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David Souden

An official BBC book that celebrates the life of Queen Elizabeth II through photographs, some rarely seen, drawn largely from archives of the BBC. 
 
The longest-reigning monarch in British history, Queen Elizabeth II has been at the centre of British life for almost a century. She's led a very public life, seen by millions through photographs, film and television, from the time of her birth in 1926 to the final years of her reign. The embodiment of Britain, she has been a constant, knowledgeable presence in our politics and culture since she came to the throne in 1952. 
 
This book celebrates the life of Queen Elizabeth II through photographs and still images, drawn largely from the archives of the BBC, an organisation that received its royal charter only one year after she was born. From her earliest days and first moments of public life, to her Platinum Jubilee and the weddings of her children and grandchildren, this is a lavish tribute to the most public of monarchs, an iconic figure in the hearts and minds of millions throughout the world.

Queen Elizabeth II: A Celebration of Her Life and Reign in Pictures

Sally Bedell Smith

This definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth II is the first all-round, up-close picture of one of the most fascinating, enigmatic and admired women in the world. 
 
With exclusive access to the Queen's personal letters, close friends and associates, this intimate biography is a treasure trove of fresh insights on her public persona and her private life. It also explores her close relationships with her family, her children, and Prince Philip. 
 
This book will transport you back to a moment nine decades ago when a young Princess Elizabeth first discovered her destiny. Here we see how over the years she has navigated through the political challenges and personal sacrifices ahead of her, to put the Crown, the Country and her unswerving sense of duty first. 
 
There is so much more to our Queen than that which is reported, but in these pages we at last get to meet the leader, strategist, and diplomat; the daughter, wife, mother and grandmother - Elizabeth the Queen.

Elizabeth the Queen

The most intimate biography of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Sali Hughes

This beautiful book takes a photographic journey through Queen Elizabeth II's ten decades of colour-blocked style. The photographs, which span the colours of the rainbow and a century of style, are gloriously accessorised with captions and commentary by journalist and broadcaster Sali Hughes. 
 
From the dusky pinks the Queen wore in girlhood all the way through to #NeonAt90, by way of that hat she wore on the announcement of Brexit, and not forgetting her trusty Launer handbag ever at her side, this must-have collection celebrates the iconic fashion statements of our late, longest-reigning and most vibrant monarch.

Our Rainbow Queen

A Celebration of Our Beloved and Longest-Reigning Monarch

Andrew Gimson

THE NEWLY REVISED EDITION 
 
Gimson&rsquo;s Kings and Queens is the most entertaining and instructive book on the English monarchy you will ever read. 
 
For lovers of history, the experienced and the novice, the serious and the silly. 
 
Gimson&rsquo;s Kings and Queens whirls us through the lives of our monarchs &ndash; from 1066 and William the Conqueror right up to Queen Elizabeth II and the present-day &ndash; to tell a tale of bastardy, courage, conquest, brutality, vanity, vulgarity, corruption, anarchy, absenteeism, piety, nobility, divorce, execution, civil war, madness, magnificence, profligacy, frugality, philately, abdication, dutifulness, family breakdown and family recovery. 
 
Written in Andrew Gimson&rsquo;s inimitable style, and illustrated by Martin Rowson, Gimson&rsquo;s Kings and Queens is both a primer and a refresher for anyone who can't quite remember which were the good and bad Edwards or Henrys, or why so-and-so succeeded to the throne rather than his second cousin.

Gimson’s Kings and Queens

Brief Lives of the Forty Monarchs since 1066

Vincent Cronin

First published 25 years ago, this biography of the Sun King uses contemporary sources to examine what sort of monarch Louis XIV really was. The author's researches reveal a portrait of the man and an account of the principal events of his long reign (1642-1715). The book provides an overview of the entire civilization inspired by and reflecting the glory of the Sun King. Thus, while Louis occupies the foreground, artists like Racine, Moliere, Lully and Mansart, the architect of Versailles, share the middleground with politicians such as Cardinal Mazarin and Nicolas Fouquet and courtiers such as the king's mistress, Louise de La Valliere.

