The Golden Throne

A ground-breaking, present-tense reconstruction of the life and world of one of the most consequential figures in world history, Suleyman the Magnificent, from the author of The Lion House

Istanbul, 1538. The greatest of the Ottoman Sultans is at the pinnacle of world power, while his family and future are at the mercy of their own dynastic law: whichever of his five sons succeeds him must eventually kill all the others. So why not get a head start?

For the next fifteen years, as Suleyman the Magnificent and his terrifying pirate captain Barbarossa face down imperial enemies across two hemispheres, the self-fulfilling curse of the Ottomans gathers its own unstoppable momentum.

From the burning pyres of Paris to the rain-lashed mountains of Transylvania, from Buda to Basra, from Crimea to the coast of India, The Golden Throne is an intensely gripping yet entirely historical reconstruction of the life and world of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century, revealing the price of succession and the terrible cost of success.

Review

Enormously entertaining . . . illuminating . . . vivid . . . action-packed -- Pratinav Anil ― The Times *Book of the Week*

A meticulously sourced work of narrative history . . . thrilling . . . Like Mantel, De Bellaigue delivers his story in a mashup of contemporary colloquialism and gorgeous descriptions . . . Sticking closely to the written records, he deploys the skills of the novelist to bring the archive thrillingly to life -- Kathryn Hughes ― Guardian

Wolf Hall with sultans and eunuchs . . . vividly evokes the Ottoman emperor’s reign in all its gory glory ― The Times

Epic Mediterranean naval conflicts . . . dangerous realpolitik that creates then murderously shatters alliances . . . At the centre of this web of global political intrigue sits the inscrutable Suleiman . . . [and] the sultan’s attempt to balance his geopolitical scheming with his complex family life akin to a Turkish version of Succession ― Financial Times

Fascinating . . . glittering . . . de Bellaigue swoops through the three-dimensional chess game that was European geopolitics in the mid-16th century with airy confidence -- Katie Hickman ― Literary Review

Galloping, novelistic . . . This is not a book simply about dynastic succession . . . The Ottomans were the menacing other that occupied the thoughts of every monarch across the continent. The winner in this game of thrones mattered to them too -- Michael Prodger ― New Statesman

Absolutely spectacular. A book that brings the worlds of the Ottomans – and a lot more besides – to life. A triumph -- Peter Frankopan

De Bellaigue is at the top of his game. He has made the most captivating Ottoman sultan his own. A thunderously good read -- Justin Marozzi

Imagine the Shakespeare history plays mixed up with Suetonius and throw in the reports of sharp-eyed Muslim chroniclers and wily European ambassadors, and you will get a sense of what Christopher de Bellaigue’s The Golden Throne is like. Wonderful and highly enjoyable -- Margaret MacMillan

A wonderful book – entrancing, addictive, full of effortless erudition -- Rory Stewart

About the Author

Christopher de Bellaigue is the award-winning author of The Lion House: The Rise of Suleyman the Magnificent, which was chosen as a book of the year by The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator and New Yorker among others, as well as five previous books, including The Islamic Enlightenment, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2017.

As a reporter he has covered war, politics, society and the environment in five continents for the Economist, the New York Review of Books, the Guardian and the BBC. He is the founder of the Lake District Book Festival in Cartmel, Cumbria, an Honorary Fellow of the University of St Andrews and in 2026 he will take up a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford.