On the last day of November 1718, the Swedish Empire hit the dust, crumbling into non-existence with the death of Karl XII. This our last warrior king was out inspecting his positions in Norway when an unidentified object hit him in the temple and killed him. Since then, debate has raged as to whether it […]
Someone recently asked me if I has favourite scenes in my various books. Of course I do – don’t all authors? So I was thinking that maybe I should share some of these with you – but not the ones that are truly climactic to the book as such, as that would qualify as a
Today I thought we’d spend some time with James II. I am rather fascinated by this gentleman whose character must have been markedly affected by the terrifying events of his adolescence. Being somewhat of an underdog fan, I have also always felt sorry for James, so brutally ousted from his crown by none other than
Whenever people talk about ”those handsome Stuarts”, chances are they’ll come dragging with oh, so dashing Prince Rupert, nephew to king Charles I, valiant royalist commander, owner of a famous dog, and yes – he was good-looking as can be seen in the attached portrait. So were his brothers – especially Maurice, but a friend
Those gorgeous Stuart men – meet some 17th century hotties Read More »
One of the things that I find very endearing about Charles II, is that he was very much a family man. Not, I hasten to add, family man in the sense that he liked sitting at home with the wife and have tea (our Charles was quite the bounder, more than fond of an intense
If one is going to be financially successful as a writer of historical fiction, one should write about the Tudors. Or about Rome – or medieval England. Maybe even Regency (especially when thinking Romance). Somehow, the 17th century exists in a bubble of obscurity, trapped between the great drama of the 16th century and the
Being named Carlos was not really a good thing if you were a Spanish Hapsburg – well with the exception of the first, namely Carlos I of Spain. But this Carlos was not really Spanish. Yes, his mother was Spanish – the woman known to history as Juana la Loca or Joanna the Mad –
What is in a name? Of Don Carlos, in various incarnations Read More »
Swedish cultural profiles have long had the tradition of leaving their homeland and venturing out in the world. As early as the 17th century, the queen herself abdicated, sick and tired of living in a frozen country on the fringe of everything that went on in the culturally so exciting Europe (And yes, that is
It strikes me, sometimes, just how short the lives of some historical people were. Take, for example, Margaret of Austria. Who? Exactly: who? Well, for one thing she was the mother of Philip IV of Spain. She was also her son’s third cousin – on multiple sides. When her son went on to marry his
My dearest cousin and husband – of a Spanish queen Read More »
This, ladies and gentlemen, is Elizabeth Stuart, princess of Scotland and England, daughter to James VI & I and his Danish queen, Anne. Like her younger brother, Charles, Elizabeth was destined for a life of tragic adventure, but fortunately this was something she was totally unaware of during her childhood. As an added boon, she never