Praise for Sophie Shorland
"Charles II, the Stuart king who restored England’s monarchy in 1660 after years of turbulence and civil war, is well known to history. Charles II’s queen-consort, though, is all but forgotten. In The Lost Queen, Sophie Shorland aims to acquaint us with this remarkable woman. Ms. Shorland, an independent historian based in Britain, has researched Catherine’s tastes and domestic life thoroughly, showing her to be more cultured and engaging than one might have assumed. A rich portrait of a figure too long ignored."
Description
An immersive biography of Elizabeth I that sheds new light on her ambitions and desires of the iconic “Virgin Queen” and repositions Tudor England within the dramatic power struggles of the sixteenth-century.
The throne of England hung in the balance, and every prince in Europe wanted to claim it. When Elizabeth I was crowned in 1558 she became the most eligible woman in Europe. All saw the same prize: marry Elizabeth, rule England. Ambassadors flooded her court, armed with portraits, jewels and marriage proposals from princes, archdukes and kings. Sweden promised mountains of silver. Spain offered imperial protection. Austria pledged powerful alliances. Even Ivan the Terrible—already twice married—sent envoys bearing gifts and threats in equal measure.
For nearly five decades, Elizabeth kept them all waiting. She contrived to play each suitor against the other to her own end. A persistent Erik XIV wrote love letters for a decade, convinced he could win her hand. She strung along the charming French Duke of Alençon, exchanging rings before wriggling free with an alliance secured. Meanwhile, Robert Dudley, never far from Elizabeth's side, became the favourite who made foreign ambassadors tremble with envy.
Written with historian Sophie Shorland's unique eye, acerbic wit, and viivd prose, Shorland draws on ambassadorial dispatches, secret intelligence reports and Elizabeth's own letters. All the Queen's Men reveals how Elizabeth I turned the competition for her hand into foreign policy—using courtship as diplomacy, flirtation as statecraft, and her perpetually single status as the key to England's survival in the tangled web of world politics.
Reviews
"Shorland takes a very friendly approach to describe the difficult life of King Charles II's Queen Consort, the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza. It is gorgeously written with visual descriptions that are so clear that they can be painted on canvas. The level of engagement that the writing provides would make this book a blockbuster movie, filled with sparkling characters fighting for the top spot in the Royal Court."
"Intriguing and meticulously researched, this book about Catherine of Braganza is highly recommended for readers interested in British history and royal biographies."
"Sophie Shorland's The Lost Queen is wonderfully rich in the 17th-century details of lives, loves, politics, and power, in England and in Europe. The book rightly challenges ideas about the wife of Charles II and his treatment of her. We've too easily preferred the gossip of the merry monarch's mistresses over this remarkable woman showing dignified courage and tenacity in the face of constant threats to her position."
