All the juicy royal books to read right now

Every week there seems to be a scandalous story about the British royal family in the news, despite most of the key players being on holidays and away from official duty.

As a result, there's a lack of royal events, which means it's the perfect time for publishing houses and authors to release their biographies and get optimum coverage in some of the world's biggest publications.

From works on the embattled Duke of York to Diana, the late Princess of Wales, and even Princess Margaret, here are the books making headlines.

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Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York by Andrew Lownie

The story that has received the biggest attention from a new book on the Duke of York is the alleged fight he is said to have had with his younger nephew, Prince Harry, in which "punches were thrown".

It allegedly happened at a family gathering in 2013 over "something Andrew said behind Harry's back".

In Andrew Lownie's book Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, the author claims Harry left his uncle "with a bloody nose" before their fight was broken up.

Prince Harry's legal team has since denied the fight happened.

Lownie went on to claim the relationship with the Duke of York and his younger nephews, Prince William and Harry, is "problematic".

But the book also contains other, potentially more damaging claims about Prince Andrew.

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One such allegation is that Prince Andrew's former friend, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sold the duke's "most intimate secrets" to foreign intelligence agencies around the world, including to Israel's Mossad, the Saudi Arabian authorities and the Libyan intelligence services under Colonel Gaddafi.

Writing of Epstein Lownie said: "The prince was a useful idiot who gave him respectability, access to political leaders and business opportunities. He found him easy to exploit".

Elsewhere in the book, Prince Andrew is said to have called a royal household staffer a "f---ing imbecile" after he failed to refer to the Queen Mother by her full title.

The incident allegedly happened in 2005 at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Island following a severe storm.

"He could be unbelievably cruel," Lownie wrote, of Andrew towards his staff.

"Andrew asked the head of the household, David Anderson, if there was any damage. 'Yes, sir,' responded Anderson. 'The tree which was planted by the Queen Mother.'

"This was followed by a withering silence, then Andrew said in a mocking voice, 'Did you mean Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother?'

"He then asked the poor man how long he had worked for the royal family. Anderson replied, 'I joined in 1984, sir.'

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"'And you still don't know the proper way to refer to my grandmother? You f---ing imbecile. Get out,'" the book claims.

The Duchess of York hasn't escaped scrutiny either. Lownie writes about Fergie's "schoolgirl crush" on on John F. Kennedy Jr. and says she was not happy about Princess Diana's secret meeting with the American in 1995.

"She was furious: 'He's mine! Why can't she just leave him alone?'" Lownie writes.

The duchess also pursued Tiger Woods romantically, "plagued" actor Kevin Costner with "raunchy phone calls" and was interested in George Clooney at one point, the book claims.

Princess Margaret and the Curse: An Inquiry into a Royal Life by Meryle Secrest

Pulitzer Prize-nominated biographer Meryle Secrest has written a book about Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, with some intriguing, yet unfounded, claims.

Secrest writes that Princess Margaret suffered from foetal alcohol syndrome brought on by the Queen Mother's drinking during pregnancy.

She made the claim after re-examining the late princess' well-documented personality and personal struggles in light of greater knowledge about the condition.

Her book, Princess Margaret and the Curse: An Inquiry into a Royal Life, suggests Margaret had the tell-tale signs of the condition including mood swings, stunted growth, difficulties learning how to write and migraines.

While the unofficial biography has no confirmed evidence Margaret was born with the condition, Secrest's book was written by comparing the princess' life – from extensive written sources – with those who have suffered from the condition.

Dianaworld: An Obsession by Edward White

Edward White has taken a very different approach to the world of royal books with his on the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

In Dianaworld: An Obsession White explores the way the royal was viewed by various groups rather than a traditional biography on her life.

"The book isn't about Diana, it's just about everybody else," White told 9honey.

"[It's] a book about her reputation rather than her life."

The book is an exploration of the world Diana lived in, looking at her reputation from differing perspectives and the legacy that has been created nearly 30 years on from her death.

"There's a particular thing I think about the lives of royal women that has a really strong hold on our imagination," he told 9honey.

He pointed to the enduring fascination of the Tudor monarchy, in particular the women connected with Henry VIII, and made a link between that enduring interest with Diana.

"People find new, new things, new lenses to view that story," he said.

"Quite possibly, there's a similar thing going on with Diana. Who knows whether she's going to be remembered in 500 years, but I think that, in the foreseeable future, people will continue to reinterpret her."

Sophie, A Biography by Sean Smith

The Duchess of Edinburgh has become one of the royal family's most prominent members after years of tireless work that was often overshadowed by the younger members of the family.

She and her husband Prince Edward have taken on a bigger public role under the reign of King Charles III, filling a role left by Prince Harry and Meghan and the Duke of York.

In January, she celebrated her 60th birthday and a book about her life was recently published in Australia.

In Sophie, A Biography author Sean Smith writes about the tumultuous relationship between Sophie Rhys-Jones and Diana, Princess of Wales in the mid-1990s.

"The two women did not like each other," he wrote.

Smith claimed Diana was annoyed at how similar they looked, accusing Sophie of trying to copy her.

Sophie was absent from Diana's funeral in 1997, despite being in a relationship with Prince Edward which began in 1993.

She was reportedly told to stay away by palace staffers because of her passing resemblance to Diana, adding it was "a comparison neither woman enjoyed".

But, he said, "in retrospect, Sophie having her hair clipped short in a Diana-style blonde bob was probably a mistake".

Diana also did not like Sophie because she was a "middle class girl from Kent who might succeed where she, an authentic aristocrat, had so abjectly failed", Smith said.

The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage

For fans of royal fiction, Australian journalist Rebecca Armitage has written a novel about a British princess who "must decide between her duty to her family – or to her own heart".

The Heir Apparent is about main character Lexi Villiers, or Princess Lexi, whose grandmother is the Queen of England.

After forging a life away from the royal family, Villiers finds herself having to make an important decision about her future as next-in-line to the throne.

Armitage told People she was inspired by Prince Harry's royal wedding to Meghan, an event she covered in 2018.

"What happens if you're born royal, but you wish to leave? I can't really explain why I thought this. Harry was clearly thrilled and in love," Armitage said.

"But just like his mother, Princess Diana, every emotion plays out on his face, and I glimpsed something in him that left me wondering what life was really like inside palace walls."

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