by Caro, Jane;
LOUIS PHILIP, COUNT PALATINE OF GUTTENBERG (1577–1601)
Third surviving son of George John I, Count Palatine. He and his brothers partitioned their territory in 1598 and he received half of Guttenberg.
HENRY GREY, 1st BARON GREY OF GROBY (1547–1614)
Courtier, second cousin to Lady Jane Grey, Lady Katherine Grey and Lady Mary Grey.
PENELOPE RICH (1563–1607)
Sister of the Earl of Essex, daughter of Lettice Knollys, granddaughter of Mary Boleyn.
ANNE RUSSELL (1575–1639)
Daughter of John Russell and Elizabeth Cooke, wife of Henry Somerset, 1st Marquess of Worcester.
HENRY SOMERSET, 1st MARQUESS OF WORCESTER (1577–1646)
Aristocrat who married Anne Russell in 1600. He was a prominent Royalist during the English Civil War.
MARY FITTON (1578–1647)
Maid of honour to Elizabeth I, noted for her scandalous affair with William Herbert. May have been the ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1554–1618)
Poet, explorer, scientist, navigator, courtier, he was famous for many expeditions to the New World. He married Elizabeth (Bess) Throckmorton secretly and was imprisoned in the Tower. He was released and continued his successful career under Elizabeth I. He was imprisoned again by James I, then released to lead an expedition to find ‘El Dorado’, the mythical city of gold. Executed by James I in 1618.
ROBERT SIDNEY (1563–1626)
Poet and arts patron, he was the son of Mary Sidney (nee Dudley) and nephew to Robin Dudley, whose title he inherited.
HENRY STUART, LORD DARNLEY (1545–1567)
Grandson of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s elder sister, he was first cousin to both Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. He was Mary’s second husband and king consort until his murder. He was the father of Mary’s only son, James VI of Scotland and James I of England.
JAMES HEPBURN, 4th EARL OF BOTHWELL (1534–1578)
Widely regarded as an ambitious scoundrel, he had three wives, the last being Mary, Queen of Scots. He is believed to have orchestrated the murder of her second husband, Henry Darnley. He fled Scotland when Mary lost her throne but died insane in a dungeon in Denmark.
HENRY WRIOTHESLEY, 3rd EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON (1573–1624)
Soldier and courtier and patron of the arts, he was a friend and supporter of the Earl of Essex. Received a death sentence for his part in the Essex rebellion, but it was commuted to life imprisonment. He was released on the accession of James I.
RICHARD II (1367–1400)
Ascended to the throne aged ten, he was deposed by Henry Bolingbroke in 1400, who became Henry IV. Shakespeare wrote a famous play about him.
WILLIAM LAMBARDE (1536–1601)
Writer and antiquarian particularly remembered for writing A Perambulation of Kent, the first English county history.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE, HENRY IV (1367–1413)
Son of John of Gaunt, grandson of Edward III, cousin of Richard II, he usurped the throne in 1399, becoming Henry IV.
THOMAS HOWARD, 4th DUKE OF NORFOLK (1536–1572)
The pre-eminent nobleman in Elizabeth’s court, he was also her second cousin through her grandmother Elizabeth Boleyn (nee Howard). He held many prominent positions despite his Catholic sympathies until he was suspected of plotting to marry the Queen of Scots. He was eventually executed for treason for his part in the Ridolfi conspiracy.
SAINT EDMUND CAMPION (1540–1581)
An English Jesuit priest who trained at the English College at University of Douai, he was executed for high treason. He was canonised in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
SIR JOHN CROKE (1553–1620)
A judge by profession, he was Speaker of the House between October and December 1601. He was the last Speaker under Elizabeth I.
LADY KATHERINE GREY (1540–1568)
Younger sister of Lady Jane Grey and granddaughter of Henry VIII’s younger sister Mary Tudor, she was touted as a possible successor to Elizabeth I.
EDWARD SEYMOUR, 1ST EARL OF HERTFORD (1539–1621)
Eldest son of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, nephew of Queen Jane Seymour. His first wife was Lady Katherine Grey, granddaughter of Henry VIII’s younger sister, Princess Mary Rose.
EDWARD SEYMOUR, LORD BEAUCHAMP (1561–1612)
Eldest son of Lady Katherine Grey and Edward Seymour, born in the Tower.
LADY JANE SEYMOUR (1541–1661)
Daughter of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. A writer and sister to Edward Seymour, she was the only witness to his wedding to Lady Katherine Grey. She died a year later, probably of tuberculosis.
