An in-depth biography of Joseph II which covers the partition of Poland, the suppression of the Jesuits, the Bavarian succession, his reforms, and foreign affairs. At the time of original publication in 1897, J. Franck Bright was Master of University College, Oxford.

On the very day after the commutation of the sentence had been announced, Sunday, the 3rd of July, the Queen was again fired at as she sat by the side of her uncle, King Leopold, on her way to the Chapel Royal, St. James's. The pistol missed fire, and the man who presented it, a hunchback, was seized by a boy of sixteen called Dasset. So ridiculous did the group seem, that the very policemen pushed away both captor and captive as actors in a bad practical joke. Then the boy Dasset, who retained the pistol, was in danger of being taken up as the real culprit, trying to throw the blame upon another.

Let Rumbold's declaration, then, be examined upon these principles, and we shall find that it has every character of truth, without a single circumstance to discredit it. He was so far from entertaining any hope of pardon, that he did not seem even to wish it; and indeed if he had had any such chimerical object in view, he must have known that to have supplied the government with a proof of the Rye House assassination plot, would be a more likely road at least, than a steady denial, to obtain it.

As Madame de Maintenon's character happened to please the King, as I have already stated, he allotted her handsome apartments at Court while waiting until he could keep her there as a fixture, by conferring upon her some important appointment. She had the honour of being presented to the Queen, who paid her a thousand compliments respecting the Duc du Maine's perfections

I admit, Sire, I answered him, "that I am not the person required for affairs of that sort. Your cousin is proud and cutting; I would not endure what she has made others endure. I cannot accept such a commission. But Madame de Maintenon, who is gentleness itself, is suitable--no one more so for this mission; she is at once insinuating and respectful; she is attached to the Duc du Maine. The interests of my son could not be in better hands."

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Harald took the sword, drew it, or was half drawing it, admiringly from the scabbard, when the English excellency broke into a scornful laugh, "Ha, ha; thou art now the feudatory of my English king; thou hast accepted the sword from him, and art now his man " (acceptance of a sword in that manner being the symbol of investiture in those days.) Harald looked a trifle flurried, it is probable; but held in his wrath, and did no damage to the tricksy Englishman.

Strange, beautiful and pathetic is the picture given to our thoughts of the dead Majesty of England, --white and still, lying in her snowy death-robes with the first snowdrops of the year and lilies around her, and the golden Cross shining above her--that emblem of the Christian Faith which, in its simplest form, the Queen followed fervently without any faltering doubt or fear. The words of one of her favourite hymns were the daily echo of her own heart's trust in the Divine.

My sisters thought it of extreme importance to possess positive knowledge as to their future condition and the events which fate held in store for them. They managed to be secretly taken to a woman famed for her talent in casting the horoscope. But on seeing how overwhelmed by chagrin they both were after consulting the oracle, I felt fearful as regarded myself, and determined to let my star take its own course, heedless of its existence, and allowing it complete liberty.

An account of the Empress of Russia who expanded her vast country's borders south to the Black Sea and west into Europe while continuing the Westernization begun by Peter the Great. Catherine's love affairs with different officers and politicians were widely publicized, though much of what was published was not true. Nevertheless, most of her lovers were promoted to the highest ranks and some of them proved to be extremely talented people (for instance prince Patiomkin, a very prominent general and politician). Contents: Catherine's Girlhood; The Grand Duchess; The Revolution of 1762; The Orlof Ascendancy; Patiomkin and the Minor Favorites; The Crimean Journey; The Death of Patiomkin; The Last Years; and Catherine the Great. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

For more than fifty years, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor -- who became Elizabeth II, Queen of England on February 6, 1952 -- has been loved and loathed, revered and feared, applauded and criticized by her people. Still she endures as a captivating figure in the world's most durable symbol of political authority: the British monarchy.

In Monarch, a meticulously detailed portrait of Elizabeth II as both a human being and an institution, bestselling author Robert Lacey brings the queen to life as never before: as baby "Lilibet" learning to wave to a crowd in the Royal Mews; as a child "ardently praying for a brother" so as to avoid her fate; as a young woman falling in love with and marrying her cousin Philip; and as the mother-in-law of the most complicated royal of all, Princess Diana.

