Here is a #90 gifs of Emilia Fox in Henry VIII. All of these gifs were made by me from scratch, so do not redistribute or claim them as your own. If using, please give this a like and reblog!

Bernard Hill: Titanic and Lord of the Rings actor dies

On-screen character Bernard Slope, best known for parts in Titanic and Ruler of the Rings, has kicked the bucket matured 79.

He played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film and Ruler Théoden in the Master of the Rings.

His breakout part was in 1982 BBC TV dramatization Boys from the Blackstuff, where he depicted Yosser Hughes, a character who battled - and frequently fizzled - to adapt with unemployment in Liverpool.

He passed on early on Sunday morning, his specialist Lou Coulson confirmed.

With him at the time were his fiancee Alison and his child Gabriel.

Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, the performing artists who played the hobbits Frodo, Sam, Cheerful and Pippin in the Ruler of the Rings set of three, paid tribute to their co-star at Comedian Con in Liverpool.

Astin started by saying: "We adore him. He was courageous, he was clever, he was rough, he was irritable, he was beautiful."

Boyd described observing the set of three with Monaghan, saying: "I do not think anybody talked Tolkien's words as awesome as Bernard did. He would break my heart. He will be exclusively missed."

Alan Bleasdale, who composed Boys from the Blackstuff, said Hill's passing was a "extraordinary misfortune and too a incredible surprise".

"It was an astounding, mesmeric execution - Bernard gave everything to that and you can see it in all the scenes. He got to be Yosser Hughes."

Alan Bleasdale: 'I was frantic to work with him'

He included: "I was frantic to work with him. Everything he did - his entire strategy for working, the way in which he worked and his execution was everything that you seem ever wish for.

"You continuously felt that Bernard would live until the end of time. He had a extraordinary quality, physically and of personality."

TCD/Alamy Bernard Slope in Ruler of the RingsTCD/Alamy

In full stream as Ruler Théoden in the Master of the Rings

Getty Pictures Bernard Slope as Captain Edward James Smith in TitanicGetty Images

As Captain Edward James Smith in Titanic

Hill, who was from Manchester and lived in Suffolk, was due to return to TV screens in arrangement two of The Responder, a BBC dramatization featuring Martin Freeman, which starts airing on Sunday.

Lindsay Salt, chief of BBC Show, paid tribute to him, saying: "Bernard Slope bursted a path over the screen, and his long-lasting career filled with famous and exceptional parts is a confirmation to his extraordinary talent."

"From Boys from the Blackstuff, to Wolf Corridor, The Responder, and numerous more, we feel really regarded to have worked with Bernard at the BBC. Our contemplations are with his adored ones at this pitiful time."

In Boys from the Blackstuff, Slope drew laud for his abrasive depiction of Yosser Hughes, an strongly character who argued "Gizza [allow us a] work" as he looked for work.

That appear won a Bafta for best show arrangement in 1983, and in 2000 it was positioned seventh on a British Film Founded list of the best TV appears ever made.

Bernard Slope as Yosser Hughes in Boys From The Blackstuff

Yosser Hughes, played by Bernard Slope, was one of the most vital characters in 1982's Boys From The Blackstuff

Another of Hill's important BBC TV exhibitions came in the 2015 show arrangement Wolf Corridor, adjusted from Hilary Mantel's book around the court of Henry VIII. Slope depicted the Duke of Norfolk - an uncle of Anne Boleyn and an foe of Cardinal Wolsey.

In Dwindle Jackson's epic set of three The Master of the Rings, Slope joined the cast for the moment film, 2002's The Two Towers, and returned to the establishment for 2003's The Return Of The Lord, which picked up 11 Oscars.

Other parts in Hill's decades-long career included the 1976 BBC TV arrangement I, Claudius, an appearance in 1982's Gandhi, Shirley Valentine in 1989, The Scorpion Ruler in 2002 and 2008 Tom Journey film Valkyrie.

He was implied to be at Comedian Con Liverpool on Saturday, but had to cancel at the final diminutive, the tradition said in a post on X. As news of his passing broke, the coordinators said on the stage they were "shattered" at Hill's passing, and wished his family a "parcel of strength".

Scottish artist Barbara Dickson moreover paid tribute on X, saying he had been a "truly sublime actor".

She included: "It was a benefit to have crossed ways with him. Tear Benny x."

“Historians have been slow to recognise Thomas Boleyn’s position-- as indeed were contemporaries. Instead, it was the showier power of the two Dukes, Norfolk and Suffolk, who attracted comment and adulation.

