The Last Tudor - Philippa Gregory

The Last Tudor

Review by Andrea

Rating 10/10

Philippa is one of my favourite authors and I tend to pre order her books as soon as I can, so much so I forget that I have then ordered them and surprise myself when they arrive. I have been reading her books for so many years and this is the first one that I have fully reviewed. Her stories are the first historical novels that I have read and out of all the authors and historians I read, I would love to meet her.

The Last Tudor follows the last of the Tudor bloodline, the Grey sisters. They were grand-nieces to Henry VIII thanks to his sister Mary's marriage to Charles Brandon and their child Frances who married Henry Grey. The sisters, Lady Katherine and Mary Grey, were the younger sisters to the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey. These two sisters were the last of their family bloodline and both lived a rather complicated life just like that of their eldest sibling. The book starts just as Edward begins to become sick and his council looks for the next heir, overlooking Edward's half sisters Mary and Elizabeth. 

The first few chapters then follow Jane as she becomes Queen and then has it all taken away from her. It tells of her imprisonment in the Tower and then her execution within the Tower walls. The baton is then passed on to the middle sister Katherine as she gets used to life without her sister and her father constantly plotting against the current monarch. But her story starts when she is sent off to marry into the Herbert family. But after the downfall of Jane is declared, Katherine's marriage was annulled and she was humiliated thanks to her father. During the start of her cousin Mary's reign, she was named as an heir to the throne, but this soon changed when Mary reinstated her half sister Elizabeth as heir. Katherine goes on to marry in secret into the Seymour family after she falls in love with Edward. The couple managed to keep each other a secret along with their children. But once they were found out it would cause her to be imprisoned in the Tower by her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth saw the marriage and the children produced as a conspiracy against her, she had the marriage annulled and Katherine was sent to live in the custody of different people that she trusted. A few years in to her banishment she passed away from consumption.

Once Katherine has passed away the story then shifts over to Mary, the youngest and sickly sister. Like her sister before her she too had to navigate life after the humiliation of her father and the downfall of her eldest sister Jane and then the loss of her other sister Katherine. During the rise of her sister, she was set to marry her distant cousin, but after the downfall this was called off. When their mother died Mary was left in charge of her households, she was then made Maid of Honour to her cousin Elizabeth when she took to the throne. Mary met and fell in love with a sergeant of Elizabeth's guard, Thomas Keyes. The pair were not well suited, but they went ahead and married in secret without the Queen's permission. Just like Katherine, Mary was imprisoned and separated from her husband, who was sent to Fleet prison and never saw him again. Mary tried to look after the children for her husband's first marriage, but was refused. Eventually Elizabeth let her go and live where she pleased, but she had nowhere to go. She managed to build her life back up and was reinstated as Maid of Honour. Mary died from what is believed to have been the plague. 

I know a fair bit of history on Jane Grey, but when it comes to her sisters I don't know as much as I wish I knew. I know this book is a novel, but the story seems to flow alongside the history. Reading this book has made me want to find out more about Katherine and Mary as to me their stories are ones that aren't really known. Just like the rest of Philippa's books this one allowed me to get lost in the story and feel as though I was actually there as it was happening. I'm trying to read her books in order so I can follow the story and history that she's writing about. Reading a book like this has made me really want to focus on Jane as more often then not she is overlooked and not seen as a true monarch. I have always said that I would make it my mission to get her seen as a Queen of England. She is one of the reasons that I decided to do a history degree and one of the many reasons that I keep going. I have a few more of Philippa's books to get through, but I love reading each and every one of them. Her writing is fantastic and allows you to get lost in the story as well as the time period. I lose track when I'm reading her books so much so that I feel I am there watching the story unfold right before my eyes.