Best Possible Outcome

I'm tired. I'm sweaty. I'm sunburned. I'm hungry, thirsty, and I've been shat on by a pigeon (So has Richard Palmer, who was standing right next to me when William and Kate were arriving. Same pigeon).

But none of that matters. Because both the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge waved at me. And I have never been happier.

Despite all my worrying and uncertainty yesterday, today had the best possible outcome. I saw William and Kate on three separate occasions, in two different outfits, but I didn't actually meet them or speak to them. And that's brilliant.

Because now I've seen the Duchess of Cambridge. And she is gorgeous. I didn't think it possible, but she is actually prettier in person than she is in her pictures. And she's so nice. So is William. It was such fun to watch him playing football with a bunch of little kids. He tackled and slid and ran about in the hot sun and I just could not stop smiling. This, and Harry's Nepal tour last month, really prove that these two are Diana's boys through and through. They just have the best hearts.

Honestly, I'm so thrilled that I got to stand ten feet away from William and Kate, and watch them play cricket and get on a bus with a bunch of children. Royal tours are when these two are at their absolute best, and I just got to see them on one.

And I didn't get to speak to them. I didn't get to tell Kate that I love her hair, or ask William how George and Charlotte are. I didn't technically meet the Duchess of Cambridge.

Everything has worked out brilliantly. I've had the excitement of seeing that Jaguar pull up with William's face in the window, and I've felt my hands shake like mad as I tried to take pictures of my absolute favourite person (and her personal assistant, that picture got a lot of attention for some reason), but I still haven't actually met them yet, and so I still have something to look forward to, something to work towards. If anything, seeing them in person has just made me more determined to meet them. I will do whatever it takes.

Today has been the best day of my life. But if all goes well, it won't have that distinction for long.

N

Follow me on Twitter @NikitaWhoWrites or @RoyalCentral, where I posted a bunch of stuff from today morning in Mumbai. I will continue to live-tweet the tour for the rest of the week, and there might be a couple of posts on this blog as well. 

I Don't Know Anything

This is it then.

As I'm typing these words it is the eve of what will either be the best day or the biggest disappointment of my life. In slightly over twelve hours, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will land in my city, and then proceed to spend the rest of the day carrying out engagements less than an hour away from where I live. 

I've spent five years waiting to meet the Duchess of Cambridge. Ever since the Royal Wedding in 2011, that has been my answer to the question "What is the one thing you want to do before you die?" - I want to meet the Duchess of Cambridge. And suddenly, tomorrow there is a very really chance that it will happen.

I don't know how to feel about this. On the one hand, five years is quite a long time. I've changed so much as a person in these last five, and the only thing that's remained constant is my desire to meet the Duchess of Cambridge. But on the other hand, people wait entire lifetimes before their dreams come true, and in comparison, five years is nothing. Do I really deserve to get something so massive after such a short period of wanting it?

And then there are other questions. Is it really smart to meet the people that you've always admired from afar? And if I do meet her tomorrow, what will I have to look forward to for the rest of my life? And yet, if I actually meet the Duchess of Cambridge, then I never have to worry about death anymore, because I've done the one thing that I really, really wanted to do in this lifetime.

I'm so conflicted. And so excited, in equal measure. And also so nervous. I don't know what to feel.

All I know is that tomorrow morning, William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and two of my favourite people in the world, are going to be coming here. And I'll be waiting for them.

And I don't know what will happen. 

N

Follow me on Twitter @NikitaWhoWrites or @RoyalCentral. I will be live-tweeting on location for the entire time that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in Mumbai, and then live-tweeting from my house for the rest of the Royal Tour.

Six Word Year

I hate six word stories. The whole concept annoys me, because stories that only have six words are usually not very good stories. They only exist for the benefit of those people who are too lazy to read a short story in its entirety, and, to be honest, these people don't really want to read stories at all. This year, for some reason, I stumbled across six word stories more often than I'd have liked, and so, despite the fact that I don't like them, it seems fitting that they are a part of a blog post that is representative of the year gone by.

If I had to write something about my 2015 in six words, it would be this: Princess Charlotte, Downton Abbey, Joe Jonas. 

The first one is pretty self-explanatory. Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge, the happiest baby in the whole world and my favourite little girl, was born this May. I remember the day that Charlotte was born - I had a holiday, so unlike when George was born, I was able to spend the whole day glued to my computer, refreshing Twitter for updates. Mercifully, the announcement of her birth came pretty much right away, so I didn't have to stay awake until 3am like I did for George. I live-blogged the whole thing.

I didn't like Charlotte so much in the beginning. She was the second child, and rather boring compared to George, who was perpetually making grumpy faces and being upset about things. But I grew to love her just as much as I love George, and now I wish her nothing but happiness for the rest of her life. It's going to be hard for her when she grows up - everyone's always going to want to see what she's wearing, and where she's going, and who she's dating, and she's never going to be able to put a foot wrong without attracting all sorts of criticisms.

