The Tudor Queen

- Juliet Rieden

Philippa Gregory’s favourite building is the Tower of London, which is hardly surprising when you consider what a rich source of material this royal fortress has been for her. The British author is one the world’s best-selling historical fiction writers and her key period is Tudor England, when the Tower was used as a grisly prison; and for Anne Boleyn in 1536, the site of her execution, her neck sliced through with a sword, her bloody severed head dropping onto a mound of straw in front of a baying crowd. “The site is wonderful and feels so haunted,” Philippa says with obvious glee. “It’s so evocative.”

She could be talking about her own novels, which also feel haunted with the vibrant, compelling ghosts of royal courts past. Indeed for many of us, much of what we know about the Tudors and Plantagenets has been through the lens of Philippa’s novels, for even if you haven’t read them (and several million have), you’re sure to have seen the adaptations – the TV mini-series The White Queen or the film The Other Boleyn Girl with Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman.