The Courtiers

Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace

By: Lucy Worsley

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

Bloomsbury presents The Courtiers by Lucy Worsley, read by Heather Wilds.

Kensington Palace is now most famous as the former home of Diana, Princess of Wales, but the palace's glory days came between 1714 and 1760, during the reigns of George I and II . In the eighteenth century, this palace was a world of skulduggery, intrigue, politicking, etiquette, wigs, and beauty spots, where fans whistled open like switchblades and unusual people were kept as curiosities. Lucy Worsley's The Courtiers charts the trajectory of the fantastically quarrelsome Hanovers and the last great gasp of British court life. Structured around the paintings of courtiers and servants that line the walls of the King's Staircase of Kensington Palace-paintings you can see at the palace today-The Courtiers goes behind closed doors to meet a pushy young painter, a maid of honor with a secret marriage, a vice chamberlain with many vices, a bedchamber woman with a violent husband, two aging royal mistresses, and many more. The result is an indelible portrait of court life leading up to the famous reign of George III , and a feast for both Anglophiles and lovers of history and royalty.©2023 Lucy Worsley (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Easy to listen/easy to follow

Lucy Worsley is impeccable in her story telling. The narrator conveyed the story clearly, almost as if the author had read it herself.

Annoying narrator

I love Lucy Worsley and I've enjoyed her other books but I found this tedious to get through. Part of it may be the narrator, who did silly accents depending on the person. Cartoonish German accents, a butchered American accent, lame attempts at a lower register to represent male or more stern voices. It was unnecessary and, to me, annoying. Just read the book in your normal voice, it's not a puppet show.