With All My Heart

The timid, young, convent-bred Portuguese princess who came to Restoration England to be the bride of Charles II seemed a pathetic pawn in the sophisticated game of statesmanship. Attended by a vigilant army of ladies-in-waiting and painfully naÔve, virtuous Catherine was desperate to make her marriage a success, but life was not easy for the foreign bride. Her husband's father had been executed by his own subjects, Charles was considered a heretic, and his amorous success with women was the subject of gossip. The marriage seemed doomed and for Catherine of Braganza it was a frightening venture, offering only a slender chance of happiness. Tormented by the knowledge that her husband had a mistress and had loved others before her, Catherine was torn, struggling to control her fiery temper and play the doting wife. But she proved to be a woman of passionate integrity, and from the moment she set eyes on the darkly handsome King Charles she continued to love him utterly.Eventually she managed to hold her own with dignity and courage even when challenged by the ensnaring beauty and ruthless ambition of women like Lady Castlemaine. 284p, Crisp,tight copy. Contemporary book review clipping laid in.