The Tudors tv series

I didn't watch it when it was showing on BBC. I tried, but thought there was altogether too much bare flesh and noisy sex, but I was browsing through the on demand box sets and thought I would give it a go. My main reason was the actor playing Henry VIII - the excruciatingly gorgeous Jonathan Rhys Meyers, whom I had already fallen for as Dracula. I am sure he is a lot sexier than King Henry ever was.

 

Anyway, wonderful costumes, great acting, but once again they have to mess with history. Henry had two sisters, Mary and Margaret. This programme has Margaret going to Portugal to marry the aging King and later marrying Charles Brandon, when in fact it was Mary. Margaret was sent to Scotland to Marry James IV, and she reputedly loved him dearly. He was killed at the battle of Flodden by her own brother, King Henry VIII. Margaret was the grandmother of Mary Queen of Scots.

 

I don't know if they didn't check their history properly, which is unforgiveable, or if they thought our tiny brains couldn't cope with two Mary Tudors in one programme, the other being the King's little daughter, Princess Mary, later Mary I and known as Bloody Mary. This is also unforgiveable.

 

One of the characters, who died of the sweating sickness, had a live in mistress - NOT a common law wife, producers. Please! This is the sixteenth century.

 

Apart from that, not bad. I can get over the reference to a common law wife, but not sending the wrong Tudor princess to Portugal. Actually, I have looked it up now and it was the King of France she was sent to marry, not Portugal. I can think of a couple of reasons to change it: one, they could hardly insinuate that she murdered a King of France, as he would have been too important to miss. Secondly, she would have spoken fluent French, and the scenes relied on her not understanding a word he said.

Historically, it is very far from the known truth, but I have picked up a hint for anyone trying to explain the facts of life to their daughter, if such a necessity still exists in this day and age.

The Lady is trying to help Anne of Cleves decide whether her marriage has in fact been consummated, as she doesn't seem to know. She explains:
"He has to insert his member into you and stir it".

So there you have it, plain and simple. I am still trying to picture the stirring; reminds me a little of a James Bond cocktail - shaken not stirred!

 

The Sins of the Fathers

When the Summerville children grow up, their parents, Lord and Lady Summerville, believe that they have succeeded in rebuilding their love and their lives.  But the arduous business of finding marriage partners for their children, takes its toll.  The one thing they want more than anything for their children is that they find the sort of love that they themselves have known.

 

But this is an age where children have their marriages arranged in the cradle, where men do not love their wives and have set a similar example for their sons.  Finding a man who will love her is going to be a difficult thing for their daughter to achieve.

 

 Summerville Secrets is the story of what happened to those three children, how they found their own true loves, and how the sins of their parents' came back to haunt them.  Their daughter, Estelle, is intrigued by the things she learns.  What caused her parents to separate all those years ago?  What is the story behind her father's conviction for treason?  And who is Lady Rachel Stewart?  Was she really her father's mistress, as the servants believe, and if she was, how can her mother welcome her into her house?  But most of all, why does her father refuse consent to a marriage to the man with whom she has fallen in love?

I was browsing the premade covers and found a perfect one for this book.  It was designed by Linda Boulanger a very talented lady, who is fast and reasonably priced.  A pleasure to deal with.

This story is set in the time of Elizabeth I as she struggles to prove that a woman can rule England.  But while she keeps foreign suitors wondering whether she is going to marry, she has a fancy for keeping handsome courtiers close.

Her position was tested by catholic plots to murder her and put the Scottish Queen, Mary Stuart, on the throne of England despite Elizabeth having imprisoned her for many years.  Elizabeth was forced to sign Mary's death warrant and order the execution of her cousin, despite her own misgivings that the judicial murder of an anointed queen would weaken her own position.

She also had to cope with the Spanish Armada, an invasion by Philip II of Spain, another catholic plot to steal the throne of England and put his daughter, Isabella, on the throne.

Elizabeth reigned for 45 years from 1558 to 1603, when the throne passed to King James VI of Scotland, the son of Elizabeth's enemy, Mary Queen of Scots.

Now I am thinking about how the army would commandeer large country mansions during the two world wars to use as hospitals and convalescent homes for wounded soldiers.  Would Summerville Hall make a great convalescent home?  And would the ghosts of those well known lovers allow them to use it?  We shall see in my next book in the series, which I intend to call Summerville Ghosts.