Tales of Royal Tragedies

This book is a collection of tragic stories from the middle ages until the present time. Definitely, this is not the first royal book to reveal the tragic side of the royal myth, but what made this book different from other historical books about royalty is the way the stories are prepared.

The retelling of events is plainly presented, in a simple context, to help readers, especially those who are not devoted royal followers but like to dig the controversial tidbits of royalty, understand the intricacies of the royal world in a clear-cut sense.

This book is beyond history, it exposes the dark side of fairy tale, the stupidity, waywardness and other controversial assortments. Each historical event is told in a simple manner supported by an overview of why the incident took place. If you love excavating scandalous tales of royalty this book is truly for you.

The paperback cover

Kindle cover

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Introduction:

Tragedy and the Royal Court. Two metaphors of great contradiction. One manifests disaster, the other demonstrates splendor. However, in the exalted world of European royalty, disaster and splendor often go along.

Contrary to the allegory of fairytales, the lives of royals are far from beautiful legends and happy endings. Back to the old days, the royal houses had a series of catastrophic reigns and were plagued by all types of crisis, from political to psychological.

Royals suffering from a certain form of genetic damages were too common the thrones often had mentally deranged, criminally-insane and physically-deformed monarchs.

There were adulterous royals who took scandal to the extremes, stacking the royal bedroom with a succession of mistresses. As though infidelity during their time was cool. There were neurotic emperors who were delighted with tortures and murders, and delusional kings who made themselves believed they were something else other than human beings.

Bad genes. And though some of them found an antidote to  pass the test of times, only few managed to survive in the 20^th century. The conclusion of World War I brought a tragic end to some of Europe’s most powerful royal houses. The Hapsburg in Austria, the Hohenzollern in Germany and the Romanov in Russia, all failed to pass the ordeal.

After World War II, more Kings were knocked off from the throne. Kingdoms were significantly reduced and German princely states were thoroughly abolished. The 21^st century saw only ten surviving hereditary royal houses in Europe: Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

The European monarchy today is not quite the same as it was in the beginning of the 20^th century. By the end of 1970s, royals too realized they needed to be more responsive to the call of times and needed to adopt new reforms to survive in the next decades.

This prompted them to overhaul some of their ancient royal customs, ditching the unnecessary one. The archaic law of succession was changed, from male-preference primogeniture to absolute succession, giving equal rights to daughters of the sovereign.

The tradition of marrying within the upper-class was also abandoned, granting royals their liberty to choose who they want to take as lovers. This freedom of choice made royals to take a commoner spouse, a situation considered inconceivable before the 20^th century.

However, some of them went too far with their intention to get in touch with the outside world. They allowed themselves too accessible to the public, lowering the barrier between commoners and royalty, too low, they unwittingly welcome more controversies to penetrate the palace walls.

This book compiles the most interesting anthology of scandals and intrigues that outshine the luster of the royal crowns, highlighting the disastrous side of the royal myth: Crime mysteries, vicious family secrets, tragic deaths, scandalous marriages and lunatic royals.

Fairytale that went bad. However, despite these spectacles of scandals and shocking intrigues, European monarchy is still an enchanting institution to watch. Royals still mesmerize the public with their finest regalia, sparkling jewelry and horse-drawn carriages.

The serious defects, both in genes and in the royal court, thank God, were not entirely shipped to the modern age. But the current generation of European royals found another way to amuse the world with their antics and misadventures, making royal watching a delightful pastime.

This compelling account of royal tragedies is prepared in a very plain and simple context to help readers, especially those who are not devoted royal followers, understand the intricacies of the royal world in a clear-cut sense.

This compilation of scathing royal intrigues, which includes the long-forgotten saga of the pretenders to the throne and the changes adopted by the modern royals, is beyond history.

This book exposes the dark side of royalty, the foolish antics, the waywardness, the misadventures, the savageries, and other nonsensical assortments of royal behavior. Dark tales that will make us realize that royals, after all, “never live happily ever after”.