Reign season three continues to give us a wildly entertaining and dramatic life of Mary, Queen of Scots. This time we have a new antagonist; Queen Elizabeth I of England. Historically, Elizabeth was Mary’s natural rival. They both had a claim to the English throne and being of opposing religions gave the people an obvious… Read More Everything Wrong with Reign (Season 3)
Season 4 of the notoriously innacurate but eminently watchable The Tudors ends with the breakdown of Henry VIII’s marriage to his German bride, Anne of Cleves. We see the marriage dissolve, it’s chief engineer Thomas Cromwell go to the block for his role in it, and Henry marry his fifth wife; Catherine Howard. But in… Read More Mary I and her First Philip
And lo, we come to the third and final sister in our exploration of the extremely unhappy marriages of the Grey ladies. Of the three Grey sisters, Lady Mary Grey was deemed the least likely to assume the role of Tudor heiress. Technically, it was hers to assume; like her sisters, she was the granddaughter… Read More The Unfortunate Marriages of the Ladies Grey Pt III: Mary
Many moons ago, in the long-distant days of 2004, historian John Guy published My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary, Queen of Scots. It was a comprehensive biography of Mary, Queen of Scots and for some of us [read: me] it would become required reading for the various school work on Mary, Queen… Read More Everything Wrong (and sometimes right) With Mary, Queen of Scots (2018)
Recently, I wrote about Lady Jane Grey and her extremely unhappy marriage to a man she despised. By contrast, her sister Katherine would have two marriages to men she loved deeply, and who loved her back, but by dint of her place in the succession, and Elizabeth I’s seeming determination to snuff out love among… Read More The Unfortunate Marriages of the Ladies Grey Part II: Katherine
Lady Jane Grey is most well known for her nine-day stint as queen – the shortest reign of any British monarch. It was so short, that there is some question over whether she is actually to be counted among rulers of England. Her execution shortly afterwards, when she was still only sixteen years old, means… Read More The Unfortunate Marriages of the Ladies Grey Part I: Jane
Content Warning: As the title suggests, here be discussion of historical rape and pregnancy loss. The most asked question on this blog is; Was Mary, Queen of Scots raped? Reign, Starz’ highly dramatised series about the life of Mary, uses the threat of rape against the Queen frequently and on one occasion it goes ahead… Read More The R*pe of Mary, Queen of Scots
Content warning: This post considers issues of sexual assault and child sexual assault. In 1536, Henry VIII had his wife, Anne Boleyn, executed for adultery and treason. They had been married for only three years after a six year courtship that had turned the country on its head and forever changed the religious landscape of… Read More Condemning Katherine Howard
CW: This article discusses rape. In the words of Adelaide Kane: Tonight’s episode deals with a very serious issue. Today, sexual assault happens all too often and the majority know their perpetrator. If this has happened to you, tell someone. You are not to blame for what happened and there are people who can help.… Read More Everything wrong with Reign (Season 2)
The mystery of the princes in the tower is one of the most enduring in British history. In 1483 Edward IV died unexpectedly after a brief illness leaving his young son, Edward to succeed him as Edward V. Twelve-year-old Edward and his nine-year-old brother, Richard, ended up in the royal apartments of the Tower of… Read More Did Edward V survive in Devon?
