Philippa Gregory Books in Order: Plantagenet, Tudor & More

By Anna Marie CarrollHistorical Fiction

Philippa Gregory is one of the biggest names in historical fiction, especially for readers who love Tudor, Plantagenet, and Wars of the Roses novels told through women’s lives. If you’re looking for Philippa Gregory books in order, the main thing to know is that her bibliography is easiest to follow by series.

The Plantagenet and Tudor novels are the most searched-for part of her backlist, so I’ve put both publication order and chronological order near the top. After that, you’ll find her other series, standalones, children’s books, short stories, anthologies, and nonfiction.

Jump to:

Plantagenet and Tudor Series in Publication Order

The Plantagenet and Tudor novels are the books most readers mean when they ask where to start with Philippa Gregory. These were once discussed as the Tudor Court and Cousins’ War books, but Gregory now groups them together as one larger series.

Publication order is a good choice if you want to experience the books the way readers did as they came out. It starts with The Other Boleyn Girl, then jumps backward and forward through the family lines that shaped the English throne.

  1. The Other Boleyn Girl (2001)
  2. The Queen’s Fool (2003)
  3. The Virgin’s Lover (2004)
  4. The Constant Princess (2005)
  5. The Boleyn Inheritance (2006)
  6. The Other Queen (2008)
  7. The White Queen (2009)
  8. The Red Queen (2010)
  9. The Lady of the Rivers (2011)
  10. The Kingmaker’s Daughter (2012)
  11. The White Princess (2013)
  12. The King’s Curse (2014)
  13. The Taming of the Queen (2015)
  14. Three Sisters, Three Queens (2016)
  15. The Last Tudor (2017)
  16. Boleyn Traitor (2025)
  17. Royal Witch (2026)

Plantagenet and Tudor Series in Chronological Order

If you’re more interested in the historical timeline, chronological order is the better fit. Gregory’s official reading-order page puts these novels in historical sequence for readers who want to follow the families, marriages, alliances, and betrayals as they unfold.

Royal Witch opens earlier than the rest of the Plantagenet and Tudor novels, so I’ve placed it first here. After that, the list follows Gregory’s chronological sequence.

  1. Royal Witch
  2. The Lady of the Rivers
  3. The White Queen
  4. The Red Queen
  5. The Kingmaker’s Daughter
  6. The White Princess
  7. The Constant Princess
  8. The King’s Curse
  9. Three Sisters, Three Queens
  10. The Other Boleyn Girl
  11. Boleyn Traitor
  12. The Boleyn Inheritance
  13. The Taming of the Queen
  14. The Queen’s Fool
  15. The Virgin’s Lover
  16. The Last Tudor
  17. The Other Queen

Other Philippa Gregory Series

Original Cousins’ War Series

Before Gregory folded the Plantagenet and Tudor books into one larger sequence, the Cousins’ War books were often treated as their own series. This older grouping is still useful if you want the Wars of the Roses side of the story without the full Tudor run.

  1. The White Queen (2009)
  2. The Red Queen (2010)
  3. The Lady of the Rivers (2011)
  4. The Kingmaker’s Daughter (2012)
  5. The White Princess (2013)
  6. The King’s Curse (2014)

Original Tudor Court Series

The Tudor Court books are the older grouping for Gregory’s Henry VIII and Elizabeth I novels. This list is mostly useful if you’re comparing the original labels with the larger Plantagenet and Tudor sequence above.

  1. The Other Boleyn Girl (2001)
  2. The Queen’s Fool (2003)
  3. The Virgin’s Lover (2004)
  4. The Constant Princess (2005)
  5. The Boleyn Inheritance (2006)
  6. The Other Queen (2008)
  7. The Taming of the Queen (2015)
  8. Three Sisters, Three Queens (2016)

Wideacre Series

Gregory began her career with the Wideacre trilogy. These books follow the Lacey family and the hold that one estate has over several generations. They’re darker and more gothic than the Tudor novels, but they already show Gregory’s interest in women, inheritance, power, and family pressure.

  1. Wideacre (1987)
  2. The Favored Child (1989)
  3. Meridon (1990)

Tradescant Series

The Tradescant books move into the seventeenth century and follow John Tradescant, a gardener connected to the courts of King James I and King Charles I. If you like Gregory’s royal-court fiction but want a different corner of English history, this short series is worth keeping together.

