which he has had to accept. And members of the royal family - among them the Queen Mother, Princes Margaret, Princess Anne and his only surviving sister, Princess Sophie - also share with Heald their thoughts on the man who started life as Philip of Greece, one of a royal family who were deposed and exiled while he was still an infant. Many other witnesses reveal for the first time the Prince Philip they know. His early days in exile, at schools in France, in England and in Germany - where he had first-hand experience of the 'unpleasant habits' of the Nazis, and then in Scotland at the newly founded Gordonstoun. His service with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War Two. His engagement in 1947 to Princess Elizabeth, twenty-one-year-old daughter of King George VI. As Tim Heald observes, Prince Philip swiftly emerged as very much his own man, winning over one or two doubters within the Court who might have preferred a home-grown aristocrat as husband to the future Queen. Written with the co-operation of Buckingham Palace, THE DUKE is a brilliantly informed portrait of a life that has been independent of, but fully supportive to the Queen.From the #1 bestselling author of The Secret Wife, Another Woman's Husband will be adored by all fans of The…
Crown. Wallis Simpson is brought enticingly to life in this gripping, moving novel about two women thrust into the spotlight, followed by scandal, touched by loss.'One of my favourite books of this year. Fascinating, glamorous and utterly compelling... historical fiction at its best' Tracy Rees, author of The Hourglass.'Another Woman's Husband is a marvellous, perfect read' The SunTwo women who challenged the Crown.Divided by time. Bound by a secret...1911At the age of fifteen, carefree Mary Kirk and indomitable Wallis Warfield meet at summer camp. Their friendship will survive heartbreaks, separation and the demands of the British Crown until it is shattered by one unforgivable betrayal...1997Rachel's romantic break in Paris with her fiancé ends in tragedy when the car ahead crashes. Inside was Princess Diana. Back in Brighton, Rachel is haunted by the accident, and intrigued to learn the princess had visited the last home of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, only hours before the crash. Soon, the discovery of a long-forgotten link to Wallis Simpson leads Rachel to the truth behind a scandal that shook the world...Readers love ANOTHER WOMAN'S HUSBAND:'Riveting! I thoroughly enjoyed this intriguing tale of friendship and betrayal' Rosanna Ley'With superb story-telling and a lush backdrop of period detail...a novel that is impossible to put down, about two women who are impossible to forget. I loved it!' Hazel Gaynor'I devoured Another Woman's Husbandin a few days. This has bestseller written all over it.' Louise Beech'With seamless ease Gill evokes the events and characters of two eras...with great verve and a smattering of delicious fictional licence. Delightful' Liz Trenow'Gill Paul has taken two of the twentieth century's most enigmatic women, one revered, the other reviled, and woven them into a deft story of friendship and betrayal' Kate Riordan'Compelling and full of surprises ****' The Lady'Sheds light on a scandal and a love story which deserves to be read by many. A fascinating read which made me lose several hours to this story. I have no hesitation in recommending it and am keen to see what time in history Gill Paul will turn her hand to next' Shaz's Book BlogBy 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.