Monthly Archives: April 2012

The Medieval Book Reviews 2: Matilda, Queen of the Conqueror by Tracy Borman

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There are two famous historical events allegedly involving Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, who defeated King Harold of England in 1066 to become William the Conqueror. The first is her scornful initial refusal of his proposal of marriage. While Matilda was the legitimate daughter of Count Baldwin V of Flanders and Countess Adela, sister of King Robert the Pious of France, William had been born of Duke Robert of Normandy’s liaison with Herleva of Falaise, who was most likely a tanner’s daughter. According to the Chronicle of Tours, a satirical volume filled with anti-Norman sentiments, Matilda declared that she would marry no bastard, and William beat her until she changed her mind.

The second well known story presents a much more docile image of Matilda. According to legend, the Duchess of Normandy and her ladies sewed the Bayeux Tapestry while William pacified England after the Battle of Hastings. In France, the tapestry is called La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde in honour of its supposed creator. In Queen of the Conqueror, Tracy Borman’s critical reading of the monastic chronicles that provide much of the evidence of Matilda’s life challenges both these classic accounts of Matilda’s historical significance.

As regent of Normandy during William’s conquest of England, Matilda would have been too busy ruling her husband’s fractious domains to spend her days doing embroidery. As for William’s supposed beating of Matilda, her reconsideration of his proposal was more likely prompted by the lingering scandal created by her past interest in a visiting Saxon nobleman. Matilda’s real story may be more interesting than the legends.

The persistence of apocryphal accounts of Matilda’s life and significance demonstrates the necessity of a full length biography. Despite Matilda’s significance as the first woman to be formally crowned Queen of England, and her presence in popular culture as a prominent character in historical novels such as Helen Hollick’s I Am The Chosen King: One Kingdom, Two Men, One Crown (First published as Harold the King) and Hilda Lewis’s Wife to the Bastard, Borman’s Queen of the Conqueror is the first work of non-fiction focused on her life.

As the author of Elizabeth’s Women and King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant: Henrietta Howard, Borman has extensive experience uncovering new material about the lives of previously overlooked court women. She applies this careful approach to the often contradictory source material concerning Matilda, weighing the different accounts of her activities as Duchess of Normandy and Queen of England to provide the most probable version of her life.

One of the great strengths of Queen of the Conqueror is its vivid portrayal of court life in eleventh century Europe. The Age of Chivalry had not yet begun, and royal and aristocratic women were expected to be politically active, administrating estates, duchies and kingdoms while their husbands were at war. The Battle of Hastings was not the end of the Norman Conquest of England but the beginning. William spent years brutally suppressing opposition to his rule, circumstances which expanded Matilda’s responsibilities in Normandy.

While William was most likely illiterate (as were all Kings of England between Alfred the Great and William and Matilda’s youngest son, Henry I “Beauclerk”), Matilda could read and converse in Latin. As Duchess of Normandy then Queen of England, she brought cultural and religious patronage to her husband’s courts in Rouen and London. Despite rumours of her reluctance to marry William, and his violent temper, she appears to have enjoyed a harmonious marriage until conflicts between her husband and eldest son compelled her to take sides within the factions that formed in her immediate family.

Queen of the Conqueror is an engaging biography of one of the most significant women of eleventh century Europe. Matilda’s roles as a diplomat, administrator, cultural and religious patron, wife, and mother are brought to life by Tracy Borman’s exhaustive research and eye for interesting historical details.

Queen Elizabeth II’s 86th birthday

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Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh leaving the Royal York hotel in Toronto on a tour of Canada in 2010. The Queen and Prince Philip have remained active public servants long after many of their contemporaries have retired.

Queen Elizabeth II turned 86 today, an occasion publicly marked by 41 gun salutes in Hyde Park and the Tower of London. The Queen is celebrating her actual birthday privately with her family. She will celebrate her official birthday on June 16, by presiding over the annual Trooping of the Colour parade. On Thursday evening, Buckingham Palace will be illuminated with colourful images of the sovereign. Elizabeth II is the most senior monarch ever to reign in the British Isles, having lived longer than Queen Victoria or King George III, who both died at the age of 81. George III was incapacitated by mental illness in his later years and Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee thanksgiving service in 1897 was held on the steps of St. Paul’s cathedral because she could not climb the stairs to reach the church itself. In contrast, the current Queen and her consort, the Duke of Edinburgh, continue to perform a full calendar of public duties, traveling throughout the United Kingdom this year to mark the Diamond Jubilee. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother lived to the age of 101, and there is every indication that her daughter will continue to be an active Head of State for years to come.

Prince William in Ottawa celebrating Canada Day in 2011.

