Many other women besides queens live miserable lives, but the insignificant possess one advantage over the nobler born–their sufferings are unobserved and uncommented on. The woman of rank is the subject for perpetual remark among those of her own class, the journals of the day keep the public well in formed as to the minutest particulars of her history, and the rabble at the corner of ever street shrug their shoulders as she passes.
The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature, and Oddities of Human Life and Character Volume II. R. Chambers, ed. W. & R. Chambers, Ltd, Londen & Edinburg. n.d. mid- late-1800s.
I am cleaning off my desk (wish me luck). Thought I would take a look at today’s date and came across this. You really must take a moment to read it. People just do not write like this anymore and it’s a shame. Poor Catherine.
Ah, royalty. Envied by the ignorant. Sounds like an abhorrent life. On top of every thing else those castles were dark, damp and cold. I’ve never been able to perceive why women kept marrying ol’ Henry VIII. They must have known death or banishment was a definite possibility. And, the women, throughout history, who actually ruled were often as bad, maybe worse, as any male ruler. And yet, we like to believe if only more women were in political power how much greater the world would be. I feel sorry for people that don’t bother to read history. I guess, maybe it’s true. Ignorance is bliss.
“…we like to believe…” We? LOL
I thought that entry was really something, though. Glad I stumbled upon it.