Understandably piqued, Thomas Boleyn decided to teach the French ambassador, Du Bellay, the new realities of power. The casus belli was an apparently trivial matter of diplomatic business. Du Bellay thought the matter had already been handled by Norfolk and Suffolk. Boleyn quickly showed him his mistake. 

‘He let everybody have their say,’ the aggrieved ambassador reported, ‘then argued the opposite and defended it to the hilt.’ His intention, Du Bellay added, was to display his displeasure that ‘one had failed to worship the Young Lady [Anne]’. It was also to confirm the truth of what Boleyn had told him previously. ‘That is to say that none of the other [councillors] have any credit at all [with Henry] unless it pleased the Young Lady to lend them some.’

Did Thomas Boleyn protest too much? I do not think so. Nor did Du Bellay. Thomas Boleyn’s claim about the power wielded by his daughter, Anne, was, the ambassador concluded, ‘as true as the Gospel.’”

Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII (2003)  / Starkey, David.

The hauntings of Hampton Court Palace

Let's begin with some background history of this royal palace. Hampton Court is located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, United Kingdom. The building of it first began in 1514 by a man named Cardinal Wolsey. He was the chief minister of Henry VIII. This same Henry took over the beautiful palace and proceeded to marry six women. In order, they go, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and lastly, Catherine Parr (Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived).

The first ghost story I came upon; was the figure in the Queen's gallery. One night, several staff members were patrolling the palace after close and began preparing for an evening function. Some colleagues were huddled together in the Queen's Gallery when they heard one of the grand doors open. The palace was shut and only a few employees remained. They then heard footsteps approaching them, but no one was there. Well, no one in a physical form at least. They ran out of the room in fear but when they returned, still no one was to be seen. Who knows who this could have been? Maybe Queen Elizabeth I having a stroll through her gallery.

Catherine Howard is said to haunt the palace too; Henry the 8th's "rose without a thorn". Catherine Howard was executed, by Henry's request, in 1542 at the Tower of London. She was named an adulterer and Henry wanted her head. Howard broke free when she was caught by guards and ran to the Chapel Royal to seek her husband's help and appeal her case. Just outside the chapel is where her pleading ghost can be seen, 470 years later. They named this area, the Haunted Gallery in 1918. Visitors of the palace have reported seeing apparitions, and feeling chills and strange sensations when they pass along the corridor. In 1999, two female visitors fainted in the same spot in the haunted gallery within thirty minutes of one another. Maybe you're overcome with the feelings that Howard felt when she knew there was no persuading her husband to clear her name and soon her head would be gone?

In the winter of 2003, every night for three days, the security staff of the palace were alerted that a fire door by the Clock Court had been opened. CCTV footage showed the doors being swung open with a mighty force. You can watch it on youtube, just search "Hampton Court CCTV ghost". On the second night, a figure can be seen. It appears to be a larger man wearing period dress, he comes along and shuts the fire doors. Later that day a visitor had left a description of the same figure in the visitor book, stating that they had seen this man walking around the castle. He could have been a worker, dressed like Henry VIII for a show, or it could have been the spirit of Henry VIII closing the doors to keep the heat in. Watch the video or check out the image below and let me know who you think it is on my Instagram @allthingshorror111.

Sybil Penn; the nurse of Prince Edward and Elizabeth I. She is also known as the Grey Lady and sightings began in 1829 when the tomb she was buried in was desecrated and her remains scattered. Sybil Penn died from smallpox after caring for Elizabeth I while she had the same disease. Penn allegedly haunts the Clock Court and State apartments. The first account was from the Ponsonby family who lived at the palace. They were constantly disturbed by the sound of a spinning wheel. A legend roamed the palace, it was said that a small sealed chamber was discovered close to the family's apartment, and when it had been opened, a spinning wheel was found.

These few stories are all that have been publicly mentioned however, I have some of my own. My dad and I used to visit Hampton Court every other weekend, we were members. One Saturday we were having a hot chocolate in the member's room. We were the only people in the room. Nature called and we both needed to use the WC which was located upstairs but the stairs were roped off. We snuck up there anyway, my ten-year-old self nervous about the dim lighting and whistling sounds of the wind. As we were climbing the Tudor stairs a small black ballbarian rolled down the stairs. I can see it now. It was almost like someone threw it down the stairs from the top. My dad shrieked and so did I so I hid behind him. He hesitantly made his way up. I wanted to go back downstairs but he needed to spend a penny. We took turns to do our business when all of sudden we heard faint whispers. I can hear them now, man and woman laughing and whispering. It sounded like what I imagined the servants of the palace to sound like, sharing the secrets of the castle. My dad and I have always been interested in the supernatural so we put on our big boy pants and wanted to investigate. Maybe it was the actors of the palace in their dressing rooms? We searched the four rooms that were upstairs. One was locked, the others filled with dusty furniture. Not a soul was seen. The whispering stopped once we began searching. Maybe it was other members downstairs. Still, no one had entered. So who knows what that could have been?

