#lady mary cambridge

[heavyarethecrowns]

The Prince of Wales, Princess Alice Countess of Athlone and Lady Mary Cambridge at Government House upon the arrival of the Prince of Wales at Cape Town, February 2, 1930.

[world-of-wales]

HAPPY 42ND BIRTHDAY TO HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES, WILLIAM ARTHUR PHILIP LOUIS ♡

On 21 June 1982, Prince William was born to Diana and Charles, then known as Prince and Princess of Wales in St Mary's Hospital, London, at at 21:03 BST. He was born during the reign of his paternal grandmother Elizabeth II and was the first child born to a Prince and Princess of Wales since Prince John's birth in July 1905.

The little prince's name was announced on 28 June as William Arthur Philip Louis. Wills was christened in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, on 4 August.

William studied at Jane Mynors' nursery school and Wetherby School in London before joining Ludgrove. He was subsequently admitted to Eton College, studying geography, biology, and history at the A-level.

The Prince undertook a gap year taking part in British Army training exercises in Belize, working on English dairy farms, and as part of the Raleigh International programme in southern Chile, William worked for ten weeks on local construction projects and taught English.

In 2001, William enrolled at the University of St Andrews, initially to study Art History but then changed his field of study to Geography with the support of the love of his life Catherine Elizabeth Middleton who he met while at school.

Will and Cat fell in love during their time at uni, and married at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. The couple have three adorable cupcakes Prince George (b.2013), Princess Charlotte (b.2015) and Prince Louis (b.2018). The family of five divide time between their official residence, Kensington Palace and their two private residences - Amner Hall & Adelaide Cottage.

After university, William trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In 2008, he graduated from the Royal Air Force College Cranwell and joined the RAF Search and Rescue Force in early 2009. He transferred to RAF Valley, Anglesey, to receive training on the Sea King search and rescue helicopter, which made him the first member of the British royal family since Henry VII to live in Wales.

During his active career as a Search and Rescue Pilot, William conducted 156 search and rescue operations, which resulted in 149 people being rescued. He then served as a full-time pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance starting in July 2015, donating his full salary to the EAAA charity.

Working with all branches of the military, he holds the ranks of Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, Commander in the Navy and Wing Commander in the Air-Force

Upon their wedding, WillCat became HRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, The Earl and Countess of Strathearn and Baron and Lady Carrickfergus. He became the heir apparent on 8 September 2022, receiving the titles of the Duke of Cornwall & The Duke of Rothesay. William & Catherine were made The Prince and Princess of Wales by Kimg Charles on 9 September 2022. Additionally, William also became the Prince & High Steward of Scotland, Earl of Chester, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Isles, and Baron Renfrew.

As well as undertaking royal duties in support of The King, both in the UK and overseas, The Prince devotes his time supporting a number of charitable causes and organisations with some of his key areas of interest being Mental health, Conservation, Homelessness, Sports and Emergency Workers.

He has undertaken several overseas trips representing the monarch, covering a wide array of countries like Australia, Canada, Namibia, Malaysia, South Africa, Tanzania, Pakistan Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, France, India, The Bahamas, Belize, Afghanistan etc ; He is also is also a founder of various initiatives like United For Wildlife, Heads Together, Earthshot and Homewards.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Why do people still use Hilary Mantel’s words against Kate? Hilary Mantel defended her words saying she was taken out of context:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-21710158.amp

"My lecture and the subsequent essay was actually supportive of the Royal Family and when I used those words about the Duchess of Cambridge, I was describing the perception of her which has been set up in the tabloid press.

"My speech ended with a plea to the press and to the media in general. I said 'back off and don't be brutes; don't do to this young woman what you did to Diana'.

"My whole theme was the way we maltreat royal persons, making them one superhuman, and yet less than human."

Mantel, whose latest novels are set in the royal court in Tudor times, said she believed she had been "set up" as a hate figure.

"I don't believe for one moment that there was any lack of clarity, after all, I have been practising my trade for a number of years now," she said.

"It was a matter of taking the words completely out of context - twisting the context - and setting me up as a hate figure.

"I have absolutely no regrets. What I said was crystal clear."

Mantel, who won the Costa Book of the Year Award for Bring Up The Bodies. added: "I do think that the Duchess of Cambridge is an intelligent young woman who, if she cares to read my essay, will see that I meant nothing but good to her."

I actually haven’t read the full essay because I can’t find it, so to those who have read the full essay, what was the context of what Hilary Mantel said?

The full essay is hard to find because it wasn’t actually a published essay, not at first. It was a lecture she gave, later recorded and published, called Royal Bodies, about media’s treatment of women. It’s an oral history of how famous royal women - Kate, Diana, Marie Antoinette, and Anne Boleyn - were portrayed and used by the media.

Mantel may have meant well and to be supportive, but it came off condescending and uppity. For example:

“Antoinette as a royal consort was a gliding, smiling disaster, much like Diana in another time and another country. But Kate Middleton, as she was, appeared to have been designed by a committee and built by craftsmen, with a perfect plastic smile and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished.”

“Presumably Kate was designed to breed in some manners. She looks like a nicely brought up young lady, with ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ part of her vocabulary. But in her first official portrait by Paul Emsley, unveiled in January, her eyes are dead and she wears the strained smile of a woman who really wants to tell the painter to bugger off.”

“She appears precision-made, machine-made, so different from Diana whose human awkwardness and emotional incontinence showed in her every gesture. Diana was capable of transforming herself from galumphing schoolgirl to ice queen, from wraith to Amazon. Kate seems capable of going from perfect bride to perfect mother, with no messy deviation.”

And the issue that many of us have with this lecture is that Mantel could have made her points without having to use Kate’s beauty, character, and mannerisms. Because if her theme was about the way the public and the media mistreat the royals - young royal women especially - and she was pleading for people and press not to do that, then why choose to focus on the women themselves? Focus on the media’s behavior instead; since you’re calling out the media, call out the frigging media. Leave the women and their bodies out of it.

She did to Kate in this speech exactly what she’s lecturing the public and the media not to do to Kate: turned her into a thing for which to criticize instead of leaving her to be her own person.