Elizabeth II’s long reign has contributed to the popular perception that monarchs should be elder statesmen who can advise Prime Ministers from their wealth of experience. The Queen has worked with a dozen British Prime Ministers and at least one hundred and fifty Commonwealth Heads of Government. In Robert Hardman’s recent study of Elizabeth II’s reign, Our Queen, Prince William discusses how meetings between the Queen and her ministers are appreciated by both parties, stating, “If you think how many meetings she’s had with different prime ministers at different times it’s incredible . . .Some of them must wish she would turn round and tell them what to do! But she always speaks very highly of having these meetings.” Since the Queen has reigned since 1952, she brings six decades of experience in politics and foreign affairs to these meetings. She has also personally met the majority of international leaders who have held office since the 1950s.

King Rama IX of Thailand has reigned for 65 years.

Many of the Queen’s contemporaries on the thrones of monarchies worldwide are also older rulers with decades of experience presiding over their kingdoms. The current longest reigning monarch is King Rama IX of Thailand, who is five years the Queen’s junior but succeeded to the Thai throne in 1946. His long reign is famous amongst other long established Heads of State. During his last years before his death in 2005, Prince Rainier III of Monaco was reputedly in the habit of asking his valet each morning, “Has Rama survived the night? Or did I just move up in the ranks?” The King commands immense respect within Thailand as the kingdom’s elder statesman and support for the monarchy may decline when his much less popular only son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn succeeds to the throne.

The meeting between Henry VIII and Francois I in 1520 known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold for the lavish temporary residences created for the two Kings and their vast entourages. These two monarchs were young men, eager to show off their wealth and power to one another.

There are numerous other world monarchs who continue to reign in their 70s, 80s and 90s. The birth year for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has been estimated to be as early as 1916. Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah, the Malaysian Head of State was born in 1927. Emperor Akihito of Japan was born in 1933 and King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands are only a few years his junior, having been born in 1938. This worldwide experience of monarchy as an institution presided over by older monarchs differs from previous eras such as the 1520s, when King Henry VIII of England, King Francois of France, Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Emperor and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire were all young men, eager to test the strength of their armies and treasuries. When a new generation succeeds to the world’s thrones, they will face the popular expectation that they too will bring longstanding experience and wisdom to the position.

Queen Elizabeth II continues to be an active constitutional monarch in her 87th year. If she still reigns on September 10, 2015, she will surpass Queen Victoria to become the longest reigning monarch in the British Isles.

Historical Fiction Roundup 3: Novels set at the Court of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia

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Danish painter Laurits Tuxen's depiction of the wedding of Emperor Nicholas II and Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1894, two weeks after the death of Alexander III. Guests shown include the groom's grandfather, King Christian IX of Denmark, the bride's uncle, the future King Edward VII of England, and the groom's Aunt, Queen Olga of Greece.

The full sweep of Imperial Russian history is comparatively neglected in historical fiction. There are few contemporary novels set at the court of Ivan the Terrible or Peter the Great and Catherine the Great’s rise to power has only recently been the context for a bestselling novel, Eva Stachniak’s The Winter Palace. The exception to this trend is the court of Nicholas II (r. 1894-1917), the last Emperor of Russia, which has inspired countless fictional narratives.

The last years of Imperial Russia have all the elements of a page turning novel: the clash between a three hundred year old autocracy and popular demands for a representative government, a close knit Imperial family facing the adversity of abdication, imprisonment and murder, and the backdrop of the First World War and the larger extended family of Europe’s royal houses. The legend that one of the Imperial children might have survived the massacre in 1918, which was finally disproved by the discovery of the last two sets of remains in 2007 has also inspired countless novelists to create alternate histories for the last Imperial family of Russia.

For novels that illuminate the role of the Romanovs in the First World War, the classics of Russian historical fiction are the best place to begin. August 1914and the subsequent novels of Alexander Solznhenitsyn’s Red Wheel Cycle show the broad sweep of popular opinion toward the Romanovs in the last years of Nicholas II’s reign. In this series, Nicholas II’s popularity is initially boosted by the burst of patriotism that accompanies the outbreak of war before the weaknesses of the chain of command and military infrastructure undermine his rule.

The role of the Romanov women in the war effort is also expressed through the experiences of Solzhenitsyn’s characters. A wounded soldier expresses relief when he sees the Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna motorized ambulance division approaching, for it was the only collection of motorized ambulances that operated on the Eastern front in 1914. In Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago, the story is also influenced by the war work of the Romanov women as Lara travels to the front to search for her husband as part of the Tatiana hospital train. Different translators dispute whether Pasternak referred to the patronage of Nicholas II’s daughter Tatiana or her second cousin, Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna but the close involvement of the Emperor’s family in the war effort is indisputable in this classic novel.

