Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Maid of the King's Court
    Unavailable
    Maid of the King's Court
    Unavailable
    Maid of the King's Court
    Audiobook6 hours

    Maid of the King's Court

    Written by Lucy Worsley

    Narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In the vibrant, volatile court of Henry VIII, can even the most willful young woman direct her own fate and follow her heart in a world ruled by powerful men?

    Clever, headstrong Elizabeth Rose Camperdowne knows her duty. As the sole heiress to an old but impoverished noble family, Eliza must marry a man of wealth and title-it's the only fate for a girl of her standing. But when a surprising turn of events lands her in the royal court as a maid of honor to Anne of Cleves, Eliza is drawn into the dizzying, dangerous orbit of Henry the Eighth and struggles to distinguish friend from foe. Is her glamorous flirt of a cousin, Katherine Howard, an ally in this deceptive place, or is she Eliza's worst enemy? And then there's Ned Barsby, the king's handsome page, who is entirely unsuitable for Eliza but impossible to ignore. British historian Lucy Worsley provides a vivid, romantic glimpse of the treachery, tragedy, and thrills of life in the Tudor court.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMar 7, 2017
    ISBN9781536661903
    Unavailable
    Maid of the King's Court
    Author

    Lucy Worsley

    Lucy Worsley is, by day, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that looks after The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace State Apartments, the Banqueting House in Whitehall, and Kew Palace in Kew Gardens. By night, she is a writer and presenter, most recently author of the Cavalier: a Tale of Passion, Chivalry and Great Houses, described by the Mail on Sunday as 'a remarkable achievement by an immensely talented and innovative historian.'

    More audiobooks from Lucy Worsley

    Related to Maid of the King's Court

    Related audiobooks

    YA Historical For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Boleyns

      Jul 18, 2019

      The Boleyns
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Making Of The Virgin Queen

      Feb 17, 2022

      The Making Of The Virgin Queen
      3 min read

    • Article

      For December, Forget Wrapping Presents And Treat Yourself To These 3 Romances

      Dec 12, 2017

      Escape from the holiday whirl with three tasty romances, featuring a duke with an epic library, a young girl finding herself in the big city and a proper lady finding love where she least expects it.

      2 min read

    • Article

      The TUDORS in LOVE

      Jan 5, 2024

      Courtly love in the time of the Tudors was not a simple case of locking eyes across a banqueting hall and waiting for Cupid to take aim. Marriages were often transactional and even affairs could be political, with all the key players in an intricate

      5 min read

    • Article

      Coffee Table

      Feb 26, 2020

      This exquisite hardback is an investigation into the passionate back story of the beautiful tulip. It’s a tale of greed and desire, power and anguish as the tulip heads on its journey from Asian wild flower to take Western Europe by storm. Originally

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Making Of A Queen

      Dec 10, 2021

      The Making Of A Queen
      5 min read

    • Article

      When She Was Princess

      May 17, 2022

      When She Was Princess
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dictators, Dresses And Dorgis: The Books That Throw Unexpected Light On Elizabeth II

      Sep 9, 2022

      Thousands of books were written about the Queen. Many were banal, some syrupy, a few hateful and most just plain wrong. But there are gems, too: biographies and histories but also novels that throw sharp and unexpected lights on this most singular –

      4 min read

    • Article

      The original People’s Princess

      Oct 28, 2021

      The original People’s Princess
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Special Relationship

      Mar 20, 2024

      A Special Relationship
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Family That Shaped Camilla

      Mar 22, 2023

      The Family That Shaped Camilla
      8 min read

    • Article

      Queen Elizabeth, Case Buster

      Feb 14, 2021

      Queen Elizabeth, Case Buster
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Day With The Duchess

      Dec 9, 2022

      A Day With The Duchess
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Family That Shaped Camilla

      Mar 22, 2023

      The Family That Shaped Camilla
      8 min read

    • Article

      Blue Bloods

      Apr 13, 2023

      Blue Bloods
      7 min read

    • Article

      City Of A Scandal

      Jan 4, 2023

      City Of A Scandal
      5 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading room

      Dec 2, 2020

      Trent Dalton’s ambitious tale combines a dreamy aura of magical realism with scenes rooted in the Australian landscape. At its heart is Molly Hook, the “poor little gravedigger girl”, age seven when the story opens in Darwin in 1935. Molly’s mum, Vio

      6 min read

    • Article

      A Confluence Of Great Good Fortune

      Sep 21, 2022

      FOR years, I defended my affection for the Royal family with a quote from the dark comedy Harold and Maude. The spunky octogenarian Maude explains her late-in-life mellowing to her troubled young friend Harold: ‘I don’t believe in monarchy’ she says,

