The Private Lives of The Tudors - Tracy Borman

Title - The Private Lives of The Tudors
Author - Tracy Borman
ISBN - 9781444782899
Genre - Adult > Historical > Non Fiction
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Hardback
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US

'I do not live in a corner. A thousand eyes see all I do.' Elizabeth I
The Tudor monarchs were constantly surrounded by an army of attendants, courtiers and ministers. Even in their most private moments, they were accompanied by a servant specifically appointed for the task. A groom of the stool would stand patiently by as Henry VIII performed his daily purges, and when Elizabeth I retired for the evening, one of her female servants would sleep at the end of her bed. 
These attendants knew the truth behind the glamorous exterior. They saw the tears shed by Henry VII upon the death of his son Arthur. They knew the tragic secret behind 'Bloody' Mary's phantom pregnancies. And they saw the 'crooked carcass' beneath Elizabeth I's carefully applied makeup, gowns and accessories. 
It is the accounts of these eyewitnesses, as well as a rich array of other contemporary sources that historian Tracy Borman has examined more closely than ever before. With new insights and discoveries, and in the same way that she brilliantly illuminated the real Thomas Cromwell - The Private Life of the Tudors will reveal previously unexamined details about the characters we think we know so well.

I have said many times before i don't read many Non Fiction, but recently i have been really getting into them, i am a member of Historic Royal Palaces and there are members events and The Author is a curator of HRP and she did an event about this book and i didn't read it until the end of June, but i am so glad that i did because i learnt so much, and it was a really well researched book.

The Tudors are the most well known Royal Family in British History, but then again when we talk about the Tudors we only ever really talk about Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I. Which i find unfortunate because the story of Henry VII is one that should be more well known, because he and his wife united the Waring houses of York and Lancaster. They brought relative  peace after 30 years of civil war, Borman spends the most time talking about Henry VIII, because he did a lot in his reign. If you love The Tudor Period, or if you are curious about it or if you just wish to know more i highly recommend this book. 

I enjoyed this book, and reading some facts i knew and some that i didn't even though this book was more expensive and i wouldn't normally pay that price i did and its a choice i don't regret because it is my favourite Non fiction i have read.

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

That's What He Said Thursday's - Henry VIII - 12th May 2016

That's What He Said Thursdays was Created by Chapter Break and it is pretty much just a appreciation post for your favourite Male Protagonist's quotes to his girl.

I never thought i would have this Man in this list because he is known to be a tyrannous ruler but in the book i read last month he really did love his first wife, until circumstances ......

Henry VIII

The True Queen = Alison Weir

I desire you above all women, i love you,  and i have longed to Wed you for yourself.

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

 

Young Bess - Margaret Irwin -- Spoiler Free Review

Title - Young Bess
Author - Margaret Irwin
Series - The Elizabeth Trilogy/Good Queen Bess
ISBN - 9780749012427
Page Count - 393 Pages
Genre - Adult > Historical Fiction
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Paperback
Where You Can Find It? - Goodreads - Waterstones - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Young Bess centres around Elizabeth  I (Tudor) from a young age and growing up in court and out, falling in love and dealing with the repercussions of that act. She must navigate a world where everyone thinks her mother a witch and a whore, and is commonly known as the Little Bastard and her strained relationship with her father makes sense for who she falls in love with for the rest of her life. Bess is one of those characters you will either hate to love or love to hate she is such a rotten, jealous, evil child at some points and she will have you somewhat hating the main character of this book, Irwin's writing is a perfect example of well written Historical Fiction Novel. 

So Young Bess was one of those books that i literally didn't get into to start with but then about 50 pages in i was hooked it creeps up on you slowly but sometimes that is an amazing thing because before you know it you have finished it and you want to read the next book as soon as possible i love books that have a timeless feel to them books that you cannot tell when they have been written by the dialogue used or the way the author writes i knew when reading this book that it was published in 1939 but you cant tell and that is the sign of a truly good author and book. 

Young Bess was told in the 3rd person so it was a little different than most books i have read about Bess but it was actually a really good way of telling the story that way even thought we mainly saw Elizabeth we did occasionally get some other characters on their own. I really didn't like Bess' character at all i feel like she will grow up in the next books but in this one she was acting like a jealous 3 year old at 15 and she was such a bitchy bully to Jane Grey and many other characters. 

All i am going to say about Thomas Seymour is he was a complete and utter idiot (No spoilers, but c'mon its history) and he would have been considered a paedophile in today's society because he was not forced to marry her like so many others have been but he chose to do what he did. (or didn't do, historical people don't kill me). 

Not much was mentioned about Mary Tudor or Anne Boleyn apart from whispers of Nan Bullen (i had to google that one) but personally i think she was very much influenced by her mother and i think she would have been more curious about her and she was hardly mentioned. Also Mary we didn't get much of her either but i think we will be getting a lot more of her in the next two books so I'm not to worried about that but that was my only qualm was i really wanted a more curious Elizabeth about her mother and whether she was really guilty. 

