I was lucky enough to catch a sneak peek at the Starz original series "The White Queen" Wednesday night. I had seen the ads on buses across Manhattan and thought, "What is this?" Now that I was able to take a sneak peek at the series, I have to say...if you love historical drama, you're going to love this show.
We are introduced to Lady Elizabeth Grey (aka Elizabeth Woodville), a widow with two sons who lost her lands that rightfully belonged to her sons after her husband, Sir John Grey of Groby, was killed durnig the Second Battle of St. Albans fighting for King Henry. Henry lost and Edward IV became king during the War of the Roses. With the House of Lancaster out of power (Henry) and the House of York in power (Edward), Elizabeth (whose family and husband fought for the Lancasters - i.e. the monarch in power) lost her lands when her husband died due to the laws in place at the time. Her husband fought for the losing party and died. Their lands were no longer able to pass to her son.
With no home of their own, Elizabeth and her children moved back into her familial home with the Duchess of Bedford and Baron Rivers (her parents).
The first episode begins with Elizabeth dreaming of a soldier being pursued in the woods. When soldiers riding on horseback reach him, she ends up seeing her face as the one being hunted. She awakes with a start and rushes to wake up her boys so that they will go with her to meet the king who is expected to ride past the estate on his way to battle. She wants to make an appeal for her son's rightful inheritance.
They reach the old oak tree at the end of the property just in time to see the king and his men approaching on horseback. The king, seeing the beauty of Elizabeth, decides to stop his men to see why this lady has come to see them at such an early hour.
She pleads her case to the king. As she speaks, he becomes smitten by her beauty and follows her back to their home with the king's cousin, Richard Neville (aka The Kingmaker). Neville is a snarky, uppity, jerk that tries to control everything, and if a person is not of the same rank or higher, he will degrade their standings by airing out their dirty laundry...just to get under their skin.
As the king stands in Elizabeth's presence, he starts to fall for her. She is, after all, known as the most beautiful woman in the British Isles.
He promises to give her the lands back, but she should make a formal detailed request, which he would pick up personally the following day. Smitten by the king, she awaits his return. In the meantime, the story starts to weave into the old family traditions. The Duchess is from a long line that worshipped the river goddess. They have special powers. She is called the Lady of the Rivers for a reason.
Elizabeth starts to discover she has premonitions, while her mother practices many ancient rituals, etc. to foresee people's fates, including her own daughter's.
The Duchess summed up her daughter's fate by telling Elizabeth that she will have whatever she wants, but she must accept the consequences. In this case, she wanted the king. She wanted to be his wife.
Edward has a bit of a scandalous history...he beds the women in court, tricks women into sleeping with him, and even tricked a woman into a fake marriage in order to bed her (and ended up with a bastard child as a result). He wants to make Elizabeth yet another conquest, but she refuses. He's almost desperate enough to go as far as rape her if he has to.
In his attempt to rape her, she pulls his knife out. He tries to yell treason for pulling a knife on the king, so she puts it to her own throat. Edward, thinking she's jesting, comes closer to her and she begins to slice her own throat.
Freaked out, he throws the scabbard at her and proclaims she will never see him again. Elizabeth falls to her knees thinking that she had lost the man she loved.
A month or so later, Baron Rivers receives word that the king is requesting that he give him 20 armed men to join the ranks of his army. As Baron Rivers contemplates whether to do so since they support the Lancasters, not the Yorks, the Duchess explains how things will happen. She aligns the Baron's thoughts to realize that he must switch loyalties because the King is with the House of York, not the House of Lancasters. To not serve the king could be considered treason. Of course, she points out to him that he should think of what could happen to the family and their unwed daughters should they be found treasonous.
She decides that a 'donation' would be made to the king's war, and they would change their red roses to white (York).
When the king arrives to collect his soldiers, Neville quarrels with the Baron over the same nuisances that rattles from his mouth as always (airing dirty laundry). In the meantime, the king speaks with Elizabeth, telling her that he hasn't been able to sleep, to eat, or to stop thinking about her since their last encounter. He asks her if this is love and then proclaims that if she will not be his mistress then she will be his wife. He then asks her to marry him.
They marry quietly the day after with only her mother present as a witness along with a priest and choir boy. He tells her that the marriage must remain quiet until after the battle when he can proclaim her as his wife before the court.
They meet secretly for conjugal visits in the hunting lodge.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth's brother grows suspicious of the king's interest in his sister. He sees the king leaving the lodge one morning and catches his sister in her nightgown with her hair down. He had caught them. He calls her a whore, bringing shame to the family. She then explains to him that it was not in jest...they are married.
The brother then tells her the story of what happened to the other woman the king married in private...it was a lie. He only did it to bed her and now he has a bastard son running about.
She swears it was real, even though the circumstances of the other false wedding were identical to her own wedding. She swears it is true, despite her brother telling her that the king is rumored to ask the French princess to marry him to join their armies together to unite England.
She swears she is the king's wife.
Jumping forward a few months later, Baron Rivers and his sons become part of the king's court after the king wins yet another battle against the former King Henry. The French princess arrives and all is on track for the king to announce his engagement to the princess.
On the day the king is to announce his engagement (per Neville's instructions), the king pulls him into the next room to tell him that he is already married...to Lady Elizabeth Grey. Neville blows up. Their argument can be heard in the chambers where court awaits the big news.
Elizabeth's brother explains to his father, Baron Rivers, that he thinks the king is about to announce his marriage to Elizabeth. To which the Baron replies, "Elizabeth who?"
The king and Neville enter the chamber. Neville believes the king will tell the court that he is engaged to the Princess...but the king decides to tell the court he is in fact married to Lady Elizabeth Grey.
That's a history lesson in itself.
What happens afterwards...that is the story of The White Queen.
I personally enjoyed watching the Duchess put others in their place, especially King Edward's mother. The Duchess...she's got some serious balls on her. Usually when we see mothers in these kinds of political power tales, the mother is the person moving the chess pieces around to her liking and the children just play along. Here, it would appear, the Duchess has her daughter's best interests at heart...the way a mother that loves her daughter should.
When Elizabeth gets a premonition that something bad will happen to her boys if they go to stay with strangers, the Duchess quickly responded that they would keep the children near. What does that mean? It means the children sleep where the Duchess sleeps. She is the one keeping the children close in order to protect them. She does this because she loves her daughter.
The bond between mother and daughter are strong. It is the strength of the mother that lends the strength to the daughter as they enter into the castle and are forced into carving their place in court. The way the Duchess can silence the King's mother because she disapproves of the marriage...beyond epic. I walked away thinking...I love that woman! She's brave and witty. She is the one pushing the chess pieces, but she's the one saying checkmate again and again.
Her character is quite awesome.
Other notable items...King Edward is played by Max Irons. Max is the son of Jeremy Irons (from The Borgias and many other films).
If you want to read up on the condensed version of this story and what to expect from the series, just check out this Wiki on Elizabeth Woodville. If you enjoy the first episode, you can also pick up the book series by Philippa Gregory:
Here's also a sneak peek into the series from Starz:
The show is DVR worthy. The season begins on Saturday, August 10th at 9PM on Starz.
xxoo,
Michelle
