Acclaimed author Alison Weir brings to life the extraordinary tale of Katherine Swynford, a royal mistress who became one of the most crucial figures in the history of Great Britain. Born in the mid-fourteenth century, Katherine de Roet was only twelve when she married Hugh Swynford, an impoverished knight. But her story had truly begun two years earlier, when she was appointed governess to the household of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and fourth son of King Edward III. Widowed at twenty-one, Katherine became John's mistress and then, after many twists of fortune, his bride in a scandalous marriage. Mistress of the Monarchy reveals a woman ahead of her time--making her own choices, flouting convention, and taking control of her own destiny. Indeed, without Katherine Swynford, the course of English history, perhaps even the world, would have been very different.

Wallis Simpson was the woman who stole the king's heart and rocked the monarchy - but she was not Edward VIII's first or only love. This book is about the women he adored before Wallis dominated his life. There was Rosemary Leveson Gower, the girl he wanted to marry and who would have made the perfect match for a future king; the Prince's long-term mistress, Freda Dudley Ward, who exerted a pull almost equal to Wallis over her lover, but abided by the rules of the game and knew she would never marry him. Then there was Thelma Furness, his twice-married American lover, who enjoyed a domestic life with him, but realised it could not last forever and demanded nothing more than to be his mistress. In each love affair, Edward behaved like a cross between a little boy lost and a spoilt child. Each one of the three women in this book could have changed the course of history. In examining their lives and impact on the heir to the throne, we question whether he ever really wanted to be king.

NOW THE TV SERIES 'THE SERPENT QUEEN', STARRING SAMANTHA MORTON The bestselling revisionist biography of one of the great women of the 16th century Orphaned in infancy, Catherine de Medici was the sole legitimate heiress to the Medici family fortune. Married at fourteen to the future Henri II of France, she was constantly humiliated by his influential mistress Diane de Poitiers. When her husband died as a result of a duelling accident in Paris, Catherine was made queen regent during the short reign of her eldest son (married to Mary Queen of Scots and like many of her children he died young). When her second son became king she was the power behind the throne. She nursed dynastic ambitions, but was continually drawn into political and religious intrigues between Catholics and Protestants that plagued France for much of the later part of her life. It had always been said that she was implicated in the notorious Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, together with the king and her third son who succeeded to the throne in 1574, but was murdered. Her political influence waned, but she survived long enough to ensure the succession of her son-in-law who had married her daughter Margaret.

In anticipation of the upcoming royal wedding comes a new in-depth biography of Prince Harry, from royal expert Katie Nicholl-journalist, broadcaster, and author of the bestselling William and Harry and Kate. From his earliest public appearances as a mischievous redheaded toddler, Prince Harry has captured the hearts of royal enthusiasts around the world. In Harry: Life, Loss, and Love, Britain's leading expert on the young royals offers an unprecedented look at the wayward prince turned national treasure. Nicholl sheds new light on growing up royal, Harry's relationship with his mother, his troubled youth and early adulthood, and how his military service in Afghanistan inspired him to create his legacy, the Invictus Games. Harry: Life, Loss, and Love features interviews with friends, former courtiers and those who have worked with the prince. Nicholl explores Harry's relationship with his family, in particular, the Queen, his father, stepmother, and brother. She uncovers new information about his former girlfriends and chronicles his romance and engagement to Meghan Markle.

Richard II (1377-99) has long suffered from an unusually unmanly reputation. Over the centuries, he has been habitually associated with lavish courtly expenditure, absolutist ideas, Francophile tendencies, and a love of peace, all of which have been linked to the king's physical effeminacy. Even sympathetic accounts have essentially retained this picture, merely dismissing particular facets of it, or representing Richard's reputation as evidence of praiseworthy dissent from accepted norms of masculinity.
Christopher Fletcher takes a radically different approach, setting the politics of Richard II's reign firmly in the context of late medieval assumptions about the nature of manhood and youth. This makes it possible not only to understand the agenda of the king's critics, but also to suggest a new account of his actions. Far from being the effeminate tyrant of historical imagination, Richard was a typical young nobleman, trying to establish his manhood-and hence his authority to rule-by thoroughly conventional means; first through a military campaign, and then, fatally, through violent revenge against those who attempted to restrain him.
The failure of Richard's subjects to support this aspiration produced a sequence of conflicts with the king, in which his opponents found it convenient to ascribe to him the conventional faults of youth. These critiques derived their force not from the king's real personality, but from the fit between certain contemporary assumptions about youth, effeminacy, and masculinity on the one hand, and the actions of Richard's government-constrained by difficult and complex circumstances-on the other.

