Royalty category: 1453 books

Julia Gelardi's Born to Rule is an historical tour de force that weaves together the powerful and moving stories of the five royal granddaughters of Queen Victoria. These five women were all married to reigning European monarchs during the early part of the 20th century, and it was their reaction...

"Ian Grey's Peter the Great reads like a novel . . ." - Louis Fischer. The first modern Russian was Peter the Great. In this enthralling biography of that remarkable ruler, award-winning historian Ian Grey paints an illuminating portrait - clear, objective, and without malice or sentimentality....

The tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are among the best-known stories in the world, but they are often relegated to the realm of legend. However, Arthur was a man, not a myth. In this book, acclaimed historian Christopher Hibbert vividly brings to life the sixth-century British monarch and his extraordinary court.

The Romanov dynasty has dazzled, intrigued, and confused the world for more than three centuries. These extraordinary monarchs wielded absolute power over the vast, violent lands of Russia. Savagery and kindness, asceticism and opulence, piousness and cruelty existed side by side in the royal courts....

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Around the year 1049, William, Duke of Normandy and future conqueror of England, raced to the palace of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders. The count’s eldest daughter, Matilda, had refused William’s offer of marriage and publicly denounced him as a bastard. Encountering...

In the first volume of an exciting new series, bestselling author Alison Weir brings the dramatic reigns of England’s medieval queens to life. The lives of England’s medieval queens were packed with incident—love, intrigue, betrayal, adultery, and warfare—but their stories have been...

Catherine II of Russia was the most remarkable monarch of the eighteenth century. New York Times bestselling historian Ian Grey paints an illuminating portrait of an enigmatic woman of compelling charm and elegance. She had a prodigious appetite for work, great curiosity, and boundless ambition and...

The life of Princess May of Teck is one of the great Cinderella stories in history. From a family of impoverished nobility, she was chosen by Queen Victoria as the bride for her eldest grandson, the scandalous Duke of Clarence, heir to the throne, who died mysteriously before their marriage. Despite...

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE BOSTON GLOBE This richly entertaining biography chronicles the eventful life of Queen Victoria’s firstborn son, the quintessential black sheep of Buckingham Palace, who matured into as wise and effective a monarch...

It was 1501. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and countercoups. Through luck, guile and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, had clambered to the top of the heap—a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s throne. For many he remained...

“A compelling trek through English history in the company of some remarkable women.” —Kirkus Reviews Though their royal husbands occupy the lion’s share of history books, the queens of early England are fascinating subjects in their own right. Lisa Hilton’s Queens Consort vividly...

The hallmarks of the eighteenth century - its opulence, charm, wit, intelligence - are embodied in the age's remarkable women. These women held sway in the salons, in the councils of state, in the ballrooms, in the bedrooms; they enchanted (or intimidated) the most powerful of men and presided over...

No tsar of Russia has been more widely known by name than Ivan the Terrible. He has exercised a sinister fascination but remained a nebulous figure, seen through a haze of blood and savagery. In truth, Ivan was extraordinarily complex, extreme in conduct and in speech. His personality was vivid and powerful....

The tsars of Russia reigned as absolute monarchs long past the time when the authority of other sovereigns had been curtailed. Here, historian Alexander Ivanov reveals their fears and betrayals, privilege and debauchery, conspiracies and rivalries, love and tragedy as they forged Russia into one of...