The Prince Who Would Be King

January 15, 2018
In this focused, engrossing narrative, Fraser (The Last Highlander) resurrects the memory of the oft-overlooked Protestant Prince Henry (1594–1612), who might have drastically changed the future of the Stuart line had he lived longer. With arrogance and youthful exuberance, the educated and well-trained Henry intended to serve as a beacon of Protestantism, pushing conversion efforts onto other European countries while building a solid, unified kingdom at home. Henry wasted no time, fighting for the long-dormant Crown Prince estates and financial independence at age 15 and establishing a court rivalling that of his comparatively staid father, James VI and I of England and Scotland. Though Fraser claims that Henry was no great scholar, she provides several examples of his love of learning and continual academic work. After Henry’s death from illness, his father dismissed his son’s devoted and like-minded court members without prospects, resulting in future defections to the regicide movement that later destroyed the Catholic Charles I. Fraser fills a gap in the Stuart story while making the family legacy of regicides, religious wars, and licentiousness even more tragic in context of the story of the king who never was. Agent: David Godwin, David Godwin Assoc. (U.K.).