20+ Books About the Royal Family

Very few people know what life is really like inside Buckingham Palace, but a new book titled The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe, offers readers a window into that world. Queen Elizabeth granted personal permission to Angela Kelly, who has served as her dresser and confidant for 25 years, to write not only about royal fashion, but also about their experience working together. If you’ve already read this book, you might want to pick up a new copy; Kelly has written additional chapters for the text, which detail what life was like during the pandemic for the royal household.

Released just in time for the Queen’s 95th birthday in 2021, this stunning coffee table book marries gorgeous photography with thoughtful insight into the British monarch’s remarkable life and reign.

Elizabeth Holmes began sharing her thoughts about Kate Middleton’s style on her Instagram stories; soon, that became the inspiration for HRH, which dives into the royal fashions of Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, Meghan Markle, and, of course, Kate Middleton.

“It will be a beautiful picture book, one I hope that readers will want to display in their homes. But that style will be paired with plenty of substance; I expect it will be something people take the time to sit and read, too,” Holmes told T&C.

If you tend to pause The Crown after every scene to look up exactly what historical event the characters are talking about, this book, by the show’s historical advisor Robert Lacey, is the one for you.

Prefer your royal reading to be a work of fiction? Consider picking up The Royal We. Written by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of “Fug Girls” fame, which chronicles American Bex Porter as she falls in love with the heir to the British throne.

This special edition of Town & Country highlights the Queen’s 70+ year relationship with Prince Philip, revealing their love story with rarely seen photos of the royal couple.

Craig Brown’s Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret is a royal biography unlike any another. Come for the Instagram-worthy cover, and stay for a few chapters where Brown veers away from history to dwell in what could have been for the Queen’s sister.

Ahead of Charles’s coronation, take a look at Sally Bedell Smith’s biography of the longtime heir to the throne, who spent his whole life waiting in the wings, only to become King at the age of 73.

The Duchess of Sussex is now one of the most widely-known women in the world, but she didn’t grow up in the royal spotlight. In his aptly titled tome Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, Andrew Morton shares her story before she met Prince Harry.

It’s easy to forget just how profound Lord Mountbatten’s influence over the royal family truly was—but this dual biography will disabuse you of any notion that he might be a peripheral figure in the House of Windsor’s ever-complicated story. And on top of that, The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves rescues Edwina, Mountbatten’s remarkable wife, from obscurity. You might dislike “Uncle Dickie” even more after reading this book, but you’ll have gained a newfound appreciation for the inimitable Edwina.

Two decades after her death, Princess Diana’s enormous influence on the modern royal family is still evident, and Tina Brown’s biography of the late Princess of Wales is a must-read for anyone with even an inking of curiosity about the House of Windsor.

This memoir by Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting, Anne Glenconner, reveals exactly what the royal family is really like when the cameras stop rolling, offering particular insight into the life of the Queen’s sister.

If you’re more interested in the royal real estate than the major players in the King’s family, consider picking up this gorgeous coffee table book, which takes readers inside the monarch’s London residence.

Princess Margaret’s interactions with her sister, Queen Elizabeth, bring about some of the most intriguing plot points in The Crown, and this book focuses solely on their wholly unique sibling relationship.

For a more modern tale of royal drama, look no further than Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s deep dive into Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s infamous exit from the Firm.

Season four of The Crown introduces viewers to a young Lady Diana Spencer—and season five details the writing of this pseudo autobiography, which at the time, caused quite the stir upon its release, as it paints an intimate, and difficult, portrait of royal life.