Starring a very young Clive Owen, Polly Walker, Billie Whitelaw, and Sean Bean, this version was a lot starker (pun intended, Game of Thrones, fans) than the 2000 version, and the plot significantly altered. The Monmouth Rebellion, for example, which was extremely important to the plot in the original novel Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore does not feature in this adaptation.… Read on
I’m very pleased to welcome our first guest post ever here on The Seventeenth Century Lady, and this by historical fiction author Anita Seymour. Here she is in an interview with Elizabeth Murray, the star of Seymour’s biographical fiction novel, Royalist Rebel, which is set in our ever-interesting Seventeenth Century! Without further ado, take it away, Anita! Enjoy,… Read on
My article, “The Allure of the Royal Mistress” is now available on The Huffington Post. Below, I have images of the women I mention in the article: 1) Aspasia, mistress of Pericles: 2) Queen Cleopatra of Egypt: 3) Diane de Poitiers: 4) Anne Boleyn: 5) Nell Gwynn: 6) Barbara Palmer (Villiers): 7) Madame de Montespan: 8) Madame de… Read on
I only realised recently that I have spent an enormous amount of time at Kensington Palace over the past four years, yet I have very few photos to show of my favourite palace. Let’s fix that, shall we?! I’ll begin with the oldest part of the whole building which was used for Queen Mary II. So, here is… Read on
I recently went to the amazing “In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor & Stuart Fashion” in the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace. I had just finished tours at Kensington Palace and then took the Number 9 bus (a Routemaster) from Palace Gate to Green Park and then walked across the beautiful Green Park towards Buckingham Palace. I… Read on
Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz, also known simply as Liselotte, Duchesse d’Orléans, was quite a character and is rather popular amongst Early Modern historians to this day. Liselotte was born on this day the 27th of May, 1652. Some people think Liselotte was a lesbian, as she was certainly a tomboy. Neither feminine, beautiful, nor particularly interested in diversions… Read on
Today, the 14th of May, was an extremely important day for 17th-century France. King Henri IV, previously known as the King of Navarre, was assassinated by a Catholic, on this day in 1610. In his youth, Henri was one of the most important Huguenot (French Calvinist Protestant) leaders besides figures such as Admiral Coligny. The year was 1572… Read on
The 313th anniversary of the death of the major seventeenth-century Restoration dramatist and first Poet Laureate, John Dryden, occurred recently on the 1st of May (1700). I felt quite bad about neglecting such an event, so here’s my little homage to Dryden’s work: King David, from “Absalom and Achitophel”: In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy… Read on