The Real White Queen and Her Rivals (2013)
Philippa Gregory tells the different stories of the women who were decisive figures in the Wars of the Roses and who helped to inspire the BBC One drama The White Queen.
Seasons & Episode
The White Queen is Elizabeth Woodville, a beautiful commoner who enchanted a King and became the first truly English woman to sit on the throne. Gregory recounts in extraordinary detail how Woodville saw her family murdered, her children endangered and was labelled a witch but survived and thrived in the midst of war and conspiracy. She carried the banner of the House of York through this turbulent era.
Gregory also brings to vivid life the rivals of White Queen. Margaret Beaufort was a stalwart of the House of Lancaster, the child bride who devoted her life to the cause of her son Henry Tudor. She conspired and schemed against anyone who would deny him his destiny. Gregory captures a woman driven by religious piety and power politics who survives terrible hardship. Anne Neville was the privileged daughter of the most powerful noble in the land, the Earl Of Warwick. As a young woman Anne is sucked into the great power struggles of the period and sees her life transformed from one of gilded luxury into one of terrible danger. Gregory describes how Anne becomes a crucial figure in the dynastic alliances that changed the nation's history.