Crowned in a Far Country by Princess Michael of Kent

What little girl hasn't dreamed of being a princess? In her book Crowned in a Far Country, Princess Michael has brought to us the reality of that dream. This book is the story of eight princesses who were married to foreign grooms and had to leave their families and everything they knew.

Some of the stories are well known, and others not so much so. What these women all share is a sense of duty. Most of them married for this duty, not for love and some found happiness and others did not. This is a fascinating book that is written in a very easy style and, once started, is hard to put down. The saving grace is the book is divided into chapters by each woman because otherwise, I would have predicted a sleepless night.

Catherine the Great

Who would have guessed that this best known of the Russian Tsarinas was not born in Russia? She was actually a German Princess of Anhalt Zerbst in Prussia. When she was born in the small but proud country, no one guessed the heights to which she would rise. She was only sixteen when she married Peter the future tsar.

He was not a very appealing groom but her ambition was stronger than her aversion. He was weak-minded, and she probably saw her future even at that young age. In the end, she was crowned tsarina and he was disposed of. She made a great ruler, brought culture and arts to Russia, and is remembered today as one of the Great Russians even though in reality she was a German.

Marie Antoinette

The pretty lively little Austrian princess came to France at the age of fourteen. She married the dauphin who was a year her senior within days of touching French soil. They were a poor match, he a loner who enjoyed science, and she a frivolous girl.

Maybe if the marriage hadn't taken seven years to consummate things might have gone better. Neither one of them was in any way capable of seeing the reality of life in France. This story doesn't have a happy ending but is interesting nonetheless.

Maria Carolina

Maria Carolina was Marie Antoinette's sister. She was actually substituted for her sister Maria Johanna when Johanna died of smallpox. She married the barely educated boorish King of Naples. For twenty years in all but name, she ruled Naples wisely and fairly. The death of her beloved sister Antonia resulted in her losing her sanity. The end of her life was tragic and she died unmourned and unnoticed.

Leopoldina

Marie Leopoldina was the sister of Napoleon's Austrian wife Marie Louise. Leopoldina married Dom Pedro the heir to the Portuguese throne. Her marriage took her to Brazil. She fell in love with her husband who was incapable of fidelity and, after wearing herself out in constant childbirth, she died at only twenty-nine.

These are just some of the stories that Princess Michael brings to us in Crowned in a Far Land. Each one is interesting in its own way. The book isn't long, only 191 pages, but it includes some great photos and is very well-sourced.

Caroline and Charlotte Regency Scandals by Alison Plowden

Alison Plowden has a whole list of enjoyable books that she has written about major figures in English history. With this telling of the story of Caroline and Charlotte, she has brought us into the world of Regency England and all the drama that surrounded George IV before and during his reign.

George was the eldest son of King George III of England and his wife Queen Charlotte. George has by all accounts married a commoner Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was a Catholic in a clandestine ceremony. He at this point in his life had Lady Jersey as his official mistress. He was, however, in desperate need of funds which was a constant theme with him. In 1794 he was feeling particularly pinched and with the lack of heirs to the throne, was being pressured to find a wife in exchange for settling his debt.

Where he had balked before, he now declared himself prepared to marry. He chose his first cousin, Caroline Princess from Brunswick. Caroline’s mother was the sister of King George III. There were red flags all over the place that this was going to be a marriage from Hell. Queen Charlotte disapproved of the match and even the King who was quite mad had his doubts.

Nonetheless, plans went ahead for the marriage and in April 1795 Caroline was fetched from Brunswick to marry her Prince. That the Prince had absolutely no idea what he was headed for is quite evident; he didn’t appear to give a great deal of thought to who he was marrying. 

By all accounts, Caroline was not displeased with her part of the bargain. She is described as having no tact and as blurting out pretty much anything that came into her head. She was also good-natured and happy by nature. Her mother was a silly woman who had given her no direction but was also prejudiced against her sister-in-law, the Queen of England so her daughter was not inclined to try to gain Queen Charlotte's favor which might have made her situation better.

The meeting of the two parties to this marriage did not go well. George took a dislike to her at first sight and she was heard to remark that he was very fat and not nearly as good looking as his portrait. Not an auspicious start and frankly it only got worse from there. The marriage had to take place, the contracts were all signed, and take place it did.

The Prince was drunk as a skunk and sulking as only he could but the ceremony was performed and by all accounts, over the next few weeks did his duty as well because within two months Caroline was pregnant. She was stunned by the fact since she wasn't aware he had actually performed up to that standard. Since she was vocal about his lack of prowess, it may have been this that precipitated their final break.

In January 1796, Caroline was brought to bed with an immense girl and thus Princess Charlotte Augusta came into the world. Within days of this birth a huge break happened between her parents and from here on in, the gloves were off so to speak.

