THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA Times, Spectator and Waterstones Book of the Year'Shocking and moving' Guardian'Top marks for its searing frankness, framed in wistfully beautiful prose’ The TimesAt eight years of age, Charles Spencer was sent away to one of England's most England's most exclusive boarding schools. Here he reveals the strange secrets of the...

THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘As gripping as any thriller. History doesn't get any better than this’ BILL BRYSON ’A brilliant read … Game of Thrones but in the real world’ ANTHONY HOROWITZPICKED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 BY THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, THE GUARDIAN, THE DAILY MAIL AND THE DAILY EXPRESS.The sinking of the White Ship in 1120 is one of the greatest disasters England has ever...

How did the most wanted man in the country outwit the greatest manhunt in British history?In January 1649, King Charles I was beheaded in London outside his palace of Whitehall and Britain became a republic. When his eldest son, Charles, returned in 1651 to fight for his throne, he was crushed by the might of Cromwell’s armies at the battle of Worcester.With 3,000 of his supporters lying dead and 10,000 taken prisoner, it seemed as if his dreams of power had been dashed. Su...

The definitive history of one of England’s greatest houses: Althorp, where for five hundred years the Spencer family have made their home.Charles Spencer’s house of Althorp in Northamptonshire is where he and his sister Princess Diana grew up, and where she is buried. In this rich history, Spencer traces the house’s life from the sixteenth century through to Charles’ sleepless nights there as a child and the estate’s transformation into a site of global mourning. H...

THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘As gripping as any thriller. History doesn't get any better than this’ BILL BRYSON ’A brilliant read … Game of Thrones but in the real world’ ANTHONY HOROWITZPICKED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 BY THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, THE GUARDIAN, THE DAILY MAIL AND THE DAILY EXPRESS.The sinking of the White Ship in 1120 is one of the greatest disasters England has ever...

On August 18, 1648, with no relief from the siege in sight, the royalist garrison holding Colchester Castle surrendered and Oliver Cromwell's army firmly ended the rule of Charles I of England. To send a clear message to the fallen monarch, the rebels executed four of the senior officers captured at the castle. Yet still the king refused to accept he had lost the war. As France and other allies mobilized in support of Charles, a tribunal was hastily gathered and a death sentence was passed...

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA Times, Spectator and Waterstones Book of the Year'Shocking and moving' Guardian'Top marks for its searing frankness, framed in wistfully beautiful prose’ The TimesAt eight years of age, Charles Spencer was sent away to one of England's most England's most exclusive boarding schools. Here he reveals the strange secrets of the...

A brilliant history of Prince Rupert of the Rhine from his penniless start, becoming a soldier in his teenage years, up to his life as King Charles I’s most famous and spectacular general.Born in Prague in 1619, Prince Rupert was set for a life of enormous privilege but when his father, Frederick V, lost his crown Rupert’s family were left with just eight years to flee Prague – they hastened to safety, but left the infant Rupert behind. He was discovered in a final...

**INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER | NPR BOOKS WE LOVE 2024 | PEOPLE’SBEST CELEBRITY MEMOIRS 2024 |TOWN & COUNTRY’SBEST NEW ROYAL BOOKS 2024 |THE TIMES (LONDON) 10 BEST BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS 2024 |WINNIPEG FREE PRESS’SBEST BOOKS 2024NOW WITH A NEW AFTERWORD“A tour de force.” —The Washington PostIn this poignant memoir, Charles Spencer—the 9th Earl Spencer and younger brother of the late Princess Diana—recounts the trau...

In the summer of 1704, French conquest seemed inevitable. In this bestselling history, Charles Spencer traces the story of how it was prevented.This is an epic history of how, as Louis the Great’s armies threatened total domination of Europe, poised to extend their frontier and install a French prince on the throne of Spain, two men came together with a daring plan to shut him down.John Churchill, Duke of Malborough masterminded the campaign, while Prince E...

How did the most wanted man in the country outwit the greatest manhunt in British history?In January 1649, King Charles I was beheaded in London outside his palace of Whitehall and Britain became a republic. When his eldest son, Charles, returned in 1651 to fight for his throne, he was crushed by the might of Cromwell’s armies at the battle of Worcester.With 3,000 of his supporters lying dead and 10,000 taken prisoner, it seemed as if his dreams of power had been dashed. Su...

From the bestselling author Charles Spencer, a brilliant insider’s history of the Spencer family.Travelling centuries through the Spencers’ family and their wide-ranging roles in Britain’s history, Charles moves from the sheep-farmers of the sixteenth century through the Civil War to the 19th century when the third Earl was one of the architects of the 1832 Reform Bill, and up to recent years and the death of Princess Diana.Filled with new visions of great ...