Leslie Carroll > Quotes

“It was a popular theory at the time that death didn't automatically end a marriage because the spouses would eventually be reunited in heaven. The most pragmatic reason for the Church's view was that England was a land-based society and property was inherited upon the death of a spouse, so a remarriage threatened the inheritance of any issue from the previous union.”
― Leslie Carroll, Notorious Royal Marriages

“Queen Jane Seymour's epitaph, inscribed in Latin, translated roughly to:
Here lies Jane, a phoenix
Who died in giving another phoenix birth,
Let her be mourned, for birds like these
Are rare indeed.”
― Leslie Carroll, Notorious Royal Marriages

“Motherhood had been metamorphosing Marie Antoinette into a more grounded and responsible woman. Her pregnancies had necessitated several months' absence from her usual round of gay amusements and she discovered that it was more fun to spend time with her children than it had been to play faro deep into the wee hours of the morning.
But her reputation as a frivolous, extravagant ninny and the marital issues in the royal bed had already demonized her in the eyes of the people at all levels of society.”
― Leslie Carroll, Notorious Royal Marriages

“It was psychologically natural for the lively younger sister to become the royal equivalent of the enfant terrible.”
― Leslie Carroll, Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds

“One evening, a male friend hosting a house party was interrupted by a frantic call from the princess, who was threatening to commit suicide by throwing herself from her bedroom window. Panicked, the gentleman rang up the queen, who remained unfazed by her sister's dramatics. With characteristic sangfroid Her Majesty informed the caller to "carry on with your house party. Her bedroom is on the ground floor.”
― Leslie Carroll, Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds

“Harry,”
― Leslie Carroll, American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

“Napoleon would always be extremely fastidious when it came to other people's morals, although his own were frequently questionable.”
― Leslie Carroll, Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds

“Under the English common law doctrine known as jure uxoris, upon her marriage a woman’s property and titles held in her own right became her husband’s as well. Therefore, it was not a stretch of the imagination to fear that any man Mary married would become king of England in fact as well as in name.”
― Leslie Carroll, Inglorious Royal Marriages: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Mismatrimony

“Jane did believe she was all that,”
― Leslie Carroll, Inglorious Royal Marriages: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Mismatrimony

“The following day, the Lord Treasurer demanded all of the jewels and finery he had so obsequiously bestowed upon Jane not ten days earlier, then went through Jane and Guildford’s possessions like a repo man.”
― Leslie Carroll, Inglorious Royal Marriages: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Mismatrimony

“It only increased Margaret's dislike of her name when young Elizabeth, whom the family called Lilibet, insisted on referring to her baby sister as "Bud". "She's not a real rose yet, is she? She's only a bud." Elizabeth, who was four years Margaret's senior, pertly told Lady Cynthia Asquith.”
― Leslie Carroll, Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds

“Altering the rules of succession and coups d’état is all fun and games until the crown actually hits the hairline. Then somebody’s gonna get hurt.”
― Leslie Carroll, Inglorious Royal Marriages: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Mismatrimony

“Victoria was, at the time, far more empathetic and forgiving, chiding Albert for his narrow view of humanity. 'I always think that one ought always to be indulgent towards other people, as I always think, if we had not been well brought up and well taken care of, we might also have gone astray.”
― Leslie Carroll, Notorious Royal Marriages

“During her childhood, Jane had been “placed out,” the term for children from middle-income families who were sent to live with members of the nobility, or the offspring of an aristocrat who were sent to the palace to learn the manners and customs of royalty, to better cement the family’s social connections and pave the way for a spectacular marriage.”
― Leslie Carroll, Inglorious Royal Marriages: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Mismatrimony