Are you always on the lookout for the next engagements on the Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex’s calendars? Do you find yourself daydreaming of one day owning a corgi? Then you just might be a royal watcher! If you can’t get enough of all things regal and already binge-watched the latest season of The Crown, we’ve got five majestic books about royal women that might just inspire you to settle in with cuppa or start practicing your curtsy.
Heavy Is the Head That Wears The Crown: 5 Majestic Books About Royal Women
Unfortunately, history often glosses over the contributions female rulers have made throughout time. In The Lost Queen, Signe Pike breathes life into the story of Languoreth, one of the most powerful early medieval queens who has sadly been forgotten. This novelization of Languoreth’s life is filled with passion, rebellion, and courage as the queen and her brother, known to most as Merlin, navigate the medieval courts.
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Arguably the Queen of Historical Fiction, author Philippa Gregory takes us back in time to the Tudor Court as the future queens of England, Scotland, and France face off in sisterhood and rivalry in Three Sisters, Three Queens. Despite the difficulties of the women’s relationships with each other, you’ll be reminded that the bond between sisters is powerful, just like the one between present day Queen Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret.
Prefer Meghan Markle over Anne Boleyn? If modern royalty is more your style, Lindsay Emory’s The Royal Runaway is the romcom you’ve been looking for. The heroine, Princess Thea, deals with being jilted at the altar, endless reminders of her royal duty, and meeting a dreamy spy who is willing to blackmail her. Read the book to find out if she’s brave enough to ditch the rules and create her own HEA.
For fans of The Princess Diaries and The Royal We comes a fun and daring novel about a modern-day princess who teams up with a spy to find out what happened to the fiancé who left her at the altar—and who just might get her own fairytale in the process.
Princess Theodora Isabella Victoria of Drieden of the Royal House Laurent is so over this princess thing.
After her fiancé jilted her on their wedding day, she’s finally back home after spending four months in exile—aka it’s back to press conferences, public appearances, and putting on a show for the Driedish nation as the perfect princess they expect her to be. But Thea’s sick of duty. After all, that’s what got her into this mess in the first place.
So when she sneaks out of the palace and meets a sexy Scot named Nick in a local bar, she relishes the chance to be a normal woman for a change. But just as she thinks she’s found her Prince Charming for the night, he reveals his intentions are less than honorable: he’s the brother of her former fiancé, a British spy, and he’s not above blackmail. As Thea reluctantly joins forces with Nick to find out what happened the day her fiancé disappeared, together they discover a secret that could destroy a centuries-old monarchy and change life as they know it.
Funny, fast-paced, and full of more twists and turns than the castle Thea lives in, The Royal Runaway is a fresh romantic comedy that will leave you cheering for the modern-day royal who chucks the rulebook aside to create her own happily-ever-after.
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Is Victoria starring Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes another show on your must-watch TV list? Then make sure you check out the companion novel by Daisy Goodwin, who is the creator and writer of the PBS Masterpiece drama. In the novel Victoria, readers relive the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign and get another look at her transformation into a powerful monarch.
For many, The Queen Mother was a smiling face standing next to her husband and daughters (one the future Queen of England) while also acting as a source of strength during the tumultuous times the monarchy faced during WWII. However, history forgets that The Queen Mother was actually called the “Most Dangerous Woman in Europe” by Hitler himself because of her will of steel. Karen Harper’s The Queen’s Secret
Photo credit: The Crown/Netflix