Download or read book The Loves of Charles II written by Jean Plaidy and published by Crown. This book was released on 2005-10-25 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From princesses to country girls to actresses…the loves of Charles II come to life. Ten years after Charles I was deposed and executed, his son, Charles II, regains the throne after many years in exile. Charles is determined not only to restore the monarchy but also to revive a society that has suffered under many years of Puritan rule, when everything from theater to Christmas festivals was illegal. As king, Charles II throws himself into the gaiety of court life, becoming a patron of the arts and a consummate lover of women. He first secures a strong dynastic alliance by marrying Catherine of Braganza, a shy, plain Portuguese princess who falls in love with her handsome husband and brings him great wealth, but can never give him the son he longs for. For many years, his “untitled queen” is a bold and sensual older woman—Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine—whose husband is routinely paid to look the other way. But when the politically ambitious Lady Castlemaine becomes too powerful, she is replaced by Louise de Kéroualle, a baby-faced French noblewoman who may have been sent to Charles’s court as a spy. His other great love, and Louise’s rival, is Nell Gwyn, a stage actress who rises from the streets of London to become the king’s favorite and a hero of the working class. Court intrigue and affairs of the heart weave together in this unforgettable page-turner.
Download or read book The Loves of Charles II written by Jean Plaidy and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 756 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Wandering Prince written by Jean Plaidy and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-07-30 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fans of Philippa Gregory will love this captivating journey back in time from multi-million copy and international bestselling author Jean Plaidy. Kings in exile, unrequited passion, courtly intrigue and secrets - what more could you want? 'Jean Plaidy's strength as a popular writer is again shown...solid, enjoyable.' -- Daily Mirror 'Outstanding' -- Vanity Fair 'Plaidy has brought the past to life' -- Times Literary Supplement 'Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama' -- New York Times 'Excellent as always!' -- ***** Reader review 'Couldn't put it down...!' -- ***** Reader review 'Easy to read and hard to put down' -- ***** Reader review ************************************************************* 1651: Charles II - the most fascinating of England's rakes - is in exile. With him are his younger sister Minette and his buxom mistress Lucy Water and together they traverse the political and romantic minefield of the French courts. Minette soon falls passionately in love with Louis, the young Sun King. Yet her affections are not returned and, heartbroken, she must mollify herself with a marriage to his secretly gay brother, Phillippe. But at what cost?
Download or read book A Health Unto His Majesty written by Jean Plaidy and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-07-30 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical romance at its very best: fans of Philippa Gregory will love this captivating journey back in time from multi-million copy and international bestselling author Jean Plaidy. 'Jean Plaidy conveys the texture of various patches of the past with such rich complexity' - Guardian 'These books are page-turners; they offer a wonderful way to learn about history... and their stories will remain with you for ever' -- Daily Express 'Every bit as exciting and moving today as they were when first written.' -- Woman & Home 'Unputdownable, educational and a great read' -- ***** Reader review 'Excellent as always!' -- ***** Reader review ******************************************************************** 1666: Charles II is rapturously welcomed back on the throne after years in exile. Needing funds he marries the wealthy Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza. But this is an unsuccessful match as the princess fails to provide him with an heir and the dowry never materializes. Although Charles always treats her with the utmost kindness, Catherine has to tolerate his many mistresses, notably the promiscuous beauty Barbara Castelmaine. The plot unfolds against a background of the Plague, the Popish Plot and the Great Fire of London where underlying religious tensions promise to cause problems for the King. When his Catholic brother, James, looks likely to succeed him, the people rise up against Catholics. Even Queen Catherine is in danger when she is accused of plotting to kill her husband. Will this restored monarchy be able to hold on to power?
Download or read book Mistresses written by Linda Porter and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2020-04-16 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to the great diarist, John Evelyn, Charles II was ‘addicted to women’, and throughout his long reign a great many succumbed to his charms. Clever, urbane and handsome, Charles presided over a hedonistic court, in which licence and licentiousness prevailed. Mistresses is the story of the women who shared Charles’s bed, each of whom wielded influence on both the politics and cultural life of the country. From the young king-in-exile’s first mistress and mother to his first child, Lucy Walter, to the promiscuous and ill-tempered courtier, Barbara Villiers. From Frances Teresa Stuart, ‘the prettiest girl in the world’ to history’s most famous orange-seller, ‘pretty, witty’ Nell Gwynn and to her fellow-actress, Moll Davis, who bore the last of the king’s fifteen illegitimate children. From Louise de Kéroualle, the French aristocrat – and spy for Louis XIV – to the sexually ambiguous Hortense Mancini. Here, too, is the forlorn and humiliated Queen Catherine, the Portuguese princess who was Charles’s childless queen. Drawing on a wide variety of original sources, including material in private archives, Linda Porter paints a vivid picture of these women and of Restoration England, an era that was both glamorous and sordid.
Download or read book The Loves of Charles II written by and published by . This book was released on 1936 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Theatre, Cornelia Otis Skinner presenting her dramatic plays "Mansion on the Hudson," "The Wives of Henry VIII," and "The Loves of Charles II," written for a single actress, each play preceded by original modern monologues.
