Thursday, 18 December 2014

Book news: The male consorts of female monarchs

While much has been written about female monarchs, there has until now been no study of the roles and challenges of the men who were in the unusual position of consorts to female rulers. Therefore I am glad to be one of the contributors to the new book The Man Behind the Queen: Male Consorts in History, edited by Charles Beem and Miles Taylor, which has just been published by Palgrave Macmillan of New York.
My contribution is a chapter on Prince Consort Henrik of Denmark and his struggle for recognition of the role he has tried to carve out through his more than four decades as the first ever male consort of a Danish monarch. But this is only the last chapter of a book that covers a number of male consorts in Navarre, Spain, England/Britain, Sweden, Russia, Austria, Portugal, Brazil, India, the Netherlands and Denmark from the end of the thirteenth century till today.
The table of contents:

Introduction: The Man Behind the Queen; Charles Beem and Miles Taylor
1. The King Consorts of Navarre, 1284-1512; Elena Crislyn Woodacre
2. Ferdinand the Catholic: King and Consort; David Abufalia
3. "He to be Entitled Kinge": King Philip and the Anglo-Spanish Court; Sarah Duncan
4. Why Prince George of Denmark Did Not Become a King of England; Charles Beem
5. From Ruler in the Shadows to Shadow King: Frederick I of Sweden; Fabian Persson
6. Count Ernst Johann Bühren and the Russian Court of Anna Ioannova; Michael Bitter
7. Francis Stephen: Duke, Regent and Emperor; Derek Beales
8. Prince Albert; The Creative Consort; Karina Urbach
9. Commemorating the Consort in Colonial Bombay; Simin Patel
10. Ferdinand II of Portugal: A Conciliator King in a Turmoil Kingdom; Daniel Alves
11. Gaston d'Orléans, Comte d'Eu: Prince Consort to Princess Isabel of Brazil; Roderick Barman
12. The Rise and Fall of Siddiq Hasan, Male Consort of Shah Jahan of Bhopal; Caroline Keen
13. Royalty, Rank, and Masculinity: Three Dutch Princes Consort in the Twentieth Century; Maria Grever and Jeroen Van Zanten
14. Prince Philip: Sportsman and Youth Leader; Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska
15. The Prince Who Would Be King: Henrik of Denmark's Struggle for Recognition; Trond Norén Isaksen
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6 comments:

  1. Gary21 December 2014 at 04:09

    This looks fascinating. I look forward to reading it. I also want to compliment you on your excellent article in Majesty about Crown Prince Rupprecht. His life and career are such a rich subject, any chance you might write a biography of him?

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    1. Trond Norén Isaksen22 December 2014 at 01:21

      Thank you for that, but I am afraid I cannot see myself spending a couple of years in German archives to write such a book. But I am glad to say that it is also not really necessary, as there is an excellent biography of him by Dieter J. Weiß, published in 2007.

      Delete
  2. Gary23 December 2014 at 04:09

    Do you know if the biography to which you refer has been translated into English?

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    1. Trond Norén Isaksen23 December 2014 at 12:21

      I am afraid not - there is no market that would make translation of such books possible.

      Delete
  3. Gary23 December 2014 at 18:19

    Alas, true. So annoying when the realities of the publishing industry get in the way of my reading pleasure! And German is a bit down the list of languages I want to learn. I'll just have to look forward to finding a copy of The Man Behind the Queen.

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    Replies
    1. Trond Norén Isaksen26 December 2014 at 01:33

      I do sympathise - and sadly it seems fewer and fewer non-fiction books get translated into English compared with a few decades ago.

      Delete

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