The Grand Tour of Prince George of Denmark in England, 1669

This annotated diary describes the politics, cultural richness and practicalities of elite educational travel in England during the early reign of Charles II.


Prince George of Denmark is best known to Anglophone historiography for having married Queen Anne of Great Britain, in 1683. This critical edition of the diary detailing the Prince's Grand Tour in England, which took place in the summer of 1669, sheds light on the critical complexity of George's role within Stuart political history, a role that commenced during his youthful, incognito travels. The Grand Tour was an important rite of passage introducing young princes to the European political stage, and the ongoing political, ceremonial and multilingual exchanges characterising Baroque diplomacy.

From his base in York House, London, Prince George's itinerary ranged from Canterbury Cathedral, to the fleet at Chatham to Whitehall Palace, from Hampton Court to Windsor Castle, from the Tower of London to the Pall Mall laboratory of Robert Boyle, from the Tradescant Museum to the University of Oxford. The diary describes these experiences in astonishing detail.

This edition puts England on the map as a Grand Tour destination, and shows how the Restoration court acted as an important hub for a host of seventeenth-century European princelings undertaking all-important educational travel.

The edition is enhanced and contextualised by hitherto unpublished archival sources, including the Tour's financial accounts.