While the classic novels focus on the broad sweep of Russian history during the reign of Nicholas II, life within his palaces has inspired more recent historical fiction. There have been numerous books written from the perspective of Nicholas II’s daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, and the best is The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller. Although this novel is marketed toward a young adult audience, it provides a compelling portrayal of the last years of the Imperial family for readers of all ages. Through her extensive research, Miller avoids both the hagiographic interpretation of the Romanovs’ imprisonment provided in the memoir literature of those who knew them and the overly critical accounts that have been published by recent historians, providing a balanced account of their relationships and decisions. The four distinct personalities of Nicholas II’s daughters come alive in Miller’s work, revealing how they may have responded to the adversity that they faced in 1917 and 1918.

Another skilled historical novelist of Imperial Russia is Robert Alexander, whose three novels, The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar, Rasputin’s Daughter, The Romanov Bride are original portrayals of Nicholas II’s reign and imprisonment through voices that have received little attention in historical fiction, the kitchen boy Leonid Sednev, Rasputin’s elder daughter Maria, and Empress Alexandra’s sister, Grand Duchess Elizabeth. Like Miller, Alexander incorporates Russian language and culture into the text, evoking the culture of late Imperial Russia and the Emperor’s court. Although the plot twist at the conclusion of The Kitchen Boy has been proved impossible by recent discoveries and scholarship, this knowledge does not detract from the masterful writing and skilled characterization within the novel.

The court of Emperor Nicholas II is a popular setting for historical novelists seeking to capture the drama and tragedy of the last years of Imperial Russia. Alexander Solznhenitsyn, Boris Pasternak, Sarah Miller and Robert Alexander portray different aspects of this complex and compelling period in history.

Next weekend: Royalty in Canadian Literature

How the Marriage of Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly Transformed Monaco

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Grace Kelly in the wedding dress she wore to the religious ceremony on April 19, 1956.

Fifty-six years ago today, on April 19, 1956, film actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in a religious ceremony in St. Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco-Ville. The Civil Ceremony took place the preceding day in the Palace throne room. The famous Valenciennes rose point lace, silk taffeta and tulle wedding dress, a gift from MGM costume designer Helen Rose, has been seen by a whole new audience this past year as it travels the world as part of the Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess exhibition of Grace’s dresses, correspondence and movie memorabilia. The wedding was more than an opportunity for Grace to showcase her elegant sense of style. The marriage began a period of revitalization for Monaco under the leadership of the princely couple.

When Rainier first succeeded to the throne on the death of his grandfather, Prince Louis II, in 1949, neither his family nor his principality were well regarded on the international stage. Rainier’s mother, Princess Charlotte, lived in Le Marchais, the Grimaldi estate outside Paris with her lover, former jewel thief René Girier and transformed the stately house into a home for former convicts. Rainier`s sister, Princess Antoinette, was jealous of his prerogatives and attempted to seize the throne in 1950, to rule as regent for her young son.

Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock film, To Catch a Thief

In 1949, 95 percent of Monaco`s economy was derived from gambling, fuelling a society that author Somerset Maugham described as “a sunny place full of shady people.” Rainier set out to revitalize the principality`s economy, encouraging tourism and foreign investment. The marriage of Rainier and Grace was crucial to this transformation. Film footage of “The wedding of the century,” which was broadcast around the world, showcased the French riviera as a desirable vacation destination. The four hundred reporters who accompanied the bride to Monaco praised the principality’s warm climate and scenic location on the Mediterranean coast. Visits from Grace`s friends in the film industry including former To Catch a Thief co-star Cary Grant fuelled the popular perception that Monaco was a glamorous place to visit. Gambling revenues now comprise less than 5% of Monaco’s economy.

Princess Caroline of Monaco, daughter of Rainier and Grace.

While previous Princesses of Monaco developed a reputation for self indulgence or political intrigues, Grace engaged in the charitable patronage that enhanced the public profile of princesses throughout Europe. She revived the practice of charity balls at the palace, inviting her friends from Hollywood to increase the visibility of these events. She also served as President of the Monaco Red Cross, and founded The World Association of Children’s Friends, a non-profit organization that promotes the rights of children worldwide. Her daughter Princess Caroline is the current patron of this organization.

Grace also engaged in extensive cultural patronage, giving Monaco a worldwide profile as an artistic centre. She was patron of the International Television Festival, the Monaco Arts Festival, the opera, the ballet and prestigious art exhibitions, and founded a theatre that bears her name. Examples of her own artistic dried flower arrangements were displayed in galleries and eventually sold to raise money for her charities.

