But Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth Woodville (Elizabeth of York’s mom, see point #1) arranged their children’s marriage in the first place, so they had a vested interest in it turning out OK. Margaret wasn’t going to undermine what she built. I know, I know, conflict makes more exciting TV. Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth Woodville’s Battle Crazy extremes are great for fantasy stories, but real history has nuance.Ĥ. But she didn’t show it, and she didn’t act on any such hate. Yeah, maybe Elizabeth did secretly despise Henry. Sure, historians haven’t found a letter saying she was totally in LURVE with Henry, but neither have they found one saying he raped her on their wedding night (which admittedly was changed from the book to the TV show, but it’s still icky). So while this was, of course, an arranged political marriage, their union wasn’t totally unwanted or unexpected. Marriage was primarily a matter of social status and economics until very recently. For that matter, there’s plenty proof that Henry Tudor was a considerate and generous husband to Elizabeth, he never took a mistress (unlike many kings of the era), he gave her expensive gifts and paid for her own charitable giving, and he supported her extended family. Yes, it happened pre-21st-century, but it tended to be the exception, not the rule. Marrying only for love / lust / romance is a very modern concept. While yes, it was an arranged marriage, remember, THAT WAS THE NORM for women of her social status in this time period. Elizabeth of York’s Romantic Feelings, Part 2Īlso in this fantasy world, she hates her betrothed, Henry Tudor. Uncle-niece fucking was generally uncool.ģ. You needed papal dispensations up the wazoo, and those could always be disputed. Fifteenth-century Christian people had serious rules about consanguinity, meaning, you don’t just casually marry blood relatives (fast-forward to Henry VIII this is why he claimed he could divorce Catherine of Aragon, since she was his sister-in-law). But Richard had already screwed over Elizabeth’s family by accusing her mother of treason, declaring her parents’ marriage invalid and their children (including Elizabeth herself) bastards, and disappearing (if not killing) her brothers, not to mention stealing the throne from her brother, so why would Elizabeth be pining over this dude? And hello, that’s her UNCLE. A marriage between Richard and Elizabeth could have been moderately beneficial for him by making sure nobody else could usurp his York claim to the throne. At best, there was a rumor dating from a century later that Richard considered marrying her, but zero proof. In this fantasy world, she starts out in love with (and having had sex with!) her uncle, Richard III. Elizabeth of York’s Romantic Feelings, Part 1 Not that it matters because Philippa Gregory will screw it all up for you.Ģ. Their heirs are known as the House of Tudor. The first TV series takes place during the War of the Roses period in English history, while the second miniseries is supposed to end the war cycle with the marriage of Elizabeth, being of the York house, and Henry VII, being of the Lancaster house. The one is essentially a sequel to the other - the ‘white queen’ is supposed to be Elizabeth Woodville (who marries Edward IV she shows up as a character in the second series but played by a different actress) and her daughter is Elizabeth of York, who is the ‘white princess’ and marries Henry VII. This has come up in comments on social media and the blog, which is legit because neither Philippa Gregory or Starz make it all that easy to distinguish between the two. Oh, and in case you’re new or just want to rehash all the snark, we’ve already discussed some of The White Princess‘ offenses against historical costume here and here and here, plus other reasons it bugs the shit out of us. So ignore the countless articles proclaiming this is some fabulous historical miniseries, and let’s look at just a few of the ways The White Princess gets history wrong (I know, there are so many, but I don’t have all day and I’m not getting paid for this). And while we all love a good fantasy bodice-ripper, we don’t pretend that’s how shit went down in ye olden times. Just because it’s on cable doesn’t mean it’s serious business. The White Princess is a fantasy with historical trappings, closer to Game of Thrones than Wolf Hall. This is history like Reign and The Tudors were history, folks - meaning, it’s NOT ACTUAL HISTORY. The White Princess (2017) is still on Starz, and I didn’t need to watch more than a few minutes to see that the TV version isn’t any more historically accurate than the fictional novels they’re adapted from. You have such an interesting view on history.
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