From the author of American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry comes a funny and delightful history of the royal weddings and marriages of Europe’s most famous—and infamous—monarchs. This edition includes bonus chapters!“An irresistible combination of People magazine and the History Channel.”—Chicago Tribune Since time immemorial, royal marriages have had little to do with … Tribune
Since time immemorial, royal marriages have had little to do with love—and almost everything to do with diplomacy and dynasty. Clashing personalities have joined in unholy matrimony to form such infamous couples as Russia’s Peter II and Catherine the Great, and France’s Henri II and Catherine de Medici—all with the purpose of begetting a male heir. But with tensions high and silverware flying, kings like England’s Henry II have fled to the beds of their nubile mistresses, while queens such as Eleanor of Aquitaine have plotted their revenge…
Full of the juicy gossip and bad behavior that characterized Royal Affairs, this book chronicles the love-hate marriages of the crowned heads of Europe—from the Angevins to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry—and ponders how dynasties ever survived at all.
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The many lives of the Royals over the last 150 years or so. A lot of history in this book.
although not very well written this book has some interesting facts.
not very informative at all just a repeat of some headline news and repeat from history books…very dry and very boring
Interesting.
A fun romp through royal marriages, although most are fairly obvious examples and most are English.
Loved this book. Well written. Held my interest.
At first this book was quite interesting from a historical view, however it got very wordy and weighted down with too much detail and became quite boring.
This is an interesting and relatively painless way to learn about history, by essentially following the gossip about royalty in Europe from the 12th century on. The first royals considered were the two kings who were married to Eleanor of Aquitaine, first Louis VII of France and then Henry Plantagenet, who later became Henry II of England. Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain were next, followed by their daughter Juana the Mad, who was queen for many years despite being considered crazy and locked up by her husband. Catherine of Aragon was also listed, being married first to the short-lived Arthur, Prince of Wales, then to Henry VIII after he became king. All of Henry’s six marriages are described, along with the changes to the government of England because of Henry’s wish to rid himself of his first wife so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Mary Queen of Scots was married twice, neither very successfully. The series of kings named George in England started off with Germans who couldn’t speak English, and George IV was succeeded by his brother and then by his niece, Queen Victoria. Russians covered included Catherine the Great and Nicholas and Alexandria. More modern coverage includes Edward VIII of England, who abdicated so he could marry the woman he loved, Wallis Warfield Simpson, and Ranier III of Monaco, who married the American actress Grace Kelly. Prince Charles of England and his two marriages, the first leading to divorce from Diana, and the second to his true love Camilla, are covered, and his sons William and Harry end the tales of royal romances. It was very interesting to read how attitudes changed over time, such as consanguinity rules: in the 12th century and for hundreds of years after, the Pope had to give a special dispensation to allow marriages between even rather distantly related individuals, while later on it became common for first cousins to marry, as with Victoria and Albert. The Anglican Church of England was the product of Henry VIII and his desire to marry Anne Boleyn, and would not allow a divorced individual to be part of the royal family as recently as Princess Margaret’s wish to marry in the 1950’s. Now we just saw Prince Harry marry a divorced Meghan Markel, so change happens.
This book was very interesting. Great insights into a world I really knew nothing about. Well written.
I’m only 30% into the book and love it. There are so many more details about the Royal marriage and couplings and double standards which I had never before read about, but only knew a little of. I’m thru Henry VIII which is the main character I was interested in reading and I’m no disappointed about the chapters. Most interesting book if you have some knowledge about European royalty as my mother and I have followed over the years. I got interested thru her.