Updated with new material to reflect the 2002 Golden Jubilee and the passing of the Queen Mum -- and featuring dozens of photographs, a family tree of the Hanoverian-Windsor-Mountbatten families, and a map that charts the location of royal castles -- Monarch is an engaging, critical, and celebratory account of Elizabeth's half-century reign that no reader of popular history should be without.

Handsome, accomplished, and charming, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, staked his claim to the English throne by marrying Mary Stuart, who herself claimed to be the Queen of England. It was not long before Mary discovered that her new husband was interested only in securing sovereign power for himself. Then, on February 10, 1567, an explosion at his lodgings left Darnley dead; the intrigue thickened after it was discovered that he had apparently been suffocated before the blast. After an exhaustive reevaluation of the source material, Alison Weir has come up with a solution to this enduring mystery. Employing her gift for vivid characterization and gripping storytelling, Weir has written one of her most engaging excursions yet into Britain's bloodstained, power-obsessed past.

In 1688, the birth of a Prince of Wales ignited a family quarrel-and a revolution. James II's drive towards Catholicism had alienated the nation and his two staunchly Protestant daughters by his first marriage, Mary and Anne, the "ungrateful daughters" who eventually usurped their father's crown and stole their half-brother's birthright.Seven prominent men sent an invitation to William of Orange-James's nephew and son-in-law-to intervene in English affairs. But Mary and Anne also played a key role. Jealous and resentful of her hated stepmother, Anne had written a series of malicious letters to Mary in Holland, implying that the Queen's pregnancy was a hoax-a Catholic plot to deny Mary her rightful inheritance.Distraught from being betrayed by his own children, James fled the kingdom. And even as the crown descended on her head, Mary knew she had incurred a father's curse. The sisters quarreled to the day of Mary's death at age 32. Anne did nothing to earn her father's forgiveness, and she declared her brother an outlaw with a price on his head.Acclaimed historian Maureen Waller re-creates the late Stuart era in a compelling narrative that highlights the influence of the royal women on one of the most momentous events in English history. Prompted by religious bigotry and the emotions that beset every family relationship, this palace coup changed the face of the monarchy, and signaled the end of a dynasty.

This book presents the fascinating story of Queen Margrete I and her rise to power in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Her political ambitions culminated in the founding of the Nordic Union in 1397, which had vital impact on the history of Scandinavia for the next centuries. The book analyses the most central sources and gives a vivid picture of medieval society in Denmark during the late Middle Ages. At the same time the book describes the character of this dynamic woman, who is considered as one of the most important rulers in the Middle Ages.
Only a very small part of the literature concerning Scandinavian medieval history has been published in English, and this book gives for the first time foreign readers the opportunity to read about the background to the founding of the Nordic Union. The text is well illustrated.

Elizabeth the Queen begins as the young Elizabeth ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary's disastrous reign - both a woman and a queen, Elizabeth's story is an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age. From Elizabeth's intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to her dealings - sometimes comical, sometimes poignant - with her many suitors, her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots, and her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior, here, in rich, vivid and colourful detail, Alison Weir helps us comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person. 'Excellent...intricate and absorbing...An elegant, shrewd and wonderfully vivacious book.' The Times

Some of the royal ladies found in this volume were more sinned against than sinning. As to others, there is no doubt as to the category in which they belong. Catherine de Medici ranks as one of the great villains of history, but the author contends she was innocent of most of the crimes of which she has been accused. Catherine the Great has little to commend her, especially in the line of private morals, but it must be admitted she left a profound impression upon her times. Other subjects discussed are: Mary, Queen of Scots, a subject of endless controversy; Louise de la Valliere, mistress of that gay monarch, Louis XIV; Maria Theresa; Marie Antoinette; Josephine; Bloody Mary of England; Sophia of Hanover; Christina of Sweden; and Caroline of Brunswick.

