🎧 The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth
Early Modern
•
18m
Dr. Anna Keay is the Director of the Landmark Trust and author of 'The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth'. James, Duke of Monmouth, the adored illegitimate son of Charles II, was born in exile the very year that his grandfather was executed and the English monarchy abolished. Abducted from his mother on his father's orders, he emerged from a childhood in the backstreets of Rotterdam to command the ballrooms of Paris, the brothels of Covent Garden and the battlefields of Flanders. Pepys described him as 'the most skittish, leaping gallant that ever I saw, always in action, vaulting or leaping or clambering'. Such was his appeal that when the monarchy itself came under threat, the cry was for Monmouth to succeed Charles II as King. He inspired both delight and disgust, adulation and abhorrence and, in time, love and loyalty almost beyond fathoming. Louis XIV was his mentor, Nell Gwyn his protector, D'Artagnan his lieutenant, William of Orange his confidant, John Dryden his censor and John Locke his comrade.
Up Next in Early Modern
-
🎧 The Rise of the East India Company ...
William Dalrymple charts the rise of the East India Company, from the decline of the Mughals to alliance with powerful Indian bankers, as well as weighing in on some of the most important questions which have dogged the role of the British in India for generations. Producer: Peter Curry
-
🎧 The Romanovs with Simon Sebag Monte...
The House of Romanov was the second dynasty, after the Rurik dynasty, to rule over Russia, which reigned from 1613 until the abdication of Czar Nicholas II on March 15, 1917, as a result of the February Revolution. British historian Simon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore joins Dan to chat about this Rus...
-
🎧 The Skeletons Below with Durham Pro...
Dan talks to Professor Christopher Gerrard and Julie Biddlecombe-Brown about the skeletons and the exhibition about their story.
