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‘even as he lay dying he refused to relinquish his influence over his two kingdoms. Although he had anticipated his own death on campaign, King Henry had not imagined that his sickly father-in-law King Charles VI would outlive him. Now his infant heir faced the prospect of becoming not only king of England but also regent of France, where civil war still raged.’

“There is a network of tunnels underneath the old palace,” Tom continued. “One of them leads directly to the cellar of this lodging. For almost a year now, we have been amassing enough gunpowder to destroy the whole of Parliament when it next meets. The king and his government will be reduced to ashes with a single spark.”

‘As she carefully refolded the document, she felt a sudden stab of anger. Is this what her ordeal was worth? The terror and pain that she had suffered in the Tower, the sullying of her name ever after? It was not even in the name of he who had sanctioned her torture. The king had shown precious little remorse in the months that had followed.’

‘The surviving records of the council, which are sparse for the reign of Henry VII, record that Morton attended more sessions than any other of the king’s councillors: fifty-one sessions between 1486 and 1500. Second in this regard was Sir Thomas Lovell, who was present on thirty-five occasions but over the longer period of 1485 to 1509.’

Won’t spoil anything but this bit is really difficult. So horrifying and it is sad to think many women really went through this in James I’s reign (I’m sure some of you can guess what it is I’m referring to).

‘The witches shrieked their pact in unison, and the stage was once more in darkness. With mounting horror, Frances watched the unravelling as Macbeth fell victim to the witches’ curse, and descended into an orgy of evil, spurred on by his rapacious wife. She knew that Master Shakespeare had played to the king’s natural misogyny as much as to his witch hunting fervour.’

‘Morton’s stance is another clear demonstration of his adherence to principles of hereditary and legal legitimacy. Whilst Edward V was a minor, and uncrowned, he was still king, and Morton was clearly not swayed by the tales of bastardy that Richard had used to justify his seizure of the throne. The king was forced to recognise in Morton a determined opponent who had to be neutralised.’

‘Morton now faced a lengthy period of imprisonment and possibly even execution. However, in one of those tantalising moments of history of which sadly no details survive, Morton escaped and fled abroad. A contemporary chronicler recorded that he was ‘put in the Towre, but he schapyd a way longe aftyr, and ys by yonde the see with the Queen, &c’.’

‘John Morton served the English state for nearly fifty years. He was a man of immense ability who survived the twisting turns of fortune eventually to die in his bed within his episcopal palace at Knole in Kent aged over eighty. His loss was deeply felt by the king and led a well-informed foreign official to record that there had been no other statesman in England who could be compared with him.’

I can certainly see now why I struggled with this as a child. It has a lot of religious imagery, ideas etc and definitely does not feel like a book for children/young adults.

‘Over the past year, the joy that James’s subjects had expressed at being free from fifty years of female rule had soon been replaced by mutterings about his strange habits and ‘unkingly’ nature. Already, they were looking back with longing to the reign of ‘Good Queen Bess’. Frances gave a wry smile. The old queen had known the fickle nature of her people all too well.’

“Having thus ensnared him with her body, her spells and her potions... she so bewitched his mind and his body that he was unable to beget a child upon his wife, the countess... And so, thanks to the evil wiles of this whore of Satan, the earl’s line will die with him. But, not content with this victory, she conspired to ruin his estate so that all his cattle fell prey to a strange disease”

‘She shuddered inwardly as she remembered her uncle’s threat. He would neither accept nor understand that she might wish to make her own choice. After all, he had been quick to set aside his Catholic faith when the wind turned in favour of the Protestants. It seemed to Frances that this was an age where people’s consciences had to spin as easily as a weathervane.’

“Why, yes, the moment you’re born, your death comes into the world with you, and it’s your death that takes you out... Your death taps you on the shoulder, or takes your hand, and says, ‘Come along o’ me, it’s time.’ It might happen when you’re sick with a fever, or when you choke on a piece of dry bread, or when you fall off a high building; in the middle of your pain and travail, your death comes to you“

This land of the dead is very similar to the one in the Odyssey. Very dark for a children’s book, having this ghost thing follow you all your life, getting closer and closer, waiting for you to die so they can take you there.