Princess Charlene of Monaco, wife of Prince Albert II

From their marriage in 1956, Rainier and Grace led the economic and cultural revitalization of Monaco. The principality now has a diverse economy encompassing tourism and foreign investment and hosts numerous cultural festivals, exhibitions and events. With the marriage of the current reigning Prince, Albert II to South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock in 2011, Grace’s legacy of charitable patronage continues. Princess Charlene presides over the annual Red Cross ball and the Rose Ball, which raises money for the Princess Grace foundation.

 

The Tudor Book Reviews 3: Wicked Women of Tudor England by Retha Warnicke

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Throughout Wicked Women of Tudor England: Queens, Aristocrats, Commoners, historian Retha Warnicke reminds her readers that there is much that is still unknown about the biographies of the most notorious women of Tudor England. This scholarly yet highly readable work discusses the lives of six figures who were judged by contemporaries and/or subsequent historians to be “wicked.” Most famously, there was King Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn whose enemies were reputedly able to engineer her downfall because of her alleged flirtations with male courtiers.

Anne’s cousin, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard is usually described as a promiscuous young woman who foolishly cuckolded the aging King. In Edward VI’s reign, the Protector’s wife Anne Somerset gained a reputation for haughtiness and overweening ambition. Lettice Knollys, Elizabeth I’s cousin and the wife of her favourite Robert Dudley was seemingly pregnant at the time of her wedding following a longstanding affair. Finally, Thomas More was supposedly unhappily married twice because his first wife Jane Colt was plain faced and contrary, and his second wife Alice Middleton was a shrew.

Warnicke convincingly argues that these stories tell us more about the Tudor court climate of gossip and innuendo than they do about the actual lives of the most prominent women of sixteenth century England. Her approach of viewing the lives of individual women through the broader attitudes toward gender, marriage and the family in Tudor times  has received a great deal of recent popular attention as historical novelist Phillipa Gregory cites Warnicke’s research as an inspiration for her Tudor themed novels including The Other Boleyn Girl.

Portrait miniature by Nicholas Hilliard of Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester (1543-1634), one of the most notorious women of Elizabeth I's reign.

Each miniature biography in Wicked Women of Tudor England is preceded by a detailed analysis of existing historiography, which discusses the reliability of the sources analyzed by modern scholars. These sections reveal that such seemingly simple biographical details as Anne Boleyn’s birth date, and whether she was the elder or younger sister are still in dispute. Warnicke’s analysis also reveals that modern conceptions of women and the family encourage anachronistic conclusions about sixteenth century court ladies.

For example, a description of the loose fitting dress Lettice Knollys wore to her wedding to Robert Dudley has been cited as evidence that she was pregnant at that time because her gown seemed similar to modern maternity wear. Women in the Tudor period, however, did not wear special loose fitting gowns when they were pregnant but instead added extra panels to their existing dresses.

Warnicke’s analysis of the negative interpretations of Thomas More’s marriages is similar to Germaine Greer’s recent work, Shakespeare’s Wife in that it questions the assumption that extraordinary men are often unhappy in their marriages, regardless of the actual evidence regarding their personal lives. Just as Greer discussed Hathaway’s full significance to William Shakespeare’s life and work, Warnicke highlights evidence of More’s warm relations with both wives. Jane Colt’s contemporaries did not leave any accounts stating that she challenged her husband’s attempts to expand her education, and Alice Middleton’s affectionate marriage does not match the rumours that she was a scold or a shrew.

The most moving chapter of Warnicke’s work is her reevaluation of the life of Queen Catherine Howard. Catherine was executed for adultery and has been judged for her alleged promiscuity by many of her biographers. Even David Starkey, who criticized works that pass moral judgement on Catherine described her as “a good time girl” in Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. Warnicke argues that Catherine’s youth at the time of her encounters with her music teacher, Henry Manox, and courtiers Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpepper, and the references to coercion her testimony about her relations with these men suggest that she may have been the victim of predatory behaviour.

Wicked Women of Tudor England: Queens, Aristocrats, Commonersis an ideal book for readers of history or Tudor historical fiction looking to separate reliable evidence from innuendo in the biographies of these six notorious sixteenth century women. Warnicke provides convincing evidence that none of the women she discusses were actually wicked but found their reputations under scrutiny because they married politically controversial husbands.

Looking Back at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s First Year of Marriage

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The Duchess of Cambridge

On April 29, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will celebrate their first anniversary. Catherine was the first middle class woman to marry a direct heir to the British thrones, since Anne Hyde married the future James II in 1660. Since both Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York had experienced the collapse of their marriages despite extensive experience moving in royal circles, there were concerns that Catherine would find her introduction to royal life overwhelming.

