A History of Royals discussion

A big Thanks! to Robin for this challenge. The object here is to read between 6 - 12 books, each one on a different royal that you are not familiar with. Ideally, each book would be on a different royal you've NEVER read about before, but to make it a bit easier, they can be someone that you have only read about peripherally. For example, if I was reading a book about Elizabeth of York, and it mentioned Margaret Beaufort, but I have never read a book specifically about her, then she could be one of my NEW royals.

Also, per Robin - "it has to be a book dedicated to that royal person, so for example a non-fiction compilation of mini-bios of many different royals, such as She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, doesn't count.

As per our group rule, also, the character cannot be a peripheral character in the book you are reading.

Thanks for taking my suggestion on board, Lyn! I have to think about what new royals I want to read about. I presume anything already read in 2014 counts?

Oh and not to toot my own horn but if anyone wants some ideas on books about new royals to check out, I have lists:
Britain: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H...
Europe: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C...

Robin wrote: "Thanks for taking my suggestion on board, Lyn! I have to think about what new royals I want to read about. I presume anything already read in 2014 counts?

Oh and not to toot my own horn but if any..."

Robin - Yes, anything read in 2014 counts. AND - I love your lists. I get excited whenever you post links to them. :)

Sounds Good! And Robin I love it when you post those links as well!

Lol, I'm glad people like them!

woohoo I've been waiting to see the challenge you come up with!!! :D

I have just finished A Humble Companion but I'm not sure if this counts as royalty being peripheral characters?

And I am reading The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick about Eleanor of Aquitane so I defintely have one already!

Nicola wrote: "woohoo I've been waiting to see the challenge you come up with!!! :D

I have just finished A Humble Companion but I'm not sure if this counts as royalty being peripheral characters..."

I am on the fence about that one, Nicola. Let me do a bit of research and get back to you.

I have just read a book about Caroline and Charlotte whom I have never read about before Caroline And Charlotte: Regency Scandals would this count as 1 or 2 or be excluded as a compilation?

Nikki wrote: "I have just read a book about Caroline and Charlotte whom I have never read about before Caroline And Charlotte: Regency Scandals would this count as 1 or 2 or be excluded as a compi..."

This would work, Nikki, since they were the wife and daughter of Royalty, which for our purposes makes them royal, but you can only use it for 1. :)

Nicola wrote: "woohoo I've been waiting to see the challenge you come up with!!! :D

I have just finished A Humble Companion but I'm not sure if this counts as royalty being peripheral characters..."

So - I've looked at Humble Companion quite a bit, and I am thinking that the Royalty in this story is really peripheral. One question, though, how much detail do they give on Princess Sophie, and how much of the book is she in?

Don't miss out on Hild! I am loving this book soooo much.

L.M. wrote: "Don't miss out on Hild! I am loving this book soooo much."

I have HILD on my review list. I just need to get to it. :)

Well, so far I have read:

The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great - about Catherine the Great
The Forbidden Queen - about Catherine of Valois

Never read anything dedicated to those characters before, only very short mini-bios in compilations.

Also, is it okay to include The Handfasted Wife about Edith Swanneck, first wife of Harold Godwinson? Although I have previously read I Am the Chosen King which strongly features Edith, it is not based on her (it's based on Harold, so naturally his wife plays a large role but is not the center focus of the novel) whereas Handfasted Wife is centered mostly on Edith.

Robin wrote: "Well, so far I have read:

The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great - about Catherine the Great
The Forbidden Queen - about Catherine of Valois

Never read ..."

That works, Robin. Now you get to see things from Edith's POV, right?

Yeah, it's in third person but mostly told from Edith's point of view.

Robin wrote: "Yeah, it's in third person but mostly told from Edith's point of view."

I like being able to do that, read about the same time period, or the same people, from different POVs. It makes it interesting.

Yeah, I especially like reading about someone who might be an antagonist in one novel but a protagonist in another.

Same here. :)

I am going for 8 new Royals to start:

Progress: 1 of 8

1. Olga Romanov, sister of Czar Nicholas II - Olga Romanov: Russia's Last Grand Duchess

Angela wrote: "I am going for 8 new Royals to start:

Progress: 1 of 8

1. Olga Romanov, sister of Czar Nicholas II - Olga Romanov: Russia's Last Grand Duchess"

Cool Angela. Hope you have fun with it.

I don't know what I was talking about with The Handfasted Wife, since I read it in Dec and not in 2014.

So anyway, my list so far has been:

The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great
The Forbidden Queen (Catherine of Valois)
Cleopatra's Daughter (Cleopatra Selene II)
Queen's Gambit (Catherine Parr)

If nobility/vatican count then also The Serpent and the Pearl (Giulia Farnese).

If it doesn't count, I don't know if I'll reach 6 books. The only "new" royalty I have on my to-read list is Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I which I do plan to read soon but that would only make 5.