Queen Catherine’s Court: Power and Rebellion in Restoration England

by Sophie Shorland

Genres: Nonfiction, History

352 pages, Paperback

Published June 5, 2025

Reviews

[Luke Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

On May 21st 1662, King Charles II of England married a Portuguese princess 8 years his junior to cement an alliance between their two nations...and that's about as much as most people know about his Queen Consort, Catherine of Braganza, who's largely been relegated to the margins of history here in Britain, depicted as the long suffering wife ignored by her husband in favour of his more buxom mistresses and dismissed for her failure to produce an heir...

But in the course of my day job, I had to do some research on Catherine, and the more I learned, the more fascinated I became. I went and picked up this book to expand my knowledge, and discovered a fascinating story that most British people don't know: the daughter of the King who gained Portugal's independence from Spain, a shrewd political operator and trendsetter (it's scandalous most British people don't know we have her to thank for the country's cultural obsession with tea drinking), a patroness of the arts, and a Queen Consort beloved and respected by her subjects despite their differences in faith (while Catherine's fertility problems are well documented, this book illuminates that far from being overlooked by her husband, she and Charles may well have loved each other in their own way, given he flatly refused all suggestions to divorce her, supported her through the tumult and tragedy of their attempts to produce an heir, and ferociously defended her when she was falsely accused of plotting to assassinate him). It was also fascinating to learn more about Catherine's life following Charles' death in 1685, from surreptitiously allowing Jacobite plotters to use her London residence as a convenient meeting place after the Glorious Revolution, her return to Portugal in 1692, and her waning years in Lisbon as an advisor to her royal brother and nephew, even ruling in her brother's stead as regent for a year before her death on December 31st 1705.

Overall a fascinating read I learned a great deal about that better shaped my understanding of a largely forgotten figure in British history...

[sminismoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat flat as a biography. We learn an awful lot about European politics, treaties and wars, a lot about religious turmoil, factions at court and the Popish plot. We also read about the Plague and Great Fire of London. But where is Catherine the person? She seems a mere afterthought, a bit player in the events that are described as affecting her. What we do read about her is about her frequent real or imagined illnesses, fondness for cards and parties, and fervent religiosity. But these are repeated over and over with no analysis of why. Nothing really about her pregnacies and infertility, and no extrapolation on the part of the author to flesh out scant facts (few of her letters survive) to give us a sense of her personality - rather than just the events of her life, which seem one and the same with general 17th Century history.

[Jessica Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know little of this period of history but the basics so this was a very informative read! Brought to this book by an interview on the Not Just The Tudors podcast, really engaging speaker and just as clear a writer.