Instead, the Duchess of Cambridge has excelled in her new role, receiving widespread praise for her charitable patronage, engagement with ordinary people, involvement in the 2011 tour of Canada and supportive relationship with the Duke of Cambridge. While other members of the royal family have been criticized this past year, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have received widespread popular approval, personifying the future of the monarchy.

I gave two interviews this past week on the major themes in the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s marriage that have captured the popular imagination. Kate Middleton, A Royal Switch from Princess Diana, discusses how the royal family has mentored Catherine, so that she will not experience the feelings of isolation experienced by Diana and Sarah. I discuss the mentorship of the younger generation of the royal family in more detail in my previous post about Catherine’s visit to Leicester with the Queen and Prince Philip.

Anne Hyde, the first wife of the future King James II. Her daughters reigned as Queen Mary II and Queen Anne.

The other interview concerned the popular pressure on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to start a family, One Year After Wedding, Baby Watch in Full Gear. While Anne Hyde’s marriage to the future James II was prompted by a pregnancy, William and Catherine have clearly decided to take their time starting a family.

Intense popular interest in royal births has always existed, particularly in times when the size of the royal family had direct political ramifications. For example, Elizabeth I’s decision to remain unmarried and childless and her refusal to name an heir during her lifetime provoked fears that her death would lead to numerous candidates struggling for the throne. Elizabeth I’s councillor Sir Robert Cecil maintained a secret correspondence with her cousin, King James VI of Scotland to ensure that he would peacefully succeed to the English throne as King James I, when Elizabeth died in 1603.

King Edward III, who reigned from 1327-1377. The descendants of his five surviving sons fought against each other in the Wars of the Roses.

Conversely, large royal families have also been seen as undesirable for the state. In the fourteenth century, King Edward III’s large number of sons eventually led the political factions that fought the Wars of the Roses. This circumstance was still in the popular memory during Charles I’s reign, when the public expressed relief that Queen Henrietta Maria gave birth to another daughter after two sons. More recently, the fifteen children of George III and the nine children of Queen Victoria provoked debates in parliament about the expenses incurred by a large royal family.

There is no political reason why the current Duke and Duchess of Cambridge should feel immediate pressure to start a family. The succession to the British throne is limited to the Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover and there are thousands of eligible candidates with this descent and religion. While the past prevalence of dynastic marriage between royal houses meant the childless monarchs faced the direct threat of a foreign ruler claiming their kingdoms, the most senior foreign monarch in the current British line of succession is King Harald V of Norway, who is 66th in line to the throne. (His grandmother was King George V’s sister, Maud).

Despite the large number of eligible candidates, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s popularity is fuelling popular speculation about when they will decide to have children. The public is happy with William and Catherine’s performance as working members of the royal family and would like to see the succession continue through their immediate family.

The Diamond Jubilee Tours Continue: Royal Visits to Malta and South Africa

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Princess Elizabeth, accompanied by her sister, Princess Margaret, tests the steam whistle on the royal train during her 1947 tour of South Africa.

The Diamond Jubilee Commonwealth tours continue this week in two countries that Queen Elizabeth II enjoyed visiting as a Princess, before she ascended to the throne in 1952. The Queen’s cousin Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, arrived in Malta last Friday and spent the weekend commemorating both the Diamond Jubilee and the 70th anniversary of the awarding of the George Cross to the people of Malta for their bravery under siege by Germany and Italy during the Second World War. Highlights of the visit included Saturday’s Jubilee reception in the Lower Barakka gardens in Malta’s capital, Valetta, and a reenactment of the awarding of the George Cross in Palace Square. The Duke of Gloucester is an architect, and he expressed particular interest in the preservation of historic buildings in Valetta including Our Lady of Victories Church, where he visited the ongoing restoration work.

Our Lady of Victories Church in Valetta, Malta. The Duke of Gloucester inspected the ongoing restoration of this historic site during his visit to Malta this past weekend.

The Duke of Gloucester returned to London today, just as Princess Anne and her husband, Vice Admiral, Sir Timothy Laurence, left for a three day tour of South Africa from April 16 to 18. Within the royal family, Princess Anne has one of the busiest schedules of public engagements, and her activities in South Africa reflect her commitment to public service. On the first day of her visit, the Princess toured the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the St John Eye Hospital, a Save the Children Resource Centre, and the Soweto Equestrian Foundation in Johannesburg, ending the day at a reception in Pretoria hosted by the British High Commissioner to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

In the coming two days, Princess Anne will continue to follow an intense tour schedule, marking the “100-days to go to the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games” at a local school which forms part of the International Inspirations legacy project, in her role as President of the British Olympic Association.  The Princess will also lead a Ceremony of Remembrance and lay a wreath at the graves of Commonwealth soldiers who died in the First and Second World Wars.

