The Kings' Mistresses
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Behind every throne lies a story of desire, ambition, and dangerous influence — and The Kings' Mistresses by Alan Hardy brings these extraordinary women out of the shadows and into the full light of history. Hardy chronicles the lives of the women who captured the hearts — and shaped the policies — of England's monarchs, from the medieval courts to the age of Georgian excess, painting a vivid portrait of power wielded not from the throne, but from beside it. These were no passive figures; they were political operators, cultural patrons, and survivors in a world where royal favour could be revoked as swiftly as it was granted. Hardy writes with a scholar's precision and a storyteller's flair, grounding each account in rigorous historical research while never losing sight of the deeply human drama at its core. The Kings' Mistresses illuminates how these women navigated treacherous court politics, using wit, beauty, and shrewd intelligence to carve out extraordinary influence in a patriarchal age. It is a work that fundamentally challenges the reader to reconsider who truly held power in the corridors of the English monarchy — and leaves one wondering just how much of history was written in the boudoir rather than the council chamber.
Author: Alan Hardy
Format: Hardback
Published: 1980, Evans Brothers
Genre: British & Irish history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Behind every throne lies a story of desire, ambition, and dangerous influence — and The Kings' Mistresses by Alan Hardy brings these extraordinary women out of the shadows and into the full light of history. Hardy chronicles the lives of the women who captured the hearts — and shaped the policies — of England's monarchs, from the medieval courts to the age of Georgian excess, painting a vivid portrait of power wielded not from the throne, but from beside it. These were no passive figures; they were political operators, cultural patrons, and survivors in a world where royal favour could be revoked as swiftly as it was granted. Hardy writes with a scholar's precision and a storyteller's flair, grounding each account in rigorous historical research while never losing sight of the deeply human drama at its core. The Kings' Mistresses illuminates how these women navigated treacherous court politics, using wit, beauty, and shrewd intelligence to carve out extraordinary influence in a patriarchal age. It is a work that fundamentally challenges the reader to reconsider who truly held power in the corridors of the English monarchy — and leaves one wondering just how much of history was written in the boudoir rather than the council chamber.