The Encomium Emmae Reginae is a political tract in praise, as its title suggests, of Queen Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy, wife of King Ethelred the Unready from 1002 to 1016, and wife of the Danish conqueror King Cnut from 1017 to 1035. It is a primary source of the utmost importance for our understanding of the Danish conquest of England in the early eleventh century, and for the political intrigue in the years which followed the death of King Cnut in 1035. It offers a remarkable account of a woman who was twice a queen, and of her determination to retain her power as queen-mother. This reprint, which contains the definitive text and translation of the Encomium Emmae Reginae first published in 1949, traces the basic outline of Queen Emma's career and transports us to the heart of eleventh-century politics by defining as clearly as possible the historical context in which the Encomium was written.

Following the dramatic announcement that Richard III's body had been discovered, past controversies have been matched by fresh disputes. Why is Richard III England's most controversial king? The question of his reburial has provoked national debate and protest, taking levels of interest in the medieval king to an unprecedented level. While Richard's life remains able to polarise opinion, the truth probably lies somewhere between the maligned saint and the evil hunchback stereotypes. Why did he seize the throne? Did he murder the Princes in the Tower? Why have the location and details of his reburial sparked a parliamentary debate? This book will act as both an introduction to his life and reign and a commemoration to tie in with his reburial.

WITH AN EXCLUSIVE NEW CHAPTER FOR THE PAPERBACK EDITION The Amazon No.1 Bestseller The Sunday Times Bestseller THE ROYAL BOOK OF THE YEAR _________________________________ 'Eye-poppingly revealing. . . impeccable sources, historical heft and canny insights served up with a zingy wit. There are many royal biographers, but few as good as this. She turns gossip into the first draft of history.' TELEGRAPH From the Queen's stoic resolve to the crisis of Meghan and Harry. From the ascendance of Camilla and Kate to the downfall of Andrew. Full of remarkable inside access, The Palace Papers by Sunday Times bestselling author Tina Brown will change how you understand the Royal Family. 'Clever, well-informed and disgustingly entertaining' THE TIMES 'There are royal books, and there are royal books. But The Palace Papers is in a genre of its own' RADIO TIMES 'Jaw dropping! What a book . . . if you ever want to feel like a fly on the wall of any of the palaces, this is it.' LORRAINE KELLY 'Brown's prose has the swoosh of an enjoyably OTT ballgown' FINANCIAL TIMES 'The world's sharpish and best-informed royal expert' PIERS MORGAN 'Riveting and rigorous' PANDORA SYKES 'A witty, rip-roaring read . . . full off perceptive and witty observations' i Newspaper 'A rollicking ride through recent royal family history . . . Tina Brown's sparkling prose and eye for detail enliven an entertaining expose' OBSERVER 'The most explosive royal book of the year' THE SUN 'Gloriously irreverent, racily written and often very funny. The early chapters on the long affair between Prince Charles and Camilla read like a non-fiction version of Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles' NEW STATESMAN 'A motherlode of delectable gossip . . . Brown has produced a work both scholarly and scandalous that makes us think about what the post-Elizabethan world may bring, alternately amusing and horrifying us along the way . . . vivid and richly-embroidered' INDEPENDENT 'The devil is in the delicious detail . . . Brown tackles her subjects with the same brio she brought to her years as a highly regarded magazine editor . . . Her access to those who flit around the royals gives her writing an edgy authenticity' DAILY MAIL 'Brown thrashes her way through absolutely everything that has happened to the family since the end of the last book in 1997 . . . Charles and Camilla are vividly brought to life in a series of well-researched stories and anecdotes' SUNDAY TIMES 'The Palace Papers is a sharp-nibbed observation of a generation of tumult for the House of Windsor, bookended by the deaths of Princess Diana and Prince Philip. It's a story about media as much as monarchy, and it draws from almost every chapter in Brown's career in journalism' FINANCIAL TIMES 'It's hard to look away as Tina Brown delves into decades' worth of royal scandals' GUARDIAN 'Utter brilliance . . . a rip-roaring read' SCOTSMAN 'A brilliant book. Tina Brown has inside knowledge and writes so well' LADY ANNE GLENCONNER (author of Lady in Waiting) _________________________________ 'Never again', became Queen Elizabeth II's mantra shortly after Diana's death. More specifically, there could never be 'another Diana' - a member of the family whose global popularity upstaged, outshone, and posed an existential threat to the British monarchy. Picking up where The Diana Chronicles left off, The Palace Papers reveals how the royal family reinvented itself after the traumatic years when Diana's blazing celebrity ripped through the House of Windsor like a comet. Tina Brown takes readers on a tour de force journey that shows the Queen's stoic resolve as she coped with the passing of Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother and her partner for seven decades, Prince Philip, and triumphed in her Jubilee years even as the family dramas raged around her. She explores Prince Charles's determination to make Camilla his queen, the tension between William and Harry who are on 'different paths', the ascendance Kate Middleton, the disturbing allegations surrounding Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, and Harry and Meghan's stunning decision to 'step back' as senior royals. Despite the fragile monarchy's best efforts, 'never again' seems fast approaching.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER 'Explosive' The Sun 'Accounts from insiders who have never spoken before' The Times 'Bombshell' The Mirror The British Royal Family believed that the dizzy success of the Sussex wedding, watched and celebrated around the world, was the beginning of a new era for the Windsors. Yet, within one tumultuous year, the dream became a nightmare. In the aftermath of the infamous Megxit split and the Oprah Winfrey interview, the Royal Family's fate seems persistently threatened. The public remains puzzled. Meghan's success has alternatively won praise, bewildered and outraged. Confused by the Sussexes' slick publicity, few understand the real Meghan Markle. What lies ahead for Meghan? And what has happened to the family she married into? Can the Windsors restore their reputation? With extensive research, expert sourcing and interviews from insiders who have never spoken before, Tom Bower, Britain's leading investigative biographer, unpicks the tangled web of courtroom drama, courtier politics and thwarted childhood dreams to uncover an astonishing story of love, betrayal, secrets and revenge.

