The Queens of Georgian Britain
Most of you probably know quite a lot about the first four Georges who sat on the British throne, but what do you know about their queens? Most of us know little, and Catherine Curzon is eager to remedy this.
Her first subject, Sophia of Celle, was never actually queen of Britain since George of Hanover divorced her before he became George I, shutting her away in a German castle after the murder of her Swedish lover. Curzon’s fourth subject, Caroline of Brunswick, had almost as lurid and unhappy a life; although she defeated George IV’s attempt to divorce her he successfully excluded her from the Coronation. The other two queens had more conventional histories, although not without incident. George III’s queen Charlotte had 15 children.
Curzon has a breezy, colloquial style (young Caroline of Ansbach is described as a ‘stunner’) and frequently addresses the reader in playful manner (‘the first thing to know is that once upon a time it was not at all unusual to marry your cousin’). This may not be to everyone’s taste, but it is an easy and informative read.
