Alison Weir Books in Order
Explore Alison Weir’s books in order, with short summaries, series background and quick guidance on where to start with her Tudor and medieval history and fiction.
Last updated: December 22, 2025
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Publication Order
58 books
The Boleyn Secret
by Alison Weir
2026
A future Tudor Rose novel about Katherine Carey, niece of Anne Boleyn, who serves the young Princess Elizabeth and carries a shattering family secret that shadows her travels, marriages and loyalty to her cousin‑turned‑queen.
The Cardinal's Daughter
by Alison Weir
2025
This Tudor short story follows Dorothy Clausey, a young woman who discovers she is the secret daughter of Cardinal Wolsey and must choose between the safety of convent life and the perilous freedoms opening up as Henry VIII dissolves the monasteries.
The Cardinal
by Alison Weir
2025
This forthcoming novel traces the rise and fall of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s brilliant chief minister, from modest beginnings through dazzling power to disgrace, exploring his public achievements, private loves and the divorce crisis that destroyed him.
Queens at War
by Alison Weir
2025
In the final England’s Medieval Queens book, Weir recounts the lives of fifteenth‑century queens such as Katherine of Valois, Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Woodville and Anne Neville, showing how they were drawn into the brutal conflicts of the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses.
The True and Terrible Tale of Perotine Massey
by Alison Weir
2024
Set on Guernsey in 1556, this Tudor Rose short story follows loyal servant Jennet as her Protestant mistress Perotine Massey and Perotine’s family are accused of theft and heresy, facing a grim sentence even as Perotine hides a dangerous secret pregnancy.
The Passionate Tudor
by Alison Weir
2024
Published in North America, this novel retells the life of Mary Tudor, later Mary I, following her from cherished child of Katherine of Aragon through years of rejection to a reign defined by intense faith, political pressure and painful choices.
Mary I: Queen of Sorrows
by Alison Weir
2024
The UK edition of Weir’s Mary I novel, focusing on the same arc from princess to “Bloody Mary”, and showing how family trauma, loneliness, devout belief and thwarted hopes in marriage and motherhood shaped both her tenderness and her brutality.
The King's Pleasure
by Alison Weir
2023
The US edition of Weir’s Henry VIII novel, this version likewise brings readers inside the king’s mind and court, portraying his love affairs, religious break with Rome and hunger for glory while asking how a charming young ruler became so dangerous.
The Golden Prince
by Alison Weir
2023
Told by Anne Oxenbridge, wet nurse to infant Prince Henry at Eltham, this story follows her growing bond with the boy who will become Henry VIII and the bittersweet way their lives part and later cross again when he ascends the throne.
Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown
by Alison Weir
2023
A full‑length novel of Henry VIII’s life, narrated from his perspective as he grows from gifted second son to imposing king, charting his six marriages, wars, faith struggles and the slow transformation from idealistic prince to feared autocrat.
Queens of the Age of Chivalry
by Alison Weir
2022
The third England’s Medieval Queens volume covers five fourteenth‑century consorts, from Marguerite of France to Isabella of Valois, against a backdrop of chivalric culture, plague, rebellion and the early stages of the Hundred Years’ War.
Firstborn
by Alison Weir
2022
This Tudor Rose prequel centres on the birth of Princess Elizabeth of York in 1466, offering brief, shifting viewpoints from figures such as Edward IV, Cecily Neville and the young Henry Tudor as they react to a royal child whose fate will shape England.
Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose
by Alison Weir
2022
This first Tudor Rose novel retells Elizabeth of York’s life in fiction, from princess of a defeated house to bride of Henry VII, exploring her divided loyalties, marriage, motherhood and the lingering threat of Yorkist pretenders.
The Wicked Wife
by Alison Weir
2021
Jane Parker, Lady Rochford, narrates this story of a loveless marriage to George Boleyn and later service to Queen Katheryn Howard, as old grievances and new sympathies draw her into the young queen’s reckless affair and its lethal consequences.
The Queen's Child
by Alison Weir
2021
Set after Katharine Parr’s death, this tale centres on baby Mary Seymour and her guardian Elizabeth Aglionby, who must protect the orphaned girl as Thomas Seymour’s enemies close in and the political ground shifts around those linked to the late queen.
Queens of the Crusades
by Alison Weir
2021
Volume two in England’s Medieval Queens series moves into the age of crusade and courtly love, profiling Eleanor of Aquitaine and four later Plantagenet queens and showing how they navigated war, piety, family conflict and power struggles with kings and church.
Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife
by Alison Weir
2021
The final Six Tudor Queens novel follows Katharine Parr, twice‑widowed when Henry VIII chooses her as his last queen, balancing stepmotherhood, reformist beliefs and a risky second love while trying to survive a court where queens can burn.
