The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace [Hardcover]

Lucy Worsley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2010

Kensington Palace is now most famous as the former home of Diana, Princess of Wales, but the palace's glory days came between 1714 and 1760, during the reigns of George I and II . In the eighteenth century, this palace was a world of skulduggery, intrigue, politicking, etiquette, wigs, and beauty spots, where fans whistled open like switchblades and unusual people were kept as curiosities. Lucy Worsley's The Courtiers charts the trajectory of the fantastically quarrelsome Hanovers and the last great gasp of British court life. Structured around the paintings of courtiers and servants that line the walls of the King's Staircase of Kensington Palace—paintings you can see at the palace today—The Courtiers goes behind closed doors to meet a pushy young painter, a maid of honor with a secret marriage, a vice chamberlain with many vices, a bedchamber woman with a violent husband, two aging royal mistresses, and many more. The result is an indelible portrait of court life leading up to the famous reign of George III , and a feast for both Anglophiles and lovers of history and royalty.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The nasty spats of Charles and Diana pale in comparison to the bloody family battles waged by the prince's dysfunctional ancestors, Georges I and II. Fathers turned against sons and vice versa, and family quarrels led to expulsions from the royal palaces. A respected if not popular sovereign but a diabolical husband and father, George I denied his adulterous wife access to her young son, the future George II, and imprisoned her for 33 years in a remote German castle. George II himself endured a forced separation from his son, Frederick, yet when years later the grown Frederick arrived in London, George banned him from the palaces as he had been banned by his father. Worsley (Cavalier), chief curator at the Historic Royal Palaces, recreates the first two Georgian courts, depicting rival royal mistresses; a disaffected equerry; a "wild," probably autistic boy found in the woods and kept as a pet by George II's wife; and scheming courtiers, as well as Kensington Palace's various architectural renovations. Although some of the court minutiae are too trivial or esoteric for modern consumption, Worsley overall serves up a tasty slice of 18th-century life that is colorful, gossipy, and authoritative. Color illus.
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Review

“All those flowers placed outside Princess Diana's London home 13 summers ago are only the latest chapter in the history of one of those palaces where the walls could tell many a tale about the intersection of aristocracy and political culture.”—Martin Rubin, The Wall Street Journal

“Brilliantly entertaining … [she] writes with flair, bringing her characters to life … In spite of its accessible charm, Courtiers is a serious historical study which chisels much richness from the ornate, dingy, contradictory world of the palace.”—Times Literary Supplement

“As chief curator of the Historic Royal Palaces charity Worsley couldn’t have been in a better position to winkle out the secrets of one of the palaces under her aegis.  She has written a book that vividly brings to life the reigns of the first Hanoverian monarchs and almost humanises the two Georges … Worsley’s book is full of extraordinary characters … one of the most appealing characters is Caroline of Ansbach, queen to George II, a woman who would rather have been a philosopher than a ruler, ill-treated yet loved by her husband.  Her agonising end, brilliantly described, brought me to tears … a compelling book.”—The Express

“We have a fine modern historian to guide us through the dreamlike maze of 18th-century palace life.”—The Times

“Racy, amusing and informative.  She brings the Georgian courts and their personalities to life … extremely enjoyable.”—Literary Review

“Threaded through with the stinging witticisms of 18th-century observers, Worsley’s own prose bounces along.”—The Sunday Times

“Now the definitive work on the early Hanoverian court … The depth of Worsley’s scholarship is demonstrated by the absence of fudged details. She clarifies points of etiquette and toilette, for example, that most historians of the 18th century only half understand … As in her previous book, Cavalier, Worsley’s style is wonderfully readable and her talent for empathy enormous.  She always takes a charitable view of superficially obnoxious people and sees half-invisible female figures very clearly … haunts one’s imagination.”—The Sunday Telegraph

“An intimate account of life at court that at times reads like an 18th-century version of Heat magazine … an exhilarating but unstable world, described with the relish of a court insider.”—Waterstones Books Quarterly

“Worsley’s book romps along breezily [and] the stories are fresh.”—The Mail on Sunday

“The kind of captivating history I most enjoy: full of unexpected stories.  It makes one look at Kensington Palace in an entirely new light.”—Lady Antonia Fraser

“Lucy Worsley writes with flair and passion about a lost world where smiles could kill and kisses condemn.”—Amanda Foreman

“Compulsively readable … it is impossible not to want to know how they all end up.”— Irish Examiner

“Worsley is Chief Curator for the Historic Royal Palaces and what she doesn’t know about Kensington Palace isn’t worth reading, and here she tells its lurid and enthralling story with all the flair, panache and vitality of a born raconteur.”—Lancashire Evening Post

“The colourful goings-on at London’s Kensington Palace during its heyday in 1714-60 are vividly described by Dr Lucy Worsley … the book is packed with extraordinary characters … most people know little about Georges I and II but Worsley fills that gap.” —Leicester Mercury

“Brings to life the story of Kensington Palace as it was in the eighteenth century, with tales of sexual intrigue and bad behaviour conducted in the glittering drawing rooms and secret passages of this rabbit-warren of a place, where position and rank counted above everything, including personal happiness.”—Angel Magazine

“Engaging and witty, yet also rigorous in its scholarship, Courtiers tells the scandalous stories of Kensington Palace in its Georgian hey-day.”—Andrew Roberts

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (August 17, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802719872
• ISBN-13: 978-0802719874
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #661,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly written book about Georgian court life, September 17, 2010

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Tillie Traveling (Northwestern Connecticut) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace (Hardcover)

