The fall from popular grace of the previously adulated brother of the heir to the British throne as a consequence of his marriage to a beautiful and dynamic Hollywood starlet of colour makes for fascinating reading in best-selling royal author Lady Colin Campbell's balanced account. Lady Colin knows her royal history and psychology, and as the first seven years of her adult life were spent in the USA she has a foot in both the American and British camps. With unique breadth of insight she goes behind the scenes, speaking to friends, relations, courtiers, and colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic to reveal the most unexpected royal story since the Abdication. She highlights the dilemmas involved and the issues that lurk beneath the surface, as to why the couple decided to step down as senior royals. She analyses the implications of the actions of a young and ambitious couple, in love with each other and with the empowering lure of fame and fortune. She leads the reader through the maze of contradictions, revealing how Californian culture has influenced the couple's conduct. She exposes how they tried and failed to change the royal system by adapting it to their own needs and ambitions, and, upon failing, how they decided to create a new system altogether.

Emil Ludwig's account of Cleopatra's life is a brilliant psychological study of the Queen and those two men with whom her name remains forever: Caesar and Antonius. Instead of the eccentric amorous, the idiosyncratic author shows us a real and deep lover, a mother, and a fighter.

"Theo Aronson's latest royal book is a model of what a royal biography should be... The problems of being a princess in today's monarchy are vividly implicit in every page... I found the book eminently readable in an easy style that lends itself to wit and irony..." Elizabeth Longford, The Tablet "A balanced and on the whole generous interpretation of this most elusive of royal characters. Aronson expounds convincingly the almost intolerable pressures to which a woman of intelligence and character must find herself subjected when entrapped in the mesh of royal responsibilities." PHILIP ZIEGLER, Daily Telegraph 'Books of the Year' "Theo Aronson is a practised royal biographer who writes with fluidity... It is good to find royal gossip in which no one is absurdly inflated and no one viciously demeaned." Times Literary Supplement "Aronson's strength is his style: he is an elegant writer who can handle the broad picture and the telling detail." Daily Telegraph Part imperious royal figure, part femme du monde, Princess Margaret spent the greater part of her life torn between meeting the exacting standards of the monarchy and flouting its long-established conventions. She has been described as tragic, unresolved, a royal maverick, a woman of conflict, a princess without a cause. From any viewpoint, she remains the most interesting member of the royal family. Widely praised on its publication in hardback, this is the first detailed, in-depth study of this controversial figure. A respected royal biographer. Theo Aronson is uniquely qualified to tell the Princess's story - from her private and public life. He has been helped by many who know Princess Margaret and has drawn on several new and unfamiliar sources. He has also had the incalculable advantage of several audiences with her, allowing him to incorporate many of her memories, observations and opinions in his book. This is a fresh, frank and highly entertaining account of an always colourful life.

Here, for the first time, is an all-embracing account of the loves of that royal womaniser, Edward VII, as Prince of Wales and King. It is also a study of the three women with whom the King was most deeply in love - his `official' mistresses, Lillie Langtry, Daisy Warwick and Alice Keppel. In their different ways, all three were exceptional personalities; Lillie Langtry, the socially ambitious girl from the vicarage, became a famous actress; Daisy Warwick, an immensely wealthy heiress and social butterfly, was converted to socialism; Alice Keppel, probably the King's greatest love, developed into an astute and fascinating figure in her own right. Spanning three decades and packed with incident, scandal and high romance, the story is set in the extravagant and hypocritical world of late Victorian and Edwardian society. It is full of colourful characters: Edward's beautiful and betrayed wife Alexandra; the three cuckolded husbands - Edward Langtry, the Earl of Warwick and the Hon. George Keppel; the flamboyant Oscar Wilde; the sensuous Sarah Bernhardt; the dissipated Prince Albert Victor; and the sexually complex W.E. Gladstone. The King in Love challenges long-established myths and reveals much that was hitherto unknown: not least the extraordinary scene that took place at the deathbed of King Edward VII. The result is a brilliant evocation of a world, and a way of life that has gone forever.

