Royal pains - Leslie Carroll

The bad seeds in the family trees of the most powerful royal houses of Europe often became the most rotten of apples: uber-violent autocrats Vlad the Impaler and Ivan the Terrible literally reigned in blood. Lettice Knollys strove to mimic the appearance of her cousin Elizabeth I and even stole her man. And Pauline Bonaparte scandalised her brother Napoleon by having a golden goblet fashioned in the shape of her breasts. Chock-full of shocking scenes and titillating tales, Royal Pains is a rollicking compendium of the most infamous and insatiable blue-bloods of Europe.