4:19 pm
I haven’t read either The Queen’s Fool or The Virgin’s Lover, or at least not in its entirety, but it breaks my heart the way Elizabeth is portrayed and I’m kind of convinced that SWMNBN may have something against the Boleyn’s except for Mary, but anyway, while I was reading the excerpts for these two books, it got me wondering about something: we know thanks to Kat Ashley that Elizabeth was sexually harassed by her own stepfather Thomas Seymor while she was living with her stepmother Catherine Parr after her father’s death, and it almost seems as if he was grooming her (or at least trying to).
What if, at least in Gregory’s books, this event at least partially affected Elizabeth to become the woman she’s portrayed to be in the Tudor books, as well as her own upbringing in general (not knowing her real mother, having Henry VIII for a father, going against her own sister for the throne of England, etc…). She was probably spoiled as well and would’ve likely heard of the slander against her mother. Maybe all of this combined affected her on a sort of psychological level and that’s why she’s the way she is the books.
Either that, or I’m just looking too deep into this and SWMNBN wrote Elizabeth to be genuinely unlikeable.
6:34 pm
January 3, 2012
Queen of England said
I haven’t read either The Queen’s Fool or The Virgin’s Lover, or at least not in its entirety, but it breaks my heart the way Elizabeth is portrayed and I’m kind of convinced that SWMNBN may have something against the Boleyn’s except for Mary, but anyway, while I was reading the excerpts for these two books, it got me wondering about something: we know thanks to Kat Ashley that Elizabeth was sexually harassed by her own stepfather Thomas Seymor while she was living with her stepmother Catherine Parr after her father’s death, and it almost seems as if he was grooming her (or at least trying to).What if, at least in Gregory’s books, this event at least partially affected Elizabeth to become the woman she’s portrayed to be in the Tudor books, as well as her own upbringing in general (not knowing her real mother, having Henry VIII for a father, going against her own sister for the throne of England, etc…). She was probably spoiled as well and would’ve likely heard of the slander against her mother. Maybe all of this combined affected her on a sort of psychological level and that’s why she’s the way she is the books.
Either that, or I’m just looking too deep into this and SWMNBN wrote Elizabeth to be genuinely unlikeable.
The books, don’t bother with, they are 2 books that were used for very different purposes, one was used in the chipmunk cage, the other my son in law used for archery practise.
It’s my belief that Thomas S did try to rape Elizabeth, and she either fought him off or Kat came to her rescue, and clouted Thomas round the head with a broom or something..
Elizabeth mind set I would say is complex, certainly her mother’s death would have hurt her, but whether she knew the full circumstances of her mother’s death is debatable, but I do feel Kat Ashley did perhaps keep her Anne B alive in Elizabeth’s memory. But I think the downfall and death of Catherine Howard is really what turned Elizabeth off the idea of marriage and the point was really hammered home when she saw the disasterious marriage of Mary’s marriage with Philip. In many ways Elizabeth was like her father, he liked the thrill of the chase so to speak, but always made sure he caught his prey. unlike her father Elizabeth stopped short of going in for the kill so to speak.. A question that has been asked I believe on this forum somewhere is “Did Elizabeth mention her mother” I don’t think so although when she rode into London she did have pictures of her mother and her badge hung in the streets for all to see. I know she did mention her father when it suited her “Lion’s cub” and she once made a very coarse reference to her sex when her council were pressuring her on the subject of marriage.. Cecil said something like “You must marry” and she turned on him and said “If I had been born crested instead of cloven you would have never dared speak to me thus.” the subject of marriage was dropped, well for a while anyway.
No I think your opinion of SWMNBN is correct she has a downer on both Anne and Elizabeth and is all out for charather assassaination of them no matter what she writes about them. Strangely her last book 3 sisters 3 Queens has the same sort of charather assination in it but in this case it’s Margaret assasination K.O.A.. there just seems to me that there is a lot of venom in these last 2 books.
Semper Fidelis, quod sum quod
12:12 am
November 18, 2010