This text explores the reception of the royal family during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and its representation in fiction, poetry, and the popular press. Samuelian finds that popular response to the royal family has reflected the public's belief in their right of access to the private life of royalty.

KRISTIN SAMUELIAN Associate Professor of English at George Mason University, USA.

Introduction PART I: WANDERING ROYALS  Instituting Prodigality: The Political Meaning of a Wayward Son The King's Madness and the Crisis of Representation PART II: READING THE BODY POLITIC: PUBLIC DISCOURSE AND THE UNRULY QUEEN Managing Propriety for the Regency: Jane Austen Reads the Book Body Doubles: Intertextuality and Sexuality in the New Monarchy