The Royal Diaries is a series of 20 books published by Scholastic Press from 1999 to 2005. In each of the books, a fictional diary of a real female figure of royalty as a child throughout world history was written by the author. The Royal Diaries was a spin-off of Scholastic's popular Dear America series. While Dear America, My Name Is America, and My America were all cancelled in 2004, The Royal Diaries continued until 2005.
Unlike Dear America, which consisted of diaries of young girls living during pivotal periods in American history, The Royal Diaries is a series that features women of royalty from all over the world. The series is fictional, though it involves real historical figures. Facts and images concerning the historical figure featured in the book are given at the end of each of the books.
Subjects The Royal Diaries has covered many famous women in royalty, including Jahanara, Marie Antoinette, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, Isabella I of Castile, Cleopatra VII, the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, Catherine the Great, Empress Elisabeth, and Queen Victoria. The series has also covered less known women, such as Queen Seondeok of Silla, Anacaona of the Taínos, Weetamoo of the Pocassets, the Lady of Ch'iao Kuo of the Hsien, the Lady of Palenque of the Mayans, and Nzingha of Ndongo. It also covers the life and customs of these women. The target age for these books is nine to twelve.
List of books + List of The Royal Diaries books Release date Author Title 1999 Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England, 1544 Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile, Egypt, 57 B.C. 2000 Isabel: Jewel of Castilla, Spain, 1466 Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Austria-France 1769 Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914 Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba, Angola, Africa, 1595 2001 Kaiulani: The People's Princess, Hawaii, 1889 Lady of Ch'iao Kuo: Warrior of the South, Southern China, 531 A.D. Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia, England, 1829 2002 Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, France, 1553 Sŏndŏk: Princess of the Moon and Stars, Korea, 595 A.D. Jahanara: Princess of Princesses, India, 1627 Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine, France, 1136 2003 Elisabeth: The Princess Bride, Austria-Hungary, 1853 Kristina: The Girl King, Sweden, 1638 Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets, Massachusetts–Rhode Island, 1653 2004 Lady of Palenque: Flower of Bacal, Mesoamerica, A.D. 749 Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, Japan, 1858 2005 Anacaona: Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490 Catherine: The Great Journey, Russia, 1743
Television adaptations Following the Dear America series, in 2000, HBO created three TV films based on three of the Royal Diaries books: Elizabeth I, Isabel, and Cleopatra VII. Reruns of these adaptations later aired on Qubo. As of November 2025, they are available to stream on Tubi and The Roku Channel.
In November 2021, it was reported that Legendary Television and Scholastic Entertainment were developing a new adaptation for television.
See also
Dear America My America My Name is America
References
External links The Royal Diaries at scholastic.ca