“The King’s Curse” - Philippa Gregory
👑 If you’ve come along this far in Gregory’s sweeping narrative, you’ll know her M.O. is to tread a very rich period in English history repeatedly but from dramatically different POVs. As Margaret Pole isn’t as extensively written about as other characters in this saga (Henry VIII, Katherine, Anne Boleyn, etc), readers are treated to Gregory’s research and we get to be a blank slate.
👑 TKC is told from the POV of the now married Margaret Plantagenet of York. Recall that she was the daughter of George (he of the sticky end), and niece of both Edward IV and Richard III, and sister of the tragic pawn Teddy (she’s one of the Warwick orphans). Her fortunes reversed dramatically from a coddled sister to an heir, to a threat to the monarchy at the death of Richard III. We recall that crafty Margie Beaufort (mother of Henry VII) has Margaret married off into obscurity (a better fate than her brother Teddy ofc). She is now the humble Margaret Pole, married to a powerless, little known knight on the fringes of the empire. She is a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of York, her cousin. After witnessing her brother’s demise, she knows her only chance of survival is to keep her head down. In the last book we know it was Margaret Pole who looked after Arthur the heir and Katherine at Ludlow Castle in the early days of their marriage.
👑 “The Constant Princess” details Henry’s obsession with Anne Boleyn from POV of Queen Katherine; TKC us the POV of Lady Margaret, a highly placed royal and guardian to princess Mary who is positioned away from Court. We get a better sense of national politics beyond palace walls and the machinations of Lutheran advisors in Henry’s tussle with the Pope in setting aside his marriage to Katherine. There is also insight into the martyrdom of Thomas More.
👑 The themes of motherhood, pregnancy, and producing a male heir are crucial throughout TKC but perhaps to greatest (tragic) effect in the court of Henry VIII. I love that Gregory centers her stories on women and the intense pressure, superstition, and lack of scientific knowledge they are faced with.
👑 While she is ofc writing works of fiction, she very much bases them on significant historical research, and her writing emphasizes female relationships which historical records available to us simply do not emphasize. She often points out in her interviews and author’s notes that surely affinity bonds between a queen, her ladies, kinswomen, and even her rivals must exist, and I applaud her for setting out to explore these in as realistic a manner as possible.
👑 Gregory does an extraordinary job of illustrating Henry’s descent from a well-loved monarch who perhaps isn’t taken as seriously as his father or Arthur, to one who is a terror to his people and to his courtiers alike. I think power brokers who were initially all too happy to push forward the Annes and the Kittys realized too late that Henry was far less rational than his forebears. When he became erratic and unhinged, he became an island unto himself. Everyone was in danger at that point.
👑 In her author’s note, Gregory writes about research identifying medical conditions explaining both Henry VII’s famous inability to produce healthy offspring as well as his deteriorating mental health. Gregory cites the research of Catrina Banks Whitley and Kyra Kramer suggesting that Henry VIII had a rare Kell positive blood type passed down from Henry’s great-grandmother Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford and his mother Elizabeth of York. Per Gregory, individuals with this rare blood type have greater susceptibility of “miscarriages, stillbirths, and infant deaths”. Additionally, McLeod syndrome affects only Kell positive individuals, and the disease manifests at middle age with symptoms of “paranoia, depression, and irrational behavior.” These are fascinating medical explanations for both Henry VIII’s deteriorating mental health and only 3 children despite numerous wives and mistresses.
Comments
Post a Comment