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100 1  Herman, Eleanor,|d1960- 
245 10 Sex with Kings :|b500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, 
       and Revenge /|cEleanor Herman. 
246 30 500 years of adultery, power, rivalry, and revenge 
264  1 [Place of publication not identified] :|bHarperCollins,
       |c[2009] 
264  4 |c©2009 
300    1 online resource (320 pages) 
336    text|btxt|2rdacontent 
337    computer|bc|2rdamedia 
338    online resource|bcr|2rdacarrier 
506    Access limited to subscribing institutions. 
520    Throughout the centuries, royal mistresses have been 
       worshiped, feared, envied, and reviled. They set the 
       fashions, encouraged the arts, and, in some cases, ruled 
       nations. Eleanor Herman's Sex with Kings takes us into the
       throne rooms and bedrooms of Europe's most powerful 
       monarchs. Alive with flamboyant characters, outrageous 
       humor, and stirring poignancy, this glittering tale of 
       passion and politics chronicles five hundred years of 
       scintillating women and the kings who loved them. 
       Curiously, the main function of a royal mistress was not 
       to provide the king with sex but with companionship. 
       Forced to marry repulsive foreign princesses, kings sought
       solace with women of their own choice. And what women they
       were! From Madame de Pompadour, the famous mistress of 
       Louis XV, who kept her position for nineteen years despite
       her frigidity, to modern-day Camilla Parker-Bowles, who 
       usurped none other than the glamorous Diana, Princess of 
       Wales. The successful royal mistress made herself 
       irreplaceable. She was ready to converse gaily with him 
       when she was tired, make love until all hours when she was
       ill, and cater to his every whim. Wearing a mask of 
       beaming delight over any and all discomforts, she was 
       never to be exhausted, complaining, or grief-stricken. 
       True, financial rewards for services rendered were of 
       royal proportions -- some royal mistresses earned up to 
       {dollars}200 million in titles, pensions, jewels, and 
       palaces. Some kings allowed their mistresses to exercise 
       unlimited political power. But for all its grandeur, a 
       royal court was a scorpion's nest of insatiable greed, 
       unquenchable lust, and vicious ambition. Hundreds of 
       beautiful women vied to unseat the royal mistress. Many 
       would suffer the slings and arrows of negative public 
       opinion, some met with tragic ends and were pensioned off 
       to make room for younger women. But the royal mistress 
       often had the last laugh, as she lived well and richly off
       the fruits of her "sins." From the dawn of time, power has
       been a mighty aphrodisiac. With diaries, personal letters,
       and diplomatic dispatches, Eleanor Herman's trailblazing 
       research reveals the dynamics of sex and power, rivalry 
       and revenge, at the most brilliant courts of Europe. 
       Wickedly witty and endlessly entertaining, Sex with Kings 
       is a chapter of women's history that has remained 
       unwritten -- until now. 
588 0  Print version record. 
650  0 Sex scandals|zEurope|xHistory. 
650  0 Paramours|zEurope|vBiography. 
650  0 Favorites, Royal|zEurope|vBiography. 
650  7 HISTORY / World.|2bisacsh 
651  0 Europe|xKings and rulers|xParamours|vBiography. 
651  0 Europe|xSocial life and customs. 
651  0 Europe|xCourt and courtiers|xHistory. 
655  0 Electronic books. 
776 08 |iPrint version:|aHerman, Eleanor, 1960-|tSex with kings.
       |dNew York : Morrow, c2004.|z0060585439 (alk. paper)
       |w(DLC)2004040212 
914    frd00016173