Philippa Gregory's Tudor Court 6-Book Boxed Set (342 page)

Starkey, David.
Elizabeth,
2001.

Strong, Roy.
The Cult of Elizabeth,
1999.

Turner, Robert.
Elizabethan Magic: The Art and the Magus,
1989.

Waldman, Milton.
Elizabeth and Leicester,
1944.

Walker, Julia M., ed.
Dissing Elizabeth: Negative Representations of Gloriana,
1998.

Weir, Alison.
Children of England,
1997.

———.
Elizabeth the Queen,
1999.

Wilson, Derek A.
Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 1533–1588,
1981.

Yaxley, Susan.
Amy Robsart, Wife of Robert Dudley, 1532–1560,
1996.

The Virgin’s Lover

1. Queen Elizabeth and Robert Dudley were childhood playmates and also have in common the experience of being accused of treason and locked in the Tower of London. How does Dudley use this to influence Elizabeth? Is he successful?

2. What is your opinion of Amy? She says about Dudley: “In his heart I know that he is still the young man that I fell in love with who wanted nothing more than some good pastureland to breed beautiful horses.” Has Amy completely misjudged her husband, particularly how ambitious a man he is?

3. Elizabeth appoints Dudley Master of the Queen’s Horse and later awards him the Order of the Garter. Why doesn’t she appoint him to a position of political power, such as a member of the Privy Council? Dudley and William Cecil each want to be the more favored advisor to the queen. How does each man go about trying to accomplish this? Would you say they are rivals?

4. In many ways the politics of the court is like a dangerous game, fueled by rampant corruption in which scheming families angle for wealth and favors from the queen. Cite some examples that illustrate this, including the people who are closest to Elizabeth.

5. It is Cecil’s “deep-rooted belief that the intelligence of a woman, even one as formidably educated as [Elizabeth], could not carry the burden of too much information, and the temperament of a woman, especially this one, was not strong enough to take decisions.” Is Cecil underestimating Elizabeth? Discuss the way the men of the court and the Privy Council view women in general and Elizabeth, as the monarch, in particular.

6. Elizabeth, believing she is being pursued by an assassin, runs to the Diary House at Kew to seek safety with Dudley. How does this encounter mark a turning point in their relationship?

7. Dudley remarks to Cecil about the Earl of Arran, “If it’s not one damned opportunity seeker, it is another. To what end?” Can the same be said of him? Does he truly care about Elizabeth, or does he court her to satisfy his own ambition?

8. Elizabeth says to Dudley, “I have to play myself like a piece in a chess game. . . . I have to keep the Spanish on our side, I have to frighten the French, I have to persuade Arran to get himself up to Scotland and claim his own, and I have nothing to bring to bear on any of these but my own weight. All I can promise any of them is myself.” How does Elizabeth use the marriage game to her advantage as a political maneuver?

9. When Dudley visits Amy at Hayes Court, he finds his wife changed and is at a loss about “how to manage this strange new Amy.” How do their conversations—while they are out riding and later in their chamber—show how Amy has changed? If you were in Amy’s position, would you have allowed Dudley to walk away from the marriage?

10. Compare Robert’s feelings for Elizabeth and Amy. Amy says to her stepmother, “He loved me once, but everyone thought he condescended to the marriage, and it was always true that he thought very highly of himself. But with her it is different. He is a man transformed. She is his lover but still his queen; he admires her as well as desires her. . . . He aspires to love her, whereas I was always an easy love.” Is Amy right?

11. When does Elizabeth begin to realize that she cannot marry Dudley and also remain on the throne? Why is there such hostility toward Robert Dudley from the members of the Privy Council and other nobility, as well as from the commoners? Is it justified? In numerous instances Elizabeth says that she cannot live without Robert or rule without him by her side. Why, then, does she ultimately decide giving him up is the right course of action?

12. In reference to Mary of Guise, the regent of Scotland, Cecil says to Sir Francis Knollys, “I have no objection in theory to assassination as an act of state. It could be a great saver of life and a guarantee of safety for others.” Applying this same logic to Amy, can Cecil justify her death as “a great saver of life and a guarantee of safety for others”? Do you think Elizabeth knew Cecil was referring to Amy when he told her that if he carried out his plan to prevent her from marrying Dudley, one person would die?

