Young Royals
Encyclopedia
Young Royals is a series of novels for children by Carolyn Meyer
based on the lives of English and French royalty. Books in the series include Mary, Bloody Mary (1999), Beware, Princess Elizabeth (2001), Doomed Queen Anne
(2002) and Patience, Princess Catherine (2004), about the Tudors, as well as Duchessina (2007), the story of the life of Catherine de' Medici
and the latest in the series, The Bad Queen: Rules and Instructions for Marie-Antoinette (2010).
Each book features inside-looks at what the lives of each girl would have been like, including daily routine, protocol, out-of-the-ordinary experiences, and first-hand views of the lives of the people surrounding each of them. Each book portrays one character as a villain, whereas in a different book that same character is the heroine. The portrayal of each royal is biased according to the position of the observing royal and it provides an interesting window into the life of royalty.
. First published in hardcover in 1999, it is the first book in Meyer's Young Royals series.
and King Henry VIII
, learns she is to be betrothed to the king of France. Life goes well for the Princess until her father meets and falls in love with Anne Boleyn
. This prompts him to demand an annulment of his marriage to Catherine, which would make the princess a bastard. Mary's father develops a strong attachment towards Anne Boleyn, who is slowly rising in the ranks as her mother is lowered.
Years pass, and Henry grows even colder to his daughter. She is banished, forbidden to see her mother, and is living in constant fear of death once Anne takes the throne and her mother's marriage to the King is declared null and void. She is eventually summoned back to court to serve her baby half-sister, Elizabeth. She continues to fear death at her father's hands. The novel ends in the year 1536, when Anne Boleyn is beheaded, and Henry takes a third wife, Jane Seymour
. Things are starting to look up for Mary, because Jane supports her, and her father welcomes Mary back into his life. But as she enjoys herself, Mary's supporters constantly remind her that she is not completely safe, as a part of Anne Boleyn still lingers: Mary's baby half-sister, Elizabeth. Mary is told that Elizabeth will eventually grow up to be her rival to the throne, but Mary argues that Elizabeth is just a child. The book ends with a statement from Mary saying that she had not known that her sister would become her enemy, her nightmare, foreshadowing the future struggles between the two princesses.
Though she is finally in her father's favor again, considerable damage has been done. The events of the past few years have been enough to turn the princess into the bitter, cruel woman known as "Bloody Mary" for her angry persecution of English Protestants. When she became queen at the age of thirty-seven, she would burn hundreds of people at the stake for their religious belief, execute her sixteen-year-old cousin, Lady Jane Grey
and imprison her own half-sister Elizabeth in the Tower of London.
, making her Anne Boleyn's first cousin. The character is likely based upon Susan Clarencieux, who was a favored maid of Mary, but she was not the daughter of the duke. He in fact had no children by the name of Susan, making the scene where he brutally strikes her for defending her mistress over the claims of her illegitimacy, causing her lip to be split open, entirely fictional.
The book depicts Mary as being crowned "princess of Wales" at age nine, officially making her heiress to the crown over her bastard half brother Henry Fitzroy. Mary was never invested as Princess of Wales. She was briefly styled as such and acted as such, but was never formally a Princess of Wales.
Anne Boleyn was much kinder and more tolerant of Mary than the portrayal in the novel. Though she did not object to Henry's dissolving of Mary's household and moving her to join the infant Elizabeth, she tried a number of times to reconcile with her stepdaughter, and all of her efforts were in vain, for Mary rebutted them all.
The novel also displays Mary having to wear shabby dresses for a period of time because the king does not send her new ones as she outgrows her attire. In reality, it was actually Elizabeth who Henry neglected to clothe after the fall of her mother. Her governess, Lady Margaret Bryan
, was reduced to begging the king to send new outfits because she had outgrown them all.
Before the annulment is secured, Anne Boleyn is referred to as "Lady Anne," as it says that she was not a noble but a mere merchant's daughter. While it has traditionally been believed that her origins were that of merchants, Anne actually had aristocratic descent from both of her parents' lineage. She could trace her ancestry back to Edward I. In 1527, when first introduced, she would not have been called "lady" at the time. Instead, she would have been referred to as "Mistress Boleyn". It was not until 1529 when Thomas Boleyn was made an earl that Anne was given the title of "Lady Boleyn" as was appropriate for the unmarried daughter of a man ranking that position.
The book portrays Mary as having been summoned to attend to birth of her younger half-sister Elizabeth, which took place at Greenwich Palace. She is subsequently forced to perform all kinds of humiliating tasks for Anne, including helping her to the chamber pot. However, this did not occur and Mary was actually living at Richmond at the time.
