"The Daughters of George III" gives readers familiar with King George and his sons a different take on the royal family. While the Prince Regent (George IV) and his brothers are (in)famous for their bad behavior, illegal marriages, drinking, gambling, and every other sort of scandal it was humanly possible to cause, most people don't read much about their 6 sisters. Princesses Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia led very different lives from their brothers and had very different relationships with their parents. Catherine Curzon does an excellent job of looking behind the throne to show readers an intimate, and stifling, family portrait. All were beloved by their father, and his episodes of insanity were to mark each daughter's life in different ways. It was fascinating to read how different the sisters' lives were- not only from their brothers, but from other women and other royals of the time. Cloistered away by an emotionally controlling (some might say today, abusive) mother and watching their father fade away, these were women who fought back against restrictions of their society and their mother. Geniuses in the arts had any of them been able to pursue music, or art as a career, only a few of the sisters managed to escape home and marry.

Curzon's light style of writing and tongue-in-cheek method of storytelling make "The Daughters of George III" both memorable and quick, easy reading. A book perfect for those who know nothing about the King and his daughters or those who think they know it all, this is a great glimpse into some little celebrated women's lives.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

What an awful mother the six daughters of King George III had! Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz hadn’t been a loving mother when they were young, and she only got worse.
The girls were raised to be the very model of marriageable young ladies, but their parents tried to keep them cloistered. The eldest was allowed to marry when she was still young enough to bear children, but after a stillborn, she never had another child. Two of her sisters married too late to conceive. None of the princesses became mothers, although one sister may have had an illegitimate child.
As their father descended into madness and their mother demanded they stay close and under her control, they longed to escape their nunnery. Charlotte didn’t hesitate to manipulate them into doing her will, and staged tantrums when they dared to push her boundaries.
Princesses Charlotte and Elizabeth managed to marry German royalty and found happiness in their new homes. Mary married a duke, but while it got her out of the palace, it wasn’t a good match. Augusta, Sophia, and Amelia longed for marriages with men too far below their rank. These six daughters were intelligent and talented, but their lives were wasted and mostly unfulfilled.
An interesting, yet disturbing story. I received a free copy from NetGalley for my review.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me this wish on netgalley.

Unfortunately, I found that I could not engage in the book. The author talks directly to the reader which I found irritating. Whilst I do accept that she did her research, I think you would have to be far more dedicated British Royal Family historian than me to enjoy this book.

The Daughters of George III is a revealing look at the six princesses of England. It offers an indepth look at each of the their lives. Admittedly it's easy to get confused and mired down in names and titles and sometimes the author veers off into side stories. I thought only one had married, but three daughters managed to escape their limited life under Queen Charlotte. One has to feel sorry for these women who has so few choices as a royal. Curzon offers a sympathetic view of the six sisters.

I really enjoyed this look into the lives of the daughters of George III. This was an insightful overview into princesses who are often overlooked in favor of their niece, Queen VIctoria.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Pen and Sword for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
4.5/5
I am very interested in the Georgians, specifically in George III's family. We tend to get a lot of the Prince Regent and a lot of Prince Edward via Victoria, but that's about it- I'm always happy to see his other children featured. This book is quite interesting, and would be a good read for anyone unfamiliar with his daughters. I think that after reading Flora Fraser's Princesses, I was expecting a little bit more from this. (A conclusion where Curazon could draw together some thoughts about all of the princesses would do it nicely!) If you are familiar with the six princesses, you will still learn from this, but it will be more individual stories/anecdotes, rather than a new way of thinking of the princesses.

'The Daughters of George III' summarises the lives of George III's six daughters from cradle to grave, exploring them and their place in the family. As a history book, it confuses me, as I'm not sure what it is trying to achieve. It's not really gripping enough for popular history, nor is the tone or style right for academic history.

The structure is ultimately what lets the book down the most. The life of each princess is treated in turn. While I appreciate the attempt at treating each woman on her own terms as an individual, ultimately they really aren't interesting enough to benefit from this treatment. The book rather sprints through the timelines and the summaries of their lives coming across as rather boring. In addition, given that the majority of lives centred around one another and the wider family, it makes little sense and leads to lots of repetition. Because of how constricted their lives were, I feel they would have benefited from a much more intimate and introspective treatment to explore them as people rather than describing events.

