jjares reviewed Behind the Palace Doors: Five Centuries of Sex, Adventure, Vice, Treachery, and Folly from Royal Britain on + 3262 more book reviews
Early on, this litany of the British Royal family's myriad of missteps, craziness, and/or despotic behavior seems rather superficial. The author tends to zero in on the ghoulish (it took more than one whack of the ax to kill Mary Queen of Scots, etc.). The fact that King James I was a homosexual (and also the writer of the King James Version of the Bible) was a shock.
The 18 pregnancies of Anne of Stuart were surprising; particularly when only one survived childhood, but died before he could rise to kingship (aged 11). Thus, the Stuart line was finished and the Hanoverians rose to the British crown; they were descended in the female line from James VI and I.
George I was the first Hanoverian king; he became king over England when he was about 56. George I became king under the Act of Settlement of 1701. There were some 50 Roman Catholic relatives with stronger claims but England wanted a Protestant king. George II was the last foreign-born monarch to rule over the British isles. The Hanoverians were noted for being royals who hated their heirs.
Today, I found out who Jacobites were. Jacobitism was a mostly 17th- and 18th-century movement that supported the restoration of the House of Stuart to the British throne. The name is derived from Jacobus, the Latin version of James. The author tells a rousing story of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Stuart) and the Jacobites.
George V and Tsar Nicholas were first cousins (as was also Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and Prussia). I found photos of George and Nicholas and they are stunningly alike, especially in earlier years (just as this book states). I was shocked to hear that George, who was so close to Nicholas, would revoke the asylum requested for the royal family of Russia when the Bolsheviks took over.
I've read enough of Edward VIII's stupid political leanings (he admired Adolph Hitler) to know that Edward's marrying the oft-divorced Wallis Simpson was the luckiest thing that ever happened to the British people. Edward and Wallis richly deserved each other.
I have to say that the story grew on me. At first, I thought the story was superficial, but by the reign of Queen Anne (Stuart) and then Bonnie Prince Charlie, I thought the story improved immensely.
The 18 pregnancies of Anne of Stuart were surprising; particularly when only one survived childhood, but died before he could rise to kingship (aged 11). Thus, the Stuart line was finished and the Hanoverians rose to the British crown; they were descended in the female line from James VI and I.
George I was the first Hanoverian king; he became king over England when he was about 56. George I became king under the Act of Settlement of 1701. There were some 50 Roman Catholic relatives with stronger claims but England wanted a Protestant king. George II was the last foreign-born monarch to rule over the British isles. The Hanoverians were noted for being royals who hated their heirs.
Today, I found out who Jacobites were. Jacobitism was a mostly 17th- and 18th-century movement that supported the restoration of the House of Stuart to the British throne. The name is derived from Jacobus, the Latin version of James. The author tells a rousing story of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Stuart) and the Jacobites.
George V and Tsar Nicholas were first cousins (as was also Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and Prussia). I found photos of George and Nicholas and they are stunningly alike, especially in earlier years (just as this book states). I was shocked to hear that George, who was so close to Nicholas, would revoke the asylum requested for the royal family of Russia when the Bolsheviks took over.
I've read enough of Edward VIII's stupid political leanings (he admired Adolph Hitler) to know that Edward's marrying the oft-divorced Wallis Simpson was the luckiest thing that ever happened to the British people. Edward and Wallis richly deserved each other.
I have to say that the story grew on me. At first, I thought the story was superficial, but by the reign of Queen Anne (Stuart) and then Bonnie Prince Charlie, I thought the story improved immensely.
