Historical Scandalous Royal Affairs and Mistresses
 

Please post here stories,articles, pictures and all about the scandalous affairs of royals.


Monalisa:) .

A Stunning Novel From Philppa Gregory
 

BRINGING HISTORY ALIVE THROUGHPASSION:

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There's no point fighting it, indulge yourself and become engrossed in a story full of obsession, romance, intrigue and betrayal.

Elizabethan England is wracked with conspiracy and unease and Elizabeth’s advisors are desperate to ensure the security of England in the face of the Catholic threat. There is only one way to achieve that security, the Queen must marry. But Elizabeth, herself, is locked in a bitter love-rivalry with Amy Robsart, wife of the highly ambitious Robert Dudley. Torn between her duty to her country and her heart’s desire for the only man she has ever really loved, Elizabeth must make a terrible decision, unless someone else makes it for her…

Amy Robsart married her childhood sweetheart, but now she must just stand by and watch while he seduces and woos the Queen to further his own political ambitions…

Philippa Gregory breathes real life and passion into this tragic love story with its two, very different, heroines. Blending illicit love, vivid personalities and artful politics Gregory has produced a stunning novel about the intricacies of the Tudor court and the pain of a country divided that will have you gripped to the bitter end.

Get the inside story on The Virgin's Lover and other fascinating novels by
Philippa Gregory by visiting www.harpercollins.co.uk and signing-up for AuthorTracker.

Chapter 1 - Autumn 1558

All the bells in Norfolk were ringing for Elizabeth, pounding the peal into Amy’s head, first the treble bell screaming out like a mad woman, and then the whole agonising, jangling sob till the great bell boomed a warning that the whole discordant carillon was about to shriek out again. She pulled the pillow over her head to shut out the sound, and yet still it went on, until the rooks abandoned their nests and went streaming into the skies, tossing and turning in the wind like a banner of ill omen, and the bats left the belfry like a plume of black smoke as if to say that the world was upside down now, and day should be forever night.

Amy did not need to ask what the racket was for; she already knew. At last, poor sick Queen Mary had died, and Princess Elizabeth was the uncontested heir. Praise be. Everyone in England should rejoice. The Protestant princess had come to the throne and would be England’s queen. All over the country people would be ringing bells for joy, striking kegs of ale, dancing in the streets, and throwing open prison doors. The English had their Elizabeth at last, and the fear-filled days of Mary Tudor could be forgotten. Everyone in England was celebrating.

Everyone but Amy.

The peals, pounding Amy into wakefulness, did not bring her to joy. Amy, alone in all of England, did not celebrate Elizabeth’s upward leap to the throne. The chimes did not even sound on key to her. They sounded like the beat of jealousy, the scream of rage, the sobbing shout of a deserted woman.

‘God strike her dead,’ she swore into her pillow as her head rang with the pound of Elizabeth’s bells. ‘God strike her down in her youth and her pride and her beauty. God blast her looks, and thin her hair, and rot her teeth, and let her die lonely and alone. Lonely and alone, like me.’

Amy had no word from her absent husband: she did not expect one. Another day went by and then it was a week. Amy guessed that he would have ridden at breakneck pace to Hatfield Palace from London at the first news that Queen Mary was dead. He would have been the first, as he had planned, the very first to kneel before the princess and tell her she was queen.

Amy guessed that Elizabeth would already have a speech prepared, some practised pose to strike, and for his part Robert would already have his reward in mind. Perhaps even now he was celebrating his own rise to greatness as the princess celebrated hers. Amy, walking down to the river to fetch in the cows for milking because the lad was sick and they were short-handed at Stanfield Hall, her family’s farm, stopped to stare at the brown leaves unravelling from an oak tree and whirling like a snowstorm; southwest to Hatfield where her husband had blown, like the wind itself, to Elizabeth.

She knew that she should be glad that a queen had come to the throne who would favour him. She knew she should be glad for her family, whose wealth and position would rise with Robert’s. She knew that she should be glad to be Lady Dudley once more: restored to her lands, given a place at court, perhaps even made a countess.



But she was not. She would rather have had him at her side as an attainted traitor, with her in the drudgery of the day and in the warm silence of the night; anything rather than ennobled as the handsome favourite at another woman’s court. She knew from this that she was a jealous wife; and jealousy was a sin in the eyes of God.

