Upcoming Events
4th February
3pm
Pitlochry Festival Theatre (Main Auditorium)
Event for Pitlochry's Winter Words Festival: Mary Boleyn: "The Great and Infamous Whore"
Mary Boleyn is remembered by posterity as a ‘great and infamous whore’. She was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. She may secretly have borne Henry a child and it was because of his adultery with Mary that his marriage to Anne was annulled. It is not hard to see how this tangled web of relationships has given rise to rumours and misconceptions that have been embroidered over the centuries. In her new book, the first full-scale biography of Mary Boleyn, Alison Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds her subject and uncovers the facts about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. Her extensive, forensic research has facilitated a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore or the ‘hackney’ whom the King of France famously boasted of riding.
Alison Weir also presents compelling new evidence that almost conclusively determines the paternity of Mary’s two oldest children. This astonishing and riveting book shows that Mary’s story had a happy ending and that she was by far the luckiest of the Boleyns.
4.30pm
Pitlochry Festival Theatre
26 Treasures
Across Scotland and beyond, 26 writers have been exploring ways of bringing treasures from the National Museum of Scotland to life in words. A panel of contributing writers, including Linda Cracknell, Jamie Jauncey and Alison Weir will discuss how tapping into the rich story of Scotland’s past through objects can connect them not only to social, political, cultural and religious history, but to the powerful emotions of people who lived at the time. A selection of pieces from the 26 Treasures exhibition will be on display during the Festival.
Book online at www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com or telephone the Box Office on 01796 484626.
18th February
1pm
Holy Trinity Church, High Street, Guildford, Surrey
Event for the Guildford Shakespeare Company: Richard III: The Man and the Myths
No English king inspires so much controversy as Richard III. With opinions starkly polarised as to his character and his culpability in the disappearance of his nephews, the Princes in the Tower, the debate has raged for five centuries. William Shakespeare based his play Richard III on Tudor perceptions of the last Plantagenet King – but were they, in turn, based on facts? Alison Weir, author of the best-selling book The Princes in the Tower, compares the historical Richard with Shakespeare’s villain and poses the question: was he the tyrant of the play, or one of the most misunderstood figures in history?
The Guildford Shakespeare Company's performance of Richard III follows at 2.30pm.
Box Office 01483 304384, www.guildford-shakespeare-company.co.uk.
16th March
7.30pm to 10pm
The Harte and Garter Hotel, Windsor
Alison will be one of fourteen authors attending a Literary Dinner hosted by the Windsor Festival.
Alison will also be giving a short talk on Mary Boleyn: "The Great and Infamous Whore". There will be other guest speakers during the evening.
Guests will enjoy a four-course dinner in the Ballroom of the Harte and Garter Hotel. The authors will circulate around the tables, changing between courses.
A signing for Waterstone's, Windsor will follow.
Dress: Black tie.
Booking details to come.
20th March
7.30pm
The Bishopsgate Institute, London
Event with The History Girls: Great Queens
‘The English like queens.’ It’s been proved time and again, through the success of monarchs like Elizabeth I, Victoria and our present queen, women who seem to be enduringly fascinating. The History Girls engage in a lively debate about who is Britain's greatest Queen - and you, the audience, can also have your say, and vote!
Tracy Borman: Matlda of Flanders
Alison Weir: Eleanor of Aquitaine
Sarah Gristwood: Elizabeth I
Kate Williams: Queen Victoria
Tickets can be booked from 4 January at www.bishopsgate.org.uk/events.
27th March **SOLD OUT**
7.30pm (refreshments) for 8pm
The Tithe Barn Restaurant, Bosworth Battlefield
Alison will speak about her new novel, A Dangerous Inheritance
The Tower of London, 1562. Queen Elizabeth I sits insecurely on the English throne. A young woman of twenty-two, Lady Katherine Grey, has just been arrested. She is the Queen`s cousin, and she has dared to marry her lover secretly and produce a child who might live to challenge Elizabeth`s title. Will the Queen demand the full penalty for treason, a penalty once suffered by Katherine’s sister Jane, the nine-days Queen?
Eighty years earlier, Kate Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of King Richard III, hears terrible rumours that her father has had his nephews, the two Princes in the Tower murdered. She cannot believe it, and desperately tries to find out the truth. But it is left to Katherine Grey to discover what happened to the Princes, and to lay three unquiet souls to rest, before she must endure her own tragic fate.
Tickets £10.00 (to include Bucks Fizz and hot cross buns) available from Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, Sutton Cheney, