An enthralling and fascinating look at a tumultuous period of history, and I loved learning so much about the family of Charles I - it's books like these that make me wish I'd 'got' history at a much younger age as I used to think it was all just very boring and a list of dates! This book is far from that and it is a real life royal soap opera with all the goings on over the years!

Not only does it feature Charles I and all that he was facing, but it looks behind him to his young family and what happened to them when everything was kicking off between the royalists and the parliamentarians. It strips away the pomp and ceremony that normally surrounds a royal family, and you get to see the struggles and the squabbles that enveloped this family as they were torn apart and had to face a very uncertain future.

I loved the added depth to the story that the royal letters between various members of the family added and it was surprising how much the siblings shared in letters between one another - they were very open and honest especially not knowing if they'd ever see one another again as they were all living apart and in different countries.

With many scandals rocking England and France at the time it was just fascinating to have it all set out in chapters covering the various years, and seeing how the young girls grew up and what was expected of them in marriage, and in dealing with ill health made their stories so touching and often tragic and this book has helped me connect with these young women and I'm glad their stories are being shared in this way.

I love history, but reading about history is often more of a chore than a pleasure. History can't be changed, the outcome is set, and, depending on how old the history is, history isn't surprising. Or is it? What the best history books do, in my opinion, is show us the humanity behind the shadowy figures of history. And The Tragic Daughters of Charles I does just that. Thanks to John Hunt Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

One of the things that fascinated me about The Tragic Daughters of Charles I was the sheer amount of letters that Sarah-Beth Watkins showed and quoted in her novels. History can become dry very quickly when it is recounted coldly and impersonally. By quoting the princesses' letters to their brother Charles and others, we as the readers get a real sense of who they might have been, what their internal, emotional lives look like. For me personally, I loved seeing how smart these women were in how they handled the fraught times in which they lived. Both Mary and Henrietta-Anne were crucial in their brother's attempts to bring Britain back after its Civil War, juggling their responsibilities to their old and new homes. Mary consistently used her power to provide her brother with money and ships, while Henrietta-Anne used her considerable influence in the French Court to barter for peace. Reading the words these women wrote brings them to life in a way no amount of details and facts could.

The Tragic Daughters of Charles I focuses on Mary (1631-1660), Elizabeth (1635-1650) and Henrietta-Anne (1644-1670). There were two other daughters, yet neither survived childhood. Sadly none of Charles' daughters made it to thirty. Although I lived in the UK for a good few years, a lot of British royal history is actually a bit of a mystery to me, especially its Civil War. Much of Britain's history is contextualized in The Tragic Daughters which definitely helped me. Sarah-Beth Waters starts her book with the execution of Charles I as a defining moment in all of his children's lives, before backtracking a few years to describe each child's birth and first few years. Although his daughters are the main focus of the novel, his sons also play key roles. Perhaps the fewest pages are dedicated to Elizabeth, who spends most of her short life under control of Parliament and far away from her family. Mary, Charles I's oldest daughter, takes up the central part of the book, as Watkins describes her move to the Netherlands and her troubles as she tries to fit in. Although both Protestant countries, the Dutch monarchy is very different from the British monarchy, and Watkins describes Mary trying to find an even ground between helping her brother's attempts to regain his crown and settling into her new country. The final part of the book looks at Henrietta-Anne, who was smuggled out of Britain at age 2 by her nurse while dressed as a little boy. Rejoining her mother in France, she becomes an elemental part of the French Court of the Sun King. She is perhaps the most fascinating of the daughters, simply because she becomes crucial to the peace efforts between Britain and France.

Sarah-Beth Watkins infuses her historical protagonists with a lot of life. Whether it is the sibling love shared between them or their own separate trials and tribulations, they feel like real people. I think many of us still hold on to the idea of the princess as being mainly a bartering good for kings, whose sole goal is to provide heirs and then retire to convents when they become inconvenient. Watkins doesn't shy away from these truths, showing the unhappiness many of the princesses felt at being displaced and removed from their homes and families. She also shows how erudite, sharp and powerful these women could be, however, and how much the course of history relies on their behind-the-scenes work. In the end what Watkins really describes is a family torn apart by political strife, scattered across Northern Europe, but united by a common goal. The Tragic Daughters also drives home just how close and connected European countries are, just how entwined their histories really are. In the time of Brexit this is a very important message to bring back.

Although I went into The Tragic Daughters of Charles I not knowing who these women were, I came out of it feeling strangely connected to them. Watkins brings these women to life without burdening the reader with too much extraneous detail. Anyone interested in British history and women in history should absolutely pick up this book!

Loved this historical story. Rich and in depth oh great knowledge I didn’t know about Charles I daughter’s and him as well. The twists and turns that their lives took is unbelievable, and sometimes unbearable to take in all at once. How this one family took many blows after another and still managed to serve. I love storylines like this so that I may dive into their world and ride along to see how these events truly unfold before us.... I highly recommend this book.....

There’s no doubt that this biography of the daughters of Charles I (Mary, Elizabeth and Henrietta Anne) is well-researched, informative and interesting, but it lacked heart for me. I never really felt that I connected with these three unhappy women who had to navigate their way through such turbulent times. It’s a relatively short book, with, for me, an overemphasis on primary sources, mainly letters, which are quoted at some length. Rather than conveying immediacy and authenticity, which I imagine was the aim, they simply slowed down the narrative and were quite tedious to read. A few extracts would have sufficed. I learnt lot, and for that alone I’m glad I read the book, but I can’t say I particularly enjoyed it as it felt rather dry and soulless. An often clumsy syntax didn’t help. Worth reading, though, and a valuable addition to royal biography.

Having a love of thorough history and having read each of Ms Watkins' previous books on the lives of historical figures, particularly those who have seemingly been neglected from most other historical accounts, it was a no brainer to pick this up. The author has an intense love of both the topic and period she is writing about and the historical characters involved, and her enthusiasm, which shines through, is infectious. As ever, SBW includes many primary sources, most of which are in the form of letters, and I must admit, some of them were rather tedious and longwinded to get through.

She seems to manage with considerable ease and aplomb the precarious nature and fine balance between providing enough interesting information but without overloading the reader; in my opinion, this is an aspect the author nearly always gets right, and this book is no exception. The meticulous research carried out is second to none and translates into a well rounded, believable history lesson. It's easy to read, engaging and accessible to everyone whether history buff or evader.

At under 200 pages, this is a concise introduction to the little known daughters of Stuart dynasty King Charles I. His reign was one of the most tumultuous in English history and whose intense unpopularity later ended in his execution. His daughters each can be said to have contributed to the legacy of England in their own ways despite their rather short lives. These troubled daughters were all-powerful and their stories are told in a coherent manner whereby they each come alive on the page. Many thanks to Chronos Books for an ARC.

After reading about the wives of Henry VIi in the early 1500's and now about the daughters of King Charles I (himself executed in 1649), I marvel at the fragility of life in the Middle Ages, and wonder that sufficient individuals survived to even propagate the species. Not just poor health, malnutrition, lack of hygiene, and contagious diseases, afflicted the populace. Even the royals were subject to death or worse on a whim. This fascinating narrative examines the lives of Charles I, his wife, and their many offspring.

This is my third biography by this author and, as her previous offerings, it has been meticulously researched and converted into a very readable book.

The timeframe of the book spans the 1600s from 1630 onwards and it is a time period I actually knew hardly anything about and I have come away from reading this biography a little bit wiser as to what transpired at this time, which includes the reign of The Sun King, Louis XIV, and in fact much of Henriette Anne’s story plays out at his court.

This could have so easily been a very dry biography, but Watkins possesses the skill to convert facts consisting of letters and accounts into a coherent story of the life of these ill-fated Stuart princesses.

If you enjoy royal histories, you will probably enjoy this book and I would recommend checking out all of Sarah-Beth Watkins’ biographies.

