Download or read book Duchesses written by Jane Dismore and published by Bonnier Publishing Ltd.. This book was released on 2014-09-04 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The title of 'duchess' has long been part of Britain's heritage. In 2011, it was brought up to date with the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, when the Queen conferred a number of titles on her grandson, among them Duke of Cambridge. Catherine joined that select group of the highest ranking duchesses, well-known royals whose husbands are dukes as members of the Royal Family. But another group of women sit just one notch down from royalty, at the top of the aristocratic tree with their dukes. These non-royal duchesses enjoy titles that were bestowed by monarchs for centuries but they are a dying breed: it is unlikely that any more non-royal dukedoms will be created. Here, for the first time, ten of Britain's non-royal duchesses speak candidly about their role and their lives in the 21st century, an era when privilege is an unpopular concept. Each duchess also selects her favourite ancestor in the role, providing a colourful gallery from the 17th to the 20th century. The parallel biographies provide a thought-provoking comparison for what does it mean to be a duchess in the 21st century? The results are often surprising and always fascinating. The title of 'duchess' has long been part of Britain's heritage.
Download or read book The Duchess written by Wendy Holden and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was a love so strong, a king renounced his kingdom—all for that woman. Or was she just an escape route for a monarch who never wanted to rule? Bestselling author Wendy Holden takes an intimate look at one of the most notorious scandals of the 20th century. 1928. A middle-aged foreigner comes to London with average looks, no money and no connections. Wallis’s first months in the city are lonely, dull and depressing. With no friends of her own she follows the glamorous set in magazines and goes to watch society weddings. Her stuffy husband Ernest’s idea of fun, meanwhile, is touring historic monuments. When an unexpected encounter leads to a house party with the Prince of Wales, Wallis’s star begins to rise. Her secret weapon is her American pep and honesty. For the prince she is a breath of fresh air. As her friendship with him grows, their relationship deepens into love. Wallis is plunged into a world of unimaginable luxury and privilege, enjoying weekends together at his private palace on the grounds of Windsor Castle. Wallis knows the fun and excitement can’t last. The prince will have to marry and she will return to Ernest. The sudden death of George V seems to make this inevitable; the Prince of Wales is now King Edward VIII. When, to her shock and amazement, he refuses to give her up--or recognize that they are facing impossible odds--her fairy tale becomes a nightmare. The royal family close ranks to shut her out and Ernest gives an ultimatum. Wallis finds herself trapped when Edward insists on abdicating his throne. She can’t escape the overwhelming public outrage and villainized, she becomes the woman everyone blames—the face of the most dramatic royal scandal of the twentieth century.
Download or read book The Duchess written by Danielle Steel and published by Dell. This book was released on 2018-02-27 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incomparable Danielle Steel breaks new ground as she takes us to nineteenth-century England, where a high-born young woman is forced out into the world—and begins a journey of survival, sensuality, and long-sought justice. Angélique Latham has grown up at magnificent Belgrave Castle under the loving tutelage of her father, the Duke of Westerfield, after the death of her aristocratic French mother. At eighteen she is her father’s closest, most trusted child, schooled in managing their grand estate. But when he dies, her half-brothers brutally turn her out, denying her very existence. Angélique has a keen mind, remarkable beauty, and an envelope of money her father pressed upon her. To survive, she will need all her resources—and one bold stroke of fortune. Unable to secure employment without references or connections, Angélique desperately makes her way to Paris, where she rescues a young woman fleeing an abusive madam—and suddenly sees a possibility: Open an elegant house of pleasure that will protect its women and serve only the best clients. With her upper-class breeding, her impeccable style, and her father’s bequest, Angélique creates Le Boudoir, soon a sensational establishment where powerful men, secret desires, and beautiful, sophisticated women come together. But living on the edge of scandal, can she ever make a life of her own—or regain her rightful place in the world? From England to Paris to New York, Danielle Steel captures an age of upheaval and the struggles of women in a male-ruled society—and paints a captivating portrait of a woman of unquenchable spirit, who in houses great or humble is every ounce a duchess.
Download or read book The Duchesses written by Andrew Roden and published by Aurum Press. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Duchesses tells the story of the â??Princess Coronationâ?? class of locomotives -the streamlined embodiments of raw, bulked-up muscle and formidable power that any enthusiast will tell you were the finest steam engines in Britain. Conceived of by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway to rival the LNERâ??s illustrious â??A4 Pacificsâ??, these trains heralded in the last golden age of steam. Designed by the great William Stanier, theirs is a story of grand beginnings, a slow trajectory of decline and a recent, celebrated rebirth. Today, there are two â??Duchessesâ?? still in existence: Duchess of Hamilton and Duchess of Sutherland are now restored to their original streamlined appearance. As The Duchessesâ?? beautiful cover illustration suggests, these Coronation locomotives were beautiful to behold; truly majestic feats of engineering. Andrew Rodenâ??s book tells the story of their time in British Railways service; the classâ?? decommissioning in the 1960s; the extraordinary saga of two trainsâ?? unlikely preservation by Billy Butlin at his holiday camps; and their eventual return to steam on the main line. The Duchesses completes a trilogy of railway books from Aurum, joining Mallard - the story of the worldâ??s fastest steam locomotive - and Flying Scotsman â??that of the worldâ??s most famous.
