Claire | September 19, 2013
Linda Porter on how she came to write her latest book, Crown of Thistles: the fatal inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots. The rivalry between the Tudors and the Stewarts lasted for over 100 years and was crucial in shaping sixteenth century Britain, but this dramatic tale of flamboyant monarchs, cultured courts, sibling rivalry, bloody […]
Claire | June 12, 2012
Here’s Tim’s diary entry for day three of the Executed Queens Tour… What a moving day we’ve had on the Executed Queens Tour today. Our day visit was to Sheffield Manor Lodge on the site of a once huge deer park around Sheffield. Although the large part of the Manor Lodge is actually in ruins, […]
Claire | November 12, 2011
On this day in history, 12th November 1555, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Mary I’s Lord Chancellor, died. He was laid to rest at Winchester Cathedral in what is now known as the Bishop Gardiner Chantry Chapel. You can read all about this famous Tudor man in my article Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. […]
Claire | October 29, 2011
On this day in history, 29th October… 1532 – Henry VIII accompanied Francis I to the border between English Calais and France to bid farewell to him. 1586 – Four days after a commission had found Mary Queen of Scots guilty of conspiring to assassinate Elizabeth I, Parliament met to discuss Mary’s fate. They decided […]
Claire | October 14, 2011
On this day in history, 14th October… 1536 – Pilgrimage of Grace – By the 14th October the uprising in the north “had become a large-scale rebellion”1. On the 13th October, Lord Darcy had reported to Henry VIII2 that the East Riding, West Riding, North Riding and “all the commons of Yorshire” were “up” in […]
Claire | May 16, 2011
Today, the Executed Queens Tour group spent the day at Sheffield Manor Lodge in Sheffield, Yorkshire. There we saw the ruins of the manor house which once belonged to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his wife, Bess of Hardwick, and which was also the prison of Mary Queen of Scots. Highlights of our […]
Claire | April 10, 2011
On this day in history, 10th April 1512, James V of Scotland was born at Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian, Scotland. He was the fourth child of King James IV of Scotland and his wife, Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, and was the only one of their children (the had six) to survive infancy. On […]
Claire | June 2, 2010
They’re here! The Executed Queens Tour 2011 and The Anne Boleyn Experience 2011 are now taking bookings over at http://tour.theanneboleynfiles.com/ As I write this, there are only 10 places left on the May Executed Queens Tour and 21 places on the July Anne Boleyn Experience, so please be quick if you want to join us […]