One of the greatest--and most enigmatic--Roman emperors, Hadrian stabilized the imperial borders, established peace throughout the empire, patronized the arts, and built an architectural legacy that lasts to this day: the great villa at Tivoli, the domed wonder of the Pantheon, and the eponymous wall that stretches across Britain. Yet the story of his reign is also a tale of intrigue, domestic discord, and murder.

In Following Hadrian, Elizabeth Speller captures the fascinating life of Hadrian, ruler of the most powerful empire on earth at the peak of its glory. Speller displays a superb gift for narrative as she traces the intrigue of Hadrian's rise: his calculated marriage to Emperor Trajan's closest female relative, a woman he privately tormented; Trajan's suspicious deathbed adoption of Hadrian as his heir, a stroke some thought to be a post-mortem forgery; and the ensuing slaughter of potential rivals by an ally of Hadrian's. Speller makes brilliant use of her sources, vividly depicting Hadrian's bouts of melancholy, his intellectual passions, his love for a beautiful boy (whose death sent him into a spiral), and the paradox of his general policies of peace and religious tolerance even as he conducted a bitter, three-year war with Judea.

Most important, the author captures the emperor as both a builder and an inveterate traveler, guiding readers on a grand tour of the Roman Empire at the moment of its greatest extent and accomplishment, from the barren, windswept frontiers of Britain to the teeming streets of Antioch, from the dangers of the German forest to the urban splendor of Rome itself.

Based on the groundbreaking ITV/The Learning Channel documentary series, and drawn from years of research and dozens of interviews with friends and associates speaking on the record for the first time, Diana contains never-before-revealed information and stunning insights about the beloved -- and largely misunderstood -- Princess of Wales.

From claims that Diana was ready to leave Charles just weeks before the wedding to her lifelong battle against depression, from world-exclusive interviews with Diana's beau James Hewitt and her "surrogate mother-in-law" Shirley Hewitt to details about the unconventional "arrangements" in the royal household -- between Diana and James, Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles -- Diana is an honest, objective, and unparalleled biography.

With thirty-two photographs -- including several never before published -- Diana shows all facets of this fascinating woman: her magic, her manipulations, her dazzling public persona, and her place in her people's hearts and history.

Louis-Charles, Duc de Normandie, enjoyed a charmed early childhood in the gilded palace of Versailles. At the age of four, he became the dauphin, heir to the most powerful throne in Europe. Yet within five years he was to lose everything. Drawn into the horror of the French Revolution, his family was incarcerated and their fate thrust into the hands of the revolutionaries who wished to destroy the monarchy.

In 1793, when Marie Antoinette was beheaded at the guillotine, she left her adored eight-year-old son imprisoned in the Temple Tower. Far from inheriting a throne, the orphaned boy-king had to endure the hostility and abuse of a nation. Two years later, the revolutionary leaders declared Louis XVII dead. No grave was dug, no monument built to mark his passing.

Immediately, rumors spread that the prince had, in fact, escaped from prison and was still alive. Others believed that he had been murdered, his heart cut out and preserved as a relic. As with the tragedies of England's princes in the Tower and the Romanov archduchess Anastasia, countless "brothers" soon approached Louis-Charles's older sister, Marie-Therese, who survived the revolution. They claimed not only the dauphin's name, but also his inheritance. Several "princes" were plausible, but which, if any, was the real heir to the French throne?

The Lost King of France is a moving and dramatic tale that interweaves a pivotal moment in France's history with a compelling detective story that involves pretenders to the crown, royalist plots and palace intrigue, bizarre legal battles, and modern science. The quest for the truth continued into the twenty-first century, when, thanks to DNA testing, the strange odyssey of a stolen heart found within the royal tombs brought an exciting conclusion to the two-hundred-year-old mystery of the lost king of France.

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the British government, alarmed at the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's association with the Nazis and the possibility that they would remove themselves to the United States to preach their pacifist (and slightly pro-German) credo, decided that a job had to be found for the ex-King Edward VIII. and his wife, the American, Wallis Simpson. He was appointed Governor of The Bahamas, one of the smallest and least important possessions of the British Empire, far away from the scene of battle.

