Today, I’ve invited Tony Riches to tell us about his Tudor trilogy, a series that has us following this future dynasty from the moment Owen married a royal widow to when his grandson became king. I must admit I am not really a Tudor fan – I am Plantagenet all the way – but I am far more interested in these early Tudors than in their descendants, and I find it especially intriguing that a French princess, the widowed mother of England’s infant king, would have the guts to follow her heart and marry in secret. Anyway: enough of me – over to Tony!
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Although I was born within sight of Pembroke Castle, I only began to study its history when I returned to the area as a full-time author. I found several accounts of the life of Henry Tudor, (who later became King Henry VII and began the Tudor Dynasty) but there were no novels that brought the truth of his to life.
The idea for the Tudor Trilogy occurred to me when I realised Henry Tudor could be born in book one, ‘come of age’ in book two, and rule England in book three, so there would be plenty of scope to explore his life and times.
I started with a year of research, as I like my novels to be as historically accurate as possible. There are many ways to approach historical fiction, including imaginative ‘alternative histories’, but I feel the role of the historical fiction novelist is to fill in the gaps with a plausible narrative – and explore how people might have reacted to often quite dramatic events. (I’ve also found actual history has more amazing stories than anything I could dream up.)
There were challenges, as unlike my more recent books, there were no recorded letters or papers and few primary sources, other than ancient castles, so I visited as many as I could. I also studied any books about the dawn of the Tudors could find, although most left me with more questions than answers!
The first book of the Tudor trilogy was my fourth novel, so I had a good idea about the structure, and it had a ‘natural’ and dramatic end point (not wishing to give anything away for non-Tudor aficionados). In book one, OWEN, a Welsh servant of Queen Catherine of Valois, the lonely widow of King Henry V, falls in love with her and they marry in secret.
Queen Catherine hardly knew her late husband, as it was an arranged marriage of dynastic alliance, and brought about by the military defeat of her father and disinheritance of her brother. Catherine would have lived a lonely life with only her infant son and her servants for company.
Owen Tudor could have seen her every day, and the combination of a handsome young Welshman and a beautiful young widow would have inevitable consequences. There are often quoted stories about how Owen and Catherine met, such as Owen falling into her lap during a drunken dance. This story is based on sonnets written by Elizabethan poet Michael Drayton, more than a century later, which say, ‘Who would not judge it fortune’s greatest grace, Since he must fall, to fall in such a place’.
I think it was not meant literally, but that Owen was lucky to be in such close proximity to Catherine at such a lonely time for her. No one believed the queen would fall in love with her servant – or that he would have the nerve to marry her in secret. In 1422 the Welsh were still third-class citizens, and not allowed to carry a sword, own land or offices.
This all takes place during the Wars of the Roses and in book two of the trilogy, JASPER, Owen’s son Jasper Tudor and young Henry flee to exile in Brittany and plan to return and make Henry King of England. In the meantime, King Richard III has taken the throne and has a powerful army of thousands – while Jasper and Henry have nothing. Even the clothes they wear are paid for by the Duke of Brittany. So how can they possibly invade England and defeat King Richard at the Battle of Bosworth?
In the final book of the trilogy, HENRY, I explore how Henry Tudor brought peace to England by marrying the beautiful daughter of his enemy, King Edward IV. I also wanted to help readers understand how their son, who became King Henry VIII, became such a tyrant and transformed the history of England forever.
I was pleased to see the Tudor Trilogy become an Amazon best-selling series in the US, UK and Australia, which encouraged me to continue telling the story of the Tudors right through the end of my Elizabethan series. I am now exploring what happened with their successors – The Stuarts!
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Thank you for that, Tony. And you can find my thoughts about Tony’s latest release here!
Tony Riches is a full-time UK author of historical fiction. He lives with his wife in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and is a specialist in the lives of the early Tudors. As well as his Elizabethan series, Tony’s historical fiction novels include the best-selling Tudor trilogy and his Brandon trilogy, (about Charles Brandon and his wives). For more information about Tony’s books please visit his website tonyriches.com and his blog, The Writing Desk and follow his podcast series, ‘Stories of the Tudors and Stuarts’
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