The Queen Of Bohemia A Novel

A sweeping, cinematic novel about the life of the Winter Queen, Elizabeth Stuart October 1612. King James I is looking to expand England’s influence in Europe, especially among the Protestants. He invites Prince Frederic of the Palatinate to London and offers him his sixteen-year-old daughter Elizabeth’s hand in marriage. The fierce and intelligent Elizabeth moves to Heidelberg Castle, Frederic’s ancestral home, where she is favored with whatever she desires, and the couple begins their family. Amid much turmoil, the Hapsburg emperor is weakened, and with help from Bohemian rebels, Frederic takes over royal duties in Prague. Thus, Elizabeth becomes the Queen of Bohemia. But their reign is brief. Within the year, Catholic Europe unites to take back the Hapsburg throne. Defeated at the Battle of White Mountain, Frederic, Elizabeth, and their children are forced into exile for a much-reduced life in The Hague. Despite tumultuous seasons of separation and heartache, the Winter Queen makes every effort to keep her family intact. Written with cinematic flair, this historical novel brings in key figures such as Shakespeare and Descartes as it recreates the drama and intrigue of 17th-century England and the Continent. Elizabeth’s children included Rupert of the Rhine and Sophia of Hanover, from whom the Hanoverian line descended to the present Queen Elizabeth II.

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Daughter of James VI of Scotland (James I of Great Britain) and Anne of Denmark, she married Frederick V, Elector of Palatine. Her husband¿s acceptance of the throne of Bohemia in 1619 precipitated the Thirty Years War. Both Bohemia and Palatine were lost and the royal family fled to Holland where they lived in extreme poverty, dogged by misfortunes. Throughout this period, by sheer force of her personality, beauty and courage, Elizabeth maintained her role at the centre of her court-in-exile. She lived long enough to see her son Charles Louis restored to the electorate. Her daughter Sophia was the mother of George I of England. This beautifully written biography also paints vivid pictures of late Shakespearean England in which she spent her youth and of the Restoration England to which she returned in old age.

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'What a compelling read! Nancy Goldstone has brought to life the four female Stuarts in all their tragic glory' Amanda Foreman Valentine's Day, 1613. Elizabeth Stuart, the sixteen-year-old granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Frederick V, a German count and ally of her father, James I of England. In just five years a terrible betrayal will ruin 'the Winter Queen', as Elizabeth will forever be known, imperil the lives of those she loves and launch a war that lasts thirty years. In a sweeping narrative encompassing political intrigue, illicit love affairs and even a murder mystery, Nancy Goldstone tells the riveting story of a queen in exile, and of her four defiant daughters.

Elizabeth Stuart is one the most misrepresented - and underestimated - figures of the seventeenth century. This biography reveals the impact that she had on both England and Europe