Download or read book The Duchess And Guy written by Nancy Furstinger and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A heartwarming tale about a beagle and the Duchess who adopted him, this picture book is inspired by the true story of Meghan Markle and her rescue dog, Guy. When he was a pup, Guy was just like any dog in the shelter; he liked to bark and follow his nose, and dreamed of a forever home above all things. But when Guy met Meghan, he had no idea he was about to star in his own Cinderella story. Guy can now be spotted escorting Queen Elizabeth and frolicking in Buckingham Palace. This rags-to-riches story of how one regal beagle got a second chance at life will charm and delight.
Download or read book The Duchess written by Amanda Foreman and published by HarperPerennial. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Beautiful, glamorous and charismatic, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was an icon of her age; she was also a compulsive gambler, an influential political operator, a drug addict, a doting mother and an adulteress." "In a world of decadence and excess, of great houses, extravagant parties and sexual intrigue, Georgiana, like her descendant, Diana, Princess of Wales, was publicly adored but personally troubled. From her complex menage a trois with her husband and best friend to her vast gambling debts; from her adoration of her children to her passionate but doomed love for Earl Grey, she was a fascinating, contradictory woman whose story still resonates today."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book The Book of the Duchess written by Geoffrey Chaucer and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-08-10 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book of the Duchess is a surreal poem that was presumably written as an elegy for Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster's (the wife of Geoffrey Chaucer's patron, the royal Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt) death in 1368 or 1369. The poem was written a few years after the event and is widely regarded as flattering to both the Duke and the Duchess. It has 1334 lines and is written in octosyllabic rhyming couplets.
Download or read book Mrs Mary Robinson Written by Herself With the lives of the Duchesses of Gordon and Devonshire written by Mary Robinson and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2019-12-05 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mary Robinson was an English actress, poet, dramatist, novelist, and renowned woman of the 1700s. In this work, she shared her memoirs filled with vivid glimpses into the social life of the era. From glamorous gatherings at the Pantheon to encounters with influential figures like the Prince of Wales and David Garrick, Robinson's beauty and talent captivated many. However, her life took a turn when she became an actress and caught the attention of the Prince, leading to a tumultuous relationship. Despite facing challenges, Robinson's indomitable spirit shined through as she explored literature and found solace in the company of friends. Her story is a glamorous journey of love, fame, and resilience.
Download or read book Desperate Duchesses written by Eloisa James and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to a world of reckless sensuality and glittering sophistication . . . of dangerously handsome gentlemen and young ladies longing to gain a title . . . of games played for high stakes, including—on occasion—a lady's virtue. A marquess's sheltered only daughter, Lady Roberta St. Giles falls in love with a man she glimpses across a crowded ballroom: a duke, a game player of consummate skill, a notorious rakehell who shows no interest in marriage—until he lays eyes on Roberta. Yet the Earl of Gryffyn knows too well that the price required to gain a coronet is often too high. Damon Reeve, the earl, is determined to protect the exquisite Roberta from chasing after the wrong destiny. Can Damon entice her into a high-stakes game of his own, even if his heart is likely to be lost in the venture?
Download or read book The Day of the Duchess written by Sarah MacLean and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-06-27 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third book in Sarah MacLean's witty and romantic Scandal & Scoundrel series featuring a ravishing heroine and the man, desperately in love, who now has to make amends. The one woman he will never forget… Malcolm Bevingstoke, Duke of Haven, has lived the last three years in self-imposed solitude, paying the price for a mistake he can never reverse and a love he lost forever. The dukedom does not wait, however, and Haven requires an heir, which means he must find himself a wife by summer’s end. There is only one problem—he already has one. The one man she will never forgive… After years in exile, Seraphina, Duchess of Haven, returns to London with a single goal—to reclaim the life she left and find happiness, unencumbered by the man who broke her heart. Haven offers her a deal; Sera can have her freedom, just as soon as she finds her replacement…which requires her to spend the summer in close quarters with the husband she does not want, but somehow cannot resist. A love that neither can deny… The duke has a single summer to woo his wife and convince her that, despite their broken past, he can give her forever, making every day the Day of the Duchess.
Download or read book The Duchess of Malfi written by John Webster and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1997-06-15 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More widely studied and more frequently performed than ever before, John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi is here presented in an accessible and thoroughly up-to-date edition. Based on the Revels Plays text, the notes have been augmented to cast further light both on Webster's amazing dialogue and on the stage action. An entirely new introduction sets the tragedy in the context of pre-Civil War England and gives a revealing view of its imagery and dramatic action. From its well-documented early performances to the two productions seen in the West End of London in the 1995-96 season, a stage history gives an account of the play in performance. Students, actors, directors and theatre-goers will all find here a reappraisal of Webster's artistry in the greatest age of English theatre, which highlights why it has lived on stage with renewed force in the last decades of the twentieth century.
