Book review: Daughters of the Winter Queen, by Nancy Goldstone

The Winter Queen was Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of James VI & I – “of Bohemia” because her husband, Frederick, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, rashly accepted an invitation to become King of that country, “Winter Queen” because Frederick’s tenure of that throne lasted for only a year, ending in 1620, before he was expelled by the Army of the new Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II. This episode triggered the Thirty Years War, initially fought between Catholic and Protestant German states. Frederick, a Calvinist, was soon expelled from the Palatinate too. He and Elizabeth would find refuge in The Hague; she would remain there for 40 years. Unfortunate in politics, they were blessed with children, eight surviving to adulthood.