June Book News

Red Roses: Blanche of Gaunt to Margaret Beaufort

Hardcover – June 1, 2016 (US) & March 7, 2016 (UK)

The Wars of the Roses were not just fought by men on the battlefield. Behind the scenes, there were daughters, wives, mistresses, mothers and queens whose lives and influences helped shape the most dramatic of English conflicts. This book traces the story of women on the Lancastrian side, from the children borne by Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt, through the turbulent 15th century to the advent of Margaret Beaufort’s son in 1509, and establishment of the Tudor dynasty. From the secret liaisons of Katherine Swynford and Catherine of Valois to the love lives of Mary de Bohun and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, to the Queenship of Joan of Navarre and Margaret of Anjou, this book explores how these extraordinary women survived in extraordinary times.

Read my review here

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Six Queens: The Wives of Henry VIII

Hardcover – 2 Jun 2016 (UK & US)

‘Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived’: so goes the famous mnemonic by which we recall the varied destinies of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

The stories of these six consorts of the second Tudor king – their fates the brutal corollary of the stark dynastic imperatives of the royal succession – have assumed mythic status in the annals of English history. Only three of these women would give Henry a child that survived infancy: two girls (Mary and Elizabeth) and one boy (Edward). All three would inherit the crown worn by their mighty father, but the Tudor dynasty would not outlive their deaths.

Suzannah Lipscomb’s crisply authoritative and insightful accounts of the lives of these six queens are embellished by beautiful images of the principal players in this most compelling of royal dramas.

The Tudor Brandons: Mary and Charles – Henry VIII’s Nearest & Dearest

Paperback – 1 June 2016 (UK) & 24 June 2016 (US) 

This fascinating book studies the life and times of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, Henry VIII’s dearest sister and his closest companion. Charles rose from being Henry’s childhood friend to becoming the Duke of Suffolk; a consummate courtier and diplomat. Mary was always royalty. At first married to the King of France, Mary quickly wed Charles after Louis XII’s death in 1515, against her brother’s wishes. Their actions could have been construed as treason yet Henry chose to spare their lives. They returned to court and despite their ongoing disagreements throughout the years, especially over the king’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, the Tudor Brandons remained Henry’s most loyal subjects and perhaps more importantly, his beloved family.

Henry VIII’s Last Love: The Extraordinary Life of Katherine Willoughby, Lady-in-Waiting to the Tudors 

Paperback – 15 Jun 2016 (UK) & 10 September 2016 (US)

In 1533 Katherine Willoughby married Charles Brandon, Henry VIII’s closest friend. She would go on to serve at the court of every Tudor monarch bar Henry VII and Mary Tudor.

Duchess of Suffolk at the age of fourteen, she became a powerful woman ruling over her houses at Grimsthorpe and Tattershall in Lincolnshire and wielding subtle influence through her proximity to the king. She grew to know Henry well. In 1538, only three months after Jane Seymour’s death, it was reported that they had been ‘masking and visiting’ together, and in 1543 she became a lady-in-waiting to his sixth wife, Catherine Parr. Henry had a reputation for tiring of his wives once the excitement of the pursuit was over, and in February 1546, only six months after Charles Brandon’s death, it was rumoured that Henry intended to wed Katherine Willoughby himself if he could end his present marriage.

This is the remarkable story of a life of privilege, tragedy and danger, of a woman who nearly became the seventh wife of Henry VIII.

Read my review here

Life in the Georgian Court

Hardcover – 30 Jun 2016 (UK) & 10 September 2016 (US)

As the glittering Hanoverian court gives birth to the British Georgian era, a golden age of royalty dawns in Europe. Houses rise and fall, births, marriages and scandals change the course of history and in France, Revolution stalks the land.

Peep behind the shutters of the opulent court of the doomed Bourbons, the absolutist powerhouse of Romanov Russia and the epoch-defining family whose kings gave their name to the era, the House of Hanover.

Behind the pomp and ceremony were men and women born into worlds of immense privilege, yet beneath the powdered wigs and robes of state were real people living lives of romance, tragedy, intrigue and eccentricity. Take a journey into the private lives of very public figures and learn of arranged marriages that turned to love or hate and scandals that rocked polite society.

Here the former wife of a king spends three decades in lonely captivity, Prinny makes scandalous eyes at the toast of the London stage and Marie Antoinette begins her last, terrible journey through Paris as her son sits alone in a forgotten prison cell.

Life in the Georgian Court is a privileged peek into the glamorous, tragic and iconic courts of the Georgian world, where even a king could take nothing for granted.

The Rival Queens: Catherine de’ Medici, her daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal That Ignited a Kingdom

Paperback –  9 Jun 2016 (UK) & no date (US)

Set in Renaissance France at the magnificent court of the Valois kings, THE RIVAL QUEENS is the history of two remarkable women, a mother and daughter driven into opposition by a terrible betrayal that threatened to destroy the realm.

Catherine de’ Medici, the infamous queen mother of France, was a consummate pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for 30 years. Her youngest daughter Marguerite, the glamorous ‘Queen Margot’, was a passionate free spirit, the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor fully control.

When Catherine forces the Catholic Marguerite to marry her Protestant cousin Henry of Navarre she creates not only savage conflict within France but also a potent rival within her own family. Treacherous court politics, poisonings, international espionage and adultery form the background to a story whose fascinating array of characters include such celebrated figures as Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Nostradamus.

Read my review here

The Monarchy in Modern Greece

Paperback – 30 Jun 2016 (UK) & 1 April 2016 (US)

For perhaps the first time, the author has attempted a holistic account of the monarchy in modern Greece. The reader, on the basis of information about the political behaviour of the Greek and his relationship with authority in every form, is able to understand why this specific type of constitution was chosen. The progress of the monarchy is explored in parallel with the quest for popular legitimization and the constitutional dimension of the question, including the contradictions in the constitutional legislation and the fragility of a democratic constitutional monarchy. Three figures of the Dynasty are discussed and, in the cases of Constantine the First and Frederika, an attempt is made to separate myth from reality. The philanthropic attitude of members of the two dynasties is discussed together with the deep-rooted socio-political dimension of the monarchy. Finally, the author examines the causes of the unravelling of the strong, but uneasy bond between people and monarchy.