Review by Booklist Review
Renowned for his good looks and magnetic personality, George Villiers was spotted at a hunt by England's King James, and the monarch was instantly besotted with the handsome young man, whose mother Mary excelled at court intrigues. Hughes-Hallett (Gabriele d'Annunzio, 2014) examines the evidence for a sexual liaison between these two men. She takes meticulous care to avoid reading twenty-first-century sexual behaviors into Stuart practices of half a millennium ago and reaches thoughtful and balanced conclusions. Both the king and his subject, who was rewarded with a dukedom, married and had children. Hughes-Hallett dives deeply into every aspect of life in the Stuart era. Court entertainment centered on dancing, and Villiers excelled in the ballroom. Courtiers were also expected to ride with the king when he went hunting and to have mastery of all things equestrian. King James had a good education, read widely, and could hold his own in scholarly conversations and debates in several languages. Hughes-Hallett also perceptively lays out the complex roles of young women in the aristocracy. Politics led to Villiers' disfavor under James' successor and to his assassination. The popular recent streaming miniseries, Mary & George, will increase the audience for this deep and revealing period history.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This rousing biography from historian Hughes-Hallet (The Pike) recaps the life of George Villiers, an obscure son of English gentry who skyrocketed from cupbearer to King James I in 1614 to near-absolute power as James's (and his son Charles I's) prime minister, Lord High Admiral, and Duke of Buckingham. He owed his rise to his intimate--likely sexual--relationship with James, who swooned over his good looks and elegant dancing. Hughes-Hallett's colorful narrative highlights Villiers's glamorous exploits--her account of his and Charles's journey in disguise to Spain to negotiate Charles's marriage is full of twisty intrigue--and his skill as a courtier and power broker who was charming, well-spoken, and ingratiating even to his enemies. She's also insightful on Villiers's undoing as a result of his ill-advised campaigns against Spain and France, which ended in bloody fiascos, partly because his forces fumed over lack of pay--it was a disgruntled soldier who assassinated him in 1628. By that time, Hughes-Hallett demonstrates, Villiers was the most hated man in England, accused of everything from witchcraft to killing King James; Parliament's attempts to impeach him sparked the antagonism between Charles and Parliament that would lead to civil war. Hughes-Hallet paints a glittering portrait of 17th-century court life, where authority often flowed from intense emotional rapport with the king and could lead to stunning falls from grace. It's a captivating study of the psychodrama of power. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
The enigmatic and flamboyant first Duke of Buckingham (1592--1638) is the subject of award-winning Hughes-Hallett's (The Pike: Gabriele d'Annunzio) new biography. The duke's mother was ambitious by nature and promoted the careers of all her children, especially her son. He rapidly moved up in the world, becoming a favorite of both James I and Charles I, eventually receiving the title of Duke of Buckingham. His eventual fall from grace was brought about through bad decisions including failed military expeditions and promoting the match of Prince Charles and Henrietta Marie, a Catholic, during a time period when much of the public favored a Protestant match. So unpopular was he that calls were made for his impeachment, which was prevented by Charles I himself. However, it was only a postponement of the fallout, as Buckingham was assassinated in 1628. VERDICT Hughes-Hallett vividly describes the politics and culture of the era in this fascinating biography for readers of British history.--Lucy Heckman
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A delicious account of English politics in the decades after Elizabeth. Historian Hughes-Hallett, author ofGabriele d'Annunzio: Poet, Seducer, and Preacher of War, concentrates on the relations between middle-aged, unattractive but competent James I (reigned 1603-1625) and Henry Villiers (1592-1628), Duke of Buckingham, his "favorite." The word is passe, but even today's national leaders have a chief of staff or special advisor who owes their power to that leader alone and is often sacrificed to placate the populace. English monarchs in that era enjoyed great land wealth and executive authority but did not have absolute power and were usually short of money because taxes were temporary and required parliamentary approval. James had the enormous advantage (in our eyes) of being opposed to war and easygoing in matters of religion. This put him at odds with parliament, dominated by Puritans who considered British Catholics to be traitors and Catholic Spain a loathsome enemy. Mostly, he tried to rule without parliament. He had run through several favorites before Villiers joined the king's bedchamber in 1615. All were handsome young men, and modern scholars now accept that James was homosexual. Villiers and James developed a passionate relationship that seemed both sincere and physical. James showered him with estates, titles, and offices, provoking jealousy from peers and salacious commentary from the populace. This had little effect until 1624, when Britain went to war against Spain with enthusiastic support from parliament, Buckingham, and young Charles, who succeeded his father the following year. Combining lively prose and skilled scholarship, Hughes-Hallett describes the catastrophic military debacles that followed. With attacks on royalty off-limits, blame focused on Buckingham, but newly crowned Charles cut short charges by dissolving parliament, beginning the interregnum that ended with civil war and his own execution long after Buckingham himself had been assassinated to widespread applause. Great men and politics history at its best. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
