Monarchy Books - Page 5

The Tyrannicide Brief: The Story of the Man Who Sent Charles I to the Scaffold

Geoffrey Robertson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Charles I waged civil wars that cost one in ten Englishmen their lives. But in 1649 Parliament was hard put to find a lawyer with the skill and daring to prosecute a king who claimed to be above the law. In the end, they chose the radical lawyer John Cooke, whose Puritan conscience, political vision, and love of civil liberties gave him the courage to bring the king to trial. As a result, Charles I was beheaded, but eleven years later Cooke himself was arrested, tried, and executed at the hands of Charles II.

Geoffrey Robertson, a renowned human rights lawyer, provides a vivid new reading of the tumultuous Civil War years, exposing long-hidden truths: that the king was guilty, that his execution was necessary to establish the sovereignty of Parliament, that the regicide trials were rigged and their victims should be seen as national heroes. Cooke’s trial of Charles I, the first trial of a head of state for waging war on his own people, became a forerunner of the trials of Augusto Pinochet, Slobodan Milosevic, and Saddam Hussein. The Tyrannicide Brief is a superb work of history that casts a revelatory light on some of the most important issues of our time.

My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan

Jo Manning

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A wicked turnabout on Jane Austen's oft-quoted adage -- "a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" -- is My Lady Scandalous, a richly raucous history that traverses the notoriously licentious British Regency era in the company of its most celebrated courtesan.

Following a simple Edinburgh girlhood, Grace Dalrymple came of age in the sin city of London, where wealthy men ruled society and women had everything to lose, starting with their reputations. As an impressionable bride of seventeen who married a man more than twice her age, Grace's remarkable beauty (likened by journalists to "a May morning") soon attracted the attentions of other men. A disastrous liaison with a consummate rake not only branded Grace as a demi-rep -- a woman with half a reputation -- but the scandal provoked Dr. John Eliot, her philandering husband, to pursue a divorce.

Grace became mistress of the most infamous peer in England, George James, Lord Cholmondeley, whose "secret perfections" were reputed to inspire "female enthusiasm." Cholmondeley commemorated the relationship by commissioning two works from eminent portraitist Thomas Gainsborough, first in 1778 and later in 1782, the same year Grace gave birth to a daughter, Georgiana (who may, in fact, have been the child of the Prince of Wales). Had Grace been an aristocrat, she and Cholmondeley might have had a future together, but it was not to be.

The tabloids broke the news: "Miss Dalrymple has embarked for France, and it is said parted with her noble gallant." Grace was soon to find a new protector in that nation's richest man, Philippe, Duc d'Orleans. Though Grace was ensconced as "one of the most brilliant and popular among the fashionable 'impures,'" her liaison with the duke turned perilous when Orleans fell to the Revolution's guillotine, just as she narrowly escaped with her life.

"People die, but love may not," declares author Jo Manning of her subject's romantic and historic misadventures. A connoisseur of the times, Manning ably demonstrates -- through contemporary newspapers, magazines, prints, and portraits as well as Grace's posthumously published journal -- how life in George III's England and Marie Antoinette's France can seem strangely familiar, especially when history turns to affairs of the heart.

The Grace Kelly Years: Princess of Monaco

Frederic Mitterrand

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Stunning, an absolute keepsake! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have been searching high and low for the longest time, for books, posters etc on Grace, and have always come up with very little.
Until, the 25th anniversary of her death.
This really is a must for all Princess Grace fans, the presentation of the book is stunning and contains images of her I have never seen before, nearly a full picture of her to a page. Great storytelling also.
Really, THIS is THE book you must own!
Great price and quick international shipping too.
Thankyou Amazon!