In This New Sepulchre
by Alison Weir
2021
Moving between the sixteenth, eighteenth and later centuries, this story follows mourners and antiquarians drawn to Katharine Parr’s tomb at Sudeley, reflecting on how her memory is rediscovered, disturbed and finally honoured as interest in the six queens grows.
The Princess of Scotland
by Alison Weir
2020
This companion to the Katheryn Howard novel follows Margaret Douglas, niece of Henry VIII, from a stormy childhood in Scotland to life at the English court, where her rank makes her a priceless marriage pawn and her own heart leads her into danger.
Katheryn Howard, The Scandalous Queen
by Alison Weir
2020
This novel gives voice to Katheryn Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, tracing her neglected upbringing, giddy rise to queenship and the dangerous entanglements that led to accusations of adultery and a desperate fight to save her life.
The King's Painter
by Alison Weir
2019
Sent as an informal envoy to inspect Henry VIII’s prospective bride, Susanna Gilman, a fictional female artist, must judge Anna of Kleve’s looks and character, then wrestle with divided loyalties when the king later demands a way out of the marriage.
The Curse of the Hungerfords
by Alison Weir
2019
Far from court, Anne Bassett prays in the Hungerford family chapel and senses a ghostly presence tied to a dark past. This atmospheric story links her memories of serving Henry VIII’s queens with the grim legend that hangs over the Hungerfords.
Anna of Kleve, The Princess in the Portrait
by Alison Weir
2019
In the fourth Six Tudor Queens novel, told from Anna of Kleve’s perspective, Weir imagines the journey from careful diplomatic match to Henry VIII’s disappointment and annulment, then follows Anna’s surprising new life and independence in England.
The Unhappiest Lady in Christendom
by Alison Weir
2018
From the viewpoint of Mary Tudor, later Mary I, this story takes place after Jane Seymour’s death, as Mary mourns the stepmother who helped restore her to favour and confronts the prospect of yet another new queen for her mercurial father.
The Grandmother's Tale
by Alison Weir
2018
Told through the eyes of Anne Boleyn’s grandmother, this e‑short looks back on the Boleyn family’s fortunes at Hever, weaving memory, loss and the haunting presence of Anne’s ghost into a quiet meditation on love and ambition.
The Chateau of Briis: A Lesson in Love
by Alison Weir
2018
A companion story to Anne Boleyn’s novel, this tale sees a teenage Anne at the glittering French court, where a dance with the charming Philippe du Moulin becomes her first lesson in flirtation, desire and the dangerous game of courtly love.
Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen
by Alison Weir
2018
This third Six Tudor Queens novel follows Jane Seymour from quiet country gentlewoman to Henry VIII’s third wife, exploring her family loyalties, her efforts to reunite the king with his daughters and the heavy cost of becoming mother to his heir.
A Tudor Christmas
by Alison Weir
2018
Co‑authored with Siobhan Clarke, this illustrated companion explores how the Tudors celebrated Christmas, from feasting, games and disguisings at court to customs like carols, mince pies and greenery that still shape the festive season today.
The Tower is Full of Ghosts Today
by Alison Weir
2017
In this modern‑set e‑short, a historian leading a tour of the Tower of London finds the boundary between past and present blurring, as her admiration for Anne Boleyn and the site’s dark history sparks an unsettling, possibly supernatural encounter.
The Blackened Heart
by Alison Weir
2017
Set between the first two Six Tudor Queens novels, this story follows Margery Otwell, a gentlewoman drawn into Queen Katherine of Aragon’s household and then into Anne Boleyn’s rise, whose own choices and passions become entangled with the queens she serves.
Queens of the Conquest
by Alison Weir
2017
The opening volume of England’s Medieval Queens series, this non‑fiction book introduces the Norman queens from Matilda of Flanders to Empress Maud, revealing how they shared royal authority, fought for their children’s rights and shaped the new kingdom after 1066.
Anne Boleyn, A King's Obsession
by Alison Weir
2017
In the second Six Tudor Queens novel, Anne Boleyn narrates her rise from lady‑in‑waiting to Henry VIII’s second wife, her struggle to bear a son and the jealousies and court factions that finally send her to the scaffold.
The Lost Tudor Princess
by Alison Weir
2016
A biography of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, niece of Henry VIII and grandmother of James VI and I, following her precarious life at court, her forbidden romances and her central role in Tudor and early Stuart succession politics.
Six Tudor Queens
by Alison Weir
2016
A short companion piece in which Weir reflects on how she researched and wrote the Six Tudor Queens novels, discussing sources, choices and the challenges of bringing Henry VIII’s wives to life on the page.
Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen
by Alison Weir
2016
Book one in the Six Tudor Queens series, this novel tells Katherine of Aragon’s story in her own voice, from Spanish princess and Henry’s first beloved wife to divorced queen fighting to keep her marriage, faith and daughter’s rights.
Arthur: Prince of the Roses
by Alison Weir
2016
This e‑short story imagines the inner life of Prince Arthur, Henry VIII’s elder brother, as he grows up under the weight of expectation, faces an arranged marriage to Catherine of Aragon and senses that his fragile health may change England’s future.
The Marriage Game
by Alison Weir
2014
Continuing Elizabeth I’s story in fiction, this novel follows the young queen through the long dance with Robert Dudley and her foreign suitors, exploring how flirtation, gossip and real feeling collided with her determination never to surrender power.
Richard III and the Princes in the Tower
by Alison Weir
2014
A revised edition of Weir’s study of Edward V and his brother, bringing together narrative history and close analysis of the sources to argue that Richard III most likely ordered their deaths in pursuit of a contested crown.
Elizabeth of York
by Alison Weir
2013
A substantial biography of Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and wife of Henry VII, showing how her marriage helped end the Wars of the Roses and how she balanced personal loyalties, piety and dynastic duty as the first Tudor queen.
A Dangerous Inheritance
by Alison Weir
2012
This dual‑timeline novel links Katherine Grey, imprisoned cousin of Elizabeth I, with Kate Plantagenet, bastard daughter of Richard III, as each young woman becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth about the vanished Princes in the Tower.
The Ring and the Crown
by Alison Weir
2011
A collaborative history of royal weddings from 1066 to the twenty‑first century, in which Weir contributes the medieval, Tudor and Stuart chapters, exploring how dynastic marriages mixed romance, politics, ceremony and sometimes scandal.
Mary Boleyn
by Alison Weir
2011
A full‑length biography of Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne and one‑time mistress of Henry VIII, separating fact from rumor about her alleged royal children and tracing how a woman once at the centre of court ended her life in comparative obscurity.
Traitors of the Tower
by Alison Weir
2010
This short history tells the stories of seven high‑profile prisoners executed on Tower Green, including three queens and Lady Jane Grey, explaining why they were condemned and how their deaths fed the legend of the Tower of London.
Captive Queen
by Alison Weir
2010
A sweeping novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine’s marriage to Henry II, charting their passionate early years, growing estrangement, rivalries between their sons and Eleanor’s eventual imprisonment, while evoking the courts, crusades and intrigues of the twelfth century.
The Lady In The Tower
by Alison Weir
2009
An in‑depth study of the final months of Anne Boleyn, reconstructing her arrest, imprisonment, trial and execution and examining whether the charges against her were fabricated by Thomas Cromwell, driven by Henry VIII, or rooted in real offences.
Mistress of the Monarchy
by Alison Weir
2009
A biography of Katherine Swynford, longtime mistress and later wife of John of Gaunt, which pieces together sparse records to show how a knight’s widow became ancestress of the Tudor and Stuart dynasties and a pivotal figure in late medieval England.
The Lady Elizabeth
by Alison Weir
2008
This novel imagines the childhood and youth of Elizabeth Tudor, from the fall of her mother Anne Boleyn through dangerous years under her father, brother and sister, as she learns to navigate suspicion, faith and desire to reach the throne.
Innocent Traitor
by Alison Weir
2006
A historical novel about Lady Jane Grey, the “Nine Days’ Queen”, following her from harsh upbringing through forced marriage and reluctant claim to the throne, portraying her as an intelligent young woman trapped by family ambition and Tudor politics.
Isabella: She-Wolf of France, Queen of England
by Alison Weir
2005
Weir reassesses Isabella of France, long vilified as the “She‑Wolf”, tracing her unhappy marriage to Edward II, her alliance with Roger Mortimer, the 1326 invasion of England and her later years as queen mother and political survivor.
Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley
by Alison Weir
2003
Part biography, part true‑crime study, this book follows Mary Stuart’s turbulent rule and offers a detailed re‑examination of the plot that killed her husband, Lord Darnley, reassessing long‑standing evidence and the notorious Casket Letters.
Henry VIII
by Alison Weir
2001
Published in some regions as Henry VIII: The King and His Court, this book recreates the king’s world in rich detail, from his palaces and pageants to the intimates who rose and fell around him, revealing how court culture fed his ambitions.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
by Alison Weir
1999
A vivid biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, twice a queen and mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John, exploring her marriages, crusading journey, imprisonments and political influence across the courts of medieval France and England.