And Mantel can’t see that. She thinks she was taken out of context - and to a certain extent, yes, I agree she was - but when you spend several paragraphs drawing an image of a committee grooming Kate into a Royal Woman 2.0 after the Diana Experiment failed…did we really take you out of context or did you not make your point and now you’re uncomfortable that people are calling you out for the same misogyny you tried to shame the media for?

I mean, someone who justifies these comments by saying she’s a published author so she knows what she’s doing sounds a little like someone who’s very uncomfortable with the mirror that critics are forcing her to look into. Because again, if your whole argument is to take the media to task for how they portray a royal woman, which informs the public’s perception of her, then don’t use the woman to make your point.

Anyway. Here’s the full lecture. You can decide for yourself how badly Mantel was taken out of context or if the criticism is justified.

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

‘The baby is very sweet, and Philip and I are enormously proud of him. I still find it hard to believe that I really have a baby of my own!’ Elizabeth II to her second cousin Lady Mary Cambridge.

[george-the-good]

Christening of PRINCE RICHARD OF GLOUCESTER, October 20, 1944 // RCT

‘The Duchess of Gloucester had another son a few days ago [August 26] - a Caesarian operation - and there is much discussion as to what name the child shall be given. The King favours Charles, which I think would be a good idea, but the Gloucesters apparently fancy Richard.’

Alan ‘Tommy’ Lascelles - diary entry, 31 August 1944 

photograph shows L to R. (standing): the Earl of Dalkeith, the Duke of Buccleuch, the King, the Duke of Gloucester, George II of the Hellenes, the Marquess of Cambridge. (seated): Lady Margaret Alexander (who stood proxy for General Sir Harold Alexander), Princess Margaret, Lady Sybil Phipps, the Queen, the Duchess of Gloucester with baby Richard, Queen Mary, Princess Marie Louise, Princess Elizabeth. (seated in front): Prince Michael and Princess Alexandra of Kent and Prince William of Gloucester.

[comtessezouboff]

Paintings from Buckingham Palace: part I

A retexture by La Comtesse Zouboff — Original Mesh by @thejim07

100 followers gift!

First of all, I would like to thank you all for this amazing year! It's been a pleasure meeting you all and I'm beyond thankful for your support.

Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the Royal Collection Trust. The British monarch owns some of the collection in right of the Crown and some as a private individual. It is made up of over one million objects, including 7,000 paintings, over 150,000 works on paper, this including 30,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 450,000 photographs, as well as around 700,000 works of art, including tapestries, furniture, ceramics, textiles, carriages, weapons, armour, jewellery, clocks, musical instruments, tableware, plants, manuscripts, books, and sculptures.

Some of the buildings which house the collection, such as Hampton Court Palace, are open to the public and not lived in by the Royal Family, whilst others, such as Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace and the most remarkable of them, Buckingham Palace are both residences and open to the public.

About 3,000 objects are on loan to museums throughout the world, and many others are lent on a temporary basis to exhibitions.

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This first part includes the paintings displayed in the White Drawing Room, the Green Drawing Room, the Silk Tapestry Room, the Guard Chamber, the Grand Staircase, the State Dining Room, the Queen's Audience Room and the Blue Drawing Room,

This set contains 37 paintings and tapestries with the original frame swatches, fully recolourable. They are:

White Drawing Room (WDR):

Portrait of François Salignan de la Mothe-Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai (Joseph Vivien)

Portrait of a Lady (Sir Peter Lely)

Portrait of a Man in Armour with a red scarf (Anthony van Dyck)

Portrait of Alexandra of Denmark, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and Empress of India (François Flameng)

Green Drawing Room (GDR):

Portrait of Prince James Stuart, Duke of Cambridge (John Michael Wright)

Portrait of Frederick Henry, Charles Louis and Elizabeth: Children of Frederick V and Elizabeth of Bohemia (unknown)

Portrait of Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia of Autria and her Sister, Infanta Catalina Micaela of Austria (Alonso Sanchez Coello)

Portrait of Princess Louisa and Princess Caroline of the United Kingdom (Francis Cotes)

Portrait of Queen Charlotte with her Two Eldest Sons, Frederick, Later Duke of York and Prince George of Wales (Allan Ramsay)

Portrait of Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess of Wellesley (Martin Archer Shee)

Portrait of the Three Youngest Daughters of George III, Princesses Mary, Amelia and Sophia (John Singleton Copley)

Silk Tapestry Room (STR):

Portrait of Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales, Playing the Harp with Princess Charlotte (Sir Thomas Lawrence)

Portrait of Augusta, Duchess of Brunswick With her Son, Charles George Augustus (Angelica Kauffmann)

Guard Chamber (GC):

Les Portières des Dieux: Bacchus (Manufacture Royale des Gobelins)

Les Portières des Dieux: Venus (Manufacture Royale des Gobelins)

Les Portières des Dieux (Manufacture Royale des Gobelins)

Grand Staircarse (GS):

Portrait of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen Consort of Great Britain (Martin Archer Shee)

Portrait of Augustus, Duke of Sussex (Sir David Wilkie)

Portrait of Edward, Duke of Kent (George Dawe)

Portrait of King George III of Great Britain (Sir William Beechey)

Portrait of King William IV of Great Britain when Duke of Clarence (Sir Thomas Lawrence)

Portrait of Leopold I, King of the Belgians (William Corden the Younger)

Portrait of Prince George of Cumberland, Later King George V of Hanover When a Boy (Sir Thomas Lawrence)

Portrait of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (George Dawe)

Portrait of Queen Charlotte at Frogmore House (Sir William Beechey)

Portrait of Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld, Duchess of Kent (Sir George Hayter)

State Dining Room (SDR):

Portrait of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom in Coronation Robes (Allan Ramsay)

Portrait of King George III of the United Kingdom in Coronation Robes (Allan Ramsay)

Portrait of Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (Jean-Baptiste Van Loo)

Portrait of Caroline of Ansbach when Princess of Wales (Sir Godfrey Kneller)

Portrait of Frederick, Princes of Wales (Jean-Baptiste Van Loo)

Portrait of King George II of Great Britain (John Shackleton)

Portrait of King George IV of the United Kingdom in Garther Robes (Sir Thomas Lawrence)

Queen's Audience Room (QAR):

Portrait of Anne, Duchess of Cumberland and Strathearn (née Anne Luttrel) in Peeress Robes (Sir Thomas Gainsborough)

Portrait of Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn in Peer Robes (Sir Thomas Gainsborough)

London: The Thames from Somerset House Terrace towards the City (Giovanni Antonio Canal "Canaletto")

View of Piazza San Marco Looking East Towards the Basilica and the Campanile (Giovanni Antonio Canal "Canaletto")

Blue Drawing Room (BDR)

Portrait of King George V in Coronation Robes (Sir Samuel Luke Fildes)

Portrait of Queen Mary of Teck in Coronation Robes (Sir William Samuel Henry Llewellyn)

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Found under decor > paintings for:

500§ (WDR: 1,2 & 3)

1850§ (GDR: 1)

1960§ (GDR: 2 & 3 |QAR 3 & 4)

3040§ (STR, 1 |GC: 1 & 2|SDR: 1 & 2)

3050§ (GC:1 |GS: all 10|WDR: 4 |SDR: 3,4,5 & 6)

3560§ (QAR: 1 & 2|STR: 2)

3900§ (SDR: 7| BDR: 1 & 2|GDR: 4,5,6 & 7)

Retextured from:

"Saint Mary Magdalene" (WDR: 1,2 & 3) found here .

"The virgin of the Rosary" (GDR: 1) found here .

"The Four Cardinal Virtues" (GDR: 2&3|QAR 3 & 4) found here.

"Mariana of Austria in Prayer" (STR, 1, GC: 1 & 2|SDR: 1 & 2) found here.

"Portrait of Philip IV with a lion at his feet" (GC:1 |GS: all 10|WDR: 4 |SDR: 3,4,5 & 6) found here

"Length Portrait of Mrs.D" (QAR: 1 & 2|STR: 2) found here

"Portrait of Maria Theresa of Austria and her Son, le Grand Dauphin" (SDR: 7| BDR: 1 & 2|GDR: 4,5,6 & 7) found here

(you can just search for "Buckingham Palace" using the catalog search mod to find the entire set much easier!)

Drive

(Sims3pack | Package)

(Useful tags below)

@joojconverts @ts3history @ts3historicalccfinds @deniisu-sims @katsujiiccfinds @gifappels-stuff

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[warwickroyals]

Sunderland’s Royal Jewel Vault (5/∞) ♛

↬ Glencairn Lover's Knot Tiara

In terms of jewelry, Sunderland has a very rich history that dates back centuries. The Glencairn lover's knot tiara is one of the oldest in the royal vault and has been passed down, from parent to child, since the days of King George. It is uncertain when this tiara was made. Featuring thirty-eight pear-shaped pearl pendants and lover's knot motifs, the design has proven popular. The Sunderland lover's knot is joined by the Cambridge and Bavarian lover's knot tiaras. All three tiaras were created in the 1800s, and all three are often mistaken for the much younger British version that was commissioned a century later. Despite their similarities, each of these tiaras have a distinct history and providence. In 1837, the Sunderland variant was gifted to Lady Imogen Longford as she prepared to marry the Duke of Glencairn, the second brother of King Louis III. The tiara was among other priceless gifts, for Imogen wasn't just marrying some prince, but a likely future king. The Duke's two older brothers had no surviving legitimate issue, and Sunderland was in the midst of a fierce succession crisis that pitted brother against brother. Ultimately, Imogen never became queen, that prize belonged to her German sister-in-law, Princess Caroline of Mecklenburg-Stralsund. However, Imogen was the mother of a king, giving birth to the future King George in 1839. As a result, most of her jewels are still worn by members of the royal family to this day. Sunderland's lover's knot tiara is perhaps the most famous of Imogen's jewels, having been worn by princesses and queens from every generation succeeding her. Despite rumours that the tiara is noisy, producing an awful "clacking" sound with every step its wearer takes, it has been a favourite of Queen Matilda Mary, Queen Anne, and Queen Irene in unflinching succession. The tiara is easy to fiddle with, flexible, with the top rows of pearls being removable. Since the 1830s it has starred in countless portraits, official images, and state events. Today, the tiara is on a long-term loan to Tatiana, Princess of Danforth who debuted the tiara in 2001. Since then the tiara has become her one of her most worn, next to her family's own diamond tiara. With the lover's knot's enduring popularity, it will be interesting to see who will don the sparkler next—at this point, it's almost a rite of passage.

A 1927 portrait of Queen Matilda Mary. She wears the tiara with its 18 pearl toppers.

Tatiana, Princess of Danforth wears the tiara sans toppers at a reception in June, 2018.

[the-jewel-catalogue]

Queen Elizabeth's Last State Banquet

OTD Queen Elizabeth hosted the state banquet for the American President and the First Lady.

The Queen donned the Burmese Ruby Tiara, which was made in the 1970s. She paired it with a much older suite of jewels: the Crown Rubies, which were originally set with opals but transformed to ruby jewels by Queen Alexandra.

The then Duchess of Cornwall wore familiar jewels, including the grand Greville Tiara. She paired it with her pearl choker necklace with the imposing pink topaz clasp.

The then Duchess of Cambridge paired Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara with diamond and sapphire fringe earrings that belonged to the Queen Mother. She secured her brand-new Royal Victorian Order sash with her Oak Leaf Brooch and a four-stranded pearl bracelet.

The Princess Royal wore diamonds and aquamarines, including the Aquamarine Pineflower Tiara. The diamond and aquamarine brooch that secured her Garter sash was once the central element of the tiara

A thrilling tiara moment came courtesy of the then Countess of Wessex, who debuted a remodeled version of her wedding tiara at the banquet. The tiara’s elements have been reconfigured, and the base has been completely redesigned. She’s also wearing a diamond demi-parure we’ve seen before (but for which we have no known provenance)

