Florence Maybrick was the first American woman to be sentenced to die in England. Her trial was presided over by an openly misogynistic judge who was later declared incompetent and died in an asylum. Only hours before Florence was scheduled to be hanged to death for murdering her husband (a crime she almost certainly did not commit), Queen Victoria reluctantly agreed that her execution be commuted to life in prison. In her opinion, a woman who would commit adultery, as Florence had admitted, would surely kill her husband. Her children were taken from her and she never saw them again. Florence's mother worked at great cost for years to clear her name, enlisting the president of the United States and several successive ambassadors including Abraham Lincoln's son. Decades later, long after both were dead, a gruesome diary was discovered that made Florence's husband a prime suspect as Jack the Ripper.

New York City native Mary Esther Lee (1837-1914) married the prince brother of the Queen of Denmark in 1874 and was made a member of the royal family after his death. An active philanthropist to Protestant causes, Princess Mary von Waldersee then wed a German count whose close ties to the Prussian court made her an intimate friend of Kaiser Wilhelm II and a mentor to his young wife. Mary's influence caused many to believe she was the power behind the throne, although she preferred to remain in the background. This biography chronicles the remarkable life of an American woman of modest wealth who rose to power in Europe's royal courts.