Book news: Some expected books in 2010

A new year has dawned and that offers a good opportunity to take a look at some of the books which can be expected in 2010.
Among them are several which have been postponed from last year, such as Carl-Erik Grimstad’s Dronning Mauds arv (“Queen Maud’s Inheritance”), which is due in March; Jennifer Scott’s The Royal Portrait: Image and Impact (expected in April); Anne Somerset’s Queen Anne: A Biography (also April); and Jane Ridley’s Bertie: A Biography of Edward VII. Rene Brus’s book Crown Jewellery and Regalia of the World, which has already been postponed several times since 2008, was recently postponed yet again and is now expected in October 2010.
For the Swedish royals it will be a momentous year with the bicentenary of the Bernadottes’ arrival and two weddings to be celebrated. As earlier mentioned tabloid journalist Johan T. Lindwall is writing (although he denies it) Victoria – Prinsessan privat (“Victoria: The Princess in Private”) about the Crown Princess (expected in March) and the historian Stig Hadenius will release Drottning Victoria av Sverige – Om kärlek, plikt och politik (“Queen Victoria of Sweden: On Love, Duty and Politics”) about the consort of Gustaf V in April. The weddings will as previously reported also be the occasion for a book on royal weddings, En brud för kung och fosterland – Kungliga svenska bröllop från Gustav Vasa till Carl XVI Gustaf (“A Bride for King and Country: Swedish Royal Weddings from Gustav Vasa to Carl XVI Gustaf”), by Lena Rangström (expected in early March), and an official wedding book by Susanna Popova, due out a month after the Crown Princess’s June wedding.
The Bernadottes came to Sweden after the sudden death of Crown Prince Carl August, the former Prince Christian August of Augustenburg, in 1810. The 200th anniversary of his death will be the occasion for a biography by American historian Lee Sather. The Napoleonic Wars in the Nordic countries will also be covered in the Russian historian Vadim V. Roginskij’s Kampen om Norden – Internationella relationer i Norden 1805-1815 (“The Struggle for Scandinavia: International Relations in the Nordic Region 1805-1815”).
In Sweden we will also see the publication of the second volume on Drottningholm in the series on the Swedish royal palaces; Moa Matthis’s biography of the wife of Gustaf II Adolf and mother of Queen Christina, Maria Eleonora – Drottningen som sa nej (“Maria Eleonora: The Queen Who Said No”); and the book Monarki vs. republik, where Per Svensson argues the case for a republic and P. J. Anders Linder defends the monarchy.
The Danish royal family will also have its share of celebrations in 2010. 28 March is the centenary of the birth of Queen Ingrid, which will be marked by a book by Roger Lundgren which will be published in both Denmark (People’s Press) and Sweden (Fischer) in March. In the same month Rosvall Royal Books will publish Ingrid, 1910-2000 by Randi Buchwaldt and Ted Rosvall (in Danish and English). Queen Ingrid’s gardens will be the subject of Blomsterdronningen - Dronning Ingrids slotshaver by John Henriksen.
Queen Margrethe’s 70th birthday in April will be the occasion for Jesper Laursen’s Dronning Margrethe og arkæologien (“Queen Margrethe and Archaeology”) and Helle Bygum’s Et fantastisk liv – Dronning Margrethe 70 år (“A Wonderful Life: Queen Margrethe at 70”). Her husband, the Prince Consort, will be the subject of the journalist Stéphanie Surrugue’s Prins – Historien om Henrik (“Prince: The Story of Henrik”), to be published by Politikens Bogforlag in April. As Surrugue has been invited to several royal events recently, including Prince Joachim’s wedding, I guess this is a more or less authorised book.
In Norway the fifth volume of Tor Bomann-Larsen’s biography of King Haakon VII and Queen Maud will be published in the autumn, taking the story up to 7 June 1940, the day King Haakon had to leave Norway at the end of the campaign which followed the German invasion.