"Nicknamed Snow White, sixteen-year-old Lady Sophie, daughter of Duke Franz of Bavaria, debuts into high society and falls for the prince of Spain, whose betrothal to a higher-ranking girl and mercurial father prove dangerous for the duchy"--

The complex and contradictory lives of the Windsors following Edward's abdication of the British throne in 1936. Shut out by the royal family, the couple was forced into exile--but a glamorous one in which they flitted from sumptuously appointed mansions in the south of France to luxurious residences in Palm Beach. They were spoiled, selfish people, obsessed with their image, reveling in adulterous affairs, and financially exploiting their position...

Vicky, Alice, Helena, and Beatrice were historically unique sisters, born to a sovereign who ruled over a quarter of the earth's people and who gave her name to an era: Queen Victoria. Two of these princesses would themselves produce children of immense consequence. All five would curiously come to share many of the social restrictions and familial machinations borne by nineteenth-century women of less-exulted class. Principally researched at the...

An exploration of Queen Victoria's matchmaking exploits details how she used her grandchildren to further the influence of the British Empire, despite their own plans and the turmoil that rocked Europe starting in the nineteenth century. "A captivating exploration of the role in which Queen Victoria exerted the most international power and influence: as a matchmaking grandmother. As her reign approached its sixth decade, Queen Victoria's grandchildren...