Louis XIV

Estelle Paranque

'A story told with verve and passion' The Times, Book of the Week 
 
'An alternative and engaging biography...accessible and unpretentious' The Telegraph 
 
'A stunning portrayal of two of the most powerful women in European history' Tracy Borman 
 
'Exciting and compelling, packed full of tantalising details of diplomacy and court life, Paranque succeeds both in bringing history to life, but also in putting flesh on the bones of these two extraordinary women and rival queens' Kate Mosse 
 
'A smart and stylish portrait of two of Europe's most remarkable rulers, a compelling profile of female power and - that rarest of things - a truly original book about the Tudor period' Jessie Childs 
 
In sixteenth-century Europe, two women came to hold all the power, against all the odds. They were Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. 
 
 One a Virgin Queen who ruled her kingdom alone, and the other a clandestine leader who used her children to shape the dynasties of Europe, much has been written about these iconic women. But nothing has been said of their complicated relationship: thirty years of friendship, competition and conflict that changed the face of Europe. 
 
 This is a story of two remarkable visionaries: a story of blood, fire and gold. It is also a tale of ceaseless calculation, of love and rivalry, of war and wisdom - and of female power in a male world. Shining new light on their legendary kingdoms Blood, Fire and Gold provides a new way of looking at two of history's most powerful women, and how they shaped each other as profoundly as they shaped the course of history. Drawing on their letters and brand new research, Estelle Paranque writes an entirely new chapter in the well-worn story of the sixteenth century.

Blood, Fire and Gold

The story of Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici

Virginia Rounding

'THE MOST ACCESSIBLE AND ENJOYABLE PORTRAIT YET.' DAILY MAIL 
______________________________________________________ 
 
Power, sex, and politics: the fascinating rule of one of Russia's most significant monarchs 
 
Catherine the Great ruled Russia from 1762 until 1796. Famous for the legends circulated by political rivals about her sexual rapacity, some were true - though not the infamous rumour of her death by stallion. However, a conservative Russian court was shocked by her use of her sexuality as a political tool, as well as the number and age of her lovers. 
 
Unhappily married to the Grand Duke Peter, a man who preferred to play with his toy soldiers in the bedroom, they failed to produce an heir, and Catherine turned her attentions to a certain Sergey Saltykov who fathered the future Tsar Paul I. Six months into the reign of Peter III, Catherine, supported by the Imperial Guard, staged a successful coup against her husband and became Empress. It was her ambition to transform a vast but semi-barbaric country with the cultural and political reforms of Enlightenment Europe. 
 
In this fascinating biography, Virginia Rounding reveals an extraordinary woman in all her complexity. 
______________________________________________________ 
 
'A great thumping triumph of a book.' DAILY TELEGRAPH 
 
'Rounding shows that the reality is far more interesting than any of the fictions.' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 
 
'An intimate study of Catherine's life' GUARDIAN 
 
'Enjoyable and perceptive study . . . Rounding has read widely, and writes history with a no-nonsense style and a respectful relish for the details that make the past come alive.' Simon Sebag Montefiore, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 
 
'Rounding writes with enviable lucidity, and gives us the most accessible and enjoyable portrait yet.' DAILY MAIL 
 
'Written with vigour and intelligence enough to do justice to its prodigious subject.' SUNDAY TIMES

Catherine The Great

Love, Sex, and Power

Jane Ridley

The prequel to The Crown: the first truly candid portrait of George V and Mary, the Queen's grandparents and creators of the modern monarchy 
 
Shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Historical Biography prize and the History Reclaimed Book of the Year prize 
 
The lasting reputation of George V is for dullness. However throughout his reign, the monarch navigated a constitutional crisis, the First World War, the fall of thirteen European monarchies and the rise of Bolshevism. The suffragette Emily Davison threw herself under his horse at the Derby, he refused asylum to his cousin the Tsar Nicholas II and he facilitated the first Labour government. 
 
