Dr Katie Whitaker

From quarrels, passion, treason to execution, discover one of the great overlooked love stories of history.

King Charles I was a Protestant. Henrietta Maria, a 15-year-old French princess, was a Catholic. Arranged for political gain, their marriage was a dangerous experiment, yet against the odds they fell in love.

However Henrietta's Catholicism fuelled rumours of improper influence over a supposedly helpless king. Unable to trust his Parliament, Charles's fear for the queen's safety plummeted the country into civil war and forced her to flee abroad, never to see her husband again. They kept up a poignant correspondence but in 1649, the king was condemned as a traitor and publicly executed, thus ending an extraordinary partnership that influenced the course of history.

'Bright, subtle and astute'
The Spectator

'In her lively portrait of the ill-fated marriage of Charles I and Henrietta Maria, Katie Whitaker has brought their tragedy and the English Civil War vividly to life'
David Starkey