Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III - Tapa dura

'Fraser weaves her story from the Princess' letters, and the "confident, conspiratorial, allusive" lines that ley bare their gilded lives' -- Sunday Herald 20050807 'A beautifully balanced and often very moving narrative' -- Times Literary Supplement 20041203 'Definitive and beautifully researched ... tenderly and movingly recounted ... captivating' -- Tatler 20041203 In this serious, substantial book, Fraser quotes sensitively from confidential letters ... keeping expert control over her material' -- Independent on Sunday 20041203 'In the course of her research, Flora Fraser developed for all six princesses 'the greastest respect and admiration'. One of the achievements of Princesses is to inspire in the reader similar emotions.' -- The Times 20041203 'A lusty tale ... set to be a bestseller' -- You Magazine 20041203 'A gripping family fresco' -- Country Life 20041203 'A rattling good yarn, with all the ingredients of a Gothic romance, including madness, tragedy, illegitimate children, imprisoned princesses and threatened inheritance.' -- Lady 20041109 'A sparkling narrative skilfully weaves together a wealth of historical detail' -- This England 20050601 'The Princesses' letters give a wonderfully personal texture to a narrative that unmasks kingship to reveal troubled kinship.' -- Daily Telegraph 20050806 'Riveting and beautifully written ... intimate and revealing ... utterly poignant' -- The Sunday Telegraph 'Compelling... seekers after monarchy with a human face need look no further' -- Literary Review 'A real-life Regency tale, full of cads, bounders, elopements, affairs, madness, illegitimate offspring, tragedies and comedies, all within a scholarly tome' -- Sunday Herald 'Meticulously detailed and deeply researched' -- Spectator 'Beautifully crafted, witty, scholarly, and sympathetic' -- The Telegraph 'A natural born biographer ... [she tells] a richly detailed story' -- Scotsman 'Fascinating, highly accomplished, admirable' -- Mail on Sunday 'This reviewer!is impressed by the amount of work undertaken, especially in the Royal Archives, to give these often patronised Princesses a fair treatment. She has done much to correct centuries of neglect and to show that there was much more to them than either their contemporaries or historians have thought'. -- Contemporary Review 20050401 'Unprecedented access to the sisters' letters... [support] a richly-textured narrative... In Flora Fraser they find the sensitive biographer they deserve' -- Independent 20050401

On the surface the sisters were busy, accomplished girls, but the real story beneath their composed image was quite different - no one who reads Princesses will ever look in the same way again at the calm, composed women in Gainsborough's portraits. The King may have believed that his six daughters were happy to live celibately with him and Queen Charlotte at Windsor, but secretly, as Flora Fraser's absorbing narrative of royal repression and sexual licence shows, the sisters enjoyed startling freedom. The historical searchlight has been turned with great intensity and sympathy on George III and his family, and the sweep of history between the Regency and Victorian eras. Flora Fraser has written an extraordinary (and surprisingly modern) story with real authority, wit and elegance.