. Told in the first person from Elizabeth's point of view, the novel covers the period between the death of Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII
, and her ascent to the throne following the death of Mary (Elizabeth's life from her fourteenth to her twenty-fifth year, 1547–1558). Via Elizabeth's voice, the reader is given "a sense of being with Elizabeth and feeling the uncertainty, apprehension, and determination she feels." Throughout the novel, she suffers the vacillations of a life between luxury and suffering, treated as either a pampered princess or political prisoner, depending on the sway of power in the kingdom. She survives three reigns in the interim: Edward VI
, the sickly, only-surviving son of Henry VIII; Lady Jane Grey
, the political pawn who lasted on the throne for only nine days; and Mary, who grabs the throne by force and later has Lady Jane beheaded. Mary serves England a little reign of terror, as her personal unhappiness, religious intolerance, and inability to produce an heir leads to the death of hundreds of political opponents.
The novel frankly presents the character Elizabeth's feelings for Tom Seymour
, who is later executed.
Always under suspicion of treason, Elizabeth is imprisoned by Mary in the Tower of London
and on various estates where she is isolated and forced to pretend a conversion to Catholicism. Elizabeth's strength of will and growing popular support sustain her through the cruelty of her older sister, upon whose death she finally inherits the throne.
The historical Thomas Seymour did attempt to marry Elizabeth but was denied permission, instead marrying Catherine Parr. However, when Elizabeth began living with the newly wed couple as Catherine's ward, Seymour tried to seduce the princess, but his methods were far from the innocent portrayal of the book. He would actually enter her bedroom before she had awakened, only partly dressed, and would sometimes tickle her or slap her buttocks. This went on until her governess, Kat Ashley, was begging him to stop in order to save Elizabeth's reputation, as people had begun to gossip. He refused, indignantly stating that he would not stop because he meant no harm. Catherine started to join in and a few times came along with Seymour on his morning visits to her stepdaughter's chamber. On one occasion, in the garden, she held Elizabeth still while Seymour cut her gown into "a thousand pieces". Elizabeth herself was confused by this behavior. Sometimes she would pretend that it was just a game, and at other times she would become offended. Catherine Parr eventually put a stop to it, sending her ward away in order to preserve the remains of her reputation.
from her arrival in 1501 to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales
, heir to the throne of England, until her marriage to Henry VIII
in 1509. She is uncertain about the marriage and fakes having intercourse by using goat's blood. Arthur dies shortly after the wedding, and the novel deals mainly with Catherine's uncertainty about her future between Arthur's death and her marriage to Henry. In the book she is constantly beset with money troubles, as the English king takes away her small allowance. At the end she marries King Henry and becomes his queen, even though people in court give conflicting accounts of whether or not Arthur and Catherine consummated their marriage, which would later lead to one of the arguments Henry had about their marriage being a contradiction to church rules.
This novel is unique to the others in that it tells the story both through Catherine's point of view, and Henry VIII's. The chapters in the book switch between the two characters, Catherine's side being printed normally, and Henry's in italics. While Catherine overcomes obstacles, Henry deals with his own problems of filling in Arthur's shoes when he dies, and the stress of having to be taught the way to rule a kingdom by his father, Henry VII, who up until then, largely ignored him.
Carolyn Meyer
Carolyn Meyer is an author of novels for children and young adults.The typical genre for her work is historical fiction, one of her more popular projects being the Young Royals series, each novel of which tells the story of a different female royal person...
based on the lives of English and French royalty. Books in the series include Mary, Bloody Mary (1999), Beware, Princess Elizabeth (2001), Doomed Queen Anne
Doomed Queen Anne
Doomed Queen Anne is a young-adult historical novel about Anne Boleyn by Carolyn Meyer. It is the third book in the Young Royals series. Other books are Mary, Bloody Mary, Beware, Princess Elizabeth and Patience, Princess Catherine. The book was originally published in the U.S...
(2002) and Patience, Princess Catherine (2004), about the Tudors, as well as Duchessina (2007), the story of the life of Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....
and the latest in the series, The Bad Queen: Rules and Instructions for Marie-Antoinette (2010).
Each book features inside-looks at what the lives of each girl would have been like, including daily routine, protocol, out-of-the-ordinary experiences, and first-hand views of the lives of the people surrounding each of them. Each book portrays one character as a villain, whereas in a different book that same character is the heroine. The portrayal of each royal is biased according to the position of the observing royal and it provides an interesting window into the life of royalty.