I finished this book so quickly it was unreal once i started i couldn't stop it had so many elements, as i have said before that make this a brilliant historical fiction novel and it has become one of my favourites and i cannot wait to read the next book next month (FEB 2016) and also review it. 

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

The Lady Elizabeth - Alison Weir - Spoiler Free / Spoilers

Title - The Lady Elizabeth
Author - Alison Weir
ISBN - 978-0-09-179672-3
My Copy - Purchased
My Rating - 4 /5
Where You Can Find It -  Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US
Genre - Adult > Historical Fiction

Alison Weir is known for her non-fiction about the Tudor period and this book is her second fiction book. It follows The Lady Elizabeth who becomes Queen Elizabeth I. This book follows Elizabeth from a Young Girl into a Young Woman and her relationship with her father all of her step mothers, her sister and her first love and the consequences of that love. This is a different take on why Elizabeth become known later in life as The Virgin Queen.

This book starts off with Elizabeth at two years old being told her mother has been executed for treason, then she goes to court and meets her new step mother Jane Seymour and then it goes very quickly throughout the next couple of wives until Henry marries Katherine Parr and dies four years later. Then the story really gets into the good stuff. We have love, anger, jealousy, pain, torment all in one relationship.The events that changed the course of her life and the decisions she makes.

Then you have the struggle with her sister and her right to her place in the line of succession. Elizabeth goes through so much from the age of Two till Twenty-Five. If you love historical fiction i suggest you give this book a read it was an entertaining and a roller coaster of a book.

 

 SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK DON'T READ ANY FURTHER.

I mean where do i even start with this book it had me on the edge of my seat and trying to figure out where it would go next, I loved Henry and Elizabeth's relationship albeit they didn't have much of one but what we did see warmed my heart except for the flashbacks where she remembered him calling Anne a witch and a whore. then when Elizabeth goes and lives with Katherine Parr and Thomas Seymour, i started to feel like i knew where this was going when Elizabeth fell pregnant but i didn't know what route she would go down i was trying to think if we knew anyone it could be then when she had the miscarriage i knew that would be a huge factor in her life and that she wouldn't want to go through that ever again and watching Jane die. 

I definitely had mixed feeling towards Katherine in this book on the one hand she was duped by Thomas as well but then she was telling Elizabeth to just let him tickle her and joining in by holding her down. So for me i personally didn't like her very much but then again you are more inclined to back the heroine than anyone else if we had the same book in Katherine's POV it might be different.

Thomas on the other hand having sex with your wife's step daughter, your nephews sister and the old kings daughter is sick and its Treason to plot it let alone act upon it no wonder he was executed. 

Then when that part of her life is over and Thomas is Executed, then her brother dies and she has to fight for her right to the succession. There is a quote that i loved when Mary was deciding if she should marry him or not her adviser refrains from telling her "Great men married for Duty and bedded their mistresses for pleasure" and for me that just about summed up pretty much every single Medieval king baring a couple so i don't know why she would be shocked.

Mary is a Catholic and is trying to put England back to the true faith and Elizabeth is a threat to that so when she locks her in the Tower when she sees Anne's ghost it really hit me in the feels in one of the most terrifying times in her life her mother is there to comfort her and protect her. Then when Mary gives the OK to have Elizabeth found guilty and have her executed i never thought she would do that. To me that is far from the truth but we will never know.

When she is released from The Tower she is under house arrest with her closest friend taken away. Elizabeth gets more and more agitated with only one maid not allowed the reading material she desires. 

Mary quickly becomes Bloody Mary when the burnings of the Protestants start.

When Elizabeth and Phillip meet for the first time and Elizabeth dresses to her advantage and wore her hair loose like an unmarried virgin. (royal married women were not allowed to have a bare head they had to wear a hood) and when Elizabeth felt that shock of lust my brain was screaming don't do it, don't do it and luckily she didn't but she knows she must have him on her side if she if to never be sent to the tower again.

When Mary becomes pregnant you know everything is coming to an end then when she goes into confinement and no baby is there then Philip leaves and goes back to Spain, she tries to help him by sending troops into France then loose Calais that had been held by England for over 100 years all for a Spanish Catholic who wanted her sister more than her. 

Mary finally had to concede and finally name Elizabeth as her Heir but only if she promised to rule England as a Catholic Nation. Elizabeth agreed obviously. Then sitting under a tree in Hatfield Grounds Elizabeth Finally becomes Queen Of England. 

