A gripping royal saga of charmed lives in a changing world. The Jaipurs were India's mid-century golden couple; its answer to the Kennedys, or Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Jai and Ayesha, as they were known to friends like Frank Sinatra, Truman Capote and 'Dickie' Mountbatten, entertained lavishly at their magnificent palaces and hunting lodges in Rajasthan-and in the nightclubs of London, Paris and New York. But as the Raj gave way to the new India, Jaipur-the most glamorous and romantic of the princely states-had to find its place. The House of Jaipur charts a dynasty's determination to remain relevant in a democracy set on crushing its privileges. Against the odds, they secured their place at the height of Indian society; but Ayesha would pay for her criticism of Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. From the polo field and politics to imprisonment and personal tragedy, the Jaipurs' extraordinary journey of transformation mirrors the story of a rapidly changing country.

In the tradition of Jo Ann Beard's "Boys of My Youth," and Mary Karr's"The""Liar's Club," Paula McLain has written a powerful and haunting memoir about the years she and her two sisters spent as foster children. In the early 70s, after being abandoned by both parents, the girls were made wards of the Fresno County, California court and spent the next 14 years-in a series of adoptive homes. The dislocations, confusions, and odd pleasures of an unrooted life form the basis of a captivating memoir. McLain's beautiful writing and limber voice capture the intense loneliness, sadness, and determination of a young girl both on her own and responsible, with her siblings, for staying together as a family.

This book is a political study of the reign of George III which draws upon unpublished sources and takes account of recent research to present a rounded appreciation of one of the most important and controversial themes in British history. It examines the historical reputation of George III, his role as a European figure and his religious convictions, and offers a discussion of the domestic and imperial policies with which he was associated.

Life in a castle isn't always a fairytale, as the Duchess of Rutland vividly illustrates in her fascinating, revealing and funny autobiography. When Emma Watkins, the pony-mad daughter of a Welsh farmer, imagined her future, she imagined following in her mother's footsteps to marry a farmer of her own. But then she fell in love with David Manners, having no idea that he was heir to one of the most senior hereditary titles in the land. When David succeeded his father, Emma found herself becoming the chatelaine of Belvoir Castle, ancestral home of the Dukes of Rutland. She had to cope with five boisterous children while faced with a vast estate in desperate need of modernisation and staff who wanted nothing to change - it was a daunting responsibility. Yet with sound advice from the doyenne of duchesses, Duchess 'Debo' of Devonshire, she met each challenge with optimism and gusto, including scaling the castle roof in a storm to unclog a flooding gutter; being caught in her nightdress by mesmerised Texan tourists and disguising herself as a cleaner to watch filming of The Crown. She even took on the castle ghosts . . . At times the problems she faced seemed insoluble yet, with her unstoppable energy and talent for thinking on the hoof, she won through, inspired by the vision and passion of those Rutland duchesses in whose footsteps she trod, and indeed the redoubtable and resourceful women who forged her way, whose homes were not castles but remote farmhouses in the Radnorshire Hills. Vividly written and bursting with insights, The Accidental Duchess will appeal to everyone who has visited a stately home and wondered what it would be like to one day find yourself not only living there, but in charge of its future.

This is the intimate and revealing autobiography of the late Margaret Rhodes, the first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and the niece of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Margaret was born into the Scottish aristocracy, into a now almost vanished world of privilege. Royalty often came to stay and her house was run in the style of Downton Abbey. In the Second World War years she 'lodged' at Buckingham Palace while she worked for MI5. She was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousin, Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip. Three years later the King and Queen attended her own wedding; Princess Margaret was a bridesmaid. In 1990 she was appointed as a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen Mother, acting also as her companion, which she describes in touching detail. In the early months of 2002, she spent as much time as possible with her ailing aunt, and was at her bedside when she died at Easter that year. The next morning she went to Queen Elizabeth's bedroom to pray, and in farewell dropped her a final curtsey.

