Sex with Kings
500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge
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2.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the dawn of time, power has been a mighty aphrodisiac. An affair with a king could bring a woman power, titles and riches. In return, a king could find companionship and affection from his mistress that might be lacking from his often pre-arranged and loveless marriage. From Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV to Wallis Simpson, for whom King Edward VIII gave up the British throne, royal mistresses have been worshiped, feared, envied, and reviled. They were patrons of the arts, set fashions, and in some cases, ruled nations.
Eleanor Herman’s Sex with Kings takes us into the throne rooms and bedrooms of Europe’s most powerful monarchs. Alive with flamboyant characters and outrageous humor, this glittering tale of passion and politics chronicles five hundred years of scintillating women and the kings who loved them. Wickedly witty and endlessly entertaining, this is a racy read that is also first-rate history.
New York Times bestselling author and historian Eleanor Herman graduated from Towson State University with a degree in Journalism. She has worked for numerous international publications, most recently as Associate Publisher of NATO’s Nations and Partners for Peace. She is married and lives in McLean, Virginia, where she researches and writes about women’s history.
“An enlightening social history that is great fun to read.” — New York Times Book Review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When kings marry foreign strangers for dynastic or financial reasons and queens are trained in piety over sensuality, royal mistresses seem an inevitability. Kings had flings and extramarital relationships through much of European history, and in her first book, Herman offers, with relish and dry wit, a delightful overview of their sexual escapades. Her subjects are international, though France dominates and England gets a strong showing. It's a lively account, organized by topic e.g., "The Fruits of Sin Royal Bastards." Herman weaves into a larger pattern the tales of recurrent figures, such as Louis XIV's mistress Ath na s de Montespan and Madame de Pompadour, who is perhaps more famous than her royal lover, Louis XV. Fashions, love potions and cheerful conversation kept kings enthralled while mistresses made themselves wealthy, husbands acquiesced or simmered, courtiers wooed the mistresses and the public admired or ridiculed. A striking number of these relationships continued despite arguments and even the lack of sex. George II even felt it necessary to keep a mistress for his reputation despite actually loving his wife. Herman ends on a modern note, recounting how Camilla Parker-Bowles famously introduced herself to Prince Charles by noting that her great-grandmother had been his great-great-grandfather's mistress. Herman ends on a serious note, but her wit and perceptiveness will carry readers through this royally pleasurable romp.
