The Courtiers

Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace

By Worsley, Lucy

Publishers Summary:
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.

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ISBN
978-0-80271-987-4
Publisher
Walker


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on August 1, 2010

In 1725, England's George I commissioned court painter William King to decorate the grand staircase of Kensington Palace. The resulting trompe l'oeil mural included 45 portraits of royal servants from clerks to maids of honor. Worsley (chief curator, Historic Royal Palaces; Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion, and Great Houses) focuses on some of the portrayed figures as she tells the story of court life fr...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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