She's got a few good years ahead of her, though, in which she can just be a baby and not worry about anything. I hope that 2016 is a really good year for Charlotte, and for George.

Isn't she the sweetest little thing?

The second one, Downton Abbey, has sort of been my companion for these past twelve months. I started watching the first season of Downton in January, and carried on with the show for the rest of the year, until Christmas, when I had to cry my way through the series finale. I had planned to write a review about the final season, and voice my opinions about Mary's new husband, and Edith's new husband, neither of whom I particularly liked when they were first introduced (I've come around on them both). But once I saw the finale, I was just so overcome with emotion and feelings of goodwill towards every single character that I couldn't write a bad word about any of them. So I scrapped the review, because I was worried that it would only be me gushing.

Actually, I might write it sometime next year, when I'm a little less sentimental. Maybe so that it coincides with the show's American airing.

I loved Downton Abbey. It was a brilliant, brilliant show, and I'm very sorry that it ended. The story lines were great, the historical accuracy was amazing, and the actors were magnificent. But the thing that struck me the most right at the very end was how much the characters had changed over the course of six seasons. And no one more so then Mary. Because I had watched six years worth of episodes in a little over six months, I remembered very clearly what Mary was like when she found out that Patrick was dead and that Matthew was the new heir. And when I saw her in the Christmas Special, she was a completely different Mary to the one from 1912.

And I loved it. There she was, married to a second hand car salesman with no money, and no prospects, attending the wedding of her younger sister to the Marquess of Hexham. She didn't care about titles, and advantageous relationships, or anything of that sort. And she was happy. Which is the most important thing of all.

The third one is perhaps the hardest to explain, and I wonder whether I should even be talking about it on my blog. But I don't care, and it's not like anyone reads my blog, so it doesn't really matter.

When I started college this June, I was not in the best place, mentally. I was unhappy, for a lot of reasons, and even though I wasn't actually suffering from depression, I couldn't have gone on like that forever. The only thing that made me happy at that point was the Royal Family, but they were too far away, and whatever pictures and postcards and thank you letters came from them were few and far in between. I loved them, yes, but I only saw them maybe once in six weeks, which was frustrating.

Which is where Joe Jonas came in. Obviously, I'm not talking about the real Joe Jonas here - the person in question is a someone of my age who I go to college with, whose name I cannot reveal for obvious reasons, and who I will continue to call Joe Jonas until he latches on to the fact that that is my name for him. When college started, I would occasionally see Joe, in class or in the canteen, and, for some strange, inexplicable reason, it made me happy.

I don't understand it. I've tried and failed, on numerous occasions, to explain to a friend (or a friend acting as a therapist, as my friends often are) the reason why I get so excited when I see Joe. There's nothing remarkable about him. He's quite ordinary - boring, even. And I don't love him. I've never even spoken to him - he means nothing to me, But when I see him, I feel happy. It makes me happy to just know that he's going on with his uneventful life as normal, and it also confuses the life out of me, but that's how it is. That's why this paragraph is so rambling. I don't understand it, but I'm trying my best to explain it anyway, and I'm botching it up because I'm a rubbish writer.

Right now, I'm happy. And, among other things, I have Joe Jonas to thank for that. By doing nothing, by simply existing, he managed to make me happy every day, and I am eternally grateful to him.

So, that was my year. Much like Lady Mary, I'm nowhere near what I thought I'd be like at this point in my life, but I'm happier than I've ever been, so it doesn't really matter. Admittedly, I've been rather under productive this year, as you can make out from the fact that I wrote all of one blog post in November, a month in which I'd planned to write loads, but I plan to roll up my sleeves and really get cracking from tomorrow. I've just discovered Bullet Journaling, which I intend to diligently keep up for at least a month and a half, so that should increase my productivity a little bit.

I was recently appointed Desk Editor for Royal Central, so that is another thing that I need to focus on in 2016. Also, I will try and be a bit more regular on this blog. I'll still write about nonsense, though - that can't be helped.

I'm excited for the new year. William and Kate are going on tour again, and, as if that wasn't good enough news in itself, they're coming to my country, which means that I might finally be able to fulfill my lifelong (well, since 2011, anyway) dream of meeting the Duchess of Cambridge. Of course, many things could happen between now and the time that they actually come here - they could decide not to visit my city; they could decide not to undertake any public engagements; they could just call off the visit altogether - so I don't really want to get my hopes up. I'll write more about that once the Palace releases the official schedule, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

It's going to be a good year. I think. I hope.

We'll find out soon enough.

Have a lovely new year.

N

Happy Six Months!

I don't mean to jinx it, but so far so good.

Of course, I had to write today, because is a rather special day. Today, the most darling little girl on the whole planet, and my second favourite baby (sorry, but when she starts making faces like this, I'll reconsider) Princess Charlotte turns six months old!

View image | gettyimages.com

I've grown quite fond of Charlotte in the six months that she's been around. I still don't love her as much as I love George, that's true, but in fairness, she hasn't been on a tour of another country yet, which means she hasn't quite had the chance to be photographed looking grumpy that George has.

