The life, career and medieval biography of Gruffudd ap Cynan, king of Gwynedd 1095-1137. The reign of the North Welsh king Gruffudd ap Cynan [1075-1135] marked the culmination of a century of rapid social and political change. A product of three cultures [Welsh, Irish and Scandinavian], Gruffudd faced a Wales dividedby Norman incursion and dynastic rivalry; his re-creation of his kingdom saw him acting on the wider (and often deadly) stage of Anglo-Norman politics, and surviving where more `traditional' Welsh rulers failed. His reign encouraged a new growth in Welsh literature and creativity, and is often looked upon as a literary `golden age'. This collaborative biography analyses key aspects of the career and context of this remarkable king. Dr K.L. MAUNDteaches in the School of History and Archaeology, University of Wales, Cardiff. Other contributors: DAVID MOORE, C.P. LEWIS, DAVID E. THORNTON, K.L. MAUND, JUDITH JESCH, NERYS ANN JONES, CERI DAVIES, J.E. CAERWYN WILLIAMS

** Now updated to cover Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement. ** Prince Henry of Wales has emerged as the unexpected jewel in the crown of the modern British monarchy. Despite his unruly antics, for which he's made headlines all over the world, Harry has won the nation's admiration and respect through his commitment to helping injured servicemen and women with the Invictus Games and his spearheading of mental health issues. With updated chapters on Harry's flourishing relationship with American actress Meghan Markle, Duncan Larcombe's insightful and highly entertaining biography is the inside story of how a young prince has grown and matured into a respected soldier, charitable fundraiser and national figurehead who still retains his reputation as a heart-throb and lovable rogue.

Unseen behind the throne, two sides of the royal bloodline competed for influence, and egregious family secrets had to be protected. Meanwhile, in public, a succession of family ruptures put the monarchy under unprecedented scrutiny from the world's media. From the turbulent loves of Princess Margaret to the tragic saga of Princess Diana, from the torments of Prince Charles to the arrival of Meghan Markle, tensions gripped the House of Windsor. Through all this, Elizabeth II remained steadfast in her values while many of those around her seemed to lose their moorings. Clive Irving's gripping account casts new light on seventy tempestuous years of British history, exploring how the Queen, uncomfortable with the pace of the social and cultural changes in her nation, and often seeming out of touch, resolutely kept the monarchy stable in a rapidly changing world. With unparalleled insight, Irving examines the pivotal events of the Queen's reign and then steps above them to assess her role in the royal family's Faustian pact with the media. The final irony is, as Irving's carefully measured scrutiny shows, that in the last decades of her reign the Queen endures to become one of the most admired people in the world while remaining one of the least known and understood. She will likely be the last Queen of the United Kingdom.

This rich and compelling volume describes the life of Kaiser Wilhelm II from his birth in 1859 to his accession to the Prusso-German throne in 1888, a story so extraordinary that it will fascinate anyone interested in the psychology and the throng of personalities of the period. Its aim is to set the characters on the stage and let them speak for themselves, which in their letters and diaries the Victorians and Wilhelminians did with quite extraordinary clarity and persuasive power. The central theme is the bitter conflict between the handicapped Prince and his liberal parents, and in particular with his mother, the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and the utter failure of a daring educational experiment intended to turn the young Prince into a liberal Anglophile.

'Expertly researched, zestfully written, acutely intelligent in its historical judgements, this masterly biography finally does justice to a forgotten Tudor princess' John Guy

Sometime heir to the English throne, courtier in danger of losing her head, spy-mistress and would-be architect of a united Catholic Britain: Lady Margaret Douglas is the Tudor who survived and triumphed -but at a terrible cost.

Niece to Henry VIII and half-sister to James V of Scotland, the beautiful and Catholic Margaret held a unique position in the English court. Throughout her life, she was to navigate treacherous waters: survival demanded it. Yet Margaret was no passive pawn. As the Protestant Reformations unfolded across the British Isles, she had ambitions of her own: to see her family rule a united, Catholic Britain. When her niece Mary, Queen of Scots was widowed, Margaret saw her chance. Thoroughly Machiavellian, she set in motion a chain of events that would see her descendants succeed to the crowns of England, Ireland and Scotland.