How this supposedly limited man steered the Crown through so many perils is a gripping tale. With unprecedented access to the Royal archives, Jane Ridley has been able to reassess the many myths associated with this dramatic period for the first time. 
 
'Wonderful... Never a dull paragraph' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, The Times 
 
'Magnificent... An evocative and touching portrait of a surprisingly impressive man' Philip Hensher, Spectator 
 
'A big, beautiful beast of a book. Fair, thorough and unexpectedly funny' Lucy Worsley

George V

Never a Dull Moment

Nevile Gwynne

Do you know your Kings and Queens of England by heart? Can you tell your Ethelred from your Ethelbert? Your Marcia from your Matilda? 
 
Well, passionate educator Mr Gwynne is back – and this time he is taking on the entirety of British history – so you will never be in the dark again. Within the pages of this little gem – bursting with our small island’s rich past – he teaches us the history of England through her remarkable monarchs. 
 
It is Mr Gwynne’s belief that a certain amount of what you might read in other history books may well be wrong. It is his aim to show you why. 
 
Concise, thorough and utterly fascinating, this is the perfect book to be enjoyed by young and old, to be read at a time when, for many, harking back to our rich past seems much more preferable than living in the dreary present. 
 
And when it comes to the benefits of education, Mr Gwynne is never wrong!

Gwynne's Kings and Queens

The Indispensable History of England and Her Monarchs

Leanda de Lisle

Sunday Times bestseller 
Selected as one of The Times' Best Books about The Tudors 
A Telegraph Book of the Year 
A History Today Book of the Year 
A BBC History Magazine Book of the Year 
 
The Tudors are a national obsession; they are our most notorious family in history. But beyond the well-worn headlines is a family still more extraordinary than the one we thought we knew. 
 
The Tudor canon typically starts with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, before speeding on to Henry VIII and the Reformation. But this leaves out the family’s obscure Welsh origins; it passes by the courage of the pregnant thirteen-year-old girl who would help found the Tudor dynasty; and the childhood and painful exile of her son, the future Henry VII. It ignores the fact that the Tudors were shaped by their past – those parts they wished to remember and those they wished to forget. 
 
With this background, Leanda de Lisle enables us to see the Tudors in their own terms and presents new perspectives and revelations on key figures and events, from the princes in the Tower to the Tudor Queens. 
 
Tudor tells a family story like no other. 
 
'A lively history of the ambitious Tudor family... It casts plenty of light on the strong women in the dynasty' The Times

Tudor

The Family Story

Robert Hardman

A brilliant portrait of the most famous woman in the world and her place in it, written by the renowned royal biographer and author of Queen of Our Times, Robert Hardman. 
_____________________________ 
 
'Dazzling, poignant and full of delicious surprises; the true story of how Elizabeth II took on the world - and won. The Crown is fictional. Here is the real thing.' - Andrew Roberts 
 
'In Queen of the World Robert Hardman anatomizes from almost every conceivable angle the workings of soft power in creating the present Queen's global role ... His book is a veritable reference work and cornucopia, overflowing with significant anecdotes, people, traditions and incidents.' - Times Literary Supplement 
_____________________________ 
 
 
On recent world history, one leader stands apart. Queen Elizabeth II saw more of the planet and its people than any other head of state, and engaged with them like no other monarch in British history. After her coronation, she visited over 130 countries across the ever-changing globe, acting as diplomat, stateswoman, pioneer and peace-broker, while also managing the responsibilities of a mother and grandmother, and her sixty-four-year marriage to the late Prince Philip. 
 
She transformed her father's old empire into the Commonwealth, her 'family of nations', and came to know its leaders better than anyone. In 2018, they would gather in her own home to endorse her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, as her successor. 
 
