Blood Royal: The Illustrious House of Hanover
By (Author) Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson
Faber & Faber
Faber & Faber
16th February 2012
Main
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
European history
941.0709
Paperback
256
Width 153mm, Height 234mm, Spine 18mm
398g
The four Hanoverian King Georges may have become fixed in history as 'faintly absurd, certainly unattractive, figures' but in this colourful account of their lives and times, families and courts, Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson restores a sprinkling of credit where it has been due.
His account does not neglect the marital discords of George I, the towering paternal disdain of George II or the tragically misunderstood 'madness' of George III. But the reader is also encouraged to consider how the Hanoverian monarchs reacted to the climate of art and fashion in their times, from George II's espousal of Handel to George IV's patronage of Beau Brummell.
By its own admission not a comprehensive history, Blood Royal is nevertheless an elegant and shining string of linked vignettes and short studies.
Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson was born in 1939, and educated at Eton and St. John's, Cambridge. He has been an author (Faber Finds is reissuing Inglorious Rebellion, Blood Royal and That Sweet Enemy), publisher and is now a literary agent.