Unfortunately, owing to my badly timed blog hiatus, I missed covering a few important moments in Charlotte's first six months, so I'm going to quickly go through them to bring you up to speed about the life of the first Princess born so high up in the line of succession to the British throne since Princess Anne.

Here Charlotte having her first official picture taken. She looks a bit confused, but also quite pleased with herself.

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Here she is at her christening, crying in her mother's arms and waving her fat fists around. She's excused because she's a baby, and also adorable.

View image | gettyimages.com

And here is George, wondering what would happen if he released the latch and sent his sister's pram rolling down the drive.

View image | gettyimages.com

And here he is again, telling the Queen about his diabolical plan, because if anyone can understand how frustrating it is to have the your sister steal all the attention, it's Princess Margaret's older sister.

View image | gettyimages.com

And here is Charlotte again, with her whole family after the christening. The women's dresses are very pretty, Prince Philip looks incredible for someone his age, and Prince Harry is noticeably absent, but the real star of the day is the baby (no, not you George)...

...who probably fell asleep as soon as the whole thing was over, and didn't remember any of it the next day.

Happy half-birthday, Charlotte. I'll always love you

N

Word Count for November (including yesterday's post): 873

Royal Babies Rule! (Well, They Will Someday)

Last week, we saw some truly horrific things happen around the world (If you don't already know what I'm talking about, good for you, ignorance really is bliss.).

But since it's almost Christmas, and I'm in a really good mood, I'm going to risk the chance of going to the darkest place in hell, and completely skim over all terrorist attacks and only talk about royal babies.

Lots and lots of royal news this month, after a relatively dry spell. To begin with, two royal babies were born - TWO.

The twin children of Prince Albert II of Monaco and his wife, Princess Charlene, were born on the 10th of December. The daughter, Princess Gabriella, was born two minutes before her younger brother, Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, but because Monaco still follows the principle of male primogeniture, poor Gabriella is only second in line to the throne. As consolation, perhaps, she was given the title of Countess of Carladès, but it's not as though she's going to appreciate that much when she's told that the reason she won't be Queen is because she's a girl.

But that's a few years in the future. For now, both Jacques and Gabriella are probably sleeping in their cradles, not really bothered about anything at all, let alone the prospect of ruling a country. The babies will be introduced to the Monegasque public on the 7th of January, which has been declared a public holiday... for some reason? Was the day Prince George was born a public holiday? Well, either way, there are some adorable pictures to look forward too.

Speaking of adorable pictures: In the spirit of Christmas, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge released three new pictures of this charmer:

The latest photos of Prince George for you! Our little Prince is pictured sitting on the steps of Kensington Palace. pic.twitter.com/kWkj9aAtTz
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) December 13, 2014

He's growing up too fast, faster than I can handle. Very soon, he won't be making grumpy faces at the camera any more, and then what?

But thankfully, I'll always have this picture of George to remember him by.

Not to be outdone, the Swedish Royal Family brought in their own cute child in a knitted jumper. And they made it into a video, just to give themselves an edge in this competition between royal babies.

I give you, Princess Estelle of Sweden.



I was introduced to Princess Estelle through Order of Splendor, and I instantly adored her, She had the most sass that I have ever seen in a child, let alone a royal baby. In fact, I'm almost sorry that George came along, because that meant I paid less attention to her. But then I'm also not sorry, because Prince George.

A similar situation is going to be created next year, when Baby Cambridge No. 2 is born, and I shift my attention from George to him/her. These royals really need to stop having children in such quick succession.

Which leads me to the last piece of royal news. Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Chris O'Neill have announced that they are expecting their second child. Their first child, Leonore, will turn 1 this coming February, so that will make it two children in two years for Madeleine and Chris. Which is only a little bit better than the Cambridges - if Prince George had been born in February, they would have been two for two too (Alliteration).

~

That's all for this post. I'll have more news on each of these royal babies as they are born/presented to the public/grow up, and until then I'll continue to type away about something or the other.

Happy Christmas, and best wishes this festive season if you don't celebrate Christmas. Don't forget to write to your favourite royal!

N

UPDATE: Literally minutes after I published this post (And I don't use the word literally lightly), I saw on Twitter that the first photos of Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella had been released. Take a look.

First PICS of Monaco's twins! Albert & Charlene with babies Jacques & Gabriella http://t.co/UnMA25dUeJ via @Femail pic.twitter.com/I0vEZNtfH5
— British Royals (@britishroyals) December 23, 2014

Adorable!

This Is Basically An Advertisement

It's been a boring couple of weeks, royal-ly speaking. No one has died, no one has gotten engaged (Well, no one royal anyway. I'll get back to this), the Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant, but we've known about that for a while now, so it isn't really news.

It has been confirmed, though, that the royal baby is due in April, which is the same month as I was born in, so hopefully, HOPEFULLY, Baby Cambridge No. 2 will share a birthday with me. *fingers crossed*

During this drought of royal news, I have been keeping myself otherwise occupied. You'd think that means that I actually did something useful with my life for once, like studied or cleaned up the disarray that is my desk, but no. I wrote a blog series about the lives of Georgian Queens (Also, I watched all 100 episodes of the Lizzie Bennett Diaries).

