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Athenais: The Life of Louis XIV's Mistress, the Real Queen of France
Lisa Hilton · back to the book
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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorMarie Antoinette: The Journey
Antonia Fraser · 544 pages
"Famously known as the eighteenth-century French queen whose excesses have become legend, Marie Antoinette was blamed for instigating the French Revolution. But the story of her journey, begun as a fourteen-year-old sent from Vienna to marry the future Louis XVI, to her courageous defense before she was sent to the guillotine, reveals a woman of greater complexity and character than we have previo
Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen
Joanna Denny · 384 pages
Four Queens: The Provençal Sisters Who Ruled Europe
Nancy Goldstone · 352 pages
Four accomplished sisters who rose from near obscurity to become the most powerful women in EuropeSet against the backdrop of the turbulent thirteenth century, a time of chivalry and crusades, poetry, knights, and monarchs comes the story of the four beautiful daughters of the count of Provence whose brilliant marriages made them the queens of France, England, Germany, and Sicily.From a cultured c
Catherine de Medici
Leonie Frieda · 464 pages
"Orphaned in infancy, imprisoned in childhood, heiress to an ancient name and vast fortune, Catherine was brought up in the Florentine court and married off, by her uncle the Pope, to Henry, Duke of Orleans, son of King Francis I of France. Aged only fourteen, she suffered cruelly as Henry loved only his beautiful mistress, Diane de Poitiers." "In 1559, when Henry, by then King of France, died hor
Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life
Alison Weir · 444 pages
A biography of one of the most influential women of the Middle Ages discusses her marriages to Louis VII of France and Henry II of England, and her later efforts to secure the throne of England for her sons.
We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals
Gillian Gill
It was the most influential marriage of the nineteenth century--and one of history's most enduring love stories. Traditional biographies tell us that Queen Victoria inherited the throne as a naive teenager, when the British Empire was at the height of its power, and seemed doomed to find failure as a monarch and misery as a woman until she married her German cousin Albert and accepted him as her l
The Sisters Who Would Be Queen
Leanda de Lisle · 386 pages
The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy
Mark Logue, Peter Conradi · 256 pages
The true story behind the award-winning movie of the same name, The King's Speech is written by London Sunday Times journalist Peter Conradi and Mark Logue -- grandson of Lionel Logue, whose recently discovered diaries and correspondence contain fascinating details about these events. It's the eve of World War II, and King Edward VIII has abdicated the throne of England to marry the woman he loves
She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth
Helen Castor · 477 pages
When Edward VI died in 1553, the extraordinary fact was that there was no one left to claim the title of king of England. For the first time, England would have a reigning queen, but the question was which one: Katherine of Aragon's daughter, Mary; Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth; or one of their cousins, Lady Jane Grey or Mary, Queen of Scots. But female rule in England also had a past. Four h
Nicholas and Alexandra
Robert K. Massie · 613 pages
"A LARGER THAN LIFE DRAMA, SO BIZARRE, SO HEART-RENDING AND, ABOVE ALL, SO APOCALYPTIC, THAT NO NOVELIST WOULD HAVE DARED INVENT IT" —Saturday Review Syndicate The story of the Tsar, his Empress, and the realm they lost. The story of a man, a woman, and the love they shared—and of the obscene monk, Rasputin, who corrupted and destroyed them. "A WONDERFULLY RICH TAPESTRY, the colors fresh and
Victoria's Daughters
Jerrold M. Packard · 370 pages
Packard closely examines a generation of royal women who were dominated by their mother, married off more for political advantage than for love, and finally passed over entirely with the accession of their brother to the throne.
Catherine of Aragon: The Spanish Queen of Henry VIII
Giles Tremlett · 448 pages
Bloody Mary: The Life of Mary Tudor
Carolly Erickson · 533 pages
Mary I was the first queen to rule England (1553-58) in her own right. She was known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants in a vain attempt to restore Roman Catholicism in England. The daughter of King Henry VIII and the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, Mary as a child was a pawn in England's bitter rivalry with more powerful nations, and was later regularly offered for marri
Cleopatra: A Life
Stacy Schiff · 441 pages
From back cover: Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons; her supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.
Arbella: England's Lost Queen
Sarah Gristwood · 457 pages
An extraordinary life lost in history: the compelling biography of Arbella Stuart spans both Tudor and Stuart courts and encompasses espionage, a clandestine marriage, imprisonment and eventual death in the Tower of London. Arbella Stuart was the niece of Mary Queen of Scots and first cousin to James VI of Scotland. Acknowledged as her heir by Elizabeth 1, Arbella's right to the English throne wa
The Romanovs: 1613-1918
Simon Sebag Montefiore · 744 pages
From the Introduction... In some ways, this book is a study of character and the distorting effect of absolute power on personality. It is partly a family story of love, marriage, adultery and children, but it is not like other such stories—royal families are always extraordinary because power both sweetens and contaminates the traditional familial chemistry: the allure and corruption of power
Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge
Eleanor Herman · 287 pages
Throughout the centuries, royal mistresses have been worshiped, feared, envied, and reviled. They set the fashions, encouraged the arts, and, in some cases, ruled nations. Eleanor Herman's Sex with Kings takes us into the throne rooms and bedrooms of Europe's most powerful monarchs. Alive with flamboyant characters, outrageous humor, and stirring poignancy, this glittering tale of passion and poli
Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII
Linda Porter
Jane Seymour: Henry VIII's True Love
Elizabeth Norton · 240 pages
The first ever biography of JaneSeymour, Henry VIII's third wife, who died in childbirth giving the king what hecraved most - a son and heir.First biography to show the real Jane Seymour, she may have been submissive and obedient in front of Henry, but her true personality was far more cutthroat. Huge interest in the wives of Henry VIII, most of his wives are the subject of at least two books,
The Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I, Genius of the Golden Age
Christopher Hibbert · 287 pages