With extensive access to the Queen's family and staff, Hardman tells a true story full of drama, intrigue, exotic and even dangerous situations, heroes, rogues, pomp and glamour - and, at the centre of it all, the woman who genuinely won the hearts of the world for seventy glorious years. 
_____________________________ 
'Superb' - Peter Hennessy 
 
'Hardman's book, filled with new details, will be an essential source for any historian of modern Britain. It's also a glorious read' - William Shawcross, Spectator

Queen of the World

Edward White

For more than forty years, Diana, Princess of Wales, has been mythologized to the most extraordinary degree. Adored and lionized by some, ridiculed and traduced by others, Diana has always commanded a cultural presence unmatched by any other member of the royal family. 
 
In Dianaworld, Edward White offers both a portrait of the princess and a group portrait of those who existed in her orbit—from her royal in-laws, her servants, and the dilapidated ranks of the British aristocracy from which she rose, to drag performers, artists, Britain’s ethnic minorities, and the Gen Z superfans who maintain her status as a cultural icon. 
 
Drawing on a wide array of sources and perspectives, many never used in books about Diana or the royal family, White vividly recreates the world Diana lived in, explores the growth of her global reputation, and illuminates her lasting impact on the world she left behind.

Dianaworld

An Obsession

Andrew Roberts

Andrew Roberts's magnificent new biography portrays George as intelligent, benevolent, scrupulously devoted to the constitution of his country and (as head of government as well as head of state) navigating the turbulence of eighteenth-century politics with a strong sense of honour and duty. He was a devoted husband and family man, a great patron of the arts and sciences, keen to advance Britain's agricultural capacity ('Farmer George') and determined that her horizons should be global. He could be stubborn and self-righteous, but he was also brave, brushing aside numerous assassination attempts, galvanising his ministers and generals at moments of crisis and stoical in the face of his descent - five times during his life - into a horrifying loss of mind. 
 
The book gives a detailed, revisionist account of the American Revolutionary War, persuasively taking apart a significant proportion of the Declaration of Independence, which Roberts shows to be largely Jeffersonian propaganda. In a later war, he describes how George's support for William Pitt was crucial in the battle against Napoleon. And he makes a convincing, modern diagnosis of George's terrible malady, very different to the widely accepted medical view and to popular portrayals. 
 
In presenting this fresh view of Britain's most misunderstood monarch, George III shows one of Britain's premier historians at his sparkling best.

George III

The Life and Reign of Britain's Most Misunderstood Monarch

Hugo Vickers

Harold Nicolson called her 'the greatest Queen since Cleopatra', while Cecil Beaton called her 'a marshmallow made on a welding machine'. Stephen Tennant said: 'She looked everything that she was not: gentle, gullible, tenderness mingled with dispassionate serenity, cool, well-bred, remote. Behind this veil she schemed and vacillated, hard as nails.' Who was she? 
 
The Queen Mother's story has not yet been properly told. This was partly due to her long life, and the difficulty that always exists when a biography of a living person is attempted, partly because she was a queen - and the real person gets hidden behind the perceived image - and partly because she is hard to pin down. 
 
From her privileged aristocratic childhood, to the Abdication and the problems with Diana - this book questions how she faced her challenges and crises, assesses her role, how powerful she was, and how she coped. This is a candid, personal portrait of one of Britain's most loved national treasures. 
 
Hugo Vickers, an acknowledged expert on the House of Windsor, has spent seventeen years researching this book, and observed the Queen Mother in public and private over a period of forty years.

Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

Fern Riddell

*The book that inspired the major Channel 4 documentary airing this summer!* 
 
A passionate and provocative re-evaluation of Queen Victoria's relationship with her servant John Brown that uncovers the secrets the royal machine keeps from us, by acclaimed historian Dr Fern Riddell. 
From the moment John Brown arrived as a servant to Queen Victoria's household, he became known across the land as her loyal companion, her fierce protector, and her right-hand man; their friendship immortalised in print and later on-screen. But what if there was more to their relationship than we know? And what has history been hiding from us? 
 
