Welcome to the Group!

Hi! I'm Chris and although I started this group a month or so ago, I've had little time to spend here. I must say this is my new favorite website and probably will be from now on.

Since this group is RoyalReaders, let's introduce ourselves by naming a favorite book about royalty, past or present.

One of mine is: A Distant Mirror, by Barbara W. Tuchman. I think I'm on my third copy.

Hi,

I'm very interested in royalty, and love to follow the present monarchies. My favourites are the late princess Diana and the crownprincesses of Denmark and the Netherlands. I have a lot of books on royalty, all of them non-fiction (three or four are fiction).

I also have an interest in royalty, and follow the present monarchies. If I were to name favorites...I'd probably say Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Prince William of Wales, though I follow all the royal heirs pretty closely. I don't have a lot of books on royalty, although I've read many more.

mrlibrarian #1: I also like Tuchman's book. But I'm curious. When you say I think I'm on my third copy do you mean you buy a new copy every time you read it? Or just forget where you put it?

In my case I often buy a new copy when my better half has lent one of my books to someone who hasn't returned it — even if I'll probably never read it. Which makes me even more of a nerd.

A great read for anyone fascinated by European Royalty spanning the 19th and early 20th centuries is DM Potts' book "Queen Victoria's Gene." It's a well- written work that delves into the often-times EXTREMELY personal medical background of Queen Victoria & her subsequently wide-ranging & wide-ruling brood... A fascinating look into how genetics severely affected the history of Europe over the past 200 years!

Queen Victoria's Gene is definitely interesting! You might like Purple Secret too, which is also on genetic defects in the European royal families.

Wow! How exciting to find all of these posts. I hadn't checked this group in a while, been busy w/ grad school.

PossMan: By being on my 3rd copy of A Distant Mirror, I mean that I had got first copy as required reading in college, read it a lot and pretty much wore it out, found another (used) paperback copy that was not all that much better and finally I put my hands on a nice but older hardback.

I have always intended to read Queen Victoria's Gene but have never come across a copy. I will have to put it on one of my wishlists. She and her extended brood are some of my favorite historical royals.

As for present day royals, I like the exiled Greek family, and all the young heirs as well, Victoria of Sweden, Fredrik of Denmark, Felipe of Spain, etc. I have well over 100 books on royalty, mostly historical.

I know this is more than a month after the last post but still. I love reading books on Richard III, Edward The Black Prince of Wales, Isabella and Ferdiand of Castile and Aragon, Catherine the Great, and Marie Antoinette. Reading this thread has added a couple of books to my frighteningly large wishlist :)

There is a book on Marie-Antoinette I really want to buy, it is written by Antonia Fraser. Is it a good read?

>9 royalhistorian:
Marie Antoinette - The Journey by Antonia Fraser is indeed an excellent read. I'm 3/4ths of the way through it.

I have an extensive collection of several hundred royal biographies. I have everything from Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, to King Zog of Albaniawith intermediate stops with the likes of King Haakon VII of Norway, Alexander II of Russia, the Greek royal family, and even King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. I also have a number of books about monarchy (e.g, The Book of Kings which is about as complete a record as is available). I probably have all of the standard biographies so am especially interested in biographies of lesser known royal figures -- or persons who were key figures in royal courts.