Amanda Harvey Purse – författare

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, was executed on 19 May 1536. Her sister Mary, rumoured mistress to the monarch, lived on and survived the king’s wrath. But this is not the end of the tale of the Boleyns and the British Royal family – their stories have remained entwined for almost 500 years, through countless wars, crises and triumphs.In this book, Amanda Harvey Purse delves into the archives to tell the remarkable story of a number of individuals who form part of the Boleyn bloodline, spanning the worlds of the military, art and politics. Among those featured are Robert Devereux, executed for treason after leading an army against the government in the early seventeenth century; Lettice Knollys, banished from the court of Elizabeth I after marrying the wrong man; and Cecilia Nina Bowes‑Lyon, the grandmother of and godmother to Elizabeth II, who married Claude Bowes-Lyon and played a significant role in the convalescence of soldiers during the First World War.

Henry VIII’s relationships with women in his adult life were not plain sailing. He was the Tudor king who had six wives, two of whom he murdered. But what of the three powerful Tudor women who surrounded Henry VIII in his early life? The ones who knew him before the marriages, before the beheadings, before the tyranny?One was Queen of England, one was Queen of Scotland and the other was Queen of France – but for Henry VIII these women were his mother and sisters. Henry’s Roses explores the lives of these three women, telling the story of how their fate was entwined with that of the most infamous monarch of them all.

The Tudors had a fragile claim to the English throne – there were others that could plausibly have a far stronger claim to the crown. Some of these claimants were just one step away in the shadows of the Royal court, anticipating, patiently waiting for their own chance to shine. This included the Stafford family.Humphrey Stafford, the first Duke of Buckingham was a nobleman that fought in the Hundred Years War and in the War of the Roses. Through his mother, Anne of Gloucester, he was a descendant of King Edward III. He was to stay close to the throne by fighting onside with King Henry V and became a councillor to his heir, King Henry VI. Humphrey’s grandson, Henry Stafford, second Duke of Buckingham, also stayed close to the crown. He was also one of the main suspects for the purported murder of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ and would eventually be executed for treason by Richard III.Henry Stafford’s son with Katherine Woodville, Edward Stafford, third Duke of Buckingham would eventually meet the same fate as his father, however this time it wouldn’t be on the orders of the Plantagenet King Richard, but on the order of the Tudor King Henry VIII instead.Connections to famous noble families such as the Nevilles, the Poles and the Howards were plentiful, but circumstances and fate always seemed to intervene. The Staffords remained close, but never quite managed to sit on the English throne themselves.