Product Description: Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I of England were two of the most notorious queens in European history. They both faced accusations that they had transgressed social, gender and regional norms, and attempted to defend themselves against negative reactions to their behavior...read more

Product Description: As the first comprehensive volume devoted entirely to women of both the Spanish and Austrian Habsburg royal dynasties spanning the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, this interdisciplinary collection illuminates their complex and often contradictory political functions and their interrelations across early modern national borders...read more

From the coauthor of The King's Speech comes an uncompromising portrayal of Europe's royals In this riveting and extensively researched account of the royals, Peter Conradi—the celebrated coauthor of The King's Speech, on which the Academy Award–winning film of the same name was based—reveals the scandals, excesses, conflicts, and interests hidden behind the pomp of the ceremonial garb and the grandeur of official functions. Taking the reader on a journey between past and present into a world populated by great celebrities such as Wallis Simpson, Grace Kelly, and Princess Diana, as well as lesser-known and slightly murkier aristocratic figures, this book analyzes the reasons behind this anachronistic paradox by looking at the history of the main European dynasties and providing a keyhole glimpse into their world, their lives, and their secrets. At a time when Western society appears to be demanding more equality and democracy, people's fascination with monarchies shows no signs of waning.

The follow-up to Sex with Kings explores the scintillating sexual lives of some of the most beloved and infamous female rulers, including the notorious Catherine the Great, the passionately foolish Marie Antoinette, and the bastion of virtue, Queen Victoria. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

Traces the lives of the four daughters of the count of Provence who eventually became the queens of France, England, Germany, and Sicily.