So, the wives of Georgian Kings. It's something that I'm actually quite proud of, and I'm pretty sure that's the only reason I was granted the title of Senior Reporter, so go and check that out, if you want. Links:

Sophia Dorothea of Celle, the consort (well....) of King George I.

Caroline of Ansbach, Queen to King George II.

Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen to King George III. Incidentally, while I was writing this, I realised that I'd been spelling Mecklenburg-Strelitz wrong all this while. M-E-C-K-L-E-N-B-U-R-G S-T-R-E-L-I-T-Z.

Caroline of Brunswick, the mother of King George IV's daughter.

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen to King William IV. I still don't know how to spell Saxe-Meiningen. I have to constantly copy and paste it from Wikipedia.

~

In other news, Benedict Cumberbatch is engaged to Sophie I've-never-heard-of-her-before Hunter (Based on the time-stamp, it may seem odd that I know this, but I'm not actually writing this on the date that it says, I'm writing it much later). I was most upset about this, as my friends will testify, but not so much because he was actually engaged, but more so because I didn't even know that he had a girlfriend. I didn't think celebrities could do that - have a relationship without every single person on the Internet knowing. Because if they can, it means that Prince Harry could get engaged tomorrow, without so much as a sign.

I don't think I'd be able to survive that.

~

I really don't have anything to do until the next royal baby arrives, but I do have a stack of books that I have yet to sink my teeth into. I've completely abandoned the 100 Book Challenge - there is no way I'm going to be able to read sixty books in the next two months - but I don't see why I can't make it to at least 52 books.

And when I read books, I type some nonsense about them on my blog. So on Sunday (the next post, because you really don't know when I'm typing this), after much delay, I will post my review of The Captive Queen, and then the Red Queen after that. I've also got Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, so if I ever tear myself away from YouTube and read, I'll review those as well.

It could be a while.

N

Random Book Review : Katherine

This post is riddled with spoilers, so stop right here if you have an issue with that.

Over the past three weeks, I've been reading Katherine on the train to and from college. I used to get a lot of weird glances from middle aged women who would look at the words "love story" on the cover and immediately think of the most obscene things. Contrary to what they may think, this is not a completely salacious story (Although, it is also not entirely child appropriate either. There are some themes which may be a bit grown up, such as adultery, and the thing that adultery involves, so I would recommend that you not read this until you are older than... 13? Use your discretion). It is good, historical fiction, which I am now going to massacre in this thing that I call a book review.

Katherine is an old book, about an even older time. I'm not entirely sure if I came up with that myself or if I paraphrased it from Philippa Gregory's foreword (probably the latter), but it holds true. Set in the 14th century, during the reign of Kings Edward III and Richard II, the book revolves around Katherine Swynford, long time mistress of the Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt. Katherine and John's children were the Beauforts, the ancestors of King Henry VII. 

The story goes like such: Katherine meets the Duke of Lancaster while she is a part of the retinue of the Duchess of Lancaster, Blanche. When Blanche dies, the Duke's servant poisons Katherine's husband, Hugh Swynford, so that she can enter into a relationship with the Duke without it being adulterous (there is no historical evidence of this, but it seems to be the generally accepted sequence of events). Unfortunately, the Duke is already betrothed to Constanza of Castile, who he plans to use to get the thrones of Castile and Leon for himself. But the pair start a relationship anyway, and they have four children together. When Constanza dies, John and Katherine get married, their children are legitimized, and everyone is happy until John's own death some three years later. Well, as happy as they can be while tyrannical King Richard is seizing lands and killing nobles. 

~

One of the main subplots of the story revolves around Blanche Swynford, Katherine's eldest daughter from her first marriage. Blanche was in the Savoy Palace when it burned down during the Peasant's Revolt of 1381, and it was presumed by everyone that she was dead. Katherine was, obviously, mightily upset. She thought that her daughter had been killed as a punishment for her (Katherine's) adultery, and so she severed all ties with the Duke, and went off on a pilgrimage to Walsingham.

The entire time that this was happening, I kept expecting that, as a reward for her suffering and penance, Katherine would be reunited with her daughter, and go back to the Duke, and that everything would go back to the way it was. Which it didn't. And I resigned myself to the fact, because, after all, this is a story based in history, and if Blanche Swynford died in the Savoy that day, Blanche Swynford died in the Savoy that day. I even Googled her, and though there's not a lot of information about Blanche Swynford, after a lot of reading, I was able to put her death down to sometime between 1375 and 1385, which fits with the story's timeline.

So imagine my surprise when Blanche Swynford returned! Many, many years after she was presumed dead at the Savoy, after John and Katherine's wedding, she shows up their palace dressed as a nun, and the book ends with mother and daughter being reunited at last. A most satisfactory conclusion to a story that already ended happily, I must say, although I really doubt its veracity.