Drawing on previously unexamined archival sources, So High a Blood revives the story of Lady Margaret Douglas to vivid and captivating effect.

A lost princess and a vanished world- a remarkable true story that moves from the Punjab of the Raj to 1930s Paris and the cataclysm of the Second World War A lost princess and a vanished world- a remarkable true story that moves from the Punjab of the Raj to 1930s Paris and the cataclysm of the Second World War On a sweltering day in 2007, Italian writer Livia Manera Sambuy encounters a photograph of Princess Amrit Kaur in a Mumbai museum. The picture is arresting, gorgeous - but the caption will change Livia's life forever. It claims that the Punjabi princess sold her jewels in occupied Paris to save Jewish lives, only to be arrested by the Gestapo and sent to a concentration camp where she died within a year. It's a sensational story - and for Livia, the beginning of a compulsive search for the truth as she delves into the history of the British Raj, the diamonds and sapphires of the twentieth-century aristocracy, and the lives of extraordinary figures- bankers, jewellers, explorers and spies. Past and present converge when Livia travels to meet Bubbles, the princess's daughter, now in her eighties. Striving to reconnect Bubbles with the elusive woman who abandoned her in 1933, Livia unearths a strange and complicated family history; one that diverges unexpectedly from the story that she set out to uncover. Filled with glamour and terror, beauty and sorrow, In Search of Amrit Kaur is an engrossing detective story, a kaleidoscopic history lesson, and a moving portrait of mothers, lovers and daughters across the century, seeking personal freedom.

Join us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the filming locations for the award-winning Netflix series The Crown.The series recreates the romance and intrigue at the heart of our very own royal family and within these pages we seek out the settings so integral to the story, linking each 'fictional' site to its real-life counterpart.Covering the first four series, starting with Princess Elizabeth's marriage to Prince Philip in 1947 and concluding in 1990 - in particular with the relationship of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer following their 1981 wedding - this is the perfect opportunity for every fan of The Crown to follow in the footsteps of royalty.Stunning Ely Cathedral provides the backdrop to the iconic Westminster Abbey where Princess Elizabeth's wedding took place, while Belvoir Castle, Hatfield House and Burghley House are just three of the fine locations that 'double' as Windsor Castle. Historic Winchester Cathedral transforms into St Paul's Cathedral in the run-up to the wedding of Charles and Diana, its versatility also seeing it representing both Romsey Abbey and Westminster Abbey.Sweeping across Britain from London and the home counties to the Welsh treasure that is Caernarfon Castle, heading north to Manchester and Liverpool and onwards to the majestic Scottish Highlands, The Crown's Royal Britain takes you on a royal tour of Britain and the venues that were an inspiration for this special drama.Many of the featured sites are open to the public so as well as learning about how these places played their part you can visit and enjoy the real spectacle in person.

They're not like us, the royal family. Or are they? We simply don't know and we're all desperate to find out. This A-Z of royalty is the practical miscellany of the royal family that everyone's been waiting for. Did the Queen Mum really give all her clothes to charity? Hundreds of people send Her Majesty boxes of chocolates on her birthday, but what happens to them? Where are the best places to go to see the royal family? Does the Queen hold a driving licence and did she pass a test? What are the correct days and hours when it is permitted to fly a flag above Buckingham Palace? Including fascinating facts on abdication, birthdays, Christmas, dining, equerries, fashion, garden parties, hairdressers, insignia, the Jewel House, Kensington Palace, liveries, maids of honour, nannies, orbs, protection squads, the Queen's piper, racing, Snowdon, tartans, the Union Jack, Queen Victoria, weddings, the X-ray machine at Buckingham Palace, yachts and Meghan Markle, this is an unstoppable, unbeatable little guide to our great monarchy.

Mary Queen of Scots is perhaps the most romantic and tragic figure in British history. Was her tragic life a product of bad luck, bad advice, or ambition? Destined to marry the Dauphin of France and reign as his queen, his early death changed Mary's life. As claimant then in France, England and Scotland, there are many mysteries and unanswered questions in the tragedies that befell her. This fascinating book looks at Mary Queen of Scot's life and death. Angela Royston examines Mary's early life as the Infant Queen before her childhood in France, moving onto her time in Scotland and her scandalous marriage to Lord Darnley, and Mary's imprisonment and execution after being charged with treason. A must for any student of history or visitor to England, this revised edition of a Pitkin classic is filled with colour photographs and reproductions of historical artworks and artifacts to illuminate the life of Mary Queen of Scots.