Download or read book Four Nights with the Duke written by Eloisa James and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eloisa James returns with another fabulous romance in her New York Times bestselling Desperate Duchesses series! As a young girl, Emilia Gwendolyn Carrington told the annoying future Duke of Pindar that she would marry any man in the world before him—so years later she is horrified to realize that she has nowhere else to turn. Evander Septimus Brody has his own reasons for agreeing to Mia's audacious proposal, but there's one thing he won't give his inconvenient wife: himself. Instead, he offers Mia a devil's bargain . . . he will spend four nights a year with her. Four nights, and nothing more. And those only when she begs for them. Which Mia will never do. Now Vander faces the most crucial challenge of his life: he must seduce his own wife in order to win her heart—and no matter what it takes, this is the one battle he can't afford to lose.
Download or read book The Last of the Duchess written by Caroline Blackwood and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1980, Lady Caroline Blackwood was commissioned by The Sunday Times to write an article on the aging Duchess of Windsor, who was said to be convalescing in her French mansion in the Bois de Boulogne. Yet what began as a curiosity was to become for Blackwood one of the most challenging experiences of her writing career, launching her into a battle of wits with the Duchess's formidable lawyer, Maître Suzanne Blum. Maître Blum refused to let Blackwood near the Duchess, spinning elaborate excuses as to why she was unavailable and threatening anyone who dared suggest that she was in anything other than the best of health. Still, while Blum's machinations restricted Blackwood's ability to publish a frank interview, it only served to pique her interest in the bizarre relationship between the infamous Duchess—a woman who once inspired a king to abdicate his crown—and her eccentric, domineering gatekeeper. Sixteen years later, Blackwood turned her experiences into this riveting and excoriating modern classic about the frailties of old age, the foibles of society, and the dual-edged nature of celebrity.
Download or read book Proust s Duchess written by Caroline Weber and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the acclaimed Queen of Fashion--a brilliant look at the glittering world of turn-of-the-century Paris through the first in-depth study of the three women Proust used to create his supreme fictional character, the Duchesse de Guermantes. Geneviève Halévy Bizet Straus; Laure de Sade, Comtesse de Adhéaume de Chevigné; and Élisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay, the Comtesse Greffulhe--these were the three superstars of fin-de-siècle Parisian high society who, as Caroline Weber says, "transformed themselves, and were transformed by those around them, into living legends: paragons of elegance, nobility, and style." All well but unhappily married, these women sought freedom and fulfillment by reinventing themselves, between the 1870s and 1890s, as icons. At their fabled salons, they inspired the creativity of several generations of writers, visual artists, composers, designers, and journalists. Against a rich historical backdrop, Weber takes the reader into these women's daily lives of masked balls, hunts, dinners, court visits, nights at the opera or theater. But we see as well the loneliness, rigid social rules, and loveless, arranged marriages that constricted these women's lives. Proust, as a twenty-year-old law student in 1892, would worship them from afar, and later meet them and create his celebrated composite character for The Remembrance of Things Past.
Download or read book A Duke of Her Own written by Eloisa James and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-08-04 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A duke must choose wisely . . . Leopold Dautry, the notorious Duke of Villiers, must wed quickly and nobly—and his choices, alas, are few. The Duke of Montague's daughter, Eleanor, is exquisitely beautiful and fiercely intelligent. Villiers betroths himself to her without further ado. After all, no other woman really qualifies. Lisette, the outspoken daughter of the Duke of Gilner, cares nothing for clothing or decorum. She's engaged to another man, and doesn't give a fig for status or title. Half the ton believes Lisette mad—and Villiers is inclined to agree. Torn between logic and passion, between intelligence and imagination, Villiers finds himself drawn to the very edge of impropriety. But it is not until he's in a duel to the death, fighting for the reputation of the woman he loves, that Villiers finally realizes that the greatest risk may not be in the dueling field . . . But in the bedroom. And the heart.
Download or read book Now the Duchesses written by James Arnold Frere and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Duchess by Night written by Eloisa James and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2009-05-28 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: font size="+1">'Nothing gets me to a bookstore faster than Eloisa James' Julia Quinn, bestselling author of Bridgertons The third book in the New York Times bestselling Desperate Duchesses series, perfect for fans of Julia Quinn's Bridgertons and Eloisa's Wildes of Lindow Castle 'Choc-full of romantic heroes romantic heroes that would give Darcy a run for his money.' Carole Matthews Disguise is a dangerous game . . . After a lifetime as a wallflower Harriet, the Duchess of Berrow, is finally seeking a little pleasure of her own. And where better to begin than at the house of one of the most disreputable men in the country, Lord Strange? The high-stakes games of lust and chance that rule Strange's household, however, mean that even being seen crossing his threshold could ruin her reputation forever. So Harriet swaps her hoops and corsets for a pair of breeches and transforms herself into a young male relative of the Duke of Villiers. Before she knows it, Harriet is writing bawdy missives on behalf of a young actress, not to mention winning card games played by the most powerful men in England. But when she starts attracting male attention, Harriet must decide whether to stay in her disguise - or to reveal that she's really a duchess by night . . .