16 December 2016

'Tis the Season: My Royal Book Shopping List

Hurray! I just received my first gift card of the holiday season and, not surprisingly, I will be using it to buy more royal biographies. So, I thought I would start my window shopping and share my wish list with all of you. If you would like to read what I am also (eventually) reading, here's what I have my eye on:

COLLECTIVE BIOGRAPHY
Sarah Gristwood's new look at the powerful queens of the 16th-century ruling women from Isabella of Castile to her Tudor granddaughter Bloody Mary and Stewart great-granddaughter Mary Queen of Scots. Plus Catherine de Medici and Elizabeth I.

For a more recent queen, there is a new release tracing Queen Victoria's relationships with the empires of her age, including some who were closely related to her.



FICTION
I don't generally read the historical novels (just not enough time for them and the nonfiction), but if I did, I would certainly buy every book by Philippa Gregory. For those of you who read them, she has two newish ones out at the moment. One is about the sisters Mary and Margaret Tudor and their first sister-in-law, Katherine of Aragon. The other covers one of my favorite royal ladies, Henry VIII's final wife, Katherine Parr.



UNFORTUNATE ROYALS
I am often drawn to the more tragic royal stories. Hardly any British monarch fits that bill more than Lady Jane Grey. While in France, that tragic crown goes to Marie Antoinette and in her native Austria, that misfortune belongs to Empress Elisabeth, wife of Francis Joseph II. Just my luck, there are brand-new bios of each of them on the shelves this month.



TELEVISION COMPANIONS
if you have enjoyed the hit series The Crown or you are getting ready to view the upcoming series Victoria, you may want to dive into these books on the most recent British queens regnant.



SECTION TITLE
If you would rather explore the royals of the last 100 years, you might want to pick up a copy of these books about Elizabeth II and her close relatives.


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