Murder Most Royal

This post first published November 10, 2012. 

Author: Jean Plaidy
First Published: 1949
Publisher: Arrow
Series: Tudor Saga #5
736 pages (paperback)
 
More books about the Tudors! Although to be fair, this one was written in 1949 so I wouldn’t say it’s a part of the current Tudor craze. As usual with such historical novels, though it says it is a part of a series, you can most certainly read them in any order you like.

Murder Most Royal takes place during the reign of Henry VIII and it focuses on two of his wives: Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, who were cousins of one another. As per usual, if you have an understanding of history, than the plot of the story is going to be predictable and familiar for you. The story begins with Henry being dissatisfied with his current wife, Katherine of Aragon (who is, by the way, my favourite of Henry’s six queens). Anne Boleyn catches the eye of the king, but Anne is steadfast in her initial decision to not have anything to do with the king. She has seen how her sister, Mary Boleyn, is treated by others after Henry has enjoyed her and then, discarded her. Henry is absolutely smitten though. Eventually, with her own love gone and lost, Anne decides to embrace her ambitious side and be with the king.

As this is happening, we also have young Catherine Howard, beautiful and passionate. She flits from lover to lover, believing herself to be truly in love each time, until someone “better” comes along. She is proud that her cousin Anne is the soon-to-be queen and never would have dreamed that one day, she will be filling in Anne’s shoes.

I think this is probably the most historically accurate Tudor novel I’ve read yet. That’s not to say it’s 100% historically accurate, just that it’s the most accurate I’ve read so far. I really enjoyed it, especially being exposed to some more historical figures and learning about them. There’s a whole slew of minor ones, but also the characters of Catherine Howard and Anne of Cleves. There’s so few current novels that feature those two queens. Usually they are kind of glossed over, or just mentioned in passing. Although Anne of Cleves’ part in this novel is brief, I finally got to be “acquainted” with her and Catherine Howard. Of course, their characters’ are the author, Jean Plaidy’s interpretation of them, and it was a very likeable and enjoyable perspective of these two ladies.

As for Anne Boleyn, I was pleasantly surprised that she was portrayed rather positively in this book. It’s so easy to portray Anne Boleyn in a negative light and a lot of current Tudor novels do indeed do that. In this book, Anne is not shown to be ambitious right from the start. Anne is shown to be a clever, witty, and beautiful young lady. She sees the way her sister ruined her reputation, and she has no interest in following in her footsteps. Anne is shown to be passionate and loving when she was with Henry Percy, and devastated when they could not be together. Believing that she will never have the happy love life she wanted, she decides to answer the king’s flirtations and begin scheming for power, so she may hurt those who have ruined her chances for happiness.

The funny thing with this novel is that although the book is supposed to be about Anne and Catherine, I feel like it is disproportionately more about Anne Boleyn. Fair enough, she is the more “exciting” queen and all. It just felt a bit unequal while reading. 80% of the book focused on Anne, interspersed with bits and pieces about Catherine’s childhood and lovers. Then the last 20%, when Anne dies, focuses on Catherine, but she frequently thinks about her tragic cousin. Henry, too, also continuously thinks about Anne, even as he takes new wives. This book shows how deeply involved Henry was with Anne Boleyn and he could do nothing to remove her from his life, even having her killed.

With all that said, I did not find this book to be a “page turner” as sometimes the passages can feel quite dry. I wouldn’t label this book as exciting, but it definitely is emotional and full of drama. Maybe it’s just because I am so accustomed to reading about Henry and his wives now …  However, for the most part, it was a pleasant read and I truly enjoyed the different take on Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. I definitely want to try out more books by Jean Plaidy.

My Rating: 3/5