I really didn’t expect to be enjoying The Spanish Princess nearly as much as I am. I’m not just enjoying the drama but I’m actually living for the way they’ve dramatized history. At the end of each episode comes a disclaimer that events have been dramatized which usually means ‘we’ve taken these historical characters and… Read More The History of the Spanish Princess: Three deaths and a curse
By request, I have begun watching The Spanish Princess. The show, by its own admission, takes dramatic licence with history for the sake of creating a dramatic story. I was surprised then to see just how much of the show is rooted in actual history. Characters are aged up (or down) in places, but then… Read More The History of the Spanish Princess: Katherine arrives in England
A rather late review considering I read and finished the book within twenty-four hours of its release. I wish that I could say that was because it was such a compelling read. Unfortunately I just wanted to get it out of the way. The Cousin’s War started as one of the more entertaining series I… Read More The White Princess
The White Queen finishes airing in the UK on Sunday, and so I can resume non Plantagenet blogging, while wondering how on earth they are going to fit so much of the final year of Richard III including the deaths of his son, wife, an alleged affair with his niece and the battle of Bosworth… Read More The History of the White Queen: The Princes in the Tower
If you had told me some months ago that Anne Neville, one of the most unassuming women in history; a woman who, despite being queen, left no hint of a legacy, would become one of the most popular heroines in modern historical fiction, I would have looked at you stupidly and asked, ‘how?’. Now some… Read More The History of The White Queen: Anne Neville
Continuing the series on the history of The White Queen, this week is the turn of Margaret Beaufort. The excellent Amanda Hale’s portrayal shows her as utterly dedicated to her son, though it would seem to border on the obsessive, the same of which can be said of her faith and piety. This image of… Read More The History of The White Queen: Margaret Beaufort
I have been quite busy recently, working on my real life job which has kept me away from blogging and such the like. Yet when I checked my emails this morning I found eighteen individual messages asking me to write something on the history around The White Queen. And so…ta dah! This will probably be… Read More The History of the White Queen: Elizabeth Woodville
Recently I watched The Last Days of Anne Boleyn, part of the BBC Tudor season. It is a documentary but also a debate between historians and authors of historical fiction, trying to piece together what happened to cause Anne Boleyn’s downfall and the events of her last days. While looking at the hows, whys and… Read More Sidelining Jane Seymour
BBC’s new historical drama,’The White Queen began on Sunday, with an impressive 5.3 million viewers tuning in to watch the whirlwind romance between Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. A great deal of modern historical fiction deals with Henry VIII and his choice of wives, but it is the commoners turned queen that command the most… Read More Accuracy, Authenticity and Accessibility: The White Queen
Having settled down for the evening with some toffee popcorn and a bottle of coke to watch All Star Superman, I suddenly remembered The White Queen was showing on BBC one and so hastened to find a different television, abandoning the popcorn in the process. To be honest, I was not expecting much. The BBC… Read More The White Queen
