World of Royalty Blog

This month brought a big crop of new royalty book covers featuring “headless” women. To be specific, by my count: two covers with headless women, two covers with eyeless women, and three covers featuring the backs of women’s heads. (Who on earth finds Queen Elizabeth l’s back more interesting than her face?)

So I think this cover is refreshing:

 

Anastasia’s Secret by Susanne Dunlap is a young adult novel about Grand Duchess Anastasia, one of the daughters of Russia’s last tsar.

As you can see, this cover allows Anastasia to show her face. Of course, that’s not the real Anastasia, but it’s nice that someone took the trouble to make the model look like her. The white dress, pearls, and long hair are all reminiscent of photos of Anastasia and her sisters.

For instance, here’s Anastasia (on the left) and her sister Maria:

 

You can see more pictures of the grand duchesses at Wikimedia Commons. Because they died so young, many of the photos have a haunting quality, and I think the cover of “Anastasia’s Secret” captures a little of that feeling. Well done.

Letter surfaces telling how Queen’s ancestor escaped the marriage from hell

Wendy Moore’s book Wedlock, which tells the true story of the disastrous marriage and remarkable divorce of Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore, is available from Amazon.com.

The best-selling royalty books of the first two months of 2010, based on sales made through the Royalty.nu site and its companion blogs:

Notorious Royal Marriages: A Juicy Journey Through Nine Centuries of Dynasty, Destiny, and Desire by Leslie Carroll. A “funny, raucous, and delightfully dirty” 900-year history of European royal marriages.

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir. Examines in detail the motives and intrigues of those who helped to seal the fate of King Henry VIII’s second wife.

The Impossible Bourbons: Europe’s Most Ambitious Dynasty by Oliver Thomson. About the family that won the the crowns of France, Spain, Naples and Sicily.

We Two: Victoria and Albert – Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill. An account of Queen Victoria’s passionate, complicated marriage.

Secrets of the Tudor Court: Between Two Queens by Kate Emerson. Fiction. Flirtatious, ambitious Nan Bassett tries to reassure Henry VIII of her family’s loyalty. But Nan has a secret that could put her life in jeopardy.

For more books about royalty, visit the Royal Books page!

Queen Victoria’s silk stockings to be sold

Damaged Delaroche work on show in London

You can see photos of the painting “Charles I Insulted by Cromwell’s Soldiers” and learn more about its history here. Visit Wikimedia Commons for other royal-themed art works by Paul Delaroche.

 
Above: “Marie-Antoinette au Tribunal révolutionnaire” engraving by Alphonse François (1814-1888) after Paul Delaroche. Source: Wikimedia Commons

China calls on US to ‘undo damage done’ by Dalai Lama meet

 
(Official White House photo; copyright info here.)

March is going to be a good month for people who like to read about royalty! Here’s a glimpse of what publishers have in store for us. As always, publication dates are subject to change.

The King’s Smuggler: Jane Whorwood, Secret Agent to Charles I by John Fox. Jane Whorwood spied and smuggled gold for Britain’s King Charles I, organized escape attempts when he was prisoner, and may have had an affair with him.

George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I by Miranda Carter. About King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years by John Philip Jenkins. A wide range of beliefs circulated until Roman royalty and church leaders decided to stamp out heresy.

The Stolen Crown: The Secret Marriage That Forever Changed the Fate of England by Susan Higginbotham. Fiction. Trapped in the Wars of the Roses, one woman finds herself sister to the queen… and traitor to the crown.

Shadow Princess: A Novel by Indu Sundaresan. Indian princess Jahanara and her sister scheme for power over their father’s harem and their country. Third book in a trilogy; the first two books are The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses.

The Queen’s Lover by Vanora Bennett. Fiction. Married to England’s King Heny V as part of a treaty, Catherine de Valois is soon widowed. To save her son and herself, she must turn away from love. (Also published under the title “Blood Royal.”)

Anastasia’s Secret by Susanne Dunlap. Fiction. During the Russian Revolution, romance blooms between Grand Duchess Anastasia and a sympathetic guard. For young adult readers.

