Overview

George Villiers rose faster than any man in Stuart England. From obscure gentry to Duke of Buckingham, he became the indispensable favourite of two kings and the most hated man in the realm. His power was unrivalled, his influence unchecked, and his failures catastrophic. When he was stabbed to death in a Portsmouth lodging house in 1628, half the country mourned the violence, and half quietly celebrated the removal. This book tells the full story of Villiers's extraordinary rise and brutal fall, not as court gossip or moral fable, but as political history driven by personality, power, and consequence. It traces how royal favour became a mechanism of government, how Parliament's attempts at accountability collided with personal monarchy, and how public resentment hardened into something far more dangerous than opposition. Far from resolving England's political crisis, Buckingham's assassination exposed it. His death stripped away the shield protecting Charles I, deepened mistrust between crown and Parliament, and helped push the kingdom toward confrontation. The knife at Portsmouth did not end a conflict. It changed its shape. Written in clear, narrative prose, George Villiers explores how personal power corrodes institutions, how favourites become lightning rods for national anger, and how a single life can reveal the limits of monarchy itself.

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