Rumours have swirled around this relationship for years as historians have attempted to bring the truth to light – now for the first time, Dr Fern Riddell re-examines everything we thought we knew about one of Britain's most iconic women. Through unearthing groundbreaking new evidence, Riddell challenges the prevalent image of Victoria as a grieving widow to create a compelling human portrait of a woman in passionate midlife. 
Against a backdrop of court politics, family dynasties and the magic of the Highlands, Victoria’s Secret untangles the mysteries that the royal family have tried to keep hidden for generations, forcing us to question ‘who really writes our history’? 
Both a timeless romance and an extraordinary retelling of the emotional life of a queen, Victoria's Secret is an unmissable account of a woman in love. 
'A witty, compelling, irresistible read that unpretentiously reveals a great deal about the Victorian age.' Sathnam Sanghera 
 
'A meticulous unravelling of a 160-year-old mystery' Emily Brand 
'Riveting, bold and deeply human' - Elinor Cleghorn 
'Tender, surprising and just might change how we see Queen Victoria' - Robert Rinder

Victoria's Secret

The Private Passion of a Queen

Livia Manera Sambuy

A lost princess and a vanished world: a remarkable true story that moves from the Punjab of the Raj to 1930s Paris and the Second World War 
 
‘Remarkable and compelling’ Edmund de Waal 
 
‘Thoroughly engaging’ Kamila Shamsie 
 
In a Mumbai museum in 2007, Livia Manera Sambuy encounters a photograph that will change her life forever. 
The caption claims that the Punjabi princess Amrit Kaur sold her jewels in occupied Paris to save Jewish lives, only to be arrested by the Gestapo and sent to a concentration camp where she died within a year. 
 
For Livia, this marks the beginning of a compulsive search for the truth as she delves into the history of the British Raj, the diamonds and sapphires of the twentieth-century aristocracy, and the lives of extraordinary figures: bankers, jewellers, explorers and spies. 
 
‘An ambitious, absorbing work that peels back the layers of its enigmatic subject and digs deeply into the author's own emotional vicissitudes’ Jhumpa Lahiri 
 
‘A tantalizing true story . . . In Search of Amrit Kaur plunges into the glittery world of Indian royalty’ New York Times Book Review

In Search of Amrit Kaur

An Indian Princess in Wartime Paris

A myth-busting biography of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, which retells the dramatic story of the civil war from her perspective 
 
A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE 
 
Henrietta Maria, Charles I's queen, is the most reviled consort in British history. Condemned as the 'Popish brat of France' and a 'notorious whore', she remains in popular memory the woman who turned the king Catholic - so causing a civil war - and a cruel and bigoted mother. 
 
Leanda de Lisle unpicks these myths to reveal a very different queen. We meet a new bride who enjoyed annoying her uptight husband, who was a passionate advocate for the female voice in public affairs and who, when civil war came, proved crucial to Charles's campaign. The image of the Restoration queen as an irrelevant crone is replaced with Henrietta Maria as an influential 'phoenix queen'. It is time to look again at this despised queen and judge if she is not in fact one of our most remarkable. 
 
 
'Brilliantly written, mesmerising, superb scholarship and totally immersive... A total game changer' KATE WILLIAMS, author of Rival Queens 
 
'This is revisionist history at its absolute best' ANDREW ROBERTS author of Churchill 
 
'Beautifully written and endlessly fascinating' ALEXANDER LARMAN author of The Crown in Crisis 
 
'Popular history of the finest kind' RONALD HUTTON author of The Witch

Henrietta Maria

Conspirator, Warrior, and Phoenix Queen – the true story of Charles I’s wife

Conspirator, Warrior, Phoenix Queen

Katy Birchall

As Meghan Markle once said: 'With fame comes opportunity, but it also includes responsibility - to advocate and share, to focus less on the glass slipper and more on pushing through glass ceilings. And, if I'm lucky enough, to inspire.' 
 
Inspired by the Royal Wedding on 19 May, this beautiful collection of light-hearted stories celebrates what it takes to be a modern princess. Smart, strong, kind and brave, every princess here - whether they be fictional or real - is awesome. 
 