‘Still staring straight ahead, Anne held out her hand. Her husband gave it the most fleeting of kisses, his lips barely touching the velvet of her glove. Frances had heard it whispered by one of the old queen’s ladies that the King of Scots treated his consort more as an adornment than as a wife. He might beget heirs on her, but he took his pleasure elsewhere, in the beds of the pretty boys who surrounded him.’

‘Over three years had passed since the deaths of Henry VII and his mother and Margaret had still not seen any of the money and goods she had been promised. Other than one polite letter asking her brother when she could expect to receive her grandmother’s bequest, Margaret and James had remained silent about the matter, but James had had enough of his brother-in-law’s high-handed behaviour’

‘seems likely that James, always gentlemanly when it came to matters of the heart, had taken on board the understandable concerns of her grandmother Lady Margaret Beaufort, who believed herself to have been permanently damaged by the physical trauma of bearing a child when she was still only in her early teens, and had therefore waited until his bride turned 16 in November 1505 before doing the deed.‘

‘when it came to his treatment of his illegitimate children - all of whom he recognised as his own and lavished with every possible advantage. Margaret would be less than pleased when she discovered that her charming new husband had other claims upon his affection, but she was still unable to fault the level of attention, care and consideration that he managed to show her at all times.’

“plenty of the court hanker after the days of our old queen - they, who were so quick to leave her side in order that they might hurry north to meet their king in waiting. They are just as quick to regret him now. People... people talk in whispers. They said that his accession was like a bolt of lightning, illuminating the kingdom in a brief, dazzling glow that seemed to leave it darker as soon as it had passed.”

Ah I missed Iorek, one of my favourite characters.

‘The only potential issue was that of age. James of Scotland turned 23 on 17 March 1496 and already had quite a reputation for amorous adventures with the ladies of his court, whereas his prospective bride, Princess Margaret, was sixteen years younger and would not be ready for marriage for perhaps another six or seven years, which was a long time to make James wait.‘

‘Built on a hill which afforded a wonderful view of London, and surrounded by dense hunting forests, Eltham was considered to be a highly suitable location from the royal nursery, where the king’s children could benefit from healthy fresh air. This view was underlined within a month of Margaret’s birth when the court was hit by a deadly measles epidemic which killed a number of her mother’s ladies’

Ooh I didn’t see that one coming! I barely remember anything about this book, other than that I struggled as a child with this one.

Ah I loved this book and the ending but I really want to know what happens next!

‘Ma stepped close to me, and raised her hand. Stupidly - horrifyingly - I flinched; but she ran her fingers down my cheek, very gently, as if I was a child. “Don’t you understand, Emmett? We’ll forgive you. We’re giving you another chance. Take it. Please.” Her voice wavered, and she cleared her throat. “You’re getting one more chance to be our son.”

I see what people mean about this book and what I missed when I was a child reading this, the author really does step up his attack on the Catholic Church (even though he doesn’t actually call it that in this, but it is very obvious). Doesn’t bother me but I am curious to see how the BBC will cover this in their new adaption of the books, as the movie did its best to skirt around the issue but was still criticised.

‘in May 1517 Catherine and Margaret performed a public and deliberately staged intercession before Henry VIII when they pleaded for the lives of a group of London apprentice boys who were about to be executed for their part in the Evil May Day riots. This act may have earned Catherine lasting fame as a champion of London’s poor, and it was certainly a calculated decision by Catherine and Margaret‘

‘The material culture of royal childbirth provided both Catherine and Margaret with legitimacy and support during very difficult first pregnancies, and Catherine, at least, understood the important of material culture in establishing her authority as a mother. After her death in 1536 numerous goods relating to her confinements were found in storage’

‘A human being with no daemon was like someone without a face, or with their ribs laid open and their heart torn out; something unnatural and uncanny that belonged to the world of nightghasts, not the waking world of sense.’

One of the scenes I remember the most, I remember feeling really emotional when I read this part as a child.