YA Books About Royalty: Historical Royals

If you love reading about real-life royals from the past (after all, truth can be even more enthralling than fiction), check out my list of YA books about royalty featuring historical royals!

This list is traditional historical fiction. If you are looking for historical fantasy, check out my list of YA Fantasy Royal Fiction. If you love contemporary royal romance, I have that too!

I love historical fiction. It’s entertaining but you also feel like you’re learning new things. Below is my list of YA Books About Royalty based on real-life historical royals. Check it out and be sure to add any of your favorites in the comments!

This post contains affiliate links.

British Historical Royal YA Fiction

The Other Countess (Lacey Chronicles #1) by Eve Edwards (2011)

The daughter of an alchemist romances a nobleman in 16th century England. (Reformation)

Lady Eleanor Rodriguez, Countess of San Jaime—possesses a worthless title, but her feisty spirit captivates the elite of the Queen’s court—especially the dashing new Earl.

William Lacey, Earl of Dorset, has inherited his father’s title—and his financial ruin. Now Will must seek a wealthy bride and restore his family’s fortune. If only he hadn’t fallen for the beautiful but penniless Ellie.

Sparks fly whenever Ellie and Will are together, but circumstances—and the conniving interference of others—threaten to keep them apart.

Anne and Henry by Dawn Ius (2016)

A modern day retelling of the ill-fated love affair of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. (Tudor)

Henry Tudor’s life has been mapped out since the day he was born: student body president, valedictorian, Harvard Law School, and a stunning political career just like his father’s. But ever since the death of his brother, the pressure for Henry to be perfect has doubled. And now he’s trapped: forbidden from pursuing a life as an artist or dating any girl who isn’t Tudor-approved.

Then Anne Boleyn crashes into his life.

Wild, brash, and outspoken, Anne is everything Henry isn’t allowed to be—or want. But soon Anne is all he can think about. His mother, his friends, and even his girlfriend warn him away, but his desire for Anne consumes him.

Henry is willing to do anything to be with her, but once they’re together, will their romance destroy them both?

Gilt by Katherine Longshore (2012)

The story of Henry VIII and Catherine Howard, as told through the eyes of Catherine’s best friend. (Tudor)

When Kitty Tylney’s best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII’s heart and brings Kitty to court, she’s thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties.

No longer stuck in Cat’s shadow, Kitty’s now caught between two men–the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat’s meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All by various authors (2018)

YA authors each write a chapter from the point of view of one of Henry VIII’s wives, plus one from Henry’s POV. (Tudor)

If you were one of King Henry VIII’s six wives, who would you be? Would you be Anne Boleyn, who literally lost her head? Would you be the subject of rumor and scandal like Catherine Howard? Or would you get away and survive like Anna of Cleves?

Meet them and Henry’s other queens–each bound for divorce or death–in this epic and thrilling novel that reads like fantasy but really happened.

Watch spellbound as each of these women attempts to survive their unpredictable king as he grows more and more obsessed with producing a male heir. And discover how the power-hungry court fanned the flames of Henry’s passions . . . and his most horrible impulses.

Tarnish by Katherine Longshore (2013)

The story of teenage outcast Anne Boleyn and how she came to court and mesmerized a king. (Tudor)

Anne Boleyn is the odd girl out. Newly arrived to the court of King Henry VIII, everything about her seems wrong, from her clothes to her manners to her witty but sharp tongue.

So when the dashing poet Thomas Wyatt offers to coach her on how to shine at court—and to convince the whole court they’re lovers—she accepts. Before long, Anne’s popularity has soared, and even the charismatic and irresistible king takes notice.

More than popularity, Anne wants a voice—but she also wants love. What began as a game becomes high stakes as Anne finds herself forced to make an impossible choice between her heart’s desire and the chance to make history.

Read my Review of Tarnish by Katherine Longshore!

Brazen by Katherine Longshore

The romance of Mary Howard and Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII. (Tudor)

Mary Howard has always lived in the shadow of her powerful family.

But when she’s married off to Henry Fitzroy, King Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, she rockets into the Tudor court’s inner circle. Mary and “Fitz” join a tight clique of rebels who test the boundaries of court’s strict rules with their games, dares, and flirtations.

The more Mary gets to know Fitz, the harder she falls for him, but is forbidden from seeing him alone. The rules of court were made to be pushed…but pushing them too far means certain death. Is true love worth dying for?

Read my Review of Brazen by Katherine Longshore!

Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer (2001)

The story of Mary Tudor, who stood to inherit the throne until she was stripped of her title.

The story of Mary Tudor’s childhood is a classic fairy tale: A princess who is to inherit the throne of England is separated from her mother; abused by an evil stepmother who has enchanted her father; stripped of her title; and forced to care for her baby stepsister, who inherits Mary’s rights to the throne.

Believe it or not, it’s all true.

Russian Historical Royal YA Fiction

Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick (pen name for Jackson Pearce) (2014)

A story set in Tsarist Russia that features some magical elements.

Natalya knows a secret. A magical Faberge egg glows within the walls of Russia’s Winter Palace.
It holds a power rooted in the land and stolen from the mystics.

A power that promises a life of love for her and Alexei Romanov. Power, that, in the right hands, can save her way of life.

But it’s not in the right hands.

Romanov by Nadine Brandes (2020)

The story of Natasha Romanov, one of the doomed royals of Imperial Russia.

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them, and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of saving herself and her family are either to release the spell and deal with the consequences, or to enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya has only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half as much as her growing attraction to Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her.

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.

French Historical Royal YA Fiction

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (2010)

This dual timeline story follows a modern-day Brooklyn teen tracing the tragic story of another young girl during the French Revolution.

Andi Alpers is angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. She’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession.

Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers (2012)

This story is based on Anne of Brittany and the real intrigue surrounding Anne’s betrothal and first marriage.

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts and a violent destiny.

If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsberg (1973)

The story of Eleanor of Aquitane, wife of two kings.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is in Heaven, waiting to learn whether or not her second husband, King Henry II of England, will be able to join her.

Waiting with Eleanor are Henry’s mother, Matilda-Empress, and William the Marshal. A chance encounter with Abbot Suger, an old friend of Eleanor’s from the time of her first marriage, starts the four of them remembering times past.

Each person in turn tells a part of Eleanor’s life, vividly illustrating the excitement of living in twelfth-century England and France, and especially the excitement of being Eleanor.

Wife of two kings, mother of two others, Richard the Lion Heart and John, she set the tone of court life for her times, sponsored poets and musicians, established the legend of King Arthur as a romantic feature of English literature, set the Rules of Courtly Love, and helped rule a kingdom.

If you love YA books about royals, be sure to check out my list of contemporary royal romance books and my list of YA fantasy books about royals!