When Charles became involved in war with Puritan Scotland, popular hatred of Henrietta's Catholicism roused Parliament to fury. As the opposition party embraced new values of liberty and republicanism--the blueprint for the American War of Independence and the French Revolution--Charles's fears for his wife's safety drove him into a civil war that would cost him his crown and his head.

Rejecting centuries of hostile historical tradition, prize-winning biographer Katie Whitaker uses a host of original sources--including many unpublished manuscripts and letters--to create an intimate portrait of a remarkable marriage.