Royal Affairs

A Lusty Romp Through the Extramarital Adventures That Rocked the British Monarchy

By: Leslie Carroll

Narrated by: Leslie Carroll

A funny, raucous, and delightfully dirty history of 1,000 years of bedroom-hopping secrets and scandals of Britain’s royals

Insatiable kings, lecherous queens, kissing cousins, and wanton consorts—history has never been so much fun.

Royal unions have always been the stuff of scintillating gossip, from the passionate Plantagenets to Henry VIII’s alarming head count of wives and mistresses, to the Sapphic crushes of Mary and Anne Stuart right on up through the scandal-blighted coupling of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Thrown into loveless, arranged marriages for political and economic gain, many royals were driven to indulge their pleasures outside the marital bed, engaging in delicious flirtations, lurid love letters, and rampant sex with voluptuous and willing partners.

This nearly pathological lust made for some of the most titillating scandals in Great Britain’s history. Hardly harmless, these affairs have disrupted dynastic alliances, endangered lives, and most of all, fed the salacious curiosity of the public for centuries. Royal Affairs will satiate that curiosity by bringing this arousing history alive.

©2008 Leslie Carroll (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

Wonderfully interesting!

I’ll be listening to this a few times. Very juicy and fascinating. The reader was FABULOUS!

pulpy but overdramatic

The book itself is a fun pop-history romp, but I found it marred by the bizarre impressions the narratored performed. When reading a quote from anyone, she read it out like a cast member of Downton Abbey. it was jarring, and every single person sounded the same, even the Germans. It was enough to take me out of the moment every time

A snarky romp through royal bedrooms

The authors narration gave this audiobook a light touch and made what could be considered boring history actually fun.

I loved the narration!

So many people complained about the narration of this book – when the author would do fake French voices, British voices, etc. I thought it was hilarious – we’re listening to a book about sex. Let’s be real. It’s not a book about religion where everything has to be serious. I thought it added to the enjoyment of the topic. I’m an American who loves all things British (especially Charles the second)so I really enjoyed this book. If you take it for what it is, you’ll enjoy it. If you’re too serious, you’re gonna be disappointed.

slut shaming in a book about affairs!?

Ugh, this book shamefully lacks nuance!
I was not expecting this to be pinpoint historically accurate, and yet what was exactly in line with history was how this author portrayed women who had affairs vs men. If the man was the monarch then he "surely loved her", but the woman was "scheming". If the monarch was a woman who had the affair then the author highlighted how old the woman was and how inappropriate the affair was. And if the "mistress" didn't have sex with the monarch (a HIGHLY naive perspective) then the author praised the "mistress" vs fully slut shaming others, even if the woman was a child at the first sexual encounter. The fat shaming is annoying, mainly because when it's a man that is fat, the author is clinical, mainly focusing on the facts of their size, whereas when it's a woman that is fat, the author will highlight mean nicknames or be so shocked that someone could possibly still want to have sex with them. I also couldn't abide her complete naivete that Elizabeth I *couldn't possibly* have had sex with anyone!
I did appreciate the time line the author maintained and the way she showed how much the money given/ spent would be today.
I definitely rage finished this book and probably should have DNF'd it.