When I turned thirteen we went back to the palace with a family friend. A photograph was taken of me in the barrel room. This photo, seven years later, I have still not seen this. My dad never let me see it, he said it was like death was standing behind me. It was taken on our family friend's camera. Years later, a photo came out, the one I wrote about at the start. My dad said the figure behind me looked very similar to that in the photo. Lastly, seven years later, I visited the palace with my boyfriend. We were in the gallery and went to investigate this small room that no one was in. There was nothing there, just a roped-off staircase. My boyfriend was mocking being a ghost when all of a sudden the heavy, thick door slammed shut. There was no wind, the windows were shut and the door was heavy anyway. We struggled to open it for a few minutes but my boyfriend managed to get it open. No one was walking through the gallery at the time, the only people being a german couple far up the corridor. If you have any explanations for these personal experiences, let me know!

Dreaming Of Something Better

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2BCSXrp

by AvengingMikaelsonsLover

A Cosmic Immortal Being with the ability to go to any realm or dimension she wants What could possibly go wrong.... lets play Russian Roulette..... A dream a reality who knows....

 Props to the Tik-Tok creators FlickerSpark_ and Sea.Ya.Later.... I Love your work.... *gets on knees worshipping* we're not worthy.... we're not worthy.

Words: 12985, Chapters: 10/15, Language: English

Fandoms: Original Work, 달의 연인-보보경심 려 | Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (TV), The Originals (TV), Robin Hood (2010), The Borgias (Showtime TV), The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory, Henry VIII (TV 2003), The Tudors (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Relationships: Wang Eun | tenth Prince/Original Female Character, Wang Jung | Fourteenth Prince/Original female Characters, Wang Wook | Eighth Prince/Original Female Character, Wang So | Fourth Prince/Original Female Character, Baek Ah | Thirteenth Prince/Original Female Character, Kol Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s), Elijah Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s), Klaus Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s), Finn Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s), Little John/Original Female Character, Cesare Borgia/Original Female Character, Anne Boleyn/Henry VIII of England

Additional Tags: Smut, Love, Fear, Trust Issues, Trust Kink, Chronic Pain, Kissing in the Rain, Kissing, Harems, Reverse Harem, Big Bang cosmic event not the show

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2BCSXrp

Viv’s Top Musicals (Theatre)

1. Hadestown - 2019

This musical is gorgeous. A perfect blend of mythology and realism, it brings a completely new interpretation on this myth in the depression-era New Orleans. The diversity of voices and utter heart-wrenching chemistry all the characters show is great. I have this playlist constantly on repeat.

2. Six - 2019

If you like history and banging beats, here ya go. This musical really shows how the six wives of king Henry VIII feel about their legacies using modern language and sick costumes. All the rage of this musical on Tik Tok is well deserved, it’s great.

Edit: lol I also just found out I’m distantly related from Katherine Parr, her brother William is my great grandfather x14 or something.

3. Waitress - 2016

If you like rom-coms with a heart-wrenching and empowering plot, this is the play for you. With a score done by Sara Bareilles (“Love Song”), this musical will make you laugh and cry.

4. Beetlejuice - 2019

This musical is great, with the hilarity of the original 80s movie but with a theatrical twist. You’ll want to know about The Whole Being Dead Thing.

5. The Book of Mormon - 2011

I would not recommend this play for the faint of heart. It’s a satire on religious groups in the US (specifically Mormonism), but it is hilarious. It will make you question yourself morally but cry laughing while you do it. It gets at the root of the problematic cultish behaviour of religion.

6. Wicked - 2003

Iconic! I mean what else is there to say, you need to see this play at least once in your life. It’s catchy and the notes those girls hit are insane. It’s a great take on the villain of a story and makes you rethink the who is really good and evil.

7. In the Heights - 2008

If you like Hamilton and can sit through Lin Manuel-Miranda’s voice, here ya go. It’s a nice little story about immigrants (who get the job done). Plus, the movie is coming out this summer and I’m so excited, Anthony Ramos is gonna play the lead.

