Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III

Flora Fraser is the next generation in the fine biographical/historical tradition of her mother Lady Antonia Fraser and her late grandmother Elizabeth (Countess of) Longford. Like her forebears, Fraser combines scholarship with an elegant and witty writing style to produce books which illuminate and engage.King George III's six daughters tend to get short shrift from historians and biographers who focus on their father, their brothers, and their niece Queen Victoria. The prevailing picture of them is of six mousy women pushed into the background. Fraser has pulled Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia out of the shadows and let us see that they had strong personalities and lives of their own.The six princesses were victims of circumstance even more than most eighteenth century royal women. Ordinarily they would have been married off to men they scarcely knew almost as soon as they reached puberty in order to strengthen Britain's alliances. George III, however, had been horrified by the ill treatment two of his own sisters received at the hands of unloving husbands, and he was determined that his own daughters would not suffer such a fate. Unfortunately his paternal affections did not extend to allowing his daughters to marry Englishmen they loved, and only meant that he turned down overtures from many foreign princes, usually without consulting his daughters at all. Furthermore, as the princesses reached marriageable age the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars meant many possible suitors were now the enemies of Britain and thus out of bounds. Finally, George III's bouts of madness/porphyria attacks made him unable to entertain marriage offers, and his wife Queen Charlotte's deep depression over her husband's malady meant that she could not be a matchmaker either.Bereft of the chance to be proper wives and mothers (the only acceptable role for nearly all women of the period) the princesses lived under their parents' noses well into middle age. They developed literary and artistic interests and were patrons of British charities, and managed little flirtations and dalliances here and there with gentlemen of the court. One of Augusta's liaisons possibly ended in (an illegal) marriage, while Sophia actually produced an illegitimate child. The princesses were dutiful and loving children to their increasingly difficult parents and were supportive siblings to their rackety brothers, who were also denied the chance to legally marry women they loved.It was only in middle age that some of the daughters married, Charlotte and Elizabeth to German princelings, Mary to an English cousin. Charlotte probably had the most adventurous life, living in Wurttemburg right through several invasions by Napoleon and having to flee for her life at one point (Fraser's description of her life in temporary exile, accompanied by two kangaroos, is among the most amusing of the many anecdotes in the book.)The fine human qualities of the daughters are well portrayed here. I felt sorriest for Amelia, whose unrequited love for an English officer lasted until her death in 1810. I was impressed with the love the daughters showed for their parents and their brothers, and by the love their brothers gave them in return. (Usually the later Hanoverians are depicted as self-indulgent reprobates devoid of any finer qualities.) Finally, the love and regard the daughters had for each other, going to great trouble to visit when one was ill for example, is admirable.The final years of the daughters were quiet, marked by illness and decline, but I was glad to see that they were not lonely ones, but rather filled with visits from their surviving siblings and other relations and friends. There is a charming photograph in the book of Queen Victoria with two of her children visiting Mary, the last survivor. It is a fitting end to this story of six women who, though related to some of the wealthiest and most powerful people of their time, enjoyed unassuming and generally unremarked upon lives.

