Tea at Trianon: Palaces of Revolution: Life, Death and Art at the Stuart Court

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Palaces of Revolution: Life, Death and Art at the Stuart Court

I loved this book! From The Tudor Travel Guide:

At the same time, Palaces of Revolution introduces us to new ‘houses of power’ that were constructed during the reign of the Stuarts. It includes many images of the elevations of buildings, floor plans and to-die-for colour reconstructions, drawn by the brilliant Stephen Conlin.
As ever, in Palaces of Revolution, Mr Thurley weaves in the story of the people and their palaces like no other. However, most poignantly, he leaves us in a reflective mood, summarising that by the death of the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne, the royal court, and therefore its buildings, were no longer the theatre in which power was yielded. That now lay with parliament. Monarchs now ‘reigned not ruled’. Perhaps for a lover of medieval and Tudor history like me, this is a fitting way to conclude a chapter that extended from the Norman invasion; centuries littered with colourful characters, in whose wake was left a vibrant landscape of both triumph and tragedy.

I am very grateful to William Collins Publishers who have allowed me to publish this short extract from Palaces of the Revolution called, Into England. It is taken from the first chapter and details King James’ removal from Scotland and his arrival at the King’s Manor in York, the seat of the Council of the North, in the Spring of 1603. (Read more.)