8. Anastasia - 2017

A beautiful rendition of the animated classic, the cast has the voices of angels and the characters really shine through. I like how this play is along the backdrop of the beginning of Bolshevism and Soviet Russia.

9. Dear Evan Hansen - 2016

The plot of this play is a little dry, the whole teen angst bit and everything. But the songs, mwah, beautiful. Ben Platt can sing at my funeral, the comedic timing is on point and the incorporation of modern social media in high school life was really interesting to investigate.

10. First Date - 2013

This is quite a short little play, staring Zachery Levi but it perfectly captures the awkwardness and adventures of the dating life for both those who are nerdy and cool. So funny!

Top 5 most wtf moments in Tudor media (any media that focuses on the Tudors)

1. The Spanish Princess...just the entire show was one giant WTF moment

2. Marguerite of Navarre in The Tudors

3. That scene in Henry VIII (2003) when Wolsey and Anne are walking alongside Henry and Anne literally says Henry has to choose between her and Wolsey

4. Robert Dudley in Elizabeth (1998) (I mean, that whole movie has a lot of WTFs, but Dudley’s story in particular is just crazy)

5. Katheryn Howard practicing her execution topless in The Tudors (Her oversexualization in that show in general is pretty WTF, but that moment in particular is just the worst).

Events 5.21

293 – Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy. 878 – Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabids after a nine-month siege. 879 – Pope John VIII gives blessings to Branimir of Croatia and to the Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state. 996 – Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1349 – Dušan's Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, is enacted by Dušan the Mighty. 1403 – Henry III of Castile sends Ruy González de Clavijo as ambassador to Timur to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and Castile against the Ottoman Empire. 1554 – Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England. 1659 – In the Concert of The Hague, the Dutch Republic, the Commonwealth of England and the Kingdom of France set out their views on how the Second Northern War should end. 1660 – The Battle of Long Sault concludes after five days in which French colonial militia, with their Huron and Algonquin allies, are defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy. 1674 – The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. 1703 – Daniel Defoe is imprisoned on charges of seditious libel. 1725 – The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky. 1758 – Ten-year-old Mary Campbell is abducted in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War. She is returned six and a half years later. 1792 – A lava dome collapses on Mount Unzen, near the city of Shimbara on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, creating a deadly tsunami that killed nearly 15,000 people. 1809 – The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held. 1851 – Slavery in Colombia is abolished. 1856 – Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces. 1863 – American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege. 1864 – Russia declares an end to the Russo-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning. 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends. 1864 – The Ionian Islands reunite with Greece. 1871 – French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of "Bloody Week", some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested. 1871 – Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi Bahnen on Mount Rigi. 1879 – War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique. 1881 – The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C. 1894 – The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams. 1904 – The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris. 1911 – President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution. 1917 – The Imperial War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record, and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of the British Empire's military forces. 1917 – The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5 million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack). 1924 – University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing". 1927 – Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. 1932 – Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. 1934 – Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens. 1936 – Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her handbag. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals. 1937 – A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean. 1939 – The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 1946 – Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory. 1951 – The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition: A gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School. 1961 – American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out. 1966 – The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland. 1969 – Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student. 1972 – Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth. 1976 – Twenty-nine people are killed in the Yuba City bus disaster in Martinez, California. 1979 – White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk. 1981 – The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries. 1981 – Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380 million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven's Gate. 1982 – Falklands War: A British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos. 1991 – Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras. 1991 – Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end. 1992 – After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosted his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show. 1994 – The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessfully attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out. 1996 – The ferry MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000. 1998 – In Miami, five abortion clinics are attacked by a butyric acid attacker. 1998 – President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule. 2001 – French Taubira law is enacted, officially recognizing the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity. 2003 – The 6.8 Mw  Boumerdès earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). More than 2,200 people were killed and a moderate tsunami sank boats at the Balearic Islands. 2005 – The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. 2006 – The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence. 2010 – JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year. 2011 – Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this date. 2012 – A bus accident near Himara, Albania kills 13 people and injures 21 others. 2012 – A suicide bombing kills more than 120 people in Sana'a, Yemen. 2017 – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Here is a #50 gifs of Joseph Morgan in Henry VIII. All of these gifs were made by me from scratch, so do not redistribute or claim them as your own. If using, please give this a like and reblog!

