John Van Der Kiste: 39 books

There is little available on the dramatic and colourful history of the Spanish monarchy. Experienced author and historian John Van der Kiste provides a readable and anecdotal look at one of the key European dynasties from the nineteenth century to the present. He begins with the wayward, ill-educated...

This latest book from John Van der Kiste, the eminent historian of European royalty, is an account of Queen Victoria’s personal and political relationships with the empires, or to be more exact, the Kings and Queens, Emperors, Empresses and their families of France, Germany, Austria and Russia....

In 1860 the Australian outback remained all but unknown to the European settlers. A prize of £2,000 was offered by the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria for the first expedition successfully to cross the country from Melbourne to the north coast. The Burke & Wills Expedition,...

How was Queen Victoria influenced by her closest male ministers, relatives, advisers and servants? John Van der Kiste is the first to explore this aspect of Victoria's life; focusing on four roles - mentors, family, ministers and servants. A soldier's daughter, Victoria lost her father at the age...

It recounts several notable cases, from the killing of Sarah and Edward Glass at Wadland Down in 1827 and the poisonings of Samuel Wescombe in Exeter in 1829 and William Ashford at Honiton Clyst in 1866, both by wives whose affections had gone elsewhere, to the horrific murder of Emma Doidge and her...

Surrey Murders is an examination of some of the county's most notorious and shocking cases. They include the 'Wigwam Girl', Joan Wolfe, who lived in a tent built by a Cree Indian Soldier before being brutally slaughtered; the infamous stabbing of Frederick Gold by 'the Serpent', Percy Lefroy Mapleton;...

Berkshire Murders is an examination of some of the county's most notorious and shocking cases. They include Hannah Carey, beaten to death by her husband at Warfield in 1851; young Hannah Gould, whose throat was cut by her father in a frenzied attack at Windsor in 1861; Nell Woodridge, murdered by...

At the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, almost every European nation was a monarchy, most linked by close family ties to her and Edward VII, the "uncle of Europe". Prior to the outbreak of World War I, the personal relationships of Edward, and of his successor and son, George V, flourished...

Eighth-century martyr St Boniface, tennis player and TV presenter Sue Barker, painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, scholar Sir Thomas Bodley, actor Sir Donald Sinden, Boer War commander Sir Redvers Buller, radio and TV presenter Ed Stewart and round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester are among personalities...

Ivybridge, South Brent, and their surrounding villages and hamlets, occupy that part of South Devon which borders the outskirts of Plymouth to the west, and the southern slopes of Dartmoor to the north. Now the most heavily populated town between Plymouth and the Torbay district, Ivybridge has developed...

The six children of King George V and Queen Mary all lived to maturity except the youngest, Prince John. The eldest, who was Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, reigned as King Edward VII for less than a year. His infamous romance with Mrs Simpson plunged the country into the abdication crisis...

The history of Dartmoor extends to several centuries BC, with surviving prehistoric remains dating back to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, and the largest concentration of Bronze Age remains in Britain. It has been a hunting ground for the Kings of Wessex, a royal forest, and home to farmers...

Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince Consort, had nine children who, despite their very different characters, remained a close-knit family. Inevitably, as they married into European royal families their loyalties were divided and their lives dominated by political controversy. This is not only the...

** This electronic edition includes 43 black-and-white photographs ** Kaiser Friedrich III and his consort Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain, had six children who lived to maturity, the eldest being Kaiser Wilhelm II. The three younger sisters, Victoria, Sophie and Margaret, were particularly...