This book discusses the reign of Queen Victoria's descendants, from Edward VII, Empress Frederick of Prussia (Vicky, the Queen's daughter), all the way to some of her great-great grandchildren. The author focuses on the female descendants for the most part. I've read a bit about certain descendants, such as Edward VII's daughter Maud-Queen of Norway, Alicky- Tsaritsa of Russia and so forth. Yet there were certain stories I wasn't too familiar with, such as Queen Marie of Yugoslavia, the daughter of Queen Marie of Romania. Her story is fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time. Then there is Sophie, sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who became Queen of the Hellenes (Greece) and experienced the bitterness of being exiled with her family time and again. Two of the most tragic figures discussed are: Alicky and her family are brutally murdered by the Bolsheviks. The second one is my choice because of the cruel cards dealt her way and that is Queen Ena of Spain-daughter of Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's youngest child. During her wedding to King Alfonso XIII, a bomb was thrown by an anarchist and nearly killed them. Things only got worse for she was a carrier for hemophilia, which she passed on to two of her four sons. Of the other two boys, one was a deaf mute and the other was healthy. She also had two daughters. Her husband was a philanderer, easily bored and an ineffectual leader. They ended up in exile, their marriage having been destroyed years beforehand. She would lose her two hemophiliac sons while in exile. Certain stories were more interesting than others. I liked a fair portion of it but certain sections were a little slow. Plus, the copy I received was so full of punctuation errors, misspelling, and other annoying mistakes throughout the whole book. Annoyed me greatly. Plus it was over 600 pages. I have the time but many don't so I wouldn't recommend this to people with very busy lives who just don't have the time. For those who are interested in history, especially royal history, this is a very decent read.