The Royal Fascinator Friday, May 01, 2020 Hello, royal watchers and all those intrigued by what’s going on inside the House of Windsor. This is your biweekly dose of royal news and analysis. Reading this online? Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox. Janet Davison Janet Davison Royal Expert

Sophie: The royal who ‘just gets on with it

She has been packing groceries in recent days, volunteering at a kitchen and talking to paramedics. There hasn’t been much fanfare around her actions in support of those working in the battle against COVID-19 — but then again, when Sophie, Countess of Wessex, does her royal business, that’s the way it tends to be. “Sophie does everything very quietly, partly because the media don’t follow her obsessively as they do with William and Catherine and partly because the things she does aren’t necessarily very glamorous,” said Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, via email. That’s exactly what the Royal Family needs, Seward suggests: “someone who just gets on with things regardless of the attention they receive.” Seward likens Sophie, who joined the Royal Family when she married the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, in 1999, to her sister-in-law, Princess Anne. Seward said given that Anne is nearly 70, she thinks Sophie “will take over from her as being the hardest-working royal. [Sophie] approaches her role in an unfussy way and just gets on with it.” That low-key approach has not gone unnoticed by her mother-in-law. Sophie “goes about her duty diligently, quietly and without a great deal of fuss, and for that the Queen adores her,” said Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent, Katie Nicholl, via email. “They are very close and spend a lot of time together when they are in Windsor, and the Queen loves riding with her grandchildren James and Louise.” It’s a closeness observers say goes back years. Sophie’s arrival in the family came in the wake — and in some ways the shadow — of Diana, wife of Edward’s older brother Prince Charles. Some saw Sophie as a new Diana, Seward said, “which of course she wasn’t.” “She hated the comparison as she knew she never would or should try to live up to it.” Louise's birth in November 2003 was difficult, as Sophie almost died as a result of blood loss. “People saw how much the Queen cared about her, visiting her in hospital, which is unheard of,” Seward said. “Gradually and without being pushy, she became the Queen’s closest companion — they share a love of military history and a wicked sense of humour.” That’s not to say it’s all been smooth sailing for Sophie. After her marriage, she continued in her career, but quit as head of a public relations company in 2001 after embarrassing comments she made were secretly recorded by a tabloid reporter posing as an Arab sheik and published in the News of the World. Seward suggests the Queen remained supportive of her daughter-in-law, and ultimately decided it would be better if Sophie and Edward worked as full-time royals. “Ever since then, Sophie has appeared looking glamorous when needed and workmanlike when needed.” She has visited Canada several times, sometimes with Prince Edward, sometimes on her own. The last visit came last fall, with two low-profile days in Toronto. Much of the time was spent at Toronto Western and Toronto General hospitals. She talked with critically ill patients and showed a "great warmth" and a "real, genuine skill in listening," Kevin Smith, president and chief executive officer of the University Health Network, said at the time. With turmoil and uncertainty in the upper echeolons of the Royal Family these days —  Prince Harry and Meghan stepping back to seek their independence, Prince Andrew stepping back amid controversy over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — questions have arisen over just how the House of Windsor will approach the future. Some suggest Sophie will find herself in a more prominent role. “We are already seeing Edward and Sophie doing more to support the royals and I think that’s going to be the case moving forward,” said Nicholl.

Royal birthdays — pandemic-style

T(The Duchess of Cambridge/Kensington Palace via AP)In any family, birthdays can come in bunches. For the Royal Family, there’s a real run of them in late April and early May. And this year, the pandemic has been reflected as some members of the family marked their annual milestones in recent days. Queen Elizabeth's 94th birthday was acknowledged more quietly than usual. The gun salutes that normally sound on April 21 were called off, with the Queen feeling they would not be appropriate at this time. Photos released to mark Prince Louis’s second birthday on April 23, taken by his mother, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, showed the happy, colourful and messy aftermath of fingerpainting rainbows in support of the National Health Service. Other birthdays right around now include Louis’s sister Charlotte, who turns five on May 2, and their cousin, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, who will be one on May 6.

Harry and Meghan and the media —  again

Prince Harry and Meghan may be looking for a new life in Los Angeles, but some old issues appear to remain top of mind for them.The couple, who stepped back from the upper echelons of the Royal Family a month ago, caught observers somewhat off-guard the other day when they sent out a message saying they would no longer be co-operating with four British tabloid newspapers.It prompted some to wonder about the timing of the announcement, coming as it did during the pandemic, when such an issue might take a back seat to concerns over how to battle the coronavirus.Harry in particular has had a raucous relationship with the media, and the couple has also taken their battle into the courts.A few days ago, the first court hearing in a privacy case brought by Meghan against a tabloid for printing part of a letter to her father began at the High Court in London.Papers submitted in court included details of text messages Harry sent to Meghan’s father.The whole media swirl prompted Jonny Dymond, the BBC’s royal correspondent, to ask, “So will the real Duke and Duchess of Sussex please stand up?“There is the couple who provoke such sympathy in the court papers published today,” Dymond wrote recently. “And there's the couple who think now is the right time to exercise their quarrels with the bestselling papers of the nation that they have departed from.”

