From Cleopatra to Grace Kelly, an epic new history of royal women that shatters the myths we have built around them.

‘Erudite, clever, brilliant’ KATE MOSSE
‘A royal smash. Kate Williams is at the top of her game’ KATE LISTER
‘A fascinating and excellent chronicle of female rulers’ SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
‘Williams enlarges our past, transforming our understanding of power’ DAN SNOW

Stories about royal women form some of our most foundational myths about femininity, and yet their legacies have been almost entirely constructed by the words and images created by men.

In Regina, acclaimed historian Kate Williams leads us deep into a world of queens, empresses, princesses, mistresses and courtiers, uncovering how their ambitions were shaped, celebrated and often thwarted, exposing a tangled web of women and power that spans thousands of years.

Ranging from the ancient civilisations of Egypt and Mesopotamia to the opulent courts of the pre-modern world and the last days of colonialism, Williams delves into the lives of these remarkable women, revealing both their trials and triumphs as they navigate political intrigue, family rivalries and personal sacrifices.

From Hatshepsut and Boudica, through Tudor queens Catherine of Aragon and Lady Jane Grey, to Queen Victoria’s contemporaries Yaa Asantewaa of Ghana and Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii, and right up to Princess Diana, this is a thrilling, globe-spanning story of queens and royal woman, of female power through the ages that unlocks how we understand women, politics and power today.