Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England’s Mistress | 2005 | Kate Williams | Buy |
| 2 | Becoming Queen Victoria | 2008 | Kate Williams | Buy |
| 3 | The Ring and the Crown | 2011 | Kate Williams | Buy |
| 4 | Young Elizabeth | 2012 | Kate Williams | Buy |
| 5 | Josephine | 2013 | Kate Williams | Buy |
| 6 | Ambition and Desire | 2013 | Kate Williams | Buy |
| 7 | Emma Hamilton | 2016 | Kate Williams | Buy |
| 8 | Rich Table | 2018 | Kate Williams | Buy |
| 9 | Rival Queens / The Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots | 2018 | Kate Williams | Buy |
| 10 | The Royal Palaces | 2024 | Kate Williams | Buy |
Kate Williams has written ten non-fiction books, mostly biographies of prominent historical women. England’s Mistress (2005), her debut, tells the story of Emma Hamilton, Admiral Nelson’s famous mistress. Becoming Queen Victoria (2008) traces the young princess’s path to the throne, and she later wrote about Empress Josephine (2013) and Mary Queen of Scots in Rival Queens (2018).
Her more recent work includes The Royal Palaces (2024), a guide to Britain’s royal residences. Throughout her non-fiction career, Williams has focused on making history accessible to general readers. She draws on primary sources and archival research but writes in a narrative style that reads more like a novel than an academic text. Young Elizabeth (2012) and The Ring and the Crown (2011) round out her coverage of the British monarchy.