'Brisk, lively and wonderfully entertaining' John Banville'Excellent . . . read this book' Literary Review'The best single-volume life of the author available' Irish TimesThe much mythologised author of Decline and Fall, A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited was hailed by Graham Greene as 'the greatest novelist of my generation', yet reckoned by Hilaire Belloc to have ...

"Rich in drama and tragedy" ( The Guardian), here is a mesmerizing account of the extraordinary formative years of the man married to the most famous woman in the worldBefore he met the young girl who became Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip had a tumultuous upbringing in Greece, France, Nazi Germany, and Britain. His mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was born deaf; she was committed to a psychiatric clinic when Philip was eight. His father, Prince Andr...

THE EXTRAORDINARY TALE OF SYLVIA BROOKE, THE LAST WHITE RULER OF THE JUNGLE KINGDOM OF BORNEOSylvia Brooke was one of the more exotic and outrageous figures of the twentieth century. Otherwise known as the Ranee of Sarawak, she was the wife of Sir Vyner Brooke, the last White Rajah, whose family had ruled the jungle kingdom of Sarawak on Borneo for three generations. They had their own flag, revenue, postage stamps, and money, as well as the power of life and death over their subjec...

The Sunday Times bestsellerA Radio 4 Book of the Week, June 2021‘Highly readable … deserves to take its place among the first rank of modern royal biographies’ Daily Mail‘The narrative is as suspenseful as any thriller. Truly, an excellent read’ Lynn Barber, Sunday TimesMarried for over seventy years to the most famous woman in the world, Prince Philip was the longest-serving royal...

The biography of the last Ranee of Sarawak, born into the aristocracy as Sylvia Brett in 1885 and destined to become 'Queen of the Headhunters'.**'Jaw-dropping ... If you thought White Mischief the last word in English expatriate decadence, you haven't yet met Sylvia and the Brookes' The TimesSylvia Brooke was the consort of His Highness Sir Vyner Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, the last in a bizarre dynasty of English despots ...

The Sunday Times bestseller‘Highly readable … deserves to take its place among the first rank of modern royal biographies’ Daily Mail'Sure footed and sparkling' Ferdinand Mount‘The narrative is as suspenseful as any thriller. Truly, an excellent read’ Lynn Barber, Sunday TimesMarried for over seventy years to the most famous woman in the world, Prince Philip is the longest-serving ...

One of Britain's most distinguished biographers turns her focus on one of the most vilified women of the twentieth century. Historian Anne Sebba has written the first full biography by a woman of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor.'That woman', as she was referred to by the Queen Mother, became a hate figure for ensnaring a British king and destabilising the monarchy. Neither beautiful nor brilliant, she nevertheless became one of the most talked-about women of her generation, and ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This “excellent, all-embracing” (The New York Times) biography of Queen Elizabeth II is a magisterial study of the woman known only from a distance—and a captivating window into her decades-long reign.From the moment of her ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II was the object of unparalleled scrutiny. But through the fog of glamour and gossip, how well did we really know the world...

A sweeping saga of the success—and excess—of an iconic American family.Demanding and enigmatic, patriarch Conrad Hilton's visionary ideas and unyielding will established the model for the modern luxury hotel industry. But outside the boardroom, Conrad struggled with emotional detachment, failed marriages, and conflicted Catholicism. Then there were his children: Playboy Nicky Hilton's tragic alcoholism and marriage to Elizabeth Taylor was the stuff of tabloid legen...

In lively, absorbing prose that rivals the finest literary fiction, prize-winning historian Carolly Erickson recreates the life of the notorious Tudor king, Henry VIII. In his youth as a charming national hero, his reign as a monstrous king, and his final days as a tottering old man, Erickson draws a thoroughly convincing portrait of one of English history's most notorious characters.

Elizabeth was not just Queen, she was ruler. In an age of male supremacy she, by sheer force of character, became not only the unchallenged leader of the English but also the first leader of an empire upon which the sun never set. Erickson's biography tells the truth about this extraordinary woman and profiles some amazing people-their personalities and culture.

This is the Prince Harry you've never read about before. Published in celebration of his thirtieth birthday, this is the story behind the tabloid stories. The Prince who has the power to make or break. The maverick Prince, who is brilliant, impetuous and unpredictable. The Prince who with his unique talents, charm and bloody-minded determination is changing lives across the world. But the Prince who could, in a moment of madness, bring it all crashing down.He is the redhead that Di...