The authorised life story of the king who gave up his throne for love, by one of our most distinguished biographers. In this masterly authorized biography, Philip Ziegler reveals the complex personality of Edward VIII, the only British monarch to have voluntarily renounced the throne. With unique access to the Royal Archives, Ziegler overturns many myths about Edward and tells his side of the story - from his glamorous existence as Prince of Wales to his long decline in semi-exile in France. At the heart of the book is an unflinchingly honest examination of Edward's all-consuming passion for Wallis Simpson, which led to his dramatic abdication. Elegant and devastating, this is the most convincing portrait of Edward ever published.

In 1611, thirty-four-year-old Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble and widow of a subversive official, became the twentieth and favourite wife of the Emperor Jahangir who ruled the Mughal Empire. An astute politician as well as a devoted partner, she issued imperial orders; coins of the realm bore her name. When Jahangir was imprisoned by a rebellious nobleman, the Empress led troops into battle and rescued him. The only woman to acquire the stature of empress in her male-dominated world, Nur was also a talented dress designer and innovative architect whose work inspired her stepson's Taj Mahal. Nur's confident assertion of talent and power is revelatory; it far exceeded the authority of her female contemporaries, including Elizabeth I. Here, she finally receives her due in a deeply researched and evocative biography.

A "Washington Post Book World" Best Book of the Year
When her carriage first crossed over from her native Austria into France, fourteen-year-old Marie Antoinette was taken out, stripped naked before an entourage, and dressed in French attire to please the court of her new king. For a short while, the young girl played the part.
But by the time she took the throne, everything had changed. In "Queen of Fashion, " Caroline Weber tells of the radical restyling that transformed the young queen into an icon and shaped the future of the nation. With her riding gear, her white furs, her pouf hairstyles, and her intricate ballroom disguises, Marie Antoinette came to embody--gloriously and tragically--all the extravagance of the monarchy.

Soon to be the subject of a major motion picture starring Naomi Watts as the Princess of Wales
An icon remembered in death as vividly as she appeared in life, Diana, Princess of Wales, is one of the most enduring personalities of the twentieth century-and one of the most enigmatic. With exclusive access to all those closest to Diana, Sarah Bradford now casts aside the gossip and lies and takes us to the very heart of the royal family to separate the myth from the truth of the Diana years. With the authority missing from previous accounts, as well as remarkable new sources, "Diana" delivers a complex and explosive look at a woman who continues to fascinate.

Jane Parker, later Viscountess Rochford, was the sister-in-law of Anne Boleyn and was executed alongside Katherine Howard, yet she has remained in the shadows throughout the years, surrounded by more myths than facts. She is often portrayed as a malicious woman who was jealous of her husband's relationship with his sister, but the evidence does not support that. So why is she portrayed as such? It may be the ambiguous nature of her dealings with Henry VIII's fifth queen, Katherine Howard, that have influenced our view of her, but her real story deserves to be told in full. Jane Parker: The Downfall of Two Tudor Queens? is the next instalment in an exciting new historical true crime series from Chronos Books.

