by Lucy Worsley
Release Date: August 17, 2010
SYNOPSIS: Kensington Palace is now most famous as the former home of Diana, Princess of Wales, but the palace’s glory days came between 1714 and 1760, during the reigns of George I and II . In the eighteenth century, this palace was a world of skulduggery, intrigue, politicking, etiquette, wigs, and beauty spots, where fans whistled open like switchblades and unusual people were kept as curiosities. Lucy Worsley’s The Courtiers charts the trajectory of the fantastically quarrelsome Hanovers and the last great gasp of British court life.
Structured around the paintings of courtiers and servants that line the walls of the King’s Staircase of Kensington Palace—paintings you can see at the palace today—The Courtiers goes behind closed doors to meet a pushy young painter, a maid of honor with a secret marriage, a vice chamberlain with many vices, a bedchamber woman with a violent husband, two aging royal mistresses, and many more. The result is an indelible portrait of court life leading up to the famous reign of George III , and a feast for both Anglophiles and lovers of history and royalty.
Woo Hoo...this one sounds juicy!
Woo Hoo...this one sounds juicy!
Love your new look, Amy!
ReplyDeleteThis definitely sounds like a good one!
ReplyDeleteThis does indeed sound like a most interesting book.
ReplyDeleteOhmigosh, I almost drooled when I saw this post! Anything with courtiers and Georgian in it tends to have that effect on me :-)
ReplyDeleteOoh, this looks like a good one.
ReplyDelete