13. When the queen asks if Dudley is bothered by Amy’s death, he replies, “Elizabeth, she was my wife of eleven years. Of course I grieve for her.” Do you believe Dudley is truly remorseful that Amy is dead, or is it more about the circumstances of her death and what it means for his political ambitions?

14. When Dudley finds his signet ring among Amy’s possessions, he knows Elizabeth had a part in what happened. What conclusions does he come to about why Elizabeth might have done this? Ultimately, does Dudley reconcile himself to not being the king of England?

15. The Author’s Note reveals several significant pieces of information: 1) Dudley wrote a letter to Elizabeth on his deathbed, which she then had with her when she died, 2) Dudley later married Laetitia Knollys, and 3) historical records verify Elizabeth made incriminating remarks to the Spanish ambassador prior to Amy’s death. Did finding out these things change your view of any aspects of the story? Do you believe Amy Dudley was murdered?

16. History has remembered Elizabeth as one of England’s greatest rulers. What is your opinion of Elizabeth as a monarch, as this book depicts her in the first years of her reign? From what you learned about her in
The Virgin’s Lover,
what characteristics and qualities do you think made her a successful ruler?

Q&A
WITH
P
HILIPPA
G
REGORY

1. When did you first decide that you wanted to be an author?

I had the great good fortune to decide that I would be a professional author when my first completed novel was published and enjoyed great success. It was called
Wideacre
and is now available in paperback published by Touchstone Books. Before then, I had written as a journalist and as a historian but I had not written fiction. Even now, I am still rather surprised to see the course my career has taken, and very happy with it.

2. How do you think being a journalist has helped your fiction writing?

In the early years, when it is easy for a new writer to become apprehensive about the task of writing and the length of the research, it was very good to have had the training as a journalist where you sit down every day—whether in the mood or not—and write. Also, my training as a journalist taught me to ask the awkward questions—and this pays dividends in historical research too.

3. What inspires you to write historical fiction?

I love history. In almost any circumstances I always ask, “But how did it get like this? How did it start?” These are questions which come naturally and automatically to a historian and that is what, by instinct and training, I am.

4. How do you choose your subjects and do research for your books?

The subjects come to me when I am working on other things. So far, they have always—as it were—suggested themselves. Their characters strike me or I learn something interesting about their background that intrigues me, and then I research them from that point. Most of my research is book based—the Tudors especially have a huge collection of histories written about them—and I find a lot of interesting material in very old history books. The Victorians were very taken with the Tudors, and some of their historians look at aspects of their lives that modern historians neglect. Also, I almost always travel to the sites I describe and I always find that very inspiring and often moving. I read around a lot too—I like to know the specialized history of the period, not just the events and the characters. I like to know about coinage and agriculture and transport . . . all those things that the reader should not know that I have researched, but they should feel at home in the detail of the Tudor world.

5. What are you working on now?

I am working on the final draft of my new book which I absolutely adore. It is called
The Constant Princess
and is the story of the girlhood and young womanhood of Catherine of Aragon, who was raised as a princess of Spain brought up in the Moors’ palace of the Alhambra in Granada, and yet spent her life fighting for her right to be queen of England. It is a most surprising and engaging story of a young woman of great courage and wit, and I can honestly say that I have loved every moment of writing it.

By the same author

The Cousins’ War

The Lady of the Rivers

The White Queen

The Red Queen

The Kingmaker’s Daughter

History

The Women of the Cousins’ War:

The Duchess, the Queen, and the King’s Mother

The Tudor Court Novels

The Constant Princess

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Boleyn Inheritance

The Queen’s Fool

The Virgin’s Lover

The Other Queen

Historical Novels

The Wise Woman

Fallen Skies

A Respectable Trade

Earthly Joys

Virgin Earth

The Wideacre Trilogy

Wideacre

The Favored Child

Meridon