In this work, Edward Corp, author of several other studies of the Stuart court in exile, focuses on the history of the Jacobite court between 1717 and 1719, a period of transition during which the court moved from France to Rome. Beginning with the exile of James II in the wake of the Glorious Revolution to the death of his son James III in 1766, there was an English royal court based abroad, and, as Corp notes, it provides a unique case study for historians of the court. Initially, the Jacobite exiles were based in France under the protection of the French king. However, shifting political tides in France, the Treaty of Utrecht, the triple alliance, and later treaties guaranteeing the Hanoverian succession resulted in their eviction from their base at St. Germain-en-Laye by Louis XV. The court traveled first to Avignon and then to Urbino, where it remained at the Palazzo Ducale until 1718, when it was transferred to Rome, where it established itself permanently. The issues of how the exiled court was structured, how ritual and ceremonial were conducted, and how the royal court presented itself are all considered in this capable analysis. By focusing on this moment of transition, a time of tension and uncertainty for members of the court in exile, Corp is able to shed new light on court structure and ceremonial and the manner in which these things were forced to adapt to changing circumstances.

Throughout the book, Corp illustrates the individual personalities and tensions at play in the exiled Jacobite court. In the period concentrated on by Corp, the court, which had been primarily composed of English Catholics who followed James II into exile, was altered by the influx of Jacobite supporters following the failed rebellions of 1715 and 1719. These newcomers were primarily Scottish Protestants. The young James III showed great favor to the incoming exiles and installed many of them in positions of importance. Several were Scottish lords of some standing, and James was often unable to provide them with financial awards appropriate to their status, prompting them to attempt to overshadow the old exiles politically and usurp their influence. Corp analyzes the strains this caused (while cautioning that we must not exaggerate the level of divisiveness present as, despite some personal differences, all of the exiles were united in their support of the Stuart dynasty) and their effects on the policies of the court. Another interesting aspect of the Stuart court in exile addressed by Corp is its strikingly masculine composition. When the court relocated to the rather remote Urbino, James III was still a bachelor and, as much of the female contingent of the court (including James's mother Mary of Modena) remained in France while the new flock of Jacobite exiles had fled England and Scotland without their wives, there was a distinct lack of a female presence aside from serving women and household servants. When James did begin searching for a bride and eventually settled on Maria Clementina Sobieska, a whole new host of questions about court structure and ceremonial arose (e.g., how should the queen's establishment be structured and who should her attendants be?). Running concurrently with these events was the constant need for the court to present itself as a center of power and monarchical authority and to ensure the continued support of the Stuart court by foreign rulers, particularly those in whose realms the court resided. Corp discusses the various tactics (such as the commissioning of portraits to be sent as gifts) used by James III to form strong bonds with local political notables, particularly the pope, following the court's move to Urbino.

At the end of this strong contribution to court studies, there is a series of appendices that list the various people attached to the Jacobite court, differentiating between household members and pensioners, and those seeking to study the exiled court further will find these an immensely useful starting point for prosopographic analysis. Likewise, the diagrams of the layout of the Palazzo Ducale provided by Corp are helpful in giving a sense of the politics of space and its importance to the manner in which courts structured and represented themselves. A chapter on the music of the Jacobite court provides a case study of court culture that fits nicely with Corp's analysis of James III's court portraiture (although one wishes that the publisher had allowed for at least some of the many portraits contained in the book to be reproduced in color).

Corp's work represents an important contribution to the ever-expanding field of court studies, and it will also be of value to students of British political history in the period. It would have been illuminating for Corp to have examined the way that the Jacobite court in exile was perceived by outsiders, particularly within Britain, and some discussion of basic court protocol and ritual would be helpful for novices, but the absence of these things does not deter from the strengths of the volume.