Royal Romances Kings and Queens in Love and Lust
Explore the passionate tales of royal romances with 'Royal Romances: Kings and Queens in Love and Lust.' Discover captivating books about love, lust, and scandal among history's most famous monarchs and their fiery relationships.
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Sex with the Queen
by Eleanor Herman
In royal courts bristling with testosteroneâswashbuckling generals, polished courtiers, and virile cardinalsâhow did repressed regal ladies find happiness? Anne Boleyn flirted with courtiers; Catherine Howard slept with one. Henry VIII had both of them beheaded. Catherine the Great had her idiot husband murdered and ruled the Russian empire with a long list of sexy young favorites. Marie Antoinette fell in love with the handsome Swedish count Axel Fersen, who tried valiantly to rescue her from the guillotine. Princess Diana gave up her palace bodyguard to enjoy countless love affairs, which tragically led to her early death. In this impeccably researched, scandalously readable follow-up to her New York Times bestseller Sex with Kings, Eleanor Herman reveals the truth about what has historically gone on behind the closed door of the queen's boudoir.
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The Confession of Piers Gaveston
by Brandy Purdy
The history books tell us that Piers Gaveston was many things: arrogant, ambitious, avaricious, flamboyant, extravagant, reckless, brave, and daring, indiscreet, handsome, witty, vivacious, vain, and peacock-proud, a soldier and champion jouster, the son of a condemned witch, who used witchcraft, his own wicked wiles, and forbidden sex to entice and enslave King Edward II, alienate him from his nobles and advisors, and keep him from the bed of his beautiful bride Isabelle. Edward's infatuation with Gaveston, and the deluge of riches he showered on him, nearly plunged England into civil war. Now the object of that scandalous and legendary obsession tells his side of the story in The Confession of Piers Gaveston: "Mayhap even now, when I have only just begun, it is already too late to set the story straight. My infamy, I fear, is too well entrenched. Whenever they tell the story of Edward's reign I will always be the villain and Edward, the poor, weak-willed, pliant king who fell under my spell, the golden victim of a dark enchantment. There are two sides to every coin; but when the bards and chroniclers, the men who write the histories, tell this story, will anyone remember that?"
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The Autobiography of Henry VIII
by Margaret George
The novel that started it all: Margaret George's debut novel of the legendary British king
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The Constant Princess
by Philippa Gregory
From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Virgin's Lover," this enthralling new novel answers one of history's most intriguing questions: What lay behind Katherine of Aragon's enormous, history-changing lie?
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Katharine of Aragon
by Jean Plaidy
For the first time in paperbackâall three of Jean Plaidyâs Katharine of Aragon novels in one volume. Legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy begins her tales of Henry VIIIâs queens with the story of his first wife, the Spanish princess Katharine of Aragon. As a teenager, Katharine leaves her beloved Spain, land of olive groves and soaring cathedrals, for the drab, rainy island of England. There she is married to the kingâs eldest son, Arthur, a sickly boy who dies six months after the wedding. Katharine is left a widow who was never truly a wife, lonely in a strange land, with a very bleak future. Her only hope of escape is to marry the kingâs second son, Prince Henry, now heir to the throne. Tall, athletic, handsome, a lover of poetry and music, Henry is all that Katharine could want in a husband. But their first son dies and, after many more pregnancies, only one child survives, a daughter. Disappointed by his lack of an heir, Henryâs eye wanders, and he becomes enamored of another womanâa country noblemanâs daughter named Anne Boleyn. When Henry begins searching for ways to put aside his loyal first wife, Katharine must fight to remain Queen of England and to keep the husband she once loved so dearly.
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The Last Boleyn
by Karen Harper
She survived her own innocence, and the treachery of Europeâs royal courts; The Last Boleyn is the story of the rise and fall of the Boleyns, one of Englandâs most powerful families, through the eyes of the eldest daughter, Mary. Although her sister, Anne, the queen; her brother, George, executed alongside Anne; and her father, Thomas, are most remembered by history, Mary was the Boleyn who set into motion the chain of events that brought about the familyâs meteoric rise to power, as well as the one who managed to escape their equally remarkable fall. Sent away to France at an extraordinarily young age, Mary is quickly plunged into the dangerous world of court politics, where everything is beautiful but deceptive, and everyone she meets is watching and quietly manipulating the events and people around them. As she grows into a woman, Mary must navigate both the dangerous waters ruled by two kings and the powerful will of her own family in order to find a place for herself and the love she so deeply desires.
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The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn
by Robin Maxwell
When Elizabeth I assumes the throne of England, she is given the secret diary of her mother Anne Boleyn, who was betrayed and beheaded by her husband Henry VIII. In reading the diary she learns about her mother's life and determines to heed the lessons of her mother's difficult life.