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

taylor swift lyrics x colors x textiles in art – red

Fifteen – Fearless // Augusta of Bavaria with Her Children – Andrea Appiani ❤️ Love Story – Fearless // Portrait of a Prussian Prince – Unknown Artist ❤️ Red – Red // Apples – Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin ❤️ All Too Well – Red // Birdsong – Károly Ferenczy ❤️ All Too Well – Red // Portrait of a Lady – John Opie ❤️ The Moment I Knew – Red // Portrait of Sophia Hedwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg – attributed to Wybrand de Geest ❤️ Nothing New – Red // Sibylla Palmifera – Dante Gabriel Rossetti ❤️ Blank Space – 1989 // Tomaž Hren – unknown artist ❤️ Style – 1989 // Ernest Amadej Tomaž Attems – unknown artist ❤️ Wildest Dreams – 1989 // A Vision of Fiametta – Dante Gabriel Rossetti ❤️ New Romantics – 1989 // Portrait of Armand Gaston Maximilien de Rohan – Hyacinthe Rigaud ❤️ End Game – Reputation // A Genoese Lady with Her Child – Anthony van Dyck ❤️ I Did Something Bad – Reputation // Marie-Adélaïde de France – Johann Julius Heinsius ❤️ Look What You Made Me Do – Reputation // Infanta Isabel of Spain – Carlos Luis de Ribera y Fieve ❤️ Daylight – Lover // Self-Portrait – Gwen John ❤️ the lakes – folklore // Maria Amalia of Saxony – Anton Raphael Mengs ❤️ gold rush – evermore // Barine – Edward Poynter ❤️ Maroon – Midnights // Margaret “Peg” Woffington – unknown artist ❤️ Maroon – Midnights // Portrait of Marchessa Marianna Florenzi – Joseph Karl Stieler ❤️ Maroon – Midnights // Henry IV, King of France in Armor – Frans Pourbus the Younger ❤️ Maroon – Midnights // Elizabeth I as a Princess – attributed to William Scrots ❤️ The Great War – Midnights // Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge with Her Children – Melchior Gommar Tieleman

[charlotte-of-wales]

Royal Tiaras Highlights: Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara

This tiara was made in 1913 by E. Wolff & Co. for Garrard, as commissioned by Queen Mary of the United Kingdom. She specifically asked for Garrard to make a copy of the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara, a piece she admired. The original tiara was topped with a row of upright pearls - as seen on the portrait of Queen Mary - which was similar to the Cambridge Lover’s Knot but they were eventually removed and exchanged for diamonds. The diamonds and pearls used in this tiara come from a number of other pieces, including from the Ladies of England Tiara and the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara.

The tiara was inherited by Queen Elizabeth II when Queen Mary died. In 1981, Elizabeth decided to give the piece to her new daughter-in-law, Diana Spencer, although it returned to the palace vaults in 1986 when Charles and Diana divorced. Today, the tiara is frequently worn by Catherine, the Princess of Wales on tiara events.

[gudsouplady]

Watching Ghosts (S1,E2) Gorilla war (spoilers)

• Mike is such an amazing husband

• The pigeon and robin scared the absolute hell out of me and Alison

• Alison just ran into a door

• It’s Ben Willbond !!!!!!!! (I love him)

• The intro is and will always be amazing

• Mike using the drill like it’s a gun and singing 😂

• Poor Fanny just wants sleep.

• The drilling over Fanny’s speech is really funny

• Kitty is too cute and pure for this world

• She’s The only one who can see them

• “You beastly wretch”

• “And a first from Cambridge”

• Robin reenacting his incident with the bear

• Captain directing everything like always

• Thomas really just loves Alison

• “I had cousin, that’s all he said”

• Mr sledgehammer”

• “Why is it always about war with you”

(Captain noises)

• “ I stopped a crisis, By starting a war”

• “HOW DARE YOU”

• “Imagine that slammed”

• Julian is trying to google himself like we all have done before

• Mike is singing again

• Fanny hates the portrait of her ex husband. For obvious reasons

• Kitty being goofy with the hole in the wall

• “I thought we were friends”

• Julian was so close

• There’s not internet in the basement

• “Or just hit it with a hammer”

• The captain’s fascination with the tv

• “Looks like some idiot took a hammer to it”

The idiot was you, Mike

• Alison is trying to ignore the Captain Backfired

• Julian is trying to google himself again

• “Hello to you”

• Pat is such a nice guy by giving Alison a tour of the house

• “Chambre - That’s French”

• “You beautiful girl” Talking about the war documentary

• Julian’s plan also backfired horribly

• “If you were dead,I would thrash your bottom, sir” I’m sorry what ????

• Mary is just trying her best even if she’s is just repeating “ Get out,Get out, Get out”

• Robin in the pantry

• Julian interrupting Alison on the phone

• Fanny trying to teach Alison to be a ✨ Proper lady ✨

• “ A lady wouldn’t tell me to do that to myself”

• Mary is trying again which is preventing Alison from sleeping

• “I am the very model of a modern major general” Needs to be my alarm

• No Robin in the pantry but in the fridge

• Julian ranting about “The chancellor’s red box” and “the man in the sailor’s sauna”

• Can Thomas leave Alison alone ???????

• The weirdest love confession

• Can they all stop yelling at Alison

• Why is Kitty under the covers ?????

• “Do you think it’s something we said.” She ran away screaming, Pat

• Mike is trying to fix the boiler

• She has become aware of the plague people in her basement

• The room is full of “donkeys”

• She needs medical attention

• The doctor was a ghost

• She can see all the ghosts everywhere

• She stood up to the ghosts !!!!

• The house is in harmony

• Mike knows the ghosts are there

• They fixed the boiler

I rate it a 10/10 because it was such a good follow up episode and I’m really excited to watch the rest

[fictionadventurer]

Reasons to read The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower

They're written in the style of the great light classic novels. The promo material says people have compared them to Austen, L.M. Montgomery and Jean Webster, and they're right, though the strongest comparisons I see are Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, and Georgette Heyer.

They're (as the title indicates) presented as a series of journals by Emma M. Lion, a twenty(?) year old orphan who has recently come to live at Lapis Lazuli House in the quirky London neighborhood of St. Crispian's where she meets all kinds of colorful characters and gets into wild scrapes.

So far, there are six books in the series, with a seventh on the way, and a plan to have lots and lots more. Each book covers two months and kind of reads like episodes of a television show or an ongoing serial.

And that's basically all I knew before starting, and part of the joy of this series is uncovering the surprises along the way, so if you don't want to read any further, that's okay, but I'm still going to talk about more details under the cut.

More Plot Details

Lapis Lazuli House is technically Emma's, because it's been willed to her, along with a living that should allow her to live at a modest but respectable level of comfort. Unfortunately, she hasn't reached her majority yet, and for now, the house comes with a horrid Cousin Archibald who resents Emma after the incident that gave him The Scar, so he forces her to live in a garret bedroom and refuses to provide her allowance. Emma's money troubles have a lot of twists and turns that lead to lots of different adventures that I won't spoil here.

