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In 1470, a reluctant Lady Anne Neville is betrothed by her father, the politically ambitious Earl of Warwick, to Edward, Prince of Wales. A gentle yet fiercely intelligent woman, Anne has already given her heart to the prince’s younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Unable to oppose her father’s will, she finds herself in line for the throne of England—an obligation that she does not want. Yet fate intervenes when Edward is killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Anne suddenly finds herself free to marry the man she loves—and who loves her in return. The ceremony is held at Westminster Abbey, and the duke and duchess make a happy home at
Middleham Castle, where both spent much of their childhood. Their life is idyllic, until the reigning king dies and a whirlwind of dynastic maneuvering leads to his children being declared illegitimate. Richard inherits the throne as King Richard III, and Anne is crowned queen consort, a destiny she thought she had successfully avoided. Her husband’s reign lasts two years, two months, and two days—and in that short time Anne witnesses the true toll that wearing the crown takes on Richard, the last king from the House of York.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
- Sales Rank: #5481470 in Books
- Published on: 1991-05-09
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 299 pages
About the Author
Jean Plaidy is the pen name of the prolific English author Eleanor Hibbert, also known as Victoria Holt. More than 14 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
THE ECLIPSE
It grows darker with the passing of every minute. The people in the streets crowd together and gaze up at the sky. It is a portent of evil, they say. God is showing His displeasure by covering the face of the sun.
Very soon I shall lay down my pen. I am too tired to write more. My strength is slowly ebbing away and I feel Death close.
It is an unhappy time to leave this world. Suspicion and treachery are all around us. There are rumors to which I try to shut my ears. They frighten me. I tell myself I do not believe them. I do not want to hear the things people are saying--yet I must know.
"Tell me . . . tell me everything," I beg my ladies.
They shake their heads. They say, "There is nothing, your Grace."
That is not true. They know but they will not tell me.
We were happy at Middleham before Richard took the throne. Middleham will always be home to me . . . and, I believe, to him. It meant something very special to us both. It was there that we first knew each other. I always said it was there that love between us first began. The people there understood him. They knew his worth. They do not like him here. In their hearts they do not accept him as their king. He is not tall and handsome as his brother was. He lacks the gift of charm that Edward had in such abundance. How perverse human nature is! Richard would be a good king; he would serve his country faithfully; but it was Edward whom they loved because he was good to look upon; he was a giant among men; he smiled his way through his reign, beguiling rich and poor alike. His profligacy, his self-indulgence mattered not. He looked like a king and they had adored him. It was perhaps natural that they should resent his successor. Richard is not tall; he lacks the golden beauty of his brother; he is dark and serious and does not smile easily; he serves his country with zeal; but the people remember Edward's charm and mourn for him.
And in the streets they are whispering that I am dying on my husband's orders. The rumor is that he is having me slowly poisoned. How cruel they are! They cannot think of anything vile enough to say of him. It is his enemies of course--and they are all about us. They would make a monster of him. But who should know him better than I? And I know he is a good man. He would be a great king and good to them, greater than his self-indulgent brother--if they would let him.
It is true that I am dying--but not at his hands. He knows that I cannot live long and he is heartbroken. I can see the misery in his eyes. I am the only one whom he can trust. How could anyone think that he would want to be rid of me? I know I am sick, unable to bear the sons all kings want, but there has been a special bond between us since he came to my father's castle when we were children. If only he could cast away his crown! If only we could go back to Middleham and the North where the people love and understand us. Richard is paying too highly for his crown.
I try to comfort him. More than any I know his feelings.
"Whom can I trust?" he asks. "Who in this sad court can trust whom?"
I know he is thinking of Buckingham--his one-time friend, or so he thought--now turned traitor.
Sometimes when he looks hurt and bewildered he reminds me so much of the boy I knew all those years ago. I alone am able to see the real Richard; to others he is cold, aloof, a stern king, determined to hold what he believes to be his by right, dedicated, determined to do his duty.
Throughout the court there is a rumor that he wants to marry his niece, Elizabeth, when he has rid himself of me. I think this has grieved him more than anything.
"They hate me so much," he said. "They bring the most harmful accusations against me. They compare me with my brother. They say I have usurped the throne from young Edward. They do not believe he is a bastard. Oh, if only my brother had not died! How they loved him! He could do no wrong in their eyes and I can do no right."
I said, "Your brother was an unfaithful husband; he was profligate. He loved luxurious living. He cared more for his own pleasure than for the good of the country. You are a good man, Richard. You will be a good king; and in time the people will come to realize that."
He smiled at me sadly, fondly. I remember that, from the time he was a boy, he would not listen to criticism of his brother. Edward had been a god in his eyes. It had always been so. Like the rest of the country, he had succumbed to that charm.
"They are silent when I pass," he said. "Do you remember how they used to cheer Edward?"
"They will cheer you one day."
He shook his head. "And now they say I would remove you that I might marry Edward's daughter--my own niece! Anne, you could never think for one moment . . ."
I took his face in my hands and kissed it. I wanted to assure him of the contempt in which I held such gossip.
But secretly there were moments when I thought with some apprehension of Elizabeth of York. The eldest daughter of handsome Edward and his beautiful Queen. It was natural that she also should be beautiful--sparkling, radiant, healthy. If she were like her mother she would bear many children.
Before I was so ill I would see her at court. Did I fancy she watched Richard with speculation in her eyes? Did she flaunt her beauty, her radiant charm? Was she implying: "Look at me. How different I am from the poor, sickly queen." I did not believe for one moment that she was in love with Richard; but she was her mother's daughter and she would dearly love a crown.
And even I, knowing him as I did and understanding full well the venom of his enemies, was sometimes overtaken by cruel doubts. I am ill. I am barren, I would say. And is it not the duty of kings to get sons?
Common sense returns and I remind myself that it is I whom he has always loved; and then how I long for the days of peace at Middleham and I say, "If only Edward were back on the throne and we could return to the North--our true home, where we are known and loved and the people do not murmur evil slander against us."
Here there are enemies everywhere. There are sly rumors . . . ridiculous rumors, but the people accept them as truth because that is what they want to do.
Richard's enemies are all about us. They are whispering of a certain Henry Tudor, now sheltered by our enemies of France, waiting until that day when he is ready to make his spurious claim to the throne.
Yes, there is treachery all around us.
The light is fading. The face of the sun is almost obscured now and for me the end is near. What will become of Richard? What will become of the country? I shall never know.
My life is fading as the light is. Someone approaches. It is one of my women.
"My lady, the King is on his way to you."
I shall write no more. Richard is coming and something tells me this is the last time I shall look upon his face.
MESALLIANCE
Looking back over my life I often think how strange it is that a woman such as myself should have so little control over her own destiny.
I was the daughter of a man who at the time of my birth was one of the most important men in the country. In truth I might even say the most important for he was even greater than the king. He was indeed known as the Kingmaker. Then I was the affianced wife of a Prince of Wales and later a queen. What a glittering fate that would appear to be, yet now that my life is coming to an end, I realize that it was lived in the shadows. I moved--or perhaps it would be more correct to say I was moved--into important positions, but always for the benefit of others--except, I like to think, in marriage to the man who became King of England. It was certainly my wish and I hope his that I should become his queen. And now I have come to the time when I must ask myself for how long?
But I must go back to the very beginning. Who would have believed that a man such as my father could fail to beget the son he so ardently desired and had only been able to produce two girls--my sister, Isabel, and myself? His grandfather, Richard, Earl of Westmorland, had had twenty-three children from his two marriages. But perhaps my father found consolation in the fact that even girls have their uses. They can form alliances that can be of inestimable value. My father was a man to make the most of his advantages.
It was different with my mother. I believe she was very satisfied with her two daughters, as is often the way with mothers who come to believe that the offspring they have are just what they wanted. At least my father could not have been disappointed in his marriage, for through my mother had come the greater part of his wealth; she had been Anne Beauchamp, heiress to vast lands and fortune, and she had brought him the earldom of Warwick.
She lavished great care on Isabel and me, which was necessary, I suppose, because neither of us was robust. The three of us were very happy together, whether we were at Middleham Castle, Warwick Castle, Cawood, or Warwick Court in London.
We saw our father infrequently, but when he did come the atmosphere changed completely. Bustle, excitement, apprehension prevailed. Men wearing the emblem of the Ragged Staff were everywhere, and, of course, there was my father's dominating presence. He took some interest in us girls, which was surprising. I sometimes thought he might have been a family man if he had not been so ambitious to rule the country, through the king of his making. My childhood memories are of comings and goings, some of which affected us and then we could be off to other family residences at a moment's notice.
Isabel was my senior by nearly five years and she often tried to explain to me what was going on, but when she herself did not understand she refused to admit it and relied on her invention. When my father departed with his foll...