Charlotte was to be for the rest of her short life a pawn in the war between her parents. Where the blame lies matters little at this point in history. Plowden weaves an interesting story that if you aren’t aware of, will keep you pretty much hoping for a happy ending for at least one of these women.

This is a great piece of historical literature that is interesting from beginning to end.

Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen by Alison Plowden

Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen by Alison Plowden tells a familiar story. The author has done a very good job of making a well-known piece of history seem fresh and new.

The book begins with a chronology of the family of Lady Jane. Jane is the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII. Her grandmother was Princess Mary, the sister of King Henry VIII.

Her grandmother was married to the elderly King of France as a young girl and married her brother’s great friend Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, as her second husband. Her daughter Frances Brandon married Henry Grey, the Marquis of Dorset, and Lady Jane was their eldest daughter.

Before you think Jane’s life was something to envy, you need to understand that she was, from the moment of her birth, a pawn to be used to further the designs of her power-hungry family. Her grandmother, the beautiful Queen Mary, had died before her birth, and her mother Frances was anything but a doting affectionate mother.

In the same month and year that Lady Jane Grey was born, a long-awaited male heir was born to King Henry VIII and his third wife Lady Jane Seymour. It is likely that Lady Jane was named to honor the new queen.

When Jane was still a young girl, she went to live in the household of the dowager queen, Katherine Parr. Princess Elizabeth, at age thirteen, was also a part of the household. This was perhaps the happiest time that Jane ever had. Katherine was an affectionate guardian, and this is probably the only time in her life that Jane felt safe and cherished. She would also have been exposed to the new religion which Katherine Parr has embraced. This can be seen as the beginning of the end for Jane.

It was her religious fervor for the reformation that would endear her to her cousin Edward, the boy king who would never grow old and lead to her being named by him as his successor. Katherine was indeed a motherly figure to all of her late husband’s children: she and Princess Mary had been friends for many years and Elizabeth and Edward were both motherless.

After the death of former Queen Katherine, Jane again became a pawn to be used by her parents in a tug of war with Thomas Seymour, Katherine Parr’s husband. His downfall gave the Greys the opening they needed to take control of Jane and to begin making plans on how best to use her. She was eventually forced to marry a man she despised, again forced to take the throne when Edward died, and then abandoned to her fate by her faithless family.

Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen by Alison Plowden is a great read and even if you think you know all the details, you will find this worth taking the time to enjoy. You will put the book down feeling that this was much more of a tragedy than you ever realized because a fascinating young woman of great promise never got to fulfill her true potential.

The Last Knight by Norman F. Cantor

A Biography of John of Gaunt

Much has been written about the Plantagenets. In bringing us the biography of John of Gaunt in “The Last Knight," Professor Cantor has brought to life one of the most important men of the Middle Ages. This is a time period filled with larger-than-life men and John was, in his own way, one of them.

John of Gaunt was the son of Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault. He was the third son born to this young power couple and since he was born in the city of Ghent, he was known as John of Gaunt. He is the younger brother of the Black Prince and the father of King Henry IV. He was raised to be a warrior prince and was the epitome of the chivalrous knight.

What this book does, is place him in the context of the late Middle Ages as it transitions into the modern era. John was a man of his times and yet often flirted with what was the way of the future. He married three times. Two of the marriages were for dynastic reasons and one was for love, an unusual thing in this time period. 

John married Blanche of Lancaster and through her gained the Duchy of Lancaster and most of his wealth. He lost her to the Black Death and it was the nurse to his two daughters who would become the love of his life. Katherine Swynford is a story in and of herself and through her, the Tudors and the Stuarts descended. His second wife was Constance of Spain, another dynastic marriage. In his old age, he married Katherine, and his nephew, King Richard II, legitimized the children of their union, the Beauforts. From his daughter Philippa by his wife Blanche, he is the grandfather of Henry the Navigator of Portugal. He has left quite an amazing legacy.

John of Gaunt was the richest man of his time. As the third son, he had no real hope of inheriting the throne and had no interest in the Church which left the army for him. He was the companion of his brother Edward for as long as Edward was able to fight but was not up to the grind without the companionship. After Edward’s death, he fought for the rights of his sister-in-law Joan and nephew Richard. If he ever thought that he would have made a better king than Richard, he never verbalized it, and there is no hint that he ever did anything but support the heir to the throne. It was left to his son Henry to depose the King and steal the throne.

In his time, he had contact with some of the great men of the Middle Ages, among them John Wyclif and Geoffrey Chaucer. This is a fascinating book about an amazing man who was indeed the last knight and who lived in a time when change, was very much in the wind.

While The Last Night is not given very good ratings on Amazon, I personally enjoyed it. It is an easy read and while perhaps not for historians, it will entertain the less critical and give a good overview of the man and his times. It certainly is as much history as the average reader wants to have.