This extensively written book covers the lives of George I, George II, their families and courtiers in London's Kensington Palace thoroughly. Lucy Worseley is a superb writer and researcher. This book took many years to write and her knowledge of even the least important courtier is amazing. The reigns of the two Georges which cover the early and mid 18th century are fascinating and these monarchs have been given short shrift by historians. Dr. Worseley goes into great detail about their wives and, most importantly, their mistresses who influenced their lives, and Britain's history more than I ever knew. I strongly recommend this wonderful book to anyone interested in this part of British history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How the Georges Held Their Courts, October 5, 2010

By 

R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace (Hardcover)

People like to hang out with the famous. You can, for instance, pay someone like Paris Hilton to come to your party, and thereby increase the chances that your guests will come away happy, although being close to Ms Hilton might not convey any real power. You have more of a chance for power if you hang out with politicians, and of course there are plenty of people who strive to do so, and sometimes get paid for their efforts. It's nothing new; bowing and scraping to royalty was the way things were done, for instance, in the courts of England. In _The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace_ (Walker), Lucy Worsley has given a funny, gossipy, and, well, intriguing picture of the courts of George I and II. They were minor kings and flawed personalities (Worsley gives the most complimentary portraits of either you will find but does not skimp on their demerits), but their courts were active and bitchy and essential. This was how the king's organization was run, when the king had power that was just beginning to be encroached by Parliament. The court linked the king from the gentlemen of his bedchamber down to the lowest scullion.

Worsley is in a privileged position to tell these stories; she is the curator for the organization that looks after Kensington Palace (as well as the Tower of London and Hampton Court), where in the Georges' time the court set itself for the summer months. Whatever benefit you get by being royalty, it does not seem to help family relationships, or it did not with these Georges. George I was from Hanover, and didn't like his English subjects much, nor they him. Misunderstandings of various levels of silliness led to "The Christening Quarrel" upon the birth of the fourth child of Prince George Augustus (the future George II) in 1717. The king wanted a particular godfather to be appointed, the prince and princess had their own ideas on the issue and took offense that the king was trying to interfere, there were difficulties in German / English understanding, and the prince's family left their palace, with the special shock of realizing that the king could demand that their children be left in his care. A courtier wrote about "the difference running as high between the two courts as ever," with the king attempting to keep his courtiers around him while courtiers looking to a future stuck with the prince. The king liked being with his close friends and mistresses, and hated wider socializing, but with the quarrel, he used hospitality to keep his court together; the renewal of the palace at Kensington (and Kent's murals) were part of the attempt to keep his court sparkling. The prince did what he could for his fans, and the battle raged until a ball given by the king in 1720, which the prince deigned to attend, and which meant that they were again on speaking terms, but barely. George II loved a court run by routine. Lord Hervey, whose memoirs of court life contribute to many of the anecdotes here, wrote that the king "`was rigidly attached to court etiquette,' and seemed `to think his having done a thing today an answerable reason for his doing it to-morrow.'" The same daily routine resulted in mind-numbing boredom. Hervey wrote, "I will not trouble you with any account of our occupations; no mill-horse ever went in a more constant track, or a more unchanging circle." One of the things the court of George II did was to feed before his subjects. It might have been quite a show if you had a scorecard to keep track of the players. The audience, assembled specifically to watch a royal dinner take place, would have seen such plays as happened when the queen wanted a drink, and so "a page handed it to Henrietta [Henrietta Howard, the queen's Woman of the Bedchamber as well as official mistress to the king] who gave it to the Lady [of the Bedchamber] who finally presented it to the queen." Perhaps in an effort to see such a ballet more closely, at one dinner the crowd behind the rail pressed in and broke it. "The people who'd been leaning upon it all fell over and made a diverting scramble for hats and wigs, at which their Majesties laugh'd heartily."

George II was to similarly alienate his own son Frederick who died before Frederick could ascend the throne, and he frightened Frederick's son, the little boy who was to become George III. This George, famous to Americans as the one who lost the American colonies to independence, was to inherit a court that had been tired out. Parliament was to have more power: the court and its routine and its detailed rules of protocol became less important, and so Worsley's book ends essentially with the death of George II. Every page here is full of reference notes, but the anecdotes are so peculiar and cover so many subjects (banquet foods, sexual conduct, medical treatment, and on and on) that there is plenty of diversion to be found in this completely unstuffy book. The smarter observers in the court looked at the proceedings, saw the ridiculousness, and hid their titters; those who see it via Worsley's entertaining book will have good reason for laughing out loud.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Georges before George III, October 10, 2010

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Robert Skole (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace (Hardcover)

This is the fascinating story -- mainly ignored by Americans -- of Kings George I and George II, German princes and the first Hanovers to assume the British throne. (How many Bostonians know that Hanover St., the main street in historic North End, is named after the House of Hanover?) We Americans know plenty about George III. But here we come to know his grandfather and great-grandfather, and their lives in Kensington Palace (best known today as the home of Prince Charles and Diana). The Kings are surrounded by an amazing group of courtiers -- British nobility living, working, conniving and scheming at the court. Historian Lucy Worsley has done a superb job of bringing these men and women to life by telling the story through their own well-documented words. Each quote and detail is fully footnoted. The Hanover and Stuart family trees, given at the start of the book, are an essential guide. The court's goings on are astounding, to say the least. Who knew, for example, that the Georges hardly spoke English, and spent much of their time In Germany? And there are piquant bits -- like the Swedish nobleman lover of George I's first wife, Sophia Dorothea, who was kept locked away in a German castle after George learned of the love affair and divorced her. The Swede didn't fare as well. He was murdered by the King's henchmen. The book is beautifully illustrated with reproductions of paintings of the main characters. Included are photos of the murals at Kensington Palace's King's Grand Staircase which has portraits of 45 members of the Royal household and palace workers, many of whom you get to know in the book. The Courtiers is an absolute must for every Anglophile and any American interested in who came before George III.