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The Boleyn Wife
by Brandy Purdy
Encompassing the reigns of four of Henry's wives, from the doomed Anne to the reckless Katherine Howard, The Boleyn Wife is an unforgettable story of ambition, lust, and jealousy, of the power of love to change the course of history, and of the terrible price of revenge.
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The Queen's Mistake
by Diane Haeger
The tragic story of Catherine Howard, who succumbs to her powerful and calculating family's wishes rather than her heart's desire, and becomes the fifth wife of King Henry VIII, facing intrigue and treachery at court. Original.
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The Boleyn Inheritance
by Philippa Gregory
From the "New York Times"-bestselling author of "The Other Boleyn Girl" comesa tempestuous Tudor tale about two queens, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Parr, and the woman who destroys them both.
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Lies and Lust in the Tudor Court
by Margaret Doner
Lies and Lust in the Tudor Court tells the story of the teenager, Katheryn Howard, and her marriage to the aging, ill-tempered Henry VIII. To some she is considered a harlot and a greedy girl from an even greedier family. To others she is a victim, in love with another man and forced to marry the King. In truth she was a mercurial, strong-willed, sexually appealing woman trapped by the dangerous politics of the Tudor court and her barren womb. Her final words when she knelt at the executioner's block were, "I die the Queen of England, but I would have rather died the wife of Thomas Culpeper." Not as well known as her famous cousin, Anne Boleyn, Katheryn's story is every bit as exciting and dangerous. It is a piece of history that has the power to stimulate our imagination five hundred years later.
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An Unchaste Life
by Anne Cato
Catherine Howard . . . sensual, passionate, vibrant. Thrust by her ambitious relatives into the glittering orbit of King Henry VIII, she was bound to captivate the mighty monarch. The King had divorced one wife to marry Catherine's cousin Anne Boleyn. He would divorce another to take Catherine as his fifth wife.
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The Sixth Wife
by Jean Plaidy
Dangerous court intrigue and affairs of the heart collide as renowned novelist Jean Plaidy tells the story of Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIIIâs six queens. Henry VIIIâs fifth wife, Katherine Howard, was both foolish and unfaithful, and she paid for it with her life. Henry vowed that his sixth wife would be different, and she was. Katherine Parr was twice widowed and thirty-one years old. A thoughtful, well-read lady, she was known at court for her unblemished reputation and her kind heart. She had hoped to marry for love and had set her heart on Thomas Seymour, the dashing brother of Henryâs third queen. But the aging kingâmore in need of a nurse than a wifeâwas drawn to her, and Katherine could not refuse his proposal of marriage. Queen Katherine was able to soothe the Kingâs notorious temper, and his three children grew fond of her, the only mother they had ever really known. Trapped in a loveless marriage to a volatile tyrant, books were Katherineâs consolation. But among her intellectual pursuits was an interest in Lutheranismâa religion that the king saw as a threat to his supremacy as head of the new Church of England. Courtiers envious of the Queenâs influence over Henry sought to destroy her by linking her with the âradicalâ religious reformers. Henry raged that Katherine had betrayed him, and had a warrant drawn up for her arrest and imprisonment. At court it was whispered that the king would soon execute yet another wife. Henryâs sixth wife would have to rely on her wits to survive where two other women had perished. . . .
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Courtesan
by Diane Haeger
Amid the disapproving gossip of the Court, a royal romance defies all obstacles. The Court of François I is full of lust, intrigue, and bawdy bon tempsâa different world from the quiet country life Diane de Poitiers led with her elderly husband. Now a widow, the elegant Diane is called back to Court, where the Kingâs obvious interest marks her as an enemy to the Kingâs favourite, Anne dâHeilly. The Court is soon electrified by rumors of their confrontations. As Anne calls on her most venomous tricks to drive Diane away, Diane finds an ally in the one member of Court with no allegiance to the Kingâs mistress: his teenage second son, Henri. Neglected by his father and disliked by his brothers, Prince Henri expects little from his life. But as his friendship with Diane deepens into infatuation and then a romance that scandalizes the Court, the Prince begins to discover hope for a future with Diane. But fate and his father have other plans for Henriâincluding a political marriage with Catherine de Medici. Despite daunting obstacles, Henriâs devotion to Diane never wanes; their passion becomes one of the most legendary romances in the history of France. Also available as an eBook
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The Lady Elizabeth
by Alison Weir
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ⢠A masterful novel exploring the early life of young Elizabeth Tudor, who would become Englandâs most intriguing and powerful queen, from acclaimed historian Alison Weir âEngrossing . . . Weir marries conjecture with what is known about the life of Elizabeth I from childhood to coronation, and it makes for ripping good reading.ââMilwaukee Journal Sentinel Even at age two, Elizabeth is keenly aware that people in the court of her father, King Henry VIII, have stopped referring to her as âLady Princessâ and now call her âthe Lady Elizabeth.â Before she is three, she learns of the tragic fate that has befallen her mother, the enigmatic and seductive Anne Boleyn, and that she herself has been declared illegitimate, an injustice that will haunt her. What comes next is a succession of stepmothers, bringing with them glimpses of love, fleeting security, tempestuous conflict, and tragedy. The death of her father puts the teenage Elizabeth in greater peril, leaving her at the mercy of ambitious and unscrupulous men. Like her mother two decades earlier she is imprisoned in the Tower of Londonâand fears she will also meet her motherâs grisly end. Power-driven politics, private scandal and public gossip, a disputed succession, and the grievous example of her sister, âBloodyâ Queen Mary, all cement Elizabethâs resolve in matters of statecraft and love, and set the stage for her transformation into the iconic Virgin Queen. Alison Weir uses her deft talents as historian and novelist to exquisitely and suspensefully play out the conflicts between family, politics, religion, and conscience that came to define an age. Sweeping in scope, The Lady Elizabeth is a fascinating portrayal of a woman far ahead of her timeâan orphaned girl haunted by the shadow of the axe, an independent spirit who must use her cunning and wits for her very survival, and a future queen whose dangerous and dramatic path to the throne shapes her future greatness.