Princess Victoria Melita played a colourful role from her birth in 1876. The second daughter of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, she made a brief and unhappy marriage at the age of 17 to her cousin, Ernest, Grand Duke of Hesse. In the face of strong opposition from her family she divorced him seven years later and married another cousin, Grand Duke Cyril of Russia, resulting in three years of exile. When revolution toppled the empire in 1917, the Grand Duke and Duchess and their children escaped to Finland, living in danger for three long years. Following the atrocities of the Bolsheviks at the time, including the murder of most of the Romanov family, the Grand Duke believed he was the senior surviving member of the imperial house, and proclaimed himself Tsar. However, they were never able to return to their homeland, and the Grand Duchess died in exile in 1936. Using previously unpublished correspondence from the Royal Archives and Astor papers, this is a portrait of the Princess, set against the imperial courst of the turn of the 20th century and inter-war Europe.

The six children of King George V and Queen Mary all lived to maturity except the youngest, Prince John. The eldest, who was Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, reigned as King Edward VIII for less than a year. His infamous romance with Mrs Simpson plunged the country into the abdication crisis and led both of them into a long period of exile. King George VI, who reluctantly and unexpectedly ascended to the throne, was a shy man, handicapped by a speech impediment and a sense of his own inadequacy. However, together with his Consort, Queen Elizabeth, and the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, he gave the nation spirited guidance throughout World War II. Both surviving younger brothers served in the armed forces during war-time. Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was Governor General of Australia from 1944-6 and crowned his military career with promotion to the rank of Field-Marshal. George, Duke of Kent, an officer in the RAF, was tragically killed on active service in 1942. The only sister, Mary, Princess Royal, worked both as a nurse, and a royal ambassador abroad. This book tells the story of the family.

Abundant, newly discovered sources shatter long-held beliefs

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 revealed, among many other things, a hidden wealth of archival documents relating to the imprisonment and eventual murder of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children. Emanating from sources both within and close to the Imperial Family as well as from their captors and executioners, these often-controversial materials have enabled a new and comprehensive examination of one the pivotal events of the twentieth century and the many controversies that surround it.

Based on a careful analysis of more than 500 of these previously unpublished documents, along with numerous newly discovered photos, The Fate of the Romanovs makes compelling revisions to many long-held beliefs about the Romanovs’ final months and moments. This powerful account includes:

• Surprising evidence that Anastasia may, indeed, have survived
• Diary entries made by Nicholas and Alexandra during their captivity
• Revelations of how the Romanovs were betrayed by trusted servants
• A reconstruction of daily life among the prisoners at Ipatiev House
• Strong evidence that the Romanovs were not brutalized by their captors
• Statements from admitted participants in the murders

Richard II, son of the Black Prince, had a dramatic and contentious kingship. At fourteen he faced down the ringleaders of the Peasant Revolt of 1381; only to reach the nadir of his royal authority in 1388 with the Merciless Parliament. Yet in only a decade, his rule was being referred to as 'the tyranny'. This collection of essays by leading historians aims to re-evaluate the frequently biased evidence and create a rounded portrait of this fascinating and much maligned figure.

This book intervenes in debates over the significance of Diana, Princess of Wales by offering a critical account of her media iconicity from 1981 to the present. It outlines the historical development of representations of Diana, analysing the ways in which the Princess has been understood via discourses of gender, sexuality, race, economic class, the royal, national identity, and the human. The book then goes on to assess the issues at stake in debates over the 'meaning' of Diana, such as the gender politics of cultural icon-making and deconstruction, and conflicting notions of cultural value.

After the recent success of Princess, More Tears to Cry the Princess Al-Saud and Jean Sasson are collaborating on this new book to bring readers up to date not only with the Princess and her family but the stories and experiences of characters who formed the focus of the last book: Dr Meena - the woman who helps abused women to heal and fight for their rights, and Fatima, the mother of twin daughters who, once abused and abandoned by her family, now works for the Princess in one of the royal palaces. Here too, are the stories of other Muslim women - women who are struggling with human rights abuses from across the region - from Pakistan, Syria and Northern Lebanon - and the many innocent victims who suffer the consequences of ISIS's march across the Middle East. This new book will attract both Jean Sasson's many loyal readers and new audiences eager to learn more about not only how the Saudi Royal family live, but how with courage and determination the Princess continues the fight for equal rights for women in the Middle East.