“Royally quotable“

As we approach World Immunization Week, I wanted to recognize the vital and urgent work being done by so many to tackle the pandemic; by those in the medical and scientific professions, at universities and research institutions, all united in working to protect us from COVID-19.”— 

The pandemic prompted Prince Philip to make a rare public statement on April 20. The 98-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, who has had a keen interest in science, has rarely been seen in public since he retired from public duties in the summer of 2017.

Royals in Canada

(Bill Croke/The Canadian Press)Princess Anne has been having something of a moment lately — or maybe several moments. One came late last fall, prompted by the feisty portrayal of her in Season 3 of the Netflix drama The Crown. And right now, the all-business, no-nonsense only daughter of the Queen and Prince Philip is the cover story for Vanity Fair.

But rewind 49 years, and Anne had her share of moments, too, some of them coming in Canada.

Much media attention was focused on the 20-year-old when she arrived with her parents to mark the 100th anniversary of British Columbia’s entry into Confederation.

As much as Anne was the focus of anticipation and attention during that trip in early May 1971, her royal duties were rather routine, even a bit mundane.

“Princess Anne made no official statement at the unveiling,” the Globe and Mail reported on May 5, after she officially opened Canada’s newest national park, Pacific Rim on Vancouver Island. “Her only function was to pull the cord that removed the flag from the rock face to unveil the plaque.”

Later, the Globe reported, Anne told the park superintendent “she was much impressed by the beauty and the picturesqueness of the park region.”

Our friends at CBC Archives have taken an in-depth look at the tour that took the royal visitors to Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, Williams Lake and Comox.

Royal reads 1.Prince Harry has told friends he misses his life in the Armed Forces. [Daily Telegraph]

2. Harry has also looked back on his time as a child, recording a special messageto celebrate the 75th anniversary of a book he and others loved in their younger years: Thomas the Tank Engine. [CBC

]3. King Henry VIII might not be the first person you think of as inspiration for how to live in self-isolation, but maybe he could offer some lessons on how to find comfort in quarantine. [The Guardian]Cheers!I’m always happy to hear from you. Send your ideas, comments, feedback and notes to [email protected]. Problems with the newsletter? Please let me know about any typos, errors or glitches.

what is the difference btwn academic history and pop history?

Both Henry and Anne wore yellow, the color of mourning in Spain, as a mark of respect for the woman whom Henry insisted had been his sister-in-law.

Henry VIII was at Greenwich on that day, and he observed the funeral [of Catherine of Aragon] by wearing black mourning clothes and attending a solemn mass. Anne, however, donned yellow once more, and grumbled because nothing was spoken of that day but the Christian deathbed of her rival.

Weir, Alison. 1991. The six wives of Henry VIII.

Although he wept when he read [Catherine’s last] letter, [...] Henry appeared at court in [...] outfits of yellow [...]

Weir, Alison. 2010. Henry VIII: the king and his court.

He observed the day of her burial with solemn obsequies [...] himself attending dressed in mourning. 

Now I am indeed a queen!” Anne crowed in triumph, on hearing of her rival’s passing, and she had “worn yellow for the mourning.” It is a misconception that yellow was the color of Spanish royal mourning: Anne’s choice of garb was no less than a calculated insult to the memory of the woman she had supplanted.

Weir, Alison. 2010. The lady in the tower: the fall of Anne Boleyn.

(*doesn’t happen to mention it was her own misconception, which is hysterical to me...spiderman pointing.jpeg)

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Recusant tradition preserves a different story. In this, it is Anne who wore the outrageous ‘yellow for mourning’ and Henry who, smitten with conscience, wept over Catherine’s last letter. 

It would be better for Henry’s reputation if all this were true. But alas, it is pious nonsense. Chapuys’s contemporary report alone proves that. So does Henry’s subsequent behavior. For he showed only two concerns for Catherine after her death. The first was to exploit her funeral to drive home, irrefutably and for the last time, that she had never been his wife nor Queen of England; and the second was to get his hands on what was left of her property. 

