Henrietta Maria of France entered English history as a royal bride, but she remained in it as an accusation.
To her supporters, she was a loyal wife, a courageous queen, a mother defending the inheritance of her children, and one of the few figures at Charles I's court willing to fight for the crown when hesitation had become fatal. To her enemies, she was the foreign Catholic woman who corrupted the King, encouraged absolutism, protected priests, stirred fear of popery, and helped drive England toward civil war.
Henrietta Maria tells the story of the queen at the centre of the Stuart crisis: her French Catholic upbringing, her difficult marriage to Charles I, her role at court, her influence during the Personal Rule, the suspicion that surrounded her religion, and the political storms that led England, Scotland and Ireland toward civil war.
This is not a simple defence of a misunderstood queen, nor a lazy attempt to blame her for Charles I's failures. Henrietta Maria was both scapegoat and actor. She was blamed for more than she caused, but she also mattered more than her defenders sometimes admit.
From court splendour to propaganda, war, exile, regicide and Restoration, this book follows a queen who refused to fade into ceremony. Proud, devout, brave, politically active and often controversial, Henrietta Maria became one of the most feared and blamed women of the seventeenth century.
Clear, direct and readable, Henrietta Maria is the story of monarchy, religion, marriage, rebellion and the woman who fought for the Stuart crown when the kingdom turned against it.
