Books/TV/Films about the Stuarts

[elena_maria_vidal]

I just mentioned Alison Weir's book "Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley" on another thread. It  came out about a year or so ago and is excellent.

As for movies, I  always liked John Ford's "Mary of Scotland" starring Katherine Hepburn. It is terribly inaccurate but entertaining, although Katherine Hepburn could not disappear into a character the same way Bette Davis could.

I really enjoyed "THe Last King" about Charles II, the recent BBC production. What a truly GREAT monarch he could have been if he had not been such a sex addict. That final scene when he walks into Parliament in his full royal regalia is magnificent. At that moment he was truly the Anointed of the Lord, in the temporal order.

[Prince_Lieven]

I really enjoyed "THe Last King" about Charles II, the recent BBC production. What a truly GREAT monarch he could have been if he had not been such a sex addict. That final scene when he walks into Parliament in his full royal regalia is magnificent. At that moment he was truly the Anointed of the Lord, in the temporal order.

I agree Elena Maria! Except over here it was 'Charles II: the Power and the Passion', but yes, I love that parliament scene, wonderfully done - and I think he was a great monarch in spite of all the sex.

[elena_maria_vidal]

I agree; Charles was a great king; I think he had been traumatized by his father's death.

[Prince_Lieven]

He certainly handled parliament better than his father! Rufus Sewell played him to perfection - Diana Rigg was wonderful as Henrietta Maria too, except for the English accent - still, better that than a bad French one I guess.

[elena_maria_vidal]

I agree, I thought everybody in it was good, especially Rufus Sewell, and the actress who played Queen Catherine of Braganza.

[elena_maria_vidal]

From the BBC website:

Wee Scottish powerhouse Shirley Henderson has to be one of the hardest working women in British drama, with many big roles to her name. She's appeared in high profile TV roles like Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and Catherine of Braganza in Charles II: The Power and the Passion, and has an extensive film background.

 

I have seen her in a lot of films; she is an excellent character actress and as cute as can be.

[palatine]

The Memoirs of the Comte de Grammont provide an entertaining look at the Court of Charles II.  They are available online at a few different sites.

The Memoirs were ghostwritten by Grammont's brother-in-law, Anthony Hamilton, who was one of the Jacobite exiles at Saint-Germain after 1688.  Grammont and Hamilton began working on the Memoirs in 1704.  After Grammont died a few years later, Hamilton continued working on them, and they were finally published in 1713.

The Memoirs horrified Mary of Modena, who had used propaganda since her husband's death to present him as almost a saint, a martyr for his faith.  Grammont's memoirs went into detail about James's mistresses, along with the love affairs of other members of Charles II's court.  While it could not have been Hamilton's intent, the Memoirs hurt the Jacobite cause by reminding its readers of all of the expensive illegitimate children and scandalous goings-on at the Stuart Court.

While the accuracy of the Grammont memoirs is somewhat questionable, its a great read.  

[Prince_Lieven]

The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett.

Anyone read these books, or even heard of them? Apparently Lady Lennox and Marie de Guise appear as characters.

[bell_the_cat]

The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett.

Anyone read these books, or even heard of them? Apparently Lady Lennox and Marie de Guise appear as characters.

They sound quite a good read - and well researched. Dunnett also wrote a book about Macbeth in which she argued that he had been confused with someone else! According to Dunnett Macbeth's wife Gruoch and Malcolm III's first wife Ingeborg were one and the same person! I think the book is called "King hereafter" or something like that.

[Rebecca]

It's probably not availabe in English, but anyway, I read Maria Stuart. Drottning utan krona (which means "Mary Stuart. Queen without a crown") by Richard Herrmann a few years ago, and I thought it was good, maybe a little short. The author is Norwegian and the original title is Maria Stuart og hennes verden. If it by any chance is translated into English I would recommend it.  

[Lorelei_Lee]

I love The Lymond Chronicles to death, and while I think that Dorothy Dunnett did a great deal of research, I also believe she took some liberties with the facts for plot reasons.  Basically, she needed a highly-placed scheming villainess, and poor Lady Margaret Douglas was her pick.  She comes off very badly indeed!  Marie de Guise is a minor character in the books; her daughter figures a bit more prominently, though the books end when she's only 16, at the time of her first marriage.  

As I said in the Lady Margaret Douglas thread, I put the Lymond Chronicles more in the category of costume drama than historical fiction.  In spirit they are much closer to, say, The Three Musketeers than Anya Seton's Katherine.   A great read, though.  

I'm almost embarrassed to mention Forever Amber in this thread ... but I think Kathleen Windsor did a nice job of portraying Charles II and his milieu.  The focus is entirely on his love life as opposed to his policies, but it's a fun read and I don't recall any glaring inaccuracies in it.  

[elena_maria_vidal]

I really enjoyed "Forever Amber," the movie and the book.

[Prince_Lieven]

I'm currently reading a novel called 'The King's Touch', by Jude Morgan. It's basically about Charles II and his court told in the first person by Monmouth. I'm really, really enjoying it at the moment - Charles II, Lucy Walter, Henrietta Maria and Lady Castlemaine emerge as vibrant, interesting characters, and I'm only half way through!

[palatine]

From the BBC website:

Wee Scottish powerhouse Shirley Henderson has to be one of the hardest working women in British drama, with many big roles to her name. She's appeared in high profile TV roles like Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and Catherine of Braganza in Charles II: The Power and the Passion, and has an extensive film background.

Shirley Henderson played Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies, and she plays one of Louis XVI's aunts in the upcoming movie about Marie Antoinette.

[bell_the_cat]

Shirley Henderson played Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies, and she plays one of Louis XVI's aunts in the upcoming movie about Marie Antoinette.

I loved this Moaning Myrtle character in the Harry Potter books - especially when Harry, Hermione and Ron felt obliged to invite them to their party as they felt sorry for the fact that she was such a social failure - this reminded me so much of student parties!

I'm curious to know which of Louis' aunts she has been cast as in the film. I wonder whether they took the trouble to differentiate between the characters of the aunts.

(I've just looked it up  - she's Mme Sophie. So it's just a retake of Moaning Myrtle!)