Loyal in Love: Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I

By Jean Plaidy

The daughter of Henry IV of France, Princess Henrietta Maria, becomes a pawn in a political strategy to stabilize relations between two countries when her father marries her to Charles I of England. Sent abroad, she finds herself living in a Protestant country that views her own faith—Catholicism—with deep suspicion.

Yet her new husband is a man of principle and integrity, and Henrietta and Charles fall deeply in love. Henrietta is passionate about her faith, however, and soon politically powerful people, namely Oliver Cromwell and his Puritans, turn her loyalty to her religion into a focal point for civil war. As the royal couple watch the fall of Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford, the rise of Puritanism, and Englishmen fight Englishmen, they are undeterred in their dedication to each other and in their belief in the divine rights of king and queen—even as spies lurk in their very own household.

Loyal in Love offers an inside look at an unforgettable time in England’s history and at the life of a queen whose story of devotion and bravery has gone untold for too long.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 23, 2007
• ISBN: 9780307405616

Jean Plaidy

Jean Plaidy, the pen name of the prolific English author Eleanor Hibbert, was one of the preeminent authors of historical fiction for most of the twentieth century. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty languages and have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. She died in 1993.

Reviews for Loyal in Love

[booksinthebelfry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My dissatisfaction with this novel stems not so much from the author (whose work I usually enjoy when in the mood for old-fashioned historical fiction) as from the main character. Henrietta Maria's willful ignorance and woeful lack of insight make her an unsympathetic character and render her story tedious rather than tragic. Give me a Tudor rather than a Stuart storyline any time -- at least for purposes of narrative drama!

[michellech_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It was a struggle to get through this book and I kept the myth alive that it would get better. Unfortunately it did not.

There were contradictions throughout the story which were annoying as was the repetition and flat characters.

Henrietta is a Catholic queen in Protestant England married to Charles I; Plaidy has her mention her faith about a million times. I get it, you are Catholic and want to convert your husband ( and everyone else). That is fine, but I didn't need to be reminded endlessly. Subtlety and allowing the reader to develop conclusions makes it much more enjoyable.

At the beginning of the novel, we meet Henrietta who remembered and knew too much for a six year old. Her thinking was really advanced which seemed odd to me. But I could forgive that as long as the story flowed well, but it really didn't. The one good thing was that she was fairly tame as a child, and therefore a little more likeable.

Henrietta also enjoys being obstinate. Another piece about Henrietta we are reminded of again and again. She can't help but be disagreeable and inflexible, but she is a queen and is entitled, blah, blah, blah. I wanted to slap her quite a few times. She is very dramatical; she sees how her behavior is forecasting doom and gloom for them all, but yet she continues being a b**** a little more restraint would have conveyed the story better.

I was excited to learn more about Henrietta but was so disappointed. Will look for other opportunities to catch up on this queen's history.

Myself, My Enemy is the perfect title. Because it was all about Henrietta.

[dream24-2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

So I love reading Jean Plaidy books and am always eager to read her historical fictions.

However, for this book, I was disappointed. OK, maybe Henrietta Maria was such an obnoxious and single minded person in real life that it would be hard for any author to portray them in a positive life. or maybe the author did such a wonderful job of portraying Henrietta Maria that we truly believe that this is really who she was.

Henrietta Maria is such a spoiled and obnoxious princess that should never have left France. After everything that she has been through (the religious reform, the issue of her Catholic background, etc), she still doesn't learn her lesson and constantly pushes her views and religious learnings on everyone around her.

Always too eager to trust those who aren't trustworthy, stubbornly clinging to her Catholic upbringing despite the murmurs against her and being a down right brat when things don't go her way (from spoiled rotten Princess to ungrateful Queen). Ugh! Henrietta Maria is very, very hard to like and it got downright grating and unbearable to continue reading about her life.

Honestly, I enjoyed reading more about Charles II, Minette and everyone else except Henrietta Maria and Charles I. Truthfully, both of them are so boring bland that I could not wait for the book to end.

[philsyphe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although I’m quite familiar with the history of Charles I, his wife Queen Henriette Marie was little known to me before reading this fiction-based-on-fact account of her life.She’s connected to numerous famous royal personages from the French Bourbon monarchy and the English/Scottish house of Stuart, with her father being one of – if not *the* – greatest of France’s kings, namely Henry IV, making her sister to Louis XIII and nephew to Louis XIV, while Henriette was of course wife of England’s Charles I, mother of Charles II and James II, and grandmother of Mary II and Queen Anne.As an individual, I found Henriette hard to sympathise with. As a child she comes across as a spoiled brat. As a young woman she becomes a fanatical Catholic, determined to impose her beliefs on others, making difficulties for her husband the king, who loves her despite her faults. As she grows older Henriette becomes increasingly annoying, interfering in other people’s life, even estranging herself from one of her children through her own bullheadedness. It’s arguable that Henriette’s influence on Charles I led to his downfall, or at least hastened it. I’ve always been a Royalist sympathiser, having little respect for Cromwell and the absurdly fanatical Puritans, thus I believe what happen to King Charles was unjust in all respects.As for the book on the whole, I thought it was pretty good, featuring few lulls. Only two criticisms come to mind, one of which being the author not “postmarking” the years when events take place, which at times prove confusing. Many historical authors will start new chapters with the year in the heading, sometimes including the month or even the day, which helps this reader at least fix myself easier into the story. Jean Plaidy, on the other hand, tends to feature long chapters that start, say, with a character aged seven, but out of the blue she’ll suddenly state something like, “I was ten years old by this time.” This often results in me having to readjust, as I’ve been picturing the character at a certain age, also thinking, for example, that it’s 1637 when it’s been 1640 for the last three pages.The other criticism I have, which applies to many of this author’s works, is that she has a habit of including prophesies in her stories. This one has far too many. I find this annoying, as it seems highly unlikely that people can predict future events so exactly. Okay, I realise that sometimes these things did happen, but I think it spoils a story just the same. It’s like injecting a touch of the supernatural into a tale that should feel as real to life as possible.Whenever any author has a character’s future prophesied the reader knows that whatever is predicted will happen. I can’t think of a book where it hasn’t, thus the author isn’t being clever, but is instead spoiling what’s to come, eliminating any suspense. Much of the prophesied events in this tale were known tom me, thus it didn’t give anything away, though it did irritate me. It’s like watching a film for the first time with someone who’s previously seen it and they keep telling what’s going to happen next. Not good.But apart from these two aspects that I dislike about this author, Jean Plaidy remains one of my favourite writers, as her good points far outweigh the bad. Her research is always thorough, creating a strong plot, while she aptly brings real people from bygone days back to life with superb characterisation.