Books/TV/Films about the Stuarts

[helenazar]

By the way Helen, on BBC radio 4 yesterday, there was a discussion about Jean Plaidy and the enduring popularity of her novels. And the chief speaker was none other than....Philippa Gregory. According to Ms. G, Jean Plaidy took her sources (Mattingly et al) literally whereas Gregory looks at the sources and then adds a little bit of "spice" to captivate her readers.

I find it so hard to believe that Plaidy and Gregory use the same sources for their work... This makes it even worse -  so Gregory actually knows what really happened and changes it deliberately in order to make it more juicy and soap operish - so that she can sell books of course... She obviously doesn't care about history. One thing you have to give Ms. Gregory I suppose - she certainly has a very active imagination, which she would have been better off using for writing romance novels instead of "historical" fiction. She would have still been able to sell her books without misleading people into thinking they are learning about history. 

[helenazar]

BTW, Kim, I am reading the Maid Of Honour now and it's pretty good, although not as good as The Immortal Queen. The Father Black angle is a little weird, was there such as man or is he completely made up?

[Kimberly]

I honestly don't know Helen, does it say in the preface
Anyhoo, when you have finished that one, have you tried "The Autobiography of Henry VIII" by Margaret George. Its wonderful.

[helenazar]

I honestly don't know Helen, does it say in the preface

There is no preface in the copy I am reading... My guess is, there was no such animal. If you remember, Father Black was killed along with Rizzio, and he was the love interest of Mary Seton - the main character of the book.

... have you tried "The Autobiography of Henry VIII" by Margaret George. Its wonderful.

Yes, I read it, and I agree, it is very good! I like Margaret George too.

[helenazar]

I have come across a very strange book - a "reincarnation" fiction about Mary Stuart called 'The Shadow Queen'. Has anyone read it?  It's actually really bad, but I am still reading it, out of curiosity. At least it doesn't claim to be anything but fiction  .

Here is the editorial review:

A reincarnated queen gets a taste of 20th-century crime in Gibbs's ( Dead Run ) intrinsically flawed mystery. In a gimmick that has no apparent bearing on the plot, teenager Marie Stuart McIntyre is the "hostess" for the soul of Mary Queen of Scots. For years Marie's mother, Flora, has force-fed her books about English history. (This device, too, seems unnecessary, as the queen within Marie, speaking in antique idioms, frquently delivers orations on the House of Stuart.) Flora, preparing Marie to fulfill her destiny, contacts the author of one of those books, Patrick Sarsfield, claiming to possess the so-called Casket Letters, previously presumed to have been forgeries but which, if true, would alter British history. Sarsfield's publisher hires a graphologist to appraise the epistles. Covert agents of the Irish Republican Army and the House of Windsor are involved, however, and the agenda here runs to thefts, betrayals, challenges to the British throne, kidnapping and a murder. But the pointlessness of Marie's possession precludes any narrative tension.

Actually, it sounds like it would fit right into some of the "conspiracy" discussions here on this forum 

[bell_the_cat]

Surely predicting the end of the House of Windsor.....and a Bourbon restoration!

[Prince_Lieven]

  ;DOoh, Mary Queen of Scots meets the IRA, with the Windsors throne in - it'll be on TV within the year.

[helenazar]

;DOoh, Mary Queen of Scots meets the IRA, with the Windsors throne in - it'll be on TV within the year.

Please don't say that!!! 

[Prince_Lieven]

Can anyone recommend got biographies on any of the following?

1. Queen Mary II

2. Queen Anne

3. Queen Mary Beatrice of Modena

Thanks! 

[Romanov_fan]

I have read that one biography of William and Mary together, it is pretty good. Then, there is one of only Mary, it is kind of boring, but not awful. I once read a biography of Anne, but it wasn't very good, it just went through all the stuff I already know, not in a very original way, either. I can't remember the title of that one. I am not even sure if there are any biographies of Mary of Modena, I wish there were though.

[Kimberly]

Hi there Imperial Angel. Can you remember the titles and/or authors of these books?

[Prince_Lieven]

I have read that one biography of William and Mary together, it is pretty good. Then, there is one of only Mary, it is kind of boring, but not awful. I once read a biography of Anne, but it wasn't very good, it just went through all the stuff I already know, not in a very original way, either. I can't remember the title of that one. I am not even sure if there are any biographies of Mary of Modena, I wish there were though.

Perhaps the one bio of William and Mary was van der Kiste's one. I have it but didn't get too far into it, finding it extremely dull.

[Romanov_fan]

Hi there Imperial Angel. Can you remember the titles and/or authors of these books?

Well, not the Queen Anne one. It was older. I looked up the other two, because I could not remember if off the top of my head, are William's Mary, by Elizabeth, Lady Hamilton, and William and Mary by Henri and Barbara Van der Zee. If you know of those, tell me what you think.

[Kimberly]

Thank you for that

[bell_the_cat]

I'm still waiting for a good biography of these people. By a good biography I would want to understand what they were really like (as if I knew them), but also to understand what the politics of the time were and also the international perspective. I can imagine a biography of Mary II which fulfilled these criteria wpould be fascinating, but instead, we get bits and pieces tacked on to William which are really quite boring and unilluminating.

Also Anne. I've never read anything which adequately explains her relationhip to Sarah Churchill, her attitude to her husband or her brother or her father. These are quite complicated and shifting relationships which can only be analysed in the context of the constantly changing international scene.

Finally William. I think much more needs to be said about his Dutch background - and also of his relationships with Keppel and Bentinck. I think he is quite a pivotal and underestimated figure in British history!