Casting new light on the heirs of the doomed king and his unpopular but indefatigable Catholic queen, Henrietta Maria, acclaimed historian Linda Porter brings to life their personalities, legacies, feuds and rivalries for the first time.
As their calm and loving family life was shattered by war, Elizabeth and Henry were used as pawns in the Parliamentary campaign against their father; Mary, the Princess Royal, was whisked away to the
When their 'dark and ugly' brother Charles eventually succeeded his father to the English throne after fourteen years of wandering, he promptly enacted a vengeful punishment on those who had spurned his family, with his brother James firmly in his shadow. A tale of love and endurance, of battles and flight, of educations disrupted, the lonely death of a young princess and the wearisome experience of exile, Royal Renegades charts the fascinating story of the children of loving parents who could not protect them from the consequences of their own failings as monarchs and the forces of upheaval sweeping England.
This is historical biography as it should be written - comprehensively researched, insightful and, above all, compellingly readable. Linda Porter is one of our foremost historians, and she also knows how to tell a rattlingly good story. In this vivid saga she brilliantly weaves together the lives of the often-unfortunate children of Charles I, showing how tragically the English Civil War impacted on them. Who says the Stuarts aren't as fascinating as the Tudors? Read this book and you'll find that they most certainly are. Highly recommemded."-- Alison Wier
"Written with emotional insight, historical accuracy and Porter's observant eye for the small details that bring people and the past to life, this is a refreshing new perspective on both Charles l's family and one of the most turbulent periods of English history."
-- Pam Norfolk's Online review for The Visitor, 30/10/16 Read the review online
"Porter deftly weaves together the key political events from a 60-year period with the turbulent lives of some of its youngest royal players."
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Janet Ravenscroft
wonder
"A wonderful story, both poignant and touching, of the family heartbreak that lay behind the public politics of the Civil Wars." -- Janice Hadlow
"One of the great untold stories of British history - a prince who knew what it was like to live as a pauper, an exiled princess as estranged from her husband as from England. Linda's Porter's pacy and impeccably researched history takes the six surviving children of Charles I and gives full weight to the personal as well as the political stories." -- Sarah Gristwood, author of Arbella and Blood Sisters
"Charles I was, even his wife and key advisers conceded, lacking in the essential strength that a ruler required, in turbulent times. But even Charles's enemies were moved by his loving devotion as a father. Linda Porter looks with sympathy and fluent scholarship at the lives of the six, beloved, Stuart princes and princesses, illuminating how their father's failure as king inevitably impacted their lives, before the survivors strived to forge their own destinies." -- Charles Spencer
" She tells the tale with flair and admirable clarity…an entertaining read." -- Literary Review
"Well-written, well-sourced, and objective, Royal Renegades will be appreciated both by those who know relatively little about the Stuarts and by those who have a well-stocked Stuart library." -- Historical Novels Society Read the review
Now available from Pan Macmillan
and in the US from St. Martin's Press
