Tudor Rose (Weir)

New York Times bestselling author Alison Weir explores the turbulent life of Henry VIII's mother, Elizabeth, the first queen of the Tudor dynasty. Elizabeth of York is the oldest daughter of King Edward IV. Flame-haired, beautiful, and sweet-natured, she is adored by her family, yet her life is suddenly disrupted when her beloved father dies in the prime of life. Her uncle, the notorious Richard III, takes advantage of King Edward's death to grab the throne and imprison Elizabeth's two younger brothers, the rightful royal heirs. Forever afterward known as "the Princes in the Tower," the boys are never seen again. On the heels of this tragedy, Elizabeth is subjected to Richard's overtures to make her his wife, further legitimizing his claim to the throne. King Richard has murdered her brothers, yet she feels she must accept his proposal. As if in a fairy tale, Elizabeth is saved by Henry Tudor, who challenges Richard and defeats him at the legendary Battle of Bosworth Field. Following his victory, Henry becomes king and asks Elizabeth to be his wife, the first queen of the Tudor line. The marriage is happy and fruitful, not only uniting the warring houses of Lancaster and York—the red and white roses—but producing four surviving children, one of whom, Henry VIII, will rule the country for the next thirty-six years. As in her popular Six Tudor Queens series, Alison Weir captures the personality of one of Britain's most important consorts, conveying Elizabeth of York's dramatic life in a novel that is all the richer because of its firm basis in history.

The New York Times bestselling author of the Six Tudor Queens series explores the private side of the legendary king Henry VIII and his dramatic and violent reign in this extraordinary historical novel. Having completed her Six Tudor Queens series of novels on the wives of Henry VIII, extensively researched and written from each queen's point of view, Alison Weir now gives Henry himself a voice, telling the story of his remarkable thirty-six-year reign and his six marriages. Young Henry began his rule as a magnificent and chivalrous Renaissance prince who embodied every virtue. He had all the qualities to make a triumph of his rule, yet we remember only the violence. Henry famously broke with the Pope, founding the Church of England and launching a religious revolution that divided his kingdom. He beheaded two of his wives and cast aside two others. He died a suspicious, obese, disease-riddled tyrant, old before his time. His reign is remembered as one of dangerous intrigue and bloodshed--and yet the truth is far more complex. The King's Pleasure brings to life the idealistic monarch who expanded Parliament, founded the Royal Navy, modernized medical training, composed music and poetry, and patronized the arts. A passionate man in search of true love, he was stymied by the imperative to produce a male heir, as much a victim of circumstance as his unhappy wives. Had fate been kinder to him, the history of England would have been very different. Here is the story of the private man. To his contemporaries, he was a great king, a legend in his own lifetime. And he left an extraordinary legacy--a modern Britain.

The New York Times bestselling author of the Six Tudor Queens series explores the dramatic and poignant life of King Henry VIII's daughter--infamously known as Bloody Mary--who ruled England for five violent years. Born from young King Henry's first marriage, his elder daughter, Princess Mary, is raised to be queen once it becomes clear that her mother, Katherine of Aragon, will bear no more surviving children. However, Henry's restless eye has a devastating influence on the young princess's future when he declares her a bastard and his marriage to her mother unlawful. In hopes of a male heir, he marries Anne Boleyn and banishes Katherine and Mary from the royal court. But when Anne too fails to produce a son, she is beheaded and Mary is allowed to return to court as the default heir. At age twenty, she hopes in vain for her own marriage and children, but who will marry her, bastard that she is? Yet Mary eventually triumphs and becomes queen, after first putting down a seventeen-year-old usurper, Lady Jane Grey, and ordering her beheading. Any hopes that as the first female queen to rule Britain Mary will show more compassion are dashed when she embarks on a ruthless campaign to force Catholicism on the English by burning hundreds of Protestants at the stake. But while her brutality will forever earn her the name Bloody Mary, at heart she is an insecure and vulnerable woman, her character forged by the unhappiness of her early years. In Alison Weir's masterful novel, the drama of Mary I's life and five-year reign--from her abusive childhood, marriage, and mysterious pregnancies to the cruelty that marks her legacy--comes to vivid life.