Ladies of the Bedchamber

Ladies of the Bedchamber
Author: Dennis Friedman
Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2003
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

This text examines the role played by the mistress, the concubine and finally commercial sex, the ready availability of which possibly protected the virginal sanctity of marriage in the years preceding today's less holy alliances.

The Queen's Bed

The Queen's Bed
Author: Anna Whitelock
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2014-02-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0374239789

"Originally published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing, Great Britain, as Elizabeth's Bedfellows: An Intimate History of the Queen's Court"--T.p. verso.

The Lady of the Bedchamber, Vol. 1 of 2

The Lady of the Bedchamber, Vol. 1 of 2
Author: Mrs. A. Crawford
Publisher: Forgotten Books
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2016-11-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9781334133930

Excerpt from The Lady of the Bedchamber, Vol. 1 of 2: A Novel After many other Victories, so easily achieved that this campaign seemed almost an excursion of pleasure, Louis returned triumphantly to Paris. His first care was now to make in quiries about the daughter of the Chevalier de Valcour, and finding that she was ln the Con vent of St. Agnes, situated in one of the valleys at the foot of Pyrenees, he determined to place her immediately among the maids of honour attendant on the Queen, and despatched forthwith a gouvernante, and an armed tr00p to escort her to Paris. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe

The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 441
Release: 2013-10-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004258396

The Politics of Female Households is the first collection that seeks to integrate ladies-in-waiting into the master narrative of early modern court studies. Presenting evidence and analysis of the multifarious ways in which ‘women above stairs’ shaped the European courts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it argues for a re-assessment of their political influence. The cultural agency of ladies-in-waiting is viewed in the reflection of portraiture, pamphlets and masques: their political dealings and patronage are revealed through analysis of letters, family networks, career patterns, gift exchange and household structures, as well as their activities in the fields of intelligence-gathering and espionage. By concentrating on a previously neglected area of female agency, this collection demonstrates clearly that the political climate of Europe was often shaped outside the male-dominated institutions of government and administration. Contributors include: Helen Graham-Matheson, Hannah Leah Crummé, Katrin Keller, Vanessa de Cruz, Birgit Houben, Dries Raeymaekers, Janet Ravenscroft, Una McIlvenna, Rosalind K. Marshall, Oliver Mallick, Cynthia Fry, Nadine Akkerman, Sara J. Wolfson, Fabian Persson, and Jeroen Duindam.

Elizabeth's Bedfellows

Elizabeth's Bedfellows
Author: Anna Whitelock
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 669
Release: 2013-05-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1408833638

Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558, restoring the Protestant faith to England. At the heart of the new queen's court lay Elizabeth's bedchamber, closely guarded by the favoured women who helped her dress, looked after her jewels and shared her bed. Elizabeth's private life was of public, political concern. Her bedfellows were witnesses to the face and body beneath the make-up and elaborate clothes, as well as to rumoured illicit dalliances with such figures as Robert Dudley. Their presence was for security as well as propriety, as the kingdom was haunted by fears of assassination plots and other Catholic subterfuge. For such was the significance of the queen's body: it represented the very state itself. This riveting, revealing history of the politics of intimacy uncovers the feminized world of the Elizabethan court. Between the scandal and intrigue the women who attended the queen were the guardians of the truth about her health, chastity and fertility. Their stories offer extraordinary insight into the daily life of the Elizabethans, the fragility of royal favour and the price of disloyalty.

The Final Curtsey

The Final Curtsey
Author: Margaret Rhodes
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2011-11-23
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0857901915

The bestselling behind-the-scenes memoir of the royal family by a cousin who served in MI5—and as one of the Queen’s bridesmaids. Includes photos! A Sunday Times number one bestseller in the United Kingdom, this is the intimate and revealing autobiography of Margaret Rhodes, first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and niece of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Margaret was born into the Scottish aristocracy, into a now almost vanished world of privilege. Royalty often came to stay, and her house was run in the style of Downton Abbey. During the Second World War, she “lodged” at Buckingham Palace while she worked for MI5. She was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousin, Princess Elizabeth, to Prince Philip. Three years later, the King and Queen attended her own wedding, in which Princess Margaret was a bridesmaid. In 1990, she was appointed as a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother, acting also as her companion, which she describes in touching detail. In the early months of 2002, she spent as much time as possible with her ailing aunt and was at her bedside when she died. The next morning, she went to Queen Elizabeth’s bedroom to pray, and in farewell dropped her a final curtsey. The Queen Mother regarded Margaret Rhodes as her “third daughter,” and she has been extremely close to her cousins, the Queen and Princess Margaret, throughout their lives. Full of charming anecdotes, fascinating characters, and personal photographs, this is an unparalleled insight into the private life of the British monarchy. “Surprisingly addictive.” —New Zealand Herald

Lady in Waiting

Lady in Waiting
Author: Anne Glenconner
Publisher: Hachette Books
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2020-03-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0306846357

Discover untold secrets with this extraordinary memoir of drama and tragedy by Anne Glenconner—a close member of the royal circle and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed "the greatest disappointment" and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive court life with her sense of humor intact. A unique witness to landmark moments in royal history, Maid of Honor at Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret until her death in 2002, Anne's life has encompassed extraordinary drama and tragedy. In Lady in Waiting, she will share many intimate royal stories from her time as Princess Margaret's closest confidante as well as her own battle for survival: her broken-off first engagement on the basis of her "mad blood"; her 54-year marriage to the volatile, unfaithful Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who left his fortune to a former servant; the death in adulthood of two of her sons; a third son she nursed back from a six-month coma following a horrific motorcycle accident. Through it all, Anne has carried on, traveling the world with the royal family, including visiting the White House, and developing the Caribbean island of Mustique as a safe harbor for the rich and famous-hosting Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Raquel Welch, and many other politicians, aristocrats, and celebrities. With unprecedented insight into the royal family, Lady in Waiting is a witty, candid, dramatic, at times heart-breaking personal story capturing life in a golden cage for a woman with no inheritance. New York Times Bestseller USA Today Bestseller The Sunday Times Bestseller The Globe and Mail Bestseller ABA Indie Bestseller The Times (UK) Memoir of the Year One of Newsweek's Most Anticipated Books of 2020