After the Second World War, war crimes prosecutors charged two of King George VI's closest German relatives with 'crimes against humanity'. American soldiers discovered top-secret documents at Marburg Castle that exposed treacherous family double-dealing inside the Royal Family. Two of the King's brothers had flirted dangerously with the Nazi regime in duplicitous games of secret diplomacy. To avert a potential public relations catastrophe, George VI hid incriminating papers and, with Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt's help, whitewashed history to protect his family. Three of Philip Mountbatten's sisters were banned from Westminster Abbey and the wedding of their brother to Princess Elizabeth because their husbands were senior Nazi officers. This dilemma was Queen Victoria's fatal legacy: she had hoped to secure peace in Europe through a network of royal marriages, but her plan backfired with two world wars. Tea With Hitler is a family saga of duty, courage, wilful blindness and criminality, revealing the tragic fate of a Saxe-Coburg princess murdered as part of the Nazi euthanasia programme and the story of Queen Victoria's Jewish great-grand-daughter, rescued by her British relatives.

Taking as its background one of the most famous periods of British history, Sarah Gristwood's historical biography focuses on a hitherto forgotten figure: Arbella Stuart, the niece of Mary Queen of Scots and first cousin to James VI of Scotland. Orphaned as a baby, brought up by her powerful and ambitious grandmother, the four-times married Bess of Hardwick, introduced at court as a young girl where she was acknowledged as her heir by Elizabeth I, Arbella's right to the English throne was equalled only by James. Kept under close supervision by her grandmother, first at Chatsworth and later at Hardwick Hall, but still surrounded by plots, most of them Roman Catholic in origin, she became an important pawn in the struggle for succession, particularly during the long, tense period when Elizabeth I lay dying. But the best was yet to come. At 35 and upon James's succession, Arbella was invited back to court, and fell in love with her cousin, William Seymour, a man 12 years her junior. Notwithstanding the fact that their union was forbidden, and that relationships that did not carry with them the Royal seal of approval were considered treasonous, they married secretly - and were immediat