~

I apologise for ruining so much of the plot, if you brazenly ignored the first sentence of this post. Although, I supposed there is a tiny chance that, even though you thought you didn't want to read the book initially, you want to now. 

And I would strongly recommend that you do read Katherine. It can get a bit dry at times, especially when Katherine and the Duke of Lancaster are apart, and on a couple of occasions, the characters take it upon themselves to speak in French, so do keep some sort of translator handy.

But if you enjoy historical fiction, here is one about the Plantagenet dynasty at its finest. Anya Seton's writing is both extremely well researched, and also very true to the its historical setting. And, like every good bit of historical fiction, Katherine made me want to go online and read everything that I could about that period in history. 

From the book, I learned (1) who Alice Perrers was, (2) that Geoffrey Chaucer was married to Katherine Swynford's sister Philippa, and (3) that the Beauforts were named after Beaufort Castle (I had always wondered where they got their name from). Also some other things, that I can't think of off the top of my head. 

And I think that is the mark of good historical fiction - though it may not be completely historically accurate itself (come on, do you really think Blanche Swynford jumped into the Thames from the top floor of a flaming tower?), it intrigues you and it makes you learn. Somehow. 

~

Also, do you remember Sunaina, my friend who gave me The White Queen for my birthday? Again, big thanks to her for spotting Katherine in a pile of books and thinking that I might like it. She has a really keen eye for good reads; you can check out some of her book reviews here.

N

You're Not Normal!

Last week's royal hullabaloo was over the fact that the paparazzi have been taking unsolicited pictures of Prince George as he plays in the park with his nanny (And pairing said pictures with hilarious headlines like "Prince George has a ball". Because he's playing with a ball). Now, I'm not going to encourage you to view these pictures by posting a link, because they were taken without William and Kate's consent, but I will give you a bit of friendly advice: If you want to read funny things about Prince George, that may be slightly mean, but are written with love, Suri's Burn Book is one of my favourites. Also Buzzfeed.

Anyway, back to the photographs issue. Apparently, some photographers are stalking little George, to the extent that they know his daily routine and regular hangout spots. Now if that is really happening, then it's very wrong. He's a baby. He doesn't realise what's happening, so he's not fair game. So, if that's happening, it's perfectly normal for the Cambridges threatening to take legal action.

But if there's no actual stalking - if it's just people who happen to be in Hyde Park, taking pictures of that famous baby which they recognise from all the papers - then I personally feel that William and Kate are being a bit silly. And that's not just because I like looking at pictures of Prince George playing in the grass.

This is just an extension of Prince William's constant whinging about wanting to be normal. And though I love William and Kate just as much, or maybe more, than the next person, their constant I-just-want-to-lead-a-normal-life-ing is often quite annoying.

As Darren McGrady said: 

@MPearon They Royal Family AREN'T normal. We BOW and CURTSEY to them. They can't and DON'T have on and off buttons
— The Royal Chef (@DarrenMcGrady) October 2, 2014

If I've said it once before, I've said it a hundred times - the only reason the royals are so fascinating to us common folk is because they're part of a family that, for a thousand years, has been more privileged and more powerful than anyone else. Also because even though Kate Cambridge's clothes sometimes cost north of £1,000, she's always wearing a new outfit. Normal people can't afford to do that.

A lot of people criticise the Duke and Duchess of Camridge for being "lazy", and for not carrying out as many engagements as, say, the Earl and Countess of Wessex or the Princess Royal, and for randomly going off on holidays to Mustique. But I don't think that they are affecting the Royal Family as much by doing that as they are by going around and proclaiming themselves to be, just normal. Because if I want a normal person to look up to, I know plenty. I only know one Duchess of Cambridge.

~

All week long I've been watching behind the scenes and interviews with the cast and crew of The White Queen, for some reason, and I've grown very fond of Edward IV. This is because, and only because, of sheer brilliance on the part of the casting directors. I've always personally thought of King Edward as a bit idiotic and shortsighted, even. Great military leader and tactician he may have been, but he married a power hungry and selfish... well, you know, and his entire dynasty was in shambles within two years of his death. And yet I am willing to overlook those things, which may or may not have anything to do with the fact that Max Irons, who plays him, looks like this:

This is great news from the perspective of another Yorkist ruler....

God save Richard, England’s royal king! #TheHollowCrown pic.twitter.com/CzSaiDMOyJ
— BBC Two (@BBCTwo) October 1, 2014

RICHARD III !!!

Because you cannot hate Benedict Cumberbatch on a horse. No matter how many nephews he murders (Remember, this picture was released by the BBC ahead of the next season of The Hollow Crown. The show is based on William Shakespeare's plays, so you can be sure that Richard/Benedict had something to do with the death of the Princes in the Tower).

~

Anyway, do you remember my attempts at book reviewing a few months ago - I reviewed a few books from Philippa Gregory's The Cousins' War series? Well, it's coming back! Next week, I'm going to review Alison Weir's The Captive Queen, about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the week after that I'm going to write about Anya Seton's Katherine, about Katherine Swynford.

