My book profiles twelve heirs apparent whose unexpected—and sometimes shocking—deaths altered the course of history from the eleventh to the nineteenth century. The resulting succession crises have led to war, the demise of dynasties and political instability that rippled for generations. Some are well known to royal history fans, such as Arthur, the elder brother of Henry the VIII of England. Others have not received nearly as much attention, including Louis Napoleon, the Bonaparte imperial heir who died during the Anglo-Zulu War trying to recapture his family’s past military glory, and Alexei Petrovich, the eldest son of Russia’s Peter the Great, who died from torture ordered by his own father.

I'm a freelance journalist whose work has been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian.com, and many other outlets.