A definitive portrait of one of the most compelling monarchs England has ever had: Elizabeth I. 'We are a prince from a line of princes.' Lisa Hilton's majestic biography of Elizabeth I, 'The Virgin Queen', uses new research to present a fresh interpretation of Elizabeth as a queen who saw herself primarily as a Renaissance prince, delivering a very different perspective on her emotional and sexual life, and upon her attempts to mould England into a European state. Elizabeth was not an exceptional woman but an exceptional ruler, and this book challenges readers to reassess her reign, and the colourful drama, scandal and intrigue to which it is always linked.

The surprising, deliciously dramatic, and ultimately heartbreaking story of King George III's radical pursuit of happiness in his private life with Queen Charlotte and their 15 children

In the U.S., Britain's George III, the protagonist of "A Royal Experiment," is known as the king from whom Americans won their independence and as "the mad king," but in Janice Hadlow's groundbreaking and entertaining new biography, he is another character altogether--compelling and relatable.

He was the first of Britain's three Hanoverian kings to be born in England, the first to identify as native of the nation he ruled. But this was far from the only difference between him and his predecessors. Neither of the previous Georges was faithful to his wife, nor to his mistresses. Both hated their own sons. And, overall, their children were angry, jealous, and disaffected schemers, whose palace shenanigans kick off Hadlow's juicy narrative and also made their lives unhappy ones.

Pained by his childhood amid this cruel and feuding family, George came to the throne aspiring to be a new kind of king--a force for moral good. And to be that new kind of king, he had to be a new kind of man. Against his irresistibly awful family background--of brutal royal intrigue, infidelity, and betrayal--George fervently pursued a radical domestic dream: he would have a faithful marriage and raise loving, educated, and resilient children.

The struggle of King George--along with his wife, Queen Charlotte, and their 15 children--to pursue a passion for family will surprise history buffs and delight a broad swath of biography readers and royal watchers.

A beautifully presented gift book this Christmas Our most travelled monarch covered well over 1,000,000 miles and visited 117 countries during her reign. From New Zealand to Barbados, we look back at Queen Elizabeth's most memorable Commonwealth visits. While the Commonwealth itself has endured the challenges of a changing society over the last seven decades, one constant always remained: Queen Elizabeth. Explore the nature of this evolving relationship through The Times archives, with striking full-colour photographs and authoritative accounts of news stories as they unfolded across the globe. In this beautifully designed volume you'll find: * Timelines for each decade of state visits, from the 1950s to the 2010s * Striking, full-colour photographs of Queen Elizabeth on tour * Articles from The Times archives, reporting on events as they unfolded

Twice a princess, twice exiled, Neslishah Sultan had an eventful life. When she was born in Istanbul in 1921, cannons were fired in the four corners of the Ottoman Empire, commemorative coins were issued in her name, and her birth was recorded in the official register of the palace. After all, she was an imperial princess and the granddaughter of Sultan Vahiddedin. But she was the last member of the imperial family to be accorded such honors: in 1922 Vahiddedin was deposed and exiled, replaced as caliph-but not as sultan-by his brother (and Neslishah's other grandfather) Abdulmecid; in 1924 Abdulmecid was also removed from office, and the entire imperial family, including three-year-old Neslishah, was sent into exile. Sixteen years later on her marriage to Prince Abdel Moneim, the son of the last khedive of Egypt, she became a princess of the Egyptian royal family. And when in 1952 her husband was appointed regent for Egypt's infant king, she took her place at the peak of Egyptian society as the country's first lady, until the abolition of the monarchy the following year. Exile followed once more, this time from Egypt, after the royal couple faced charges of treason. Eventually Neslishah was allowed to return to the city of her birth, where she died at the age of 91 in 2012. Based on original documents and extensive personal interviews, this account of one woman's extraordinary life is also the story of the end of two powerful dynasties thirty years apart.

