THE LAST KING OF POLAND

The last king of Poland owed his throne largely to his youthful romance with the future Catherine the Great of Russia. But Stanisław Augustus was nobody's pawn. He was an ambitious, highly intelligent and complex character, a dashing figure in the finest eighteenth-century tradition, He was a perfect illustration of the contradictions of Europe's ideological and religious viewpoints; he worshipped reason but was led by the heart; professed Catholicism but believed in Providence; toyed with the occult and practised freemasonry. A great believer in art and education, he spent fortunes on cultural projects, and finding that he was blocked politically by Catherine, he put his energies into a programme of social and artistic regeneration. He transformed the mood of his country and brought it to a new phase of reform and independence, culminating in the passing of the constitution in 1791, hailed in Britain, France and the United States as one of the greatest events of the century.

       Poland's neighbours, however, viewed this beacon of liberty in their midst with alarm, and as they invaded and partitioned it, Stanisław was obliged to watch the destruction of his life's work, and ultimately forced to abdicate, a broken man, deceived and disillusioned.

The Last King of Poland is the rich and enthralling story of a personal dream with all the elements of grand tragedy, and at the same time an important chronicle of the birth and death of liberalism in Poland and the establishment of Russian power in Europe.