Royal Affairs: A Lusty Romp Through the Extramarital Adventures That Rocked the British Monarchy

by Leslie Carroll

Overview

A funny, raucous, and delightfully dirty history of 1,000 years of bedroom-hopping secrets and scandals of Britain's royals.

Insatiable kings, lechero's queens, kissing cousins, and wanton consorts-history has never been so much fun.

Royal unions have always been the stuff of scintillating gossip, from the passionate Plantagenets to Henry VIII's alarming head count of wives and mistresses, to the Sapphic crushes of Mary and Anne Stuart right on up through the scandal-blighted coupling of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Thrown into loveless, arranged marriages for political and economic gain, many royals were driven to indulge their pleasures outside the marital bed, engaging in delicious flirtations, lurid love letters, and rampant sex with voluptuous and willing partners.

This nearly pathological lust made for some of the most titillating scandals in Great Britain's history. Hardly harmless, these affairs have disrupted dynastic alliances, endangered lives, and most of all, fed the salacious curiosity of the public for centuries. Royal Affairs will satiate that curiosity by bringing this arousing history alive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451223982
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/03/2008
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.02(h) x 0.97(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

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, a multipublished author of historical fiction. Her nonfiction titles include Royal Romances, Royal Pains, Royal Affairs, Notorious Royal Marriages, and Inglorious 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 has also appeared 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...” for Canada’s History Channel. Leslie and her husband, Scott, divide their time between New York City and Denver, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Foreword     3
The Angevins     9
Henry II     11
And Rosamund de Clifford     13
And Alys (or Alais), Countess of the Vexin     17
The Plantagenets     21
Edward II     23
And Piers Gaveston     25
And Hugh Despenser the Younger     25
Isabella of France (Queen to Edward II)     25
And Roger Mortimer     25
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster     39
And Katherine Swynford     39
Lancaster and York     51
Edward IV     53
And Jane Shore     55
The Tudors     61
Mary Tudor     63
And Charles Brandon     63
Henry VIII     71
And Elizabeth "Bessie" Blount     73
And Mary Boleyn     76
And Anne Boleyn     79
And Jane Seymour     102
And Kathryn Howard     111
Kathryn Howard     111
And Francis Dereham     111
And Thomas Culpeper     111
Elizabeth I     132
And Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester     134
And Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex     147
The Stuarts     159
Mary, Queen of Scots     161
And Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley     164
And James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell     164
James I of England and Ireland (also James VI of Scotland)     176
And George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham     178
Charles II     185
And Lucy Walter     187
And Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine, Duchess of Cleveland     188
And Frances Teresa Stuart     198
And Nell Gwyn     203
And Louise Renee de Penancoet de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth     214
And Hortense Mancini, Duchesse Mazarin     222
James II of England/James VII of Scotland     228
And Anne Hyde     230
William III and Mary II     235
And Frances Apsley     238
And Elizabeth Villiers     238
And Arnold Joost van Keppel     238
Anne     249
And Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough     251
And Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham     251
The Hanovers     259
George I     261
And Sophia Charlotte von Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington and Countess of Leinster     263
And (simultaneously) Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal and Duchess of Munster     263
George II     272
And Henrietta Howard     273
And Amalie Sophie Marianne von Wallmoden     277
George IV     280
And Mary Robinson     282
And Maria Fitzherbert     291
Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales     309
The "Delicate Investigation" and The Bill of Pains and Penalties     309
Frederick, Duke of York     335
And Mary Anne Clarke     335
William IV     340
And Dorothy Jordan     340
Victoria     357
And John Brown     359
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha     369
Edward VII     371
And Lillie Langtry     373
And Frances Evelyn "Daisy" Greville, Countess of Warwick     381
And Alice Keppel     386
The Windsors     397
Edward VIII     399
And Wallis Warfield Simpson     401
Charles, Prince of Wales (Introduction)     416
Diana, Princess of Wales     419
And James Hewitt     419
Charles, Prince of Wales     429
And Camilla Parker Bowles     429
Acknowledgments      439
Selected Bibliography     441

Editorial Reviews

If misery loves company, devotees of the late Princess Diana may be happy to learn that, like Prince Charles, King George I ignored his luscious wife and first cousin, Sophia Dorothea, for not one but two hideous mistresses, one of whom may have been his half-sister. Camilla, duchess of Cornwallis, had a great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, who was the mistress of Charles's great-great-grandfather Edward VII; a hysterical Alice had to be dragged away from her comatose lover's deathbed and wore full mourning to his funeral. After his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, bore him eight children, Henry II openly cavorted with his 16-year-old Welsh mistress, Rosamund, but the highly political Eleanor got revenge by inciting their sons to rebel against Henry and possibly poisoning Rosamund. The narrowness of Carroll's subject matter (she writes historical fiction as Amanda Elyot) is more tiresome than titillating, and her tales of such favorites as Anne Boleyn, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Essex and Wallis Simpson are less than fresh. (June 3)

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Publishers Weekly

In this delightful addition to the countless other books written about the British Royal Family, Carroll (Choosing Sophie) deftly constructs information chronologically by ruling dynasty, from the Angevins to the Windsors. Along the way, she shares with readers little-known facts-e.g., that the 20-year liaison between William IV and his actress companion was apparently a happy and contented one until he tossed her aside to become king-as well as facts more widely known, e.g., that Queen Victoria and John Brown were close friends but that no evidence of an affair has been discovered. As her previous experience writing historical fiction under the pseudonym Amanda Elyot attests, Carroll can ably research and distill facts and has a true talent for weaving fascinating narratives. Her entertaining writing style makes this one book you do not want to put down. Entertaining, impeccably researched, and extremely well written, it will appeal to all readers with an interest in British history as well as to those with a more specialized interest in the personal lives of the British royal family. Highly recommended.
—Faye Harkins

Library Journal