For more than 70 years, the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip was at the centre of the nation's life. Now, in My Husband and I, Ingrid Seward reveals the real story of their loving and enduring relationship. When a young Princess Elizabeth met and fell in love with the dashing Naval Lieutenant Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, it wasn't without its problems. The romance between the sailor prince and the young princess brought a splash of colour to a nation still in the grip of post-war austerity. When they married in Westminster Abbey in November 1947, there were 3000 guests, including six kings and seven queens. Within five years, as Queen Elizabeth II, she would ascend to the throne and later be crowned in front of millions watching through the new medium of television. Throughout her record-breaking reign until Prince Philip's death on 9 April 2021, she relied on the formidable partnership she had made with her consort. Now, acclaimed royal biographer Ingrid Seward sheds new light on their relationship and its impact on their family and on the nation. In My Husband and I, we discover the challenges faced by Prince Philip as he had to learn to play second fiddle to the Queen in all their public engagements, but we also get a revealing insight into how their relationship operated behind closed doors. As the years went by, there were rumours of marital troubles, fierce debates over how to bring up their children, and they had to deal with family traumas - from scandalous divorces to shocking deaths - in the full glare of the public eye. But somehow, their relationship endured and provided a model of constancy to inspire all around them. This book is not only a vivid portrait of a hugely important marriage, it is a celebration of the power of love.

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.

The fate of Richard III's nephews, Edward V and Richard of York, who disappeared after his coronation in 1483, remains controversial centuries after Thomas More's history and Shakespeare's play laid the blame on their conniving uncle. Later writers, unconvinced of the king's guilt, have tried (with little success) to portray him as an innocent victim of Tudor propaganda, pointing instead to a number of unlikely culprits, including Henry Tudor and the Duke of Buckingham. This book sifts through the available evidence concerning the fate of the two boys. The author examines the facts, discusses who may or may not have known key information and offers a reasoned solution to the question, What really happened to the two princes?

A lawyer by profession, Theodore Martin (1816-1909) gained literary distinction as both a humorous essayist and versatile translator. He found his greatest success, however, in the role of biographer to Prince Albert (1819-61). Commissioned by Queen Victoria to memorialise her late husband, this five-volume work was first published between 1875 and 1880. Intended as a continuation of the biography begun by Charles Grey (also reissued in this series), it has been described as 'less adulatory in tone than might be expected'. A treasury of letters and memoranda, it presents a detailed portrait of the character, words and deeds of a man whose life was necessarily immersed in the great events of his time. Volume 1 covers Albert's youth, his marriage to Victoria and the early years as her husband, up until the birth of their sixth child, Princess Louise, in 1848.

A lawyer by profession, Theodore Martin (1816-1909) gained literary distinction as both a humorous essayist and versatile translator. He found his greatest success, however, in the role of biographer to Prince Albert (1819-61). Commissioned by Queen Victoria to memorialise her late husband, this five-volume work was first published between 1875 and 1880. Intended as a continuation of the biography begun by Charles Grey (also reissued in this series), it has been described as 'less adulatory in tone than might be expected'. A treasury of letters and memoranda, it presents a detailed portrait of the character, words and deeds of a man whose life was necessarily immersed in the great events of his time. Volume 2 covers the period from 1848 to 1854, the births of Princes Arthur and Leopold, the collapse of the Chartist movement and the 'spectacular success' of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

A lawyer by profession, Theodore Martin (1816-1909) gained literary distinction as both a humorous essayist and versatile translator. He found his greatest success, however, in the role of biographer to Prince Albert (1819-61). Commissioned by Queen Victoria to memorialise her late husband, this five-volume work was first published between 1875 and 1880. Intended as a continuation of the biography begun by Charles Grey (also reissued in this series), it has been described as 'less adulatory in tone than might be expected'. A treasury of letters and memoranda, it presents a detailed portrait of the character, words and deeds of a man whose life was necessarily immersed in the great events of his time. Volume 3 covers the period from 1854 to 1856 and deals extensively with the significant role played by Albert during the Crimean War.

A lawyer by profession, Theodore Martin (1816-1909) gained literary distinction as both a humorous essayist and versatile translator. He found his greatest success, however, in the role of biographer to Prince Albert (1819-61). Commissioned by Queen Victoria to memorialise her late husband, this five-volume work was first published between 1875 and 1880. Intended as a continuation of the biography begun by Charles Grey (also reissued in this series), it has been described as 'less adulatory in tone than might be expected'. A treasury of letters and memoranda, it presents a detailed portrait of the character, words and deeds of a man whose life was necessarily immersed in the great events of his time. Volume 4 deals with the difficult period of 1856-9, which saw mutiny in India, worldwide commercial uncertainty, and the beginning of a decline in Albert's health.