If I ever finish it, that is.

N

Random Book Review : The White Princess

As promised, this is a book review.

*insert here some sort of opening sequence that indicates that this is a book review, the sort that would be there if this were a YouTube video*

So, a couple of weeks ago, I read the sequel (of sorts) to the previous two books that I had reviewed; Philippa Gregory's The White Princess. Now, the book is based on the life of Elizabeth of York, the eldest child of King Edward IV and my least favourite Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, who would have been Queen in her own right if it was 2014. But it was really 1485, so Elizabeth became Queen only when she married Henry Tudor.

At the beginning of the story, all of the York clan, with the exception of Cecily, who I love, were quick to accuse Henry of being a usurper, marching into England with a less than concrete claim and taking the throne for himself, previous descendants of Edward III be damned. To them (now dead for over 500 years) I say "Way to throw stones from inside your glass house!"

Because Edward IV (father of the books protagonist Elizabeth of York) was a usurper too. He seized the throne from the Lancastrian rulers, with a claim perhaps a bit less tenuous than the new king Henry's, but still just a claim. And when he was declared King, did he kill the old King honourably, on the battle field? No, he did not. He murdered the poor Henry VI as he slept in the Tower (of London).

As you can tell, I am not a fan of the House of York. My favourites were the Hanoverians. Or maybe the Angevins. I can't choose.

Anyway, despite being narrated from the point of view and with the aim to tell the story of Queen Elizabeth (wife of Henry, not wife of Edward), the story dealt with what might have happened to her two brothers - the notorious mystery of the Princes in the Tower.

The fact, simply, are as follows: When Edward IV died, his twelve year-old son became King Edward V. As the new King marched to London from Wales, he was stopped by his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who took him to the Tower of London, and kept him locked in there "for his safety", along with his younger brother (and first in line to the throne), Richard of Shrewsbury. After a while, it was declared that Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville's marriage had been a sham, and that their children were illegitimate, and Richard seized the throne himself, completely ignoring Edward of Warwick in the process (Poor guy. He was overlooked at all the times when he shouldn't have been, and paid attention to when he didn't want it, something that led to his execution. I feel a little bit sorry for him). One fine day, Edward V and his brother Richard disappeared from the Tower, never to be seen again.

And no one knew what happened to them. No one knows to this day.

Every royal historian and random person who just picked up a book on the subject and started to read has their own theory about what happened to the Princes in the Tower (The name is a bit of a misnomer, because they weren't both Princes. One of them was a King, which is the whole reason why anyone was in the Tower in the first place). Were they killed? Did they escape? Did they just die of illness, which would not have been so implausible considering that this was the 15th century and medicine hadn't advanced very much? The most famous theory, Shakespeare's, was conveyed through his play, Richard III, in which it is said that Richard killed his two nephews to cement his status as King. But in The White Princess, not both boys are dead. Not yet.

During the reign of Henry VII, an imposter named Perkin Warbeck claimed to be the younger son of Edward IV. He fought long and hard to defend his claim, but in the end he was executed. It was never known whether Warbeck was truly Richard of Shrewsbury, but Philippa Gregory certainly seems to think so. In The White Queen, she writes about Elizabeth Woodville placing a curse on the man who killed her sons, saying that his son will die young, and his grandson, and ultimately his line will end in women.

That's the Tudors. Henry VII's eldest son Arthur died when he was 15,as did his grandson Edward VI, also dead at 15, and ultimately the Tudor dynasty came to an end with Queen Elizabeth - a woman. While there is no record of such a curse being placed on anyone (and if there was a record, it would probably be complete hokum), the fact that Ms. Gregory writes about it, and tailors it perfectly to match the actual fate of a dynasty, means that she believes that King Henry VII killed the boy(s), to get rid of any rival claimant once and for all.

Even though it is based a trifle on speculation, The White Princess is a lovely read. Old Elizabeth Woodville, by then the Dowager Queen, dies at some point in the middle, much to the relief of both Henry VII and myself, and I found it hilarious to imagine the future Henry VIII as a sulky and vain little boy, stuffing himself as feasts and standing on the table and singing.

Not actually Henry.

Give it a read. But don't give it a read until you have read the previous books in the series about the House of York. I mean, you can, but it's best read in chronological order.

Just, do what you want.

N

Random Book Review : Philippa Gregory

This post is a bit different from the things that I've done on my blog in the past. I don't normally review books. I just like to read them. But the books in question are one of the first that I've read that really fit in with the theme of this blog (TIARAS! And, oddly, blood.) and I had very strong opinions about them, which I thought I'd share.

Over the past two weeks, I read Philippa Gregory's The White Queen and The Kingmaker's Daughter. Both books are set during the period when the House of York ruled over England, and narrated from the point of view of the two Queens; Elizabeth Woodville, Queen Consort of King Edward IV, and Anne Neville, Queen Consort of King Richard III.

