Painted Lady — Lesley J. Nickell

Lady Mary Villiers, the beautiful ward of King Charles I and daughter of his father's favourite, is the pampered darling of the doomed royal court. Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the King's charismatic nephew, is a brilliant soldier and man of science. Against the turbulent background of a nation at war with itself, is theirs a relationship made in heaven, or a romance as ill-fated as the King himself?