Regina: A New History of Women and Power

by Kate Williams

In this new book, celebrated historian Kate Williams leads us into the world of queens, empresses, princesses, mistresses and ladies-in-waiting, as she unveils their hidden stories and remarkable achievements in this enthralling historical journey.

From the ancient civilisations of Egypt and Mesopotamia to the opulent courts of medieval Europe, this book delves deep into the lives of royal women, lifting the veil on both their trials and triumphs as they navigate political intrigue, family rivalries and personal sacrifices. From Cleopatra and the medieval Empress Matilda, through Tudor queens Catherine of Aragon and Lady Jane Grey, Queen Victoria's contemporaries Yaa Asentewaa of Ghana and Queen Lili kulani of Hawaii, right up to the twentieth century with Princesses Grace of Monaco and Diana, this is an inspiring celebration of the oft-overlooked women who played pivotal roles in shaping history, and can teach us much about the place of royal women in society today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

364 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 4, 2026

About the author

Hello! Thank you for visiting my page. It's a great privilege to be on here - and to say hi to readers. Thank you very much for all your support and interest in my books! My twitter account is @katewilliamsme and I have a facebook page for Kate Williams author, come and say hello! I'm always thrilled to hear from you and your thoughts about my work.

I grew up in a very modern house in a dormitory village in the Midlands- and as a consequence became completely obsessed by the past. When I was about six, we got a new washing machine - and I took the huge cardboard box, covered it in silver foil and told my little brother it was a time machine. I used to rumble it about and tell him 'Look! We're in Egypt in the time of the pyramids - but you can't get out!' So he had to listen to all the stories inside, my poor brother...


'One of Britain's best young historians', Independent.
'Historian Extraordinaire', The Today Programme, Radio 4
'Queen of historical fiction' and 'History at its best', Guardian
'Unforgettable', (the book, not me!), The Lady.
'Gripping, seductive', The Times


I'm still looking for that time machine - and still living in it, really as I am obsessed by history.

Thanks so much for coming with me in my time machine.....

My latest novel, Edge of the Fall, is about the DeWitt family in the 1920s as they try to make sense of their lives in the aftermath of the war. It's the Flapper Age - and everything is in flux. As Kirkus puts it, there is ' a beautiful socialite threatened by a stranger, a murder trial and a baby born out of wedlock' - 'strange disappearances, unexplained deaths, dramatic births and a juicy court case' Grazia


'Brilliant', Daily Mail
'Gripping from the first page', 'Thrilling' 'a must read', Grazia
'Imbued with a sharp awarenss of the devastating effects of war in any era, Williams' novel presents sympathetic characters who transcend history', Kirkus


My previous novel, The Storms of War, is the first in a trilogy about the de Witt family. The first explores their lives from 1914-1918, as the youngest girl, Celia, sees her perfect world crumble and change. I've wanted to write about the wars since I visited the trenches in France when I was ten on a school trip. I was fascinated by how small they were - and how men could ever live in such places. I really wanted to go into the lives of Germans - the Victorians couldn't get enough of them. Then - almost overnight - they were the enemy and people saw German spies everywhere and the newspapers demanded that all Germans in the country be imprisoned. At the beginning of the book, Rudolf and Verena have four children - and their lives will never be the same again.


'Quietly impressive...hard to put down....Gripping, thoughtful, heartbreaking and above all human', Kirkus (starred review)
'truly affecting...richly detailed, light of foot..tantalises with loose ends and disturbs with shocking shadows', Independent
'Fans of Dowton Abbey will love it, as do I', Alison Weir
'Vivid....fascinating,' Observer


My most recent history book was in 2013, Josephine: Desire, Ambition, Napoleon (UK) and 'Ambition and Desire: the Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte' (US). It has been optioned by Ecosse Films (Nowhere Boy, Mrs Brown) and they are working on the script now.

'I send you a thousand kisses, but send me none back because they set my soul on fire', wrote Napoleon to Josephine.


In 2012, my book about Elizabeth II, 'Young Elizabeth' was published, exploring the Princess's life before she became Queen - and how the abdication of Edward VIII changed her world. In 2011, I co-wrote The Ring and the Crown with Alison Weir, Tracy Borman and Sarah Gristwood about the history of royal weddings.

My previous novel,The Pleasures of Men, about Catherine Sorgeiul, a young woman in 1840 who terrifies herself with her obsession with a murderer, appeared in 2012. I began writing the book while living in Paris, one

Reviews

[Keely · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this, and enjoyed it but there were some things about history were wrong or was not quite what it seemed. Like I understood that maybe calling Mary "Bloody" might be misogynistic, but you cannot compare her stats against Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, due to the fact their length of reigns are completely different. Henry VIII reigned 33 years. Elizabeth is at 45 years. Mary reigned for 5 years. Of course Elizabeth and Henry would've had more executions over their longer reigns than a woman who only reigned for 5 years. Had Mary kept up with her burnings with the same numbers, it would've been staggering and blown both of them out of the water, depending on how you count it. But don't get me wrong, I have a lot of sympathy for Mary and her difficult life, but we cannot excuse her 100%, even though she truly believed she was saving and fighting for people's souls, the burnings were horrific and was one of the most agonising deaths to bestow on her subjects. There is some nuance there and I think the author tried to make it more simple than it was.

And like Elizabeth being overruled with Mary Queen of Scots death is mention multiple times as it a misogynistic example because the book presents it as a fact that the men overruled a woman and went against her desires. It was more complicated than that. It was better for her to be seen overruled. I mean the punishment to not following her orders doesn't quite fit the crime. I mean, someone took a trip to the tower for a two years, he was still being paid his salary while in the tower and had got a huge fine, that he never did pay and was let off from it. Which could suggest it was all a farce as before it was signed and done, Elizabeth asked Mary's jailor to assassinate her, which was looked at in horror from the jailer. So it all suggests something more and they were not quite overruling her. She needed to remove her without effecting her standing with James and everyone else on the worlds stage, along with the fact she was worried about executing an anointed monarch might show that they were human, rather than they had ascended above everyone else and thus put Elizabeth in danger. And that Catholic's would rise up and get their revenge. But Mary was determined to be free so was always going to be treasonous and therefore, dangerous. (No one can really blame her for that though) So presenting it like a oopsie was an excellent move. James also had to temper his response as he wanted Elizabeth's throne so that also helped make the balm of it being an supposed oopsie more tolerable. I mean, after Elizabeth's death, he moved her coffin to put her with her sister Mary (neither woman would have probably chose that as they had a very complicated relationship) rather than give her own monument as her burial in her grandfathers was always supposed to be temporary and then he buried Mary across from them.

There are other examples I could provide. But these are the ones that came to mind first without resorting to the ebook.

This book was interesting and I enjoyed it. But a lot of things are a lot more nuanced than often presented.

[Dave Parr]

Not in the right mood for this, will probably try again one day