The ebb and flow of human relationships is common to all ages; the ways in which these connections are expressed is dictated by their context. Flora Fraser's "Princesses" reveals to us women whose emotions are not at all unfamiliar to us, but whose time compels their expression (or suppression!) in ways that seem foreign to Americans of the 21st century.The six daughters of George III of England and his wife Queen Charlotte (who also had nine sons) were born between 1768 and 1778--the youngest died in 1857. Only three of them were allowed to marry, and that only in their middle age. (Their papa didn't want to part with them.) That did not prevent them from leading active, and sometimes dangerous, romantic lives--perhaps the more active from being restricted. There were consummated and unconsummated affairs, an illegitimate child, possible incest, and perhaps a secret marriage or two. (The House of Windsor has nothing on the House of Hanover when it comes to scandalous affairs of the heart.)The abundant letters which passed between the sisters themselves (Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Sophia, Amelia, and Mary) and the rest of the family provide the chief means of knowing them. I had always thought of George III and his family as still being fundamentally German, but nothing could be more English in sense and feeling than these letters. They are surprisingly contemporary to modern ear and eye, and they are extremely lively, full of feeling, and very literate--to me, an eye-opener.At the heart of "Princesses" lies the madness of their father. The sisters grew up in a hierarchical (and a man's) world in which there were many rules and not many options for those who flouted them; their father was at the top of the pinnacle. (It was George who in fact signed the Royal Marriages Act which, with certain exceptions, prevented those of the blood royal from marrying without the king's previous consent.) The sisters already knew how loathe the king was to see them leave the family circle, very likely for a foreign country, even when he was in good spirits. After the king's first bouts with ill health, would any "good" daughter want to take the chance of disturbing his mental balance (and thus the balance of the kingdom) by requiring his approval of her marriage? How would a daughter cope with the inappropriate sexual activity of her mentally troubled father? How would she relate to a mother who turned her father out of the bedroom when that daughter believed that this precipitated the king's sexual misbehavior? If you are an affectionate woman of some intelligence, but in a position of some prominence, how do you make a life for yourself under these circumstances?--questions that do not arise solely in eighteenth century Britain. Flora Fraser allows us to look over the ladies' shoulders as they cope with these trials, with each other, and with the rest of their world.

there is so much written about King George III already, but i had never seen any books on his lesser known children. there are lots of books on the Prince Regent, George the Prince of Wales,and on his younger brother the future King William IV. And to a lesser degree, Edward Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria. I had never seen anything on the "girls" though. The book doesn't ignore the males, indeed it covers them too as part of the 'nursery" explaining how the King wanted his children raised, etc.It covers them in depth. it was written by Flora Fraser the daughter of Antonia Fraser,and i thoroughly enjoyed it.

Flora's writing is not to the level her famous Mother, Lady Antonia. However, she has managed to produce a rather interesting history covering a period of great world wide change. Through the life of these six princesses, their parents, nannies, teachers and contemporaries a very engrossing story unfolds that sheds light on a unique period of history that affects our lives even to this day. The excerpts of so many letters written by and to the princesses, although lending great insight and credibility, in some instances prove to be rather boring and tedious. All in all it is a rather good effort on Flora's part. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in historical biographies. Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III

Great read

Most of us only ever cover the Victorians at school, so the 18th Century remains something of a mystery. Learning that George III had fifteen children, I was very interested to see what became of his daughters... but sadly, the answer appears to be not much. Barred from marrying by the edict their father wrote, which he couldn't act on due to being insane, they wasted away at home with little to show for lives that could have accounted for so much. Correspondingly, I found this book a bit dry. It was lacking in adventure, which is not directly the author's fault - but perhaps she could have tied it in to a wider historical period to provide a little more action. I feel like I've learned all I would ever need to about these sisters, and to be honest I came away quite depressed! I'm certainly glad to be a free 21st Century woman and not in the gilded cage these women withered away in.

This book covers a lot of ground, much of it not explored in other books. To that extent it is valuable. The writing is not exactly sparkling, and there is probably too much space devoted to the princesses' childhood years rather than their adult lives. Nonetheless, it is enjoyable if one is interested in the subject matter, and the book is well worth having.

A very good book and quite detailed. Little is known about this period. The 18 c isn't documented as precisely as the Victorian era. Few people could write in Jane Austen's time. Life expectancy was low. People didn't read that many newspapers to know about international affairs or what was happening in the county beyond their local village.

To be honest though i have made it to the end of this book, i have finished it under some strain. the subject matter captivated me, the writing style did not.The story gets told in exacting detail, though there is no real flow in the telling of the tales.Maybe the real problem is the book tried to cover the lives of too many characters rendering it all a bit muddled.Though one thing in it's favour is that is very well researched and packed with intriguing, amusing and often touching anecdotes from cover to cover.

I wish I could give this book no stars at all! I found it to be so badly written that I am amazed that it was published. I have just finished reading 'The Strangest Family' about George III and I thought this would be a great follow-up which would give more detailed information about his daughters. The style is scrappy and not at all coherent or easy to read.