Prince Albert Victor, known to his family as 'Eddy', was the eldest child of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. This is the story of Prince Eddy's alleged involvement in a Victorian cause célèbre - the Cleveland Street brothel case. The discovery of this homosexual brothel in 1889 led to an extraordinary cover-up by the British government - a cover-up which is explicable only in the light of Prince Eddy's involvement. Working from original sources (including the files of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Esher Papers), Theo Aronson has written the first full account of the strange life of Prince Eddy, setting it in perspective against a vivid backcloth of the astonishingly active homosexual underworld during the last decades of Queen Victoria's reign. Prince Eddy and the Homosexual Underworld explores Prince Eddy's upbringing, his university and military careers, his curious personality, his alleged "secret marriage", his links with the Jack the Ripper murders, his early death and, above all, his sexual orientation. For it was this that linked the young prince's name to the Cleveland Street Scandal. Praise for Prince Eddy and the Homosexual Underworld: 'Students of the erotic will love this book, and so will royal-watchers, but arbiters of sexual purity should hate it, for Mr. Aronson displays an underground culture that exposed its judges as upright liars' - New York Times Book Review

The Kaisers were only in power for less than fifty years, but their reigns would shape the fate of Europe forever… There were only three Kaisers, and their reigns lasted for less than fifty years. Yet their time on the throne was marked by drama, turbulence, and a bloody impact upon the lives of millions. The short lived Second Reich born out of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and defeated on the Western Front in 1918 is without parallel. The Kaisers is the story of six people whose influence changed the world. Wilhelm I, Frederick II, Wilhelm II and their wives had huge control over the recently unified Germany. They were military minded, autocratic men who, caught in bitter, almost continual conflict, found themselves on an inevitable path to destruction. The Kaisers is a comprehensive study of the rise and fall of the House of Hohenzollern that shows the light and shade of the Kaisers as well as explaining why they are perhaps deserving of our understanding and compassion. Praise for Theo Aronson: 'A lively and eminently readable book' - The Teacher 'An engrossing piece of almost contemporary history' - Homes & Gardens 'A vivid evocation of the lives and characters of the personalities involved' - The Observer Theo Aronson is the author of over twenty works of royal historical biography, published in eleven languages. Among the widely read are Grandmama of Europe, The King in Love, Napoleon and Josephine and a biography of Princess Margaret. In the course of researching and writing these books he has interviewed major and minor members of Britain’s royal family and members of the royal households, as well as various officials, servants, friends and others whose lives are in some way connected with the monarchy.

Part memoir, part humor, and part myth, this entertaining and inspirational volume explores the moment the author realized his high-school basketball career would not last forever and examines why women continue to be perplexed by men's fascination with sports.

'This war', wrote Winston Churchill to King George VI at the height of the Second World War, 'has brought throne and people closer together than was ever before recorded.' Here is a full and fascinating account of that coming together. It is a study of the contribution made, not only by George VI and his redoubtable Queen, but also by the entire royal family during those turbulent years. And of how that contribution strengthened and popularized the monarchy. This is a family saga; an account of the lives, as much private as public, of all the diverse members of what George VI called 'The Firm'. Together with the tireless efforts of the King and Queen, it deals with such aspects as the Duke of Windsor's flirtation with Fascism, the ground-clearing obsessions of Queen Mary, the mysterious death of the Duke of Kent, the activities of the Athlones in Canada and the Gloucesters in Australia, and the imprisonment of the Princess Royal's eldest son, Viscount Lascelles. Occasionally tragic, often amusing, always interesting, it is a richly detailed panorama of the monarchy in one of its finest hours. Theo Aronson has been granted an unprecedented series of audiences with the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Princess Alice. Duchess of Gloucester, and the late Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, as well as interviews with many other members of the royal family and of the royal households. He has been permitted the use of previously unpublished letters, diaries and papers. The result is a colourful study by an author who has been consistently praised for his insight, scholarship and, above all, readability.