THOMAS SEYMOUR (1563–1600)
Youngest son of Lady Katherine Grey and Edward Seymour, also born in the Tower.
LADY MARY GREY (1545–1578)
Third and youngest daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and Lady Frances Brandon, daughter of Henry VIII’s younger sister Mary. Married Thomas Keyes.
THOMAS KEYES (1524–1571)
Sergeant-at-arms for Elizabeth I, secretly married Lady Mary Grey, imprisoned for treason in the Fleet.
JANE SEYMOUR (1507–1537)
Third wife of Henry VIII. Mother of Edward VI. Sister of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, first Lord Protector of Edward VI, and Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron of Sudeley, Lord High Admiral and fourth husband of Catherine Parr. Queen of England 1536–1537.
NICHOLAS THROCKMORTON (1515–1571)
Elizabeth I’s ambassador to both France and then Scotland, he was always suspected of being too close to Mary, Queen of Scots. He was also implicated in the Duke of Norfolk’s plot to marry the Scots Queen. He was the father of Bess Throckmorton.
BESS THROCKMORTON (1565–1647)
Daughter of Nicholas Throckmorton, she was lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I from 1584. In 1591 she married Sir Walter Raleigh in secret, gaining Elizabeth’s lasting displeasure.
JOHN AYLMER, BISHOP OF LONDON (1521–1594)
Famously hard-line, Aylmer was the bishop from 1576 until his death.
MARGARET (MARGUERITE) OF NAVARRE (1492–1549)
Princess of France, married to Henri II of Navarre.
CATHERINE BRANDON, LADY SUFFOLK (1519–1580) Fourth wife of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Close friend of Catherine Parr.
HENRI II (1519–1559)
Inherited his throne when his elder brother François died, he was a staunch Catholic and persecuted heretics throughout his reign. He married Catherine de Medici by whom he had ten children, but was famous for his long-term relationship with Diane de Poitiers to whom he gave Chenonceau.
SIR (SAINT) THOMAS MORE (1478–1535)
Statesman, educator, writer and Lord High Chancellor of England under Henry VIII. He was a devout Catholic and refused to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church. Executed for treason.
ALEXANDER ALESIUS (1500–1565)
Scottish Protestant theologian, friend and admirer of Anne Boleyn.
HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER (1497–1543)
Famous German humanist and artist working in the court of Henry VIII.
Ackroyd, Peter, 2012, Tudors: The history of England volume II, Pan Macmillan, London.
Borman, Tracy, 2009, Elizabeth’s Women: The hidden story of the Virgin Queen, Vintage, London.
Gristwood, Sarah, 2007, Elizabeth and Leicester, Bantam Books, London.
Hutchinson, Robert, 2006, The Last Days of Henry VIII, Phoenix, Great Britain.
Hutchinson, Robert, 2009, House of Treason: The rise and fall of a Tudor dynasty, Phoenix, London.
Jenkins, Elizabeth, 2000, Elizabeth the Great, Phoenix Press, London.
Johnson, Paul, 1974, Elizabeth I: A study in power and intellect, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London.
De Lisle, Leanda, 2014, Tudor: The family story, Vintage, London.
Martyn, Trea, 2008, Elizabeth in the Garden, Faber and Faber, London.
Plowden, Alison, 2004, Elizabeth I, Sutton Publishing Ltd, Great Britain.
Porter, Linda, 2013, Crown of Thistles, Pan Books, London.
Shapiro, James, 2005, 1599: A year in the life of William Shakespeare, Faber and Faber, London.
Soberton, Sylvia Barbara, 2015, The Forgotten Tudor Women: Margaret Douglas, Mary Howard and Mary Shelton, Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, USA.
Tillyard, E.M.W., 1943, The Elizabethan World Picture, Chatto and Windus, London
Watkins, Sarah-Beth, 2015, Lady Katherine Knollys: The unacknowledged daughter of King Henry VIII, John Hunt Publishing, UK.
Weir, Alison, 2009, The Lady in the Tower: The fall of Anne Boleyn, Jonathon Cape, Great Britain.
Weir, Alison, 2009, Elizabeth the Queen, Vintage Books, London.
It is with regret that I leave the world of Elizabeth Tudor for the final time. I am, of course, both delighted and relieved to have completed the task I set myself a decade ago; namely to write a trilogy of novels about the remarkable life of Elizabeth Tudor, written in her voice. But I will miss her. The Elizabeth I have created is a product of my imagination, but the life she lived is not. I have followed the known facts about her remarkable history and times as closely and accurately as I could. Most of what happens to her – in all three volumes – really did happen to her. My aim from the first words of volume one, Just a Girl, was to discover what it must have felt like to be her – this famous woman who is most often seen both as an anomaly and from the outside. I have tried to turn the girl, the queen and the ageing Gloriana into a flesh-and-blood human being. Which, of course, she was.
