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A mythbusting biography of Henrietta Maria wife of Charles I which retells the dramatic story of the civil war from her perspective
Henrietta Maria is the most reviled consort to have worn the crown of Britains Three Kingdoms Condemned as that Popish brat of France a notorious whore and traitor she remains in popular memory the wife who wore the breeches and turned her husband Catholic so causing a civil war and a cruel and bigoted mother
Leanda de Lisles White King was hailed as the definitive modern biography about Charles I Observer Here she considers Henrietta Marias point of view unpicking the myths to reveal a very different queen We meet a new bride who enjoyed annoying her uptight husband a leader of fashion in clothes and cultural matters an innovative builder and gardener and an advocate of the female voice in public affairs No bigot her closest friends included Puritans as well as Catholics and she led the antiSpanish faction at court linked to the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years War When civil war came the strategic planning and fundraising of his She Generalissimo proved crucial to Charless campaign
The story takes us to courts across Europe and looks at the fate of Henrietta Marias mother and her sisters who also faced civil wars Her estrangement from her son Henry is explained and the image of the Restoration queen as an irrelevant crone is replaced with Henrietta Maria as an influential phoenix queen presiding over a court with more mirth even than that of the Merry Monarch Charles II
It is time to look again at this despised queen and judge if she is not in fact one of our most remarkable
Leanda de Lisle 2022 P Penguin Audio 2022
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