Random House
December 2013
On Sale: December 3, 2013
Featuring: Elizabeth of York; Henry VII
ISBN: 0345521366 EAN: 9780345521361 Paperback Add to Wish List
Many are familiar with the story of the much-married King
Henry VIII of England and the celebrated reign of his
daughter, Elizabeth I. But it is often forgotten that the
life of the first Tudor queen, Elizabeth of York, Henry’s
mother and Elizabeth’s grandmother, spanned one of England’s
most dramatic and perilous periods. Now New York Times
bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir
presents the first modern biography of this extraordinary
woman, whose very existence united the realm and ensured the
survival of the Plantagenet bloodline.
Her birth was greeted with as much pomp and ceremony as
that of a male heir. The first child of King Edward IV,
Elizabeth enjoyed all the glittering trappings of royalty.
But after the death of her father; the disappearance and
probable murder of her brothers—the Princes in the Tower;
and the usurpation of the throne by her calculating uncle
Richard III, Elizabeth found her world turned upside-down:
She and her siblings were declared bastards.
As Richard’s wife, Anne Neville, was dying, there were
murmurs that the king sought to marry his niece Elizabeth,
knowing that most people believed her to be England’s
rightful queen. Weir addresses Elizabeth’s possible role in
this and her covert support for Henry Tudor, the exiled
pretender who defeated Richard at the Battle of Bosworth and
was crowned Henry VII, first sovereign of the House of
Tudor. Elizabeth’s subsequent marriage to Henry united the
houses of York and Lancaster and signaled the end of the
Wars of the Roses. For centuries historians have asserted
that, as queen, she was kept under Henry’s firm grasp, but
Weir shows that Elizabeth proved to be a model consort—pious
and generous—who enjoyed the confidence of her husband,
exerted a tangible and beneficial influence, and was revered
by her son, the future King Henry VIII.
Drawing from a rich trove of historical records, Weir gives
a long overdue and much-deserved look at this unforgettable
princess whose line descends to today’s British monarch—a
woman who overcame tragedy and danger to become one of
England’s most beloved consorts.
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