The writing itself is fine and largely readable, but there are some strange and anachronistic choices of phrasing that jar:
- '(George IV, you know who you are!)'
- 'First settled its rump on the British throne'
-'Good vibes'
- 'Knew the cheat codes for Christian's troubled mind'.

Concerning the content of the book, I think there are instances where it slips into conjecture and also some glaring omissions. For instance, Augusta is described as being very close to the Prince of Wales, yet makes no reference to her reaction when her brother died.

This book serves as a good summary for the lives of George III's daughters, and is quick to read. However, it is not insightful with regards to who they were nor their relationships with their family.

This book was well researched, but I found it a bit difficult to read. As an American, I needed a bit more context before I was plunged into the details of court life during the time of George III. The tone of this book was a little snarky for me as well.

If you needed to write a paper or do research on this subject for some reason, this book would give you lots of details and information. However, for pleasure reading, I really wasn't able to get into this book as I had hoped.

Solid, very accessible, summary driven account of the daughters of George III.. I went in not knowing too much about them, and felt this was a really solid crash course. I feel like there could've been more covered, but I feel the author also accomplished her goal. The structure of the book worked too (covering each sister as a whole in a single part), though sometimes when she had to address something primarily addressing a younger sister that tangentially affected an older sister, I wish she would've just covered the whole situation when it first needed to be mentioned. She also tries to tactfully deal with gossip and claims, though sometimes (Like the Duke of Cumberland's alleged rape) I felt she just named the scandal without explaining it.
Solid crash course for some royal lives and a generally quick read - good choice for someone interested in an overview of these Princesses' lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

As someone who's interested in British history but not very familiar with the details of George III's reign, this book was a great primer about what was going on behind the palace doors. It was interesting to learn more about the princesses, especially their upbringings and thwarted love lives. While I liked having sections devoted to each princess, the timelines often seemed disorganized which was occasionally confusing for someone like me.

With a bit of fine-tuning, I think this would a good read for anyone interested in British history.

I was pleased to receive this book for early review and found that it did not disappoint all of the hopes and expectations I had before reading it! Having always been fascinated by royal lives and the "behind the scenes look" into such fascinating individuals, I devoured this book quite quickly. I particularly enjoyed how each daughter was discussed individually and I was able to learn a lot more about each girl that I previously had heard or read very little about. This book is obviously well researched and it is written in a way that is appealing and easy to read. I recommend this to the fullest!

As someone who's read about mad king George and Prinny on numerous occasions, I was still quite ignorant regarding the rest of the family so jumped at the opportunity to read more about them, and this book didn't disappoint. It is laid out really well, starting by showing how the children were brought up and age differences etc, then it branched out to looking at each daughters life in turn, which was great as it allows the reader to follow along easily without getting muddled as to where each was up to which would've happened if the book was in chronological order telling all the stories simultaneously. I gobbled up this book in 1 afternoon, but apparently I am a quick reader and often finish a book in half the time of family and friends so don't think this is a short book. As someone who reads many non fiction historical novels and magazines etc, I can honestly say this way well written and researched, and very enjoyable. I would highly recommend this book and will be looking out for further books from this author.

I love to find out about the unsung women of history, and I enjoyed this account of the lives of the daughters of George III. Each princess is dealt with in turn, and it's fascinating to find out the different challenges each one experiences throughout their lives, which often took very different turns. The writing style is informal and at times, funny - I would have loved to have seen more descriptions of the scenes but I think that's just personal preference. Very interesting to find out more about these ladies, and there's definitely a lot here to learn, especially if you're interested in women's history.

Mad King George III and his wife, Charlotte, had 15 children - 6 of them daughters. Educated and trained to be married to royalty, they were for the most part instead confined to stay with their mother, and only allowed to be married much later in life. They still managed to find their own particular talents and occasionally to create their own happiness - or scandal. This is an overview of the lives of the six girls, with additional information on their brothers and parents. Very informative, and a pretty quick read. I knew nothing about this family, for the most part, so I found it interesting, if not completely riveting. I particularly enjoyed learning more about King George himself. If you like British history, or the history of royals, then you should enjoy this book. Many thanks to Netgalley and Pen and Sword History for the e-arc. I always enjoy learning something new! 4 stars.

"In these six princesses, we see six lives lived in extraordinary circumstances.""In these six princesses, we see six lives lived in extraordinary circumstances."

