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 As Botham affirms, The Murder of Princess Diana firmly lays to rest the outdated theory that Diana's death was a mere accident, and finally gives the people of Britain the explanation they deserve.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.

The royal chef to The Prince & Princess of Wales, Prince William, and Prince Harry shares 50 of her best-loved holiday dishes so everyone can celebrate like royalty. Inspired by England's classic Christmastime dishes and 10 of the most popular and luxurious palaces, royal chef Carolyn Robb presents 50 festive recipes to ring in the holiday season. Featuring favorite baked treats, from the nation's classic figgy pudding and Christmas cake to more contemporary fare, this beautiful collection offers a taste of the history and timeless tradition of a royal British Christmas.

Marie Aimee de Rohan, Duchess of Chevreuse (1600-1679) was a French aristocrat of great personal charm who placed herself at the center of many of the intrigues of the first half of the 17th century in France.

"The Duchess of York wished to have the portraits of the most beautiful women at Court," Anthony Hamilton wrote in the Memoirs of Count Grammont. "Lely painted them, and employed all his art in the execution. He could not have had more alluring sitters. Every portrait is a masterpiece."

The original set of "Beauties" painted by Lely were, as we find from James II's catalogue, eleven in number, their names being Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland (nee Villiers); Frances, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (nee Stuart); Mrs. Jane Myddleton (nee Needham); Elizabeth, Countess of Northumberland (nee Wriothesley); Elizabeth, Countess of Falmouth (nee Bagot); Elizabeth, Lady Denham (nee Brooke); Frances, Lady Whitmore (nee Brooke); Henrietta, Countess of Rochester (nee Boyle); Elizabeth, Countess de Grammont (nee Hamilton); and Madame d'Orleans.

It will be seen that in this list of "Beauties" Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, does not figure; but since she was responsible for the collection, it would be peculiarly ungracious to omit her from a volume that treats of it. Also, she deserves inclusion for her supreme courage in selecting the sitters-for what must the ladies who were not chosen have said and thought of her?

Nor in the series are Nell Gwyn, Louise de Keroualle, and the Duchess Mazarin; but no account of the social life of the Court of Charles II can possibly omit mention of them, and therefore something has been said about each of these ladies.

The new Revised Edition restores Melville's masterpiece of the intricate relationships and day-by-day account of court life in the reign of Charles II of England. This edition also adds a new glossary, bibliography, and extended footnotes for the lay history reader. Also included are first-ever translations of French language poems, letters, and epitaphs of St. Evremond completed by Coby Fletcher.

A thrilling new account of the tragic life and troubled times of Henry VI.

'The best life of Henry VI now in print' DAN JONES.
'Vivid, absorbing and richly detailed' HELEN CASTOR.
'A well-crafted moving account of a tragic reign' MICHAEL JONES.

First-born son of a warrior father who defeated the French at Agincourt, Henry VI of the House Lancaster inherited the crown not only of England but also of France, at a time when Plantagenet dominance over the Valois dynasty was at its glorious height.

And yet, by the time he was done to death in the Tower of London in 1471, France was lost, his throne had been seized by his rival, Edward IV of the House of York, and his kingdom had descended into the violent chaos of the Wars of the Roses.

Henry VI is perhaps the most troubled of English monarchs, a pious, gentle, well-intentioned man who was plagued by bouts of mental illness. In Shadow King, Lauren Johnson tells his remarkable and sometimes shocking story in a fast-paced and colourful narrative that captures both the poignancy of Henry's life and the tumultuous and bloody nature of the times in which he lived.

The Lao and the Siamese are descendants of the same Ai-Lao race, but they have different characters and destinies, and they established their own kingdoms. The invasion of ViengChan by Siam in 1779 left Lao LanXang in danger of total collapse. The twelve-year-old prince Chao Anouvong, the feudal ruling class, the court nobility and many of the people were forcefully taken to Siam, resulting in the total political extinction of a society that had governed LanXang for over 1,000 years. Chao Anouvong grew up in Bangkok and was regarded by the Siamese as a mere provincial ruler. He returned to ViengChan at the age of twenty-eight and became king, with nothing to support him but his own talents and his ambition to restore LanXang.

