I am a huge admirer of Elizabeth I, and this intriguing biography gives a wonderful picture of the era.

When you are a strong woman, you will attract trouble. When a man feels threatened, there is always trouble.

At the age of fifty-six Eleanor Stoddard was still a beautiful woman. She owned three hotels in France and another two in England. From nothing at all, she had built an empire. Eleanor had it all. Her one weakness was the young man sleeping beside her.

Edwina always enjoyed a morning ride. Some mornings she rode the horse, and some mornings she rode the groom.

A person with taste is merely one who can recognize the greatest beauty in the simplest things.

Love is a handful of seeds, marriage the garden, and like your gardens, Paula, marriage requires total commitment, hard work, and a great deal of love and care. Be ruthless with the weeds. Pull them out before they take hold. Bring the same dedication to your marriage that you do to your gardens and everything will be all right. Remember that a marriage has to be constantly replenished too, if you want it to flourish.

Elizabeth studied the blurry tabloid photo, which showed her cousin Mary Stuart leaving a Paris disco at dawn, drunkenly clinging to the arm of a French tennis pro. The message was very clear. Put passion first and you end up neither loved nor respected.