Exclusive interview with novelist Lucy Worsley and a review of her book The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace
Rating: 3 stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“I had the idea for The Courtiers while going about my daily routine,” says author Lucy Worsley. Her daily routine is far from ordinary. She’s the chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that looks after the unoccupied royal palaces of London, including The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace.
“At Kensington Palace you reach the State Apartments up a huge staircase with wall paintings showing 45 servants who lived at the palace in the 1720s,” says Worsley. “I often climb up it during the course of the day, and for several years I would find myself pausing to daydream a bit and to wonder who they all could be.”
The Courtiers tells the stories of the most interesting characters from that fascinating staircase painting. It’s the story of the royal household of King George II, complete with palace intrigues and royal mistresses. Worsley brings to life the first two Georgian courts. Worsley’s vision is authoritative, her expertise as chief curator evident. Her portrayal of the courtiers is vivid and filled with gossip of the day. There are many renovations at Kensington Palace at the same time. A wild boy found in the woods, probably autistic, becomes a pet to George’s wife the Queen.
Worsley took four years researching the lives of the 45 servants in the paintings at Kensington Palace. “One afternoon I decided to sit down with all the old guidebooks to the palace, which go back to the Eighteenth Century, and work out who was who in the picture,” says Worsley. “But I immediately discovered that their identities were jumbled up and misunderstood. I thought, well, I really need to sort this out. I guessed I’d have finished by tea-time. The Courtiers is the result.”
Worsley did her research at The British Library, the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, the National Archives, and various local record offices. She also took her first trip to Hanover to visit the home of the Hanoverian monarchs George I and George II.
Worsley is currently preparing for a huge presentation of practically every area of Kensington Palace thought Historic Royal Palaces. “It’ll all be complete with fresh exhibitions and stories in 2012,” says Worlsey. “Besides that, I’ve just finished presenting a TV series for the BBC called If Walls Could Talk, An Intimate History of the Home. I’m about to start another, about the crazy Prince Regent and Britain in the 1810s.
Worsley lives in the middle of London near the Thames. She was born in Reading, although she spent a year in Canada while growing up.
The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace by Lucy Worsley. Hardcover, 432 pages, Publisher: Walker & Company (August 17, 2010), Language: English, ISBN: 9780802719874 $30.00
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