The years immediately before the First World War saw the last great flowering of European monarchy. Although sovereigns no longer ruled by divine right, their prestige and positions remained almost intact. The glittering centerpieces of national life, those crowned and anointed monarchs were still widely regarded as mystical, unassailable, divinely guided. And, with the majority of them being so closely related, they constituted a royal clan, an international freemasonry through which it was assumed the peace of Europe was being maintained. World War I shattered all this. King took up arms against king; cousin was pitted against cousin. Twelve leading monarchs, ranging from the vainglorious Kaiser Wilhelm II to such lesser-known figures as the brigandly Nicholas of Montenegro, the 'outre' Foxy Ferdinand of Bulgaria and the tragic Emperor Karl of Austria-Hungary, were involved in the conflict. For, in the end, that celebrated kinship of the family of kings proved irrelevant. Against the upheavals of these years, monarchs were revealed as both powerless and impotent. Here, Theo Aronson has assembled the entire cast of embattled monarchs. His is the story of eight momentous years viewed, as it were, from the monarchical standpoint; an account of the passing, not only of their particular world, but of the entire monarchic and dynastic order of the Continent. It describes the brilliant sunset and the dramatic break-up of the Europe of the Kings.

Napoleon III, being accused on one occasion of having nothing of the Great Napoleon about him, replied with as much exasperation as wit, that he did, on the contrary, have his relations. This book is a domestic chronicle of the incredible Bonaparte family, a greedy, amorous, quarrelsome and hot-blooded Corsican clan who provided nineteenth-century Europe — and America — not only with two French emperors but also with a dazzling assortment of pretenders and parvenus, statesmen and eccentrics, great ladies and adventurers. Plumped onto the thrones of Europe by the career of Napoleon I, who probably took better care of his family than any other conqueror in history, the Bonapartes survived the wreck of the two empires they ruled, buzzing around the honeypots of the continent with all the persistence of the imperial bees of Napoleon's crest. This is a personal history, not a political one. It is the family, with its eccentricities, vulgarities and fascinations manifesting themselves in generation after generation, which holds the centre of the stage. The great political, economic and military events of the time are heard dimly as 'noises off'. Napoleon I himself appears as a son, brother, husband, father and above all as the founder of a dynasty, rather than as a great public figure. Theo Aronson paints this family portrait with a wealth of detail based on many years of research with historical documents and original records, letters, memoirs and family diaries. Praise for The Golden Bees: ‘A very considerable feat… a long, comfortable, easy-going sort of narrative full of tit-bits of information, stuffed with anecdotes’ - Observer ‘This is a hugely entertaining book. Neither biography nor history; but a mixture of both.… All lovers of royal gossip, of sprightly anecdotes and of the scandal and personal drama of history should delight in it’ - New York Times Theo Aronson is the author of over twenty works of royal historical biography, published in eleven languages. Among the widely read are Grandmama of Europe, The King in Love, Napoleon and Josephine and a biography of Princess Margaret. In the course of researching and writing these books he has interviewed major and minor members of Britain’s royal family and members of the royal households, as well as various officials, servants, friends and others whose lives are in some way connected with the monarchy.

'This war', wrote Winston Churchill to King George VI at the height of the Second World War, 'has brought throne and people closer together than was ever before recorded.' Here is a full and fascinating account of that coming together. It is a study of the contribution made not only by George VI and his redoubtable Queen, but also by the entire royal family during those turbulent years, and of how that contribution strengthened and popularized the monarchy. This is a family saga; an account of the lives, as much private as public, of all the diverse members of what George VI called 'The Firm'. Together with the tireless efforts of the King and Queen, it deals with such aspects as the Duke of Windsor's flirtation with fascism, the mysterious death of the Duke of Kent, the activities of the Athlones in Canada and the Gloucesters in Australia, and the imprisonment of the Princess Royal's eldest son, Viscount Lascelles. Occasionally tragic, often amusing, always interesting, The Royal Family at War is a richly detailed panorama of the monarchy in one of its finest hours. Theo Aronson is the author of over twenty works of royal historical biography including Grandmama of Europe, The King in Love, Napoleon and Josephine and a biography of Princess Margaret. In the course of researching and writing these books he has interviewed major and minor members of Britain’s royal family and members of the royal households, as well as various officials, servants, friends and others whose lives are in some way connected with the monarchy.