By kind permission of Her Majesty The Queen, this book has been based on extensive research over many years in the Royal Archives and elsewhere. The author was the first official Curator of the Royal Photograph Collection. Queen Alexandra was a private person who destroyed or left instructions to destroy, much of her archive, but nevertheless enough remains in the form of original documents, such as engagement diaries and letters and informal information, to chart her life more completely than ever before and to attempt to rectify the negative or dismissive attitude towards her which has gained credence in some previous works. This method, rather than drawing mainly from over-salted and peppered memoirs written much later, aims to show her character, enables readers to get to know her and to appreciate what an enormous amount a senior member of the royal family has to accomplish, while still remaining the loving daughter, sister, wife and mother, and keen supporter of the arts, welfare and education, that Alexandra was. During her life she met many famous, notable and intriguing people, while her own journey - from the young, modest Danish Princess who married the Prince of Wales in 1863, to the popular Queen Consort of King Edward VII, and the beloved Queen Mother - saw her personal development and courageous struggle against disability, especially deafness. She was a generous, thoughtful and caring woman, who maintained her sense of humour and interest in all kinds of things and under sometimes challenging circumstances. She could be a lively correspondent and her letters will help readers to understand her far better than has hitherto been possible. This book is long and detailed and readers may like to dip in and out of it, finding stories in all parts, rather than reading it straight through, but it might claim a place among the variety of entertainments which are comforting us in these difficult times.

Lucretia Borgia is the most unfortunate woman in modern history. Is this because she was guilty of the most hideous crimes, or is it simply because she has been unjustly condemned by the world to bear its curse? The question has never been answered. Mankind is ever ready to discover the personification of human virtues and human vices in certain typical characters found in history.

___________________________________ 'Scintillating, provocative... An elegant synthesis of royal biography and political thriller.' Daily Telegraph A Times History Book of the Year: a story which inspired the Hollywood film MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. Mary, Queen of Scots & Elizabeth I of England. Two powerful monarchs on a single island. Threatened by voices who believed no woman could govern. Surrounded by sycophants, spies and detractors. Accosted for their dominion, their favour and their bodies. Besieged by secret plots, devastating betrayals and a terrible final act. Only one queen could survive to rule all. ___________________________________ 'Brings us a fresh Mary, set in a gloriously rich context, a tragic heroine - irresistibly real and relevant... There isn't a line wasted in this taut, dramatic and utterly beguiling biography.' Charles Spencer author of Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I 'The perfect combination of scholarship and storytelling, meticulous research and emotional insight, Kate Williams brings Mary vividly to life in all her complexities and contradictions.' Kate Mosse, author of The Burning Chambers 'It takes a special kind of historian to turn an old story on its head. Eye-opening, provocative, this is the great rivalry re-imagined for the #MeToo generation.' Lucy Worsley

Edward the Elder succeeded his father Alfred the Great to the kingdom of Wessex, but was largely overlooked by his contemporaries (at least in terms of the historical record) and to a greater or lesser extent by later historians. He is the forgotten son of Alfred. Edward deserves to be recognised for his contribution to Anglo-Saxon history and a new assessment of his reign is overdue. He proved equal to the task of cementing and extending the advances made by his father, and paved the way for the eventual unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the nation-state of England. The course of English medieval history after his death was a direct outcome of military successes during his reign. Edward was a ruthlessly efficient military strategist and commander, a strong and stable ruler and administrator, and the most powerful figure during the early decades of the tenth century. He and his famous sister AEthelflaed constructed fortresses to guard against Viking attacks and Edward conquered the southern Danelaw. He should be acknowledged as a great Anglo-Saxon king in his own right, and is entitled to stand comparison with every English monarch in the millennium that has passed since his reign.

Part of the Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperback On Christmas Day 1066, William, duke of Normandy was crowned in Westminster, the first Norman king of England. It was a disaster: soldiers outside, thinking shouts of acclamation were treachery, torched the surrounding buildings. To later chroniclers, it was an omen of the catastrophes to come. During the reign of William the Conqueror, England experienced greater and more seismic change than at any point before or since. Marc Morris's concise and gripping biography sifts through the sources of the time to give a fresh view of the man who changed England more than any other, as old ruling elites were swept away, enemies at home and abroad (including those in his closest family) were crushed, swathes of the country were devastated and the map of the nation itself was redrawn, giving greater power than ever to the king. When, towards the end of his reign, William undertook a great survey of his new lands, his subjects compared it to the last judgement of God, the Domesday Book. England had been transformed forever.

