George VI reigned through taxing times. Acceding to the throne upon his brother's abdication, he was immediately confronted with the turmoil in European politics leading up to the Second World War, then the War itself, followed by a period of austerity, social transformation and loss of Empire.

George was unprepared for kingship, suffering from a stammer which could make public occasions very painful for him. Moreover he had grown up in the shadow of his brother, a man who had been idolized as no royal prince has been, before or since.

However, as Sarah Bradford shows in this sympathetic biography, although George was not born to be king, he died a great one.

This is the story of the glamorous French Empress who escaped from a vengeful mob in 1870 and spent the next fifty years in exile in England. With a broad brush approach to the political events it shows her life and times from a different angle, exploring subjects often relegated to mere footnotes. Aided by the increased digitalisation of sources which produced many new and interesting discoveries, the book features 53 images of the important people and places Eugenie was born in a makeshift tent during an earthquake in Southern Spain but this impetuous and beautiful young woman's life changed dramatically when she married Napoleon III in 1853. She was to become a worldwide fashion icon but was much more than a trophy wife even though she suffered from a philandering husband. An early feminist with a social conscience, her achievements were negated by many because she wasn't French, becoming the inevitable scapegoat for the ills of the Empire. Yet in November 1869 when Eugenie opened the Suez Canal she was the most famous woman in the world. Less than a year later she made a dramatic escape from those who blamed her for a disastrous war that caused the collapse of the Second Empire. Helped by her American dentist, Eugenie was smuggled out of Paris enroute to England and exile. The early death of her husband was followed a few years later by that of her son whilst with the British army in South Africa. A close friend of Queen Victoria, Eugenie lived in Farnborough, a small Hampshire town for 4 decades, building an Imperial Mausoleum for her husband and son and dressing in black for the rest of her days. Condemned in her own mind to live for a hundred years she then recovered her zest for life. Always keen to move with the times she embraced new technology, travelled extensively and maintained her links with the European royal circle whilst becoming a familiar and much respected figure in her neighbourhood. Eugenie remained remarkably loyal to France and never relinquished her sense of duty, giving up part of her home to be an army hospital during World War 1. She died in 1920, aged 94 and is buried alongside her husband and son in St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough.

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.

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.

Sir Seretse Khama, the first President of Botswana and heir apparent to the kingship of the Bangwato people, brought independence and great prosperity to his nation after colonial rule. But for six long years from 1950, Seretse had been forced into exile in England, banned from his own country. His crime? To fall in love and marry a young, white English girl, Ruth Williams. Delving into newly released records, Susan Williams tells Seretse and Ruth's story - a shocking account of how the British Government conspired with apartheid South Africa to prevent the mixed-race royal couple returning home. But it is also an inspiring, triumphant tale of hope, courage and true love as with tenacity and great dignity Seretse and Ruth and the Bangwato people ovecome prejudice in their fight for justice.

Anna was the 'last woman standing' of Henry VIII's wives - and the only one buried in Westminster Abbey. How did she manage it? Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King's 'Beloved Sister' looks at Anna from a new perspective, as a woman from the Holy Roman Empire and not as a woman living almost by accident in England. Starting with what Anna's life as a child and young woman was like, the author describes the climate of the Cleves court, and the achievements of Anna's siblings. It looks at the political issues on the Continent that transformed Anna's native land of Cleves - notably the court of Anna's brother-in-law, and its influence on Lutheranism - and Anna's blighted marriage. Finally, Heather Darsie explores ways in which Anna influenced her step-daughters Elizabeth and Mary, and the evidence of their good relationships with her. Was the Duchess Anna in fact a political refugee, supported by Henry VIII? Was she a role model for Elizabeth I? Why was the marriage doomed from the outset? By returning to the primary sources and visiting archives and museums all over Europe (the author is fluent in German, and proficient in French and Spanish) a very different figure emerges to the 'Flanders Mare'.