[In 16th century European society] Marriage was the triumphal arch through which women, almost without exception, had to pass in order to reach the public eye. And after marriage followed, in theory, the total self-abnegation...

Darnley, who, like Banquo’s ghost, seemed to play a much more effective part in Scottish politics once he was dead than when he was alive.

As long as you persecute people, you will actually throw up terrorism.

Though Charles II both craved and enjoyed female companionship till the end of his life, there is no question that by the cold, rainy autumn of 1682 his physical appetites had diminshed considerably. The Duchess...