Talks & Lectures Sophie Shorland – The Lost Queen: The Surprising Life of Catherine of Braganza

‘A good story, embracing character, emotion and drama…’ The Times

Despite Catherine of Braganza’s crucial place in British history, and that of its Empire, she has since been overshadowed by stories of Charles II’s many mistresses and forgotten as his ‘boring, powerless wife’. This could not be further from the truth.

Topping the list of history’s ‘forgotten women’, Catherine popularised tea, brought the first Indian possession into British hands and is why New York’s ‘Queens’ has its name. In her Festival talk, biographer Sophie Shorland will consider why Catherine, and many other  such women, have been forgotten by the history books.

Dr Sophie Shorland is a former Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. She was a semi-finalist in the BBC New Generation Thinkers programme (2019) and shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize (2020). The Lost Queen was listed as one of 2024’s ten best history books (Smithsonian Magazine). A podcast regular, she also writes for History Today.