If you are eagerly waiting for another Georgian History Month post (I refuse to believe that everyone is not itching for more) or have just binged Queen Charlotte on Netflix and want more. While the kings and princes of the Georgian period have received quite a bit of attention, the women of these Georgian royal families have not. (Or at least not until very recently.) Today’s reading list is looking at these royal women who have largely been in the background! I’ve got the best books on Georgian royal women for you to enjoy…
Note
All of these books are joint biographies. I’ve got some theories as to why this is a trend, but Georgian biographies seem to largely be joint bios. (Hopefully that changes going forward!) However, I am only including biographies that I feel gave an appropriate amount of space and attention to the women in these families.
The Best Books on Royal Georgian Women
King George and Queen Caroline, John van der Kiste
This biography of the last king to lead British troups into baffle and his able wife provides intriquing insight into 18th century war and politics. Often derided as the buffoon who hated all boets and bainters, George II was fortunate to be served by Prime Ministers Sir Robert Walpole and William Pitt, and was wise enough to leave the business of government to them. His wife, generally regarded as the ablest of British queens between Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, used her influence in politics and patronage so that she and Walpole effectively ruled the kingdom between them. Her death in 1737 was seen as a national calamity. Illustrated throughout, this new biography provides a much-needed reevaluation of these monarchs and the times in which they ruled.
Why You Should Read This…
John van der Kiste is a big name in royal biographies over the past 30 years. He’s written widely on the British Royal Family and different groupings within it from the Georgians through to the House of Windsor. This King George and Queen Caroline biography is an easy-to-read book and gives Caroline’s life and time as queen a wider context. There are other Caroline of Ansbach biographies but I find that while this one might be slightly shorter (as it is split with George), it is a more balanced look. The early Georgian period in particular is fraught with familial tension, and van der Kiste captures that, as well.
A Royal Affair: George III and His Scandalous Siblings, Stella Tillyard
History remembers King George III of England as the mad monarch who lost America. But as a young man, this poignant figure set aside his own passions in favor of a temperate life as guardian to both his siblings and his country. He would soon learn that his prudently cultivated harmony would be challenged by the impetuous natures of his sisters and brothers, and by a changing world in which the very instituation of monarchy was under fire.
At the heart of Stella Tillyard’s intimate and vivid account is King George’s sister Caroline Mathilde. Married against her will at fifteen to the ailing king of Denmark, she broke all the rules by embarking on an affair with a radical young court doctor. Their rash experiment in free living ended in imprisonment, death, and exile and almost led their two countries to war. Around this tragedy are woven the stories of King George’s scandalous brothers, who squandered their time and titles partying and indulging in disastrous relationships that the gossip-hungry press was all too delighted to report.
Historians have always been puzzled by George’s refusal to give up on America, which forced his government to drag out the Revolutionary War long after it was effectively lost. Tillyard suggests that the king, seeing the colonists as part of his family, sought to control them in the same way he had attempted to rule his younger siblings.
Why You Should Read This…
Stella Tillyard has written several books on the Georgian period (including the book that Aristocrats, the 1999 period drama, was based on), and A Royal Affair is one of the best. Although this book is theoretically centred on George III, the spotlight is on his sister Princess Caroline Mathilde. (I would say roughly half the book covers Caroline Mathilde’s life.) She married the King of Denmark and had an immensely difficult tenure as Queen, in a country that was quite far from the Britain that she knew.
George and his other siblings make up the other half of the book, including George’s other three sisters. I would say that I came away with a much stronger impression of Caroline Mathilde than of George or their other siblings.
A Royal Experiment: Love and Duty, Madness and Betrayal- The Private Lives of King George III and Queen Charlotte, Janice Hadlow
In the U.S., Britain’s George III, the protagonist of A Royal Experiment, is known as the king from whom Americans won their independence and as “the mad king,” but in Janice Hadlow’s groundbreaking and entertaining new biography, he is another character altogether—compelling and relatable.
He was the first of Britain’s three Hanoverian kings to be born in England, the first to identify as native of the nation he ruled. But this was far from the only difference between him and his predecessors. Neither of the previous Georges was faithful to his wife, nor to his mistresses. Both hated their own sons. And, overall, their children were angry, jealous, and disaffected schemers, whose palace shenanigans kick off Hadlow’s juicy narrative and also made their lives unhappy ones.