Most helpful customer reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
FROM LADY TO QUEEN...
By lawyeraau
This eighth book in the "Queens of England" series by the author, a master storyteller also known to her legion of fans as Victoria Holt, focuses on the life of Lady Anne of York, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, who went on to become Queen of England as the wife of King Richard III. Her story, told in a first person narrative, is an absorbing work of historical fiction.
The War of Roses has ended and the great Earl of Warwick, the richest and most powerful lord in England, is known as the kingmaker for having ensured that the former Duke of York be crowned King Edward IV, after having deposed mad King Henry VI of the house of Lancaster. The Earl of Warwick's family, the Nevilles, are in positions of power. Then, the King marries Elizabeth Woodville, and it is the Woodvilles that are on the ascent and the Nevilles in decline. The Earl of Warwick, who had thought himself to be the power behind the throne, suddenly finds that he has supported a King who has every intention of being his own man. This is a notion that is anathema to Warwick, and he uses his two daughters, Isabel and Anne, as pawns in a dangerous game of political intrigue.
After her father's death in battle during a political falling out with King Edward IV, Anne goes on to marry the love of her life, the King's younger brother, Richard. Through her eyes the reader sees all the political intrigues of the day and the rise and fall of various personages, as the political winds shift. Despite all of the turbulence around her, Anne and Richard live many happy years in Northern England, far from the Court of King Edward IV.
When the King dies, her world radically changes. Richard, who was chosen to be Lord Protector of the Realm by his brother, chooses, instead, to declare his nephew, Edward V, illegitimate, and himself the King. What happens to his nephew, Edward V, as well as Edward's younger brother, remains a mystery to this day. Through Anne's eyes, we see her view her changing world with dismay and trepidation, as her husband changes into someone she barely recognizes, and she is thrust into a role for which she had no desire, that of Queen of England.
This is a wonderfully told work of historical fiction by a superlative storyteller. The reader need not have read the prior volumes in the series before reading this one. Each book in the series stands on its own. The entire series, however, is a must read for all those who enjoy well written, historical fiction.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Another Awe-Inspiring Historical from Jean Plaidy
By fruitloop
Jean Plaidy gives the reader (as always) a flawlessly researched account, although fictional, of Anne of York, wife to the mysterious King Richard III. Readers interested in British history, the history of England's royals, and those intrigued by the recent discovery of King Richard III's remains will be captured in this historical page-turner.
Anne of York, daughter of "The Kingmaker" Earl of Warwick, watches the intrigue and manipulations of the royal court without suspecting that she will herself be caught in its web. Her father, the Earl of Warwick, seeks power by supporting King Edward IV and hopes to rule through him. When Edward proves less weak than expected, and pushes back by marrying his own choice for a queen, her father switches his allegiance to Edward's brother and takes advantage of his own daughter's (Anne's sister Isabel) infatuation with Edward's brother George, the Duke of Clarence and helps them elope. He hopes to replace Edward with George on the English throne. Anne, meanwhile, has been in love since childhood with another royal brother - Richard, who was her father's squire.
Intrigue and suspense abound in this novel. Plaidy captivates the reader by placing them in the character's heads and helps them become these historical figures. Her skillful weaving of historical fact with "fiction" can't help but make the reader care about these people and mourn their fates - even if you already know.
Was Richard the evil, power-hungry tyrant history paints him? Did he truly murder the two English princes in the Tower of London? Did he engineer the death of his own wife after she failed to produce the critical heir to the throne? Or was a he scapegoat, used to hide the machinations of other scheming royal lords? Perhaps history is not so clear after all.....
Jean Plaidy, aka Victoria Holt aka Eleanor Hibbert, was one of the best authors of the twentieth century. Her legacy to literature includes her nearly-100 novels on European royalty. Check them all out....you won't be disappointed.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Princes and towers
By Linda Pagliuco
The Reluctant Queen is my intro to Jean Plaidy, whom I've been meaning to check out for a long time. Though a bit overlong, this novel is unique to my experience in presenting the life of Richard III in positive light, for a change. His story is told in the first person by the character of his wife, Anne Neville, who is a victim of the plots and machinations of Warwick The Kingmaker, her father, and then of various other nefarious relatives, male and female. This is a colorful story, well told, and a fun, painless way to learn something more about those complicated Wars of the Roses. Recommended for lovers of English history and semi-fictionalized adventure. I'll certainly be trying out more of Plaidy's epics.
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