The Royal Bastards of Medieval England

The Royal Bastards of Medieval England

Author: Chris Given-Wilson

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-12-01

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1003813445

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First published in 1984, The Royal Bastards of Medieval England establishes a list of royal bastards in medieval England, and discusses their roles in the history of the period. The authors describe how gradually the church began to formulate more definite views on sexual and marital customs, with a consequent decline in the status of illegitimate children. By early sixteenth century, however, royal bastards were once again making their way into the peerage. The book charts the lives of these men and women against the background not only of contemporary political developments, but also of changing ideas about morality and family. This book will be of interest to students of history, religion and literature.


Royal Mistresses

Royal Mistresses

Author: Charles Carlton

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-03-31

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1000875423

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First published in 1990, Royal Mistresses provides an innovative way of looking at the development of British monarchy, and at the same time investigates the relationship between sex and power. Charles Carlton focuses not so much on the amorous activities of the mistresses of British monarchs as on their influences on those monarchs and on society at large. Ranging from the early medieval period to the late 1990s, he shows that a monarch’s illicit sexual life sheds light on his character and reign. It is no coincidence that Henry I, Charles II, and Edward VII, who were successful with their mistresses were also successful in their reigns, while the divorced John and the lovelorn Edward VIII failed Not surprisingly, the affairs of the sovereign’s heart have very often become the affairs of state. This book will be of interest to students of history and literature.


Royal Bastards

Royal Bastards

Author: Peter de Vere Beauclerk-Dewar

Publisher: History PressLtd

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9780752446684

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Sex, power, mystery and blood - this fresh approach to the British monarchy recounts gripping, untold stories about their unofficial offspring.


Royal Affairs

Royal Affairs

Author: Leslie Carroll

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2008-06-03

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 1440634777

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A funny, raucous, and delightfully dirty history of 1,000 years of bedroom-hopping secrets and scandals of Britain's royals. Insatiable kings, lecherous queens, kissing cousins, and wanton consorts-history has never been so much fun. Royal unions have always been the stuff of scintillating gossip, from the passionate Plantagenets to Henry VIII's alarming head count of wives and mistresses, to the Sapphic crushes of Mary and Anne Stuart right on up through the scandal-blighted coupling of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Thrown into loveless, arranged marriages for political and economic gain, many royals were driven to indulge their pleasures outside the marital bed, engaging in delicious flirtations, lurid love letters, and rampant sex with voluptuous and willing partners. This nearly pathological lust made for some of the most titillating scandals in Great Britain's history. Hardly harmless, these affairs have disrupted dynastic alliances, endangered lives, and most of all, fed the salacious curiosity of the public for centuries. Royal Affairs will satiate that curiosity by bringing this arousing history alive.


Other Tudors: Henry VIII's Mistresses & Bastards

Other Tudors: Henry VIII's Mistresses & Bastards

Author: Philippa Jones

Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing

Published: 2017-03-07

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 1607652374

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Forget everything you thought you knew about Henry the Eighth. While Henry VIII has frequently been portrayed as a womanizer, author Philippa Jones reveals a new side to his character. Although he was never faithful, Jones sees him as a serial monogamist: he spent his life in search of a perfect woman, a search that continued even as he lay dying. This book brings together for the first time the 'other women' of King Henry VIII. When he first came to the throne, Henry VIII's mistresses were dalliances, the playthings of a powerful and handsome man. However, when Anne Boleyn disrupted that pattern, ousting Katherine of Aragon to become Henry's wife, a new status quo was established. Suddenly noble families fought to entangle the king with their sisters and daughters; if wives were to be beheaded or divorced so easily, the mistress of the king was in an enviable position. Yet he loved each of his wives and mistresses, he was a romantic who loved being in love, but none of these loves ever fully satisfied him; all were ultimately replaced. "The Other Tudors" examines the extraordinary untold tales of the women who Henry loved but never married, the mistresses who became queens and of his many children, both acknowledged and unacknowledged. Philippa Jones takes us deep into the web of secrets and deception at the Tudor Court and explores another, often unmentioned, side to the King's character.


Blood Royal

Blood Royal

Author: Robert Bartlett

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-07-09

Total Pages: 675

ISBN-13: 1108490670

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An engaging history of royal and imperial families and dynastic power, enriched by a body of surprising and memorable source material.


Royal Mistresses of the House of Hanover-Windsor

Royal Mistresses of the House of Hanover-Windsor

Author: Susanna de Vries

Publisher: Pirgos Press

Published: 2018-10-01

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 1742982697

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The genuine love match between Prince William and Kate Middleton has rekindled enthusiasm for the British monarchy. In the past, young princes reluctantly entered into arranged marriages and took mistresses. Perdita Robinson, a famous actress, was enticed from the stage with promises of money to live with the fickle Prince of Wales, who turned her and her child onto the street. Perdita fought back, won a financial settlement and became a pioneer of women's writing. Edward VII's most fascinating mistresses were aristocrats' wives like the multi-talented unconventional Lady Jennie Churchill, mother of Winston, and the headstrong heiress, Daisy, Countess of Warwick, mother of one of Edward's love children. Beautiful Alice Keppel became the love of Edward's life and was the great-grandmother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, yet another royal mistress. Edward's grandson, Edward VIII suffered an attack of mumps that left him physically and mentally immature. He implored Mrs Freda Dudley Ward to elope but she refused. Another mistress, Lady Thelma Furness, star of Hollywood's silent screen, introduced Edward to the domineering Wallis Simpson who insisted the impotent king seek psychiatric help. In order that Wallis could look like a queen the Duke of Windsor lavished her with jewels and forgave her infidelities in this most intriguing of all royal stories.


Royal Marriage Secrets

Royal Marriage Secrets

Author: John Ashdown-Hill

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2013-07-01

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0752494201

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With a new royal baby we witness fundamental changes in the succession laws, but then rules governing the royal weddings and the succession to the throne have always been shifting. So what is marriage and who decides? What special rules govern royal marriage and when did they come into force? How have royal marriages affected history? Were the 'Princes in the Tower' illegitimate? Did Henry VIII really have six wives? Was Queen Victoria 'Mrs Brown'? how were royal consorts chosen in the past? Did some use witchcraft to win the Crown? History has handled debateable royal marriages in various ways, but had the same rules been applied consistently, the order of succession would have been completely different. Here, all controversial English and British royal marriages are reassessed together for the first time to explore how different cases can shed light on one another. Surveying the whole phenomenon of disputed royal marriage, the author offer some intriguing new evidence, while highlighting common features and points of contrast.


Monarchs, Murders & Mistresses

Monarchs, Murders & Mistresses

Author: David Hilliam

Publisher: Sutton Pub Limited

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 9780750935432

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Covering 1000 years of royal history, from Alfred to the present royal family, David Hilliam's volume is a quick reference that covers many of the major royal events down the ages.