SLICES OF PORTUGUESE HISTORY, an Indie Talk with Isabel Stilwell

SLICES OF PORTUGUESE HISTORY

An Indie Talk with Isabel Stilwell about Catherine of Braganza

December 9th, 6.30pm · Cidadela de Cascais

If you’ve ever wondered why the English will stop almost anything for a cup of tea, you may have a Portuguese princess to thank.

Catherine of Braganza was the only Portuguese princess ever to become Queen of England. At 23, she left Portugal to marry Charles II, a king she had fallen in love with before they ever met. She arrived in a country whose language she didn’t speak, whose customs were strange to her, and where her Catholic faith was condemned. She put up with her husband’s infidelities and his illegitimate children, and never gave him an heir.

And yet she left a mark on England that is still there every single day. She brought her tea-drinking habit to the English court and made it fashionable. More than three and a half centuries later, the English still haven’t put the cup down.

Her story will be told by Isabel Stilwell, one of Portugal’s most-read authors, with over 350,000 books sold and thirteen historical novels about Portuguese queens and kings. The daughter of English parents, she grew up bilingual and was a journalist for many years before history won her over for good.

Not a lecture. A conversation. The kind of storytelling that makes Portuguese history feel like something that happened to people you know.

15 €· Includes a glass of wine served by our wonderful neighbours at Garrafeira Nacional. €10 redeemable against any of Isabel Stilwell’s books bought on the night of the event.