‘The Taming of the Queen’ – Philippa Gregory (2015)

6/10

I should admit to begin with that this is the only one of the ‘Tudor Court’ novels I’ve read, and in fact only the second Philippa Gregory novel I’ve read (the first was ‘The Red Queen’). I also know very little about the Plantegenet/Tudor periods, which probably makes my opinion of this book quite different from more avid readers of hers, and from those who have actual knowledge of the events in the plot. Opinions of Gregory’s work tend to vary, and she has been criticised for inconsistency and historical inaccuracy, although her narrative style has been praised. Personally, I don’t mind a few inaccuracies if they’re in aid of a better narrative (not that I can tell when there are inaccuracies), and Gregory’s novels are definitely praiseworthy for focusing on the women of history, who are often overlooked.

‘The Taming of the Queen’ tells the story of Kateryn Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, from just before her marriage to him until the King’s death four years later. The story opens at his proposal to her, where it is explained that she has no choice but to accept as she cannot defy the King’s wishes. In addition, she has a secret lover, Thomas Seymour, who she has to completely give up on marrying Henry, because an extramarital affair would be treason. Kateryn is also in favour of religious reform, and the conflict between reform and Catholicism in the court of Henry VIII is at the heart of the novel.

I generally enjoyed the book; Kateryn is a likeable protagonist who isn’t ashamed of her intellect or sexuality, and Henry is well-written as the unpredictable maybe-villain. However, the plot felt very repetitive, and basically moved backwards and forwards between Kateryn’s potential arrest/execution for heresy, and her not being arrested/executed for heresy. This would have made for a tense setup if she wasn’t best-known for being the wife that survived Henry VIII, so the outcome was inevitable from the start. That said, the fates of those around her made some interesting side-plots.

One major issue I have with Gregory’s style of writing is her tendency to repeatedly rhapsodise on certain topics. Kateryn’s reformist beliefs are made clear early on in the novel, yet she often waxes lyrical about the beauty of the English language, about how she believes everyone should be able to understand the priests, and other such themes. As well as this being somewhat annoying, the plot is sometimes stilted by the continual stopping to go on about her beliefs. 

Another problem with this novel is the ending. The plot ends on a high, as Henry is dead, and Kateryn is finally free to marry Thomas Seymour. However, in the author’s note, Gregory explains that although they did marry soon after Henry’s death, Kateryn died in childbirth a year later, and Thomas was suspected of ‘sexual play’ with Princess Elizabeth during their marriage. While I understand that Gregory wanted to end the book on a more positive note, it seems quite false given the rapid decrease in Kateryn’s fortunes soon after this. The relationship between Thomas and Elizabeth is actually set up quite well in the book, so it seemed wrong to me that the ending of the book was so unrepresentative of reality.

In all though, it was quite an entertaining read, with well-written characters, although some of my friends who’ve read the other Tudor Court novels found the series quite inconsistent in terms of character writing.