The serpent and the moon - HRH Princess Michael of Kent

Set in the Europe of the Renaissance and the Reformation, THE SERPENT AND THE MOON is the story of the life-long love affair between King Henri II of France and Diane de Poitiers, a woman eighteen years his senior. As a friend and lady-in-waiting to his mother, Diane had known Henri since his birth and once widowed, succumbed to the glamorous young prince. Henri was bartered in marriage to Catherine de Medici, an unattractive commoner and despised foreigner who stood miserable by as Henri became Dauphin and later King, all the while growing more devoted to his famously beautiful mistress. Together Henri and Diane ruled France as one, their intertwined monograms appearing on everything from official proclamations to palace doorknobs. Only Henri's accidental death at the age of forty-two ended his love for Diane - and Catherine's all consuming envy of her rival.
THE SERPENT AND THE MOON is a fascinating love story as well as a richly woven history of an extraordinary time.