I'll admit that I didn't know very much about the House of York before. After all, there were only three Yorkist Kings, one of whom was never crowned (Edward V), and they ruled for a total of 23 years. Also, most of their rule was dominated by the War of the Roses, which I always found rather boring. But Philippa Gregory's work is incredibly detailed, marvelously researched, and, most importantly, told from the perspective of the women of the household, therefore skating over all the undesirable aspects of war. I literally could not stop reading, and I learnt so much.

And while Ms. Gregory was able to create strong-willed female heroines, I must say, I quite disliked Elizabeth Woodville (And if I said that while she was still alive, I'd be tried and executed for treason). Never did I imagine that such unrest could be caused all because of a woman! To briefly explain, Elizabeth, a widow, married the newly crowned King Edward in secret, and immediately after her coronation began marrying her siblings off to nobleman or granting them vast lands of their own. Soon, all her family was highly influential in England, and controlled most of it. Everyone who, today, accuses Kate Cambridge of being a gold-digger and the Middletons of using her position to their advantage, would have absolutely hated Queen Elizabeth!

Anyway, Edward's secret marriage infuriated his mentor, the Earl of Warwick, who saw that neither Edward nor England were in his control anymore. Rather, they were both controlled by Elizabeth Woodville, either directly or through her large family. Of course, that upset him, and he revolted against Edward, first championing his brother, George, Duke of Clarence, and then the deposed King Henry VI, by siding with his Queen, Margaret of Anjou. As a result, Edward IV spent the first 10 years of his reign fighting to secure his position on the throne instead of bettering the nation, something that could easily have been prevented if it were not for Elizabeth Woodville!

In fact, I felt that Elizabeth was rather like her enemy Queen, Margaret of Anjou. Just like Margaret, she fought, first to keep her husband and then to put her son onto the throne. While Margaret of Anjou led armies into battle, Elizabeth Woodville cursed them with witchcraft. Both Queens sought vengeance, and plotted and killed, and always put themselves first. The only difference was that Margaret of Anjou know that she was ruthless, Margaret of Anjou admitted it. Right until the end, Elizabeth Woodville pretended that she was nothing but pure goodness.

Anne Neville, on the other hand, was quite and submissive, and yet managed to get her way in the end. I grew quite fond of Anne Neville, as I read. She would have made a good Queen, and Richard would have made a good King. If it were not for Elizabeth Woodville (Who might have been a perfectly lovely woman, and just portrayed in a bad light, but I doubt it), that is.

While I absolutely loved reading both books, the drawback to reading historical stories like these is that the ending is, well, history. I know that Elizabeth Woodville outlived her husband by a fair bit, and I know that Richard III was defeated in battle, and I couldn't even bring myself to hope otherwise, like I wanted and like I would with a purely fictional book, because I knew it was useless.

Also in this series, or pertinent to this historical era, are The Lady of the Rivers, about Elizabeth Woodville's mother, Jacquetta, The Red Queen, about Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry Tudor, rival claimant to the English throne, and The White Princess. The last one is about Elizabeth of York, who was primarily a Tudor Queen, but who was born and raised a York, so I suppose it counts. I haven't read any of these three, but they are definitely on my agenda.

~

A random, interesting (Well, depends on what you consider interesting) fact is that today, the 4th of May, is the... five hundredth and forty-third (543rd) anniversary of the Battle of Tewkesbury, the last battle during
the reign of Edward IV, where Margaret of Anjou and her army were defeated. It is known as the "decisive Yorkist victory".

Another random, interesting fact is that Philippa Gregory shares a birthday with the Duchess of Cambridge, the 9th of January.

Many thanks to my friend Sunaina, who gave me these books for my birthday, and who is one of the only people I know that has read every post on my blog. 

N

Why Do You Like Benedict Cumberbatch?

Thursday was the 62nd anniversary of The Queen's ascension to the throne. The Queen has now been reigning for over 62 years. The longer she reigns, the more I root for her to surpass Queen Victoria's record. It would be awful if she had to reign for nearly 63 years, only to go down in history as the second longest reigning British monarch. I really hope she makes it.

On Ascension Day a friend of mine asked me, on my Facebook status about Ascension Day, why I like the British Royal Family. I stared. Usually, when people ask me why I like the British Royal Family, it is a verbal question, asked in passing, which allows me to retort with something like "Why do you like Benedict Cumberbatch?" and walk away without answering their question. But this was a written question. On the Internet. I couldn't just ignore it.

I also couldn't answer in in a Facebook comment. I don't think Facebook comments have word limits, but it would be rather bothersome to read paragraph after paragraph when you aren't expecting more than a line. Which is why I decided to answer her question on my blog instead, and post a link in the Facebook thread. No one minds reading paragraph after paragraph on my blog. Well, maybe they mind, but at least they're expecting it. 

Why do I like the British Royal Family? I'm not British, so it isn't patriotism, and I don't particularly care about the other aspects of British (or any) history or government, so it isn't a thirst for knowledge. And my interest isn't just limited to William and Kate and George and other 'celebrity' royals, so it's not only because I'm obsessed with famous people. It's because I'm obsessed with things in general. 