S U M P T U O U S !.! A,,,R O Y A L,,,B O O K,,,,I N D E E D,.! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I read in other reviews here that this is the Official Guide of the Princess Grace Exhibit in Monte Carlo. It is deservedly so. It has SO MANY pictures of Princess Grace -- both in her movie career, and as Princess of Monaco. The book has heft and weight,,,a true "coffee table" book, if ever there was one! There are wonderful pictures from the Kelly Family Album, of Grace as a child, pictures of the print advertisements she did, whilst working as a model, (though from a wealthy family, Grace Kelly preferred to pay her own way, whilst studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The AMDA, by the way, does NOT allow any student to act in a speaking role, of any kind, whilst a student at the Academy...so Grace took on modeling jobs.) Various telling quotations, and actual letters, (both type-written and hand-written), from those who knew her best, and from Grace Kelly herself, are featured, as are many full page portraits, some of her without makeup of any kind, (she still looks regally radiant!)

The "Hollywood" part of Grace Kelly's life takes up slightly less than half the book. The rest is devoted to her life as Princess Grace of Monaco. Her telling quote about Rainier give insight into their relationship: "When I married Prince Rainier, I married the man and not what he represented or what he was. I fell in love with him without giving thought to anything else." When Princess Grace's life is described as a "fairy tale come true", it has ALL the elements! This quite is given a full page, as is a double-portrait of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace. Interestingly, (and unlike any other royal portrait of it's kind I have ever seen), the two of them, are seen in PROFILE, one behind the other -- but the Ruler, (Rainier), is BEHIND his consort, (Grace), showing perhaps, how much he loved her, as well!

Informal family portraits, with Grace, Rainier, and their children, formal and informal portraits of the Princess, her clothes, her jewels, and photos of various formal and informal occasions, (wherein are also seen other leading characters of this era -- such as Jacqueline Kennedy, Charles de Gaulke, and Pope John Paul I, amongst others, are also seen.
(One small correction, if I may: on page 227, Princess Grace is shown to be pictured with "Queen Irene of Greece". Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of Greece is a gracious and accomplished personage -- but was always a Princess, and not -- to my knowledge anyway -- ever a Queen of Greece.) There are only two other (minor) criticisms I have of this book: 1) It is, perhaps of necessity, VERY heavy, (weighing at least four pounds), and 2) The captions of the photos -- though wonderfully revealing, are written in very small print. Perhaps this was done so that the photos, not the captions, should be the focus of a reader's attention....but still, as many of Grace's growing legion of admirers are, sadly, coming up in years, (and I'm one of them), the captions, I feel, should have been in even slightly bigger print....

These small criticisms, however, do not dampen my enthusiasm at all for this otherwise perfect book -- nor would they stop me from recommending it to any other admirer of Her Serene Highness! SO much wonder is inside this book! For instance.......

A detailed picture of the gold-and-pink suit which Grace Kelly wore for the civil marriage ceremony, (which preceeded the religious ceremony, and during which, she officially became a Princess), is shown -- along with a formal portrait of Grace wearing the elegant outfit. Covers of magazines, (from "Paris Match" to "Good Housekeeping"), featuring Princess Grace, (sometimes shown with a very happy Prince Rainier), are shown on one page.

Towards the back of the book, are descriptions of the various rooms in the Princess Grace Exhibit, (of, as I have said, this volume is the official guidebook). Described are, the "Philadelphia Room", "New York Room", "Hollywood Room", "Hitchcock Room", "First Meeting Room", "Weddingf Room", "Ballroom", "Room of Friends", "Princess Room",
"Nursery and Family Room", "Private Garden Room", "Secret Woman Room",
"Glamour Room", "Patron of the Arts Room". and "Royal Room". On the page facing these last two rooms is a intriguing portrait of Princess Grace, in profile, looking out at the New York City skyline at night. It was taken by another multi-faceted, multi-talented, and intelligent woman: Gina Lollobrigita.