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

Taming of The Queen - Philippa Gregory Spoiler Free Review

Title  - The Taming of The Queen 
Series - The Tudor Court Series 
Author - Philippa Gregory 
ISBN - 978-1-471-3297-1
My Copy - Purchased 
Rating - 4 / 5
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Amazon UK / USA
Genre - Adult - Historical Fiction


So where should i start with this book, how about with the tag line. "Why would a woman marry a serial killer? Because she cannot refuse..." that got me hooked in a second, because we are so used to reading about Henry VIII as this young hansom Prince and not the old tyrant he becomes. This book brought a light to a wife we don't know much about, even her name is up for debate is it Katherine or Kateryn.So lets delve into the last few years of Henry VIII's Reign 

Chapter 1 begins in spring of 1543 at Hampton court palace where Henry Proposes to Kateryn and because you cannot say no to the king she just act like it is an honer and that she doesn't deserve it and that she needs a little time for it to sink in, Henry agrees and lets her go back to her chamber. 

Kateryn goes to her lover Thomas Seymour and sneaks into his room after midnight to say goodbye because she is not foolish enough to have an affair like the previous wife Katherine Howard. 

Kateryn goes on with her life as she becomes queen and has to bed this horrible smelly man who is old enough to be her father and man who has already buried 4 wives, two of whom he beheaded, 1 who died of a broken heat and his sweetheart Queen Jane who he left alone to die after giving birth to his son, so she was right to be careful. We get a glimpse of how Elizabeth got the idea that she could rule as a woman on her own. so that is all i am going to tell you about the book because there is a lot of heartache and emotions and scenes that i don't want to spoil so now onto my thoughts on the book. 

So when i first starting reading this book i was a little blegh because i had finished The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir a month previous and that painted Kateryn and Thomas as the bad guys so reading about their love was a tad weird but then you really got a sense for the characters an you see the struggle she has had her entire life, being married 3 times all to men who were not adequate for her, a man who was afraid of his own shadow, a man who she was more of daughter and nurse to then too and then to a tyrant who could execute her at his will. There was one part in this book that actually made me hate Henry a little bit and that was when he punished Kateryn and the play he wrote"The Taming of The Queen" was horrible but at the same time that was the law in Tudor times. Even though the religion kept on changing back and forth from protestant to catholic, it was tough times for a secret reformist as a queen in a court where it was heresy to believe different from the king.Kateryn who was a scholar wrote and published many books that were deemed as heretic matirial. I love that throughout Gregory's books and series she keeps one thing the same, the curse that Henry's mum put on the family that murdered her brothers in the tower they shall die out and end with a virgin woman and this curse that started in The White Queen and has been mentioned in most of the books since if you read them in Time order (not the order they were published but time era chronologically) this time Henry mentions it "And people say terrible things. They say there is a curse, they speak of a curse, they say such things - a curse on Tudor boys, on our line."


Overall this book was a very good read, I definitely look at Henry VIII a little differently now than i did when i first learnt about him but you need all sides of a story and unfortunately that is something we may never know. 

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

 

Tower of London - 1st August 2015

Henry VIII

Hi, so i went to The Tower of London earlier this month and it was really fun so i decided to share it with you. I have been there before about 4 times it is probably one of my favourite places to go in London for a day out.

All in all it takes me about 70 minutes or 1 hour 10 minutes to get to Tower Hill Underground Station, i left my house at 7:53 and i got there 9:30 when i first got there i always go through the "subway"  (a tiny little tunnel that you walk under) because when you walk out the other side you have this beautiful view of The Tower welcoming you.

 When i first got there i didn't really take any pictures, i went into the royal mint but was in a bit of a rush so i didn't take any pictures, then i went into the Crown Jewels and you are not allowed to take pictures in there.












 Traitor's Gate the entrance Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Princess Elizabeth and many others have taken

 Next i went on a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) tour
that lasted 45 minutes where we went around the grounds and was told some of the history like how Anne Boleyn's lips supposedly kept saying her prayer even after her head was chopped off.

 Then i rushed to the moat to get a good seat for the Joust that was happening

                                      
Then i went and had something to eat, from the Armouries Cafe. Then i went into my Favourite p[lace inside of The Tower, The White tower the oldest and most beautiful part of the Palace.
I'm scared of heights so when they are re-doing the stairs to get into the white tower and replace then with scaffolding and you have people above you jumping it really made my heart skip a couple beats but i finally got in and as per usual it was phenomenal.

                                                                 
                                                                 

 Once i came out of The White Tower i went to the Lawn just outside and there was a play on with Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII

The i went into Torture at The Tower where they had THE RACK and many other torture devices 














Next was the Medieval Palace 

Then from The Medieval Palace you go through to the wall walk and you are walking round what would have been the defences and the view is breathtaking it gets me every time and i have seen it lots of times. 

 

and the final place i went was the Memorial for the people who were killed in the privacy of The Tower itself among them 3 Queens of England and nobility a like 

Anne Boleyn , Katherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey 

  

Well that is it for my trip to The Tower of London if you are ever in London you should visit this magnificent Fortress. 

Until Next Time 

 (sorry about some of the blank spaces the pictures were playing up as i was putting them on)