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And Bess of Hardwick is Asian lol. This is the first Tudor era film I have no desire to see. What a shame they had to go so wildly PC so as to take the era completely out of context and stick to the old rubbish of Mary and Elizabeth meeting as well...no thank you. Historical truth is far more...

A Royal Experiment by Janice Hadlow is excellent, about George, family, illness etc. also Princesses by Flora Fraser...tells story of all of his daughters in detail but also G and C. Very good.

I think she was convinced that Edward had the power to do what he liked, as king. She fully expected to end up married, and queen...not just married to an aimless exile.

Wallis is a classic “be careful what you wish for” example. She had to stay with this dull bumbling man forever once he abdicated, when she wanted just the opposite when she first hooked him. I think she really thought he could make her queen just by his will.

I had, also. I have yet to see a decent version of this event. Some of the Elizabeth films or series do better with it than the Mary ones. But even the Helen Mirren film shows them meeting...

Yeah that review was my favorite. Much more interesting than the movie itself sounds. I will stick to rewatching Elizabeth 1, or PBS Virgin Queen...

I may watch it when it is free on Prime someday...but to be honest, it sounds fairly awful. Historical films should be historical, to me. Even if history was terrible, unjust, racist, etc...it is history. Inserting Asian characters makes little sense in 16th century British history, unless they...

I read “Young, Damned and Fair” by Gareth Russell this week, a full bio on Catherine Howard. She was a silly girl, but also a bit calculating there at the end, when she told Cranmer that Dereham had raped her all those times. The author does not buy into Catherine as a victim of sexual abuse in...

Speaking of dispensations...did Henry have a far flung familial relationship to Catherine Howard? Or was that was too distant? Just finished a bio on her last night...yikes poor silly girl.)

Anyway...it is a sick idea...worse than their usual dispensations.

It may even have been the pope’s idea. It was mooted as a way to stop the divorce with K of A and make Fitzroy “more legit”. Not sure who suggested it but the pope would have been on board. Seems dispensations were easy to get. I think Henry had them for his first three wives...well not from the...

I read any bios on royals of England and all over Europe...some Russian too. Do not read autobiographies as I never trust them really. Have read all about Queen Victoria, her family, most of the Germans, some French, etc. just read a book about Anna of Saxony this week, what a story she was/had...

Catherine may have still been queen in Rome, and even in heaven but as David Starkey said, unfortunately for her, she was living in England. Henry needed absolutely irrefutable proof of the worst possible misdeeds to rid himself of Anne, as he never wanted to admit mistakes. So Cromwell made...

Speaking of Catherine...she had deluded herself into thinking it was only Woolsey who had “made” Henry set her aside. Then when he died, she had to blame Anne. She took Mary along with her in these delusions. She seemed to think if she declared she was still queen enough times, it would be so...

I have a BBC version ofHenry& Wives on today in the background and even all these centuries later, have to admit to to sympathy for poor Katherine Howard above all the others. Foolish she was, no doubt...but she was engineered into that marriage by many powerful men for their own uses, without...

Woolsey wanted Henry to marry a daughter of the French king...not sure of her name.

Woolsey thought he was clearing the way for a French marriage when he battled to get Henry's original marriage annulled. He was stunned to learn that Henry was determined to marry Anne. And by the time he was done with Anne, he was already “in love” with Jane so his ministers could not alter his...

It still boggles my mind that for centuries it was considered standard practice to bleed people when they were ill, regardless of how weak they were, what was wrong, even when pregnant or after giving birth. They thought they were “draining off excess blood” . Poor Princess Charlotte went...

Some irony there...asking for the prayers and yet his only son so completely took hold of the Protestant faith that Henry was denied his ongoing prayers. Henry never wanted Protestantism...just his own modified Catholic religion, sans pope, relics, superstitions etc...yet in those times that...

It occurred to me that I am somewhat surprised Henry did not hastily remarry Anne the day or two after Katherine died, since Anne was pregnant. He was so worried about a legal male heir. I know he was convinced he was right and legally married already but deep down, he would have had to know he...

Mary of Scots had in common with Mary I, in both being very unsuccessful as queens. Though in very different ways and Mary of Scots did produce an heir at least, though hardly a great one.

Yes, Mary had been told she was queen since birth, really, and of England just as much as France and Scotland. Elizabeth never knew what was she was from day to day. I do think Elizabeth had far more strength anyway, a lot coming from her mother Anne. Mixed with Henry’s blood, she was never...

I can’t think of even one good decision Mary ever made.

Elizabeth seemed to mostly agree that Mary was the likely heir, just did not care to make it official and I could see her point. Mary was already proclaiming herself queen, not heir to the throne, which was never going to be seen by a living monarch as anything other than a declaration of war...

In reading Sister Queens by Julia Fox, there is a lot of controversy about whether or not Juana was mad, or just in matters pertaining to her husband's infidelity. This book outlines the role her father played in getting thr “mad” verdict in order to reclaim Castillo after Philip died. And...