The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

The Scapegoat won the Plutarch Award for the Best Biography of 2024 and was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the most powerful man in England. A favourite of both King James I and King Charles I, he wielded an influence over national and international affairs that was almost unprecedented for a man of his rank. Yet within a few years of his assassination in 1628, he had become a byword for corruption and incompetence, his reputation in ruins. Drawing on letters, memoirs and chronicles, Lucy Hughes-Hallett reconstructs the brief, dazzling life of this extraordinary man. A childhood friend of the future Charles I, Buckingham rose meteorically to prominence through charm, intelligence, and an almost reckless disregard for convention. As he accumulated power, he became increasingly unpopular, blamed for military failures, court corruption, and the Crown's financial problems. When he was stabbed to death by a disaffected officer, many saw it as divine justice. Hughes-Hallett explores how Buckingham's legacy was shaped by those who came after him—by the enemies who vilified him, and by historians who accepted their verdicts. She reveals a man far more complex and sympathetic than the caricature that has survived. The Scapegoat is a vivid evocation of a pivotal moment in English history, and a compelling study of how reputations are made and unmade.