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I, Elizabeth
by Rosalind Miles
A spellbinding novel about Elizabeth I from the internationally bestselling author of the Guenevere and Tristan and Isolde trilogies. Publicly declared a bastard at the age of three, daughter of a disgraced and executed mother, last in the line of succession to the throne of England, Elizabeth I inherited an England ravaged by bloody religious conflict, at war with Spain and France, and badly in debt. When she died in 1603, after a forty-five year reign, her empire spanned two continents and was united under one church, victorious in war, and blessed with an overflowing treasury. Whatâs more, her favoritesâWilliam Shakespeare, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir Walter Raleighâhad made the Elizabethan era a cultural Golden Age still remembered today. But for Elizabeth the woman, tragedy went hand in hand with triumph. Politics and scandal forced the passionate queen to reject her true love, Robert Dudley, and to execute his stepson, her much-adored Lord Essex. Now in this spellbinding novel, Rosalind Miles brings to life the woman behind the myth. By turns imperious, brilliant, calculating, vain, and witty, this is the Elizabeth the world never knew. From the days of her brutal father, Henry VIII, to her final dying moments, Elizabeth tells her story in her own words.
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The Virgin's Lover
by Philippa Gregory
From #1 New York Times bestselling author and âqueen of royal fictionâ (USA TODAY) comes a riveting and scandalous love triangle between a young woman on the brink of greatness, a young man whose ambition far exceeds his means, and the wife who cannot forgive them. In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen, yet one woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, and she knows that Elizabethâs ambitious leap to the throne will draw her husband back to the center of the glamorous Tudor court, where he was born to be. Elizabethâs excited triumph is short-lived. She has inherited a bankrupt country where treason is rampant and foreign war a certainty. Her faithful advisors warns her that she will survive only if she marries a strong prince to govern the rebellious country, but the one man Elizabeth desires is her childhood friend, the ambitious Robert Dudley. As the young couple falls back in love, a question hangs in the air: can he really set aside his wife and marry the queen? When Amy is found dead, Elizabeth and Dudley are suddenly plunged into a struggle for survival.
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The Perfect Royal Mistress
by Diane Haeger
Born into poverty and raised in a brothel, Nell Gwynne sells oranges in the pit at Londonâs Kingâs Theater, newly reopened after the plague and the Great Fire devastated the city. Soon, her quick sense of humor and natural charm get her noticed by those who have the means to make her life easier. But the street-smart Nell knows a woman doesnât get ahead by selling her body. Through talent, charm, intelligence, and sheer determinationâas well as a keen understanding of how the world operatesâNell works her way out of the pit and onto the stage to become the leading comedic actress of the day. Her skills and beauty quickly win the attention of all of Londonâeventually even catching the eye of King Charles II. Their attraction is as real as it is unlikely, and the scrappy orange girl with the pretty face and the quick wit soon finds herself plunged into the confusing and dangerous world of the court, where she learns there are few she can trustâand many whom she cannot turn her back on. From the gritty streets of seventeenth-century London, to the backstage glamour of its theaters, to the glittering court of Charles II, The Perfect Royal Mistress is a love story for the ages, the rags-to-riches tale of a truly remarkable heroine.
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The Secret Wife of King George IV
by Diane Haeger
A fictional portrait of Maria Fitzherbert chronicles the passionate love affair and secret wedding of King George IV with a beautiful Catholic woman whose marriage was recognized by the Roman Catholic Church but not by English law.
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The Josephine Bonaparte Collection
by Sandra Gulland
Collects all three historical fiction novels inspired by the life of Josephine Bonaparte.
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