Crowned in a Far Country

Who better to write about history's most distinguished and powerful European women than a real princess? Princess Michael of Kent, well-loved after the publication of two popular history books, brings her unique, insider's perspective as a member of the British Royal Family to the fascinating portraits of eight European royal brides. Though of eminent birth and status in their own right, the women of Crowned in a Far Country all left their home countries to marry into the most coveted royal seats in the world. This absorbing book introduces us to the Prussian Princess Catherine, who later became Catherine the Great; to the Archduchess of Austria, later the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette; to Maria Caroline, also an Austrian archduchess, and later the Queen of Naples; to the Austrian Leopoldina, who relocated to a new continent to become the Empress of Brazil; to Eugenie, known as the wife of Louis-Napoleon and Empress of France; to Vicky, daughter of England's Queen Victoria and later Empress of Prussia; and to the Danish sisters who ruled as Queen of England and the Empress of Russia. Not just a window into the politics and power brokering of royal marriage, this work charts the transformations of privileged princesses into women of power and historical importance.