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