Written with complete access to the Queen Mother's personal letters and diaries, William Shawcross's riveting biography is the truly definitive account of this remarkable woman, whose life spanned the twentieth century. Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes Lyon, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Strathmore, was born on 4 August 1900. Drawing on her private correspondence and other unpublished material from the Royal Archives, William Shawcross vividly reveals the witty girl who endeared herself to soldiers convalescing at Glamis in the First World War; the assured young Duchess of York; the Queen, at last feeling able to look the East End in the face at the height of the Blitz; the Queen Mother, representing the nation at home and abroad throughout her long widowhood. 'This splendid biograpy captures something of the warm glow that she brought to every event and encounter. It also reveals a deeper and more interesting character, forged by good sense, love of country, duty, humour and an instinct for what is right. This is a wonderful book, authoritative, frank and entertaining' "Daily Telegraph"

This book addresses the age-old problem of those persons, for reasons of advantage, who would, through false statements and manufactured evidence, have others believe that they were descendants of royalty when, in fact, they were not. Though the list of these false claimants to a throne is a lengthy one, the author illuminates the individuals and circumstances of those considered the most interesting. This work is an interesting resource for the student of sovereigns and royal families. Paperback, (1882), 2014, 276 pp.

This book is a scholarly, comprehensive, and critical biography of Nicholas II from his birth in 1868 to his execution in 1918. It features a chronological narrative emphasizing the political aspects of the Tsar's reign rather than details from his personal life--although new information about his life is revealed. Nicholas II is portrayed as a conscientious and reasonably intelligent ruler whose reign was marred by inept statesmanship and a stubborn determination to uphold the autocratic tradition of the Romanov dynasty even though he was forced to grant major political concessions in 1905. His imprudent foreign policy in East Asia precipitated a losing war with Japan. But a more cautious policy in Europe nevertheless involved Russia in a far greater conflict in 1914 that resulted in enormous casualties, economic hardship, and the collapse of the monarchy in 1917. As an individual, Nicholas was gentle and benevolent (except towards political dissidents) and proved to be a good husband and father. The serenity of his family life was disrupted by his son and heir's hemophilia, and the ensuing Rasputin scandal impaired the Tsar's image and contributed to his unpopularity. A final chapter examines his legacy and provides a theory of revolutionary causation.

'An important and timely book.' - Philippa Gregory Joan of Navarre was the richest woman in the land, at a time when war-torn England was penniless. Eleanor Cobham was the wife of a weak king's uncle - and her husband was about to fall from grace. Jacquetta Woodville was a personal enemy of Warwick the Kingmaker, who was about to take his revenge. Elizabeth Woodville was the widowed mother of a child king, fighting Richard III for her children's lives. In Royal Witches, Gemma Hollman explores the lives of these four unique women, looking at how rumours of witchcraft brought them to their knees in a time when superstition and suspicion was rife.

A beautiful pictorial souvenir commemorating the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. From her birth in London in 1926 to the celebration of her Platinum Jubilee in 2022, this touching tribute looks back at the life of Britain's longest reigning monarch. Charting the courtship and marriage of the Queen's parents, King George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the birth of the Queen and her sister Margaret Rose, the abdication crisis of 1936, the royal family's role in World War II and the untimely death of the Queen's beloved father in 1952, this beautifully illustrated book chronicles Her Majesty's transition from princess to one of the most iconic and beloved modern heads of state. Also covering the coronation, the birth of the Commonwealth, the 'annus horribilis' of 1992 and the advent of the modern royal family, historians and royal watchers - including BBC journalists Scott Reeves, June Woolerton and Jon Wright - detail the events, both personal and private, that defined the enduring legacy of a monarch who devoted herself to her country and people.

For millions of people, both in Britain and across the world, Elizabeth II is the embodiment of monarchy. Her long life spans nearly a century of national and global history, from a time before the Great Depression to the era of Covid-19. Her reign embraces all but seven years of Britain's postwar history; she has been served by fifteen UK prime ministers from Churchill to Johnson, and witnessed the administrations of thirteen US presidents from Truman to Trump. The vast majority of Britons cannot remember a world without Elizabeth II as head of state and the Commonwealth.

