Lady Arbella Stuart’s royal bloodline suggested a glorious future.

A descendant of Henry VII, niece to Mary Queen of Scots, and granddaughter to the great Tudor dynast Bess of Hardwick, Arbella was brought up in the belief that she would inherit Elizabeth I’s throne.

When this did not become reality, she briefly gained the independence she craved at the heart of Jacobean society.

But then she made the mistake of angering her cousin, the newly crowned King James I, by secretly marrying another distant heir, William Seymour, thus strengthening her claim to the throne.
The consequences would be deadly.

A tale of forbidden love, disguised escape and wild flight, to an agonizing imprisonment and death in the Tower in 1615, this is the beguiling biography of an extraordinary woman who became a pawn in the power struggles of her time.

Meticulously researched and drawing on a wide variety of sources, Arbella brings to life a woman who, despite the turmoil in her life, strove to love freely, speak her wrongs loudly, and – rare for a woman of her time – take charge of her own destiny.
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Praise for Arbella: England’s Lost Queen:

‘A powerful story of the dynastic insecurity of the Tudors and Stuart’ The Sunday Times

‘This is historical biography at its best…Don’t miss it’ Alison Weir

‘An enthralling account of an extraordinary life’ Spectator

‘A Jacobean tragedy … Fresh, vivid and beautifully detailed … Gristwood conveys it with exactly the right mixture of suspense and sympathy.’ Independent

‘Well researched and stimulating…A sad but enthralling story’ Evening Standard