The Red Queen – Philippa Gregory

Margaret Beaufort, married at 12 and a mother at 14….. of the future Henry VII it transpires. The Red Queen tells the tale of the closing years of the Cousins’ War and depicts the constrained life of mediaeval noble woman. Margaret Beaufort comes across as a pious peer who aspires to both education and God-sent visions, but who has a blind spot where her son and heir is concerned – her whole life is dedicated to setting the last of the Lancasters on the throne and making herself the king’s mother, Margaret R.

Having studied the Tudors N times over, I’m ashamed to confess that I’d never really thought about where Henry VII came from nor fully appreciated his Lancastrian connections (or, if I did, I’d long forgotten). And whilst my memory of him as the administrator monarch, Philippa Gregory shows him as an energetic young man, trained by his uncle Jasper to meet his destiny on the battlefield at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Author’s webpage: The Red Queen – Philippa Gregory