Though I am fascinated with the characters in AT THE MERCY OF THE QUEEN, particularly Lady Margaret (Madge) Shelton, I am also intrigued with the character of her mother, Lady Anne Shelton. Lady Anne is the former Anne Boleyn, sister to Sir Thomas Boleyn, who is father to the infamous Queen Anne. Since these are ancestors of mine, according to the family genealogy (and who knows how accurate that is!) I find them of utmost interest, especially since my name is also Anne-with-an-E, spelled just like theirs.
Lady Anne married Sir John Shelton and bore him nine or ten children, the number varying depending on which source is used. She took care of Elizabeth, Henry and Anne's baby girl, until Queen Anne was executed. It took several months after the execution for Henry to remember to place someone from a more favorable family with the child. Sir John is said to have insisted the toddler eat with all the full courses of food a child of her status would require. Of course, a little one could not eat such rich food and Elizabeth's nurse, Lady Bryant, complained about this practice.
Lady Anne also had the unfortunate responsibility of looking after the Lady Mary, formerly Princess Mary, daughter of Henry and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Lady Mary was not thrilled to have been demoted to the status of a bastard and to have lost her place in the succession. She was not a happy camper.
Lady Anne seems to have been a strong woman, adapting to the changes happening around her and keeping her equilibrium. I would very much like to write about her life, including parts about her later life, when Elizabeth was a young girl. Elizabeth often sought refuge at Shelton Hall where there is a pew in the chapel with her name on it. It seems Lady Anne was able to protect Elizabeth and allow her to keep her Protestant services in far-away Norfolk while Elizabeth's half-sister, Mary, ruled the land and returned England to Catholicism.
My hope is that I can create a riveting enough plot around her life that my editor will give me the go-ahead. Any woman who can birth that many children and live to a ripe old age in Tudor England deserves my attention.
Thank you Anne for sharing those thoughts with us, I know personally I loved your book and found your attention to detail riveting. I think Anne and Mary are fascinating characters from history.
Today I have one paperback copy of At the Mercy of the Queen to giveaway to a readers at TBR's. To enter please just leave a comment with a link to profile or email. Winner will be drawn March 1, 2012.
A sweeping tale of sexual seduction and intrigue at the court of Henry VIII, At the Mercy of the Queen is a rich and dramatic debut historical about Madge Shelton, cousin and lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn.
At the innocent age of fifteen, Lady Margaret Shelton arrives at the court of Henry VIII and quickly becomes the confidante of her cousin, Queen Anne Boleyn. But she soon finds herself drawn into the perilous web of Anne’s ambition. Desperate to hold onto the king’s waning affection, Anne schemes to have him take her guileless young cousin as mistress, ensuring her husband’s new paramour will owe her loyalty to the queen. But Margaret has fallen deeply in love with a handsome young courtier. She is faced with a terrible dilemma: give herself to the king and betray the love of her life or refuse to become his mistress and jeopardize the life of her cousin, Queen Anne.
From the blurb it sounds like an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway and if it is open worldwide please enter me in the giveaway.
Thanks.
Carol T
buddytho {at} gmail DOT com
Love historical fiction! Love this time period. Sounds like my kind of book. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteannettesspot (at) gmail DOT com
How cool that you can trace your genealogy back to the Boleyns! I find their entire family fascinating, and I never tire of books set in the Tudor time period. Looking forward to reading this!
ReplyDeleteOoooo, I love me some historical fiction with seduction. LOL! Is it totally odd sometimes that half of my historical knowledge comes from historical fiction? Wow, I kinda suck. :D
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That looks like an interesting book. I've always been fascinated by my family tree. It's pretty neat when you can trace your ancestors back to someone famous, or infamous, from history.
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This sounds really good! I love books from this time period.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the giveaway!
mittens0831 at aol dot com
Lady Anne sounds like a very interesting person and, as the author says, very strong to have dealt with all of the changes that were going on around her.
ReplyDeletePlease enter my name to win a copy of this book.
carlscott(at)prodigy(dot)net(dot)mx
This sounds like a wonderful book!
ReplyDelete5678dancer(at)gmail(dot)com