University of Chichester

04/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/17/2024 05:51

Secrets of the women who served the Tudor Queens revealed in academic’s new book

A book about the ladies-in-waiting who served the six wives of Henry VIII by a senior lecturer at the University of Chichester will be published next week (26 April).

Dr Nicola Clark, Senior Lecturer in Late Medieval and Early Modern History penned The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens, which will explore the daily lives of ladies-in-waiting at the Tudor court.

These confidantes and chaperones of the Tudor Queens had a unique power because of their proximity to the throne. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women.

Dr Clark said: "I'm really excited to introduce readers to new Tudor characters. In the book, we meet María de Salinas, who travelled to England with Catherine of Aragon when just a teenager and spied for her during the divorce from Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn's lady-in-waiting Jane Parker was instrumental in the execution of not one, but two queens. And maid-of-honour Anne Basset kept her place through the last four consorts, negotiating the conflicting loyalties of her birth family, her mistress the Queen, and even the desires of the King himself."

In promoting the new book, Dr Clark appeared on a panel at HistFest on 13 April, in a debate on 'How to survive the Tudor and Stuart court'. She'll also be appearing in talks at Southwark Cathedral (2 May), the National Portrait Gallery (11 July) and Hillingdon History Festival (13 July).

Dr Clark's appearance at the National Portrait Gallery is part of a series of lunchtime lectures on Queens in Context: Women in 16thcentury Europe.

The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and is available to preorder here.

Dr Clark's first book was Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485-1558published by Oxford University Press in 2018. She also writes for public audiences, with work featured in History Today and History Extra, and has appeared on television as part of the BBC's The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family, and More4's Royal Scandals.

To find out more about History courses at the University of Chichester, visit: www.chi.ac.uk/history-international-relations-and-politics/