The Royal Beat - Book Club is back with a new presenter! In this episode Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is joined by two royal biographers - Ingrid Seward and Hugo Vickers - and historian Tessa Dunlop whose book ‘Elizabeth and Philip: The Story of Young Love, Marriage and Monarchy’ explores how their relationship shaped the course of British History.

She was ''sugar pink'' innocence; he was a handsome war hero. Both had royal blood coursing through their veins. The marriage of Britain''s Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten in November 1947 is remembered as the beginning of an extraordinary, lifelong union but success was not guaranteed. Elizabeth and Philip: A Story of Young Love, Marriage and Monarchy plunges us back into the 1940s when a teenage princess fell in love with a foreign prince. Cue fears of a flirtatious ''Greek'' fortune hunter stealing off with Britain''s crown jewel and Philip''s supporters scrambling to reframe him as a good fit for the Royal Family.

Drawing on original newspaper archives and the opinions of Elizabeth and Philip''s contemporaries, historian Dr Tessa Dunlop discovers a post-war world on the cusp of major change. Unprecedented polling on Philip''s suitability was a harbinger of pressures to come for a couple whose marriage was branded the ultimate global fairytale. Theirs was a partnership like no other. Six years after Elizabeth promised to be an obedient wife Philip got down on bended knee at the coronation and committed himself as the Queen''s ''liege man of life and limb.''

Published 75 years after their marriage, this deeply touching history explores the ups and downs, the public appeal and the private tensions that defined an extraordinary union.

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relationship. The high stakes involved might have devoured a less committed pair - but Elizabeth and Philip shared a common purpose, one higher even than marriage, with roots much deeper than young love. Happy and Glorious, for better or for worse, how did their union succeed? Monarchy was the magic word.

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On this week’s episode of The Royal Beat: Back In Time, we discuss royal figures around the world from their childhood up until their 18th birthday. From young Empress Matilda who shaped the fate of the nations, to Elizabeth I who exceeded all expectations, we explore the lives of some pretty notable teenagers. Presenter Kate Thornton is joined by historians Dr Elizabeth Norton, Professor Kate Williams, and Alice Loxton - whose new book ‘Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives’ brings to life some of the incredible stories this episode covers.

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On the Royal Beat - Book Club this week, the panel discuss the impact of Prince Harry's best selling memoir Spare. With the paperback version having just been released, Kate Thornton is joined by Royal commentator Afua Hagan, NBC’s Royal Commentator Daisy McAndrew, and Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent Jack Royston, to recount the details, drama and royal revelations in this blockbuster of a book. And reflect on how things have changed for Harry and the royals 18 months after its initial explosive publication.

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 Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling-and how their lives would play out from that point on.

For Harry, this is that story at last.

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Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness-and, because he blamed the press for his mother's death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

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At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn't find true love.

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Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple's cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother...

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For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.

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