The Handsomest Man in Europe: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham
Award-winning biographer Lucy Hughes-Hallett tells the story of the dazzling George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who was the beloved favourite of King James I and first minister to his son Charles I.
Buckingham was a celebrated dancer in court masques, one of the first great art-collectors in England, and – in the eyes of Parliament – the ’cause of all our miseries”.
He stood at the centre of a great political drama which saw strong men weeping in the Commons Chamber- the tussle between two kings defending their royal prerogative, and Parliamentarians struggling to protect citizen’s legal rights. His contemporaries called him a meteor, because he rose so far and so fast, and because, like a meteor, he fell, assassinated at the age of 36.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase on the evening.