I have been immeasurably aided in this task by my wonderful publisher Kristina Schulz and editor Mark Macleod. They have been with me every step of the way on this journey and I simply could not have completed this project without them.
Kristina had the guts to publish Just a Girl and stick with me as I wrote each of the others. Her warm, wise and thoughtful suggestions have always helped me whenever I got bogged down in my own research – an occupational hazard for any historical novelist. We fall in love with what we discover, sometimes to the detriment of the story. Kristina has always been brilliant at pointing out whenever I have allowed the history to overwhelm the tale.
Mark Macleod has edited all three books with enthusiasm, understanding, encouragement and love. He has taken each manuscript and deftly turned it into something that came alive on the page. My debt to him is unpayable.
There are many other people who have been instrumental in helping me with each of the books over the last ten years and they have been thanked in the acknowledgements section of the other volumes. For Just Flesh & Blood I owe Cathy Vallance a particular debt. It was Cathy who suggested I turn the Anne Boleyn section into a prologue. A stroke of genius, to my mind.
I also want to thank everyone at UQP for their help and support over the years. I also want to thank every single reader; without them, none of these books would matter.
But most of all I want to express my gratitude and admiration to Elizabeth Tudor herself. Her existence and commanding presence in history has always mattered to me. Whatever her mistakes and cruelties – and she was a monarch of her times so they were many – she proved to me when I most needed the proof that women could lead, they could wield power at least as well as any man, and they could do so on their own. I hope she helps young readers new to her story in the way she helped me when I was a girl in search of a hero.
After the publication of Just a Girl, at a schools session at the Melbourne Writers Festival, a girl – I’d say she was about eleven – revealed to me why I fell in love with Elizabeth Tudor all those years ago. She asked me if I had realised while I was writing that first book that I was rewriting the Cinderella myth. I answered her truthfully that I had not but that she was quite right. I thanked her for her remarkable insight and then I had an epiphany. I knew why it was I loved the long dead Virgin Queen. Cinderella was rescued by a prince. The truly remarkable thing about the neglected, unloved second daughter of the tyrannical Henry VIII was that she grew up, became her own prince and rescued herself.
JUST A GIRL
Jane Caro
I do not remember when I discovered how my mother died, it seems to be something I always knew, a horror I absorbed through my skin.
Determined, passionate, privileged and headstrong, Elizabeth was born into a world where she felt she didn’t belong and had to fight to survive.
Her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed by her father Henry VIII. From that moment on, Elizabeth competed with her two half-siblings for love and for Britain’s throne. In the gilded corridors of the royal palace, enemies she couldn’t see – as well as those bound to her by blood – plotted to destroy her.
How do you find the courage to become queen even though you are just a girl?
‘This is elegant historical fiction.’ Weekend Australian
‘This confident and well-structured novel draws the reader in.’ Sydney Morning Herald
‘This is a fine novel, thoroughly engaging and written with passion.’ Reading Time
ISBN 978 0 7022 3880 2
JUST A QUEEN
Jane Caro
The Queen of Scots is dead and they say I killed her. They lie!
Just a girl to those around her, Elizabeth is now the Queen of England. She has outsmarted her enemies and risen above a lifetime of hurt and betrayal – a mother executed by her father, a beloved brother who died too young and an enemy sister whose death made her queen.
Not knowing whom she can trust, Elizabeth is surrounded by men who give her compliments and advice but may be hiding daggers and poison behind their backs. Elizabeth must use her head and ignore her heart to be the queen her people need. But what if that leads to doing the one thing she swore she would never do?
‘Just a Queen takes us right into the heart and mind of Queen Elizabeth I. This is a vivid and true insight into one of England’s most fascinating rulers – a powerful retelling of history that is sure to speak to readers today.’ Georgia Blain, author of the acclaimed Closed for Winter and Dark Water
ISBN 978 0 7022 5362 1
First published 2018 by University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
uqp.com.au
[email protected]
Copyright © Jane Caro 2018
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
This book is copyright. Except for private study, research, criticism or reviews, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
Cover design by Jo Hunt
Author photograph by David Hahn
Typeset in 11/16 pt ITC Galliard by Post Pre-press Group, Brisbane
The University of Queensland Press is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
ISBN 978 0 7022 6001 8 (pbk)
ISBN 978 0 7022 6118 3 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7022 6119 0 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7022 6120 6 (kindle)
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