THE LAST TUDOR

The final chapter on the Tudor reign

As he lay on his deathbed, aged just 15-year-old, King Edward VI named his Protestant cousin Lady Jane Grey as his heir. Within days of his death, despite her vehement refusal to be the de facto queen, Lady Grey was forced onto the throne. Bitter envy from Mary Tudor and her supporters dictated the queen’s short reign and by day nine she was removed from power.

Considered a threat to the crown, she and her inner circle were escorted to the Tower of London where they faced certain death — the victims of the papist and Protestant battle that dominated England. Spared her life by Mary, the outlook for the Nine Day Queen continued to look bleak as Elizabeth I ascended to the throne. Gregory paints a controversial picture of Elizabeth, who appears determined that if she is not the one

Author Philippa Gregory Publisher Simon & Schuster Price £20 Released Out now

to marry and produce an heir to the throne, then she would not allow her cousins to do so, either. As the story unfolds, the author delves into the gossip and rumours that the Virgin Queen was not all she seemed, ruling her country and her court with an iron fist.

The fifteenth novel in Gregory’s Plantagenant and Tudor series will not disappoint long-running fans. Although a little slow at first, she does well to create an intricate world around such a short-term and lesser-known monarch and her family.

Told through the voices of each of the Grey sisters — Jane, Mary and Katherine — Gregory turns even the most minute of characters into a glistening part of history’s rich tapestry. Her literary flair and structured research make this book just as impressive as the rest, although not necessarily the best in her Tudor queen saga.