Tea at Trianon: Elizabeth Woodville on BBC

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Elizabeth Woodville on BBC

Rebecca Ferguson as Elizabeth Woodville

BBC's Elizabeth and all the Woodvilles ( I love seeing the little sisters in the background.)

From the BBC:

Emma Frost has had a spell in the writing chair for the award-winning Shameless on channel Four. Her latest project sees her take on a very different project for BBC One in the shape of the period drama, The White Queen - a lush adaptation of Philippa Gregory's best-selling historical novel series, The Cousins' War.

Set in 1464, one of the most turbulent periods in British history, amid the War of the roses - the long running battle between the Houses of York and Lancaster - the drama combines three of Gregory's novels, telling the story of love, deception, seduction and murder through the eyes of three very different, but equally ambitious women.

Elizabeth Woodville, an "unknown woman from history who has been rediscovered" by Gregory, has an "incredibly interesting story with real scale," says Frost. (Read entire article.)

A review from The New Statesman says:

The magnetism between Elizabeth and Edward is quickly established. Their first meeting, beneath the legendary Whittlebury oak, is touching and immediate. Small details add to the anticipation; her mother’s good luck charm, her son biting into a plum, the other waving on the King’s approach. Historical purists might object. It is unlikely to have happened like that in real life. Far from being a “way-side hussy”, Elizabeth had probably already encountered Edward in the Lancastrian court circles of their fathers, but this is an adaption of a novel for Sunday night viewing and the romantic legend makes for better television.

The on-screen attraction between the star-crossed lovers is real and believable. As Ferguson explained in a recent BBC interview, she and Irons “just clicked” with “amazing chemistry straight away”. Almost as convincing are the heavy-handed doubts of the Woodville men, whose early snarls and cynical warnings anticipate the image we have of Elizabeth “wading through blood” for this marriage, as her mother warns her.

At the start, her male relations have the feeling of caricatures, deliberate created as foils for the new young king, but as the episode progressed, they were prevailed upon by the wisdom of women to wear white roses. Alongside Jacquetta, played by the impressive Janet McTeer, “commoner” Elizabeth states she is a match for any man and the audience believe her. Through this first episode, it was the pairing of mother and daughter which really stole the show. In a trilogy which presents an alternative perspective of the era through female eyes, these two were radiant. (Read entire review.)

More on Elizabeth Woodville from the BBC, HERE.

For accurate information on the Plantagenets and the Woodvilles, I rely on author Susan Higginbotham, HERE. Susan's review of Gregory's The White Queen is a must-read for those interested in the historicity of the new series.