Starkey, David. 2003. Six wives: the queens of Henry VIII.

These are two different [if we can call...the former group that] 'assessments' of the veracity of Anglican Schism (Nicholas Sanders) + Vergil + Girolamo Pollini (born 1544) as credible contemporary Tudor sources. These are all different aspects of their accounts of the immediate aftermath of the death of Catherine of Aragon. All were written after the death of Henry VIII.

It’s in academic history that you’re going to find distinction between sources, that contemporary report (especially one from someone residing at or near the court they are reporting on), no matter how biased in favor or against whom they are speaking of, always trumps one recorded decades after the events in question, as Starkey states above. 

Academic history will also qualify what the source is (recusant tradition versus contemporary report, etc.)

Popular history is not really parsed in the same way. All sources are treated as if they are equally credible so that the narrative flow keeps a steady pace and for a more digestible, more entertaining read. 

It’s also the difference between thesis (ie, explicitly giving one’s opinion, ‘pious nonsense’, and why) versus giving one’s opinion implicitly. Weir doesn’t need to explicitly state that Anne Boleyn was a vindictive, heartless woman whereas Henry was a soft touch. Rather, the sources are massaged to say that in and of themselves and render the appearance of objectivity. 

Hi Skippy. Regarding Joss Stone, I loved her first album The Soul Sessions released in 2003, particularly the song “Fell in Love with a Boy”.

Moreover, if you have watched The Tudors, she played Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII, played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.

No idea why she was mentioned in the riddle a few days ago but I guess the connection with her work with Prince Harry in 2016 and her playing the character must have brought out her name.

The fact remains that she played a Queen Consort in a famous TV series unlike MM. Haha!

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My favourite show of all!  Thank you😊❤️❤️❤️❤️

Why “Hamilton” and “Six” are Hardly Similar

*Please note: this is not a formal writing, I just wanted to find a way to get my feelings about this out*

Over the past few months, I’ve seen more and more people commenting about how Six is “copying” Hamilton, or that it’s just the “British version of Hamilton”, and it has been incredibly frustrating to read this, because it’s not true at all. Firstly, Hamilton isn’t even the first historical musical to exist. In fact, the show itself was inspired by a separate musical based around the same time, 1776 (premiered on Broadway in 1969). Other examples of musicals based on real events/history written before/around the same time as Hamilton include Thrill Me (premiered with a small production in 2003), as well as Something Rotten!, which the writers had the idea of since the 1990s. Chicago (coming from a 1926 play of the same name, opened on Broadway in 1975), although a lot of it is fiction, uses two real women as inspirations for two of the characters (arguably, you could say “Ex-Wives” from Six was semi-inspired by Chicago’s “Cell Block Tango”). Although Six was written after Hamilton, this does not mean that it is “copying” the show whatsoever. The time periods that each were based off of are nowhere near the same; Hamilton takes place in late 18th century-early 19th century America, while Six is based on 16th century England, the time when Henry VIII ruled as king.

Next, let’s talk about the characters. The leading character of Hamilton, of course, is Alexander Hamilton. Besides Alexander, many of the leading characters are male, the only exception being Hamilton’s wife, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton. Other female characters within the show either only feature a few times (Angelica Schuyler) or only have a part in one song (Peggy Schuyler, Maria Reynolds). Many other women who have roles of little importance are played by members of the ensemble, such as in “Blow Us All Away”. However, in Six, the situation is entirely the opposite. The show features six women as the lead characters. Even the backing band, the Ladies in Waiting, is made up of women. There is no male focus within the show, besides mentions of the men within the queens’ lives. Thematically, Hamilton focuses on protecting one man’s legacy, while Six features the queens fighting to prove that they are more than just one word in history, that they were just as important, if not more, than the man they all had married.

Another point commonly used against Six is the use of modern music styles to get the point across. Although this is partially true, the choice of music style in each show is drastically different. While Hamilton draws inspiration from rap/hip-hop, as well as other musical theatre, Six is more based on pop. Each queen has two ‘queenspirations’, which are two women in pop music who influenced the way Marlow and Moss wrote the character. Catherine of Aragon was inspired by Beyoncé and Shakira. Anne Boleyn’s style comes from that of Lily Allen and Avril Lavigne. Jane Seymour’s ballad was influenced by the works of Adele and Sia. Anne of Cleves is the queen who comes closest (though still not very close) to Hamilton’s inspirations, having been inspired by Rihanna and Nicki Minaj. Katherine Howard’s style is reminiscent of Ariana Grande and Britney Spears, and Catherine Parr’s mirrors the styles of Alicia Keys and Emilie Sandé. Interestingly, though, Alicia Keys was featured on The Hamilton Mixtape to sing “That Would Be Enough”, however, this does not mean that the musicals are at all the same.