This is a historical book I think I have to be in the mood for. I very rarely want a non fiction history, especially outside of a history class. I ended up not being able to finish, getting about 15% of the way in. What I did manage to read moved quick but seemed a little time jumpy. I would be willing to try and pick the book up again at a later date.

Charles I’s reign had been an extremely tumultuous period in the English history. Charles I was a very unpopular king that was accused by his Parliament of being a tyrant and was executed at Whitehall. Watkins makes a very remarkable description of Charles I’s daughters' troubled lives. They played a vital role given that they contributed to the restoration of the English monarchy and in particular, Henrietta Anne was vital in the signing of the secret Treaty of Dover that marked the end of hostilities between France and England. Therefore, she presents them as very powerful figures that, despite their brief lives, left a strong mark in the English history. Throughout the book we are given the opportunity to read several of the letters they wrote and it’s breathtaking to read how in many occasions they easily sacrificed their lives for the wellbeing of their countries.

Princesses are supposed to have bright futures of glittering balls, grand marriages, and dreams of ruling a country as queen one day. They are not supposed to be moving from place to place, worried about their family, and whether or not their

The three daughters of Charles I led sad and short lives. None of them lived long, and each of them faced different challenges in their lives. From their father being beheaded while they were young, to the struggle of their brother to gain the throne of England, these princesses led very different lives from some of their counterparts. Instead of having grand matches and large doweries, they were living on the generosity of others.

This book was amazing! I can't give it all away, you are going to have to read this one yourself. The sad and short lives of these princesses still evoke sympathy for their short and dramatic lives. Add this to your to read shelf now!

This book was a short read, but that was probably because the people concerned didn't live very long lives. There were plenty of details,but this didn't interrupt the flow and interest of the writing. I knew very little about this period of history, but history is generally written from the male perspective , a female viewpoint made a pleasant change.
Whether you were the Queen of a King, or sister/ daughter, no female seemed to have a great deal of happiness in life. The female sex, was viewed primarily as a means to an end, marrying advantageously to create political dynasties and bring greater wealth and power to the dominant ruler. This book shows rare access to primary historical resources, it is marvellous that so much survives.
I enjoyed watching the BBC drama, Versailles , and the large chapters dealing with the French Court and Princess Henrietta Anne, were enlightening. So many questions were answered, so on that point alone, this was a useful read.
A disappointing book, but ,because the daughters of Charles the First, had such short lives, I believe the author has made the best of a bad deal.

The Tragic Daughter of Charles is a well-named, and well-presented account of the daughters born to Charles I and his wife. The author, as ever, relies extensively on the letters her subjects wrote, and these are often presented in their entirety allowing the reader to understand the subjects well.
In some ways, it glosses over the Civil War and the Restoration of Charles II but this is because the focus is on the daughters/sisters and I believe the author manages to isolate them well from the greater backdrop of events, while also including the pertinent points.
A thoroughly enjoyable, short, read.

I majored in history and have always had a soft spot for British Royal History, but I was never entirely familiar with the Stuart family. This book was packed with non-fiction facts about the doomed family of Charles I, as told from the viewpoint of his daughters. Although this book is non-fiction it was told in a story format, so it never felt like a dull textbook. Each daughter's life was expertly told to place the reader in their shoes. Each tragedy felt like it was happening to a friend.

Women are aren't generally as well known as their male counterparts, especially in a patriarchal monarchy. And though these women were never Queens Regnant like their ancestors Mary I and Elizabeth I, they were no less influential.

Full of the trials and intrigue of the French and English courts in the mid 17th century, THE TRAGIC DAUGHTERS OF CHARLES I gives an expansive view of the perils of monarchy in both England and France.

For me, this book was not quite what I expected.

I'm always interested in the women behind famous men, their mothers, sisters and daughters - history rarely talks about most of them in more than born-married-children-death - dates.

The information (what there is of it) is there, but the run on sentences with little punctuation made it somewhat hard to read.and sometimes it read more like a novel than a biography (inclusion of feelings on relationships without primary sources, court gossip).

