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On the sixth of May, 1960, three hundred million people watched a commoner with a camera marry the Queen’s sister. It was the first royal wedding ever broadcast on television, sold to the public as the dawn of a modern royal era. The bride beamed in a dress she had helped design. The commentary was … Read more

Pick a raw olive from the tree and bite into it. Within seconds, your entire mouth will clench against a chemical assault of bitterness so intense it outdoes any common fruit. Your lips pucker. Your tongue feels as if it has been rubbed with chalk dipped in battery acid. You spit it out and wonder … Read more

In August 1503, the Roman summer brought with it a fever that would bring down the most feared family in Italy. Both Pope Alexander VI and his son Cesare Borgia fell violently ill within days of each other. The two men who controlled the spiritual and military machinery of the Borgia empire lay incapacitated, and … Read more

For fifty years, a pale house hidden deep inside Windsor Great Park belonged to a widowed queen who loved it more than any palace and died within its walls at the age of one hundred and one. Royal Lodge was never a palace and never tried to be. It sat back among its own gardens … Read more

In December 1943, American B-24 bombers crossed the North Sea toward Germany. Inside one of them sat a squadron commander whose voice millions of moviegoers already knew. On screen, James Stewart seemed to stumble toward every sentence by trial and error. In the air over wartime Europe, hesitation could cost an entire crew. The men … Read more

When an enemy sultan sent Queen Tamar of Georgia a letter demanding her surrender, he made a fatal error. He opened the missive by declaring that every woman is feeble of mind. He continued by demanding that Tamar and her armies lay down their arms. Then he saved his worst insult for last: after her … Read more

«Sei sicuro di dover partire davvero questa domenica? » chiesi, mantenendo la voce morbida, le mani intrecciate in grembo perché non vedesse che tremavano. Non di tristezza, ma per lo sforzo di fingere. Mio marito alzò lo sguardo dalla valigia sul letto, con quel sorriso a metà che un tempo amavo. «Tesoro, ne abbiamo già … Read more

During World War II, millions of German soldiers surrendered to the Western Allies between 1943 and 1945. The vast majority became prisoners of war and were processed according to the rules of the Geneva Convention: disarmed, searched, interrogated, and transported to temporary camps before being moved to larger POW facilities. But documented cases exist where … Read more

The autumn of 1839 in Charleston, South Carolina, arrived with an unseasonable chill that seemed to settle deep into the bones of those living along the Ashley River. Among the plantations that lined the waterway, none commanded more respect or whispered fear than Raven’s Hollow, the estate of Cornelius Ashworth. A man of formidable presence, … Read more

On April 5, 1976, Howard Hughes died aboard a leased jet over Texas. He weighed about 90 pounds, and the FBI had to use fingerprints to confirm his identity. He was the richest man in America, with a fortune estimated at $2. 5 billion. But he left behind no will, no trust, no heir, and … Read more