Including: Meghan, Ameera, Elizabeth II, Elsa, Leia, Moana, Tiana, Fiona, Haya, Lalla, Akishino, Maha, Diana, Catherine, Grace, Maxima, Rania AND princesses ahead of their time: Margaret, Elizabeth I, Pingyang, Hatshepsut, Nzinga and Seondeok. 
 
This book will make you smile and inspire you to make your own happy ending.

How to be a Princess

Real-Life Fairy Tales for Modern Heroines – No Fairy Godmothers Required

________ 
 
The bestselling and acclaimed biography of Queen Elizabeth II. With new material exclusive to the paperback edition, Our Queen examines the remarkable reign of Britain's most devoted monarch. 
 
History knew no monarch like her. 
 
She travelled farther than all her predecessors put together, and lived and reigned longer than any of them. She met with more historic figures than anyone who preceded her - from Churchill to Mandela, de Gaulle to Obama. 
 
Here, the distinguished royal writer Robert Hardman has been granted rare and privileged access to the world of Queen Elizabeth II to produce this enthralling portrait of one of history's most popular figures. 
 
'So much has changed around the Queen yet she has remained utterly true to herself,' says Hardman. 'There is this timeless quality about her. The more you talk to Her Majesty's family and to her people, the more you look at her life, the more impressive the scale of her achievement becomes.' 
 
Here is the inside story.

Our Queen

Ian Mortimer

From the bestselling author of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England, comes the story of King Edward III, who - like Elizabeth and Victoria after him - embodied the values of his age, forged a nation out of war and re-made England. 
 
He ordered his uncle to be beheaded; he usurped his father's throne; he started a war which lasted for more than a hundred years, and taxed his people more than any other previous king. 
 
Nineteenth century historians saw in Edward the opportunity to decry a warmonger, and painted him as a self-seeking, rapacious, tax-gathering conqueror. Yet, in this first full study of the King's character and life, Dr Ian Mortimer unveils that behind the strong warrior king was a compassionate, conscientious and often merciful man - resolute yet devoted to his wife, friends and family, and the father of both the English nation and the English people. 
 
'A fascinating portrait. At times, the reader seems almost able to reach across time and touch this man' - The Economist

The Perfect King

The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation

Gyles Brandreth

This intimate biography of our beloved Queen Elizabeth II tells the story of her remarkable life, reign and times, from a perspective unlike any other. Gyles Brandreth writes the Queen's tale candidly with grace and sensitivity from the view of someone close to the monarch, her husband Philip and the wider Royal family. 
 
Told with a refreshing dose of humour and moving honesty from a totally unique viewpoint, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait is the must-have biography of the longest-serving monarch in English history, of a woman who has represented not only her people but stood as an emblem of fortitude and resilience worldwide.

Elizabeth

An intimate portrait from the writer who knew her and her family for over fifty years

Alison Weir

Triumph and tragedy, love and loss, murder and malice in the lives of five fifteenth-century queens, from 'the queen of history writing' (Sunday Express) 
 
The fifteenth century was a turbulent age: the Hundred Years War between England and France, and the Wars of the Roses dominated the lives of people both inside and out of the royal courts. 
 
Joan of Navarre, Katherine of Valois, Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Wydeville and Anne Neville were the queens who stood by England's sovereigns, caught up in wars that changed the course of their lives, and the course of history. 
 
They were also formidable women who defied the limitations of their times, often living out the brutal consequences of their determination. 
 
Alison Weir uncovers their stories in this final volume of her ground-breaking series on the queens of medieval England. Queens at War is a stunning culmination of research by a historian at the full extent of her powers and gripping account of five women on the throne. 
 
