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Overview
Sexual obsession. Greed. Bitter sibling rivalry. Political ambition unto death. These constitute Henry VIII's foul legacy, his wives and children its victims. But none more able than the young Elizabeth, future Queen of England.
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn, banished from the court at the age of two, finds an unlikely ally in her father's sixth wife, Catherine Parr. A kindly woman with no children of her own, Catherine offers motherly love to the young princess and her brother Edward, and works to soften her father's heart and gain her readmittance to the Tudor fold. But when Henry dies and a ten-year-old Edward is crowned King of England, a new era of instability begins for the young and suggestible monarch, and the sister he has left behind in Chelsea House.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Catherine's new husband, Sir Thomas Seymour, has dangerous designs on the vulnerable teenage princess in his charge, and on the power to which she is key.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781956763089 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Arcade |
| Publication date: | 02/01/2022 |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.90(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Chapter One
"The King is dead. Long live the King."
It was not by mistake that Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, had, for this somber pronouncement of Henry the Eighth's passing, brought together perhaps the only two individuals in Britain who would have cause to fall into the sincere and copious weeping that young Elizabeth and Edward Tudor now commenced. It was hard to say if the boy's tears and sobbing at his uncle's words should be attributed to the loss of his beloved father or to the sheer terror of ascending the throne of England at the age of nine.
Despite a turmoil far greater than Edward's -- for her place in the scheme of things was, and had always been, convoluted in the extreme -- the thirteen-year-old Elizabeth emerged as comforter to her half brother's hysterical grieving.
"Edward, Edward," she crooned, brushing away her own tears with the palm of her hand. She accepted a handkerchief from the appropriately condolent Somerset but, rather than using the cloth herself, wiped the boy's nose with it. The king of England allowed the intimacy as natural, the two having shared a deep and abiding affection one for the other ever since he had been a small boy.
"May Edward and I be alone, my lord?" Elizabeth inquired of Somerset with polite dignity. She could see his lips tighten at the request, but the royal uncle backed away deferentially and pulled the nursery door closed behind him. Edward had fallen onto his bed in a new fit of weeping.
Elizabeth was steadily regaining her composure, as much owing to her genuine concern for the miserable little boy who lay, perhaps for the last time, on his nursery cot as to the knowledge that seeing her father never againwould be only slightly less often than when he was living. Elizabeth had loved her father, loved him far more than he had ever loved her. There were times, she had to admit, when he had been unendurably cruel to his younger daughter. Elizabeth finally sat herself at Edward's side and watched his slender body heave.
"I am an orphan, Elizabeth," he said between choked sobs.
"As I am...and your sister Mary." All of Henry's children had long been motherless. Their half sister, Mary, had lost Queen Katherine of Aragon more than ten years before, after an enforced banishment from each other's comfort and company at the king's pleasure. Elizabeth had been barely three when her own mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed for adultery and treason. But poor Edward had lost his to a fever just weeks after his birth. Cruel prophesies at the time had promised that when he came to the throne King Edward the Sixth would be a murderer, as he had started his life by murdering his mother in childbed. So he had never known the demure Jane Seymour, Henry's third and most beloved wife -- the woman who had given him the son he had changed the world to have. The woman next to whom he had demanded to be buried.
"You're an orphan, Edward, but you have me, and you have Mary. You know we both love you very much."
"Who will tell Mary?" he asked, sniffing back his tears.
"I'm sure your uncle Somerset will see to it." Elizabeth's own relations with Mary were bittersweet at best, as the tragic history their two mothers shared was an ever-present barrier between the half sisters. "And our father has made very sure that you will be well handled in your minority, Edward," Elizabeth continued. "Sixteen members of the Privy Council, including your two Seymour uncles, were carefully chosen to oversee the regency. You shall have sixteen fathers."
"No one like His Majesty," Edward wailed.
"I know that." Elizabeth's lips twitched involuntarily and tears sprang unbidden from her eyes with the truth of her brother's sentiment.
