Sunday January 30th, 2011 Long Live the Queen

The recent engagement of Prince William to Kate Middleton has sparked a flurry of interest in all things royal. While every little girl dreams of being a princess, the role of a real life queen is fraught with difficulties. The late Mr. T. H. Smith, my history teacher at Port Arthur Collegiate, taught us that you could learn as much about an era from the role of the Queen and her court, as you could from the King and his battles.

The women who have been Queen through the course of a thousand years of English history could not be more different. Some sat as monarch in their own right, born to rule; others came to the crown through marriage, sometimes of love but more often than not of political alliance. From shy teenagers to dowager widows, the Queens of England have always made for fascinating stories. In the game of chess, it’s the Queen that holds the power, in reality many of these women met tragic ends.

These are a sample of some of the most recently published novels about the women who have sat on the throne in the past.

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir

The Lady in the Tower chronicles the last five months of Anne Boleyn’s life, from the death of Katherine of Aragon, whom she had replaced as Queen, until her execution in June 1536. The novel examines the motives of the main players in Anne’s downfall and why they pushed for her death. Challenging the idea that Anne was simply a pawn in a political game between the Boleyn’s and Thomas Cromwell, Weir explores the school of thought that it was the ideas of reform which Anne supported that would cost her head.

Captive Queen by Alison Weir

Eleanor of Aquitaine was a strong woman who used her wit, guile and beauty to first marry King Louis of France, then to reject him to marry the much younger Henry Fitz-Empress who would become Henry II of England. Eleanor formed a dynasty, though a very tempestuous one. Despite her love for Henry, Eleanor supported her sons in defying his authority, leading the country to the brink of civil war. Henry was forced to keep Eleanor captivity for seventeen years in an effort to control her.

Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

As heiress to the house of Lancaster, Margaret Beaufort never surrendered her belief that the Lancasters should have been England’s true rulers. A widow and mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to put her son on the throne regardless of the cost to England or to the child. Margaret marries twice for both money and political clout, forming dangerous alliances, and gambling with her life in a treacherous game to create a king.

Elizabeth I by Margaret George

Much has been written about Elizabeth Tudor, but somehow she remains a woman of mystery and contradictions. The author, Margaret George, offers her own take on the character of the woman, those who surrounded her and the conditions that gave birth to what has become known as the Elizabethan age.


Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat

For anyone who might like a laugh with or at their monarch, Moorat offers up the story of a young Queen Victoria who discovers that, along with the crown, she has inherited the role of royal dispatcher of the ghouls who threaten her empire. Part gothic horror, part comedy and part historical fiction, the novel will change your view of her Majesty and Victorian London.

Lori Kauzlarick, Public Services Assistant