While I enjoyed the brief biographies of the lives of various royal women who behaved...well, badly, this felt like a rehash of the several dozen other books that attempt to do the same thing. The chatty, gossip-rag nature of the writing was fun and silly, although the never-ending stories of women who were spendthrifts, wastrels and overly frustrating got old very quickly. While the majority of the focus in the book is European royalty, there are some tidbits of royal or royal-like women from around the world—although this quickly diminished about 60% through the book.

Additionally, the author makes the statement that all of the lives of the women depicted are factual—and then opens the book with a mythical character. I'm not adverse to reading about myths, but don't claim to be 100% factual and then dive straight into legend.

The book does live up to one claim: not a single woman listed had a happy ending.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

This book combines two of my favourite things: women and history. I've been a history nerd since my childhood and was lucky enough to spend many days out at museums, castles and abbeys that my parents took me to. Looking back, it makes me sad that the only women ever really mentioned in my history lessons at school were Boadicea, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria. All amazing women in their own right, of course, but what about all the other women who contributed to the world's history who have been completely overshadowed by their male contemporaries?

'Princesses Behaving Badly' aims to set this bias right, and I think it does a decent job of it; there are lots of women in here I'd heard of before, but there were plenty more I'd either never heard of or had heard of but didn't really know anything about. For example, I never knew just how tragic the life of George I's wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, was. Let's just say George I has quickly become one of my least favourite British monarchs.

There are princesses from all over the world in this book, from many different cultures, races and religions, which I really enjoyed. When we hear 'princess' I think it's easy for us to picture a white, European Guinevere-esque figure - someone from a fairy tale rather than history - so I admire the amount of research that must have gone into the creation of this book to make it so diverse.

I also loved that McRobbie didn't choose to only include the 'nice' princesses, or even the ones that were particularly good at their job. There are women in this book who died defending their country and others who cared more about their wardrobe than war, and by including all of them she hasn't put women on a pedestal but proved that we have been just as diverse as men throughout the centuries.

Having said that, there were some parts that grated on me a little bit. McRobbie has a rant about Disney Princesses in the introduction which I thought was unnecessary, especially as, to me, it came across as 'I'm not like other girls, I don't like Disney princesses because I'm not silly'. I'm not a fan of the belief that Disney teaches girls that they're only worth how pretty other people think they are; I've been a Disney fanatic all my life, so perhaps I'm biased, but one of the reasons I adore 'Beauty and the Beast' so much is because of the message that it's what's inside that counts.

The earlier Disney movies are certainly of their time, but from 'The Little Mermaid' onwards we've had a whole host of strong Disney heroines who are heroic in their own way. No, wearing a pretty dress and a tiara doesn't make you a princess - something another Disney film, 'The Princess Diaries', addressed excellently - but I'm not going to shame little girls who enjoy wearing dresses and tiaras if it makes them feel empowered.

There were also a few instances where people were described as 'ugly' or 'insane' that made me a bit uncomfortable, especially as these instances didn't agree with other parts of the book. McRobbie criticised Disney for making girls think being a princess is about being beautiful, and then pitied various real life princesses because they hadn't been considered attractive. She also made some excellent points about mental illness not being taken seriously or treated appropriately in the past, only to make throwaway remarks about people being insane. Hypocritical much?

All in all, though, this is a much more positive book than a negative one. This would be an excellent introduction to anyone who wants to learn more about women's history as well as anyone who wants to learn more about history but feels intimidated by non-fiction. This book is written so conversationally that it's a very easy read and there's a wonderful bibliography of further reading included in the back if you want to learn more about any of the princesses involved.

If you're more interested in history that isn't about the royal family then this book probably isn't for you, although the clue's in the title, but wherever your interests lie there are so many fascinating women in this book I think it would be a shame to miss out on learning more about them.

This was a fun 'snack book' kinda read, enjoyable but not really the most filling or engaging, which is sad since the premise promised a thrilling read for both feminists and history buffs. I almost didn't read the book because the introduction was a bit...well...much with the hate of Disney princesses, I mean I get it, but I would have been fine just skipping to the book and not having an introduction at all, granted I am not a fan of introductions in general but I mostly skipped this one.

If you like gossip rag style books about famous historical figures and want to learn about some odd the wall and off the beaten track ladies then give this book a read. If you like really in-depth history that definitely makes sure it gets its fact checking right then maybe skip this one. It was out of my normal wheelhouse, but overall I enjoyed it.

If you’re looking for an in depth look at powerful women in history with plenty of historical fact then this book is not for you. This is a light, amusing and by no means exhaustive look at historical princesses separated from the beau ideal of what a princess should be. It would probably make a good palate cleanser book or a starting point for ideas of women you might like to then go and do more in depth research on. Within its parameters however this book is a fun read. I certainly enjoyed it. Not one for the serious historian though.

A light, popular history for the casual reader or history lover, this is by no means a serious academic tome. In fact, this book reads like a friend recounting scandalous royal intrigues—like a history by Bravo or the E network.

The author kept me entertained and there were a few stories that were new to me. I wish there were pictures, I googled many of the ladies as I read.

I would have passed on the original cover, but I love the paperback cover.

For fans of books like A Treasury of Royal Scandals or Sex with Kings.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

An interesting read albeit slightly more depressing than inspriing.

I liked to concept of this books but it needs a bit better editing and research. While there was some things I died not know each princess got a paragraph about her with a brief bio about her life. Some of the headers where satirical and unneeded.

Princesses Behaving Badly is a compilations of biographies of real-life princesses. Linda McRobbie uses these biographies to criticize the Disney and fairy tale myth that all princess live happily ever after (though if you’ve read the actual Brothers Grimm fairy tales, a lot of them are dark and gruesome-far from the happily ever after). She also argues that Kate Middleton is not a very lucky woman when she married Prince William as the public easily assumed and believed. These selected princesses that McRobbie uses are not the conventional, dutiful, and by the book good princesses but rather princesses that have stepped out of their conventions and rules of society and caused a great scandal to the shock of the people of their time. Because of this, they made choices that prevented them having a happy life, and some even to be ridiculed among their peers.

McRobbie groups these princesses into seven categories: warriors, usurpers, schemers, survivors, partiers, floozies, and madwomen. Some of them were strong. Some of them are mythical. Some were imposters, and others were comical. Some of the ones that I liked were Pinyang, the Tang princess who led an army, Hatshepsut, and Khutulun, the Mongol Princess who were very good at wrestling. I also thought a few other princesses stories were very interesting like Wu Zetian, the only Female Emperor of China, Queen Isabella of England, known as the She-Wolf of England, and Malinche, the Aztec who betrayed her own people to Hernan Cortez. I also thought that she undermined great women like Njinga of Ndongo, the king who helped her people. There were other princesses like Clara Ward, Sophia Dorothea, and Sofka Dolgorouky that I really did not care at all about and were very bored of their stories.

Overall, these princesses were very human. Most made bad choices that they would regret for their lives and had many flaws. This is not a scholarly book. McRobbie uses basic sources, mostly newspaper articles from gossip magazines, internet articles, and a biography or two. Yet the book is very witty and engaging, and it is a great introduction into the princesses’ lives. I recommend this for anyone who loves to read about royalty or for anyone who is looking to read a good juicy, gossipy, tale looking to satisfy their guilty pleasure.

Good for when you want a quick historical sketches about different royal(ish) women of history. Doesn't go into too much detail. Rejected Princesses is probably a more interesting treatment of similar stories with the added bonus of visuals.

This was a quick easy read which was both good and bad. Some stories I really wanted more of and some I had heard before like Empress Elizabeth -but wouldn't have minded hearing more. There were some stories to that seemed to reveal in the fact that the women could be just as awful as the men or confuse bad behavior with the possibility of severe mental health problems. All in all it's a good book I just wish it was a little more in-depth. Despite the fascinating personalities it really does boil all of them down into short recaps about their lives.

Princesses Behaving Badly was highly entertaining and fun to read. Linda Rodriguez McRobbie took the fairytale trope of a princess and turned it on its head in this book filled with stories of real royal women who "behaved badly."
I really enjoyed the breadth of women she profiled both in time and geography. I particularly enjoyed the stories of the non-european princesses.
Princesses Behaving Badly is a fun and informative read.

This book is good but there are certain parts where I wanted more information on the woman. Not really princesses but really cool historical figures both ones that are well known and ones that are not. The organization could have used a little work in terms of countries or eras or civilizations. Its a great empowering book for women much like "goodnight stories for rebel girls". Not a book you can read cover to cover in one sitting.

Not quite ladies. An interesting glimpse into the lives of some of the royal women in history. From ancient, to current, these women forgo the dainty and proper manners of their counterparts. Although the book itself had some interesting tid-bits, I found myself annoyed with some of the stories. It seems as though some of them could have been more of a paragraph, rather than drawn out, and it seemed as though they repeated themselves at times, just using different wording.But I pushed through the irritant, and finished the entire thing. While some of the women were known to me, there were some in there that I had never heard of.This would be a fun, in the car read, while you have some time to kill!

I read the original version earlier this year, and enjoyed the newer additions to the book. As a history teacher, the new edition offers even more to students who are looking at figures past and present.

The concept for this book is fantastic. However, it does not quite live up to the premise. Perhaps I just expected the wrong thing, but I thought this would be full of rebellious women overthrowing injustice, making waves in the face of uptight societies in fun ways, or at least being villainous in a quest for power. Few of the stories are inspirational, fascinating, or all that scandalous though. Instead, many feature women who were forced into horrible situations and then maligned publicly by their rivals. The author does a nice job of covering a diverse group of women from different eras and countries who are not often featured in history books. However, the storytelling is often dry while remaining superficial and the women are not always the leads in their own stories (which is particularly strange in a book of this nature). Overall, I appreciated the intent behind this book, but wish it delivered more.

I already purchased a copy of this book for my cousin for Christmas, and as I had already wrapped it up, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to devour it myself (thanks, NetGalley!). It's fun, it's gory, it's gruesome, and it's real. These stories range from the macabre to the hilarious and are told with an intelligent snark that will appeal to readers of all ages, especially girls who long for more stories like Brave and Moana.

I am absolutely loving this book - haven't completed it yet as I am rationing myself - and it has given me a different view of (in)famous women from the pages of history, both well known and not so well known. Although the book is made up, mostly, of précis histories of these ladies, it has certainly made me want to know more about what I have always suspected. In a patriarchal society, it tends to be men who write the history of the world and so women tend to be shown as taking a seat at the back of the "bus". A real pity because so many women have or would have done a much better job than their male counterparts!

p.s I'm a male who wouldn't be here if it weren't for a woman, who did all the work: my mother.

Delicate, educate, timide, passano il tempo sospirando mentre suonano l'arpa e aspettano l'Amore - sì, il Vero Amore, con le maiuscole.

O anche no.

Tratte da storia e leggende, l'autrice propone decine di principesse che sfatano l'immagine canonica: piratesse, statiste, guerriere, spie, truffatrici, assassine, sante (ma dalle mani bagnate di sangue).

Donne che, tutte, hanno dimostrato presenza di spirito, un carattere imprevedibile e una certa mancanza di scrupoli.

Esempi non proprio da seguire? Vero; ma anche la prova che, se ogni ragazza è una principessa, ci sono infiniti modi di esserlo, senza tradire sé stessa e le proprie inclinazioni.

Meno sanguinarie - si spera! - di quelle illustrate nelle brillantissime piccole biografie che propone l'autrice di questi istruttivo, liberatorio volume. ;)