Book News July 2022

The Platinum Queen: Over 75 Speeches Given by Britain’s Longest-Reigning Monarch 

Hardcover – 5 May 2022 (UK) & 1 July 2022 (US)

For the first time, all 70 of the Queen’s Christmas speeches are published together in full, along with six additional feature speeches made at significant points in her life.

Elizabeth I’s Final Years: Her Favourites and Her Fighting Men 

Hardcover – 7 July 2022 (US & 11 May (UK)

Elizabeth I’s Final Years outlines the interwoven relationships and rivalries between politicians and courtiers surrounding England’s omnipotent queen in the years following the death in 1588 of the Earl of Leicester. Elizabeth now surrounded herself with magnetically attractive younger men with the courtly graces to provide her with what Alison Weir has called ‘an eroticized political relationship’.

Royal London: Colourful Tales of Pomp and Pageantry From London’s Past and Present 

Paperback – 19 July 2022 (US)

From Westminster to Greenwich, Kensington to the Tower of London, no other city in the world is steeped in quite as much royal history as London. Overflowing with royal boroughs, royal palaces, royal parks and gardens, London has played host to key historical events for over a thousand years. Royal London brings together the best of the drama and intrigue of royal history, and guides readers to the very spot where the events happened.

Queen Elizabeth II: A Glorious 70 Years 

Hardcover – 4 July 2022 (US) & 9 May 2022 (UK)

Queen Elizabeth II has now been on the throne for a glorious 70 years. This book pays tribute to this long-serving monarch charting her journey, in words and pictures, from the 25-year-old young woman who ascended to the throne in 1953 to the much loved elder stateswoman of today.

Joan of Navarre: Infanta, Duchess, Queen, Witch? 

Paperback – 28 July 2022 (US & UK)

This book is the first full-length biography of Joan of Navarre, a fascinating royal woman who became duchess of Brittany and queen consort of England through her two marriages in 1386 and 1403 respectively.

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France and England, Mother of Empires

Paperback – 15 July 2022 (UK) & 15 November 2022 (US)

In the competition for remarkable queens, Eleanor of Aquitaine tends to win. In fact her story sometimes seems so extreme it ought to be made up. The headlines: orphaned as a child, Duchess in her own right, Queen of France, crusader, survivor of a terrible battle, kidnapped by her own husband, captured by pirates, divorced for barrenness, Countess of Anjou, Queen of England, mother of at least five sons and three daughters, supporter of her sons’ rebellion against her own husband, his prisoner for fifteen years, ruler of England in her own right, traveller across the Pyrenees and Alps in winter in her late sixties and seventies, and mentor to the most remarkable queen medieval France was to know (her own granddaughter, obviously).

Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period: Kleopatra Thea and Kleopatra III (Routledge Studies in Ancient History) 

Hardcover – 22 July 2022 (UK)

This volume, the first full-length study of Kleopatra III and Kleopatra Thea and their careers as queens of Egypt and Syria, thoroughly examines the roles and ideology of royal daughters, wives, and queens in Egypt, the ancient Near East, and ancient Israel and provides a comprehensive study of the iconography, public image, and titles of each queen and their cultural precedents. In addition, this book also offers an introduction to the critical concept of the ‘High Hellenistic Period’ and the maturation of royal female power in the second century BCE.

Marguerite of Valois: Queen of Navarre and France, 1553-1615 (Women Who Changed the Course of History) 

Kindle Edition – 17 July 2022 (US & UK)

E.R. Chamberlin uncovers the turbulent life of this fascinating queen as civil strife deteriorated in the nation and her marriage broke down after years of being unable to produce an heir leading to her eventual exile. Drawing upon Marguerite’s own remarkable Memoirs and numerous other sources, Chamberlin’s well-researched book overcomes the myths depicting her as a scarlet woman, and instead reevaluates the life of this magnificent queen and the tragic period through which she lived.

Later Plantagenet and the Wars of the Roses Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty (Queenship and Power) 

Hardcover – 14 July 2022 (US & UK)

This book examines the lives and tenures of the consorts of the Plantagenet dynasty during the later Middle Ages, encompassing two major conflicts―the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses. The figures in this volume include well-known consorts such as the “She Wolves” Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou, as well as queens who are often overlooked, such as Philippa of Hainault and Joan of Navarre. These innovative and authoritative biographies bring a fresh approach to the consorts of this period―challenging negative perceptions created by complex political circumstances and the narrow expectations of later writers, and demonstrating the breadth of possibilities in later medieval queenship. Their conclusions shed fresh light on both the politics of the day and the wider position of women in this age. This volume and its companions reveal the changing nature of English consortship from the Norman Conquest to today.

Tudor and Stuart Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty (Queenship and Power)

Hardcover – 18 July 2022 (US & UK)

This book examines the lives and tenures of all the consorts of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs of England between 1485 and 1714, as well as the wives of the two Lords Protector during the Commonwealth. The figures in Tudor and Stuart Consorts are both incredibly familiar―especially the six wives of Henry VIII―and exceedingly unfamiliar, such as George of Denmark, the husband of Queen Anne. These innovative and authoritative biographies recognise the important role consorts played in a period before constitutional monarchy: in addition to correcting popular assumptions that are based on limited historical evidence, the chapters provide a fuller picture of the role of consort that goes beyond discussions of exceptionalism and subversion. This volume and its companions reveal the changing nature of English consortship from the Norman Conquest to today.