Emma has an ongoing quest to build up her personal library. She had to sell off her father's books to pay for her education, and she can't use libraries because she wants to scribble in her books, so getting books is VERY important. (As all the best people understand). She's constantly engaging with different books, and adding books to her library provides some of the best moments of the series. (Each volume ends with a list of the books Emma now owns).

Those are the biggest (and least spoilery) overarching plot points of the series, but the true draw is Emma's interaction with

The Characters

Emma interacts with a sprawling cast of oddballs, including:

Cousin Archibald, previously mentioned Horrid Person, obsessed with clothes and with assuming Emma is the Personification of All Evil

Arabella, her beautiful, wealthy cousin who is expected to make a good match in The Season

Aunt Eugenia, her wealthy aunt who talks exactly like Wilde's Lady Bracknell, and who recruits Emma to attend high society social events as The Foil to make Arabella look good in comparison

Mary, a School Chum who makes a living as a typist

Jack, the con man Mary has hired to pretend to be her cousin so she can get free time away from her strict "respectable" boarding house

Young Hawkes, the handsome, fashionable, mysterious vicar who spends half his sermons reading poetry

The Redoubtable Ten, a group of Hawkes' rowdy Cambridge buddies (Hawkes is technically the tenth) who heckle him during most of his sermons and admire Emma for getting into scrapes even wilder than their own

The Tenant, also known as Niall Pierce, who rents the garret on the other side of Emma's bedroom wall. They pass notes through a crack in the wall and share a cat. He has a mysterious past, which includes years living in America even though he is Not An American.

The Duke of Islington, St. Crispian's only resident nobleman, who is Very Proper and Disapproves of Emma's wilder scrapes, but who secretly has a very poetic soul

Roland Sutherland, Emma's childhood nemesis who has grown up into a handsome, charming, and wealthy Sun God

Saffronia March, a thirty-something spinster artist who knew Emma's parents and brings Emma in contact with the art world

Mrs. Penury, the wife of Emma's banker, who hasn't spoken for ten years because she decided she had said everything she wanted to say

The other draw of the series is

St. Crispian's

A quirky London neighborhood with many oddball traditions and magical-realism happenings.

There's an ancient Roman ghost that the inhabitants are very fond of.

A yearly tradition of a highly-competitive scavenger hunt to score tickets to the local production of Julius Caesar.

A phenomenon where items go "wandering" from houses, only to be found in random places in the neighborhood (and a local cafe where people can bring found items to be picked up).

Among many others

All these oddities are presented as a normal part of life, no matter how strange outsiders might find them. Though, be warned, St. Crispian's is very fond of its traditions, and its odd rules can cause problems.

Other Thoughts

This series strings you along with book after book of Witty Banter and Silly Misadventures, until suddenly it sucker-punches you with moments of Sadness and Deep Emotions

These characters, even when they're comic archetypes, have deeper layers of complexity and history.

Emma's friendships, especially with the men of her neighborhood, develop into really strong bonds.

There are threads of romance, but they're overshadowed by the platonic relationships.

They take place in what's supposed to be 1883, and take advantage of some actual historical events, but it mostly feels like a light history-flavored fantasy because people don't really act much like historical people. Like, the amount of time that Emma spends alone in the company of unmarried men late at night is scandalous. But it's okay, because you don't expect realism here any more than you expect realism from P.G. Wodehouse.

Aside from some mild cursing from one character (and the stuff in the next bullet point) there's literally no objectionable content in this series.

The series has a really weird relationship with spirituality. Characters are technically Christian, but they take it casually and don't seem to know much about their faith. Hawkes is the Worst Vicar Ever who doesn't give any actual Christian advice (I'm still waiting for a reveal that he's not a real vicar). The magical realism parts are taken more seriously than actual religion. Yet there are some parts that do interact with actual Christian ideas. I'm not crazy about it, which you'd think would be a reason not to recommend it, but I don't think it overrides the good parts of the series, and I need to discuss it with someone, because it's an issue with a lot to explore.

These are some of my favorite books I've read this year, with several of my favorite characters and moments, and I need to have someone to talk to about them.

[avastrasposts]

The British Connection - ch. 5

Summary: Grace Mallory makes a reluctant Billy Butcher and The Boys team up with an MI6 operative sent over from London to track down a dangerous supe killing people on both sides of the pond. Billy is being his usual arsehole self but maybe opposites attract?

It's 14 chapters and complete and 'll be posting a new chapter every day

Warnings: canon typical violence, smut, fluff, Butcher being his usual grumpy and unreasonable self, nasty supes, guns etc.

“Right”, Butcher says, “Frenchie and Hughie, I need you two to sweep the office for bugs. Just to make sure we’re not being fucked by our own side. Until it’s clean, not a word of this inside that building. Get on it.” 

Frenchie gives a sloppy salute and starts off at a jog back towards the Flatiron, Hughie and Kimiko in tow.

“Edwards, have you got access to the CCTV footage of the attacks on the PM and the Chief of the Defence staff?”

“Not yet,” Eve replies, “I’m working on it, my CO at Vauxhall will send it over as soon as he has it.”

“Can you trust him?” Butcher asks. 

“Yes, Cochran’s reliable.” 

Butcher nods and looks over at MM. “I need you to ask around our connections, discreetly, for any word on the attacks on the two US politicians. You know the drill, no traces.”

“Sure thing, Butcher,” MM replies, “I’ll get on it straight away. You wanna bring Mallory in on this too? She’s got the best connections and you know this kinda fucked up shit is generating a lot of buzz that she’ll hear.” 

“No, I need to see Mallory about some other business, I’ll see what she knows, if she’s got the same info Edwards does.”

“Do you want me to come with you to see Mallory?” Eve asks. 

“Get that CCTV footage, that’s your priority, Edwards. It’s still office hours in the UK, get on to your CO and get that footage before this cunt supe kills someone else. I’ll ring ya when the office is clean.” 

Eve nods, “Keep me posted.” She raises her hand in a wave to MM and leaves them in the park. 

“Do you trust her, MM?” Butcher asks, watching Edwards retreating back as she makes her way to the subway.

