The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperback If Ethelred was notoriously 'Unready' and Alfred 'Great', King George VI should bear the designation of 'George the Dutiful'. Throughout his life he dedicated himself to the pursuit of what he thought he ought to be doing rather than what he wanted to do. Inarticulate and loathing any sort of public appearances, he accepted that it was his destiny to figure regularly and conspicuously in the public eye, gritted his teeth, largely conquered his crippling stammer and got on with it. He was not born to be king, but he made an admirable one, and was the figurehead of the nation at the time of its greatest trial, during the Second World War. This is a sparklingly brilliant and enjoyable book about him.

Are you intrigued by Brother Cadfael or Jane Austen's heroines and want to learn more about Maud the Empress or the Prince Regent? Need a better grasp of the background to Shakespeare's history plays or career? Let "Royals of England" fill in the missing links. "Royals of England" offers lively biographies of royal personages that accompany detailed accounts of geographic sites and websites. Placed in chronological order, each profile can easily be read as a self-contained narrative. With the information provided by authors Kathleen Spaltro and Noeline Bridge, you'll be able to design a tour around a royal person of interest or search out all the royal persons associated with a certain locale. Fifty family trees, one or more for most chapters, help you identify members of different royal houses. You'll be able to determine how the Jacobite Pretenders passed their claim to the Kings of Sardinia, or how Lettice Knollys, wife to Leicester and mother to Essex, was related to Elizabeth I. "Royals of England" provides a useful resource for history enthusiasts, travelers, and genealogists alike.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperback 'After my death', George V said of his eldest son and heir, 'the boy will ruin himself in 12 months'. From the death of his father in 1936 to the constitutional crisis provoked by his proposal to the then-married American socialite Wallis Simpson and his subsequent abdication, Edward VIII reigned for less than year. In choosing the woman he loved over his royal birthright, Edward fulfilled his father's prophecy and instigated the monarchy's most significant upheaval of the twentieth century. Retitled 'Duke of Windsor' and essentially exiled, Edward has remained a controversial figure ever since. Through his correspondence with, amongst other confidants, Winston Churchill, Piers Brendon traces Edward's tumultuous life in this superb, pacey biography.

The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperback Queen Victoria inherited the throne at 18 and went on to become the longest-reigning female monarch in history, in a time of intense industrial, cultural, political, scientific and military change within the United Kingdom and great imperial expansion outside of it (she was made Empress of India in 1876). Overturning the established picture of the dour old lady, this is a fresh and engaging portrait from one of our most talented royal biographers. Jane Ridley is Professor of Modern History at Buckingham University, where she teaches a course on biography. Her previous books include The Young Disraeli; a study of Edwin Lutyens, The Architect and his Wife, which won the 2003 Duff Cooper Prize; and the best-selling Bertie: A Life of Edward VII.

Born into Iran's most powerful aristocratic family - so feared by Khomeini that the entire clan was blacklisted - Prince Manucher was raised in a vast harem with his thirty-five brothers and sisters, one of whom married the head of Iran's communist party, while another, who was once foreign minister, lost his life to the upstart Shah's jealousy. Farmanfarmaian was the primary government negotiator with the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company until its convulsive nationalization by his cousin Mossedeq in 1951. Later, as a director of the National Iranian Oil Company, he pioneered - against the Shah's wishes - the partnership that resulted in OPEC. This is the first account by one of OPEC's original crafters of the politics and intrigue surrounding the international development of the oil industry. With the flair of a modern-day Arabian Nights, Blood and Oil brilliantly renders the tensions between the excesses of the ancien regime and Iran's increasingly reactionary religious establishment. Prince Manucher's close relationships with everyone from the last Shah to the teary-eyed Mossadeq allow him to provide a fresh portrait of the Pahlavi reign and the revolution that brought it down. But the real revelation in these pages is his new perspective on British oil imperialism, and its brutal effect on twentieth-century history.

Princess Dar Ling's chronicle of life at court.

1917. Contents: Youth; Father and Son; The Young Ruler; Journeys and Intrigues; The Breach with Bismarck; The New Master; An Enlightened Policy; Political Chess; The Jubilee Year; A Future on the Seas; The End of the First Ten Years; Theory and Fact; The Triumph of Caesarism; Disappointments; The Meteor and Others; Nervous Symptoms; An Interview and Its Consequences; Before the Great War; and William the Problem.

She quietly persevered in the "progresses" which annoyed the irascible and unreasonable old King, even visiting the Isle of Wight, though the royal big guns were forbidden to "pop" at sight of the royal standard, which waved over her, and the young hope of England. Perhaps recollections of those pleasant visits with her mother at Norris Castle have helped to render so dear the Queen's own beautiful sea-side home, Osborne House. I remember a pretty little story, told by a tourist, who happened to be stopping at the village of Brading during one of those visits to the lovely island.

