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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Royalty
This is the story of the glamorous French Empress who escaped from
a vengeful mob in 1870 and spent the next fifty years in exile in
England. With a broad brush approach to the political events it
shows her life and times from a different angle, exploring subjects
often relegated to mere footnotes. Aided by the increased
digitalisation of sources which produced many new and interesting
discoveries, the book features 53 images of the important people
and places Eugenie was born in a makeshift tent during an
earthquake in Southern Spain but this impetuous and beautiful young
woman's life changed dramatically when she married Napoleon III in
1853. She was to become a worldwide fashion icon but was much more
than a trophy wife even though she suffered from a philandering
husband. An early feminist with a social conscience, her
achievements were negated by many because she wasn't French,
becoming the inevitable scapegoat for the ills of the Empire. Yet
in November 1869 when Eugenie opened the Suez Canal she was the
most famous woman in the world. Less than a year later she made a
dramatic escape from those who blamed her for a disastrous war that
caused the collapse of the Second Empire. Helped by her American
dentist, Eugenie was smuggled out of Paris enroute to England and
exile. The early death of her husband was followed a few years
later by that of her son whilst with the British army in South
Africa. A close friend of Queen Victoria, Eugenie lived in
Farnborough, a small Hampshire town for 4 decades, building an
Imperial Mausoleum for her husband and son and dressing in black
for the rest of her days. Condemned in her own mind to live for a
hundred years she then recovered her zest for life. Always keen to
move with the times she embraced new technology, travelled
extensively and maintained her links with the European royal circle
whilst becoming a familiar and much respected figure in her
neighbourhood. Eugenie remained remarkably loyal to France and
never relinquished her sense of duty, giving up part of her home to
be an army hospital during World War 1. She died in 1920, aged 94
and is buried alongside her husband and son in St Michael's Abbey
in Farnborough.
The Pitkin Guide to Britain's Kings & Queens presents a
concise, informative history, in words and pictures, of Britain's
56 sovereigns from Alfred the Great in the 9th century to our
reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Beautifully illustrated, this
book includes family trees and details of where and when each
monarch was born, where they were crowned, the dates they reigned
and where they are buried.Now fully updated with the discovery of
Richard III's bones, the birth of HRH Prince George and the 2013
Succession to the Crown Act, this Pitkin Guide contains all you
need to know on Britain's Kings & Queens.This beautifully
illustrated book is part of the Pitkin Royal Collection series,
celebrating the lives of the British royal family. Other notable
titles in this insightful series include Royal Babies, The Queen
and Her Family and Queen Elizabeth II.
THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF PETER TOWNSEND, THE MAN CONSIDERED TO BE THE
GREAT LOVE OF PRINCESS MARGARET'S LIFE, EQUERRY TO KING GEORGE VI
AND HERO OF THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. 'A Royal fairy tale' Sunday
Telegraph 'One of the saddest love stories of modern times' The
Scotsman 'One afternoon, at Windsor Castle, when everyone had gone
to London for some ceremony, we talked, in the red drawing-room,
for hours - about ourselves. It was then that we made the mutual
discovery of how much we meant to one another. She listened,
without uttering a word, as I told her, very quietly, of my
feelings. Then she simply said: "That is exactly how I feel, too."
It was, to us both, an immensely gladdening disclosure, but one
which sorely troubled us.' The romance between Princess Margaret
and Group Captain Peter Townsend in the 1950s rocked the British
Establishment, pulled at the heartstrings of a nation and brought
sorrow to two intensely human individuals. In Time and Chance,
Peter Townsend tells his side of the story in intensely personal
terms, and places the episode within the whole context of his full
and varied life, a story which includes great heroism in World War
II as well as his part in one of the most publicised love stories
of the twentieth century.
The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert
accounts of England's rulers - now in paperback 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.
Before he fell in love with Wallis Simpson, Edward VIII had fallen
in love with America. As a young Prince of Wales, Edward witnessed
the birth of the American century at the end of the First World War
and, captivated by the energy, confidence, and raw power of the USA
as it strode onto the world stage, he paid a number of subsequent
visits: surfing in Hawaii; dancing with an American shop-girl in
Panama; and partying with the cream of New York society on Long
Island. Eventually, of course, he fell violently in love with
Wallis, a Southern belle and latter-day Scarlett O'Hara. Forceful,
irreverent, and sassy, she embodied everything that Edward admired
about modern America. But Edward's fascination with America was not
unreciprocated. America was equally fascinated by the Prince,
especially his love life, and he became an international media
celebrity through newsreels, radio, and the press. Indeed, even in
the decades after his abdication in 1936, Edward remained a
celebrity in the US and a regular guest of Presidents and the elite
of American society.
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The Prince
(Hardcover)
Nicolo Machiavelli; Translated by W.K. Marriott
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R540
Discovery Miles 5 400
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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