Born into Italian nobility and raised with quiet ambitions of becoming a nun, Maria (or Mary) of Modena was thrust on to the European political stage as a teenage bride to James, Duke of York, who was later crowned as James VII of Scotland and II of England. Talking to Elinor Evans, cultural historian Breeze Barrington shares how Maria navigated a foreign court, vicious anti-Catholic sentiment, and personal loss, to emerge as a resilient and principled queen.
Breeze Barrington is the author of The Graces: The Extraordinary Untold Lives of Women at the Restoration Court (Bloomsbury, 2025)