The Lower Barakka Gardens in Valetta, where the Maltese Diamond Jubilee Celebrations took place.

The Queen has happy memories of both Malta and South Africa. In 1949, her husband Prince Philip was stationed in Malta after being posted as the First Lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Chequers, the lead ship of the First Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet. Princess Elizabeth joined him there and was able to live in relative anonymity for a short time as a naval wife. When Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh toured Malta in 2007, the year of their 60th wedding anniversary the Maltese press described their visit as a “second honeymoon” because they had spent some of the happiest times of their marriage on the island. Prince Philip retired from the navy to support the Queen in her duties when she ascended to the throne.

South African stamp commemorating the visit of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret in 1947.

South Africa was the setting of Princess Elizabeth’s first overseas tour, with her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and younger sister, Princess Margaret, in 1947. In Cape Town, she made her famous twenty-first birthday address in which she promised to devote the whole of her life to the service of her people. Less well known is the portion of the speech where the Princess expressed her commitment to South Africa and the commonwealth as a whole.

Princess Elizabeth stated  “As I speak to you today from Cape Town I am six thousand miles from the country where I was born. But I am certainly not six thousand miles from home. Everywhere I have travelled in these lovely lands of South Africa and Rhodesia my parents, my sister and I have been taken to the heart of their people and made to feel that we are just as much at home here as if we had lived among them all our lives. That is the great privilege belonging to our place in the world-wide commonwealth – that there are homes ready to welcome us in every continent of the earth. Before I am much older I hope I shall come to know many of them.” Despite the Princess’s love of South Africa, she would not be able to visit again until the end of apartheid, touring in 1995 as the guest of President Nelson Mandela.

Malta and South Africa are two places that hold many happy memories for Queen Elizabeth II. The Diamond Jubilee tours by the Duke of Gloucester and Princess Anne reflect the Queen’s personal interest in these historic regions of the commonwealth.

King Juan Carlos of Spain and the History of Royalty on the Hunt

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King Juan Carlos of Spain

This past week, prominent members of the Spanish royal family have been injured in hunting accidents in circumstances that have provoked widespread criticism of King Juan Carlos. The King is usually treated with deference in the Spanish press because he successfully oversaw Spain’s transition from dictatorship under Francisco Franco to the current democratic constitutional monarchy. In contrast, reports that both the King and his grandson, Don Frolian, have recently been injured on hunting trips have provoked accusations of extravagance and cruelty to animals. The press has also revisited the history of hunting as a royal pastime, discussing the unfortunate history of royal hunting accidents, which has closely  impacted the Spanish royal family.

Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo, daughter of King Juan Carlos and mother of Don Frolian

On April 9, Juan Carlos’s thirteen year old grandson, Don Felipe Juan Frolian de Marichalar, the son of Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo,was rushed to hospital following a shooting accident. Don Frolian was apparently doing target practice outside the family home in Madrid when he accidentally emptied the contents of his 36 gauge shotgun into his foot. Surgery has been successful and he is expected to make a full recovery. There have been reports that Don Frolian’s father, Jaime de Marichalar, may be prosecuted as it is illegal for children under the age of fourteen to handle firearms in Spain.

On April 14, King Juan Carlos himself suffered a broken hip after a fall during an elephant hunting trip in Botswana. News of the circumstances surrounding the King’s injury provoked widespread controversy because he is the honourary president of the World Wildlife Fund in Spain (WWF), and this form of big game hunting is a very expensive pastime for the head of the nation suffering from a recession and widespread unemployment.  The seventy-four year old King has had hip replacement surgery and is also expected to make a full recovery after a six week period of convalesense.

The Chateau Chambord in the Loire Valley, France. The Chateau was a favourite hunting lodge of King Francois I.

Hunting used to be a universal royal pastime. During the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, the game inhabiting crown lands in much of Europe was the personal property of the monarch and penalties for poaching were severe. The skills necessary to lead a successful hunting expedition including horseback riding and use of weaponry were considered crucial for Kings, who were expected to lead their troops into battle until the eighteenth century. With the expansion of European Empires in the nineteenth century, Imperial tours by royalty often included hunting expeditions for tigers in India or elephants in Africa. Hunting declined in popularity after the Second World War but continues to attract royal enthusiasts, despite crown patronage of animal welfare organizations.