The Life of Elizabeth I
by Alison Weir
1998
An intimate portrait of Elizabeth I’s years on the throne, focusing on her councillors, favourites and suitors, the plots that threatened her life, and the choices that allowed her to hold together a divided kingdom for more than four decades.
Children of England
by Alison Weir
1996
Subtitled elsewhere as The Children of Henry VIII, this group biography charts the lives of Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I and Lady Jane Grey after their father’s death, capturing shifting alliances, coups and the religious tensions between them.
The Wars of the Roses
by Alison Weir
1995
This narrative history follows the long struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York, from the weak rule of Henry VI through the rise and fall of Richard III, showing how family rivalries, battles and betrayals remade the English monarchy.
The Princes in the Tower
by Alison Weir
1992
Weir reconstructs the disappearance of Edward V and his brother Richard in 1483, tracing how they came to be lodged in the Tower and weighing rival theories about their deaths in a clear, narrative investigation of England’s most famous cold case.
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
by Alison Weir
1991
A major non‑fiction study of Henry VIII’s six queens, following each woman from upbringing to downfall and using contemporary sources to challenge myths about their characters, marriages and the king who reshaped England around them.
Britain's Royal Families
by Alison Weir
1989
An all‑in‑one genealogy of the royal houses of England, Scotland and Great Britain, listing every legitimate prince and princess from early medieval times to today and highlighting the marriages, scandals and accessions that shaped the crown.
Where should I start?
If you want the big Tudor story in nonfiction: The Six Wives of Henry VIII → Henry VIII → Children of England → The Life of Elizabeth I.
If you prefer gripping historical mysteries: The Princes in the Tower → Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley → A Dangerous Inheritance.
If you’re starting with the novels: Innocent Traitor → The Lady Elizabeth → The Marriage Game → Captive Queen.
If you love queens’ lives and politics: Eleanor of Aquitaine → Elizabeth of York → Queens of the Conquest → Queens of the Crusades → Queens of the Age of Chivalry.
If you want her newest Tudor fiction: Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose → Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown → Mary I: Queen of Sorrows.
Author bio
Alison Weir grew up in Westminster, London, where the past was never far away. As a teenager she picked up a novel about Katherine of Aragon and found herself hooked on the stories behind the dates, battles and portraits she saw in museums.
She was born in London in 1951 and educated at the City of London School for Girls before studying history at North Western Polytechnic, later the University of North London. For a time she trained as a history teacher, but left the classroom disillusioned with experimental teaching methods and moved into the civil service instead.
Marriage and children came before publication. Weir married Rankin Weir in 1972 and later ran a small school for children with learning difficulties between 1991 and 1997, fitting her historical reading and research around work and family life. At home, she spent more than two decades quietly compiling a vast set of royal family trees that eventually became her first book, Britain’s Royal Families, published in 1989.
Non‑fiction made her name. She followed that debut with biographies and narrative histories that focused above all on English royalty, and especially royal women. The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Princes in the Tower, The Children of Henry VIII and The Wars of the Roses combined archival detail with an accessible narrative voice, bringing the drama of late medieval England to a general audience.
Later books widened the lens. Weir wrote full‑length lives of figures such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella: She‑Wolf of France, Queen of England, Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley, Mary Boleyn, Elizabeth of York and The Lost Tudor Princess. More recently she has turned to group biographies in her England’s Medieval Queens series, which restores Norman and Plantagenet consorts to the centre of the story rather than the margins.
Fiction grew out of this research. After years immersed in chronicles and letters, Weir wanted to imagine what her subjects might have thought and felt between the lines, while still staying close to the record. Her first novel, Innocent Traitor, told the brief, intense life of Lady Jane Grey. It was followed by The Lady Elizabeth, Captive Queen, A Dangerous Inheritance and other stand‑alone Tudor stories that re‑used the settings she already knew well from non‑fiction.
Large‑scale projects soon followed. In her Six Tudor Queens series she devoted a full novel to each of Henry VIII’s wives, writing from their perspectives and surrounding them with a constellation of linked short stories. Her more recent Tudor Rose novels turn to the monarchs themselves, beginning with Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose and moving on to long, immersive portraits of Henry VIII and Mary I.
Alongside books, Weir has led history tours, spoken at festivals and contributed to collaborative works on royal weddings and Tudor Christmas traditions. She has been an Honorary Life Patron of Historic Royal Palaces and has previously been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
She now writes full‑time from her home in Surrey. The thread that runs through her work is simple: history belongs to everyone. Whether she is unpacking a disputed murder or imagining a queen’s last night in the Tower, her aim is to make the people behind the crown feel complicated, human and close enough to care about.
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