Discover all the foul facts about the history of royalty with history's most horrible headlines: Top 50 Kings and Queens edition. The master of making history fun, Terry Deary, turns his attention to 50 foul royals across history. From who kept a zoo in the Tower of London and which monarch died from eating too many eels to who pretended to be a corpse to make an escape. It's all in Horrible Histories: Top 50 Kings and Queens: fully illustrated throughout and packed with hair-raising stories - with all the horribly hilarious bits included with a fresh take on the classic Horrible Histories style, perfect for fans old and new the perfect series for anyone looking for a fun and informative read Horrible Histories has been entertaining children and families for generations with books, TV, stage show, magazines, games and 2019's brilliantly funny Horrible Histories: the Movie - Rotten Romans. Get your history right here and collect the whole horrible lot. Read all about it!

Louis XIV was a man in pursuit of glory. Not content to be the ruler of a world power, he wanted the power to rule the world. And, for a time, he came tantalizingly close. Philip Mansel's King of the World is the most comprehensive and up-to-date biography in English of this hypnotic, flawed figure who continues to captivate our attention. This lively work takes Louis outside Versailles and shows the true extent of his global ambitions, with stops in London, Madrid, Constantinople, Bangkok, and beyond. We witness the importance of his alliance with the Spanish crown and his success in securing Spain for his descendants, his enmity with England, and his relations with the rest of Europe, as well as Asia, Africa, and the Americas. We also see the king's effect on the two great global diasporas of Huguenots and Jacobites, and their influence on him as he failed in his brutal attempts to stop Protestants from leaving France. Along the way, we are enveloped in the splendor of Louis's court and the fascinating cast of characters who prostrated and plotted within it. King of the World is exceptionally researched, drawing on international archives and incorporating sources who knew the king intimately, including the newly released correspondence of Louis's second wife, Madame de Maintenon. Mansel's narrative flair is a perfect match for this grand figure, and he brings the Sun King's world to vivid life. This is a global biography of a global king, whose power was extensive but also limited by laws and circumstances, and whose interests and ambitions stretched far beyond his homeland. Through it all, we watch Louis XIV progressively turn from a dazzling, attractive young king to a belligerent reactionary who sets France on the path to 1789. It is a convincing and compelling portrait of a man who, three hundred years after his death, still epitomizes the idea of le grand monarque.

Using hitherto neglected sources, this work offers a dramatic reinterpretation of the Lancastrian revolution, and the establishment of Henry IV's kingship. It is also the first work for thirty years to re-examine the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV together, charting the shifting balance of power between the crown and the nobility across the turn of the fifteenth century.

The Nawab Nazim was born into one of India's most powerful royal families. Three times the size of Great Britain, his kingdom ranged from the soaring Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. However, in 1880, he was forced to abdicate by the British authorities, who saw him as a threat and permanently abolished his titles. The Nawab's change in fortune marked the end of an era in India and left his secret English family abandoned. The Last Prince of Bengal tells the true story of the Nawab Nazim and his family as they sought by turns to befriend, settle in and eventually escape Britain. From glamourous receptions with Queen Victoria to a scandalous Muslim marriage with an English chambermaid; and from Bengal tiger hunts to sheep farming in the harsh Australian outback, Lyn Innes recounts her ancestors' extraordinary journey from royalty to relative anonymity. This compelling account visits the extremes of British rule in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, exposing complex prejudices regarding race, class and gender. It is the intimate story of one family and their place in defining moments of recent Indian, British and Australian history.

Who better to write about history's most distinguished and powerful European women than a real princess? Princess Michael of Kent, well-loved after the publication of two popular history books, brings her unique, insider's perspective as a member of the British Royal Family to the fascinating portraits of eight European royal brides. Though of eminent birth and status in their own right, the women of Crowned in a Far Country all left their home countries to marry into the most coveted royal seats in the world. This absorbing book introduces us to the Prussian Princess Catherine, who later became Catherine the Great; to the Archduchess of Austria, later the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette; to Maria Caroline, also an Austrian archduchess, and later the Queen of Naples; to the Austrian Leopoldina, who relocated to a new continent to become the Empress of Brazil; to Eugenie, known as the wife of Louis-Napoleon and Empress of France; to Vicky, daughter of England's Queen Victoria and later Empress of Prussia; and to the Danish sisters who ruled as Queen of England and the Empress of Russia. Not just a window into the politics and power brokering of royal marriage, this work charts the transformations of privileged princesses into women of power and historical importance.

