Amazon Category:  Biography Publisher: Sutton ISBN-10:  0750923105 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 240 Copyright: Jul 1 2000 The Queens and princesses of the Hanoverian dynasty in England, from Electress Sophia, mother of King George I, to Queen Adelaide, consort of King William IV, and King George III's last surviving daughter Mary, Duchess of Gloucester This biography looks at the women of the Hanoverian dynasty over a period of 200 years, whose lives spanned an era from the Civil War to the first twenty years of Queen Victoria's reign. They include Electress Sophia, who would have become Queen of England at the age of 83 had she lived just six weeks longer, but whose son George (I) founded the Hanoverian dynasty; the accomplished Queen Caroline, consort of George II; her notorious namesake, consort of George IV; the tragic Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark, who married an incipient schizophrenic King, saw her lover put to death, and was divorced and imprisoned, dying at the early age of 23. Excerpt Queen Charlotte had been delighted with her granddaughter's marriage, and it led to a new closeness between them. Yet the ailing matriarch's anger at a different family wedding threatened to cause another breach. The Duke of Cumberland had fallen passionately in love with one of his German cousins, Frederica of Prussia, the last Princess whom his mother was likely to welcome as a daughter-in-law. Daughter of Queen Charlotte's brother Charles, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Frederica was separated from her compliant husband Prince Frederick of Solms-Braunfels and had already been planning divorce on the grounds of incompatibility and mutual breakdown. That the Duke should contemplate marriage to a woman who was about to be divorced was bad enough; that this same woman should be the one who had once been officially betrothed to his younger brother Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, and then married her husband barely three months before the birth of their first child, put her quite beyond the pale. Soon after agreeing to a divorce, Frederick had a stroke and died, a little too suddenly for the gossips who maliciously suggested that his wife had poisoned him.

Princesses everywhere
As is usual with John's books, a rollicking good read. Captures the interest pretty quickly and you want to just keep on reading. It would be very easy to sink into the mire with this book - Princesses everywhere who all have the same name and are related to all those Hanoverian Georges. The family tree at the front of the book is clear and helps to stop confusion before it could start. The author is also very good at adding the titles of the various princesses to help differentiate them. Very nice to see more obscure princesses such as Augusta of Brunswick and Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg featured. Of course, the leading characters are all there, such as Queen Adelaide, Princess Charlotte, the Queen of Tears, etc. But the supporting princesses round out the picture and show how the family supported one another, kept in touch with one another and dealt with what were not easy lives for women in such privileged positions. - Sue Woolmans, European Royal History Journal, Jul/Aug 2000