The White Queen

I have read and attempted to read quite a number of Phillipa Gregory's books on the English monarch. After checking my blog, I found that I've only made review of two of the books. The Constant Princess http://siamooi.blogspot.com/2011/02/constant-princess.html and The Other Queen http://siamooi.blogspot.com/2010/07/other-queen-by-philippa-gregory.html.

Just recently KC found a few more copies of her books. I decided to read The White Queen first (I saw and read the first part of it in Phuket last year). I read and googled, read and googled, read and googled and talked.......took my quite a while to finish the book because there was so much facts to google and check for. Really mind-blowing. The facts are almost accurate; therefore it goes to show that the English monarch that era was immoral, savage, cruel and what have you. Power and wealth makes man greedy and they will never have enough.

Back to the story, it's a power struggle between the House of York and House of Lancaster but at the the end of it; it was taken over by the Tudors. The story is narrated by Elizabeth Woodville ( a widow from the House of Lancaster) who managed to catch the attention of King Edward IV (of York) and became his queen. Bore him 10 children and she had two sons from her earlier marriage. This king is portrayed as a womaniser (which I checked is true; even his favourite mistress is mentioned). 6feet 4 inches; probably the talled king in England. Elizabeth is supposed to be a very beautiful woman (I checked her pictures, could be true but her forehead looked rather bald).

Then there is the character; Earl of Warwick...who is the kingmaker. I mentioned to KC and he exclaimed...that's him...we visited his castle in England; oh ya...the Warwick Castle. Such complexity as Warwick who was for the king finally went against him and plotted to dethrone him etc. Again...the facts are totally true; what Warwick tried to do to the York and Lancaster family. Such wickedness and power craze.

Edward and his brothers...George and Richard also were sort of involved in power struggle one way or other. George was finally killed for treason against his brother the King. Richard actually made the Parliament declare Edward's marriage to Elizabeth void because it was done in secret. So that makes Edward's sons bastards and Richard was able to become King Richard III. It's really quite complex but the way it is written makes it interesting and worth spending the time reading all the way to the end.

I am real glad I bought the deck of cards when I was at the gift shop at The Mews; Buckingham Palace. These cards are making more and more sense to me now as I read Phillipa Gregory's books. Here are pictures of the kings mentioned in the story.

Henry VI (1422 - 1471)

This poor sad man from the House of Lancaster lost his throne to Edward IV from the House of York (the main character of the book). They are actually cousins. He became crazy and did come back to power again for a short while through the effort of his power craze wife. To get rid of him forever so that his wife or supporters will not think of putting him on throne again; he was finally murdered.

Edward IV (1461 - 1483) ...the main character
Married Elizabeth Woodville (the narrator) who is 5 years older than him and a widow. Warwick who played an important role in making him a king had other plans for him...thus the enmity begins. He fought many battles and won many but the way he died was so unexpected and disappointing.....I just couldn't believe it when he died like that...and at such an early age!!! (Find out for yourself why he died). His wife outlived him by about 10 years.

Edward V (1483)
He was the Prince of Wales and 12 years old when his father died. On his way to London to be made king; he was abducted by his uncle Richard who was supposed to be his protector. He was imprisoned in the Tower. According to history, there were two princes of the Tower; Edward and his younger brother Richard (9 years old). But Phillipa Gregory thinks otherwise. Finally the two princes disappeared and up till today it is still sort of a mystery. This is the saddest part to me as the narrator is the mother herself. Elizabeth had only three sons (Edward, Richard and George who died young) and she lost all three of them. One of her sons from her earlier husband was also executed by Richard.

Richard III (1483 - 1485)
A picture paints a thousand words. What does this face say of the person? He was said to be of small stature in comparison to his older brothers Edward and George. He was pious. He was quite a warrior on the battlefield. His brother; King Edward IV named him the protector and guardian of his heir at his deathbed; but what did he do to his nephew(s)? Why did he do it? In the story, Phillipa Gregory spinned her tale where he had sexual intent on his own niece (Edward's eldest daughter Elizabeth who later married Henry Tudor and became his queen). Not sure how true this is.

Henry VII (1485 - 1509)
While all this family feud was going on, this man who is a Tudor was in exile in France. According to my card, he was also the head of the House of Lancaster through his mother. He returned to England through Wales and killed Richard in a battle. Thus he became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York (Edward IV's eldest daughter); uniting the House of Lancaster and York.

Going further down the line, Henry VII's son became Henry VIII (the scandalous king with many wives). His grandchildren are Bloody Mary and Elizabeth (the virgin queen).

Wow...I think I know English monarch better than the Malay Sultanate now.