* 
PRAISE FOR ALISON WEIR: 
 
‘A meticulous scholar’ New York Times 
‘She is an excellent storyteller: descriptions are vivid and her knowledge of the sources is extensive’ Spectator 
‘Weir’s hugely popular history books are as gripping as novels’ The Times 
‘[Weir] writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as well as the mind’ Independent 
‘Alison Weir has the rare gift of being able to bring history vividly to life’ Choice

Queens at War

England's Medieval Queens

Catherine Mayer

The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller 
 
'Breathtaking' The Times 
 
'[The book that] made headlines around the world.' Independent 
 
The former Prince of Wales has lived his whole life in the public eye, yet he remains an enigma. He was born to be king, but he aims much higher. A landmark publication, Charles: The Heart of a King reveals Charles in all his complexity: the passionate views that mean he will never be as remote and impartial as his mother; the compulsion to make a difference and the many and startling ways in which the Prince and now King of the United Kingdom and fifteen other realms has already made his mark. 
 
The book offers fresh and fascinating insights into the first marriage that did so much to define him and an assessment of his relationship with the woman he calls, with unintended accuracy, his 'dearest wife': Camilla, now Queen Consort. We see Charles as a father and a friend, a serious figure and a joker. Life at court turns out to be full of hidden dangers and unexpected comedy. 
 
Now, updated and revised with a new preface and two new chapters - covering details of Harry and Meghan's exit and its implications, the cash-for-honours scandal, Prince Andrew, and more - this significant study reveals a monarchy threatened and a man in sight of happiness yet still driven by anguish and a remarkable belief system, a charitable entrepreneur, activist, agitator and avatar of the Establishment who just as often tilts against it. 
 
Based on multiple interviews with his friends and courtiers, palace insiders and critics, and rare access to Charles himself, before his kingship, this biography explores his philanthropy and his compulsive interventionism, his faith, his significant impact on politics and the philosophy that means when he seeks harmony he sometimes creates controversy. 
 
Gripping, at times astonishing, often laugh-out-loud, this is a royal biography unlike any other. 
 
'A must-read ... this important book is nothing short of a manual to our future King's world-view' GQ 
 
'A sustained piece of higher journalism' Independent

Charles: The Heart of a King

Dan Jones

Fernando Monroy

A celebration of the Princess of Wales, her love of fashion and life, and her everlasting influence on culture, celebrity and style.Diana: Style Icon charts her fashion evolution through fifty looks - from ruffles to polka dots, from dreamy red-carpet classics to off-duty looks (including the now iconic pink Converse), and her confident, considered "revenge look", emerged after the break-up of her marriage.The books showcases legendary designers such as Chanel, Dior, Versace, Ferragamo, and Conran, and includes more exclusive ones, such as Bruce Oldfield, Catherine Walker, Christina Stambolian, Atelier Emanuel, who designed the unforgettable wedding dress.Tastefully and elegantly illustrated throughout, this volume is a must-have for admirers of Lady Diana, fashion historians and fans of fashion illustration.

Diana: Style Icon

A Celebration of the Fashion of Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales

Harold Nicolson called her 'the greatest Queen since Cleopatra', while Cecil Beaton called her 'a marshmallow made on a welding machine'. Stephen Tennant said: 'She looked everything that she was not: gentle, gullible, tenderness mingled with dispassionate serenity, cool, well-bred, remote. Behind this veil she schemed and vacillated, hard as nails.' Who was she? 
The Queen Mother's story has not yet been properly told. This was partly due to her long life, and the difficulty that always exists when a biography of a living person is attempted, partly because she was a queen - and the real person gets hidden behind the perceived image - and partly because she is hard to pin down. 
From her privileged aristocratic childhood, to the abdication and the problems with Diana - this book questions how she faced her challenges and crises, assess her role, how powerful she was, and how she coped. This is a candid, personal portrait of one of Britain's most loved national treasures. 
Hugo Vickers, an acknowledged expert on the House of Windsor, has spent seventeen years researching this book, and observed the Queen Mother in public and private over a period of forty years.

