A myth-busting biography of Henrietta Maria wife of Charles I which retells the dramatic
story of the civil war from her perspectiveA TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARSHORTLISTED FOR THE
ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZEHenrietta Maria Charles I's queen is the most reviled consort in
British history. Condemned as the 'Popish brat of France' and a 'notorious whore' she remains
in popular memory the woman who turned the king Catholic - so causing a civil war - and a cruel
and bigoted mother.Leanda de Lisle unpicks these myths to reveal a very different queen. We
meet a new bride who enjoyed annoying her uptight husband who was a passionate advocate for
the female voice in public affairs and who when civil war came proved crucial to Charles's
campaign. The image of the Restoration queen as an irrelevant crone is replaced with Henrietta
Maria as an influential 'phoenix queen'. It is time to look again at this despised queen and
judge if she is not in fact one of our most remarkable.'Brilliantly written mesmerising
superb scholarship and totally immersive... A total game changer' KATE WILLIAMS author of
Rival Queens'This is revisionist history at its absolute best' ANDREW ROBERTS author of
Churchill'Beautifully written and endlessly fascinating' ALEXANDER LARMAN author of The Crown
in Crisis'Popular history of the finest kind' RONALD HUTTON author of The Witch
