Search for books in English about The Duchess of Cambridge, The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Diana, Princess of Wales, or The Queen, and you will find an array of different choices to select from. When you search for books about Princess Madeleine of Sweden, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, or King Felipe of Spain, you would be hard-pressed to locate a book about their lives written in the English language.
I have searched online and in many different stores for books on royals, ranging from the Swedish to the Jordanian royal families. I have come out quite disappointed with every search. I discovered a couple of books about Argentinian-born Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. Further, I came across just three books on Australian-born Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. One biography had copies that were translated into English from Danish. However, this book was written in 2006. Ten years have since passed, and the Crown Prince Couple of Denmark has since had three more children: Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent, and Princess Josephine. Another book, which was very controversial, was written more about Mary’s “dysfunctional” in-laws.
I recently purchased a biography from Spain about Queen Letizia and King Felipe entitled Felipe y Letizia Reyes de España by Carmen Enríquez and Emilio Oliva. It has been written in Spanish, and I am excited to give it a read. However, for those who do not speak the language, locating a book outside the Spanish language would be no easy feat.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy reading about members of the British Royal Family. However, I would really love to be able to read books on the likes of Princess Madeleine of Sweden, Princess Marie of Denmark, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Queen Rania of Jordan, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway.
Personally, I think it is a real shame that more books are not available in English about various royals from across the world. There is a large gap in the market for English language biographies on royals from non-English speaking kingdoms. Authors of such biographies would make a decent amount of money for their efforts in providing books in a market with such a gap. Many people will be grateful to have the opportunity to buy and read books about royals they truly enjoy following and learning about from outside the United Kingdom.
I’m reading Robert K. Massie’s book about Peter the Great of Russia. I’m brazilian, so the book is in portuguese. It was originally published in 1980, but it only came to Brazil last year … so here, the problem is that we don’t get this kind of books until much later or not at all. Here, it’s easier to get books only about our former emperors, Pedro I and Pedro II.
I too agree that more books on the royals in English would be nice. I subscribe to Majesty Magazine (UK royals) and to Royalty (Dutch royals in Dutch) . I think the market would open up if more of the Royal related mags would be also in English
I agree, I would love to be able to purchase books in English on the Swedish Royal Family.
I’ve been trying to sell a book about the other European royals for years with absolutely no success.