Mary, Bloody Mary
Mary, Bloody Mary is about the teen years of Queen Mary I of EnglandMary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
. First published in hardcover in 1999, it is the first book in Meyer's Young Royals series.
Plot
The book begins in 1527, when Princess Mary, the daughter of Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
and King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, learns she is to be betrothed to the king of France. Life goes well for the Princess until her father meets and falls in love with Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
. This prompts him to demand an annulment of his marriage to Catherine, which would make the princess a bastard. Mary's father develops a strong attachment towards Anne Boleyn, who is slowly rising in the ranks as her mother is lowered.
Years pass, and Henry grows even colder to his daughter. She is banished, forbidden to see her mother, and is living in constant fear of death once Anne takes the throne and her mother's marriage to the King is declared null and void. She is eventually summoned back to court to serve her baby half-sister, Elizabeth. She continues to fear death at her father's hands. The novel ends in the year 1536, when Anne Boleyn is beheaded, and Henry takes a third wife, Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of...
. Things are starting to look up for Mary, because Jane supports her, and her father welcomes Mary back into his life. But as she enjoys herself, Mary's supporters constantly remind her that she is not completely safe, as a part of Anne Boleyn still lingers: Mary's baby half-sister, Elizabeth. Mary is told that Elizabeth will eventually grow up to be her rival to the throne, but Mary argues that Elizabeth is just a child. The book ends with a statement from Mary saying that she had not known that her sister would become her enemy, her nightmare, foreshadowing the future struggles between the two princesses.
Though she is finally in her father's favor again, considerable damage has been done. The events of the past few years have been enough to turn the princess into the bitter, cruel woman known as "Bloody Mary" for her angry persecution of English Protestants. When she became queen at the age of thirty-seven, she would burn hundreds of people at the stake for their religious belief, execute her sixteen-year-old cousin, Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
and imprison her own half-sister Elizabeth in the Tower of London.
Historical accuracy
Susan, Mary's friend and a main character in the novel, is portrayed as the daughter of the Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...
, making her Anne Boleyn's first cousin. The character is likely based upon Susan Clarencieux, who was a favored maid of Mary, but she was not the daughter of the duke. He in fact had no children by the name of Susan, making the scene where he brutally strikes her for defending her mistress over the claims of her illegitimacy, causing her lip to be split open, entirely fictional.
The book depicts Mary as being crowned "princess of Wales" at age nine, officially making her heiress to the crown over her bastard half brother Henry Fitzroy. Mary was never invested as Princess of Wales. She was briefly styled as such and acted as such, but was never formally a Princess of Wales.
Anne Boleyn was much kinder and more tolerant of Mary than the portrayal in the novel. Though she did not object to Henry's dissolving of Mary's household and moving her to join the infant Elizabeth, she tried a number of times to reconcile with her stepdaughter, and all of her efforts were in vain, for Mary rebutted them all.
The novel also displays Mary having to wear shabby dresses for a period of time because the king does not send her new ones as she outgrows her attire. In reality, it was actually Elizabeth who Henry neglected to clothe after the fall of her mother. Her governess, Lady Margaret Bryan
Lady Margaret Bryan
Margaret, Lady Bryan was Lady Governess to Henry VIII's children: Princess Mary, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Edward. The position of Lady Governess in her day resembled less that of the popular modern idea of a governess, more that of a nanny.She was born Margaret Bourchier in about 1468 in...
, was reduced to begging the king to send new outfits because she had outgrown them all.
Before the annulment is secured, Anne Boleyn is referred to as "Lady Anne," as it says that she was not a noble but a mere merchant's daughter. While it has traditionally been believed that her origins were that of merchants, Anne actually had aristocratic descent from both of her parents' lineage. She could trace her ancestry back to Edward I. In 1527, when first introduced, she would not have been called "lady" at the time. Instead, she would have been referred to as "Mistress Boleyn". It was not until 1529 when Thomas Boleyn was made an earl that Anne was given the title of "Lady Boleyn" as was appropriate for the unmarried daughter of a man ranking that position.
The book portrays Mary as having been summoned to attend to birth of her younger half-sister Elizabeth, which took place at Greenwich Palace. She is subsequently forced to perform all kinds of humiliating tasks for Anne, including helping her to the chamber pot. However, this did not occur and Mary was actually living at Richmond at the time.
