COURT LADY AND COUNTRY WIFE. ROYAL PRIVILEGE AND CIVIL WAR: TWO NOBLE SISTERS IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND.

Toronto: HarperCollins / Phyllis Bruce, 2005. 384 pp, 9 1/4" H. "The lives of two dazzling aristocratic sisters, Lucy and Dorothy Percy, present a perfect window into the world of political unrest and social intrigue of seventeenth-century English society. Their breeding, beauty, and cunning made them among the most influential women of their time. Born during the reign of Elizabeth I, the Percy sisters came to prominence at the court of Charles I. Lucy, the Countess of Carlisle - the 'court lady' - dominated the royal scene thanks to her position at the center of power. Her beauty, captured in magnificent Van Dyck portraits, and her political skill attracted prominent lovers, and her charm and talents as a gossip ensured her inclusion in the Queen's inner circle. Then, her machinations during the Civil WAr led to her imprisonment in the Tower of London. Her sister, Dorothy, Countess of Leicester - the 'country wife' - had twelve surviving children and managed the family estates while her husband traveled abroad or immersed himself in books. As a diplomat's wife, she was brilliant, with a keen eye and special purview of European politics. This early ancestor of Princess Diana's family was also a shrewish wife who bossed her mate for more than thirty-seven years before he rebelled publicly, causing a scandal. (This book) brilliantly depicts the position of upper-class women in seventeenth-century Britain and illuminates a grand and turbulent era." Light wrinkling at bottom of spine. Dust jacket has some very light edge wrinkling.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good+/Very Good+.