For the first time, The Secret Royals uncovers the remarkable relationship between the royal family and the intelligence community, from the reign of Queen Victoria to the death of Princess Diana.
In an enthralling narrative, Richard J. Aldrich and Rory Cormac show how the British secret services grew out of persistent attempts to assassinate Victoria and then operated on a private and informal basis, drawing on close personal relationships between senior spies, the aristocracy and the monarchy.

In 1936, the dramatic abdication of Edward VIII formed a turning point in this relationship. What originally started as family feuding, escalated into a national security crisis. Based on original research and new evidence, The Secret Royals presents the British monarchy in an entirely new light and reveals how far their majesties still call the shots in a hidden world.

 

Richard Aldrich is a regular commentator on war and espionage and has written for the 'Evening Standard', the 'Guardian', 'The Times' and the 'Telegraph'. He is the author of several books, including 'The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence' which won the Donner Book Prize in 2002.
Rory Cormac is a leading expert among a new generation of intelligence historians. Specialising in British covert action and secret foreign policy, perhaps the most exciting and under-researched aspect of British intelligence, he has published widely on security issues and has appeared on various news and media outlets. He studied at King's College London and now lectures at the University of Nottingham.