Gregory, Philippa

The story of three of Henry VIII's six wives; Catharine of Aragon, Anne of Cleves, and Jane Seymour, whose positions as Queen of England brought them wealth and notoriety as well as deceit and betrayal.

In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen. One woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, and she knows that Elizabeth's ambitious leap to the throne will draw her husband back to the center of the glamorous Tudor court, where he was born to be. Elizabeth's excited triumph is short-lived. She has inherited a bankrupt country where treason is rampant and foreign war a certainty. Her faithful advisor William Cecil warns her that she will survive only if she marries a strong prince to govern the rebellious country, but the one man Elizabeth desires is her childhood friend, the ambitious Robert Dudley. As the young couple falls in love, a question hangs in the air: can he really set aside his wife and marry the queen? When Amy is found dead, Elizabeth and Dudley are suddenly plunged into a struggle for survival.

Sir Robert Cecil, an advisor to King James I in 1603, confides in his gardener John Tradescant about the political and social changes that he has to face in the King's court.

A fictionalized account of the life of Katherine of Aragon, daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, discussing her passionate marriage to England's Prince Arthur, and telling how she had to deny their love after his death in order to marry his brother Henry and claim her rightful place as queen.

Although widowed in her early teens, Margaret Beaufort, the child-bride of Edmund Tudor, uses her determination of character and wily plotting to infiltrate the house of York under the guise of loyal friend and servant, undermine the support for Richard III, and ultimately ensure that her only son, Henry Tudor, triumphs as King of England.

Mary Boleyn comes to the court of King Henry VIII, where she falls for the dashing king, and begins to enjoy her growing role as unofficial queen, however, she soon realizes she is merely a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to turn towards her best friend and rival, her sister, Anne.