Powerful English Queens

The American premium cable network Starz announced that they began working on a TV show about the life of the medieval English queen Eleonor of Aquitaine. This is the third project undertaken by Starz, which portrays the private and public life of an English queen. The other two are the successful features The White Princess (2017) and The Spanish Princess (2019-2020).

We want to discuss this ongoing trend and give you more information about the new series in the making.

The White Queen

Undoubtedly, the mini-series The White Queen was the trendsetter. The TV show was developed by BBC One and it premiered on 16 June 2013. It’s based on three novels (The White Queen, The Red Queen, and The Kingmaker’s Daughter) written by the English author Philippa Gregory.

The TV series chronicles the life of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV, amidst the turmoil of the War of the Roses. The show also follows two other powerful women of the time – Margaret Beaufort, mother of future-king Henry VII, and Anne Neville, daughter of the Earl of Warwick and wife of King Richard III.

The reason why Gregory picked these women as her books’ narrators is because history in general is not usually told from a female perspective. This is why The White Queen captivated the audience and generated interest for similar projects. Viewers seem to want female-centred narratives, and considering the role of these women in the battle for the English throne, we believe it was necessary to create it.

There are certain historical inaccuracies though. Gregory has a history degree, but she still writes historical fiction rather than history books. Certain details are added to heighten the drama, which is, of course, understandable.

The White Princess

The White Princess is the sequel to The White Queen. It’s based on Gregory’s book bearing the same name and follows the life of Elizabeth Woodville’s eldest daughter – princess Elizabeth of York – as she marries the Lancastrian heir King Henry VII to become the Queen and to finally bring peace to England.

Arguably, this TV show is riddled with more historical inaccuracies than its predecessor. This is because Gregory decided to entertain two popular theories from the 15th century in her book, which were never proven to be true. We don’t want to spoil the series by telling you, so we’ll let you be the judge when you watch it.

This time, Starz adapted Gregory’s book rather than BBC One. Although Starz is an American company, they worked closely with English creatives and employed English actors for the show, so it could be said that the production is both American and English.

The White Princess ran from 16 April 2017 to 4 June 2017.

The Spanish Princess

The Spanish Princes – another sequel produced by Starz adapted by Gregory’s Tudor novels (in particular, The Constant Princess and The King’s Curse). This time, the protagonist is Catherine of Aragon who is learning how to navigate the royal court after marrying the Prince of Wales.

In contrast to the first two series, The Spanish Princess has two seasons (first: 2019, second:2020), because the story was written that way. In the second season, we see how Catherine takes on the role as the queen of England.

Catherine of Aragon is perhaps one of the most ignored queens of Henry. She’s often been portrayed as a mere obstacle that Henry had to overcome to marry his paramour, Anne Boleyn. However, she was a loyal wife and a beloved queen for over 20 years, and the Starz series attempts to show us this perspective.

The show decided to also portray another interesting woman – Lina, a lady-in-waiting to Catherine with Moorish roots. Although many viewers thought that Lina was a fictional character, because they didn’t expect Catherine to be waited by a black woman, Lina did in fact exist. The showrunners made a point of showing us her perspective, which was otherwise lost in time.

Eleanor of Aquitaine

It was announced that another TV show about a queen of England was in the works in November 2020. The protagonist would be Eleanor of Aquitaine, a French royal who first married King Louis VII of France and then married King Henry II of England. Eleanor was one of the most powerful queen-consorts of Medieval Europe, and we can’t wait to watch the series.

The TV show would be based on the books of Alison Weirs – Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life and Captive Queen. The first book is a biography of the famous queen, while the second one is a historical fiction novel.

Although we don’t know when the show is going to be released, we do know that it’d be a part of anthology series chronicling the lives of “lesser known” women in history. This means that we will keep getting these fantastic TV series about these complex female figures that changed the course of history.