King's Mistress, Queen's Servant
The Life and Times of Henrietta Howard
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:6th May '10
Should be back in stock very soon
First biography of the remarkable Henrietta Howard - royal mistress and bluestocking in the court of George II.
Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk, was the long-term mistress and confidante of King George II. The mark that this enigmatic and largely neglected royal mistress left on the society and culture of early Georgian England was to resonate well beyond the confines of the court, and can still be felt today.Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk, was the long-term mistress and confidante of King George II. She was also, as Tracy Borman's wonderfully readable biography reveals, a dedicated patron of the arts; a lively and talented intellectual in her own right; a victim of adultery; a passionate advocate for the rights of women long before the dawn of feminism. Above all she was a woman of reason in an Age of Reason. The mark that this enigmatic and largely neglected royal mistress left on the society and culture of early Georgian England was to resonate well beyond the confines of the court, and can still be felt today.
It is the great strength of Tracy Borman's engaging new biography that, like Alison Weir and David Starkey before her, she manages to throw new light on the influence and careers of women in European courts -- Stella Tillyard * Sunday Times *
Borman has certainly found an unsung and unusual heroine, what elevates her biography above the others in its genre is the author's sense of humour * Times Literary Supplement *
Tracy Borman can tell a good story... [and] her subject is a gift * The Economist *
A short and zippy portrait of George II's long-suffering paramour -- Tim Martin * Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year *
Tracy Borman handles her voluminous material with easy grace * Independent on Sunday *
ISBN: 9780099549178
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 21mm
Weight: 245g
352 pages