Further towards the back of the book, is an excerpt from the book, "La Veritable Grace de Monaco", by Editions Pygmalion. giving excerpts from various chapters, and an overview of Princess Grace's life. A two page spread follows -- a thoughtful portrait of a mature Princess Grace -- on whom the passing years have left barely a mark -- staring out of a latticed window, with a grand piano on her other side. Princess Grace truly wished to return to acting, (and did, in fact, appear in several documentaries, as herself) -- but the pull of the fact that she was now a Princess, not only of Monaco, but of the Catholic Church itself, plus the desires of the people of Monaco that their princess be a princess only, and not an actress -- kept her from doing so. Yes, she did have a fairy-tale life...but in her life, as in those of most people, sacrifices had to be made to make it as it should be.

A filmography of Grace Kelly follows, and after that, notes on the personal letters shown in the book. Lastly, there is a bibliography, and an index.

It is a tribute indeed, to all those who produced this sumptuous book, that it is SO inclusive of every aspect of the life of Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco. From a family photo of her at two, with her brother Jack and sister Margaret, through a photo of her on the cover of a booklet, "25 Typing Shortcuts", and some very "Marilyn Monroesque" photos of Grace in 1955, (taken, in fact, by Milton H. Greene, who took similiar photos of Ms. Monroe), through extreme close-up pictures of the various dresses Princess Grace wore through the years, through family pictures, and formal portraits, great events and small....all are here, described and pictured in the greatest of details.

This is the penultimate Princess Grace book -- as well it should be. It is a treat for those fortunate enough to read it. And it is a tribute to those who created it -- most especially, the woman who lived it, Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco.

The Man Who Outshone the Sun King: A Life of Gleaming Opulence and Wretched Reversal in the Reign of Louis XIV

Charles Drazin

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Editorial Review:

Late in 1664, the musketeer D’Artagnan rode beside a carriage as it left Paris, carrying his friend Nicolas Fouquet to life imprisonment in a cell next door to the Man in the Iron Mask. From a glorious zenith as Louis XIV’s first minister and Cardinal Mazarin’s protégé and eventual protector; builder of the stunningly opulent chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte; and patron of the arts and lover of beautiful women, Fouquet had suffered a wretched decline.

The story of the rise and fall of Nicolas Fouquet is both compelling and unforgettable. Charles Drazin’s beautifully written and vivid account brings to life Fouquet’s remarkable gains in fortune, influence, and power, as well as the lavish and hazardous world of the royal court in seventeenth-century France.

A Dress for Diana

David Emanuel, Elizabeth Emanuel

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Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

July 29,1981—The Royal Wedding of HRH Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer is one of the iconic moments of the twentieth century. It remains a day embedded in the memory of millions of people around the world—over 800 million people were watching at home on television.

Of all the images from the day itself, the one that springs to mind immediately is that of Diana's arrival at St. Paul's Cathedral in the glass carriage and the public's first glimpse of the best kept secret of the day: the royal wedding dress.

For the young designers, David Emanuel and Elizabeth Emanuel creating Diana's wedding dress was "a fairytale come true." Having only been introduced to Lady Diana Spencer in February 1981, the Emanuels quickly became one of her favored designers, which lead to a telephone call in March 1981 that would change their lives forever.

Officially commissioned by Buckingham Palace, the Emanuels set about designing a dress that would never be forgotten. Each step of the process was completed in total secrecy to ensure that no one, especially the world's press, got a glimpse of the famous dress until that glorious July day.

The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of Windsor

Penny Junor

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The House of Windsor: Is it a hangover from the past, an expensive anachronism, a relic of a bygone age of deference and hierarchy, or is it as important and relevant as ever?



However you look at it, the royal family is a big business, though one with more ups and downs than the stock market. Prince Philip calls it “The Firm,” and all the royal executives and their powerful associates are supposed to make every effort to avoid even a hint of scandal that could diminish the reputation of the family business.



