Beware, Princess Elizabeth

This book is the story of Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VIII by Anne Boleyn. The story begins at the death of King Henry. By this point Henry had divorced his first wife, beheaded his second, the third one died, but after she gave birth to a living boy, now heir to the throne, he divorced his fourth wife, beheaded his fifth, and finally died being survived by his last wife, Catherine Parr. So Henry's son, Edward becomes the king. But since he isn't of age he has a lord protector who basically rules the country for him. Meanwhile, Mary and Elizabeth are also in the line for the throne, although they are still considered illegitimate. But Edward is a frail child and is regularly sick. Eventually he dies. By this point his lord protector is a man named John Dudley. He has married his son Guilford to a young woman named Jane Grey. The privy council that helps rule the country all agree--except one-- that Jane Grey should become the new Queen instead of Mary, even though Jane is fifth or sixth in line for the throne. John Dudley plans to have Jane make Guilford king. Then he can control him and essentially rule England. But Mary has more supporters than Dudley realizes. They soon remove Jane, who never made Guilford a king, but only a duke, from the throne and throw her and her husband in the Tower of London. The rest of the book tells of Elizabeth being imprisoned by Queen Mary, who is afraid that someone will plot to put Elizabeth on the throne, and overthrow her. Also Mary is a devout catholic, and has always been. But Elizabeth is Protestant, because Anne Boleyn was. So Mary is also making Elizabeth attend Mass and profess to be Catholic. The book finally ends 11 years after it began, when Mary dies and Elizabeth becomes the Queen of England.

This book is the second book the Young Royals series. It was written by Carolyn Meyer.

Check out Carolyn Meyer's website at www.readcarolyn.com

Mary, Bloody Mary

Mary, Bloody Mary tells the story of young Mary Tudor, the daughter of King Henry VIII, by his first wife (of six). It opens with Mary as a young princess, and heir to the throne. As the story continues, her father tires of is wife, Catherine of Aragon,who hasn't been able to give any male heirs that survived past early childhood, and falls in love with a Lady who lives in the palace. One named Anne Boleyn. Then Mary comes to find that the King's mistress is pregnant, and Henry is trying everything to make his legal wife consent to a divorce. (And to her dying day, she never did.) Henry finally finds someone to "divorce" him from Catherine. Upon the occasion he quickly marries Anne, who is now 6 months pregnant, and makes her Queen. Also, the King has declared Mary illegitimate, saying that his marriage to Catherine was never legal because she married his brother Arthur first, who then died , which makes Mary "unfit to rule", so no longer an heir to the throne. As Anne's pregnancy continues, Mary is brought to serve her as a maid. Then Anne gives birth--to a daughter, which is probably why she met her end the way she did. And Mary, though wrong, hates Anne for dethroning her mother, which is also the probable cause of Catherine's death, and prays daily for Anne to die. Mary is now seventeen, her half sister an infant. King Henry begins to dislike Anne more and more. After miscarrying a son and birthing a daughter, he wants to find a way do get rid of her and marry again, so as to produce a male heir. King Henry accuses Anne Boleyn of adultery, and has her beheaded on the Tower Green. Elizabeth is but three years old and she has already lost her mother. Mary is now twenty. Elizabeth, who was heir to England's throne, in place of Mary, is now also declared illegitimate. As the book ends, Mary's hope of becoming Queen as all but diminished. But she also realizes that if her father were to ever declare her a legitimate child of his legal first marriage, Elizabeth would also become a threat to her.

This book, as was life back then, can be at time somewhat gross (description of Anne Boleyn's, as well as other people's executions). I would recommend for ages 11 and up.

This book was written by Carolyn Meyer and was published in 1999.

The ISBN for Mary, Bloody Mary is 0-15-216456-1

To visit Carolyn Meyer's website click here.

To find out more about King Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Queen Mary I of England or Queen Elizabeth I of England click on the links.