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The Red Queen - a review

A review of The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory  for the Spectrum magazine

The year is 1453, and Lady Margaret Beaufort, the heir to the Red Rose of Lancaster, faced the complications of the rules of succession at a tender age of 10.  Identifying with Joan of Arc and the bravery and achievement she made despite her being a woman, she once dreamed of herself being England’s savior against the French and against the Yorks, the House of Lancaster’s rival to the English throne.  However, Margaret’s early life was made harsh by the arrangements available for the women of nobility in the 15th century.

Faced with the dire need to produce a son and heir for the ruling House of Lancaster, Margaret, then aged 12, was married to Henry VI’s half brother Edmund Tudor and gave birth to the future bearer of the Tudor dynasty Henry VII at the age of 13.  In a court filled with malicious lies and plots to overthrow the current monarch, Margaret was used as a pawn to make the Lancasters at the center of it all, and as a price, she was “a parcel, taken from one place to another, handed from one owner to another, unwrapped and bundled up at will—A vessel for the bearing of sons, from one nobleman or another: it doesn’t matter who. (pg. 58)” After the death of her first husband, she was then arranged to be married to the Duke of Buckingham’s younger son, Henry Stafford, and upon his death fighting for the enemy house York, she set herself up to marry England’s most cunning and two-faced statesman of her time, Thomas Stanley.

Margaret was forced to stay low profile for the most of her life until Stanley had her work as lady-in-waiting to the York queens Elizabeth Woodville and Anne Neville.  Her son, the future Henry VII, was kept apart from her, having him put under the guardianship first of his Welsh uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, then to the York champion for Wales Lord Herbert.  Margaret felt herself in a most self-defeating predicament of her son growing up at the other side of the fence.  But then, Margaret cleaved on her devotion to the Lady Mary, Queen of Heaven, that one day her son would rule England.

At last, at the Battle of Bosworth, Margaret was able to have her son take the throne by defeating Richard III and have the Princess Elizabeth of York marry her son for them to unify the opposing houses and build a stronger claim for the new and rising House of Tudor.

Philippa Gregory’s The Red Queen is the second of her Cousins’ War (otherwise known as ‘The War of Roses’) novels and it showed an accurate portrait of the 15th century women.  Margaret, who was then dubbed the matriarch of the House of Lancaster was given an interesting persona, contrasting the bland accounts of her life as the bridge to the next generation rulers of the Lancasters.  She was not the attractive woman that Elizabeth Woodville had been, nor was she beloved of her family like Anne Neville was loved by all of Northumberland.  However, she proved to be a great strategist by placing herself at the court of the Yorks with nothing to play for but the connection of her husband Lord Stanley and her unwavering faith with the master plan she believes God has for her son.  Even after the sequestration of her lands and title as Countess Richmond, she maintained her resolve and waited for the fate to arrange itself for her son.

Margaret is perhaps the perfect picture for the faithful women of her time.  She often takes her wishes as God’s will and therefore asserts that her observance to the teachings of the Church should in time convert itself to a chance to the throne for her young Henry Tudor.  Indeed, Henry would be nothing without the constant help of her mother and her belief for the Lancaster cause.  Despite the fact that she is always ruled by her husbands, she reaches out to her son through Jasper and remind him to stay loyal to their House.

Although not much was written about Sir Henry Stafford, Gregory was able to piece it together a make a good story for his daily life with Margaret, having written him as being a husband good enough to make Margaret feel she is his young ward rather than his wife.  Stafford afforded Margaret the liberties of learning Greek, Latin and the Bible, as well as freedom in constantly attending the daily offices of their chapel.  This part of the novel gave a light aura that it sounded like a triumph for her, until Stafford had a change of heart and fought for the York cause, much to Margaret’s dismay.

Her third marriage with the crafty and deceitful Thomas Stanley paved a way for the making of a new House.  Following Stanley’s lead in working on with life at court, Margaret exercised her influence to move things for their favor.  Her analytical mind was able to decipher the inner workings of both Edward and Richard’s court, enabling herself the art of lip servicing and suave transition from one queen’s train of ladies to another without blowing her cover as the main player alongside her husband for the deaths of the Princes in the Tower.

If you are a history major, or simply a history buff, you would know how the story would end, but given that, Gregory was still able to thrill and excite about the outcome of the two rebellions orchestrated by her son and brother-in-law.  Her encounter with the outward and spirited Elizabeth of York towards the end of the novel marked a future friction relationship between the two Tudor ladies.

I would rate The Red Queen a 9 out 10, an ensemble of ambition driven people looking out for a single prize to the victor: the throne of England.

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April Gonzales (@TheSquiress)