Being a stepmother has worked out very well for me. I love my stepchildren very much.

I have learned the power of surviving.

Yes, but either way, shamed or not, I shall be Queen of England, and this is the last time you will sit in my presence.

The wheel of fortune [...] tells us that we all only want victory. We all want to triumph. But we all have to learn to endure what comes. We have to learn to treat misfortune and great fortune with indifference. That is wisdom.

War does not answer war, war does not finish war. The only ending is peace.

He promised her that he would give her everything, everything she wanted, as men in love always do. And she trusted him despite herself, as women in love always do.

Although some people think I am a romantic novelist I have always thought of myself as a rather gritty radical historian.