Publication Date: September 2, 2014
NAL Trade
Formats: eBook, Paperback; 400p
Genre: History/Non-Fiction/Royalty
READ AN EXCERPT.
Why does it seem that the marriages of so many monarchs are often made in hell? And yet we can’t stop reading about them! To satisfy your schadenfreude, INGLORIOUS ROYAL MARRIAGES offers a panoply of the most spectacular mismatches in five hundred years of royal history….some of which are mentioned below.
When her monkish husband, England’s Lancastrian Henry VI, became completely catatonic, the unpopular French-born Margaret of Anjou led his army against the troops of their enemy, the Duke of York.
Margaret Tudor, her niece Mary I, and Catherine of Braganza were desperately in love with chronically unfaithful husbands—but at least they weren’t murdered by them, as were two of the Medici princesses.
King Charles II’s beautiful, high-spirited sister “Minette” wed Louis XIV’s younger brother, who wore more makeup and perfume than she did.
Compelled by her mother to wed her boring, jug-eared cousin Ferdinand, Marie of Roumania—a granddaughter of Queen Victoria—emerged as a heroine of World War I by using her prodigious personal charm to regain massive amounts of land during the peace talks at Versailles. Marie’s younger sister Victoria Melita wed two of her first-cousins: both marriages ultimately scandalized the courts of Europe.
Brimming with outrageous real-life stories of royal marriages gone wrong, this is an entertaining, unforgettable book of dubious matches doomed from the start.
My Review
Inglorious Royal Marriages is another great
historical nonfiction book by Leslie Carroll. I have read her previous novels,
Royal Romance, Royal Pains, and Royal Affairs, and this book was very similar
to them. I felt like it was a little more boring that her previous novels, and
read slightly more like a text book than the others, but I still really enjoyed
it. I love learning about the secrets of royal marriages/families. It is so
interesting to find out about the different affairs and intrigues these couples
engaged in. It seems a rarity for royal marriages to actually be normal and
loving! I suppose it would be hard to have a ‘normal’ marriage when more than
likely you were married to your husband or wife whether you wanted to be or
not. This wasn’t a novel that I was completely engrossed in and unable to put
down, but I did really enjoy reading it and definitely wanted to finish the
book to find out the dirty secrets about these different royal couples. The
books I read tend to be about a few of the same well known royals, so it’s
interesting to read about royalty who I have never heard about before!
Overall I enjoyed reading Inglorious Royal
Marriages, and if you are interested in historical nonfiction, especially about
royalty, than this is a great book to pick up and read!
I give this novel FOUR out of FIVE stars.
Praise for Leslie Carroll’s Royal Books
“An irresistible combination of People magazine and the History Channel.”—Chicago Tribune (5 Stars)
“Thoroughly enjoyable.”—Booklist
“For those who tackled Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, and can’t get enough of the scandal surrounding Henry VIII’s wives, [Notorious Royal Marriages is] the perfect companion book.”—NewYorker.com
Buy the Book
Amazon US
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
IndieBound
About the Author
Leslie Carroll is the author of several works of historical nonfiction, women’s fiction, and, under the pen names Juliet Grey and Amanda Elyot, is a multipublished author of historical fiction. Her nonfiction titles include Royal Romances, Royal Pains, Royal Affairs, and Notorious Royal Marriages. She is also a classically trained professional actress with numerous portrayals of virgins, vixens, and villainesses to her credit, and is an award-winning audio book narrator. A frequent commentator on royal romances and relationships, Leslie has been interviewed by numerous publications, including MSNBC.com, USA Today, the Australian Broadcasting Company, and NPR, and she was a featured royalty historian on CBS nightly news in London during the royal wedding coverage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. She also appears as an expert on the love lives of Queen Victoria, Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, and Napoleon on the television series “The Secret Life of [fill in the name of famous figure]” for Canada’s History Channel. Leslie and her husband, Scott, divide their time between New York City and Washington, D.C.
For more information please visit Leslie's website. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
Inglorious Royal Marriages Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, September 1
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Tuesday, September 2
Review at Book Lovers Paradise
Interview at Scandalous Women
Wednesday, September 3
Guest Post & Giveaway at Historical Tapestry
Thursday, September 4
Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past
Friday, September 5
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time
Monday, September 8
Review & Giveaway at Bibliophilia, Please
Tuesday, September 9
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book
Spotlight at Princess of Eboli
Wednesday, September 10
Interview at Oh, For the Hook of a Book
Thursday, September 11
Review at The Lit Bitch
Spotlight & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Connection
Monday, September 15
Guest Post & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books
Tuesday, September 16
Spotlight & Giveaway at Reading Lark
Wednesday, September 17
Review & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair
Saturday, September 20
Review at WTF Are You Reading?
Tuesday, September 23
Review & Giveaway at The Maiden's Court
Wednesday, September 24
Review & Giveaway at Broken Teepee
Review & Giveaway at To Read or Not to Read
Thursday, September 25
Review at Bookish
Review at Historical Fiction Obsession
Friday, September 26
Review at The Musings of ALMYBNENR
Review & Giveaway at The True Book Addict
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