I'm thrilled to welcome Catherine Curzon to my blog with news of her new book, Life in the Georgian Court. The book is available in the United States now, as well as in the UK and elsewhere. It's a sumptuous book, and I highly recommend it! I asked Catherine to give us a little taste of what we might find in the pages of her new book.
Death of a Devoted Consort
Whilst researching Life in the Georgian Court, it swiftly became apparent that there can can be few royal
consorts as devoted as Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of George III.
From the heady early days of their union in 1761 Charlotte was a loving and
faithful spouse and her husband turned his back on the long-established royal
tradition of taking mistresses, happy in the company of his quiet, graceful
queen. Throughout the years of their marriage, with all the well-documented
health problems both physical and mental that George
suffered, Charlotte remained his loving and most protective companion.
 |
| Queen Charlotte |
As the old queen entered her seventy fourth year, she had
never been more fragile. Her husband’s tenuous mental health had seen him
confined to Windsor Castle and though she tried her best to continue with her
official duties, it was becoming painfully clear that Charlotte was in failing
health. Her last public engagement came in April of 1818 when she visited the
Mansion House to attend a prize giving in honour of the National Society for
Promoting the Education of the Poor.
Following that last philanthropic engagement Charlotte
gathered her daughters to her and took up a secluded residence at Dutch House.
Away from the bustle of official duties the queen still hoped that she might recover
her health enough to travel on to Windsor to join her husband, but it was not
to be. In fact, far from growing stronger, her wellbeing declined at a rapid
rate. Hidden away from the public gaze Charlotte suffered terribly. Her legs
swelled, joints growing sore and gangrenous until she could barely get around
at all.
The ailing queen’s immobility contributed to her
worsening health and as the year drew on she contracted pneumonia, the final
illness of her eventful life. On 17th November 1818 Charlotte settled in a
comfortable armchair, her children at her side. With her frail hand held safely
in that of her son, the Prince Regent, the queen passed quietly away. Only in
death did she make that longed for trip to Windsor, where she was laid to rest.
King George III, suffering from dementia, never learnt of his
beloved wife's death and followed her to the grave just eighteen months later.
About
the Author
Catherine
Curzon is a royal historian and blogs on all matters 18th century at A Covent Garden Gilflurt's Guide to Life.
Her
work has featured by publications including BBC History Extra, All About History, History of Royals, Explore History and Jane
Austen’s Regency World. She has also provided additional material
for the sell-out theatrical show, An Evening
with Jane Austen,
which she introduced at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, last night.
Catherine
holds a Master’s degree in Film and when not dodging the furies of the
guillotine, she lives in Yorkshire atop a ludicrously steep hill.
Her
book, Life in the Georgian Court, is available now from Amazon UK,
Amazon US,
Book Depository and all good bookshops!
About
Life in the Georgian Court
As
the glittering Hanoverian court gives birth to the British Georgian era, a
golden age of royalty dawns in Europe. Houses rise and fall, births, marriages
and scandals change the course of history and in France, Revolution stalks the
land.
Peep
behind the shutters of the opulent court of the doomed Bourbons, the absolutist
powerhouse of Romanov Russia and the epoch-defining family whose kings gave
their name to the era, the House of Hanover.
Behind
the pomp and ceremony were men and women born into worlds of immense privilege, yet beneath the powdered wigs and robes of state were
real people living lives of romance, tragedy, intrigue and eccentricity. Take a
journey into the private lives of very public figures and learn of arranged
marriages that turned to love or hate and scandals that rocked polite society.
Here
the former wife of a king spends three decades in lonely captivity, Prinny
makes scandalous eyes at the toast of the London stage and Marie Antoinette
begins her last, terrible journey through Paris as her son sits alone in a
forgotten prison cell.
Life
in the Georgian Court is
a privileged peek into the glamorous, tragic and iconic courts of the Georgian
world, where even a king could take nothing for granted.
Bibliography
Anonymous. The Life and Memoirs of Her Royal Highness
Princess Charlotte of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld & C. London: T. Kinnersley,
1818.
Campbell Orr, Clarissa. Queenship in Europe 1660-1815:
The Role of the Consort. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Craig, William Marshall. Memoir of Her Majesty Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz,
Queen of Great Britain.
Liverpool: Henry Fisher, 1818.
Fraser, Flora. Princesses: The Six Daughters of George
III. Edinburgh: A&C Black, 2012.
Hadlow, Janice. The Strangest Family: The Private Lives
of George III, Queen Charlotte and the Hanoverians. London: William
Collins, 2014.
Hibbert, Christopher. George III: A Personal History.
London: Viking, 1998.
Oulton, CW. Authentic and Impartial Memoirs of Her Late
Majesty: Charlotte Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Kinnersley,
1819.