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A blockbuster when it was published in 2023, Prince Harry’s highly-anticipated memoir was on global best-seller lists for months. The book offers a long view of Harry’s life, from coping with the death of his mother, Princess Diana, to his time serving with the British army, and (of course) how he met and fell in love with Meghan Markle, the future Duchess of Sussex. Harry’s narration is unflinching, too, and he spends many moments reflecting on the ways in which the spotlight contributed to Diana’s death and both fed the racism that Meghan was made to endure. That he turns the focus onto himself in this book is all the more remarkable.
An in-depth biography by the former editor in chief of Tatler, Tina Brown offers a compelling and complex look at the life and motivations of Diana, Princess of Wales. First published in 2008, this is an enduring look at the world around Diana, and particularly the women in her life. This includes her mother, grandmother, and — of course — her one-time mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth the II of England. Readers praise this biography for its balanced approach to one of the most enigmatic figures in modern history.
This romp by the brains behind the blog Go Fug Yourself was all but directly inspired by the romance between Prince William and Princess Kate — does being college dormmates with an heir to the British throne seem familiar? In a prescient twist, however, the authors made the main character and narrator American, adding an additional layer of art-imitating-life to this go-to beach read.
Written by two journalists who cover Buckingham Palace extensively, this is a highly-researched look at the romance between Harry and Meghan, who are now colloquially known as the Sussexes. It lays to rest many of the unsubstantiated rumors about the two, which have followed them since news broke that they were dating through their decision to step back as working royals.
Diana’s direct involvement in this biography was a secret when it was first published in 1992, but that was yet more proof of how she was breaking with the conventions of The Firm. Covering her marriage to Prince Charles (who you may now know as King Charles III), what it was like to raise Princes William and Harry in Buckingham Palace and under such scrutiny, and her relationship with her mother-in-law the Queen, this book changed how people thought about and engaged with the British royal family.
You know how the old saying goes: If a princess wears a piece of clothing, the media is going to cover it. Here, the Wall Street Journal veteran and current Town & Country contributing editor Elizabeth Holmes offers an in-depth view of the wardrobes for four of the most notable women of the House of Windsor. What Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, Princess Kate, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wore each day may seem surface at first blush, but Holmes breaks down their looks with nuance and history in mind.
Before Harry met Meghan, there was another British royal who stepped back from his title because he loved an American woman. Meet Wallis Simpson, the socialite who fell in love with King Edward VIII in the early 1930s. A two-time divorcee, Simpson’s presence in court was a scandal at the time; this book offers a glimpse at her life, including her childhood in Baltimore, Maryland, and her romance with a royal heir.
The author of The Diana Chronicles circled back to the Royal Family for this 2022 book about the years after Princess Diana’s death, and particularly how The Firm approached celebrity. An engaging and exhaustive breakdown of how the House of Windsor has navigated numerous heartbreaks, joys, and scandals — including the ties to Jeffrey Epstein that eventually led to Prince Andrew’s decision to step back from royal duties — Brown’s book is at once dishy and immersive.
Often just as fascinating as the Royals themselves are the people in their orbit, including the family members and associates whose titles offer them luxury and proximity without the immense pressure of one day inheriting the throne. Being the firstborn daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester might seem like a fairytale, but to Lady Anne Coke (later, Lady Glenconner), she was often thought of as a disappointment. After making friends with Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret in childhood, she served as both a Maid of Honor at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation and later as a Lady in Waiting for Princess Margaret. If Prince Harry’s autobiography is a wide-open door into the workings of the Royal Family, this is a compelling window peering in through the side.
Fans of early seasons of The Crown will appreciate this compassionate look at sisterhood — albeit with some pretty singular circumstances. Diana’s biographer charts out the lives of two very different sisters: The responsible heir to the British monarchy, and her rebellious little sister, who bucked against the expectations her big sister set on her. You’ll want to call your own siblings after reading this book, which is as layered as a novel yet an entirely, engrossingly true story.
A house as big as Buckingham Palace doesn’t run on its own — can you picture a member of the Royal Family changing the sheets on laundry day, let alone getting dinner on the table every night? This memoir by a former butler for Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla offers a unique perspective into how a royal household actually works. Harrold was based in Highgrove House, an estate home in the Cotswolds, and shows a career with The Firm in intimate detail.
The shadow of the Royal Family is long, and includes even cousins-in-law to the crown. This account by the cousin to Prince Phillip and a Lady in Waiting to Queen Elizabeth both before and after her coronation is an engrossing read. She covers everything from life within the royal circle to the major-world events that informed her travels and work as a diplomat with wit and a wink.
There are coffee-table books, and then there is this time capsule of a photographic archive. You’ll spend hours flipping through photos that chronicle Queen Elizabeth across her long and illustrious life, from princess to monarch. The captions offer keen insights into Her Majesty — as well as her fashion choices and her crown jewels — but you’ll certainly linger over the comprehensive collection of decades-old photographs, some of which you may have never seen before.
Would you give up the most exclusive job in the world for the person you loved? That’s exactly what King Edward VIII did when he abdicated the British throne so he could marry the divorcée Wallis Simpson. (As the head of the Church of England, the King was not allowed to marry a woman whose ex-husband was still alive; the Church changed its stance in 2002.) This biography trains its eye on Edward and Wallis after the abdication, and right when their married life began. Most notable about this biography is the honesty with which it approaches its subjects. Rather than give a glossy account, it discusses Edward’s well-documented antisemitism and Nazi sympathies, as well as the unscrupulous way both Edward and Wallis approached power.
If your favorite parts of Downton Abbey are the storylines involving the staff, this is the book for you. It offers an in-depth look at how the Royal staff have approached their jobs through the years, often becoming an indispensable part of their employers’ lives. The line between work and life blurs quite a bit here, but the revelations are as juicy as can be.
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