She put her head down and trudged on to the meadows where the cows grazed on the thin grass, churning up sepia earth and flints beneath their clumsy hooves. — How could we end up like this? — she whispered to the stormy sky piling up a brooding castle of clouds over Norfolk. — Since I love him so much, and since he loves me? Since there is no-one for us but each other? How could he leave me to struggle here, and dash off to her? How could it start so well, in such wealth and glory as it did, and end in hardship and loneliness like this? —

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pictures from the novel
 

http://www.hellomagazine.com/promoti...mgs/cover3.jpgThe Other Boleyn Girl

Cover of The Virgin's Lover, a passionate novel of the scandalous love affair between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley... and the woman who stood between them.

http://www.hellomagazine.com/promoti...mgs/cover5.jpgCov er of The Virgin's Lover, a passionate novel of the scandalous love affair between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley... and the w
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The Queen's Fool

And here comes Monaco... again! Prince Albert is "suspected" of havong two hidden children, one from an American photograph (a teenager) and a little boy, Alexandre, who is 19 months old and has an African mother (from what I understood). Here is the Hola! article :
Días después del funeral del príncipe Raniero, la prensa internacional recogía los primeros rumores sobre una posible paternidad del príncipe Alberto. Los medios de comunicación escandinavos se hacían eco de una información según la cual el Heredero monegasco podría tener una hija secreta, de 13 años, llamada Jazmin Grace Grimaldi. Según una investigación realizada por el diario británico Mail On Sunday, la adolescente es fruto de una relación, que duró apenas dos semanas, entre el Príncipe y Tamara Rotolo, una camarera de Deserts Springs, California, en 1991. Hoy el Principado se ha visto nuevamente sacudido por la publicación, en el semanario alemán Bunte, de una entrevista con la madre de un presunto segundo hijo natural de Alberto de Mónaco. Un niño negro de diecinueve meses, Alexandre, hijo de una azafata africana de Togo, Nicole Coste, con la que el Príncipe tuvo una larga relación de ocho años.

La madre del pequeño ha manifestado en la entrevista concedida a Bunte que mantuvo un noviazgo secreto de ocho años con el príncipe Alberto, al que conoció en julio de 1997, en pleno vuelo, cuando trabajaba como azafata aérea. El Príncipe le pidió su número de teléfono y a los quince días la llamó para salir. Seis años después, el 24 de agosto de 2003, nacía en una clínica de París el pequeño Alexandre, según su versión, el hijo de ambos, y en diciembre el Príncipe reconocía su paternidad. Una paternidad que, al parecer, no fue del agrado del príncipe Raniero, que insistió a su hijo para que concluyera aquella relación. "Durante los tres primeros años iba una vez al mes a Mónaco. En 2003, descubrí que estaba embarazada. Se lo conté y él me dijo que siguiera adelante con el embarazo, que él se ocuparía. Pero cuando estaba de tres meses cambió de parecer. Entonces ya era demasiado tarde para rectificar", comenta Nicole.

"El Príncipe conoce a su hijo”, declara Nicole. Una afirmación que el semanario ilustra con la publicación de unas fotografías exclusivas del pequeño, en sus primeros meses de vida, junto al príncipe Alberto. Asismismo, la azafata sostiene que no es una cazafortunas y que sólo ha concedido esta entrevista por “el bienestar de mi hijo. Quiero que crezca normal con un padre”, confesó. Además manifiesta que “Raniero hubiese estado contento porque no hay ningún problema en la sucesión, ya que Alexandre es un hijo fuera del matrimonio” y, según Nicole, sólo podría suceder al Príncipe en caso de que él lo dispusiera de esta manera.

(I don;t know if this is considered as a scandal, but it is one to me!)

Take note that the works of Philippa Gregory are Historical Fiction and while the events that she has written about may have happened, they might not neccesarily be true.

I read a novel recently by Phillippa Gregory, she is an excellent writer, imo. It is from a historical view.

The book I read is called 'The Other Bolyn Girl' and it is her rendition of the story of Mary Bolyn's life, told from Mary's fictionalized perspective.

Mary Bolyn was Ann Bolyn's younger sister; as a young girl, Mary was the mistress to King Henry VIII before Ann Bolyn displaced her, all this while King Henry was also married to his first wife, Katherine of Aragonne who was a princess of Spain by birth and Queen of England by marriage.

Again, the story is told from Mary's 'view' and it gives a perspetive on the relationships between Mary Bolyn and Ann Bolyn and a brother named George Bolyn. Well, we all know what happened to Ann Bolyn, who was the mother of Elizabeth I.

Ann Bolyn became Queen of England, but was eventually beheaded on orders from King Henry VIII after being convicted of certain crimes.

Historians have concluded that the charges were trumped up, and that King Henry wanted to clear the way for marriage to Jane Seymour (I am not sure of the spelling) in his pursuit of a male heir.

Secondarily, the story gives a perspective (again by Mary's fictionalized account) of the overall ambition of the Bolyn/Howard family as ruled by Mary's father and an uncle.

It was a really interesting book, imo.

I wonder if anyone else had a chance to read it?

Yes, her books are historical fiction.

I believe she does extensive research to get the general facts of the story correct, like names, dates. births, marriages and certain other events. But then she does employ 'creative license' to fill in parts of the story, especially in parts where certain details would be impossible to know.

I liked the book though.

I wonder if anyone has details on Lola Montes or if there is a book on her and what became of her?