A lawyer by profession, Theodore Martin (1816-1909) gained literary distinction as both a humorous essayist and versatile translator. He found his greatest success, however, in the role of biographer to Prince Albert (1819-61). Commissioned by Queen Victoria to memorialise her late husband, this five-volume work was first published between 1875 and 1880. Intended as a continuation of the biography begun by Charles Grey (also reissued in this series), it has been described as 'less adulatory in tone than might be expected'. A treasury of letters and memoranda, it presents a detailed portrait of the character, words and deeds of a man whose life was necessarily immersed in the great events of his time. Volume 5 covers Albert's final years, from 1859 to his protracted illness and death in 1861 at the age of forty-two.

A personal account of the life and character of Britain's longest-reigning monarch now with added material about the coronation of King Charles III.

This intimate, personal biography of our beloved Queen Elizabeth II tells the story of her remarkable life, reign and times, from a perspective unlike any other. Gyles Brandreth will write the Queen's tale candidly with grace and sensitivity from the view of someone so close to her, her husband Philip and the wider Royal family.

Told with a refreshing dose of humor and moving honesty from a totally unique viewpoint, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait is the must-have biography of the longest-serving monarch in English history, of a woman who has represented not only her people but stood as an emblem of fortitude and resilience worldwide, throughout her long life.

In 1936, the British monarchy faced the greatest threats to its survival in the modern era--the crisis of abdication and the menace of Nazism. The fate of the country rested in the hands of George V's sorely unequipped sons: *a stammering King George VI, terrified that the world might discover he was unfit to rule *a dull-witted Prince Henry, who wanted only a quiet life in the army *the too-glamorous Prince George, the Duke of Kent--a reformed hedonist who found new purpose in the RAF and would become the first royal to die in a mysterious plane crash *the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, deemed a Nazi-sympathizer and traitor to his own country--a man who had given it all up for love Princes at War is a riveting portrait of these four very different men miscast by fate, one of whom had to save the monarchy at a moment when kings and princes from across Europe were washing up on England's shores as the old order was overturned. Scandal and conspiracy swirled around the palace and its courtiers, among them dangerous cousins from across Europe's royal families, gold-digging American socialite Wallis Simpson, and the King's Lord Steward, upon whose estate Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess parachuted (seemingly by coincidence) as London burned under the Luftwaffe's tireless raids. Deborah Cadbury draws on new research, personal accounts from the royal archives, and other never-before-revealed sources to create a dazzling sequel to The King's Speech and tell the true and thrilling drama of Great Britain at war and of a staggering transformation for its monarchy.

The acclaimed biography by Jeffrey Robinson, now revised and updated to coincide with the major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman as Princess Grace.
It was one of the most famous romances of the 20th century--Europe's most eligible bachelor, Prince Rainier of Monaco, and America's most beautiful movie star, the Academy Award-winning actress Grace Kelly, fell in love against the backdrop of the closest thing the modern world has to a magical kingdom, the French Riviera's Principality of Monaco.
Told with affection and humor, and written with the unprecedented cooperation of Prince Rainier III and his children, Prince Albert, Princess Caroline, and Princess Stephanie, Grace of Monaco takes readers beneath the surface glitz and the glamour of Monte Carlo for a never-to-be-forgotten portrait of the House of Grimaldi.

It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother's coffin as the world watched in sorrow - and horror. As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling - and how their lives would play out from that point on.

For Harry, this is that story at last.

With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.

Prince Harry wishes to support British charities with donations from his proceeds from Spare. The Duke of Sussex has donated $1,500,000 to Sentebale, an organisation he founded with Prince Seeiso in their mothers' legacies, which supports vulnerable children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana affected by HIV/AIDS. Prince Harry will also donate to the non-profit organisation WellChild in the amount of £300,000. WellChild, which he has been Royal patron of for fifteen years, makes it possible for children and young people with complex health needs to be cared for at home instead of hospital, wherever possible.