Friday Round Up

Aaaggghhh! Only three weeks until Christmas, I really must get my Christmas shopping finished and the Christmas cards written. This weekend, I’m going all festive – I’m helping the kids out the Christmas tree up and I’m going to make mince pies while listening to Christmas music. That should get me in the Christmas mood! Look out next week for an article on Christmas in Tudor times to see how it was celebrated then.

Well, what’s been happening this week and what’s in the pipeline:-

• The Tudors Season 3 – I’ve just had an email from Amazon UK telling me that The Tudors Season 3 comes out on DVD in the UK on Monday – yay! It can be pre-ordered from Amazon by clicking on the image to the right, but it can obviously be purchased at other DVD outlets. Finally us Brits can get our Jonathan Rhys Meyers fix, or, in my case our Henry Cavill fix.
• Sir Henry Norris Part 2 – The second part of my look at Sir Henry Norris, one of the men who was executed for adultery with Anne Boleyn. “Gentle Mr Norris” is definitely my favourite of the men, such a lovely sounding chap. Could Anne have actually loved him? Why did Cromwell plot against the King’s favourite and an all round nice guy? Read my post for details.
• “Virgin and the Crab” Video Trailer – This has got to be one of the best works of historical fiction around at the moment and this wonderful trailer featuring excerpts from the book really does set the scene of the novel. A great book to give a Tudor history fan for Christmas.
• Henry VIII is Alive! – Yes, I couldn’t believe it either, but he is! Henry VIII is now having fun blocking the Pope on Twitter, insulting the French King on Facebook, enjoying goodness knows how many Sunday Roasts per day and annoying his long suffering wife Catherine (Parr). These comedy sketches from the BBC feature Brian Blessed as Henry and I know that many of you have been enjoying them as much as I have. Anne Boleyn Files visitor Kelly said that she fell off her chair laughing and choked on her drink! Check out the new episode “Looking for Lucky Number Seven” at the bottom of this post. I had to laugh at “Henry Hot Lips”!

• French Hoods – Get the Anne Boleyn look with our handcrafted French Hoods. At the moment, we offer the Anne Boleyn French Hood, which is a replica of the one worn by Anne in the National Portrait Gallery picture, and the Lady Amelia French Hood which is decorated with cabochons in your choice of stone colour and pearl spikes. Keep any eye out because we will be adding more.
• Christmas – Check out our Christmas Ordering Deadlines page for information on when you need to get orders in by. The last dates for gold-plated B necklace orders are the 9th December for US and Europe and 17th December for those in the UK. Check out the page for other product ranges. For international orders for Daniela’s jewelry (“The Tudors”), we have now gone past the international standard and priority dates, so you will need to choose international express.
  Please make sure you err on the side of caution if you desperately need something by Christmas and choose the relevant shipping service. Our products are handmade so can take a few days to make.

• New jewelry – I’m not quite sure how Daniela is finding the time to create new designs when she is also working hard on Christmas orders, but this week we added the Catherine Parr brooch to the Six Wives jewelry collection and two beautiful Lover’s Knot pendant necklaces which feature either amethyst or aurora borealis Swarovski crystals.
• Book Club Discussion – Has anyone read “The Lady in the Tower” by Alison Weir? If so, we can discuss it in the forum. I’ve started a thread called “Discussion Questions on The Lady in the Tower” in the Book Club part of the forum so feel free to join in.
• Christmas Wishlist – What Tudor books or DVDs have you put on your Christmas list? Please share as it will give others ideas and inspiration. I’m hoping for the new David Starkey DVD collection which has just been released in the UK. How on earth I will find time to watch it all, just don’t ask!
• Primary Sources Page – Yesterday I made a page of links for those of you who love to browse real historical primary sources, but who can’t get to the National Archives or British Library. It’s wonderful that we can now read Hall’s Chronicle and the Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, from Henry VIII’s reign.
• Elizabeth Files – Read the guest article on “Superstition” by Robert Parry, author of Virgin and the Crab, over at the Elizabeth Files and check out our Elizabeth and Elizabethan jewellery ranges over there too. Also read today’s post “Elizabeth, Seymour and Shakespeare” for another fascinating Tudor conspiracy theory.
• Friday Quiz – The weekly quiz from BBC History is always good fun and keeps the little grey cells, as Hercule Poirot says, in tip top condition. It’s a tough one this week.