“Britain won the Game of Thrones. Neil Kent and Clément Chevalier are indispensable guides to understanding its victory and the roles of players in secret diplomacy.”
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Christopher Andrew, Professor Emeritus of Contemporary and Modern History, University of Cambridge, author of The Secret World: A History of Intelligence and The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5.

In 1688, James II left the throne of England after the Glorious Revolution, ushering in an era of political intrigue and espionage. This book highlights the efforts of his followers, the Jacobites, to restore the Catholic Stuart dynasty. They were supported by the French Kings Louis XIV and Louis XV and faced countermeasures from William III, James II’s son-in-law, who replaced him as king alongside James’s daughter Mary II, and then by Queen Anne and Kings George I and George II. Thanks in part to effective intelligence, the new monarchs thwarted all attempts at invasion and insurrection, leading to the Jacobites’ final defeat in 1745. As Neil Kent and Clément Chevalier reveal in this fascinating new book, the intelligence war also marked the end of the old international order, with the triumph of British intelligence services and the advent of Great Britain as the dominant power in Europe and throughout the world.