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This collection of essays looks at how Queens, Princesses of Wales, and royal daughters used their powers of patronage, and operated within the confines of royal family politics, between 1660 and 1837. This is an assessment of a neglected area, uniting approaches offered by gender history and court studies, discussed in a substantial introduction. Two of the essays explore how the foreign and Catholic wives of the restored Stuarts coped with a libertine court and a Protestant nation, and an important new reassessment of Queen Anne examines her conformity to ideals of modest womanhood. Further essays on Hanoverian royal women highlight the significance of their German background, exploring Queen Caroline (wife of George II) as a connoisseur and collector, her daughter Anne, princess Royal, as a patron of Handel's opera, and Queen Charlotte (wife of George III) as a scientific patron. Other essays explore the travails of Princesses of Wales, the marriage options of royal daughters, and the question of whether Queen Adelaide (wife of William IV) was a harmless philanthropist re-establishing royal respectability or a political influence behind the throne.