Catherine’s second marriage to Owain Tudor, a Welsh gentleman known to have worked in her household after her first marriage to King Henry V, was never publicly announced or celebrated, but there were no contemporary doubts as to the legitimacy of the couple’s five or six children: three boys and either two or three girls, among them Owen (who became a monk at Westminster), Edmund (who was later made the first Earl of Richmond by his half-brother, King Henry VI), and Jasper (later the first Duke of Bedford). Most historians suggest the marriage took place between 1427 and 1432. I have set it towards the end of this period.
After Queen Catherine’s death, Owain Tudor was briefly imprisoned at Newgate Prison, but later released. He was beheaded many years later after fighting for the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses.
Edmund Tudor, Catherine and Owain’s son, married Lady Margaret Beaufort, a cousin of the Cardinal. At the end of the Wars of the Roses, this couple’s only son, Henry, the last Lancastrian leader in the wars, became Henry VII, the first Tudor King of England.
Acknowledgement
With thanks to Susan Watt and her colleagues at HarperCollins, to Tif Loehnis and her team at Janklow & Nesbit, and, of course, to my endlessly patient family.
About the Author
BLOOD ROYAL
Vanora Bennett was born and brought up in London. She has spent several years working abroad, covering political, military and religious conflicts in unstable countries from Angola to Cambodia to Russia to Zimbabwe. She is a writer and a freelance journalist, writing a weekly column for The Times website, TimesOnline, on the unexpected side of London. She lives in North London with her husband and two children. Blood Royal is her third novel.
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Praise for Blood Royal:
‘Bennett writes thoughtful, well-researched historical fiction, finding connections between past and present without too much fact-bending, and with plenty of romance. Enormous, in every sense of the word’
The Times
‘A page-turning story, successfully evoking the atmosphere of intrigue and fear that beset the times’
Daily Mail
‘A skilful blend of fact and fiction. [Bennett’s] characters, story, and fluid writing style sweep you along in a pageant of medieval life. This is quite simply an excellent read’
Historical Novel Society
Praise for Queen of Silks:
‘A richly textured historical novel’
The Times
‘A vivid, unmissable novel’
Eve
‘Bennett’s novel has the verve of a thriller and the heady rush of a fine historical romance’
Praise for Portrait of an Unknown Woman:
‘Bennett’s background detail is impeccable – part love story, part thriller, all excellently imagined and written’
The Times
‘There is plenty to admire and enjoy in Bennett’s portrayal of a society convulsed by radical change … Vanora Bennett is a writer to watch’
Times Literary Supplement
‘Distinguished … Romance, intrigue and art history are confidently blended, and Holbein canvases are afforded starring roles’
Daily Mail
‘If you want a classier-than-average romantic read, one contender is this fine historical debut, a Girl with a Pearl Earring-style tale’
Sunday Times
‘An atmospheric, passionate novel set against a backdrop of religious and political upheaval’
Woman and Home
Also by Vanora Bennett
Portrait of an Unknown Woman
Queen of Silks
Copyright
Harper
HarperCollinsPublishers
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This paperback edition 2010
First published in Great Britain by
HarperCollinsPublishers 2009
Copyright © Vanora Bennett 2009
Vanora Bennett asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978 0 00 728192 3
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while in some cases based on historical figures, are the work of the author’s imagination.
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Epub Edition © MARCH 2011 ISBN: 978-0-007-32266-4
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