Charlotte Sophia was queen of England. Wife of "mad" King George III. But neither her king, her country, nor her lover knew she was of African descent. Is this why King George went mad?
In this sweeping portrait of one of England's most unexplored yet beloved queens, Tina Andrews combines meticulous research with her adept mastery for connecting historical dots. Her new novel boldly imagines the aristocratic intrigue, sexual deviance and family dysfunction in the odyssey of the German princess for whom King George III bought Buckingham House which has become the world-famous Buckingham Palace. The story begins in Mecklenburg, Germany where young Princess Charlotte is told a family secret before her father's death that would send her on a lifetime quest.
Meantime, newly crowned King George III is informed he must marry. But to his dismay he cannot wed the woman he loves - the beautiful, but Catholic Lady Sarah Lennox. Thus, a search begins for an appropriate German, Protestant royal. For years Charlotte has been forced to hide her tawny ethnic coloring under white Elizabethan make-up in order to marry well and help her title-rich-but-cash-poor family survive. Now she has the opportunity to be interviewed as a potential wife for the British king. But Charlotte, too, is in love with someone else - the talented, dashing, but poor commoner Johann Christian Bach (son of JS Bach). Now, in order to attract the rich, eligible king she must give up Bach.
After an illness brought on by the molestation by a cousin, Charlotte is manipulated into the arranged marriage. But she soon learns the high price she must pay to be a British queen consort. Does King George give up Lady Sarah? Will Queen Charlotte ever see Bach again? And what of her family secret and quest for answers? All is revealed.
The novel spans 50 years in the life of a formidable queen whose history collides with lust, betrayal, politics, rape, murder and madness.