In conclusion, although the shows do have some similarities, like the queens have Henry in common, comparing them is not right, as they are both unique and their own shows. Each show deserves recognition for itself, and not how much it has in common with another show. Both include a diverse casting, creating many theatrical positions for people of colour that were not as common as before they had become popular, which they should be celebrated for. Six also empowers women, as well as gives an opportunity for trans and non-binary people to be featured in roles, as Marlow and Moss have stated that they would be open to casting these people. Let’s agree as fans to respect the other’s show, as well as each other, rather than tearing each other down over a few small similarities.

On this day in history, the 7th of January 1536, Catherine of Aragon, queen consort of Henry VIII, died in Kimbolton Castle at the age of fifty

By the Christmas of 1535, Catherine’s condition had begun to worsen. She had just turned fifty the previous week. Catherine was now racked with stomach pains, leaving her unable to keep down anything nor sleep for no more than an hour or two a night.

Chapuys had begged permission from the King to visit Catherine on December 29th, and Henry received him in a good mood in the lists at Greenwich, evidently relieved that Catherine was now at death’s door. Chapuys set for Kimbolton, amassing a large retinue behind him that it took three days to travel to the castle, arriving on the 2nd of January 1536. All the while, Cromwell sent Vaughan to keep an eye on the Imperial ambassador.

On the evening of New Year’s Day 1536, a bedraggled María de Salinas showed up at the gates of the castle without royal permission, forcing her way into Catherine’s bedchamber to the consternation of the castle’s steward, Sir Edmund Beddingfield. María had arrived in England with Catherine’s retinue three decades previously, seeing Catherine through her marriage to Arthur, the seven years of hardships that followed her widowhood, her remarriage to Henry, and every other milestone that followed, each dwindling in glory than the last. She was now determined to see her mistress and dearest friend during her final hours.

Chapuys’ and María’s presence improved Catherine’s health. She was now once again able to eat and hold down her food. Over the next few days, Catherine and Chapuys held long discussions about matters that bothered her conscience. Catherine was worried that the heresies that were now spreading in England were her fault for not bowing down to the King’s Great Matter, to which Chapuys soothed her concerns by telling her that heresy was not yet so entrenched that it could not be “uprooted.”

By the 5th of January, Catherine’s health was much improved that Chapuys left Kimbolton, not wishing to make the King think that he was abusing his license to visit a woman supposed to be at death’s door, but with the assurance that Catherine’s doctors would send a rider after him if she once again declined. None did, and so Chapuys pressed on back to London.

On the 6th of January, Catherine felt well enough to sit up and comb her own hair without the help of her maids. By midnight, however, Catherine turned restless, constantly asking her servants what time it was. Catherine was worried that she would not last until dawn, the earliest hour Mass could be held in Catholic tradition. Her confessor, the old bishop of Llandaff, Jorge de Athequa, offered to bend the rules for her in order to give her communion, but Catherine refused.

Dawn came. Still, Catherine lingered. After Mass was said and the communion given, Catherine dictated her will. Her daughter Mary, whom she has not seen for two years, was to have her furs and the cross she brought from Spain. Her servants were to have their year’s worth of pay and her ladies, “they being but three” to be given their marriage portions. She wanted five hundred Masses to be said for her soul and for a pilgrimage to be made to Walsingham on her behalf. She wanted her gowns to be cut up and made into church vestments, and for her body to be buried in a convent of the Observant Friars, not knowing that none existed anymore in English soil.

Around two o’clock in the afternoon of January 7, Catherine raised up her hands and said the words “in manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum,” giving her soul up to God. So passed Catherine, Infanta of Castile and Aragón, Princess of Wales, Queen of England, surrounded by the four loyal ladies who remained by her side, Blanche and Isabel de Vergas, Elizabeth Darrell, and María de Salinas, in a dark damp fortress that bore none of the glittering splendor to which she was born.

References

Fox, Julia. Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile. New York: Random House Publishing Group, 2011.

Fraser, Antonia. The Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.

Starkey, David. Six Wives. New York: Harper Collins, 2003.

Tremlett, Giles. Catherine of Aragon: Henry's Spanish Queen. London: Faber and Faber Ltd, 2010.

Weir, Alison. The Six Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Vintage Books, 2007.