Chosen as a Book of the Year in The Times and the Daily Mail 'Highly entertaining' Sunday Times 'Enthralling' Daily Telegraph For more than six decades, Queen Victoria ruled a great Empire at the height of its power. Beside her for more than twenty of those years was the love of her life, her trusted husband and father of their nine children, Prince Albert. But while Victoria is seen as the embodiment of her time, it was Prince Albert, A. N. Wilson expertly argues, who was at the vanguard of Victorian Britain's transformation as a vibrant and extraordinary centre of political, technological, scientific and intellectual advancement. A composer, engineer, soldier, politician, linguist and bibliophile, Prince Albert, more than any other royal, was truly a 'genius'.

Unique in his own age and a phenomenon in any, Charles-Maurice, Prince de Talleyrand, was a statesman of outstanding ability and extraordinary contradictions. He was a world-class rogue who held high office in five successive regimes. A well-known opportunist and a notorious bribe taker, Talleyrand's gifts to France arguably outvalued the vast personal fortune he amassed in her service.

Once a supporter of the Revolution, after the fall of the monarchy, he fled to England and then to the United States. Talleyrand returned to France two years later and served under Napoleon, and represented France at the Congress of Vienna. Duff Cooper's classic biography contains all the vigor, elegance, and intellect of its remarkable subject.

'The best account so far of the most notorious woman... Andrew Morton presents a convincing picture of Wallis Simpson's rip-roaring sexual and social adventures and her curious marriage to the Duke of Windsor... His new research adds to our knowledge of her whole career.' Sarah Bradford, historical biographer 'Remarkable. Supersedes and surpasses all previous Wallis biographies... Andrew Morton's crowning achievement.' - Christopher Wilson, author of Dancing with the Devil: The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue '[a] groundbreaking biography of Wallis Simpson... Morton has finally given her the biography she deserves.' - The Lady ____________________________________________ Sunday Times bestselling author Andrew Morton reveals new information and sources that totally transform our perception of Wallis Simpson. Wallis in Love brings a fascinating new perspective on the 20th century's most controversial royal scandal. Andrew Morton's impeccable research and unerring skill for riveting storytelling combine to present a strong case for a startling reveal: that the woman who rocked the world with her uncompromising passion for the Prince of Wales may have fooled everyone by keeping the true object of her passion hidden away... From her relatively lowly beginnings in America, to her rise through the social ranks and her determination to one day beat men at their own game and the ultimate conquest of the Prince of Wales, Morton paints a vivid and multi-faceted picture of a woman, who may have won the jewel in the British crown but very possibly at the expense of her true happiness. Wallis in Love reveals the men Wallis truly loved, the men who broke her heart - and the hearts she broke in turn. In this vivid and fresh portrait of the Duchess of Windsor, Morton draws on interviews, secret letters, diaries and never before seen or heard primary sources.

The official biography of Queen Mary, grandmother of the current Queen, originally commissioned in 1959 - with a new foreword by Hugo Vickers. When Queen Mary died in 1953, James Pope-Hennessy was commissioned to write an official biography of her - unusual for a Queen Consort. Queen Mary's life, contrary to popular belief, was essentially dramatic, and she played a far more important and influential role in the affairs of the British monarchy than her public image might have otherwise suggested. Using material from the Royal Archives, private papers and Queen Mary's personal diaries and letters, Pope-Hennessy's biography was a remarkable portrait of a remarkable woman and received rave reviews across the press. Long out of print, this new edition of Queen Mary will be accompanied by a new foreword from royal biographer and writer Hugo Vickers.

This beautifully illustrated biography is part of the Pitkin Royal Collection series, celebrating the lives of the British royal family. The expertly written text offers an insight into the private and public life of the heir to the throne of England, from his early years at Buckingham Palace through to his education at Gordonstoun and Trinity College, Cambridge, as well as his time in the Royal Navy. With a wide range of humanitarian and social interests, Charles is patron to a number of charities and organisations, including The Princes s Trust, founded in 1976. He has played a central role as father to Princes William and Harry and his devotion and dedication to his mother, Queens Elizabeth II, is outstanding.