The story of the Stuart dynasty is a breathless soap opera played out in just a hundred years in an array of buildings that span Europe from Scotland, via Denmark, Holland and Spain to England. Life in the court of the House of Stuart has been shrouded in mystery: the first half of the century overshadowed by the fall and execution of Charles I, the second half in the complete collapse of the House itself. Lost to time is the extraordinary contribution the Stuarts made to the fabric of sovereignty. Every palace they built, painting they commissioned, or artwork they acquired was a direct reflection of the lives that they led and the way that they thought. Palaces of Revolution explores this rich history in graphic detail, giving a unique insight into the lives of this famous dynasty. It takes us from Royston and Newmarket, where James I appropriated most of the town centre as a sort of rough-and-ready royal housing estate, to the steamy Turkish baths at Whitehall where Charles II seduced his mistresses. We see the intimate private lives of the monarchs, presented through the buildings in which they lived and the objects they commissioned, creating an entirely new narrative of the Stuart century. Palaces of Revolution traces this extraordinary period across the places and palaces on which the action played out, giving us a thrilling new history of this remarkable dynasty.

A stunning tour de force and a remarkable achievement.- Alison Weir This is Our Island Story for the modern age. - Charles Spencer 'Not just a brilliant compendium of biographies, but the biography of an institution: a marvellous read' - Tom Holland 'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle' (William Shakespeare, Richard II) With 1000 years of royal history from 1066 to the present day, Domesday Book to Magna Carta the Field of Cloth of Gold to King Charles' accession, Crown & Sceptre is an unparalleled exploration of the British monarchy. From Sunday Times bestselling author and joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces Tracy Borman, comes a fresh, engaging and authoritative account of the crown's tumultuous history - including a chapter on King Charles III. Impeccably researched, Crown & Sceptre explores in gripping detail how this iconic institution has survived the storms of rebellion, revolution and war that brought most of the world's other monarchies to an abrupt and bloody end. It is a story of ruthless dynastic battles, political and social leadership, usurpation and abdication, all set against a backdrop of dazzling ceremony and pageantry. "Crown and Sceptre shows an astonishing command of a thousand years of the British monarchy, its traditions, roles and realities beyond the pageantry and romance. Beautifully crafted, insightful, and a genuine pleasure to read, it underscores the royal heritage at the heart of a nation." - Lauren Mackay "Crown and Sceptre" combines an eminently accessible narrative with a lucid scholarly lens. Tracy Borman skilfully unravels the trials and triumphs of this ever-shifting institution. By charting both the majesty and mechanics of monarchy, we get a vivid understanding of why its glittering gears shifted over time, and by whom the levers of change were pulled. A triumph.' - Owen Emmerson, Curator at Hever Castle 'Tracy Borman's passion for the British monarch and the crown is infectious and compelling!' - Estelle Paranque 'Borman embraces a huge task' - Gerard DeGroot, The Times Enlightening, gripping and skilfully composed, Tracy Borman navigates the twists and turns of the British monarchy with an expert hand. A pacy narrative that's simply bursting with colour and intrigue, Crown and Sceptre is both powerful and compulsively readable. A masterpiece. - Nicola Tallis

As the battle for royal supremacy raged between the houses of Lancaster and York, Margaret Beaufort, who was descended from Edward III and proved to be a critical threat to the Yorkist cause, was forced to give up her son - she would be separated from him for fourteen years. Surrounded by conspiracies in the enemy Yorkist court, Margaret remained steadfast, only just escaping the headman's axe as she plotted to overthrow Richard III and secure her son the throne. Against all odds, in 1485 Henry Tudor was victorious on the battlefield at Bosworth. Margaret's unceasing efforts and royal blood saw her son crowned King Henry VII, and Margaret became the most powerful woman in England. Nicola Tallis unmasks the many myths that have attached themselves to Margaret and reveals the real woman: an independent and vibrant character, who would risk everything to become Queen in all but name.