The Red Queen and self-belief
Margaret Beaufort, the heroine of Philippa Gregory's The Red Queen is a hard woman to like. But one thing she is not lacking in is self-belief. She truly seems to have believed that her son was destined for the throne and God had ordained it and so it would happen.
It is doubtful that Henry Tudor would have become if not for Margaret Beaufort.
She did go through some pretty dark times but her belief sustained her.
I thought about this, this morning. Sometimes I need to have more faith in myself and my dreams. It is to manufacture hurdles rather than looking at them as stepping stones.
The tv series -- The White Queen is brilliant btw. Good escapist Sunday night viewing. It is the only way to treat the Wars of the Roses -- to look at it from the women's POV. Ther are just too many male protagonists (none of them v nice).
But my God, sometimes I do wish I had Margret Beaufort's self belief.
It is doubtful that Henry Tudor would have become if not for Margaret Beaufort.
She did go through some pretty dark times but her belief sustained her.
I thought about this, this morning. Sometimes I need to have more faith in myself and my dreams. It is to manufacture hurdles rather than looking at them as stepping stones.
The tv series -- The White Queen is brilliant btw. Good escapist Sunday night viewing. It is the only way to treat the Wars of the Roses -- to look at it from the women's POV. Ther are just too many male protagonists (none of them v nice).
But my God, sometimes I do wish I had Margret Beaufort's self belief.
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Leanda
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Aug 14, 2013 09:56AM
I think Margaret certainly had faith, but Philippa Gregory's characterization of her is unfair, and in part inspired by misogynistic myths that began to spring up in the seventeenth century, long after she had died. I had to do a lot of research on her for my current book on the Tudors (non-fiction) and found she was very remarkable and much more likable than she is generally portrayed.
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That is v interesting. thank you for sharing. Intelligent women are often not well treated by history.
No probs. You have inspired me in fact. We are about to see the last episode of the White Queen BBC drama in the UK on Sunday and I will try and post an article about her on my website. I sympathize with you on the matter of self belief. I think a lot of writers swing violently between outbursts of self importance and terrible insecurity. I remember my agent telling me that she was going on holiday when one of her writers was about to be published and he said, 'What should I do if there is an emergency' (and I can see myself asking that!) , and she said ' call the emergency services'.