For the full list of new royalty books, visit the Royalty.nu New Royal Books page on March 1.

If I could only read one of the books listed above, it would be “The Stolen Crown” because I like author Susan Higginbotham’s blog and regret that I have yet to read any of her books. (I’m finding very little time to read these days.)

Which book would you choose?

Dick Francis, British jockey turned popular mystery author, dies at 89

I’m not a fan of horse racing, and I don’t read tons of thrillers, but Dick Francis was an excellent writer. His stories were not only entertaining, but wry and elegantly written. Try one of his books — you’ll be impressed.

Below: Dick Francis meeting the Queen Mother in 1956. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images. Photo provided by PicApp)

A Barbie doll depicting Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden was displayed at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany. Here are some photos of the doll, along with photos of the real princess. Do you think it’s a good likeness? (I don’t, except for the eyes.)

(All photos provided by PicApp)

Emily Blunt, the actress who plays Queen Victoria in the movie “The Young Victoria,” recently attended a showing of the film in Los Angeles and stayed afterward to answer some questions. Here are some excerpts from the interview.

What makes this film’s portrayal of the queen unique?
When I was first reading up about this film, I had no idea that there was this feisty, remarkable girl beneath the black, dour, sour-faced exterior that I’d become aware of in history class at school. So I think I was as surprised as everyone else. I think that everyone knows about the mourning and the grief and the unhappiness, but no one knows about the love and the passion [of Victoria]. Hopefully this film, if it does anything, will help people understand why she mourned [Prince Albert] so ferociously.

What was the biggest challenge in portraying this character?
As much as I could, I tried to approach her as the girl rather than the queen because she’s a teenage girl, who is in love and in a job where she’s in way over her head. And, at the end of the day, that’s at least a starting point that I can understand. But subconsciously, the more I read about her, the more I absorbed about her, I think I understood Victoria more than any other character I’ve played.

 

Sarah Ferguson (Duchess of York) is a producer for this film. Did you meet her while you were making the movie?
She came along when we were doing the coronation scene. We were filming it in Lincoln Cathedral, and she came and made tea for everyone; which was very nice, you know. I think she’s so thrilled that this film got made because she had the initial idea. But I think once it started snowballing she very much took a backseat and she said, “I don’t know anything about filmmaking, so you go make it. I’ll come and say hi once in awhile.” And then she’s been pushing it so hard since we’re now opening the movie. She’s been very supportive.

But it’s [also] interesting to talk to her because I got to know more since. She sympathizes — or empathizes, rather — more with Albert being the guest of the house, the outsider. And it was interesting talking to her about that.

What was the most difficult scene to film for you?
I found the very young stuff the trickiest, partly because of the hairstyle. (laughs) I remember looking in the mirror and being like, “I literally look like a spaniel.” I mean, to what dogs looking like their owners, I was right on there. But I think it’s quite tricky to find that balance because it was a longer time ago when I was 17, 18. So I wanted to recollect what being at that age actually was. So that was quite tricky.

I think the other scene that I found hard but that I loved — it was one of my favorites to do — was the scene where I meet the Privy counsel for the first time. I’d read so much about that day in [Victoria's] life where she was so nervous; she’d lost her uncle, she knew they were all going to judge her, she knew that they thought that she was just a little girl who couldn’t handle it. It was the first time really where she’d have to speak publicly like that, so that scene for me was really interesting. There was all this emotion going on and she was so desperate to do a good job, and then I just had to sort of suppress it all, and try and act like I was composed. So I really enjoyed that scene because as an actor there was so much to play with.

 
As an actor, what was it like to balance the public and private sides of Victoria?
She definitely lived a jeweled existence. And that’s what I appreciated about the script, that it gave room for that. You get to see what a performance it was for her to be out in the public and the composure that she needed to rally every time something awful was happening; she had to just submarine it. So that was interesting to play as well; that was really fun. The ambiguity of that that you get to play with, [where you had to] suppress all of that that’s going on. And I think, also, that you get to see the private side where she’s slamming doors and having a hissy fit, as we say in the UK.

(Thank you to promoter Brian Gross for providing the transcript and videos!)