Elizabeth, The Queen Mother

Richard Davenport-Hines

Like his mother Queen Victoria, Edward VII defined an era. Both reflected the personalities of their central figures: hers grand, imperial and pretty stiff; his no less grand, but much more relaxed and enjoyable. This book conveys Edward's distinct personality and significant influences. To the despair of his parents, he rebelled as a young man, conducting many affairs and living a life of pleasure. But as king he made a distinct contribution to European diplomacy and - which is little known - to London, laying out the Mall and Admiralty Arch. 
 
Richard Davenport-Hines's book is as enjoyable as its subject and the age he made.

Edward VII (Penguin Monarchs)

The Cosmopolitan King

Clare Jackson

James VI & I, who died 400 years ago, was one of Britain’s most consequential and interesting monarchs, not least in creating the British monarchy itself by joining the English and Scottish thrones. A major intellectual, James's preoccupations ranged from witchcraft and theological controversy to hunting, diplomacy, poetry and sartorial fashion. The 'Mirror of Great Britain' was a spectacular jewel that gave symbolic endorsement to James's vision of British union, but mirrors themselves — with their limitless capacity to magnify, illuminate and distort — supplied James with one of his favourite literary metaphors.Ruler of Scotland for nearly four decades before his accession to the English throne in 1603, James was a ‘cradle king’ whose long reigns encompassed extraordinary dramas, including his abduction in the ‘Ruthven Raid’ in 1582 and his attempted assassination in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. In his lifetime, James often confounded contemporaries’ expectations while his posthumous reputation has been distorted by crude stereotypes.Closely attentive to James’s own words — in numerous publications, manuscript musings, topical verse and private correspondence — Clare Jackson's wonderful new book tells the story of this highly unusual monarch with great flair and insight.

The Mirror of Great Britain

A Life of James VI & I

Nicholas Davies

A remarkable biography of Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth: Behind Palace Doors, contains secrets of the royal family never previously published in this country. The lives of the Queen, Prince Philip and their children are examined and exposed in detail to reveal the Windsor family's disturbing history of adultery, jealousy and mental cruelty. 
 
Award-winning journalist Nicholas Davies examines the mood, the ambitions and the forebodings of the Queen at the start of the new millennium. He gives us, too, an insight into the harsh reality of the relationship between the Queen and her husband. 
 
Elizabeth: Behind Closed Doors also investigates the early years of Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward, covering their relationships with their parents and their own various love affairs, marriages, separations and divorces. The marriage of Charles and Diana is scrutinised to reveal the principle reason for their marital breakdown. 
 
For more than a decade the supporting cast of royals stole the limelight as their marriages fell apart in acrimony; but now, with nearly 50 years on the throne and her children more settled, the Queen is returning to centre stage. This compelling book looks at Elizabeth II's plans for her own future as she wrestles with the uncertainty of what lies ahead for the House of Windsor.

Elizabeth II

Behind Palace Doors

Granted special access by Queen Elizabeth II to her parents' letters and diaries and those of their close friends and family, Sally Bedell Smith brings the love story of this iconic royal couple to life. Deeply researched and revealing, this book shows how a devoted marriage helped the King and Queen meet the challenges of World War II, lead a nation, solidify the public's faith in the monarchy, and raise their daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. 
 
Sally Bedell Smith gives us an inside view of the lives, struggles, hopes, and triumphs of King George VI and Elizabeth during a dramatic time in history.

George VI and Elizabeth

The Marriage That Shaped the Monarchy

Thomas Penn

Winner of THE HW FISHER BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 
 
'He were a dark prince, and infinitely suspicious, and his times full of secret conspiracies and troubles' Sir Francis Bacon 
 
In his remarkable debut, Penn vividly recreates the dark and turbulent reign of Henry VII. He traces the transformation of a young, vulnerable boy, Prince Henry, into the aggressive teenager who would become Henry VIII, and of Catherine of Aragon, his future queen. And at the book's heart is the tragic, magnetic figure of Henry VII - controlling, paranoid, avaricious, with a Machiavellian charm and will to power.

Winter King

The Dawn of Tudor England

Daisy Picture Books

The Christmasaurus Picture Book

Mrs Pepperpot Picture Books

Princess Poppy Picture Books

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