Author:Tracy Borman
Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk, was the long-term mistress and confidante of King George II. She was also, as Tracy Borman's wonderfully readable biography reveals, a dedicated patron of the arts; a lively and talented intellectual in her own right; a victim of adultery; a passionate advocate for the rights of women long before the dawn of feminism. Above all she was a woman of reason in an Age of Reason. The mark that this enigmatic and largely neglected royal mistress left on the society and culture of early Georgian England was to resonate well beyond the confines of the court, and can still be felt today.
It is the great strength of Tracy Borman's engaging new biography that, like Alison Weir and David Starkey before her, she manages to throw new light on the influence and careers of women in European courts
—— Stella Tillyard , Sunday TimesBorman has certainly found an unsung and unusual heroine, what elevates her biography above the others in its genre is the author's sense of humour
—— Times Literary SupplementTracy Borman can tell a good story... [and] her subject is a gift
—— The EconomistA short and zippy portrait of George II's long-suffering paramour
—— Tim Martin , Daily Telegraph, Books of the YearTracy Borman handles her voluminous material with easy grace
—— Independent on SundayDr Tillyard's masterful and entertaining accounts of the fates of George's brothers are poignant reminders of the curse of being born royal
—— Ben Wilson , SpectatorA ripping good yarn, told with convincing authority
—— The TimesThe numerous fans of her Aristocrats (in which number I include myself) will not be disappointed: here is the same judicious mixture of intimacy and scholarship
—— Antonia Fraser , Sunday TimesA Royal Affair is an entertaining tale ...Tillyard's account of the brothers is heroic...[she] tells this astonishing tale with bravura
—— John de Falbe , Daily TelegraphShe has returned to what she knows-and does-best, teasing out the bonds of love, hate and pretend indifference that bind siblings, no matter what their historical pedigree, into a cat's cradle of consequence
—— EconomistThe story is brilliantly told. In its descriptive flourishes it is sometimes fearlessly novelistic, yet it travels long distances for scholarly scruples
—— John Mullan , Times Literary Supplement