Well, the topic is primarily focused on past events and non-living people.

Historical real people are interesting, imo, like Mme Pompadour. She was in France and I have a book about her by Evelyn Lever, a French historian/writer. I have not read it, but I have seen a few comments about Mme Pompadour and how she was an interesting character too.

I am asking about fact-based past events of non-living people only.:)

Who was Lola Montes?

Has anyone heard of her and how she lived?

As far as I remember, she was a 19th century dancer with a slightly tarnished reputation and became the girlfriend of one of the more notorious Bavarian kings, which displeased the people mightily.

Thank you Smilla!

My goodness! I can imagine in the 19th century that sort of thing being a scandal, given the strictures.

Can you clarify 'dancer'? You mean a showgirl or an actress? Or something else?

Who was the Bavarian king? Was he married? Were they indiscreet?

I also read that Queen Elizabeth I of England had an affair with a married man named Robert Dudley. That relationship supposedly caused an uproar accorss the entire country.

I wonder if she had other companions in her lifetime? I wonder if she was the only Queen to have an affair?

Are you kidding?! :) History's littered with queens having affairs. Cleopatra's just one example. Closer to Elizabeth's time, one of the two queens beheaded by her father who was NOT her mother Anne Boleyn, was this young woman named Katherine Howard who married Henry the 8th when he was already much older. She however, was young and a bit foolish, and she is said to have had numerous affairs during her marriage to Elizabeth's father. Ultimately, this was the reason for her being executed eventually..

Princess olga, that's certainly interesting!

I knew that Henry VIII had married 6 times and he was a scandal all by himself on that.

I also heard that he be-headed 2 of them, although I admit that I thought it was more than only 2 of his wives that saw the sword (or axe or whatever).:eek:

Were those accusations on Katherine Howard true? Which # wife was she?

I did not know Cleopatra has scandalous affairs? Any names?

She was wife number 5. I don't know for sure but I think it is assumed that the accusations are true. I read that by the time Katharine became Henry's wife, she became kindof disenchanted with the age difference as well as his temper: he was at the time suffering from an open leg wound of some sort, and she was the one who had to nurse the wound all the time. It's said she detested this, because of the not so appealing odor coming with poor Henry being wounded..basically she decided she was married to an old, overweight, bad-tempered cripple, and she was young and healthy and a tad too brazen it seems for her own good.

That said, this is what current historians agree on but the fascinating thing about history is that oftentimes, new facts surface and historians have to adjust their theories and truths. So perhaps in due course perhaps some new detail might well be dug up that proves K.'s innocence, who knows?

Well, Julius Ceasar for one, she even had his child. As well as Mark Anthony, one of the powerful Romans who took charge after Ceasar was assasinated. Both Romans were married while being involved with Cleopatra. She and Mark Anthony died as a result of Mark Anthony's former wife being insulted by their love: the wife was the sister of Octavian, then in charge of the Roman empire.
Also, Cleopatra was married at some point to her own brother, but this was normal in royal Egyptian circles.

My goodness! wow. I guess people would have thought Ms. Howard was a bit silly (crazy actually) given the way Henry's past 4 wives ended up! What was she thinking!?!?

I did not know that Cleopatra had a child by both Julius Ceasar and Marc Antony:eek: !

Whatever happened to those children? Did they survive to adulthood?

Also, have you heard of any other Queens in history that has affairs?

not sure what happened to Cleopatra's kids, but as far as other queens & affairs go, again, there were tons!

One, Katherine the Great of Russia (what's with all these Katherines?) notoriously married well, she was a German princess (well, technically, as Germany didn't exist at the time, it was a pile of tiny kingdoms really) who married the heir to the Russian throne, only to discover her husband wasn't exactly clear in the head so to speak.

So she took matters into her own hands and notoriously had one of her lovers help her stage a coup to overthrow her husband and take on all the power for herself! Gosh, aren't modern monarchs totally tame compared to these colorful historic figures? (ok, bar Nepal's dramatic recent family history)

I don't think Cleopatra had a child with Mark Anthony, although I could be wrong. She did have a son named Ptolemaios with Julius Ceasar though. Ptolemaios was the traditional names from the Egyptian kings of Cleopatra's dynasty, and he was supposed to be the Egyptian king after his mother's death, but after Cleopatra's suicide, that dynasty never ruled again, so the last Ptolemaios couldn't have lived long.

Hmm i am not to shure about the history of Cleopatra comitting suiside...
Acording to a very good detective in USA ( she was the one to solve the serie killing in Washington for som years ago) She thinks that it migth be Mark Anthony that was the one who had killede Cleopatra,because of her son with Julius Ceasar...We have to think that the offspring from the affair betwen Cleopatra and JuliusCeasar was going to rule the Roman Empire after JuliusCearsar and not MarkAnthony.
(I saw it on a program from Discovery Channel her in Denmark)

dont trust everything you hear onDiscovery :-)