But James's devout Catholicism, and desire to return Britain to the rule of Rome, does not sit well with his subjects and his time as king is sure to be short. Because of this, his brother, James, Duke of York, is heir-presumptive to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland-the three crowns of Britain. In post-Restoration England, King Charles II has fathered numerous bastards, but not a single legitimate heir. This was interpreted as England, Scotland and Ireland.When an empire is at stake, one woman stands between the past and the future The candles gutted out and when the midwife held him up in the air, she saw a light over his head that looked like to her three crowns. “The Three Crowns” refers, not to the three candidates for the throne when Charles dies as I thought, but to a prophesy at William of Orange’s birth. My 21st century mind boggles at her meekness toward William you just want to rebel for her. Mary, however, is a bit harder to figure out. He is absolutely deplorable, yet you understand why he is this way. William’s personality was explained in much more detail and this is where Plaidy’s psychology background really shows. I was not looking forward to reading about Elizabeth Villiers, who was jealous and catty toward Mary from the start, because I knew she’d end up William’s mistress and I had enough of her from The Queen’s Devotion, but she wasn’t part of the main story. I have read of her in a couple of books, so it was fun to see her as a sort of wild child in this novel. The lady turned out to be Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, who later married Louis XIV’s brother, Philippe, who had been married to Charles II’s favorite sister, Minette.
They were thrown together with an idea of a possible future marriage (which did not end up happening). One of the characters Plaidy surprised me with was a friend of William of Orange when they were children.
The Duke of York, of course, plays a major role, at first with his Duchess, Anne Hyde, and then the story of Mary of Modena is expanded on from her early life.
Jemmy, the Duke of Monmouth is a main character, and one of Mary’s favorite companions. It starts out with a lot of Charles II, so if you’re a fan you will enjoy his personality and witticisms. Had I known this one was mainly about her I may not have been so eager to read it. I’ve read The Queen’s Devotion (a reprint of William’s Wife) and had found it to be one of my least favorite Plaidy reads because she was not a strong protagonist. This is one of the Plaidy novels that has several mini-stories, though mostly focuses on the upbringing of Mary, daughter of the Duke of York and future Queen of England, and William of Orange.
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