Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen: Six Tudor Queens 1

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What we did learn though was that it wasn’t easy being one of Henry’s wives. In that role your main job was to give him a male heir – something which they nearly all failed at pretty spectacularly. As Alison said: Katherine of Aragon' offers a lusciously sympathetic portrait of a spurned royal... a nuanced portrayal of Katharine of Aragon and those who surrounded her... Opulent... Weir's novel is, refreshingly, entirely free of cardboard­ cutout monsters. In fact, Weir is uniformly excellent at conveying the chaotic emotional give­ and­ take of the relationship. It is downright impressive how gripping Weir makes even the bleak final years. It's a story shot through with an ugly mixture of venality and hypocrisy, a dark passage through which Katherine carried herself with a nobility she clearly intended to speak well to posterity. Alison Weir's novel captures that nobility better than any biography ever has, and maybe in the end that nobility is a kind of mystery too." (Christian Science Monitor) Launching Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen in the Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace on 9th May 2016 Only one of Henry VIII’s wives left an enduring legacy. Ironically it was Anne Boleyn, who died violently and shamefully. As Shakespeare wrote, ‘From her will fall some blessing to this land which shall in it be memorialized.’ That blessing was Queen Elizabeth I. No one would have been more surprised than Henry, who had married six times and chopped and changed wives to get a male heir! No wonder Shakespeare wrote, ‘I would not be a queen for all the world.’

Alison’s talk lasted a full hour, which flew by, but she followed up with a series of questions from the audience, which included whether she had a favourite of the six wives and what did she make of the different portrayals of Cromwell – what was her take on him when compared to that of Hilary Mantel and Wolf Hall for example. The novel provides a fascinating glimpse into the personal life of Queen Katherine behind the intricate and vicious political intrigues of the Tudor court… Meticulous research, combined with Alison Weir’s empathy for her subject, makes this an illuminating and engaging portrait of ‘the true Queen.’” (Historical Novels Review) Thanks to its sheer comprehensiveness and ambition,this six-book series looks likely to become a landmark in historical fiction." (The Times) Alison Weir is the top-selling female historian (and the fifth best-selling historian overall) in the United Kingdom, and has sold over 2.7 million books worldwide. She has published seventeen history books, including The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Princes in the Tower, Elizabeth the Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry VIII: King and Court, Katherine Swynford, The Lady in the Tower and Elizabeth of York. Alison has also published five historical novels, including Innocent Traitor and The Lady Elizabeth. Her latest biography is The Lost Tudor Princess, about Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox. She is soon to publish Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen, the first in a series of novels about the wives of Henry VIII. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Life Patron of Historic Royal Palaces, and is married with two adult children.Alison Weir on Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen': https://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/blog/alison-weir-on-katherine-of-aragon-the-true-queen/

Anne Boleyn, Katherine’s lady-in-waiting and the woman who stole Henry’s heart, is the last straw. What should have been a glorious reign for the Spanish Princess ends in disaster when Henry turns on Katherine, stripping her of her title and her privileges, and eventually raising another woman to the position of Queen. I enjoyed it immensely. I believe it is your strongest work of fiction to date." (Beth von Staats, Queenanneboleyn.com) This series hinges on King Henry’s determination to sire an heir. The Six Tudor Queens series takes readers to a time when England had fallen into and survived a series of Civil Wars, the result of many a messy conflict over the subject of inheritance. Arthur’s death proved devastating for his parents – his mother would die the following year after giving birth to the child that was conceived of their grief - and for Katherine, who was now to endure seven years of penurious widowhood before being rescued by her knight in shining armour, Henry VIII. But that is another story.

Publication Order of Six Tudor Queens Books

These novels have been praised for their meticulous attention to detail and the author’s ability to successfully convey perspectives that historical documents never fully fleshed out. A detailed and convincing portrait of an extraordinary life… this series is a serious achievement’ THE TIMES

Margery Otwell, a self-made gentleman's young daughter, gets her first taste of courtly life when she takes up a position as chamberer to Lady Peche of Lullingstone Castle. Dances, music, feasting - and a seduction - follow, and Margery learns the rules of courtly love the hard way. King Henry VIII has proven to be an especially compelling figure for historical authors who have gone to great pains to bring his lusts and desires to life through the lens of both fiction and nonfiction.The conversations are sparkling, gripping and word-perfect. As King Henry ages, the machinations of his vicious court are never far away’ HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY Even though Katherine’s story is introduced and explored extensively in ‘Katherine of Aragon’, the first novel in the Six Tudor Queens series, she makes several appearances down the line. Dr Alison Weir is the biggest-selling female historian (and the fifth best-selling historian) in the United Kingdom since records began in 1997. She has published thirty-two titles and sold more than 3 million books - over a million in the UK and 2.2 million in the USA. She is now working on two concurrent series of books: the Tudor Rose trilogy of novels about Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII and Mary I, and England's Medieval Queens, a quartet of historical works of non-fiction.

This ambitious, engrossing novel tells Katherine’s story through her controversial marriage to Prince Arthur and then to his brother, the handsome, gallant Henry VIII. Katherine’s enduring devotion to her husband dominates Weir’s fascinating account of a marriage so often overshadowed in fiction – and reality – by Anne Boleyn. The portraits of Henry VII and Henry VIII are vividly painted, as is the Tudor court through these, its most glorious years." (Sunday Express Magazine: the most riveting new historical fiction) In all the romancing, has anyone wondered what Anne Boleyn felt about being pursued by Henry VIII? Or that Prince Arthur, Katherine of Aragon’s first husband, cared so little for her that he willed his personal effects to his sister? Or that Henry VIII, an over-protected child and teenager, was prudish when it came to sex? That Jane Seymour, sometimes portrayed as the wife Henry loved best, was no milksop wench but had the makings of a matriarch?”

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As such, events that were initially explored from Katherine and Anne’s perspectives are told once more from the point of view of Jane. For the first time I felt as though, thanks to Alison’s skilful writing and storytelling, I came to “know” Katharine’ NICOLA TALLIS This well researched and engrossing read gives a new perspective on the long-suffering first wife." (Good Housekeeping Hot Reads) Arthur was born in 1486, the year after his father, Henry VII, the first Tudor King, had vanquished Richard III, the last of the Plantagenets, at the Battle of Bosworth and founded a new, usurping dynasty. To consolidate his weak claim to the throne, Henry had married Richard`s niece, Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV. Arthur, their first child, was born prematurely at eight months. He was to be joined in the royal nursery by several siblings. His sister Margaret, born in 1489, married the King of Scots. His younger brother Henry, born in 1491, was made Duke of York. Arthur received a fine education that would prepare him for kingship. Alison also tantalised the audience promising that the books would explore exciting revelations and newly discovered elements of each of the wives’ lives: