The White King—Leanda de Lisle

Today I finished listening to a newer (2017) biography of King Charles I: *The White King* by Leanda de Lisle. My view of who he was has certainly changed/grown. There were a lot of interesting aspects to his life in her biography which I had never known/caused me to think differently of him.

• She went into a lot of the background of Lord Buckingham, a lover/advisor of Charles's father, who became an important advisor for Charles (whom he really trusted and whom his wife *really* didn't trust), and how this close mentor relationship would cause mistrust of Charles with the people
• The real tensions that happened in the home (and in the kingdom) with the king and queen's mixed marriage. And like, the intense hatred of Catholics leading the king to go back on promises to his wife of more toleration for Catholics
• The intense craziness of the Puritans. Banning the Prayerbook, absolutely not compromising on keeping the episcopate, thinking that any even slight helping of Catholics was inviting popery—even hunting for witches among the Royalists
• Charles's love for art. Hearing names of so many artists that I had already known in other contexts, but that he was inviting them to England to decorate and revitalize art.
• His intense love for his family
• And yet, at the same time, literally having one affair (and only one) after his wife had to flee to France?!? Like, he was so pious, but then what the hell?
• Henrietta Maria is the goat.
• His genuine desire for peaceful solutions to problems and avoiding the brutal ways of ruling (like, he could have *really* forced the Prayerbook on Scotland after the minirevolt about it, but he didn't.)
• The weakness of his rule, but the genuine nature of his faith

For anyone who has read the book, what are your thoughts on it? Was it too apologetic for the martyred King, or is it more fair to a maligned monarch? What are some other resources to learn more about Charles?