Beware, Princess Elizabeth
Beware, Princess Elizabeth (2001) is based on the early life of Elizabeth I of EnglandElizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. Told in the first person from Elizabeth's point of view, the novel covers the period between the death of Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, and her ascent to the throne following the death of Mary (Elizabeth's life from her fourteenth to her twenty-fifth year, 1547–1558). Via Elizabeth's voice, the reader is given "a sense of being with Elizabeth and feeling the uncertainty, apprehension, and determination she feels." Throughout the novel, she suffers the vacillations of a life between luxury and suffering, treated as either a pampered princess or political prisoner, depending on the sway of power in the kingdom. She survives three reigns in the interim: Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
, the sickly, only-surviving son of Henry VIII; Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
, the political pawn who lasted on the throne for only nine days; and Mary, who grabs the throne by force and later has Lady Jane beheaded. Mary serves England a little reign of terror, as her personal unhappiness, religious intolerance, and inability to produce an heir leads to the death of hundreds of political opponents.
The novel frankly presents the character Elizabeth's feelings for Tom Seymour
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG was an English politician.Thomas spent his childhood in Wulfhall, outside Savernake Forest, in Wiltshire. Historian David Starkey describes Thomas thus: 'tall, well-built and with a dashing beard and auburn hair, he was irresistible to women'...
, who is later executed.
Always under suspicion of treason, Elizabeth is imprisoned by Mary in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
and on various estates where she is isolated and forced to pretend a conversion to Catholicism. Elizabeth's strength of will and growing popular support sustain her through the cruelty of her older sister, upon whose death she finally inherits the throne.
Historical accuracy
The main departure from history in Beware, Princess Elizabeth is its portrayal of Elizabeth's experience regarding Thomas Seymour. The novel depicts her as becoming smitten by Seymour and hoping to be able to marry him. He also wants the same, but has ulterior motives, wanting to be married to her solely for the fact that she is the late king's daughter and the current king's sister. Edward VI, however, refuses him permission and he instead settles for Henry VIII's widow Catherine Parr, who is also in love with him. Elizabeth accepts this, but slowly her feelings for the admiral grow, as she is living with the couple away from court. Seymour in turn flirts with her daily in a familiar way, not inappropriately, even after Catherine Parr announces that she is pregnant. This goes on until one day Elizabeth actually kisses him and his wife walks in and sees. She is then sent away to a different residence. Later, after Seymour commits treason and Elizabeth learns that the real reason for his interest in her was for her connections to the crown, she no longer feels anything for him.The historical Thomas Seymour did attempt to marry Elizabeth but was denied permission, instead marrying Catherine Parr. However, when Elizabeth began living with the newly wed couple as Catherine's ward, Seymour tried to seduce the princess, but his methods were far from the innocent portrayal of the book. He would actually enter her bedroom before she had awakened, only partly dressed, and would sometimes tickle her or slap her buttocks. This went on until her governess, Kat Ashley, was begging him to stop in order to save Elizabeth's reputation, as people had begun to gossip. He refused, indignantly stating that he would not stop because he meant no harm. Catherine started to join in and a few times came along with Seymour on his morning visits to her stepdaughter's chamber. On one occasion, in the garden, she held Elizabeth still while Seymour cut her gown into "a thousand pieces". Elizabeth herself was confused by this behavior. Sometimes she would pretend that it was just a game, and at other times she would become offended. Catherine Parr eventually put a stop to it, sending her ward away in order to preserve the remains of her reputation.
Patience, Princess Catherine
Patience, Princess Catherine, first published in 2004, tells the story of Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
from her arrival in 1501 to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales was the first son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and therefore, heir to the throne of England. As he predeceased his father, Arthur never became king...
, heir to the throne of England, until her marriage to Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
in 1509. She is uncertain about the marriage and fakes having intercourse by using goat's blood. Arthur dies shortly after the wedding, and the novel deals mainly with Catherine's uncertainty about her future between Arthur's death and her marriage to Henry. In the book she is constantly beset with money troubles, as the English king takes away her small allowance. At the end she marries King Henry and becomes his queen, even though people in court give conflicting accounts of whether or not Arthur and Catherine consummated their marriage, which would later lead to one of the arguments Henry had about their marriage being a contradiction to church rules.
This novel is unique to the others in that it tells the story both through Catherine's point of view, and Henry VIII's. The chapters in the book switch between the two characters, Catherine's side being printed normally, and Henry's in italics. While Catherine overcomes obstacles, Henry deals with his own problems of filling in Arthur's shoes when he dies, and the stress of having to be taught the way to rule a kingdom by his father, Henry VII, who up until then, largely ignored him.