Henry had been a truly magnificent man, even in his wretched old age. Until recently, with the excruciating pain in his ulcerous leg prostrating him for months at a time, he would confound his Councillors by suddenly insisting he be taken from his sickbed to hunt. There at the blind, his corpulence barely supported by his famous wide stance, the elegant archer would shoot all of an afternoon, his arrow rarely missing its mark. Then he would collapse in pain, raging violently at everyone around him, all the time cringing with inward revulsion at what the "handsomest prince in Christendom" had finally become.
"And how can you forget the Queen?" said Elizabeth, composing herself. "She has been mother to us all for years now." Henry's sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, had done more for the royal children than courtesy demanded. Far more. Kind and generous in the extreme, she had not only lavished the little prince with affection but had miraculously rescued Henry's two bastardized daughters from poverty and obscurity, bringing them back from exile into the Tudor family fold. More important, Catherine had remonstrated with Henry until he had reinstated Elizabeth in the succession -- an extraordinary act that she could never repay. Further, the Queen had personally seen to the young princess's education and insisted that, when this day came, Elizabeth should come and reside under the roof of the Queen Dowager.
"I do love Catherine," Edward whimpered.
"Of course you do. Now come, sit up. We have been expecting this for a good long while."
The little boy, dressed in the richest finery, sat up, face red and swollen, his legs dangling over the side of the bed. His feet did not yet touch the floor.
"No one can take the place of our father, but think, Edward. You are the king of England now. You've been preparing for this day since you took your first step, spoke your first words. You are brilliant, at least Master Cheke says so," she added teasingly. "You already have the manners of a great nobleman. You are a fine athlete, just as your father was. You understand how battles are fought. You've memorized every port on the coasts of England and the Continent. And you know four languages."
"My French is still poor."
"But your Greek is marvelous. And that's the one that matters most. All else will follow. I tell you, Edward, you will be so utterly consumed with the business of state that you will forget you even have sisters."
"I shall never forget you, Elizabeth. Or Mary either. It's just..." Edward's lips began to quiver again.
"I cannot tell you not to grieve for our father. Heaven knows I shall miss him" -- Elizabeth's voice cracked with emotion -- "but you were his greatest joy. His greatest hope." Tears began gathering in Elizabeth's eyes. "Much...was sacrificed so that you could be born." A fleeting image of her mother kneeling at the block, and knowledge that the day following her execution Henry had betrothed himself to Edward's mother, caused Elizabeth to shudder. "You were everything to him, brother. Everything. You must make him very, very proud."
With that Elizabeth burst into tears. Edward, suddenly the comforter, placed an awkward arm around his sister. Then, laying his head upon her shoulder, Edward, King of England, began weeping anew.
Copyright © 2001 by Robin Maxwell
Reading Group Guide
1. What was the nature of Elizabeth's relationship with her father, Henry VIII? What kind of man was he? How did Anne Boleyn's legacy influence her daughter Elizabeth's behavior, if at all?
2. Catherine told Elizabeth that her mother, Anne, made a deadly blunder when "she refused to share any of her power with other women of the court," and that "she did not understand your father [Henry VIII] nearly as well as she supposed she did." What were Elizabeth's greatest mistakes?
3. What was it about Thomas Seymour that made him so irresistible to Anne and other women? Why did she ignore her doubts about him until the situation had gotten out of hand? Have you ever known a person like him? Are there any contemporary political figures or celebrities that Thomas resembles?
4. A woman's virginity was an essential element in all dynastic marriages. Discuss the idea of virginity as it applies to this story, to Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII's relationship in The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, and to the contemporary story of Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and Camilla Parker Bowles.
5. How did Thomas and Edward Seymour differ in their approach to their vicious sibling rivalry? Was there any difference between the nature of their ambitions? Did the actions of either seem more right or fair? What was the root of their bitterness toward each other? How might they have resolved their conflict without bringing ruin to each other?
6. Which characters do you think cared most about Elizabeth? Why? What could they do to warn her about the dangers of her actions? If they didn't intervene, why didn't they? Was their decision to stand by without taking action the best choice in the long run?
