Taming of the Queen

Name: Taming of the Queen
Rating: 3 (1 reviews)
Author: Philippa Gregory
ISBN: 9781471132988

by Philippa Gregory

3.0

(1 ratings)

448 pages2015Simon & Schuster, LimitedISBN 9781471132988

Fiction Biography History

About this book

In this latest chapter in the Tudor saga, glorious King Henry has receded into a bloated tyrannical child-king, fretfully trying to make sense of his marital history while his latest wife acts as his nurse. The story is narrated by Kateryn Parr, who sets aside her own hopes for marriage with her lover, to become Henry's last queen. While Gregory can only speculate about the thoughts and motives of these colourful historical characters, she does it superbly within a carefully researched historical context.Kateryn is haunted by her predecessors and tries to avoid their fatal "mistakes" yet she also finds that a living queen cannot compete with the dead Jane Seymour, mother to Henry's only living son. She even finds it difficult to deal with Anne of Cleves, who had graciously side-stepped marriage with the King, and was now a favoured member of court. In a double irony that Tudor lovers will appreciate, while Henry's previous wives were obsessed with delivering a healthy male heir, Kateryn is portrayed as terrified of becoming pregnant to Henry, because another failed pregnancy would humiliate the King, endangering her life.While Kateryn navigates these challenges and becomes a loyal loving step-mother to Henry's three motherless children, she also makes her own significant contribution to the era, translating religious passages into English. Gregory's examination of the changing church and attitudes to education, particularly for women, is extremely illuminating. Kateryn also takes the role of Regent when Henry is away at war, competently managing the country in his absence - a formidable task for a young woman who has only previously run a small estate. There are also interesting glimpses of the man Henry could have been if he hadn't been gluttonous for power and for food - a man who respected higher education for women as well as men; a man who was prepared to make changes to the Church.Kateryn's secret love story runs as a recurring thread throughout the book, the lost passion between the lovers creating a dramatic contrast to the sordid sickly business of intimacy with King Henry.

Publication Details

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Limited
Published: 2015
Pages: 448
ISBN: 9781471132988
Language: en

About Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory was born on 9 January 1954 in Nairobi, Kenya, the second daughter of Elaine (Wedd) and Arthur Percy Gregory, a radio operator and navigator for East African Airways. When she was two years old, her family moved to England. She was a "rebel" at school, but managed to attend the University of Sussex. She worked in BBC radio for two years before attending the University of Edinburgh, where she earned her doctorate in 18th-century literature, and she was named Alumna of the Year 2009. She has taught at the University of Durham, University of Teesside, and the Open University, and was made a Fellow of Kingston University in 1994. Philippa wrote her first novel Wideacre while completing her a PhD, and living in a cottage on the Pennine Way with first husband Peter Chislett, editor of the Hartlepool Mail, and their baby daughter, Victoria. They divorced before the book was published. Following the success of Wideacre and the publication of The Favoured Child, she moved south to near Midhurst, West Sussex, where the Wideacre trilogy was set. Here she married her second husband Paul Carter, with whom she has a son. She divorced for a second time and married Anthony Mason, who she had first met during her time in Hartlepool. She was an established historian and writer when she discovered her interest in the Tudor period and wrote the novel The Other Boleyn Girl which was made into a tv drama, and a major film. Her love for history and commitment to historical accuracy are the hallmarks of her writing. She also reviews for the Washington Post, the LA Times, and for UK newspapers, and is a regular broadcaster on television, radio, and webcasts. Philippa now lives on a 100-acre (0.40 km2) farm in the North York Moors national park, with her husband, children and stepchildren (six in all). In her Yorkshire farm, she keeps horses, hens and ducks. Her interests include riding, walking, skiing, and gardening. Her other great interest is the charity that she