Autobiography of Miss Cornelia Knight, Lady Companion to the Princess Charlotte of Wales, Volume 1 (of 2)with Extracts from Her Journals and Anecdote Books

Cornelia Knight moved through a world of admirals and artists, princesses and poets. The daughter of a naval officer, she grew up in the orbit of Dr. Samuel Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds, mastered ten languages, and spent her youth in the glittering courts of Europe. This autobiography, compiled from her journals, follows her from childhood into the inner circle of Princess Charlotte of Wales, where she became lady companion to the doomed heir to the British throne. The narrative captures the intense drama of 1814, when the princess refused to marry the Prince of Orange and the Prince Regent summarily dismissed her entire household. Volume One also preserves Knight's recollections of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton in Naples, a world of naval glory and scandal now lost to history. This is not merely a memoir but a portal: through Knight's educated, observant eye, readers witness the Georgian court's intimate workings, its cruelties and its fascination with the powerful women who moved through its rooms. For anyone drawn to the Regency period beyond its popular romance, Knight offers something rarer: the real texture of palace life, told by a woman who was there.