Pained by his childhood amid this cruel and feuding family, George came to the throne aspiring to be a new kind of king—a force for moral good. And to be that new kind of king, he had to be a new kind of man. Against his irresistibly awful family background—of brutal royal intrigue, infidelity, and betrayal—George fervently pursued a radical domestic dream: he would have a faithful marriage and raise loving, educated, and resilient children.
The struggle of King George—along with his wife, Queen Charlotte, and their 15 children—to pursue a passion for family will surprise history buffs and delight a broad swath of biography readers and royal watchers.
Why You Should Read This…
I will admit I am not quite finished this yet- at the time of writing I have two chapters yet. However, this a brilliant biography of Charlotte, George, and their family. This is a balanced biography of the two I would say, but they worked as a fairly close team so the approach works well here. George was a strong and specific figure within his family; that is quite obvious. However, Charlotte also had an immense impact on her children, and had a much stronger personality than historians and biographers give her credit for.
This is not a “read on the beach in a few hours” type of book- it is an in-depth look at this lengthy royal marriage and all of its ramifications. However, if you enjoy books that you can give time for it to settle and think on it, this is a must-read Georgian biography.
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Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III, Flora Fraser
In this sumptuous group portrait of the six daughters of “Mad” King George III, acclaimed biographer Flora Fraser takes us into the heart of the British royal family during the tumultuous period of the American and French revolutions.
Drawing on their extraordinary private correspondence, Fraser gives voice to these handsome, accomplished, extremely well-educated Princess Royal, the eldest, constantly at odds with her mother; home-loving, family-minded Augusta; plump Elizabeth, a gifted amateur artist; Mary, the bland beauty of the family; Sophia, emotional and prone to take refuge in illness; and Amelia, “the most turbulent and tempestuous of all the Princesses.” Never before has the historical searchlight been turned with such sympathy and acuity on George III and his family.
Why You Should Read This…
If Fraser seems familiar to you, it would be because Flora Fraser’s mother is historian and author Lady Antonia Fraser. And she has absolutely inherited her talent. Princesses focuses on the daughters of George III and Charlotte. Much of the attention is paid to their brothers- the future George IV and William IV- but these six women lived fascinating lives themselves.
I will be upfront and say that for the most part, George and Charlotte’s daughters lived incredibly restrictive and limited lives. It doesn’t end with an uplifting third act where they each get their happily-ever-after. However, this joint biography provides valuable insight and brings these so-often-ignored Georgian princesses to the surface.
Charlotte and Leopold: The True Story of the Original People’s Princess, James Chambers
The tragic story of the doomed romance between Charlotte, heir to the English throne, and Leopold, uncle of Queen Victoria and first King of the Belgians. A story that Jane Austen famously declined to tell, declaring: “I could no more write a romance than an epic poem.”
Charlotte was the only legitimate royal child of her generation, and her death in childbirth resulted in a public outpouring of grief the like of which was not to be seen again until the death of Diana, over 150 years later. Charlotte’s death was followed by an unseemly scramble to produce a substitute heir. Queen Victoria was the product.
James Chambers masterfully demonstrates how the personal and the political inevitably collide in scheming post-Napoleonic Europe, offering a vivid and sympathetic portrait of a couple whose lives are in many ways not their own. From the day she was born, Charlotte won the hearts of her subjects and yet, behind the scenes, she was used, abused, and victimized by rivalries—between her parents; between her father (the Prince Regent, later King George IV) and (Mad) King George III; between her tutors, governesses, and other members of her discordant household; and ultimately between the Whig opposition and the Tory government.
Why You Should Read This…
Princess Charlotte would be the young princess who has just died at the beginning of Queen Charlotte, and was a real historical figure. Born to the Prince and Princess of Wales who spent exactly two nights together before permanently separating, Charlotte was a boisturous but beloved member of the Royal Family.
Given that her parents did not speak and argued over nearly everything (through others) and she had her own household in early childhood, it is not surprising that Charlotte quickly became her own person. Although she died at 21, she lived a full life, and this joint biography of her and her husband (the future King of the Belgians) details her life well.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this list of the best books on Georgian royal women!
Cheers,
The Historian
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