Henry II conquered the largest empire of any English medieval king. Yet it is the people around him we remember: his wife Eleanor, whom he seduced from the French king; his son Richard the Lionheart; Thomas Becket, murdered in his cathedral. Who was this great, yet tragic king? For fans of Dan Jones, George RR Martin and Bernard Cornwell. The only thing that could have stopped Henry was himself. Henry II had all the gifts of the gods. He was charismatic, clever, learned, empathetic, a brilliant tactician, with great physical strength and an astonishing self-belief. Henry was the creator of the Plantagenet dynasty of kings, who ruled through eight generations in command of vast lands in Britain and Europe. Virtually unbeaten in battle, and engaged in a ceaseless round of conquest and diplomacy, Henry forged an empire that matched Charlemagne's. It was not just on the battlefield that Henry excelled; he presided over a blossoming of culture and learning termed 'the twelfth century Renaissance', pursued the tenets of reason over religious faith, and did more to advance the cause of justice and enforce the rule of law than any other English monarch before or since. Contemporaries lauded his greatness and described him as their 'Alexander of the West'. And yet it is the people around him who are remembered: his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he seduced away from the French king; his sons Richard the Lionheart and John; Thomas Becket, murdered in his cathedral. Henry - so famed during his lifetime - has slipped into the shadows of history. King of the North Wind offers a fresh evaluation of this great yet tragic ruler. Written as a historical tragedy, it tells how this most talented of kings came into conflict with those closest to him, to become the most haunted.

One would expect the rulers of England and France to have a relationship of some kind, if only political. But the personal relationships that developed between Victoria and Albert of Great Britain, and their counterparts across the channel, were rather surprising. Ambitious and flamboyant, Napoleon III of France and his wife the Empress Eugenie could hardly have been more different to the British monarch and her consort. And while Victoria was enchanted by that very difference, over the years their relationship was frequently strained by political and military events. But when the world of Napoleon III and Eugenie began to crumble, it was to their British friends that they fled. And when Eugenie lost her husband and her only child in swift succession, the publicly ice-cool Queen Victoria revealed her true character as she welcomed a heartbroken Eugenie into her own family. In Queen Victoria and the Bonapartes , Theo Aronson reveals a little-known aspect of Queen Victoria's life and deploys his skill as a writer and researcher to great effect, showing us the complex and often surprising characters behind the great names of history. Praise for Queen Victoria and the Bonapartes : 'Relying primarily on correspondence between the Queen, Empress, Emperor and other family members and officials (much of it previously unpublished), Aronson delivers another superbly readable and engaging history' - Shawn Day, Randomosity 'I enjoyed reading this book very much indeed, & would most certainly recommend it to those seeking a more human experience of history' - Goodreads review Theo Aronson is the author of over twenty works of royal historical biography, published in eleven languages. Among the widely read are Grandmama of Europe, The King in Love, Napoleon and Josephine and a biography of Princess Margaret . In the course of researching and writing these books he has interviewed major and minor members of Britain's royal family and members of the royal households, as well as various officials, servants, friends and others whose lives are in some way connected with the monarchy.