  1. Earthly Joys (1998)
  2. Virgin Earth (1999)

Order of Darkness Series

The Order of Darkness series is Gregory’s young adult historical series. It follows Luca and Isolde through fifteenth-century Europe as they investigate strange claims, political danger, and religious fear.

  1. Changeling (2012)
  2. Stormbringers (2013)
  3. Fools’ Gold (2014)
  4. Dark Tracks (2018)

Fairmile Series

The Fairmile series begins in seventeenth-century England and follows Alinor and her family through civil war, suspicion, class pressure, and changing fortunes. Read this series in publication order.

  1. Tidelands (2019)
  2. Dark Tides (2020)
  3. Dawnlands (2022)

Philippa Gregory Standalone Books

Gregory has also written standalones outside her major series. Some are historical novels, while others are modern novels with a sharper domestic or comic edge. I’ve grouped alternate titles together so the same book doesn’t show up twice under different names.

  1. Alice Hartley’s Happiness / Mrs. Hartley and the Growth Centre / Midlife Mischief (1992)
  2. The Wise Woman (1992)
  3. Fallen Skies (1993)
  4. A Respectable Trade (1995)
  5. Perfectly Correct (1996)
  6. The Little House (1997)
  7. Zelda’s Cut (2000)

Philippa Gregory Children’s Books

Gregory has written children’s books as well, including a few older picture books and the newer Princess Rules books. Some older editions can be harder to find, but they’re still part of her bibliography.

  1. Diggory and the Boa Conductor (1996)
  2. The Little Pet Dragon (1997)
  3. A Pirate Story (1999)

The Princess Rules Books

The Princess Rules has older roots. It collects and reworks the earlier Princess Florizella stories: Princess Florizella, Princess Florizella and the Wolves, and Princess Florizella and the Giant. For most readers, the modern Princess Rules books are the simplest way to read that material.

  1. The Princess Rules (2020)
  2. It’s a Prince Thing (2021)
  3. The Mammoth Adventure (2021)

Philippa Gregory Stories & Non-Fiction

Short Story Collection

Gregory has one full short story collection. It’s separate from the historical series and focuses on modern relationships and women’s lives.

  1. Bread and Chocolate (2000)

Nonfiction Books

Gregory’s nonfiction is tied closely to the same interests that shape much of her fiction: women’s lives, missing records, and the stories history tends to flatten or ignore.

  1. The Women of the Cousins’ War (2011)
  2. Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History (2023)
  3. Normal Women: Making History for 900 Years (2025, teen edition)
  4. Normal Women in Sport (2026, Young Readers Edition)
  5. Normal Women in Medicine (2026, Young Readers Edition)
  6. Normal Women and Money (2026, Young Readers Edition)

Anthologies

Gregory has also contributed short fiction and essays to anthology projects. These are supplemental reads, but they’re worth including for completionists.

  1. Why Willows Weep: Contemporary Tales from the Woods (2011, includes Gregory’s short story Why Holly Berries are as Red as Roses)
  2. The Anniversary (2016, includes Gregory’s short story May Day)
  3. The Women Writers’ Handbook (2020, includes Gregory’s essay Early Women Writers)
  4. The Legend of Robin Hood: A BBC Radio Collection (2026, BBC Radio/audio collection with Philippa Gregory among the contributors)

Who is Philippa Gregory?

Philippa Gregory is a British historical novelist and historian best known for putting women at the center of royal history. Her breakthrough for many readers was The Other Boleyn Girl, but her work stretches far beyond Anne and Mary Boleyn.

She studied history at the University of Sussex and earned a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. That background shows in the way her novels focus on power, inheritance, marriage, religion, class, and the gaps in the historical record.

Gregory’s books have also inspired several screen adaptations, including The Other Boleyn Girl, The White Queen, The White Princess, The Spanish Princess, The Little House, and A Respectable Trade. She has also written nonfiction, children’s books, short fiction, and the stage play Richard, My Richard.

If you’re new to her work, I’d start with the Plantagenet and Tudor novels above. They’re the heart of her readership and the easiest place to understand why so many readers come to Gregory for historical fiction about ambitious, complicated women.

Looking for more books in order?

If you want more authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Books in Order index.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *