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Five Stuart Princesses
Margaret of Scotland, Elizabeth of Bohemia, Mary of Orange, Henrietta of
Orleans, Sophia of Hanover, Edited by Robert S. Rait (1902)
PREFACE
For the nature of the present work, no
apology would seem to be required. The personal aspect of history is at
once important for the proper appreciation of its lessons and attractive
to the majority of readers, and both considerations go far to justify
the existence of biographical studies as a legitimate expression of the
results of historical research. For the immediate choice of subject some
further explanation may be required. Of the five Princesses of the Royal
House of Stuart1 who form the subjects of this volume, four were nearly
related, and their lives find a connecting link in the position in which
they stood to the succession to the throne of this country. Elizabeth of
Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James I. and VI., and the mother
of the Electress Sophia, the illustrious lady who was destined to become
the acknowledged heiress of the British Crown, and the ancestress of the
present Royal House. The Princess Mary of Orange, as the daughter of
Charles I. and the first Princess Royal of England, while also the
mother of William III., supplies the link between the ancient family and
the House of Orange which immediately supplanted it. To the Princess
Henrietta, [Historically, the spelling “Stewart” was not superseded by
“Stuart” till the 16th century, and it is, therefore, slightly
inaccurate as applied to the Princess Margaret of Scotland, in her
biography, the older spelling has been adopted, but “Stuart” has become
so familiar in connexion with the seventeenth century, that it seemed
pedantic to depart from it as the general title of the book.] the
negotiator of the fatal Treaty of Dover, which may be taken as the
beginning of the Revolution of 1688, there came the nemesis that her
descendants, the nearest branch of the Royal family, should, along with
the direct male line itself, be rendered incapable of the succession by
those difficulties of religious faith in which the secret clauses of the
Treaty of Dover definitely involved the restored Stuarts.
Not only is there in each life a point of contact with the domestic
struggle of the seventeenth century, but the four princesses, as they
appear on the stage of European politics, supply almost a continuous
history of the foreign policy of this country. The life of Elizabeth of
Bohemia is a pathetic commentary on the attitude of James I. to foreign
affairs—wise and statesmanlike in his aims, but incapable of
understanding how impossible was their realization. As the Thirty Years*
War became merely a duel between France and Spain, the troubled monarchy
of Great Britain counted for less in the arbitrament of the affairs of
Europe; but the career of Mary of Orange illustrates at once the last
despairing efforts of Charles I. and the policy of his uncrowned
successor. Oliver Cromwell and Mary of Orange disappeared together from
the scene, and, with the Restoration, the favourite sister of Charles
II., and the beloved sister-in-law of Louis XIV., became an important
factor at a great crisis in the history of Europe. For Great Britain,
for Holland, for France and Germany alike, the direct results of the
Treaty of Dover were of European importance; the English Revolution, the
temporary greatness of the Dutch, and the rise of Prussia are all
connected with the struggle against the aggrandisement of France, in the
interests of which Louis sent Henrietta to treat with King Charles.
Finally, it was in the interests of the Protestant Succession as
represented by the Electress Sophia, that Marlborough was sent to create
the military power of this country in the War of the Spanish Succession,
and the alliance of the Hanoverian House was valued alike by King
William and by the advisers of Queen Anne.
In each of the four lives there is also much of personal and social
interest. The beautiful Queen of Bohemia, the heroine of Protestant
England, in whose behalf so many English prayers were uttered and so
many English lives were spent, and Mary of Orange, whose life was almost
tragic in its long struggle and its brief triumph, alike possess the
interest of high-spirited and strenuous endeavour. The story of the
fascinating Henrietta, the centre of the Court of the Bourbons at the
moment when French prestige was highest, affords us many glimpses of the
life at Saint Cloud and Versailles in the early years of Louis Le Grand,
and its pathetic, and, to contemporaries, mysterious ending contributes
the aspect of sadness and melancholy which was inevitable in the life of
a lady of the House of Stuart. It may, at first, seem questionable
whether Sophia, Electress of Hanover, by birth a Princess Palatine, and
a Guelph by marriage, could reasonably find a niche in a gallery of
Stuart Princesses ; but the lady who unites the elder with the younger
branch, who, in virtue of her Stuart blood, was declared Queen Anne’s
successor, and from whose relationship to King James, the reigning
sovereign of these realms, like his six immediate predecessors, derives
his claim under the Act of Settlement, may surely be granted such a
title. Sophia was, moreover, a Stuart by birthright, and long before the
English succession could have appeared possible for herself, she
regarded herself as an English Princess. Her lively memoirs and her
sprightly letters make her a real and vivid personality, and illustrate
the social and intellectual life of her period.
The remaining biography, which stands first in order of date, it would
be impossible to associate in any way with those of which we have
spoken. Nearly three hundred years separate the birth of Margaret of
Scotland and the death of Sophia of Hanover. Nor is it possible to
connect the Princess Margaret with any great national movement, as the
other four may be connected with the struggle for constitutional
liberty. Her life possesses many points of interest in the relationship
of fifteenth-century France and Scotland; it is one of those episodes in
history which can never fail to appeal to the imagination and to the
emotions; and it is a story little known. Only common Stuart blood and a
common Stuart fate connect Margaret with the seventeenth-century
Princesses of her House, and the short sketch of her life is included
here only because it is a convenient opportunity to relate a story worth
telling again.
How far this book has succeeded in taking due advantage of the
possibilities just indicated, it must be for readers to decide. But the
editor may be allowed to say, on behalf of his contributors, that each
biography has been written after a careful study of authorities,
contemporary and modern. Each article aims at presenting its subject in
relation to the political and social circumstances in which she was
placed, and at producing a character-sketch which may enable the reader
to realize the personality of the lady whose life it narrates. But
beyond this no attempt has been made to obtain uniformity of treatment;
each author has been left to deal with his subject as might best suit
his conception of her character and the materials at his disposal; and
for every expression of opinion the individual writer is solely
responsible.
The books which have been found most useful are indicated in the
footnotes; but a general expression of gratitude may here be made to Mr.
Gardiner’s great seventeenth-century history, and to the writings of two
earlier workers in the same field, Miss Strickland and Mrs.
Everett-Green. Fifty years have passed since these ladies published
their well-known books, and, in the interval, historical research has
not been silent; but to their industry and insight all subsequent
inquirers must owe much, even where (as in the present instance) their
interests are less purely personal and domestic than were those of the
authors of the Lives of the Queens of Scotland and the Lives of the
Princesses of England.
To M. Alexis Larpent, grateful thanks are due for a careful criticism of
portions of the proof-sheets, and to the Earl of Craven for kind
permission to reproduce the portraits of Elizabeth of Bohemia and
Henrietta of Orleans from his collection of paintings at Combe Abbey.
R. S. R.
New College, Oxford,
October, 1901. You can download this
book here in pdf format |
