Starz just started its new Historical Fiction Series, “The White Queen”. Rebecca Ferguson, 29, plays the White Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and Max Irons (son of Jeremy) plays her husband king Edward IV. From the on set this new series has the feel and look of other successful Dramas such as the Tudors and Game of Thrones. The stories are all the same, Love, Lust, Power, Blood, War all done in a sinisterly strategic way. (Yes I know sinisterly is not a real word, but it made my point didn’t it?)
So who exactly is the White Queen? Well the War of the Roses, despite the belief of many is NOT about the Michael Douglas & Kathleen Turner Film, It is about the war between the Red and the White Roses or at least that was their moniker.
Wikipedia defines it as follows:
“The Wars of the Roses were a series of wars fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York. The symbols they used to represent themselves were the red and the white rose, respectively) for the throne of England. These wars resulted from the social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years’ War. The final victory went to a relatively remote Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, who defeated the last Yorkist king Richard III and married Edward IV‘s daughter Elizabeth of York to unite the two houses. The House of Tudor subsequently ruled England and Wales until 1603.”
The White Queen is in fact the Grandmother of Henry the VIII and we all know who he is, so this is Pre-Tudor.
Ok enough of the intellectual talk, lets move on to the pure entertainment of it all. If you liked the Tudors and or Borgias and enjoy the Game of Thrones, then the White Queen might be the “Next” addiction to add to your life. You can see it on Starz and it gets a giant thumbs up from this viewer.
Will this catch on? I think so, this is one of those series to jump on the band wagon now as it looks to have some life in it for the next few seasons at least.
Just my 2 cents - Carolyn Mantia 