      4 min read

    • Article

      Mary Vs Elizabeth

      Aug 11, 2022

      Mary Vs Elizabeth
      12 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Feb 23, 2022

      Great Read
      4 min read

    • Article

      From Russia, With Love

      Sep 14, 2022

      From Russia, With Love
      5 min read

    • Article

      Elizabeth I: mother’s girl

      May 11, 2023

      Elizabeth I: mother’s girl
      9 min read

    • Article

      Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose

      May 4, 2022

      Headline £20 In February 1485, Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, wrote a letter to the Duke of Norfolk. Elizabeth had, along with her brothers and her mother, been dispossessed and dishonoured by her uncle, Richard. He had declared his brothe

      3 min read

    • Article

      That Changed My Life

      Aug 17, 2021

      Accidental Empress takes you on a journey back to 1853, where the Habsburgs are Europe’s most powerful ruling family. Emperor Franz Joseph is young, rich and has an empire stretching across Europe. However, this is not a story about his military miss

      1 min read

    • Article

      May Fiction

      Apr 19, 2022

      A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin (HarperCollins, £14.99) IF YOU DIDN’Tknow that Sophie Irwin once wrote a dissertation on Georgette Heyer—the queen, and possibly inventor, of Regency Romance novels—then it wouldn’t be hard to guess f

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Young Pretender

      Mar 6, 2020

      The Young Pretender
      5 min read

    Reviews for Maid of the King's Court

    4/5

    65 ratings13 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I felt that this was a fairly good YA book. The characters were well written and the story had good pacing. I am a fan of historical fiction so this was an enjoyable read. The use of a character from the time period that is not often written about made it a fresh read.
    • 4/5
      What a fascinating and immersive way to get into Henry VIII's Court! I loved spending time with Eliza, she was such a real, honest character that I felt like I knew her. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Tudor times, especially those who don't mind something written for a young adult audience. (Though this 30-something enjoyed the heck out of herself.)Also, I've seen lots of newer publications with strange fonts and print sizes and things lately, so I feel the need to mention that I loved how this novel was presented. A nice, slightly larger font that was easy to read, plenty of white space on the pages, and the binding was lovely. Tight, but not too tight so you were forced to break the spine (one of my pet peeves). The physical experience of reading this was wonderful, and only enhanced this well-written and well-researched novel. If I wasn't already a fan of Ms. Worsley, I would be now for sure!
    • 4/5
      This is a well written and well researched book that offers a peek into life in the Tudor court during the reign of King Henry VIII. The story is told from the point of view of Eliza Camperdowne, the fictional cousin of Katherine Howard. Using Eliza to tell the story is an effective way to give the reader a look at the life of Katherine Howard while still telling a story that will be appealing to the audience. I thought the details about court life were interesting and the story was engaging. The ending was a little rushed and lacked a bit of depth but I think it was overall a good read and I enjoyed it. I received a free copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review through the early reviewers program.
    • 3/5
      Eliza Camperdowne is eventually sent to be a Maid at the court of King Henry the VIII and is also a cousin to the 5th wife, Katherine Howard. This is a delightful story of a behind the scenes life of royalty and those who are touched by it. What makes this story exceptional, is that it is so well written that you turn page after page until you are surprised to find yourself at the end. This would have taken me far less than 2 days to read if I didn't have other duties to attend to. I am not familiar with the author Lucy Worsley, but I am certainly a huge fan of hers now. I will be looking forward to other works of Ms. Worsley in the future. I don't want to give away any of the story but you just need to know that anyone who enjoys books on this topic will certainly enjoy this one as well! I highly recommend it! If the story line was more complex than I would have rated it higher.
    • 4/5
      This is an historical fiction book meant for young adult readers. I start with that because I have read some complaints about the writing or implausibility of the love interest. I think it is important to remember the target audience and getting them interested in history. That being said, adults who are fans of stories about the Tudors will find this an interesting perspective. I liked learning about court and Katherine from a cousin who is learning her place in the world. Yes, Eliza is immature, but that is to be expected in a young girl brought up to expect great things of herself and who has been taught her own importance. We get to watch Eliza grow and change as she develops more awareness of the world and herself. This was an easy to read book about life in the Tudor court. It could have had a little more depth, but it was still a good novel to read. The story flowed well, and I am looking forward to reading the author's historical works. I liked that you could tell the author had done plenty of research, and still made an interesting tale for young readers.I think fans of Tudor historical fiction will want to read this and introduce young readers to the topic with this book.
    • 3/5
      This is a fun middle-grade historical romp. Eliza is a likeable main character - she's independent and smart, but not unbelievably so for the time period, and has to work hard to navigate social constraints.My biggest complaint is the ending - everything is wrapped up very quickly and not really in a satisfying way. Throughout the book, Eliza bears with her duty and perseveres because she knows she has to save her family's ancestral home, Stoneton. For that reason, she needs to find a rich husband at court - and her bastard page friend, Ned, won't do, since he won't inherit anything. By the end of the book, Eliza seems to cast away any thoughts of duty, and Stoneton is forgotten. Nothing changes - she just all of a sudden decides that it's okay if nothing she's been aiming for for the past five plus years ends up happening. Couldn't she have met somebody different? Couldn't Ned's letter declaring his love (which isn't anything new?) also have included the news that he's suddenly in line to inherit? It seems out of character and a little too tidy. It's romantic - and certainly what the reader wants to happen - but not really logical.The book also ends very quickly after Katherine Howard's death. I understand that Eliza serves more as a vehicle to tell Katherine's story (as Worsley mentions in her author's note), but it would be nice to give her a more complete ending than the ~10 short pages we got that tied everything up nicely in a bow.Overall, the book is fun and fast-paced, with a disappointing ending. Recommended to fans of Michaela MacColl and Carolyn Meyer.
    • 3/5
      Historically viable as a theory of Katherine Howard's motivation and character, but the ending is unlikely. SPOILER ALERT. What heroine would give no thought to the fate of her nurse and a loyal friend but go happily away with a lover to let the axe fall on these women who love her? Where in England could two courtiers without money live free and secure from the wrath and authority of the king? What priests would dare to marry them knowing that without the king's permission the marriage was illegal? Other than this Harlequin romance ending, though, the book held my interest and gave me a new frame for Katherine Howard.
    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this. I know it was meticulously researched, which gave it an added layer of delight.
    • 3/5
      This book by the popular British television historian Lucy Worsley was first published in Britain in 2016 as Eliza Rose.It tells the story of Elizabeth (“Eliza”) Camperdowne, a fictional cousin of Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII. The author stated in an Afterword that she wanted to look at Katherine’s history more sympathetically, which she thought she could accomplish by taking the point of view of a cousin/confidant.Katherine, when 16 or 17, married the 49-year-old Henry VIII in 1540, very soon after the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves was arranged. Katherine only lasted sixteen months, however; she was beheaded on the grounds of treason for committing adultery.Worsley does indeed come up with a compassionate and interesting explanation for Katherine’s behavior, although she doesn’t quite make her simpatico. But my main problem with the book was the fictional main character Eliza. This girl never reached the level of likable in my opinion. I found her to be spoiled, greedy, jealous, short-sighted, and cruel throughout the story, which began when Eliza was 12 and continued until she was 19. This also made it quite difficult for me to believe that the (also fictional) king’s page, Ned Barsby, would be so smitten with her. She was consistently mean to him, and looked down upon him for his low birth. The outcome between these two seemed quite fictional indeed.As for the story in general, I thought it plodded a bit. As interesting as the Tudor period was, the author, who apparently is very successful at constructing stories for the BBC, never managed to make this book for young adults into a riveting story, in my view.
    • 4/5
      This is a YA book, with a fictional main character, Eliza, who was meant to be a cousin to Henry VIII’s 5th wife, Katherine Howard. Eliza is sent away at 12-years old, after a marriage proposal doesn’t work out, basically to learn to be a courtier. She and her cousin, Katherine, are later sent to Henry VIII’s court to be ladies to Anne of Cleves, Henry’s 4th wife. I quite enjoyed this story! It was quick to read, and somewhat simple and easy to read, but then it’s YA, so that’s to be expected. I thought it was an interesting take on why Katherine did what she did (though I still didn’t particularly like her!).
    • 5/5
      An historical young adult novel about a young lady who is sent to the court of King Henry VIII, presumably to find a suitable husband. The story is interesting and informative. I am far from a young adult, but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Since it's by Lucy Worsley, I knew the history would be impeccably researched.
    • 4/5
      I found this quite interesting but wanted more by the end. Eliza is a member of the King's household and gets caught up in some of the events around Katherine Howard who is her cousin, it goes into some of the real politics and situations of the Tudor court, which is as you would expect from a historian writing this. Interesting and involving and it left itself wide open for a possible sequel, or even stories about the next generation.
    • 5/5
      Lucy Worsley puts her considerable knowledge of Henry VIII's court to write an exciting story aimed at young people,set in Katherine Howard's time. This story is about a young girl, Eliza, recently taken on as a Maid of Honour.Great first novel and a good introduction to Tudor history for young readers.Look forward to reading more.I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Bloomsbury Children's via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.