What Got You Interested in the Tudors?

I'm curious to know what got our members interested in the Tudors and Plantagenets.   What set you off on your never-ending quest to learn everything you can about these two dynasties...  Was it a film, a book, a friend?

Do you know Elisabeth, that is a really difficult question for me to answer. All those fiction books I read when I was very young (trashy or not) led me on to follow up my fascination with the tudors by reading as many biographies as i could. Also, in my teens, there were so many quality dramas on the Beeb - 6 wives of Henry VIII, Elizabeth R and a French drama(subtitled) about the family of Isabella de Valois (I think Bell the Cat knows what I mean). That just pushed me further into a passion for the Plantagenets, in particular, that continues to this day. I have my particular favorites...Anne Boleyn, Mary-Rose and, of course,Richard III and I don't always post on these subjects because sometimes it is really difficult to articulate to a "blank screen" just how passionately i feel about these characters

Great thread, Elisabeth! But I don't know the exact answer! I think as a kid I was interested in the 'Six Wives' concept, but apart from that, I don't know. The Tudors were the first dynasty I was interested in - the Plantagenets followed.

my passion for history was born when i was a child and was reading mythology and legends. when i was older i started reading historical novels and that got me even more hooked.

what got me hooked to the history of england in particular is my junior high english teacher. she used to tell us about the history of england. she was the first person to tell me about edward the confessor and william of normandy and harold... the history of london... richard 3rd... everything... that's why i will always have a soft spot for the history of england as part of my general love for history.

what got me into the history of the tudors in particular was the story of catherine of valois and owen tudor. while i have grown pretty aware that it could have not been like that, it has stuck my mind as a romantic story of the queen and her servant who fell in love and founded a dinasty. i will always have a curiousity about owen tudor and edmund and queen catherine...

Ilyala, I am reading (fiction) at the moment..Crown in Candlelight.. about katherine and owen, very nicely written and unput downable. Highly recommend it, and , believe me , I am very fussy

oooh that sounds great ... who's the author?

Rosemary Hawley Jarman (got it cheapo off Amazon)

When I was little, my grandmother was in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow, and somehow I read a story about Mary, Queen of Scots. I couldn't believe there had been a battle there (it's a densely built part of town), but sure enough, right outside the hospital is a monument to Mary's last stand in Scotland.

Eventually I got to see the places associated with her in Edinburgh, and Falkland Palace in Fife, where her father died. So I was interested in Mary before discovering the Tudors!

My interest in the Tudors started on a school trip to London. We visited the Tower of London, and more than anything I was fascinated by the little square of grass where Henry's wives were executed!

Later we visited Hampton Court and were told about their ghosts swooshing down the corridors!

Did you go into the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula when you were at the Tower Bell? I remember going there as a very young girl and the talk that was given by a "Beefeater" was absolutely fascinating. I still remember it...he had us all spellbound, you could here a pin drop.

Did you go into the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula when you were at the Tower Bell? I remember going there as a very young girl and the talk that was given by a "Beefeater" was absolutely fascinating. I still remember it...he had us all spellbound, you could here a pin drop.

Yes we did, and he told us how they brought the headless corpses (with the heads of course) into the chapel and buried them there. It made quite an impression on an eight-year old!

I don't remember anything about the Crown Jewels by contrast!

What got me interested in the Tudors was "The Prince and The Pauper" by  Mark Twain, which I read as a kid!

We had a children's version of "THe Prince and The Pauper" when I was about five, on a record album. Besides, my parents and grandmother told us stories of British history. When I was 10 I read a children's life of Elizabeth I called "Elizabeth Tudor, Sovereign Lady, " I forget the author. Next, I got into the Margaret Irwin books, and saw the film "Young Bess." Then came the "Six Wives" miniseries and "Elizabeth R." When I was 14 I did a research paper on Richard III, read the Costain books on the PLantagenets, and every historical novel I could get hold of. (I preferred the Rosemary Hawley Jarman books and Georgette Heyer, too. And I loved Jean Plaidy and Norah Lofts, especially The Goldsmith's Wife (I forget who wrote that one, too.) Then Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time....I have been hooked ever since on the Plantagenets.

The Goldsmith's wife, oh my, that brings back memories...Isn't that the story of Jane Shore its a Jean Plaidy.

Yes, it is about Jane Shore, but has all the rest of the colorful cast of Edward IV's family.