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

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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.

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.

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.

I usually don't write reviews here on Amazon, however I must make an exception to Ms. Worsley's fine work.

This book brought a part of English history to many U.S. readers who don't really connect with this time period. Many of us Americans know little of the Hanovers and how they transitioned the Royal Monarchy's power to the Parliment and how they tried to keep their power with the people whether actual or perceived. The family fights, outcasts, affairs and deception were all part of the Courtiers daily events.

Ms. Worsley's work is like a sophisticated gossip story with plenty of insight to all the secrets and affairs of the Royal court. Ms. Worsley's witty writting brings lavity to the very serious world of the Courtiers and how society in England looked for it place in the pecking order.

This is not only quite informative but it is fun to read as well and will keep you turning the pages.

Historian Lucy Worsley has presented, in her book The Courtiers, a fine picture of 18th Century life in the Royal Courts of George I and George II. Aong the way, she not only introduces us to the main players at court, the King and Queen, but to court members of lesser status and is it through them that Ms Worsley effectively leads her readers through what it must have been like to live a life serving the first two Hanovarian royal families.

This is the book to read if you want to have a better understanding of what life at court was like. Ms Worsley's extensive research brings us the words of the courtiers, from official communication to the daily gossip, ranging from Peter the Wild Boy to the king's long suffering mistress, to effectively portray a full rich picture of the time and place.

Any one who is interested in history especially about 18th century England should read this book. Besides the extensive research that the author did this is not a cut and dried history book. When I read this book I was transported to the court. I got to know personally the king, queen and their assistants (the courtiers). She writes in such a style when you first start this book it is hard to put down.

The book is very readable and is only slightly repetitious towards the end. The author lets us know that the eagerly sought positions at court were usually not worth the effort expended. One would be used by anyone above or below you in the hierarchy and "favor" meant that one could rise or fall, depending on how the royalty felt about you. The Hanoverians were not happy campers--each king fought with his heirs and often found family life difficult. The book hangs on the King's Staircase portraits of servants and courtiers that "watch" over people ascending to the King's apartments. While the author identifies some of the figures, there is no complete photograph of the entire mural nor is there much discussion of how each was identified. Some characters play prominent roles in the book, but are not in the "Staircase" picture. I you read the entire book, you would hope to know more about the mural and its possible figures---but that conceit was abandoned long before her timeline of George II's court rise and fall is complete. The images were painted during the end of George I's reign, but George II and Caroline ruled for a long time from the Kensington Palace where the staircase is a dominant feature.