7. Discuss the relationship between Catherine and Elizabeth. What did they give each other that they couldn't find elsewhere? Which rift most threatened their feelings for each other? How and why did they overcome it?
8. Why was Robin Dudley motivated to spy on Thomas? Do you think his father's urging was the only factor that played a role in his decision? What came of his spying, and how did it affect his relationship with Elizabeth in the short- and long-term?
9. Was there an instance when Thomas's hunger for power brought him to a point of no return? When was it? Was Thomas simply a power-hungry man, or was his lust for power pathological?
10. While they were being interrogated, Elizabeth lamented that she, Kat Ashley, and Thomas Parry were "equally responsible for their current predicament." Do you agree with that assessment? If not, how was the responsibility divided among them? Who was most responsible, and why?
11. Were you surprised by the fate of any of the characters described in the Epilogue? If so, whose? And why? How was it different from the way you imagined it would be?
12. Why do you read historical fiction? Is there a particular subject, character, or period your prefer? If so, why? How do you feel about an author taking liberties with history and "filling in the holes"?
13. The thread that connects each of the novels in Robin Maxwell's trilogy (The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, The Queen's Bastard, and Virgin) is the enduring relationship between Elizabeth and Robin Dudley. Do you believe Dudley truly loved Elizabeth or was he simply "playing her" in order to receive the honors, titles, and riches she provided him throughout her life?
Introduction
A Scribner Paperback Fiction
Reading Group Guide
Discussion Points
- What was the nature of Elizabeth's relationship with her father, Henry VIII? What kind of man was he? How did Anne Boleyn's legacy influence her daughter Elizabeth's behavior, if at all?
- Catherine told Elizabeth that her mother, Anne, made a deadly blunder when "she refused to share any of her power with other women of the court," and that "she did not understand your father [Henry VIII] nearly as well as she supposed she did." What were Elizabeth's greatest mistakes?
- What was it about Thomas Seymour that made him so irresistible to Anne and other women? Why did she ignore her doubts about him until the situation had gotten out of hand? Have you ever known a person like him? Are there any contemporary political figures or celebrities that Thomas resembles?
- A woman's virginity was an essential element in all dynastic marriages. Discuss the idea of virginity as it applies to this story, to Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII's relationship in The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, and to the contemporary story of Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and Camilla Parker Bowles.
- How did Thomas and Edward Seymour differ in their approach to their vicious sibling rivalry? Was there any difference between the nature of their ambitions? Did the actions of either seem more right or fair? What was the root of their bitterness toward each other? How might they have resolved their conflict without bringing ruin to each other?
- Which characters do you think cared most about Elizabeth? Why? What could they do to warn her about the dangers of her actions? Ifthey didn't intervene, why didn't they? Was their decision to stand by without taking action the best choice in the long run?
- Discuss the relationship between Catherine and Elizabeth. What did they give each other that they couldn't find elsewhere? Which rift most threatened their feelings for each other? How and why did they overcome it?
- Why was Robin Dudley motivated to spy on Thomas? Do you think his father's urging was the only factor that played a role in his decision? What came of his spying, and how did it affect his relationship with Elizabeth in the short- and long-term?
- Was there an instance when Thomas's hunger for power brought him to a point of no return? When was it? Was Thomas simply a power-hungry man, or was his lust for power pathological?
- While they were being interrogated, Elizabeth lamented that she, Kat Ashley, and Thomas Parry were "equally responsible for their current predicament." Do you agree with that assessment? If not, how was the responsibility divided among them? Who was most responsible, and why?
- Were you surprised by the fate of any of the characters described in the Epilogue? If so, whose? And why? How was it different from the way you imagined it would be?
- Why do you read historical fiction? Is there a particular subject, character, or period your prefer? If so, why? How do you feel about an author taking liberties with history and "filling in the holes"?
- The thread that connects each of the novels in Robin Maxwell's trilogy (The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, The Queen's Bastard, and Virgin) is the enduring relationship between Elizabeth and Robin Dudley. Do you believe Dudley truly loved Elizabeth or was he simply "playing her" in order to receive the honors, titles, and riches she provided him throughout her life?