The Coburgs, remarked Bismarck, were 'the stud farm of Europe'; if unkindly phrased, there was nevertheless some truth in the jibe. Within three generations of the foundation of the Belgian Royal House in 1831, Coburgs had tarried into almost every royal family in Europe. Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about the throne of Belgium is that it ever came into being: created after the successful rebellion against the Dutch, handed to an imported German prince, it was hoped, without much enthusiasm, that it would weld together a new nation of disparate and quarrelsome elements. It has survived to the present, in an era which has seen older and seemingly more secure dynasties vanish. The first Coburg of Belgium, Leopold I, as that 'Dear Uncle' to whom Queen Victoria was so abjectly devoted in the early years of her reign. Cheated by the death of his first wife, Charlotte, Princess of Wales, daughter of George IV and Queen Caroline, from becoming Prince Consort to the Queen of England, the resilient Leopold of Saxe-Coburg not only became the constitutional monarch of Belgium but married the daughter of the King of France. With this the Coburgs were well launched on a climb from their petty German principality to position of enormous world power. Leopold I's son, Leopold II, vastly enriched the family fortunes by his avaricious plunder of the Congo and scandalised Europe with his sexual promiscuity. In fact, not until the reign of 'Albert of the Belgians' (1909-34) and his beloved Queen Elisabeth, did the royal Coburgs prove themselves a very endearing family.

1833. Spain is gripped by a Civil War that will change everything. On one side the Carlists sought to return to an absolute monarchy under Carlos de Borbón, on the other the Liberals were fighting to defend constitutional monarchy under Isabella II. Both branches of the family abounded in colourful characters - the shrewd Maria Cristina, the masculine Infanta Carlota, the effete King Francisco, the suave Duke de Montpensier, the showy Carlos VII, and the licentious Alfonso XII. The drama unfolded across the world - in the court in the Palacio Real in Madrid, Don Juan dying incognito in a house in Brighton, Isabel living out her voluptuous days in Paris, Carlos VII scheming in his palazzo on the Grand Canal, the future Alfonso XII at Sandhurst, the Infanta Eulalia in Chicago, the son of Alfonso XIII dying in a car accident in the U.S.A. Royal Vendetta is a story of wars, revolutions, exiles and restorations; a parade of kings, queens, regents and pretenders. Theo Aronson is the author of over twenty works of royal historical biography, published in eleven languages. Among the widely read are Grandmama of Europe, The King in Love, Napoleon and Josephine and a biography of Princess Margaret.

For several of his books, Theo Aronson has been granted rare interviews with the Queen Mother, Prince Charles, Princess Margaret, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. In this sparkling and often irreverent memoir, based on notebooks kept during the last twenty years, Theo Aronson describes these royal interviews as well as the trials and excitements of writing a royal biography. Ranging from the disastrous to the successful and the amusing to the touching, the encounters in Royal Subjects include hilarious descriptions of lunching on a Scotch egg (and Scotch!) with Princess Margaret, revealing conversations with the Queen Mother and bizarrely gracious meals with ageing princesses in Kensington Palace. Frank and affectionate, these portraits are assembled with a deft touch. Praise for Royal Subjects: ‘Wise and witty … Aronson writes with engaging frankness’ - Mail on Sunday ‘Compelling and funny … I was riveted’ - Sunday Telegraph Theo Aronson is the author of over twenty works of royal historical biography, published in eleven languages. Among the widely read are Grandmama of Europe, The King in Love, Napoleon and Josephine and a biography of Princess Margaret. In the course of researching and writing these books he has interviewed major and minor members of Britain's royal family and members of the royal households, as well as various officials, servants, friends and others whose lives are in some way connected with the monarchy.

Of all royal lost causes, none has a stronger fascination than that of the Stuart Pretenders to the British throne. For well over a century, four successive Stuart kings laid claim to the crown. The first was James II, deposed in 1688 by his daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange; then came James III the Old Pretender and his son, Bonnie Prince Charlie; finally, there was Henry IX who died in 1807, the last descendant in direct and legitimate line from James II. This book tells the story of these four men, and of their families. It is an account of their public and private lives, their personalities, their relationships with others, and the extraordinary hold which they never ceased to exercise over their adherents. It is a book about people and the twilight of one of the world's most romantic, colourful and ill-fated dynasties. Theo Aronson is the author of over twenty works of royal historical biography, published in eleven languages. Among the widely read are Grandmama of Europe, The King in Love, Napoleon and Josephine and a biography of Princess Margaret.

This is a new release of the original 1954 edition.