Submitted by Gerti
I
have read many books by Philippa Gregory, and she is one of my
favorite authors. She has written several books about the Tudor kings
and queens of England, including some on Anne Boleyn and her sister
Mary (“The Other Boleyn Girl”), as well as one about Elizabeth I,
Anne Boleyn’s daughter. Since I love Henry VIII and his many wives
and children, those are easy reading for me. “The White Princess”
is a bit earlier in history, involving Henry VII, the first Tudor
king of England and H8’s father, and I am far less familiar with
that part of the family’s history. It makes this book harder to
read for me, and a bit less interesting.
The
main characters in this book are Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII’s
mother and therefore, Henry VII’s wife. But this book takes place
at the end of the Cousins War – the War of the Roses – during
which the royal houses of York and Lancaster fought for the throne of
England. Elizabeth of York was the mistress of Richard III, who was
killed by his enemies, in order to crown Welshman Henry Tudor (later
Henry VII). But in order to make his rule seem legitimate to the
other important families in Britain, Henry Tudor has to marry
Elizabeth, as she is the oldest princess of the house of York, the
daughter of the king before Richard did his usurping. A York-Tudor
marriage will unify the troubled country, but will the couple
involved be able to stand each other?
One
of Gregory’s great gifts when writing about history is her ability
to take dry facts and breathe human emotion into them. Likewise in
this tale, she takes Elizabeth, who should by rights hate the man who
killed her lover, and makes her eventually love Henry Tudor. But she
can’t leave it at that. Gregory than takes Henry Tudor, who was
strong enough on Bosworth field to take the crown from a fallen King
Richard, and shows him as a man plagued again and again by the ghosts
of the Princes in the Tower, Elizabeth’s two brothers (and York
heirs) who have disappeared from their prison. As each pretender to
the throne appears, Henry trembles, and can’t decide whether his
new wife is his ally or his enemy.
It
is thrilling when historical fact jumps into the book, as when the
King and Queen of Spain agree to send their daughter (Catherine of
Aragon) to marry Arthur, the oldest son of Elizabeth and Henry Tudor.
But any fan of Henry VIII (Arthur’s younger brother) knows how that
will turn out! Still, as Gregory herself admits in the Author’s
Note, there is enough mystery in our knowledge of the real history of
this time to make some of this book conjecture. Like any good history
book, it makes me want to do more research (this time, into the
Pretenders) and that’s good enough reason to like it. Is it her
best novel? No, but it is good enough to fill a snowy winter
afternoon. I wish I’d read “Red Queen” and “White Queen”
right before this one (and not years ago), so I had more historical
background on the important ladies whose rivalry stands behind this
book’s story.
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