Lions of the North

• Written by the Duke of Northumberland himself, featuring his own photography
• Personal stories of growing up at Alnwick Castle – roller skating through state rooms; ice-skating on the river; disobedient dogs who, along with water pistols and footballs, have left their mark(s) on the Castle’s furnishings
• Many family connections with names and events well-known from literature and history, eg: Harry ‘Hotspur’, immortalised by Shakespeare, was the eldest son of the first Earl of Northumberland; As a young man, the 6th Earl had a love affair with Anne Boleyn; The brother of the 5th Duke of Northumberland was the first to bring the news of Napoleon’s defeat to England

Lions of the North tells, from a unique and personal perspective, the stories of the Percy family and Alnwick Castle over a thousand years of British history. Generations of Percy barons, lords, earls and dukes played vital parts in great historical events, from the Norman Conquest to the two World Wars, and the castle, once battered by marauding armies, is now a major tourist attraction. The Duke has drawn on his unparalleled access to the Percy archives to paint this fascinating portrait of a British dynasty and its survival against the odds.

Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland, was born in Alnwick Castle. A keen historian and photographer, Lions of the North fulfils his ambition to update, expand and illustrate his grandfather’s earlier history of the Percys and their castle.