The Forgotten Queen by D.L. Bogdan
by
Natasa Djordjevic
- 5:34 AM
“There are seventh days all around, those moments of calm and tranquility we must seize because there are very few times when life is not too much.”
Historians often write so much about Henry VIII and his wives that they tend to push his older sister Margaret Tudor into his shadow. Not so in this novel. Meet Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII and sister to Crown Prince Arthur and his younger brother Henry and their younger sister Mary. Margaret is sent to Scotland as a mere girl in a political marriage to King James IV. She grows accustomed to Scotland’s language and clan factions and tries to be a wife and mother as well as Queen Consort. It is not easy. James feels so responsible for much in his life that he undergoes frequent penitential suffering. But he loves Margaret and they try to work together to make a lasting peace between France, England, and Scotland. Things, of course, do not go so well. The reader lives through the days of history, as James is defeated in battle and Margaret becomes Queen Regent, only to find her Regency threatened and lost, her position fragile. Through it all, Margaret tries her best to remain, Queen, while also wanting so much to be a woman simply. Her stubbornness and pride sometimes prevent her from being humble when it would be better for her. She does not listen or look carefully at those around her, even while loving them dearly, she never sees the long illness of her “best” friend, nor knows that this friend has a child. This novel provides a fascinating view of Margaret Tudor, a woman, and Queen rarely depicted in the Tudor stories.