Download or read book The Mistresses of Charles II written by Brian Masters and published by Constable Limited. This book was released on 1997 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Royal Charles Charles II and the Restoration written by Antonia Pakenham Fraser (Lady) and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Countess and the King written by Susan Holloway Scott and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-09-07 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Katherine Sedley lived by her own rules and loved who she pleased- until she became the infamous mistress of King James II... London, 1675: Born to wealth and privilege, Katherine is introduced to the decadent court of King Charles II, and quickly becomes a favorite from the palace to the bawdy playhouses. She gleefully snubs respectable marriage to become the Duke of York's mistress. But Katherine's life of carefree pleasure ends when Charles II dies, and her lover becomes King James II. Suddenly she is cast into a tangle of political intrigue, religious dissent, and ever-shifting alliances, where a wrong step can mean treason, exile, or death at the executioner's block. As the risks rise, Katherine is forced to make the most perilous of choices: to remain loyal to the king, or to England.
Download or read book All the King s Women written by Derek Wilson and published by Hutchinson Radius. This book was released on 2003 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An excellent prince, doubtless, had he been less addicted to women .. those wicked creatures took him from all application becoming so great a king.' John Evelyn The image of Charles II as a randy monarch who dragged the crown through the moral mire and irredeemable weakened ots position has persisted throughout the three centuries since John Evelyn gave his judgement. hat judgement, Derek Wilson argues, is OK as far it goes. The Restoration court did set an example of cynical libertinism that provoked opposition not only from outraged preacher, but also satirical journalists and angry mobs who pelted royal mistresses and burned down brothels. But Charles' bedroom antics are symptoms and not causes of social decadence. Why did Pepys complain 'there is nothing almost but bawdry at court from top to bottom' or Bishop Burnet observe that throughout the three kingdoms people were 'throwing of the very professions of virtue and piety'? he answers must be sought in the traumatic upheaval of the Civil War and its aftermath in the life of Charles Stuart and his people. In a society that was shaken loose by violent conflict the position of women changed radically. Many experienced anew
Download or read book A Gambling Man written by Jenny Uglow and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2010-11-23 with total page 855 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Restoration was a decade of experimentation: from the founding of the Royal Society for investigating the sciences to the startling role of credit and risk; from the shocking licentiousness of the court to failed attempts at religious tolerance. Negotiating all these, Charles II, the "slippery sovereign," laid odds and took chances, dissembling and manipulating his followers. The theaters may have been restored, but the king himself was the supreme actor. Yet while his grandeur, his court, and his colorful sex life were on display, his true intentions lay hidden. Charles II was thirty when he crossed the English Channel in fine May weather in 1660. His Restoration was greeted with maypoles and bonfires, as spring after the long years of Cromwell's rule. But there was no way to turn back, no way he could "restore" the old dispensation. Certainty had vanished. The divinity of kingship had ended with his father's beheading. "Honor" was now a word tossed around in duels. "Providence" could no longer be trusted. As the country was rocked by plague, fire, and war, people searched for new ideas by which to live. And exactly ten years after he arrived, Charles would again stand on the shore at Dover, this time placing the greatest bet of his life in a secret deal with his cousin, Louis XIV of France. Jenny Uglow's previous biographies have won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and International PEN's Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History. A Gambling Man is Uglow at her best: both a vivid portrait of Charles II that explores his elusive nature and a spirited evocation of a vibrant, violent, pulsing world on the brink of modernity.
Download or read book Charles II written by Royal Collection Trust and published by Royal Collection Editions. This book was released on 2018 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Restoration era of the British monarchy covers the reigns of Charles II (1660-85) and James II (1685-8). This publication focuses on the art and culture of the Restoration court at this time, including the development of an 'English baroque' and the use of court ritual and art (especially decorative art) by both monarchs. This sumptuously illustrated book showcases the replacement crown jewels made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661, his collection of Italian Old Master paintings, drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and the spectacular furnishings of the palaces of Whitehall and St James's.
Download or read book Royal Mistress written by Patricia Campbell Horton and published by Avon Books. This book was released on 1977-09 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Restoration written by Rose Tremain and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Restoration is a dazzling romp through 17th-century England. The main character Robert Merivel not only embodies the contradictions of his era, but ours as well. He is trapped between the longing for wealth and power and the realization that the pursuit of these trappings can leave one's life rather empty.
Download or read book The King s Favorite written by Susan Holloway Scott and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-07-01 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acclaimed author of Duchess and Royal Harlot returns with the unforgettable story of a king's last love and London's darling? BRNell Gwyn has never been a lady, nor does she pretend to be. Blessed with impudent wit and saucy beauty, she swiftly rises from the poverty of Covent Garden to become a sensation in the theater. Still in her teens, she catches the eye of King Charles II, and trades the stage for Whitehall Palace-and the role of royal mistress. Even though she delights the king, she must learn to negotiate the cutthroat royal court, where ambition and lust for power rule the hearts of all around her. For beneath her charm and light-heartedness, Nell has her own ambition-to become no less than the king's favorite.
Download or read book To Catch A King Charles II s Great Escape written by Charles Spencer and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2017-10-05 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did the most wanted man in the country outwit the greatest manhunt in British history?
Download or read book The French Mistress written by Susan Holloway Scott and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-07-07 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of The King's Favorite-a new novel based on a dazzling and decadent true story of Restoration England. The daughter of a poor nobleman, Louise leaves the French countryside for the court of King Louis XIV, where she must not only please the tastes of the jaded king, but serve as a spy for France. With few friends, many rivals, and ever-shifting loyalties, Louise learns the perils of her new role. Yet she is too ambitious to be a pawn in the intrigues of others. With the promise of riches, power, and even the love of a king, Louise creates her own destiny in a dance of intrigue between two monarchs-and two countries.
