The Forbidden Queen

INSPIRATION FOR THE FORBIDDEN QUEEN

I was inspired to write the story of Katherine de Valois because although history records her as being very much a fairy-tale princess—fair and beautiful and greatly loved by King Henry (indeed contemporaries believed them to be the perfect couple)—the historical evidence did not quite stack up for me.

But why not? Their love story in Shakespeare’s Henry Vis legendary. On his betrothal Henry ‘kissed her with great joy’ and on the day of their marriage he is said to have looked proud and emotional, as if he were ‘king of all the world.’ As well he might, of course. By marrying Katherine, Henry would take possession of the kingdom of France, without having to waste one more drop of English blood in battle.

But their marriage—lasting only a little more than two years—is a sorry tale of absence. Katherine’s honeymoon was spent on campaign. Back in England Henry went on royal progress, only taking Katherine with him for part of the journey. As soon as she was pregnant he left for France to renew the war. They only met once more, briefly in France, and Henry never saw his son. Dying, Henry made no attempt to contact his beautiful wife.

So what sort of relationship was it? I had to find out, just as I had to discover if Katherine truly was the weak, manipulated young woman who appears between the pages of history books. It seemed to me that there was far more to say about this youngest of the French Valois princesses. After Henry’s death, Katherine fell into a dangerous relationship with Edmund Beaufort. And then there was her scandalous marriage to Owen Tudor when she quite deliberately married below her station, Owen being no more than her servant.

All of this did not sound to me like the lifestyle of a young woman mourning the lost love of her life. Nor did Katherine, in her relationship with Owen, give the impression of being perpetually under the influence of stronger characters.

Was such contrast and ambiguity not a gift to an historical novelist?

In the light of this I decided that Katherine deserved a re-evaluation, allowing her a life of her own within her two marriages. I hope I have done her justice in writing The Forbidden Queen, allowing us to see the woman behind the façade.