“No more or less than I would any other government agent.”

“Ye, we’re gonna need to keep an eye on her, see what her game is.” 

“Does it make a difference that she’s British, Butcher?” MM asks. 

“Na, MI6 or CIA, they’re pretty much all the same type of cunts. And with her background…” he trails off, still watching Edwards. “I’m not sure Mallory clocked it but Edwards and I don’t exactly speak the same type of English, you know wha’ I mean?” 

“Yeah, you sound like Michael Caine, she sounds like Lady Mary Crawley.”

“She’s posh alright, probably went to Cambridge and got recruited to the service straight from the local Tory meetings thanks to a tip from a well connected daddy. And I’ve never had any good experiences with blokes of her background, served with a couple of right cunts who thought they could order me and the other lads around just ‘cause we didn’t grow up with bleedin’ silver spoons. But I’ve never served with a woman from that background, had a couple of higher ups of course, but never in the field.” 

MM hunches his shoulders against the creeping cold. “I say we let her prove herself before we make any judgments. At least maybe now you’ll have someone to bitch about American tea with.” 

“Fucking ‘erbal shite.”

Butcher claps MM on the shoulder, “Right, I’m off to see Mallory. Let me know if you dig up something I need to know. I’ll see you at the office later.” 

“See ya, Butcher.” 

Grace Mallory’s house is located in the countryside outside the city, surrounded by forest and hills. The usually lush green drive up to the house is grey and slushy this January afternoon as Butcher approaches the house in his beat up car. Mallory is already at the door, expecting him. 

“Two meetings in one day, William, what an honour,” she says in a dry voice as he walks up to her. She steps aside and lets him in. 

“Well, you set up the first one, and I’m here for some more information about Ms Edwards, so blame yourself,” Butcher says and walks over to the large windows overlooking the hills, trailing slush on the floor. Mallory stops by the fireplace. 

“I know that her CO, James Cochran, wanted her on this case and contacted the CIA Deputy Director directly and arranged for her to be flown over on a military flight. He vouched for her discretion and capabilities and the Deputy Director passed her on to me for the enviable task of convincing you to take her onboard. Cochran has worked with the CIA on multiple occasions and has a solid reputation, we have no reason to doubt his recommendations.” 

“I don’t need her CO’s bloody letter of recommendation,” Butcher scoffs. “I want her background info. Why her on this case? Where has she served and with who? Who’s she connected to? I need to see her bloody file, Mallory.”

“You don’t have that clearance, Butcher,” Mallory sighs. “Your job is to find the supe, with her help. You don’t need to know more about her than what the Deputy Director thinks you need to know.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Mallory,” Butcher snarls, “She showed us the videos MI5 picked up. That supe can control anyone to do anything by the looks of it, so I bloody well need know who the fuck I’m letting on to my team.” 

“That doesn’t make any difference, Butcher.”

“The hell it does! I have no doubt she’ll be able to put a bullet in Hughie’s head if he suddenly tries to kill me, but will she? Or will she focus on nabbing the fuckin’ supe alive and get MI6 a new superweapon while me and the boys are tearing each other’s throats out?”

Butcher steps up to Mallory next to the fireplace, staring down at her. “Show me her fuckin’ file, Mallory, or I walk.”

“You walk away from this and you can kiss your budget and office goodbye, Butcher.” 

“We’ve done just fine in underground basements before, I’m sure we can find some new crack den to clear out and use as a base away from the fuckin’ cunts at the CIA.” 

When Mallory doesn’t move Butcher makes for the door, digging up his car keys from the pocket, jangling them loudly.

“Last chance, Mallory. Or you’ll have to explain to the Deputy Director that you lost The Boys.” 

Mallory tilts her head back and looks at the ceiling for a few seconds before cursing under her breath. 

“Wait Butcher, just wait.”

She disappears further into the house and Butcher stops by the door. After a few minutes Mallory returns with a USB stick. 

“This is the file I got from the Deputy Director on Eve Edwards. Parts of it are censored, not my doing, so you’ll need to go higher up to get your answers there. Or ask Edwards directly.” She hands the stick to Butcher who pockets it. 

“Knew you’d get there in the end, Grace,” he replies, giving her his best bullshitting smile. He takes a few steps out of the door but as Mallory is pulling it closed he turns, as an afterthought, and stops her from closing it. 

“By the way, I heard on the radio on my way over that the Speaker of the House died yesterday morning, you wouldn’t know anything about that, would ya?”

“I heard it was lunchtime today,” she replies, “Heart attack.” 

“Oh, was it today? I must’ve misheard it, could’ve sworn it was yesterday,” Butcher walks towards his car again, giving Mallory a wave over his head with his back turned. 

A couple of miles down the road Butcher pulls into a pit stop and pulls out a laptop from under the rubbish littering the back seat. Firing it up he puts the USB from Mallory into the slot and opens the file contained within. He tabs through the first page, past all the standard text about classified information and finds what he’s looking for.

Title: The Honourable 

First name(s): Genevieve Horatia Daphne (Eve)

Surname(s): **** Edwards (Edwards)

DOB: 1977-03-14 Father: Name redacted for security

Mother: Name redacted for security

Brother: Name redacted for security

“Fuckin’ the honourable Genevieve Horatia Daphne…” Butcher mumbles darkly as he scans the first page. Her first surname is redacted and he can see that it’s been redacted in several places. He skims through her background, she went to Christchurch College, Oxford, modern languages, was on the college rowing team, the PolSci club, recruited by SIS as intelligence analyst while still at Oxford, recommended by her father, name redacted. She speaks five foreign languages; French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Farsi and Butcher makes a mental note to tell Frenchie that she speaks French, just to be safe. Both French and Russian are listed as “native level”. 

Her first foreign posting seems to have been in Chechnya in the late 90’s. She was in Pakistan and Afghanistan in -01 and -02, Iraq in 2003. Injured and on leave for most of 2004, the injury is redacted. He skims through the pages of her history, and starts paying attention when she moves from the SRR to MI6 in 2011 but finds nothing suspicious until he gets to the end of the file and present day events. Big chunks have been redacted and the file stops making sense. The last two pages are wiped completely. 