In this brand-new biography of the longest-reigning sovereign in British history, Matthew Dennison traces her life and reign across an era of unprecedented and often seismic social change. Stylish in its writing and nuanced in its judgements, The Queen charts the joys and triumphs as well as the disappointments and vicissitudes of a remarkable royal life; it also assesses the achievement of a woman regarded as the champion of a handful of 'British' values endorsed – if no longer practised – by the bulk of the nation: service, duty, steadfastness, charity and stoicism.

Queen Victoria (4 May 1819 - 22 Jan 1901) is the UK's second longest-reigning monarch after Queen Elizabeth II, with 64 years between becoming queen in 1837 and her death in 1901. This book describes her extraordinary life and reign, her strength and achievements. 24 May 2019 is the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria's birth.

The life of Mary Tudor the French queen, younger sister of Henry VIII, has been chiefly defined by the scandal of her secret marriage to Charles Brandon after the death of her husband, Louis XII of France. Such limited focus has obscured Mary's role as a political figure, one whom poets celebrated for bringing peace between England and France. In this biography, Erin Sadlack contends that Mary was neither a weeping hysteric nor a love-struck romantic, but a queen who drew on two sources of authority to increase the power of her position: epistolary conventions and the rhetoric of chivalry that imbued the French and English courts. By reading Mary's life and letters within the context of early modern political culture, this book broadens our understanding of the exercise of queenship in the sixteenth century.

'The Firm', as the royal family styles itself, judged by real corporate standards, is a mess. Any consultants called in from outside to scrutinise its inner workings would find all the familiar flaws of a family business that has outgrown its original scale and design. There is no overall strategy, just a collection of warring divisions pursuing their own ends. And this will be a profound problem when the Queen dies, because make no bones about it, the Queen's mortality determines the mortality of the monarchy. Under Charles III, the monarchy can never be the same; indeed, its very survival is in doubt. In The Last Queen, pioneering investigative reporter Clive Irving paints a revelatory portrait of Elizabeth II's extraordinary reign, setting it within the dramatic transformation of Britain itself over the same period. Now expanded to include the death of Prince Philip, the fallout from Megxit and the banishment of Prince Andrew, this compelling account asks: how long will the institution survive beyond the second Elizabethan era?

Delphine De Sabran, Marquise De Custine (1770-1826) was a French aristocrat whose son Astolphe was a travel writer. Gaston Maugras (1850-1927) was a historian.

The queenship of the first European Renaissance queen regnant never ceases to fascinate. Was she a saint or a bigoted zealot? A pious wife or the one wearing the pants? Was she ultimately responsible for genocide? A case has been made to canonize her. Does she deserve to be called Saint Isabel? As different groups from fascists to feminists continue to fight over Isabel as cultural capital, we ask which (if any) of these recyclings are legitimate or appropriate. Or has this figure taken on a life of her own? Contributors to this volume: Roger Boase, David A. Boruchoff, John Edwards, Emily Francomano, Edward Friedman, Cristina Guardiola-Griffiths, Michelle Hamilton, Elizabeth Teresa Howe, Hilaire Kallendorf, William D. Phillips, Jr., Nuria Silleras-Fernandez, Caroline Travalia, and Jessica Weiss.

The compelling quest to solve a great mystery of the twentieth century: the ultimate fate of Russia's last tsar and his family. In July 1991, nine skeletons were exhumed from a shallow grave near Ekaterinburg, Siberia, a few miles from the infamous cellar where the last tsar and his family had been murdered seventy-three years before. Were these the bones of the Romanovs? If so, why were the bones of the two younger Romanovs missing? Was Anna Anderson, celebrated in newspapers, books, and film, really Grand Duchess Anastasia? This book unearths the truth. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert K. Massie presents a colourful panorama of contemporary characters, illuminating the major scientific dispute between Russian experts and a team of Americans, whose findings - along with those of DNA scientists from Russia, America, and the UK - all contributed to solving one of history's most intriguing mysteries.