Infante Alfonso

Where there is hunting weaponry, there is potential for accidents. While King Juan Carlos and his grandson are expected to recover fully from their injuries, past members of royal families have been killed by weapons used in hunting expeditions. In 1956, King Juan Carlos’s younger brother, Infante Alfonso died at the age of fourteen in a gun related accident in a family home in Estoril, Portugal. According to the official statement released by the Spanish embassy in Portugal, “Whilst His Highness Prince Alfonso was cleaning a revolver last evening with his brother, a shot was fired hitting his forehead and killing him in a few minutes.” The circumstances surrounding Alfonso’s death are discussed in greater detail in the biography Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy by Paul Preston.

An 1895 lithograph imagining the death of King William II.

In English history, the death of King William II (r. 1087-1100) in a hunting accident provoked centuries of speculation that the monarch was the victim of a political coup engineered by his younger brother and heir, King Henry I (r. 1100-1135). William was hunting the New Forest with a large party including his brother Henry and the nobleman Walter Tyrell when he was struck by an arrow that pierced his lung. Although the Anglo-Saxon chronicle states only that he was “shot by an arrow by one of his own men,” Tyrell’s flight from England and Henry’s immediate ascension to the throne over the claims of his elder brother Robert, Duke of Normandy sparked rumours that this hunting accident was actually an assassination. William II’s biographer Frank Barlow discusses the circumstances of the King’s death extensively in William Rufus.

The recent accidents suffered by King Juan Carlos of Spain and his grandson Don Frolian have reopened the popular debate about whether hunting is still an acceptable pastime for royalty. The Spanish royal family have been criticized for engaging in activity regarded as extravagant, dangerous and cruel to animals. It remains to be seen whether these critiques will influence subsequent royal attitudes toward hunting.

Royal Historical Fiction Roundup 2: The French Court in the 18th and 19th centuries

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Malmaison, Empress Josephine's favourite residence and a prominent setting in Sandra Gulland's Josephine B. trilogy. Despite the ominous sounding name, it remains a pleasant place to visit with extensive rose gardens and exhibitions about First Empire France.

The overthrow of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution, and the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine during the First Empire are pivotal events in numerous historical novels. Marie Antoinette, in particular, has been the subject of historical fiction for two centuries because she captured the popular imagination as a tragic figure. As with the Tudor themed historical novels that I discussed last week, fictional approaches to the French court vary from rigorously researched novels that contain material from primary sources of the period to stories loosely inspired by actual events. Here are my favourites, chosen for their attention to historical detail, literary merit, engaging characters and page turning plot.

Of all the historical novels centering on the life of Queen Marie Antoinette, my favourite is Sena Jeter Naslund’s Abundance: A Novel Of Marie Antoinette, which was first published in 2006. Naslund has a gift for writing evocative, literary, historical fiction as demonstrated by her previous work, Ahab’s Wife: Or, The Star-gazer, which expands on the brief reference to Captain Ahab’s wife in Moby-Dick. Despite Marie Antoinette’s reputation for flightiness, Naslund convincingly crafts an introspective voice for the Queen, focusing on her struggle to assimilate into the French court following her upbringing in the Hapsburg Empire, France’s traditional enemy. The novel encompasses the full sweep of Marie Antoinette’s experiences from her marriage to her execution, incorporating actual excerpts from her correspondence including her last letter, which entrusted her children to her loyal sister-in-law, Madame Elizabeth.

Another excellent work of historical fiction focusing on Marie Antoinette is Farewell, My Queen: A Novel by Chantal Thomas, an acclaimed scholar of Marie Antoinette’s significance to the French Revolution. Thomas is the author of The Wicked Queen: The Origins of the Myth of Marie-Antoinette, which analyzes Marie Antoinette’s reputation in French Revolution pamphlet literature, and she applies her extensive knowledge of the late eighteenth century political climate to her novel. In contrast to Naslund, Thomas focuses closely on the last years of Marie Antoinette’s life and tells the story through the voice of a comparatively insignificant member of her household. Through the eyes of assistant court reader, Madame Agathe-Sidonie Laborde, Thomas provides a compelling portrait of court intrigue at Versailles and Marie Antoinette’s desperate attempts to influence the royal family’s fate during the French Revolution.

For novels that encompass both the French Revolution and the First Empire through the fictional diaries of one extraordinary woman, I recommend the Josephine B Trilogy by acclaimed historical novelist Sandra Gulland. The three novels, Many Lives & Secret Sorrows Josephine B, Tales Of Passion Tales Of Woe and The Last Great Dance on Earth take the reader from Josephine’s youth on a tumbledown sugar plantation in Martinique through her marriage to a callous French aristocrat, her imprisonment in the Conciergerie during the French Revolution, the establishment of her social circle and her time as Napoleon’s partner and consort before the collapse of their marriage.