A life of Matilda-empress, skilled military leader, and one of the greatest figures of the English Middle Ages "[Matilda] will attract a growing audience interested in stories of women challenging the male-dominated European past."-Alexandra Locking, Medieval Review "A lively and authoritative account."-Katherine Harvey, Times Literary Supplement Matilda was a daughter, wife, and mother. But she was also empress, heir to the English crown-the first woman ever to hold the position-and an able military general. This new biography explores Matilda's achievements as military and political leader, and sets her life and career in full context. Catherine Hanley provides fresh insight into Matilda's campaign to claim the title of queen, her approach to allied kingdoms and rival rulers, and her role in the succession crisis. Hanley highlights how Matilda fought for the throne, and argues that although she never sat on it herself her reward was to see her son become king. Extraordinarily, her line has continued through every single monarch of England or Britain from that time to the present day.

Kitty Kelly's exposes of Oprah Winfrey, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, and Jackie Onassis have made her the world's most successful biographer. In this controversial book, after four years of research and hundreds of interviews with palace insiders, she unveils the best-kept secrets in Britain: the questions around one queen's parentage and another's conception...and the well-hidden royal affairs...the real reason for the tumultuous relationship between the Queen Mum and Diana...the behind-the-scenes accounts of the royal marriages...the mysterious circumstances around Diana's death...and more about the world's most beloved aristocracy. An eye-opening book that has been updated witht the family's latest exploits, THE ROYALS is haunting in its portraits of Charles and Diana, fascinating in its details, and must-reading for us all...

As heir apparent to the British throne, the holder of the title Prince of Wales fulfills a pivotal role in the royal family and has always been at the center of intense public scrutiny. From speculation over his ability to rule to gossip about his personal life, through the centuries the Prince has commanded a worldwide audience.
An up-to-date and concise overview of all twenty-one of the officially recognized Princes, Deborah Fisher's "Princes of Wales" is the first book on the subject in over twenty years. Seven hundred years of royal history are covered, from 1301--when the first Prince, Edward, was invested with the title--up to the present reign of Prince Charles, who has held the title since 1948. In between, Fisher relates fascinating stories about each Prince, including Dapper George, Poor Fred, and Mad King George. We learn that eight of the Princes never acceded to the throne--some died in childhood while others, such as Prince Frederick, whose hostile estrangement from his father eventually made him a pariah at court, held the title until old age, failing to outlive their reigning parent. By drawing parallels between the lives of each of the Princes, Fisher highlights some intriguing facts: among them, the Princes have produced a total of 102 children, 29 of whom were illegitimate--nearly half of which can be attributed to Charles II, who carried on notorious affairs with other noblemen's wives but sired no legitimate heir.
The perfect companion to Fisher's earlier work, "Princesses of Wales," this book will delight anyone interested in the colorful panorama of Britain's royal past.

George IV spent most of his life waiting to become king: as a pleasure-loving and rebellious Prince of Wales during the sixty-year reign of his father, George III, and for ten years as Prince Regent, when his father went mad. 'The days are very long when you have nothing to do' he once wrote plaintively, but he did his best to fill them with pleasure - women, art, food, wine, fashion, architecture. He presided over the creation of the Regency style, which came to epitomise the era, and he was, with Charles I, the most artistically literate of all our kings. Yet despite his life of luxury and indulgence, George died alone and unmourned. Stella Tillyard has not written a judgemental book, but a very human and enjoyable one, about this most colourful of all British kings.

Commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, this exquisite coffee table book with a foreword by best-selling author Tina Brown celebrates the life of one of the most iconic women in the world. For the millions who adored the People's Princess, this lavish book celebrates Diana Spencer's life in pictures. Page after page of inside photos from the legendary National Geographic archives document the royal's most memorable moments in the spotlight; a luminous, personal remembrance by Diana friend and biographer Tina Brown adds context and nuance to a poignant life twenty years after her tragic death. Float down memory lane through more than 100 remarkable images of Diana, from her days as a schoolgirl to her engagement to Prince Charles, the birth of Princes William and Harry, and her life in the media as an outspoken advocate for the poor, the sick, and the downtrodden. This elegant book features reflections from those who knew her best, recollections from dignitaries and celebrities like Nelson Mandela and Elton John, and personal insight through the princess's own words. Published to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Diana's death, this richly illustrated book is a beautiful ode to one of the world's most beloved women. * Tina Brown, who wrote the New York Times bestseller The Diana Chronicles, will provide a rich and substantial foreword, filled with insider insight that will contextualize and celebrate her subject's life. * This book will coincide with Diana: The Lost Tapes, a four-hour documentary special set to air on the National Geographic Channel in August 2017. It has multiple cross-promotion possibilities. * Fans of Princess Diana have followed her for decades--even after her death--and are strong media consumers. Books about the princess have sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and continue to sell well.

