Three Sisters Three Queens Read online

  With this in mind I was struck by how their histories intertwined and reflected each other. They all three experienced arranged marriages, were widowed, and remarried the men of their choice. They all three lost children in infancy. They all three depended on the goodwill of Henry VIII, they all three fell from his favor, all three were threatened by the rise of Anne Boleyn. They were all born princesses, but experienced debt and even poverty. They met as three girls before Katherine’s marriage, and then again as women who had been widowed when Margaret returned to London; they worked together when they pleaded for the apprentices.

  It is an unusual Tudor woman who hoped for love in marriage. Social historians would say that elite marriages were almost all arranged contracts until the eighteenth century. But in Margaret and her sister Mary we see two Tudor women—indeed Tudor princesses—with powerful romantic ambitions acting independently, even defying their male guardians. Margaret was a strikingly modern woman in her desire to marry for love, to divorce an unsatisfactory husband and marry again, and still hope to retain political power and the custody of her children. That she managed to do any of this in a world where the law and the Church were designed to serve men, in a country which was violent and dangerous, at a time when neither Scotland nor England had ever had a ruling queen, is a testament not to irrationality but to determination, ability, and passion.

  Margaret’s feelings towards her three husbands can only be a matter of speculation in the absence of any personal record. I suggest that she came to love the husband who made her queen and perhaps grieved deeply for his loss. Certainly, it is said that she never spoke of him publicly after his death. That she was deeply and disastrously in love with Archibald Douglas is demonstrated by her recorded actions—the private marriage, the attempt to promote him to the council, and their reconciliations. Their nightmare flight to England was as I describe, but why he stayed in Scotland and whether he intended to be unfaithful to her from the very beginning of their married life is something that historians don’t yet know, and may never discover. We know that he called Janet Stewart his wife, and that they had a daughter who took his name; but he returned more than once to Margaret. In the novel I suggest that she was always drawn to him, despite his infidelity and disloyalty; certainly we know that she was thinking of him on her deathbed:

  I desire you . . . to beseech the King to be gracious to the Earl of Angus. I beg God for mercy that I have so offended the Earl. (Henry VIII, Letters and Papers, vol. 16, October 1541, 1307)

  My thanks go to the historians who have explored this wonderful character and her times; following is a list of the books that I studied in order to write this fictional portrayal of Margaret. I also visited her principal houses and I highly recommend a visit to the castles and palaces of Scotland. Ruined or restored, they are truly beautiful, a fitting backdrop to the story of such a complex and interesting woman.

  GARDENS FOR THE GAMBIA

  Philippa Gregory visited The Gambia, one of the driest and poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa, in 1993 and paid for a well to be hand-dug in a village primary school at Sika. Now—more than 200 wells later—she continues to raise money and commission wells in village schools, community gardens, and in The Gambia’s only agricultural college. She works with her representative in The Gambia, headmaster Ismaila Sisay, and their charity now funds pottery and batik classes, beekeeping, and adult literacy programs.

  GARDENS FOR THE GAMBIA is a registered charity in the UK and the United States and a registered NGO in The Gambia. Every donation, however small, goes to The Gambia without any deductions. If you would like to learn more about the work that Philippa calls “the best thing that I do,” visit her website www.PhilippaGregory.com and click on GARDENS FOR THE GAMBIA where you can make a donation and join with Philippa in this project.

  “Every well we dig provides drinking water for a school of about 6oo children, and waters the gardens where they grow vegetables for the school dinners. I don’t know of a more direct way to feed hungry children and teach them to farm for their future.”

  Philippa Gregory

  More from Philippa Gregory

  From the #1 New York Times bestselling author behind the Starz original series The White Queen comes the story of Henry VIII's final wife, Kateryn Parr.

  The Taming of the Queen

  * * *

  ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

  © SANTI U

  PHILIPPA GREGORY is the author of several bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognized authority on women’s history. Her Cousins’ War novels are the basis for the critically acclaimed Starz miniseries The White Queen. She graduated from the University of Sussex and received a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, where she is a Regent. She holds an honorary degree from Teesside University and is a fellow of the universities of Sussex and Cardiff. She welcomes visitors to her website, PhilippaGregory.com.

  MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT

  SimonandSchuster.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Philippa-Gregory

  /TouchstoneBooks

  @TouchstoneBooks

  @TouchstoneBooks

  By the same author

  History

  The Women of the Cousins’ War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King’s Mother

  The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels

  The Lady of the Rivers

  The Red Queen

  The White Queen

  The Kingmaker’s Daughter

  The White Princess

  The Constant Princess

  The King’s Curse

  The Other Boleyn Girl

  The Boleyn Inheritance

  The Taming of the Queen

  The Queen’s Fool

  The Virgin’s Lover

  The Other Queen

  Order of Darkness Series

  Changeling

  Stormbringers

  Fools’ Gold

  The Wideacre Trilogy

  Wideacre

  The Favored Child

  Meridon

  The Tradescants

  Earthly Joys

  Virgin Earth

  Modern Novels

  Alice Hartley’s Happiness

  Perfectly Correct

  The Little House

  Zelda’s Cut

  Other Historical Novels

  The Wise Woman

  Fallen Skies

  A Respectable Trade

  Short Stories

  Bread and Chocolate

  We hope you enjoyed reading this Touchstone eBook.

  * * *

  Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Touchstone and Simon & Schuster.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

  or visit us online to sign up at

  eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  BOOKS

  Alexander, Michael Van Cleave. The First of the Tudors: A Study of Henry VII and His Reign. London: Croom Helm, 1981. First published 1937.

  Anderson, William. The Scottish Nation; or The Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland. Vol. I. Edinburgh: A. Fullarton, 1867.

  Bacon, Francis. The History of the Reign of King Henry VII and Selected Works. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

  Barrell, A. D. M. Medieval Scotland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

  Bernard, G. W., ed. The Tudor Nobility. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992.

  Besant, Walter. London in the Time of the Tudors. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1904.

  Bingham, Caroline. James V: King of Scots, 1512–1542. London: Collins, 1971.

  Buchanan, Patricia Hill. Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1985.

  Carroll, Leslie. Inglorious Royal Marriages: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Mismatrimony. New York: New American Library, 2014.

  Cavendish, George. Thomas Wolsey, Late Cardinal,