This has been a lackluster year for royal book covers. Some months I’ve found it difficult to find a cover worth featuring here on the blog. Among those I have liked, a few themes have recurred. Two covers depicted the pharaoh Cleopatra’s daughter, Cleopatra Selene, and two were comical covers that parodied Britain’s royal wedding.

December brings another blah batch of royalty book covers, but I think the one below is a little bit more interesting than the rest. It’s the second cover I’ve selected this year that features a photo of Queen Elizabeth II. (Here’s the first.)

 

As you can see, the book is A Brief History of the Private Life of Elizabeth II by Michael Paterson. The Queen is shown here with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and their children Charles and Anne. It’s a nice, natural-seeming photo (although I wonder: Are they really outdoors, or is that a backdrop?) I like Her Majesty’s hairstyle. And I think we’ve all seen that look on Prince Charles’s face before. There’s not much more I can say about this cover. It’s OK, and it’s the best I can find this month. I hope 2012 will bring many creative, beautiful royalty book covers.

What’s your favorite royal book cover of 2011? Mine is Knit Your Own Royal Wedding. It’s clever, and hilarious, and almost makes me wish I knew how to knit — a perfect cover for the book.

In my opinion, this month’s new royalty book covers are rather ho-hum, but I find this one appealing:

 

A Queen’s Journey by James D. Houston is a fictional account of Hawaiian queen Liliuokalani and the tumultuous times in which she lived. The author died (in 2009) without finishing the novel.

The cover is pretty and, I think, does a good job of selling the book. Do you agree?

I like this month’s new royalty book covers because they’re nice looking, fit the books’ topics, and make sense (no random pictures of elbows or ears). One of my favorites is The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory — not only is it a beautiful cover, but the lady actually has a head, and a face we can see. Is the craze for headless-woman covers fading away?

My pick for best royalty book cover of the month is this whimsical cover for a book on a seemingly whimsical subject:

 

Napoleon’s Chicken Marengo by Andrew Uffindell reveals how Napoleon, bickering generals, celebrity chefs, adventurers, artists, and eccentrics created a tangle of myths about a chicken dish. I’m sure it’s an informative book, but it also sounds like fun, and the cover communicates that.

Would you like to read this book? I would.

I like almost all of this month’s new royalty book covers, but I think this one is the best:

 

Queen Elizabeth II: Portraits by Cecil Beaton, written by Susanna Brown, discusses how photographer Beaton’s portraits shaped the British monarchy’s image. The cover image is, in my opinion, memorable because it shows a side of the Queen that’s rarely seen by the public. It’s a good advertisement for the book.

What do you think? Would you buy this book?

There are quite a few nice new royalty book covers this month! I found it difficult to select a favorite.

One strong contender: Three Maids for a Crown by Ellen March Chase. But its cover, while pretty, is quite similar to the cover of To Die For by Sandra Byrd, which also depicts half-faced women in Tudor garb. Publishers, you need some new ideas for your book covers — or some new faces.

So my pick for August’s best royal book cover is this:

 

Cleopatra’s Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter is a novel for young adult readers about Cleopatra and Mark Antony’s daughter, Selene, who faces the loss of all she loves when war shatters her world. For some reason, publishers seem less reluctant to put female faces on the covers of books intended for teenagers. I don’t know why that is (if my observation is correct), but it results in some striking book covers, like this one.

Do you like this cover? Do you prefer the cover of Three Maids for a Crown?

This month’s new royalty book covers are rather dull. My favorite, simply because it’s the most interesting of the bunch, is this:

 

Anglo-Saxon Kings by Timothy Venning is about the Anglo-Saxon rulers of Britain, from the legendary leaders of the 5th century Anglo-Saxon invasion until the Norman Conquest in 1066. I suppose that’s Edward the Confessor shown on the book cover. It’s not a particularly unusual cover for a book of this type, but I think it’s well done. What do you think?

There are a lot of new royalty books available this month! My runner-up choice for best book cover of the month is The Borgia Betrayal: A Novel by Sara Poole. The cover is a little generic, maybe, but very well done and pleasing to the eye.

My favorite cover for June 2011 is this one:

 

Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts is an illustrated catalogue edited by Linda Komaroff and published by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It presents some 240 works of art from gift exchanges among courts from the 8th century through the 19th century.

I like the cover for my usual reasons — it’s colorful, appealing, different, and suits its topic well. Do you like it? Do you prefer the cover of “The Borgia Betrayal”?

This month’s new royalty book covers are a mostly uninspiring lot. At least three of them feature nearly identical photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton on their wedding day. At least two other covers show them announcing their engagement. Yes, they are a good-looking couple, but it’s hard to tell these books apart.

I like the vivid cover of Queen of Kings: The Immortal Story of Cleopatra, even though the subject matter (Cleopatra as a vampire) doesn’t much appeal to me. But I think this is the best book cover of the month:

 

Queen Victoria’s Stalker: The Strange Case of the Boy Jones by Jan Bondeson tells the true story of a teenager who became famous for repeatedly sneaking into Buckingham Palace. In my opinion, the cover is arresting and gives a clear idea of both the subject matter and the way Edward Jones’ hijinks were covered in the press. An excellent book cover.

What do you think of this book cover? Would you like to read this book? I would.