1901. Part One of Three. With a special introduction by Leon Vallee. The memoirs of the Sun King, one of the most powerful rulers in Western history, written by the Duc de Saint-Simon who was at the very center of Louis XIV's court at Versailles. A genuinely pious and honest man, Saint-Simon's unblinking, eyewitness account of the intrigue, passion, jealousy, and political skullduggery that were part of Louis XIV's rule makes this a supreme work of art. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Though written in popular style, this book is intended as the real verified history and complete biography of the Lost Little King, uncrowned Louis XVII, of France; the thrilling story of a real life, that seems almost unreal enough for a romance. It has been a sad tale of two continents for a century. Sample contents: The Prince is Born; Marie Antoinette Appears for the Last Time in Regal Magnificence; Storming of the Bastille; Wit and Wisdom of the Baby Dauphin. Handsomely illustrated with 25 plates.

CONTENTSThe King of Sweden's Visit to St. PetersburgCatherine II.Of the FavouritesAccession of PaulHas Paul Reason to Fear the Fate of Peter III.?Revolutions May Be ExpectedNational CharacterReligionOn Female GovernmentEducationSupplementAppendix

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

1927. The Reign, 22nd January 1901 to 6th May 1910. A biography of King Edward VII, by the English biographer and critic, Sir Sidney Lee, who is best-known for A Life of William Shakespeare. Edward VII was the eldest son of Queen Victoria. Victoria, true to the Hanoverian name, saw the worst in Edward. She and Albert imposed a strict regime upon Edward, who proved resistant and resentful throughout his youth. Victoria consistently denied her son any official governmental role. He rebelled by completely indulging himself in women, food, drink, gambling, sport and travel. His wife, Alexandra, turned a blind eye to his extramarital activities, which continued well into his sixties and found him implicated in several divorce cases. Despite Edward's colorful personal life and Victoria's perceptions of him as profligate, Edward ruled peacefully (aside from the Boer War of 1899-1902) and successfully during his short reign, which is remarkable considering the shifts in European power that occurred in the first decade of the twentieth century.

The remarkable Mary Nisbet was the Countess of Elgin in Romantic-era Scotland and the wife of the seventh Earl of Elgin. When Mary accompanied her husband to diplomatic duty in Turkey, she changed history. She helped bring the smallpox vaccine to the Middle East, struck a seemingly impossible deal with Napoleon, and arranged the removal of famous marbles from the Parthenon. But all of her accomplishments would be overshadowed, however, by her scandalous divorce. Drawing from Mary's own letters, scholar Susan Nagel tells Mary's enthralling, inspiring, and suspenseful story in vibrant detail.

In this biography of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales it is the authors' aim to not add more gilt to the already glistening halo of romance which an entranced world has placed around the head of the heir to the British throne, nor to present His Royal Highness as a prince charming, but as a very human young man, not more perfect than his fellows or possessed of more than the average number of virtues to be found in any other clean living, sport loving young Englishman.

1921. Strachey was one of the leading members of the Bloomsbury group. He is credited with having revolutionized the art of writing biography. His evident affection for his subject make this a landmark work. Contents: Antecedents; Childhood; Lord Melbourne; Marriage; Lord Palmerston; Last Years of the Prince Consort; Widowhood; Mr. Gladstone and Lord Beaconsfield; Old Age; and The End.

Pere de Latour, going further, wished to impose hard, not to say murderous, penances on me; I begged him to keep within bounds, and not to make me impatient. This Oratorian and his admirers have stated that I wore a hair shirt and shroud. Pious slanders, every word of them! I give many pensions and alms, that is to say, I do good to several families; the good that I bestow about me will be more agreeable to God than any harm I could do myself, and that I maintain.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

1912. With photogravure frontispiece and 33 other illustrations in halftone mostly from original photographs by Otto Holbach. The author recounts the history of Richard the Lionhearted with the perspective of having literally traced the footsteps he took on his travels to the Holy Land. Renowned as a Crusader and gallant knight, he spent all but six months of his reign outside of England campaigning or in captivity. Battle leader of the Third Crusade, Richard was shipwrecked near Venice on his return in 1192 and imprisoned by Duke Leopold of Austria.

CONTENTS Family - Birth - Education - Early Life General and Minister - Second Marriage - In Loyal Opposition The Protestant Revolution Sedition - Rebellion - War Alva - Terror - Defeat In Exile and Affliction - The Nassau Family Beggars of the Sea - Brill - St. Bartholomew - Defeat The Death Grapple - Negotiations - Abandonment Requesens - Leyden - Charlotte de Bourbon Don John - General Union - Apogee Discord - Ban - Apology United States - Anjou - Assassins Louise de Coligny - Death - Conclusion

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The King's studies with his preceptor, Perefixe, had been of only a superficial sort, as, in accordance with the express order of the Queen- mother, this prelate had been mainly concerned about the health of his pupil, the Queen being, above all, desirous that he should have a good constitution. "The rest comes easily enough, if a prince have but nobility of soul and a sense of duty," as the Queen often used to say. Her words came true.

1901. Being her journals, letters, and conversations during her confidential relations with Marie Antoinette with original and authentic anecdotes of the royal family and other distinguished personages during the revolution. Edited by Catherine Hyde, Marquise De Gouvion Broglie Scolari in the confidential service of the unfortunate princess. Because of the loyalty of her nature the Princess de Lamballe was fated to be not only an eyewitness but a victim of the Reign of Terror.