The Winter Queen

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.

'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.

An immensely moving account of a strange and magical interracial love affair, The Winter Queen illuminates the Netherlands of the seventeenth century. Amid the dark ambiance of the time, the exiled Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia and Pelagius, a West African prince and former slave, fall in love and secretly marry. With great erudition and compassion, Jane Stevenson vividly renders both a portrait of an extraordinary relationship and a tumultuous political history. Set against a historical backdrop enriched with the art, philosophy, and religion of the Dutch Golden Age, "scene succeeds scene in Vermeer-like richness of color" (Memphis Commercial Appeal).

Set in the Netherlands in the 1640s, this novel tells of the relationship between Elizabeth of Bohemia and Pelagius. They fall in love, marry clandestinely and, secretly, Elizabeth gives birth to a baby boy, seen as a hope for the new age.

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.

The Winter Queen is the tragic story of Elizabeth of Bohemia (1596-1662), daughter of James VI and Anne of Denmark. Regarded as one of the most romantic figures of the seventeenth century, she was the crucial link between the Stewart kings and the House of Hanover. Elizabeth was, successively, a royal princess in Linlithgow, then in London, an adored bride in Heidelberg, a Queen Consort in Prague, an impoverished exile in The Hague and finally the respected aunt of Charles II in Restoration London. The book accompanies a major exhibition to be held at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in the summer of 1998. The author, Dr. Rosalind Marshall, is a leading art historian who has published a number of books, including biographies of Mary of Guise and Mary, Queen of Scots.

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