“Someone made sure Mallory didn’t see this, or wanted to make sure she didn’t pass it on to us,” Butcher thinks. He’s tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, trying to piece together the fragments of the file that haven’t been redacted. Scrolling backwards towards the beginning again he re-reads the file. Something at the back of his brain is itching, he’s missing a detail, and he can feel it trying to break through. He re-reads it again and his eyes catch on her redacted surname and it hits him.

“Why the fuck are they keeping her father’s name secret?” he says out loud in the car. “Who the fuck is her dad?” He scrolls back to the top and sees that her parent’s and brother’s names have been redacted for security reasons. 

Suddenly his phone rings, breaking his train of thought. The display shows Frenchies name and Butcher picks up. 

“ ‘Sup, Frenchie, we clean?” 

“Qui, Monsieur Charcutier, we found nothing, only deux cafards. We can return to the office but we may need to bring gas masks, MM has emptied two cans of Bug-Off in there.”

In the background Butcher can hear Kimiko cough as Hughie yells at MM to open the window before they all die of chemical poisoning.

“I’m on my way back, I’ll ring Edwards and get her back to the office too.”

“She is quite something, Monsieur Charcutier, I did not expect MI6 women to look like this, she is very attractive no?”

“Be careful Frenchie, get too close and she’ll slice your French cock off just like at Agincourt.” 

“Ah non, I will not try anythin’, I am a professional!”

“Right, Frenchie, just keep your game face on. And that reminds me, she speaks French fluently, so mind what you mumble, alright?” 

“Elle parle français aussi? Mon Dieu…”

Butcher hangs up on Frenchie while he’s still speaking and hits the dial on Edward’s number as he shuts down the laptop and starts up the car. She picks up after a couple of rings. 

“Hi Butcher, secure line?” 

“Should be but you never know. You got what we’re after?”

“Yes, he came through for us and sent it over. I’ll bring it over to the office if it’s clear?” 

“No, not yet,” Butcher lies, “I’ll come ‘round your place and we can review it. Should be there in about an hour.”

Eve gives him the address to an apartment hotel downtown and he hangs up. 

Chapter 6

[haggishlyhagging]

[Note: Woolf wrote the below as one paragraph. Unfortunately this website’s formatting is incompatible with such repleteness.]

My aunt, Mary Beton, I must tell you, died by a fall from her horse when she was riding out to take the air in Bombay. The news of my legacy reached me one night about the same time that the act was passed that gave votes to women. A solicitor's letter fell into the post-box and when I opened it I found that she had left me five hundred pounds a year for ever. Of the two—the vote and the money—the money, I own, seemed infinitely the more important. Before that I had made my living by cadging odd jobs from newspapers, by reporting a donkey show here or a wedding there; I had earned a few pounds by addressing envelopes, reading to old ladies, making artificial flowers, teaching the alphabet to small children in a kindergarten. Such were the chief occupations that were open to women before 1918.

I need not, I am afraid, describe in any detail the hardness of the work, for you know perhaps women who have done it; nor the difficulty of living on the money when it was earned, for you may have tried. But what still remains with me as a worse infliction than either was the poison of fear and bitterness which those days bred in me. To begin with, always to be doing work that one did not wish to do, and to do it like a slave, flattering and fawning, not always necessarily perhaps, but it seemed necessary and the stakes were too great to run risks; and then the thought of that one gift which it was death to hide—a small one but dear to the possessor—perishing and with it my self, my soul,—all this became like a rust eating away the bloom of the spring, destroying the tree at its heart. However, as I say, my aunt died; and whenever I change a ten-shilling note a little of that rust and corrosion is rubbed off; fear and bitterness go. Indeed, I thought, slipping the silver into my purse, it is remarkable, remembering the bitterness of those days, what a change of temper a fixed income will bring about. No force in the world can take from me my five hundred pounds. Food, house and clothing are mine for ever. Therefore not merely do effort and labour cease, but also hatred and bitterness. I need not hate any man; he cannot hurt me. I need not flatter any man; he has nothing to give me. So imperceptibly I found myself adopting a new attitude towards the other half of the human race. It was absurd to blame any class or any sex, as a whole.

Great bodies of people are never responsible for what they do. They are driven by instincts which are not within their control. They too, the patriarchs, the professors, had endless difficulties, terrible drawbacks to contend with. Their education had been in some ways as faulty as my own. It had bred in them defects as great. True, they had money and power, but only at the cost of harbouring in their breasts an eagle, a vulture, for ever tearing the liver out and plucking at the lungs—the instinct for possession, the rage for acquisition which drives them to desire other people's fields and goods perpetually; to make frontiers and flags; battleships and poison gas; to offer up their own lives and their children's lives. Walk through the Admiralty Arch (I had reached that monument), or any other avenue given up to trophies and cannon, and reflect upon the kind of glory celebrated there. Or watch in the spring sunshine the stockbroker and the great barrister going indoors to make money and more money and more money when it is a fact that five hundred pounds a year will keep one alive in the sunshine. These are unpleasant instincts to harbour, I reflected. They are bred of the conditions of life; of the lack of civilisation, I thought, looking at the statue of the Duke of Cambridge, and in particular at the feathers in his cocked hat, with a fixity that they have scarcely ever received before.

And, as I realised these draw-backs, by degrees fear and bitterness modified themselves into pity and toleration; and then in a year or two, pity and toleration went, and the greatest release of all came, which is freedom to think of things in themselves. That building, for example, do I like it or not? Is that picture beautiful or not? Is that in my opinion a good book or a bad? Indeed my aunt's legacy unveiled the sky to me, and substituted for the large and imposing figure of a gentleman, which Milton recommended for my perpetual adoration, a view of the open sky.

