I recently received this book, Royal Love Stories, by Gill Paul from Ivy Press. It has the amazing Princess Grace of Monaco on the cover, so I was quite excited.
The book talks about 14 love stories, some recent and some not so recent. From history it mentions Peter I of Portugal & Inez de Castro, Shah Jahan & Mumtaz Mahal, Catherine the Great & Grigory Potemkin, Louis XIV & Marie – Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte & Joséphine de Beauharnais, Ludwig I of Bavaria & Lola Montez, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy & Rosa Vercellana, Rudolph, Crown Prince of Austria & Baroness Mary Vetsera, Nicolas II of Russia & Alexandra, Edward VIII & Wallis Simpson, Prince Bertil of Sweden & Lilian Craig, King Hussein of Jordan & Lisa Halaby and from more recent times, Prince William & Catherine Middleton.
Though I knew of most of the stories, some were new to me. I really enjoyed reading about Prince Bertil of Sweden and Lilian Craig, since the story was mostly new to me. There do appear to be a few small mistakes in the book, for example, it says that Empress Elizabeth of Russia was Peter III’s mother when in fact she was his aunt. He was the son of her elder sister Anna. Also, it mentions that Louis XVI was the third son of the King when in fact, his father died before becoming king and is simply known as Louis, Dauphin of France. He was their third son, but only if you don’t count the two stillborn sons as well.
The design of the book is amazing, though, it’s a beautiful hardcover with Princess Grace of Monaco in her amazing wedding dress on the front. It is richly illustrated on the inside with each story. It would make a great gift.
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