Books 2021 – On sale today…



(c) Chronos Books


‘As a collective, the lives of the Princesses of York span across seven decades and the rule of five different Kings. The daughters of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, they were born into an England that had been ruled over by the great Plantagenet Kings for almost three hundred years. Their young years were blighted by tragedy: the death of their beloved father, followed by the disappearance and possible murder of their two brothers, Edward and Richard of York, forever now known to history as the infamous Princes in the Tower. With their own futures uncertain during the reign of their uncle, Richard III, and their mother held under house arrest, the Princesses had to navigate their way through the tumultuous years of the 1480s before having to adjust to a new King and a new dynasty in the shape of Henry VII, who would bring about the age of the Tudors. Through her marriage to Henry, Elizabeth of York rebuilt her life, establishing herself as a popular, if not hugely influential Queen. But she did not forget her younger siblings, and even before her own mothers death, she acted as a surrogate mother to the younger York princesses, supporting them both financially and emotionally. The stories of the York Princesses are entwined into the fabric of the history of England, as they grew up, survived and even thrived in the new Tudor age. Their lives are played out against a backdrop of coronations and jousts, births and deaths, marriages and divorces and loyalties and broken allegiances. From the usurpation of Richard III, to the Battle of Bosworth, the brilliance of the court of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, to the rise of Anne Boleyn, the York Princesses were there to witness events unfold. They were the daughters, sisters and aunts of Kings, and this is their story. The York Princesses is a natural follow-up to Sarah J. Hodder’s first book, The Queen’s Sisters, which told the stories of the lives of the sisters of Elizabeth Woodville.’

From – Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk






(c) Chronos Books


‘Jane Parker, later Viscountess Rochford, was the sister-in-law of Anne Boleyn and was executed alongside Katherine Howard, yet she has remained in the shadows throughout the years, surrounded by more myths than facts. She is often portrayed as a malicious woman who was jealous of her husband’s relationship with his sister, but the evidence does not support that. So why is she portrayed as such? It may be the ambiguous nature of her dealings with Henry VIII’s fifth queen, Katherine Howard, that have influenced our view of her, but her real story deserves to be told in full. Jane Parker: The Downfall of Two Tudor Queens? is the next instalment in an exciting new historical true crime series from Chronos Books.’

From – Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk



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Tudor Life Magazine – An Envious Queen


Members of the Tudor Society can read Sarah-Beth Watkins’s article, in this month’s issue of Tudor Life Magazine.

‘An Envious Queen’ features what happened to Lady Jane’s sister, Katherine Grey when she married without the Queen’s permission.


(c) Tudor Society



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Lady Jane is finally going to Greenwich…


After last year’s postponement, the ‘Lady Jayne’ Streatham portrait will be going on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, as part of the ‘Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits’ exhibition.


Lady Jane Dudley (née Grey)
(c) National Portrait Gallery


The exhibition runs from 28th May until 31st October 2021.


(c) National Maritime Museum


‘Come face-to-face with the kings and queens who have shaped British history for over 500 years.

Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits, at the National Maritime Museum, includes over 150 of the finest portraits from across five royal dynasties.

Discover how royal portraiture has developed over the last five centuries, from Henry VII to Elizabeth II.’

From National Maritime Museum website

For more information about the exhibition and to book tickets : Tudors to Windsors: National Maritime Museum


The portrait was previously on display as part of the ‘Tudors to Windsors’ exhibition from October 2018 to January 2019 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and from 16th March until 14th July 2019, at the Bendigo Art Gallery, Australia.



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Books 2021 – 2 books on sale today


Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck, and Warwick by Nathen Amin


(c) Amberley Publishing


‘On 22 August 1485, Henry Tudor emerged from the Battle of Bosworth victorious, his disparate army vanquishing the forces of Richard III and, according to Shakespeare over a century later, bringing smooth-faced peace, with smiling aplenty and fair prosperous days , back to England. Yet, all was not well early in the Tudor reign.

Despite later attempts to portray Henry VII as single-handedly uniting a war-torn England after three decades of conflict, the kingdom was anything but settled. Nor could it be after a tumultuous two-year period that had witnessed the untimely death of one king, the mysterious disappearance of another, and the brutal slaughter of a third on the battlefield.

For the first time in one compelling and comprehensive account, Nathen Amin looks at the myriad of shadowy conspiracies and murky plots which sought to depose the Tudor usurper early in his reign, with particular emphasis on the three pretenders whose causes were fervently advanced by Yorkist dissidents – Lambert Simnel, Perkin Warbeck, and Edward, Earl of Warwick. Just how close did the Tudors come to overthrow long before the myth of their greatness had taken hold on our public consciousness?’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amberley Publishing

Further details – Nathen Amin

Further details – Amazon.co.uk





Mistresses: Sex and Scandal at the Court of Charles II (paperback) by Linda Porter


(c) Picador


‘According to the great diarist, John Evelyn, Charles II was ‘addicted to women’, and throughout his long reign a great many succumbed to his charms. Clever, urbane and handsome, Charles presided over a hedonistic court, in which licence and licentiousness prevailed.

Mistresses is the story of the women who shared Charles’s bed, each of whom wielded influence on both the politics and cultural life of the country. From the young king-in-exile’s first mistress and mother to his first child, Lucy Walter, to the promiscuous and ill-tempered courtier, Barbara Villiers. From Frances Teresa Stuart, ‘the prettiest girl in the world’ to history’s most famous orange-seller, ‘pretty, witty’ Nell Gwynn and to her fellow-actress, Moll Davis, who bore the last of the king’s fifteen illegitimate children. From Louise de Kéroualle, the French aristocrat – and spy for Louis XIV – to the sexually ambiguous Hortense Mancini. Here, too, is the forlorn and humiliated Queen Catherine, the Portuguese princess who was Charles’s childless queen.

Drawing on a wide variety of original sources, including material in private archives, Linda Porter paints a vivid picture of these women and of Restoration England, an era that was both glamorous and sordid.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Linda Porter

Further details – Amazon.co.uk



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‘Great Ladies: The Forgotten Witnesses to the Lives of Tudor Queens’ by Sylvia Soberton added to the website…


(c) Sylvia Barbara Soberton


‘Great Ladies: The Forgotten Witnesses to the Lives of Tudor Queens’ by Sylvia Soberton added to the General Works section of the bibliography.

Entries added to the following:

Art – Paintings – Delaroche

Writings of Lady Jane Grey – Letters – Letter to Mary and Farewell Letters – Letters to Father

Legends – Poison

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