The Cousins' war

Regarded as yet another threat to the volatile King Henry VII's claim to the throne, Margaret Pole, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence and cousin to Elizabeth of York (known as the White Princess who becomes Queen of England upon her marriage to Henry VII)is married off to a steady and kind Lancaster supporter--Sir Richard Pole. For his loyalty, Sir Richard is entrusted with the governorship of Wales, but Margaret's contented daily life is changed forever with the arrival of Arthur, the young Prince of Wales, and his beautiful bride, Katherine of Aragon. Margaret soon becomes a trusted advisor and friend to the honeymooning couple, hiding her own royal connections in service to the Tudors. After the sudden death of Prince Arthur, Katherine leaves for London a widow, and fulfills her deathbed promise to her husband by marrying his brother, Henry VIII. Margaret's world is turned upside down by the surprising summons to court, where she becomes the chief lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine. But this charmed life of the wealthiest and "holiest" woman in England lasts only until the rise of Anne Boleyn, and the dramatic deterioration of the Tudor court. Margaret has to choose whether her allegiance is to the increasingly tyrannical king, or to her beloved queen; to the religion she loves or the theology which serves the new masters. Caught between the old world and the new, Margaret Pole has to find her own way as she carries the knowledge of an old curse on all the Tudors.

When Henry Tudor picks up the crown of England from the mud of Bosworth Field after the last Plantagenet king's (Richard III) death, he knows he must marry Elizabeth of York, and unify a country divided by war for nearly twenty years. Elizabeth of York is the daughter of the White Queen Elizabeth, mother of the young princes in the Tower of London whose fate remains decisively unknown to this day. But Elizabeth of York is in love with the dead Richard III, slain by her new husband, Henry Tudor, on Bosworth Field. And meanwhile, imposters who claim to be the York prince in the Tower threaten the Tudor monarchy with relentless consistency.

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, is the most powerful magnate in fifteenth century England, instrumental in putting the kings of England on the throne. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters, Anne and Isabel, as pawns in his political games, which include seeing one of his daughters become Queen of England. Isabel is married to George, King Edward's brother and Anne is married at fourteen and is soon widowed and fatherless. She then takes her own life in hand and marries Richard, Duke of Gloucester, King Edward's other brother, who eventually becomes Richard III. Her choice costs her the life of her only son, Prince Edward, but she does become Queen, thereby fulfilling her father's wish.

Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, lived in 15th century England. As a young widow she married the Duke's squire, Richard Woodville, and remained loyal to the Plantagenet/Lancaster throne of England. Their daughter, Elizabeth Woodville, mother of the two Princes who disappeared in the Tower of London, becomes queen and plays a major role in uniting the Lancaster and York families into the English Tudor monarchy.