Memoirs Royalty

Join Stephen Fry as he delves in to the secrets of one of the most extraordinary monarchs in one of our most extraordinary eras in English history. A woman in a man’s world. And not just any woman – but Elizabeth I, one of the greatest and most secretive monarchs of all time. This queen realised that her sex, far from being a weakness, could be deployed as a strength. It’s not an overstatement to say that England’s politics, religion, and culture have all been shaped by what she did and said. And what she kept secret. This wasn’t just a time of poets, playwrights and poachers.

Eve Haas is the daughter of a German Jewish family that took refuge in London after Hitler came to power. Following a terrifying air raid in the blitz, her father revealed the family secret - that her great-great grandmother Emilie was married to a Prussian prince. He then showed her the treasured leather-bound notebook inscribed to Emilie by the prince.

This magnificent biography of Henry VIII is set against the cultural, social and political background of his court - the most spectacular court ever seen in England - and the splendour of his many sumptuous palaces. An entertaining narrative packed with colourful description and a wealth of anecdotal evidence, but also a comprehensive analytical study of the development of both monarch and court during a crucial period in English history.

The Manchester Evening News declared, it took "a biographer like Ingrid Seward to unleash a sober, challenging glimpse into the one relationship of such scrutiny." That relationship is the complex, troubled, and often turbulent association between Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth.

En septiembre de 1997, Charles Spencer se puso en pie en la abadía de Westminster ante un mundo que observaba y compartió su dolor por la pérdida de su querida hermana Diana. Ahora, casi treinta años más tarde, cuenta la extraordinaria historia de su vida junto a ella y la trágica semana de su muerte.

King Alfred of Wessex is the only king in British history to have been honoured with the epithet of "Great", yet he is usually remembered for the story of the burnt cakes, his finer achievements are often forgotten. Afflicted by poor health for most of his life, Alfred nevertheless showed unflagging energy as a warrior, administrator, scholar and educator. He was remarkable for both his range of interests and his wisdom. In battle he was faced by the Danish invaders and the real threat of Viking supremacy in England.

Ibn Saud grew to manhood living the harsh traditional life of the desert nomad, a life that had changed little since the days of Abraham. Equipped with immense physical courage, he fought and won, often with weapons and tactics not unlike those employed by the ancient Assyrians, a series of astonishing military victories over a succession of enemies much more powerful than himself. Over the same period, he transformed himself from a minor sheikh into a revered king and elder statesman, courted by world leaders such as Churchill and Roosevelt.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER | NPR BOOKS WE LOVE 2024 | PEOPLE’SBEST CELEBRITY MEMOIRS 2024 | TOWN & COUNTRY’SBEST NEW ROYAL BOOKS 2024 | THE TIMES (LONDON) 10 BEST BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS 2024 | WINNIPEG FREE PRESS’SBEST BOOKS 2024 NOW WITH A NEW AFTERWORD “A tour de force.” —The...

Las fascinantes vidas de seis reinas marcadas por la tragedia que no pudieron elegir su destino y que dejaron una profunda huella en la Historia. Excéntricas, caprichosas, rebeldes, ambiciosas...Más allá de un mundo de privilegios, riqueza, y poder, todas fueron mujeres de carne y hueso obligadas a llevar sobre sus hombros la pesada carga de un imperio.

Since William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, crossed the English Channel in 1066 to defeat King Harold II and unite England’s various kingdoms, 41 kings and queens have sat on Britain’s throne. “Shining examples of royal power and majesty alongside a rogue’s gallery of weak, lazy, or evil monarchs,” as Tracy Borman describes them in her sparkling chronicle, Crown & Sceptre.

Read by the author, Ruthie Henshall. From much-loved West End and Broadway star Ruthie Henshall, The Showgirl and the Prince is a funny, honest and touching real-life Cinderella story – if Cinders is a lycra-clad chorus girl from Bromley who drinks and smokes too much. In 1988, Ruthie was at...

The story of Doyle Brunson, an American treasure and the greatest poker player of all time, is one for the ages. It’s a story of guts and glory, of good luck and bad, of triumph and unspeakable tragedy, of courage and grace. He has survived whippings, gun fights, stabbings, mobsters (the real-life ones portrayed in the movie Casino), murderers, and a death sentence when, riddled with incurable cancer, he was given months to live by doctors who told him his hand was played out.

Everyone follows the royals. Almost nobody understands how the monarchy actually works. Why is one grandchild a prince and another just "Master"? How can an eleven-year-old girl outrank her younger brother today when she couldn't have a generation ago? What does the King actually do if he doesn't run the country—and could he refuse to sign a law? Why did losing his titles not remove Andrew from the line of succession? The Royal Family Explained answers the questions the headlines never do.

Brunhild was a foreign princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet - in sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport - these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms, changing the face of Europe.

From the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize, an extraordinary history of the meteoric rise and fall of George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham. As King James I’s favourite, Buckingham was also his confidant, gatekeeper, advisor and lover. When Charles I succeeded his father, he was...

In A Royal Duty, Paul Burrell reveals the truth about Princess Diana - and presents a faithful account of her thoughts. He was the favourite footman who formed a unique relationship with the Queen. He was the butler who the Princess of Wales called 'my rock' and 'the only man I can trust'. He...

As a child, he was given his own suit of armor; at the age of 16, he helped defeat the French at Crecy. At Poitiers, in 1356, his victory over King John II of France forced the French into a humiliating surrender that marked the zenith of England's dominance in the Hundred Years War. As lord of Aquitaine, he ruled a vast swathe of territory across the west and southwest of France, holding a magnificent court at Bordeaux that mesmerized the brave but unruly Gascon nobility. He was Edward of Woodstock, eldest son of Edward III, and better known to posterity as "the Black Prince".

This is a story of the most well documented, most commented on love affair of our times. Yet the personalities behind the facade remain elusive and the nature of their relationship is an enigma. This is the first major biography of Charles and Camilla, two people who have battled against the curious lot that fate has thrown their way. Gyles Brandreth returns to the same ground as his last book, the bestselling "Philip and Elizabeth"; "Portrait of a Marriage".

England's Tudor monarchs - Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I - are perhaps the most celebrated and fascinating of all royal families in history. Their love affairs, their political triumphs, and their overturning of the religious order are the subject of countless works of popular scholarship. But for all we know about Henry's quest for male heirs or Elizabeth's purported virginity, the lives of the Tudor monarchs away from the public eye remain largely beyond our grasp, mostly not chronicled by previous historians.

A New York Times bestseller! A collection of deeply personal conversations from award-winning actress and activist Laura Dern and the woman she admires most, her mother—legendary actress Diane Ladd. "A rich mixture of love, exasperation, nostalgia and resentment that will be familiar to anyone...