This is the first full-scale biography of two early English queens: Emma, queen first to Aethelread and then to Cnut, and Edith, queen to Edward the Confessor. Through detailed study of these women the author demonstrates the integral place of royal queens in the rule of the English kingdom and in the process of unification by which England was made.

The careers of Emma and Edith span the troubled decades of eleventh-century English history, and the book reassesses their role in the story of foreign conquests, succession dispute and political murder. Their biography is illuminated by a detailed study of the structures of tenth- and eleventh-century English Queenship - motherhood, marriage, inheritance and succession, the royal household and patronage, consecrated and holy Queenship. It moves from the partial stories told of them by others, and the unique narrative worlds they themselves commissioned, to a new and detailed biography in which Emma especially emerges as one of the most significant political actors of her day and in which both women are shown as both imprisoned by but contesting the inexorable female lifecycle.

The book is an important contribution to our understanding of eleventh- and twelfth-century rule but also of medieval England in general, and, crucially, the role of women within that world.

King for fifty years (1327--77), Edward III changed the face of England.
He ordered his uncle to be beheaded; he usurped his father's throne; he started a war which lasted for more than a hundred years, and taxed his people more than any other previous king. Yet for centuries, Edward III was celebrated as the most brilliant king England had ever had.
In this first full study of the man, Ian Mortimer shows how Edward personally provided the impetus for much of the drama of his reign. Edward overcame the tyranny of his guardians at the age of seventeen and then set about developing a new form of awe-inspiring chivalric kingship. Under him the feudal kingdom of England became a highly organized, sophisticated nation, capable of raising large revenues and, without question, the most important military nation in Europe. Yet under his rule England also experienced its longest period of domestic peace in the Middle Ages, giving rise to a massive increase in the nation's wealth through the wool trade, with huge consequences for society, art and architecture. It is to Edward that England owes its system of parliamentary representation, local justice system and the English language as "the tongue of the nation."
As the King who re-made England and forged a nation out of war, Edward III emerges as the father of the English nation.

The Court Journals and Letters of Frances Burney, 1790-91, is the sixth and final volume of Frances Burney's court journals and letters published by Oxford University Press. The journals and letters in this volume record Frances Burney's final eighteen months as Keeper of the Robes in Queen Charlotte's court. Burney had arrived at court in July of 1786, a reluctant but devoted royal servant. She tried to adjust to the isolation and confinement of court, but by 1790 Burney was increasingly distraught and her health was in rapid decline. She suffered a romantic disappointment when the Queen's Vice-Chamberlain, Col. Stephen Digby, who had befriended her, married a maid of honour, Charlotte Gunning. She was also discouraged when her attempts to secure a headmastership at Charterhouse for her brother Charles, and a ship for her brother James, both failed. She was in a state of extended nervous exhaustion. Still, despite her debilitations, Burney continued to provide accounts of the Warren Hastings trial, made note of rumours about war with Spain, and occasionally made reference to the turmoil in France. She met James Boswell, encountered her estranged friend Hester Piozzi, and corresponded with Horace Walpole over the will of her servant Columb. She worked on her historical tragedies, Edwy and Elgiva, Herbert De Vere, The Siege of Pevensey, and Elberta, and she conceived her next novel, Camilla. Yet Burney was determined to leave court. After securing the approval of her father, she presented a letter of resignation to the queen in December, although it was not until early July of 1791 that she departed Windsor and returned to her life as an author.

'Edward was a man of considerable charm, who perhaps relied too much upon that charm to keep tensions within his entourage at bay' In 1461 Edward earl of March, a handsome, charismatic eighteen-year old, usurped the English throne during the first and most fierce of the Wars of the Roses. The years that followed witnessed a period that has been described as a golden age. Yet, argues A. J. Pollard, Edward was a man of limited vision, who squandered his talents and failed to secure his own dynasty.