            Unfortunately for the royals, for the past twenty years scandal and controversy have deluged the Queen’s family, putting everything at risk. Focusing primarily on the years after the death of Princess Diana and including the heir to the throne’s marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince William’s latest romance, acclaimed royal writer Penny Junor looks in depth at how the royal family has made itself the world’s soap opera. The Firm reveals the answers to the questions that absorb the media around the world, disclosing how the family really behaves behind closed doors in this controversial and terri?cally readable book.

Richard and John: Kings at War

Frank McLynn

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The truth behind the legends of "good" King Richard the Lionheart and his "evil" brother, King John--a history well told, delightfully readable, scrupulously researched.

Legend and lore surround the history of kings Richard and John, from the ballads of Robin Hood and the novels of Sir Walter Scott to Hollywood movies and television. In the myth-making, King Richard, defender of Christendom in the Holy Land, was the "good king," and his younger brother John was the evil usurper of the kingdom, who lost not only the Crown jewels but also the power of the crown. How much, though, do these popular stereotypes correspond with reality?

Frank McLynn, known for a wide range of historical studies, has returned to the original sources to discover what Richard and John, these warring sons of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, were really like, and how their history measures up to their myth. In riveting prose, and with attention to the sources, he turns the tables on modern revisionist historians, showing exactly how incompetent a king John was, despite his intellectual gifts, and how impressive Richard was, despite his long absence from the throne.

This is history at its best--revealing and readable.

Eugenie: The Empress and Her Empire

Desmond Seward

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Poor Misunderstood, Forgotten Empress Eugenie 4 out of 5 stars.
21 of 21 people found this review helpful.

I've always been interested in the lives of royal women, especially when I discover that they were more than just royal spouses or fashion plates. While such women as Elizabeth I of England, Mary of Scotland, and Catherine the Great of Russia have gotten plenty written about them, all too often, women with lesser notoriety tend to be forgotten or passed over by historians.

One such woman was Eugenie, the Empress of Napoleon III of France. Author Desmond Seward, a long-time biographer of royalty, takes what at first appears to be a woman of little notice and turns her into someone to be reckoned with. At first I was rather skeptical, remembering that most of what I had read of Eugenie was that she was Spanish, a fashion setter who was known to have never worn the same evening gown twice and who was a patron of Worth, and that most of history regarded her as a conniving, bad woman who frittered life away. To say that I was in for a surprise was an understatement.

Born Maria Eugenia Ignacia Augusta de Montijo , Eugenie grew up in an Europe that was going through revolutionary changes. Her father had fought with Napoleon's armies, and Eugenie soon developed a fascination with all things having to do with the Bonapartes . Clever, beautiful, and with the ability of being able to say the right thing in the right situation, Eugenie should have been wed quickly, but even after a tour of Europe with her wealthy mother didn't manage a good catch, and at twenty-three she was facing the prospect of spinsterhood. But it seems that Eugenie already had someone in mind -- the nephew of the formidable Napoleon, who had just managed to create himself Emperor of the French, by a coup-de-stat.

Napoleon III, as he was known, was also charming, but also short, rather ugly, and inscrutable. An able politician, that side of his personality has been mostly overlooked for historians, focusing instead on his insatiable need for women, and his lack of military leadership. He was also an innate showman, knowing how to catch people's imagination, and able to push through schemes and ideas that most would never take seriously.

Together, Napoleon and Eugenie formed a partnership that managed to survive for more than seventeen years, recreating Paris from an aging medieval slum to the magnificent City of Lights that we know today. Eugenie gave European fashion a chic flair with her patronage of the coutiere Worth, the artist Winterhalter, and her own innate sense of design.

But there were also serious flaws to the couple as well -- Eugenie had a vicious temper, and one that got worse as it got older; Napoleon's infidelities drove her to jealous rages, especially after the difficult birth of her only child. For his own part, Napoleon backed the feeble attempt to turn Mexico into a monarchy, found himself embroiled in a war with Prussia and dwindled into history as a laughing stock. As for Eugenie, besides losing her throne, she would face a long, lonely exile from Paris that stretched to nearly fifty years, and was emotionally devastated by the loss of her only child at a young age.