Gulland takes a sympathetic approach to Josephine’s adventures, avoiding the sensationalism that appears in certain other fictionalized accounts of the First Empire. The trilogy format allows the numerous interesting figures whom Josephine encountered during the Ancien Regime, French Revolution, Directory period and First Empire to become fully realized characters in the novels. For readers who finish Gulland’s books and are interested following up with a fascinating novel about Josephine’s daughter Hortense de Beauharnais, who became the mother of Napoleon III, I recommend A Rose for Virtue by Norah Lofts, which brings this little known historical figure to life.

No summary of historical fiction set in eighteenth and nineteenth century France would be complete without a mention of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, Les Miserables. Although the action does not unfold in a court setting, the characters personify the full political spectrum in nineteenth century France from ultraroyalism to republicanism demonstrating the complex attitudes that existed toward the French monarchy and Empire in both Hugo’s time and the decades encompassed by his work. Fans of the musical will find the full depth and historical context for the story in this engrossing novel.

Next weekend: Historical fiction set at the court of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia

Lady Louise’s Riding Accident and Popular Perceptions of Royal Parenting

by CarolynHarris | 7 Comments

Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor as a bridesmaid in her cousin Prince William's wedding in 2011. She traveled in the procession with another cousin, the best man, Prince Harry.

Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter HRH Princess Louise of Wessex (styled Lady Louise Windsor at the request of her parents, the Earl and Countess of Wessex) broke her arm in a riding accident yesterday morning. Like her grandmother, the Queen, eight year old Louise is a riding enthusiast and the accident occurred when she fell from her pony on the grounds of Windsor Castle. Although the Queen does not wear a helmet while riding so that her hair will not have to be restyled for subsequent royal engagements, Louise was wearing full safety gear and is expected to make a smooth recovery.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex attending the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Daniel Westling in 2010.

There has been an intense popular interest in the upbringing of royal children for centuries. When young Princes and Princesses experience illnesses or accidents, observers often critiqued the decisions of their parents according to the domestic ideals of the time. So far the media accounts of the Earl and Countess of Wessex’s response to their daughter’s accident have been measured and reasonable, accepting the official statement from Buckingham Palace, “The Countess of Wessex was supposed to go to Manchester today with the Earl but understandably stayed with her daughter.” Both the Countess’s choice to stay with her daughter and Earl’s decision to continue with his engagements, once he determined that his daughter was on the mend, have been accepted by the popular press.

The Prince and Princess of Wales at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York in 1986.

In contrast, when Prince William was injured by a classmate’s golf club in 1991, the press was quick to pass judgement on his father. Both Charles and Diana immediately rushed to the hospital to be with their son. Diana stayed with William during a seventy minute operation to treat a depressed fracture of the skull, however, while Charles left for a planned royal engagement at the Royal Opera House.

Both the British and International Press were quick to judge who they believed to be the more responsible parent. Jean Rook of the UK Daily Express wrote, “What sort of father of an eight-year-old boy, nearly brained by a golf club, leaves the hospital before knowing the outcome for a night at the opera?” People Magazine in the United States quoted a parenting expert who stated that “when [the sons of absentee fathers] grow up, they have trouble forming intimate relationships with their wives and children, and will repeat the experience with their own children, whether they like it or not.” In contrast, Diana was praised for her loving attention to her injured son.

Princess Charlotte, the only child of King George IV and Queen Caroline. The King and Queen had one of the most acrimonious marriages in royal history and Charlotte had a strained relationship with both her parents.

The close relationship that Prince William currently has with Prince Charles, and the success of his recent marriage demonstrates that the Prince of Wales was not an absentee father. Prince Charles was one of the first British royal fathers since Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert, to be present in the delivery room when his children were born and he has been closely involved in their upbringing. The current harmony between multiple adult generations of the royal family is almost unprecedented in British history.

The future Queen Mary I became estranged from Henry VIII when he sought to annul his marriage to her mother, Catherine of Aragon. George II’s dislike of his father George I was rooted in the divorce and imprisonment of his mother, Sophia Dorothea of Celle. George IV and Queen Caroline’s only daughter Princess Charlotte summarized her attitude toward her feuding parents in the famous quote, “My mother was bad, but she would not have become as bad as she was if my father had not been infinitely worse.” In a departure from these unfortunate precedents, Prince William and Prince Harry maintained a close relationship with both their parents following the collapse of their marriage.

The coverage of Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor’s recent riding accident has been devoid of the popular judgment of royal parents that often occurs when a young Prince or Princess experiences an illness or injury. Hopefully, this fair minded approach will continue because the portrayal of Prince Charles following Prince William’s golfing injury did not accurately reflect his close relationship with his sons.