The Daughters of George III by Catherine Curzon
Genre: History, Non-Fiction
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Publish Date: 30 August 2020

Star Rating 5/5

I was expecting to greatly enjoy this book, not to fall in love with it as much as I have come to do. For the size of the book it is, I would normally take on average four days to read through it but this one took me only two days. I'm sure it would have been one day if I could return to my teenage days and build a nest in my bed supplied with food and water.

I love that there is a movement in the historical world to shine a spotlight on the supporting cast of well-known characters. As we all know George III was known for his madness and his wayward sons but what of his daughters? George and his wife had 15 surviving children, a great feat in the Georgian era, and six of them were daughters: Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia. Their childhoods' are all similar, growing up trained to be perfect princesses, with a view to marring highly, into a very loving family. However, as their father's illness begins to flare, their futures are neglected and their mother hangs onto them desperately, to the extent they become prisoners trapped in what they nicknamed “the nunnery”. The daughters might be trapped in “The Nunnery” but it started out from a place of love. George was determined to make sure that the terrible fate of his sister Caroline Matilda never became that of his daughters. Only one daughter managed to escape before the slightly ajar door slammed shut (although she was not a spring chicken) and the other married either extremely late in life or not at all. Curzon explores each princess's life, within which we discover depression, desperation, isolation, illegitimate children, love from a distance, author of published books, illness, and perhaps secret marriages.

Each princess is as interesting as the last and interestingly to me they are the aunts of Queen Victoria. This is of interest because there are similarities that can be made between Queen Victoria and her children and the daughters of George III and their mother. Like Queen Victoria, Queen Charlotte was strict with the children, though more tender, but when George became sick as did Victoria after the death of Albert, Charlotte held unhealthily onto her daughters, expecting them to care for her and not to live their own lives. Likewise, each daughter's reaction to this situation can be glimpsed in those of Victoria. For example, we have Victoria's, Princess Louise, who has similarities with the artistic child of Charlotte's Princess Elizabeth that published her works in books, etc.

Curzon has done a fantastic job of creating this highly researched book. Though many events overlap they are not repetitive and as we move from one sister to the next previous backspaces are filled. The princess's voices come across in a very human way. My only quibble would be that every now and again the author's remarks informing the reader that in today's world this would be shocking... but it's personal taste and it certainly isn't enough to downgrade any stars from this book. Please read this book, these princesses are wonderful and their stories are those of survival in extraordinary circumstances. Now I'll have to look out other works by Curzon.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Pen and Sword, for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This historical book was written so well, it was an easy read that took a few hours to read.

We rarely hear about the ladies of the Georgian era, so I definitely loved this.
If you love royals, princesses, or women we don't usually hear about in history, I highly recommend this.

208 pages

5 stars

King George III was certainly having problems – with the Americans, with his wandering brothers and with his mental health. He was of a nervous disposition and he and his Queen Charlotte believed strongly in decorum and tradition. When both of his brothers married secretly without his permission – and to commoners ! - he banished them. He pushed the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 through Parliament in hopes of keeping his many children in line as well as the rest of his siblings.

He and Queen Charlotte had fifteen children! And they all survived birth. This book discusses their six daughters.

Charlotte, Princess Royal, was not considered to be attractive or pretty, but she was very intelligent. She was quick to anger and had to write out apologies frequently. The princesses were all raised in a closed and insular court, away from their brothers. The years were passing Charlotte by and she still wasn't married. No wonder because the princesses were so overprotected. Her mother was a micro-manager. She did get a rather stubborn and somewhat deranged suitor (in his mind only), named Stone who was a commoner. He wrote the queen, he showed up at the palace...He wasn't even worth consideration, of course. She needed to be out of the palace.

Royal had to wait until she was thirty to finally marry. She was married to Frederick, Duke of Wurttemberg, who recently escaped Russia with his three children, while his ex-wife remained as a “guest” of Tsarina Catherine (the Great). She was very happy with Frederick.

The book then goes on to discuss a similar dilemma with the second daughter, Augusta, and her seemingly dwindling prospects for marriage and so on down the line of all the sisters.

This is a very well written and interesting book. I have never read anything about George and Charlotte's children before and found the material to be both entertaining and enlightening. I am very glad I had the opportunity to read this book. I liked it better than the last one of Ms. Curzon's books that I have read. I also really got a kick out of the little aside comments the author would interject here and there. They were a hoot.

I want to thank NetGalley and Pen & Sword/Pen & Sword History for forwarding to me a copy of this very nice book for me to read, enjoy and review.