Ever since I learned how to acquire information for myself, I've had a certain something that I was obsessed with. The Lion King. Enid Blyton mysteries. Boarding schools. I would spend all my time either thinking about or reading about or watching that one thing, and it would last until I found the next subject of obsession. The older I got, the longer each obsession lasted. 

When I was about eight years old, I read my first Harry Potter book, and I absolutely loved it. I found it impossible to wait for the new ones to come out, and while I waited I would watch the movies and, as I grew older, read the fanfiction. That obsession soon died; after all, there was only so much you could do after the last movie came out. But although Harry Potter was only temporary, it will always have a special place in my heart. From there began my love for all things British. 

(This is a song by Lauren Fairweather about being a fan of Harry Potter that I quite liked. Listen to it if you want.)

At some point in the middle of the Harry Potter period, I accidentally stumbled across the Princess Diaries series one day in the library and read it. As someone who had just turned thirteen, I was fascinated by Mia Thermopolis. She seemed so grown-up to me, with her high school antics, crushes and subsequent boyfriends, and, of course, tiaras. That didn't last long; I loved her boyfriend, envied her position and wished I was her for about a year before turning fourteen myself and realising that I was doomed to a lonely, tiara-less existence. From there began my love for all things royal.

Then, in 2010, Prince William proposed to his long time girlfriend Kate Middleton, and it was an event that combined my love of all things British with my love for all things royal (I should clarify, I knew that the British Royal Family existed long before William asked Kate to marry him. I have a vague recollection of asking my mother, when I was younger, why Prince Philip was not the King even though he was the Queen's husband. She told me that that was just how it is. My mother didn't have a clue.) Immediately, I Googled Kate and, after a perfunctory look through her Wikipedia page, I had a long decision with one of my friends about whether she or Diana had a better engagement dress. I stand by what I said about Kate choosing a better dress, but now I can see what a rookie mistake it was to compare every little move of Kate's with Diana's and I feel tempted to smack my head against something. 

I forgot about William and Kate in the months that followed, until February, when my school took my entire class to see The King's Speech, probably only because it was likely to win an Oscar. After the movie, we all had to write a report about Bertie's struggle with overcoming his speech impediment and how it gives serves as inspiration to everyone with speech impediments. For some reason, unlike the rest of my class, I did a little bit of research about King George VI and, as it would be every time I read about the royals, one page led to another, which led to another, which led to another. In less than a week, I had gathered enough knowledge about the royal family to make me glad that there was a royal wedding coming up.

I had a holiday on the day of the royal wedding and I was super excited about it. I woke up early, and watched all the royal wedding specials that they were showing on TLC, and watched the guests arrive, exclaiming whenever I recognised anyone. I didn't exclaim very often, and I probably wouldn't do the same if I were to watch a royal wedding now because I'd just be exclaiming the entire time. I didn't know who Princess Beatrice was when she stepped out of the car with her crazy hat, but that didn't stop me from Googling her - and Princess Eugenie too. In fact, I was Googling everybody whose name the hosts of the show mentioned.

And then Kate was on the screen, with her beautiful wedding dress and her dazzling smile and I was enchanted by the fairytale of it all. A prince was marrying a commoner and they would live happily ever after. I'm glad that I got to watch at least one royal wedding without a clue. I'm sure that at Harry's wedding I'm going to be trying to identify as many minor and foreign royals as I can and judging Cressida or whoever based on what I knew of them already. With Kate, I knew nothing. And it was wonderful.

After the wedding was over, I went into a frenzy to find out as much about the new Duchess of Cambridge as was humanely possible. I read about her past, I read about what was expected from her in the future. I couldn't stop. Looking for pictures of her led me to what had become one of my main sources for royal information; The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor. Order of Splendor, introduced me to the world of foreign royals; Maxima, Charlene, Mette-Marit, everybody. The knowledge that royal families existed outside of the United Kingdom made me wonder if all the royals were somehow related. Spoiler: they are.

By this time I had amassed a substantial amount of royal information. I was leaps and bounds ahead of my peers, and it was evident to everyone that the British Royal Family (who were my favourite, owing to my aforementioned love for all things British) were my new obsession. At that point I figured if I was going to obsess over the royal family, why not go all the way?

What happened next is a bit of a blur, but all of a sudden I went from someone who couldn't tell the difference between Prince William and Prince Harry to someone who spent the entire week fangirling after Prince George was born, and who actually understood the implications of a birth in the family. I spent a lot of time reading and writing about them, either on my blog or on Royal Central, which has given me so much more insight into the royal world than I had earlier, and over time I grew to love the royal family as my own.

Of course, none of this explains why I like the British Royal Family. And honestly, I don't know. Maybe it was because I loved all things British and all things royal. Maybe the wedding just happened to take place at the time when I needed something to latch onto. Maybe I just like Kate's spunk but don't want to judged by people who think that she's a useless model with no better purpose than to produce heirs. I'm not sure. It's kind of hard to explain why you like something, isn't it?

I mean, why do you like Benedict Cumberbatch?

N