Ladies in Waiting

Description:

[From Amazon] Far from being servants or decorative accessories in court, ladies-in-waiting competed for real positions of power--and many succeeded in their goals, sometimes betraying their queens in the process. A few even became royal mistresses, such as the rapacious Lady Castlemaine who amassed a fortune and flaunted her hold over King Charles I. Drawing on a wide variety of primary sources, including the diaries of such shrewd onlookers as Lady Cowper and Fanny Burney, bestselling author Anne Somerset provides a guide to the character, profligate or pious, of each court. This lively combination of entertaining anecdote and searching analysis is social history at its most colorful. "...provides a wealth of juicy anecdotal material..."--The New York Times

subjects: England,  Courts and courtiers,  Ladies-in-waiting,  Royalty,  Biography,  Court and courtiers,  Great Britain,  Nobility,  History,  Geschichte (1485-1984),  Hofdame,  Great britain, history, modern period, 1485-,  Great britain, court and courtiers

Places: Great Britain,  England,  France

Times: Modern period, 1485-