As Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest this week, the world’s collective mind is with the Royal Family, its history and what comes next. Here are five books for those with a thirst for learning more about the Royals!
Elizabeth, The Queen: The Life of A Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith
The Real Story Behind The Crown. From the moment of her historic ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II was the object of unimaginable scrutiny from the public she nobly served. But through the fog of glamour and gossip, how well did we really know the world’s most famous monarch? Drawing on numerous interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to reveal in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II. She gave us a better insight into the monarch who led her country and Commonwealth through the wars and upheavals of the last twentieth and twenty-first centuries with unparalleled composure, intelligence, and grace.
My Husband and I: The Inside Story of 70 Years of the Royal Marriage by Ingrid Seward
For more than 70 years, the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip was at the center of the world’s attention. They were the most famous Royal couple. In this remarkable book, their love story is revealed to the adoring public to gloss over and appreciate.
Throughout her record-breaking reign until his death on April 9, 2021, Prince Philip was right by The Queen’s side. She relied on him for a lot of things over the years but most importantly she relied on him for love and strength. The formidable partnership she had made with the dashing young naval man who swept her off her feet spanned seven decades, going through trials and triumphs. Now, acclaimed royal biographer Ingrid Seward sheds new light on their relationship and its impact on their family and on the nation. Their historic marriage was able to stand the test of time and blossomed into a beautiful decades-long partnership between the monarch and the Navy man.
King Charles: The Man, the Monarch, and the Future of Britain by Robert Jobson
With exclusive interviews and wide-ranging research, King Charles delivers definitive insight into the extraordinary life of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, as he nears the throne at a pinnacle moment in modern history and in the British monarchy.
New York Times bestselling author Robert Jobson shoots down any myths about the man who will eventually become king, going beyond crazy, bogus media portrayals of Charles to tell his true story. Jobson, who has spent nearly thirty years chronicling the House of Windsor, and has met Prince Charles on numerous occasions―received unprecedented cooperation from Clarence House, the Prince’s office, in writing this illuminating biography.
King Charles divulges the full range of the Prince’s profoundly held political beliefs: the United Kingdom’s special relationship to the United States, climate change, Brexit, and immigration―to ultimately portray the kind of monarch he would be. Jobson reaches out to a number of sources close to the Prince who have never spoken on the record before, plus members of the Royal Household who have served the Prince during his decades of public life.
William & Catherine: Their Story by Andrew Morton
The marriage of Prince William to Catherine Middleton is one of the most significant royal events of recent monarchy history. As second in line to the throne, he is the eldest son of Diana, the late & beloved Princess of Wales, and Charles, the highly anticipated future King of England. William embodies the hopes and expectations of millions of people around the world have for the British Monarchy. And as a “commoner” who will become a princess, Catherine brings romance and freshness to a very traditional union.
Acclaimed biographer Andrew Morton, who was trusted by Diana herself to recount her true story to the outside world, has been covering Prince William since birth. Now within this stunning book, he brings his unique insights to this portrait of the histories and characters of the bride and groom-from their family backgrounds, their childhoods, and the early days of their relationship at university, through their ups and downs as a couple in the public eye, their private engagement in Kenya, and all the glamour and drama of the wedding ceremony itself. Lavishly illustrated with magnificent color photographs, the book itself is a lasting memento of a day to remember, William and Catherine, brings us both the public spectacle and the private moments as only the author of Diana: Her True Story can reveal them.
Meghan and Harry: The Real Story by Lady Colin Campbell
Within this book is being told the story of the fall from grace of Prince Harry, who is the third in line to the British throne, due to his controversial marriage to the beautiful and dynamic Hollywood actress Meghan Markle. It makes for fascinating reading in this groundbreaking book from Lady Colin Campbell, who is the New York Times bestselling biographer of books on Princess Diana, the Queen Mother, and Queen Elizabeth’s marriage to Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh.
Told from a unique and fresh point of view, Lady Campbell goes behind the scenes, speaking to friends, relatives, courtiers, and colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic to reveal the most unexpected royal story since King Edward VIII’s abdication. She highlights the dilemmas involved and the issues that lurk beneath the surface, revealing why the couple decided to step down as senior royals. She goes even further, digging deep into the implications of the actions of a young and ambitious Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in love with each other and with the empowering lure of fame and fortune, and leads the reader through the maze of contradictions Meghan and Harry have created, while also evoking the Californian culture that has influenced the couple’s conduct.
Meghan and Harry: The Real Story exposes how the royal couple tried and failed to change the royal system to their benefit and, upon failing, how they decided to create a new system of their own, and a life that’s far away from the royal spotlight.