-Virginia Woolf, ‘A Room of One’s Own’ in Alice S. Rossi, The Feminist Papers: From Adams to de Beauvoir

[duchessoflennox]

King Christian IX of Denmark had three daughters: Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen of United Kingdom) was born in 1 December 1844 Princess Dagmar of Denmark (later Empress of Russia) was born in 26 November 1847 Princess Thyra of Denmark (later Crown Princess of Hanover) was born in 29 September 1853

Princess Alexandra was a personality of an uncommon order. The gracious lady was graciousness itself. She was distinguished, not by any desire to enter into public affairs, but by a kindliness, a generosity, a sympathy with all classes, poor and rich, which endeared her to the whole people.Alexandra shared a draughty attic bedroom with her sister, Dagmar, made her own clothes, and waited at table along with her sisters. Alexandra and Dagmar were given swimming lessons by the Swedish pioneer of women's swimming, Nancy Edberg. At the age of 19 Alexandra married Prince Edward of Wales, the eldest son of queen victoria and Heir of Great Britain throne, Edward loved his wife but was not faithful to his marriage!the result of this marriage was 6 children. 🥰❤️

Dagmar was known for her beauty. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge said that Dagmar was "sweetly pretty" and commented favorably on her "splendid dark eyes." Dagmar was intelligent, When considered Dagmar for queen victoria's second son Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Queen Victoria judged that "Dagmar is cleverer [than her older sister, Alexandra]... she is a very nice girl." At the age of 19, Dagmar married the Russian Tsesarevich Alexander, after the shocking death of her fiancé Tsesarevich Nicholas, who was Alexander's older brother. The result of their marriage was 6 childrenWhen she married, she didn't know how to speak any Russian. However, within a few years, she mastered the language and was so proficient that her husband, tsar Alexander iii wrote to her in Russian.🥺🤍

Princess Thyra As a child shared a bedroom with her elder sisters, Alexandra and Dagmar, and was taught how to sew and knit her own clothes and socks. Thyra was an attractive and gentle young woman, with dark hair and dark blue eyes, and king Christian and Queen Louise wanted their youngest daughter to make a good marriage as their elder daughters had. Thyra's first suitor was King Willem III of the Netherlands, but as he was thirty-six years older than she was, she rejected him.In her youth, Thyra had fallen in love with Vilhelm Frimann Marcher, a lieutenant in the cavalry, which resulted in a pregnancy. Her brother George I of Greece suggested that she have the baby in Athens to avoid scandal; the Danish press was told Thyra had been taken ill with jaundice. At the age of 25, Thyra married Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover, and the result of this marriage was 6 children.🤩💗

[fideidefenswhore]

so, coa was patron to provincial appearances as well but there are some interesting gaps...1517-1518 are her first, then 1520, then a gap of eight years (!) of none which seems to coincide with henry fitzroy's birth and ennoblement...another gap, then she continues to have them during the great matter, one twice a year (in 1530) which was unusual for her, her last in 1531, the year of her exile (make sense)...

anne boleyn made large use of them (unsurprising, she had an uphill battle in reinforcing her legitimacy as queen to the public), from the year of her coronation onwards... five appearances in 1533 alone (in exeter, worcester, cambridge, crowle 2x), one in 1534, two in 1535...

"David Starkey writes that Anne ‘wanted to make sure her title as queen would be unimpeachable’. Henry, Anne, and her faction realized Katherine’s popularity with the commons [...] ; the ceremonies surrounding her formal entry into London and her coronation were designed to exceed and overshadow any celebrations connected with Katherine — in other words, to advertise Anne’s status as the rightful queen. So perhaps it is not mere coincidence that the Exeter records identify a troupe as Queen Anne Boleyn’s minstrels in 1533, the year of her coronation, and birth of the future Elizabeth I.

Anne [...] seems to have appropriated Katherine’s entertainers, as well as John and William Slye from Princess (now Lady) Mary’s defunct troupe. Queen Anne’s players also appear in records from Worcester in 1533, and from Cambridge, and Crowle, Worcestershire, where they performed twice. In just this one year, records published to date indicate that provincial appearances by Anne’s performers equal the total number of such appearances by Queen Katherine’s performers over her entire twenty-four years as Henry’s queen. Anne’s performers continued to tour under her name for the following two years, appearing in records from Battenhall, Worcestershire in 1534, and from Dover in 1535. Might it be that Anne believed it prudent to advertise her status as queen while the popular ex-queen was still alive in ‘retirement’ fifty miles from London at Kimbolton? It does seem probable that Queen Anne used drama, as did Thomas Cromwell and the earl of Oxford, as a means to propagandize [religious] reforms and the break with Rome."

Advertising Status and Legitimacy: or, Why Did Henry VIII’s Queens and Children Patronize Travelling Performers?, James H. Forse

jane seymour, of comparable frequency, although not to as great an extent as anne's first year as queen (three, in 1536), none for anne of cleves, katherine howard one performance for each year as queen...

"During Christmas celebrations in 1540, her players entertained the court with a play named Godly Queen Hester. Several scholars believe the play was meant as an allegory, paralleling the biblical queen Esther, her sponsor and relative Mordecai, and their roles in the downfall of the evil minister Haman with Queen Catherine Howard, her uncle Norfolk, and the downfall of Thomas Cromwell."

Advertising Status and Legitimacy: or, Why Did Henry VIII’s Queens and Children Patronize Travelling Performers?, James H. Forse

katherine parr one for each year as queen except then four for 1547 alone, interesting (trying to promote herself for what she believed was likelihood of regency, maybe?), until widowed:

"Possibly because of these uncertainties at court, and her Protestant sympathies, Queen Catherine’s entertainers were as active in the provinces as had been those of Anne Boleyn. Their presence in the provinces is recorded every year during her tenure as queen consort — in accounts from Canterbury (1543), Cambridge (1544), Dover (1545 and 1547), Maldon, Essex (1546 and 1547), Norwich (1546), and Bristol (1547). Given the fact that Henry gave her free reign in 1544 in reorganizing her household, it seems plausible that Catherine herself may have sent her players out to promote her status, and possibly also Protestant reforms. Catherine was a patron of Nicholas Udall, who wrote two anti-papal plays, Ezechias and De Papatu. She could have been following the examples of Queen Anne Boleyn, the earl of Oxford, and Thomas Cromwell, whom we know were connected to an acting company led by John Bale that performed pro-Protestant plays about the kingdom. We get a hint that such might be the case from the Norwich records, which indicate a reward to her players ‘for an interlude whose matter was the market of mischief’. This interlude might have dramatized Thomas Cromwell’s exposé of the Rood from Boxley Abbey in 1538, when, in marketplaces in Maidstone and London, he revealed the hidden machinery that made the lips of the idol move."

Advertising Status and Legitimacy: or, Why Did Henry VIII’s Queens and Children Patronize Travelling Performers?, James H. Forse

on to henry viii's children...in the next installment.