I am sorry, Catherine Curzon, but there is absolutely nothing extraordinary in this biography. I didn't know much about the daughters of George III before and after reading this, I can see why. None of these women were worth writing home about in any way. Their lives were simply ordinary, their characters were not interesting and the story here just not engaging. They may have been born in the royal family, but so are many other people throughout history. Not all of them are book-worthy.

I think that the author felt that her research of this period shouldn't go to waste and that's how we got this book. Catherine Curzon is practically obsessed with Queen Charlotte and she keeps coming back to her. Other minor characters got so much unnecessary space. Introduction was way too long and wide - it should provide context, not derail us from the topic.

I really didn't enjoy this, but I can't deny the fact that, for a history student, this could be useful.

A wonderfully detailed and well researched book filled with stories of Royal life in Georgian days. I would strongly recommend it to anybody that loves a trip through history! The sisters’ stories will entrance you.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to review this book! I enjoyed learning about the six daughters of "mad" King George III, of Revolutionary War fame (cue "You'll Be Back from Hamilton).

Stars: I enjoyed the author's sometimes cheeky tone, and she had definitely done her research. I didn't know much about these women beforehand; what a fascinating but sad time to be a royal woman. This was an easy, enjoyable read.

Wishes: I wonder if this would have worked more as a historical fiction novel. I found the introduction a little confusing, but caught on once each daughter was highlighted separately.

This is a really enjoyable read and introduction into the lives of the six daughters of George III.

The writing style is informal and chatty which works well when exploring what is known about the princesses and their (mostly) private lives, particularly the gossip that surrounded them at the time!

A section is devoted to each Princess, providing an overview of their entire life. Impressively, the book remains quite succinct and while the girls lived very interconnected lives there is little replication of details and events.

There were some occasions when a big time jump in the narrative would occur but overall it felt like everything important was covered and I’d rather it stuck mostly to what is known rather than speculation to fill the gaps

Quotes and extracts from newspapers of the time and letters from principle players are scattered throughout the book and were well chosen, adding another layer to the narrative.

Finishing this book, I really feel I have come away with a better idea of the Princesses as individuals. Surprisingly, my opinion of the Prince Regent (future George IV) has also changed somewhat after considering him from the perspective of his sisters rather than his parents which is more commonly explored.

I have read all the other books by Catherine Curzon. I have especially enjoyed the books on the Georgian kings and Georgian Queens. Now I have had the pleasure of reading about King George III's and Queen Charlotte's six daughters. George and Charlotte had fifteen children, nine sons, and six daughters. This is truly remarkable because not only did Charlotte survive fifteen births in an age of high maternal deaths but all fifteen children survived infancy and only two died in childhood.
The author starts the books by giving a brief overview of the parents, their early marriage, the early days of the family, and the parenting style of George and Charlotte. The book also explains the spectacular failure of George's sister's marriage in Denmark and the unsuitable marriages of George's brothers. These incidents explains George's extreme reluctance to marry off his daughters. Charlotte wanted to keep her daughters with her as George's mental and physical health declined. After this overview the author gives each daughter her own chapter to tell her own story. Each account is lively, not just dry history. I enjoyed the book. The book is complete with footnotes, a bibliography and photos. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book by a favorite author in exchange for a review.

George III and his wife Charlotte had a famously loving marriage (although tried by his later mental illness) that produced a total of 15 children, including nine sons, two of whom followed their father on the throne and one of whom was the father of Queen Victoria. While all of them were constrained to some extent by their loving but often tyrannical parents from living full lives, none of them suffered from this as much as their six sisters. The Daughters of George III by Catherine Curzon is the story of these princesses - all intelligent, talented, and accomplished, who lived out much of their lives in what one of them dubbed "the Nunnery."

With seventeen years between the eldest and the youngest, the girls separated naturally by birth order into two groups of three: the first consisting of Charlotte (called "Royal" after her official title of Princess Royal), Augusta, and Elizabeth; and the second, born much later in their parents' marriage when George's illness had much more of an effect on their ability to have a normal childhood, consisting of Mary, Sophia, and Amelia. Curzon gives a lively and sympathetic portrayal of each, including her interests and accomplishments, relationships with her parents and siblings, and her frustrations with their parents' (particularly their mother's) unwillingness to let them live their own lives. Despite this, however, each - even Amelia, the youngest, who was the first to die at the age of only 27 - was able to find a measure of happiness on her own terms.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.