It felt to me as if the author found the data she had to dry and tried to glam it up and for a novel (and another editor) that would have been fine - I was not quite satisfied by this.

Reader, I finished the first chapter but could not go any further. The writing (or maybe copyediting) of this book is atrocious.

I know that in this day and age commas are misunderstood beasts of punctuation. As someone very invested in eradicating comma splices from my students’ writing, I tend to lean on the side of using fewer commas when in doubt. Yet this book takes that position to the extreme. The result are torturous sentences sometimes confusing and very often run-ons.

Here’s one example where an overly long sentence requires extra parsing to really comprehend:

> In the days leading up to their marriage he stayed in the house of the Earl of Arundel and visited her frequently at Somerset House with gifts of jewels using a key he was given to enter through the garden door.

A painful run-on with a misplaced modifier as a bonus:

> Seasick and exhausted from their journey, the group were met by Prince William and his cousins on arrival who had planned to take them by barge to Rotterdam but Henrietta Maria could not bear another moment’s travel on water and they were taken by carriage to the palace at Honselersdijk to recover.

If one of my students—who are adults taking high school credits to finish their diploma—presented these to me, I’d correct these sentences in front of them and explain exactly why and how I was doing it.

This problematic punctuation is the most irksome part of the larger problem, which is that this book lacks a strong authorial voice. I just don’t really get a sense of Watkins coming through. We hear from primary source accounts. Watkins certainly interjects some opinion and perspective of her own, but the narrator’s voice is extremely clinical. It has the tone of a dissertation, whereas I prefer my history books to craft a more compelling, contextual narrative.

Maybe I’m being too persnickety here—it seems like everyone else is loving this one?—but I just can’t do it.

Other than Mary, I knew nothing about the daughters of Charles I. This book is a compelling read; it’s well written and there’s sufficient detail to provide context without becoming bogged down. This was a turbulent period in history in both British and European history with many factions seeking power and influence.

The book seems to be very well researched and the source material is clearly referenced. It’s a lively and vibrant read which really brings this period to life. The four daughters were each destined for very different paths and sadly, they all died in what should have been their prime. It’s a sad tale in part, but still a fascinating slice of social history. An excellent introduction and it’s left me wanting to know more, particularly about the European Courts. Really enjoyed it and my thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

As a short introduction to a time period and set of people I really knew nothing about, this book was excellent. It provided just enough context to the family and the war being fought that you understood how the children of Charles I would have grown up- always shadowed by war and the death of their father, as well as the danger to their own lives. Charles' two longest surviving daughters, Mary and Henrietta Anne, obviously remain the center of the book. Both women lived short and tragic lives, but did their best to support their brother Charles II on the English throne and promote English interests on the continent.

I was especially impressed by Henrietta Anne's impact on French theater, literature, and politics. Despite an extremely unhappy and abusive marriage, she managed to promote peace between France and England, and it seems safe to say that if she had lived longer would have made an even larger impact on French politics. This book was a great introduction for someone like me, who knew nothing of the subject, and definitely made me want to find more detailed biographies or histories of the time period and learn more.

I love history books and learning about this time period in history. There's so much we never were taught in history class in high school and this is absolutely fascinating!

Usually, I am fan of Sarah-Beth Watkins biographies. However, this was not her best. This may be because of the subject matter. They were very tragic, which made the stories hard to get through especially when reading about Elizabeth’s story. This biography is very well-researched and filled with primary sources. It is just that the subject made this short book a hard read. However, I recommend this for those interested in royalty. I look forward to reading more of Sarah-Beth Watkins work for she is one of my go to biographers.

This is the second non-fiction books by Sarah-Beth Watkins that I have read. I really enjoy her writing style and how she brings history to life. Despite this, I was a little bit disappointed with this book. I was expecting stories about each of Charles I's daughters whereas they was virtually nothing about his first daughter, Mary and the book was mainly about his fourth daughter's - Henrietta Anne - life. I also found some of the letters included tedious. I appreciate some quotes from letters to give us insight but many letters were too long and detracted from the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronos Books for providing me with a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.