It was famously the scene of Charles and Diana's nightmare marriage and Charles's serial adulteries. But then Kensington Palace has a long history of royal philandering. George II installed his wife and mistress in the palace, for example, and made his mistress sleep in a room so damp there were said to be mushrooms growing on the walls. And then there were the eccentrics. George III's sixth son, Augustus, Duke of Sussex, became a virtual recluse at the palace. He collected hundreds of clocks and mechanical toys, thousands of early Bibles and dozens of songbirds that were allowed to fly freely through the royal apartments. Today, the palace is home to the future King William and his wife Catherine, and until recently home to the newly married Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan. Tom Quinn takes the reader behind the official version of palace history to discover intriguing, sometimes wild, often scandalous, but frequently heart-warming stories.

After in-depth research of the circumstances of that fateful night, investigative writer and former journalist Noel Botham finally reveals what he alleges to be the truth - Princess Diana fell victim to a ruthlessly executed assassination. Twenty years later, the tragedy still shapes Britain as we know it today. How could the Establishment betray the trust of a whole nation? How was the killing executed? Was there really another car in the tunnel at the time of the crash? Reporting from the innermost sanctums of British intelligence and royalty, Botham reveals shocking answers to what he claims is one of the UK's most successfully kept secrets. As Botham affirms, The Murder of Princess Diana firmly lays to rest the outdated theory that Diana's death was a mere accident, and finally gives the people of Britain the explanation they deserve.

In a world historically dominated by male rulers, the women who have sat on thrones of their own shine out brightly. Some queens and empresses were born to greatness, while others fought their way to power. Queens ranges from the ancient world to the present day, telling the stories of these women who ruled, from murderous former courtesan Wu Zetian in 7th century China to Elizabeth I, the 'Virgin Queen' of England. In 6th century Constantinople, Empress Theodora, who had been a street performer before catching the eye of Emperor Justinian, extended rights for women, passing laws that allowed them to divorce and own property and made rape a crime punishable by death. In 12th century Europe, Eleanor of Aquitaine first married the king of France and then the king of England. At the Mughal court in Lahore in the early 17th century, Nur Jahan, wife of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, was the political powerhouse behind the throne. In more recent history, the book explores the reigns of Catherine the Great, revealing how a minor German aristocrat came to rule and expand the Russian Empire, Queen Victoria, whose family dominated the world in the early 20th centuty, and her more recent descendent, Elizabeth II, the longest-ruling queen in history. Female rulers are often described as ambitious rather than bold, as devious rather than diplomatically astute and as intriguers and meddlers, all characterizations that are destructive to the reality of women's lives in the world's monarchies. Even genealogies still often leave out the women of royal families, overlooking their genuine contributions. To some extent, we will never know these great women of history as well as we know their menfolk; the sources simply leave too many gaps. However, we can and will do better in giving the women rulers of history the recognition they deserve Carefully researched, superbly entertaining and illustrated throughout with more than 180 photographs and artworks, Queens highlights the true personalities and real lives of the women who became monarchs and empresses.

An elegant and magisterial new biography of Her Majesty The Queen, tracing the events of a reign that now spans seven decades, and evaluating her achievement as a practitioner of monarchy across the entirety of her reign. For millions of people, both in Britain and across the world, Elizabeth II is the embodiment of monarchy. Her long life spans nearly a century of national and global history, from a time before the Great Depression to the era of Covid-19. Her reign embraces all but seven years of Britain's postwar history; she has been served by fifteen UK prime ministers from Churchill to Johnson, and witnessed the administrations of thirteen US presidents from Truman to Trump. The vast majority of Britons cannot remember a world without Elizabeth II as head of state and the Commonwealth. In this brand-new new biography of the longest-reigning sovereign in British history, Matthew Dennison traces her life and reign across an era of unprecedented and often seismic social change. Stylish in its writing and nuanced in its judgements, The Queen charts the joys and triumphs as well as the disappointments and vicissitudes of a remarkable royal life; it also assesses the achievement of a woman regarded as the champion of a handful of 'British' values endorsed - if no longer practised - by the bulk of the nation: service, duty, steadfastness, charity and stoicism.