The White Princess is a British-American TV show based on the novel of the same name. It is a fictionalized account of Elizabeth of York, who was married to Henry VII in an attempt at uniting the houses of York and Lancaster at the end of the War of the Roses.
Here are five things that you may or may not have known about The White Princess:
Elizabeth’s Mother Was Controversial
Elizabeth’s mother, who was also named Elizabeth, created an enormous controversy when she married Edward IV. In part, this was because she was a widowed mother of two sons at the time. However, it should also be noted that she was a mid-ranked noble whose family owned no great estates, which was all the more unusual because Edward was just the second English king to get married to one of their subjects since the Norman Conquest. In fact, the marriage was so consequential that it led to the defection of Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick sometimes called “The Kingmaker” from the House of York to the House of Lancaster.
Elizabeth Was Rumored to Have Been Involved with Her Uncle
The titular character had two full siblings, who might be familiar to viewers as the infamous princes in the tower. As a result, when rumors spread of her uncle’s interest in getting married to her while his wife was still alive, the result was a less than enthusiastic response from wide swathes of English society at the time. It is interesting to note that in the TV show’s canon, Richard’s interest in Elizabeth was no more than a pretense designed to prevent her from getting married to Henry, which backfired by causing his support to wither.
Margaret Came Close to Death In Child-bed
Despite conventional wisdom, medieval nobles tended not to consummate their marriages at early ages because they were well-aware that young girls would suffer badly in childbirth. Unfortunately, there were exceptions to this rule, as shown by Margaret, who had her one and only child, Henry, as a widow at the age of 13. The experience brought both mother and child close to death. As a result, Margaret was never able to have another child even though she had a much happier subsequent marriage.
Arthur’s Name Was No Coincidence
In modern times, King Arthur is a much beloved symbol of Great Britain, but it is important to note that the English kings showed no such sentiment until Tudor times. After all, he was a Romano-British king, whose people were still around in Wales. Seeing as how Henry had no more than a tenuous claim to the English throne through his mother from an illegitimate line, it should come as no surprise to learn that he scrabbled for as much legitimacy as he could get, with one example being the tracing of his Welsh ancestry to legendary Romano-British kings. As a result, Elizabeth and Henry’s son, Arthur, was not named by coincidence but instead intended as a living symbol of the newborn unity between York and Lancaster and thus England as a whole.
A Plague of Pretenders
Unfortunately, Elizabeth and Henry were plagued by pretenders. For example, there was Perkin Warbeck, who pretended to be the younger of Elizabeth’s brothers who had died in the Tower of London. Furthermore, there was Lambert Simnel, who pretended to be the Earl of Warwick but was spared and hired on as a spit-turner in the royal kitchen. Although Elizabeth and Henry managed to fend off all challengers, it cannot be denied that these experiences had a profound impact on their lives.
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