The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory

January 4, 2020

The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory

Hello, and Happy New Year!  My latest book is part of Philippa Gregory's series about the Tudor & Plantagenet women, focusing on the three Grey sisters.  Their mother was Frances, Duchess of Suffolk and a princess of the blood, since she was Henry VIII's niece and the daughter of his favorite sister.

Most people have heard of Lady Jane Grey, who was King Edward VI’s first cousin once removed, queen of England for nine days, and executed at the age of 17.  Jane was one of the most educated girls in England and a devout Protestant.  When Henry VIII’s two daughters Mary and Elizabeth were declared illegitimate and out of the line of succession, the protestant King Edward VI (age 15) named Jane as his successor.  Her ambitious family forced her claim to the throne, while Jane herself only wanted to live a godly life.  Although Jane was an intelligent young woman, she was unable to understand the political machinations of the Grey and the Dudley families, and why they wanted to put her on the throne.

Almost unknown are Jane’s two sisters, Katherine and Mary.  Per Henry VIII’s will, they were to follow Jane in the succession if she did not produce an heir.  Each sister has a section in the book, with Katherine having the longest part.  Jane comes off as grave and scholarly, especially with her younger sisters.  At first Katherine is more light-hearted, focused on her pets, new gowns, and getting a handsome husband, but after Jane’s death, Katherine becomes more interested in being named as Elizabeth I's official heir.  Katherine falls in love with Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford.  Katherine realizes that Elizabeth will never give her approval for her to marry, so Katherine and Edward enter into a forbidden secret marriage (Edward entered into no fewer than three secret marriages in his lifetime).  They believe that while Elizabeth would never give them permission to marry, once they are married, she will forgive them.  How wrong they were.

Youngest sister Mary is a dwarf or little person, but that doesn’t stop her family from using her for political reasons.  Since no one notices her, Mary is excellent at eavesdropping on the other courtiers and counts Sir Robert Dudley and Sir William Cecil among her friends.  She remains loyal to her sister Katherine while still serving Elizabeth, even as Elizabeth imprisons Katherine and her husband.  Like Katherine, Mary also enters into a secret marriage, earning her years of the queen's anger.  Lady Mary Grey never pursued her claim to the throne, wanting only to be freed from house arrest and to be reunited with her husband and her sister.

Like several of Gregory's books in the Tudor/Plantagenet series, The Last Tudor focuses on sisters.  It's not the best book in the series - for one thing, it is very long, over 500 pages, and Katherine's section in particular could have been shortened to make for a better narrative.  There is a lot of repetition as Katherine is moved from castle to castle, constantly trying to be reunited with her husband.  Gregory notes in the afterword that this will be her last book in the series, since she has begun a new series set in 17th century England during the English Civil War.  I had the impression that Gregory wanted to pack everything she had into this one final book, rather than splitting it into three separate titles about the Grey sisters.  There is a decent movie about Lady Jane Grey titled Lady Jane, starring Helena Bonham Carter (who is currently portraying Princess Margaret in The Crown on Netflix) - it's old, but your local library may own a copy.