It's an intriguing look at a woman who was both villified and worshipped during her lifetime and afterwards, much as Marie Antoinette had been in an earlier generation. Indeed, Eugenie was fascinated by her predecessor, and would avidly collect any sort of memorabilia and objects that were associated with that unfortunate queen. In fact, Eugenie's life would eeriely echo that of Marie Antoinette in many ways, and she always lived in fear of the Parisian mob seeking to overthrow her.

Despite the book being a bit light in treatment -- gossip is constantly recounted, and Seward often repeats himself -- this was an engaging, enlightening read. I had known very little about the Second Empire, and discovered that most of my preconceptions of this period were wrong. Seward draws on the memoirs, newspaper accounts and Eugenie's own letters and recollections for his source material. At just under three hundred pages, it's a quick read, and a good start to exploring this period of French history. A selection of engravings and photographs are included in a black-and-white insert, and there are copious notes and bibliography.

Editorial Review:

From 1853 to 1870 Eugenie de Montijo was the world's most powerful woman. Empress of the French, she shared the Second Empire with her husband, Napoleon III, so impressing the Prussian Chancellor Bismarck that he called her 'the only man in Paris'. In the first biography of her for many years, Desmond Seward recreates the nerve-racking politics and glittering social world of her empire, and gives an often startling reassessment of an extraordinary life that began in a tent at Granada during an earthquake.

This biography charts the dramatic rise and fall of the Second Empire and of the fascinating woman at its heart. It will be a captivating read for anyone interested in the history of France or in women's history.

Erasmus: The Education of a Christian Prince with the Panegyric for Archduke Philip of Austria (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

Erasmus

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Intresting protrayal of Humanists Ideas 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 11 people found this review helpful.

The Education of A Christian prince is qutie intresesting and really gives you a sense of how the Renaissance was and kinda what people were thinking know that they didn't follow the church so strictly and that the were free to write their ideas and with the help of the printing press were able to spread the ideas like wildfire to the rest of Europe through books such as this one.

Editorial Review:

This is a new student edition of Erasmus' crucial treatise on political theory and also contains a new, excerpted translation from his Panegyric. The Education of a Christian Prince is one of the most important "advice-to-princes" texts published in the Renaissance and was dedicated to Charles V. It is a strongly pacifist work in which Erasmus sought to ensure that the prince governed justly and benevolently. This edition also includes an original introduction, a chronology of the life and work of Erasmus, and a comprehensive guide to further reading.

An Uncommon Woman: Empress Frederick, Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia

Hannah Pakula

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Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent Portrait of Empress Frederick and Her Times 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

An Uncommon Woman is an excellent, first rate biography of Vicky, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria who, through marriage, became the Crown Princess of Prussia, and then Princess and later Empress Frederick of the German Empire. She played an influential (and one wishes a much more influential) role in German, and more broadly European, history during the latter 19th to early 20th centuries. Vicky strove to move German politics towards a more liberal, democratic, parliamentary form of government, but was successfully opposed by the autocracy of Chancellor Bismarck and even her son, who eventually became the Kaiser. The author persuasively implies that had this "uncommon woman" been able to prevail, European history may have benefited. The book succeeds as both an intimate, full-fledged account of this remarkable woman, her family members, and the many important historical persons of the times, as well as a comprehensive history of the creation of the German Empire, the rise of autocracy and militarism, and the lead-up to World War I. The writing style is excellent; the author is exceptionally skilled at presenting a thoroughly well-researched life of Vicky and detailed history of the times in a highly readable, well paced narrative. One of the most engaging and informative biographies I have read. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

A retelling of the life of Princess Victoria, the daughter of Queen Victoria, who married the Crown Prince of Prussia and gave birth to Kaiser Wilhelm, vividly portrays an era of ambition, war, and revolution. 20,000 first printing.