Away from their sybaritic living in the south of France, the couple struggled unhappily with the very different lifestyle of minor colonial life. This story is of their successes and their failures during their last official service to The British--and of the only Royal Governor to have served in British colonial history.

This work contains an authorized biography of King Albert I, the son of Philip, Count of Flanders. Albert succeeded his uncle, Leopold II, on the throne, and served in the army and Senate. King Albert reaffirmed the neutrality of Belgian and refused to allow the German troops free passage through his country. He led the Belgian army in the retreat to Flanders, as well as leading the Belgian and French troops in the final Allied offensive. King Albert is known for introducing a new monetary system to Belgium and his reconstruction after the war. Illustrated.

Marie Thirise Louise de Savoie-Carignan, Princess de Lamballe, was fated to be not only an eye-witness but a victim of the Reign of Terror. She was born in Turin in 1749, was married in 1767 to Stanislaus, Prince of Lamballe and son of the Duke of Penthiivre, which brought her into the relationship of sister-in-law to the Duke of Orlians. Her husband died within a year, leaving her, as she expresses it, "a bride when an infant, a widow before I was a mother or had a prospect of becoming one." A marriage was proposed between the Princess and Louis XV, but it fell through. In her retirement she gained the friendship of Marie Antoinette, who appointed her superintendent of the royal household on the accession of Louis XVI. This official connection grew into a sisterly intimacy of the most cordial kind. Their youth of brilliant promise was soon overshadowed by ominous troubles. The lighter temperament of the Queen was happily balanced by the philosophic gravity of the Princess, who foresaw the bitter fruits of the conditions in which her royal mistress had been reared and would not radically change. This journal-record of experiences and reflections is as pathetic a tale as has ever been told.

Tsarina Alexandra-hauntingly beautiful, melancholy, obsessed with the occult-was blamed by her contemporaries for the downfall of the Romanovs. But her true nature has eluded previous biographers. Using archival material unavailable before the fall of the Soviet Union, acclaimed historian Carolly Erickson's masterful study brings to life the full dimensions of the Empress's singular psychology: her childhood bereavement, her long struggle to marry Nicholas, the anguish of her pathological shyness, and her increasing dependence on a series of occult mentors, the most notorious of whom was Rasputin. With meticulous care, Erickson has crafted an intimate and richly detailed portrait of an enigmatic historical figure. Unfolding against the turbulent backdrop of Russian history in the last decades before the Revolution of 1917, this engrossing biography draws the reader in to Alexandra's isolated, increasingly troubled interior world. In these pages, the tsarina ceases to be a remote historical figure and becomes a character who lives and breathes.

Intimate, rich in detail, carefully researched and informed by a generous imagination, Erickson's page-turning account of Alexandra and her times is a gem of biographical storytelling, as vivid and hard to put down as an enthralling novel.

Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother 1900 - 2002 presents the life of a remarkable woman. A Canadian perspective on a sovereign who created and cultivated a special relationship with Canada, it is the portrait of a queen who always evoked passionate reactions. Whether it was the anonymous soldier who vowed "to fight for that little lady," Adolf Hitler who described her as "the most dangerous woman in Europe," or the Canadian journalist who coined the expression "the Queen Mum," the Queen Mother seldom left people unmoved.

Opening with the royal tour of 1939, during which Canadians first felt her personal magnetism, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother 1900 - 2002 describes Elizabeth's background and development, relating how she made a marriage that brought her to the centre stage of public life. It traces her tender support of her shy husband, a reluctant king, shows how she began her Commonwealth role, and recalls her shock at the sudden and unexpected call to wear the Crown.

Faced with the never-ending duties of a queen, Elizabeth proved capable of providing inspired leadership for a society faced with the stark prospect of destruction in a war to save the world. On the premature death of her beloved husband she became Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, a role that has shaped nearly half her life, and one in which Canada has always played an important part. The authors analyze Her Majesty's successes and failures, both public and private, against the background of a century of violent disruption, material achievement, and incredible change.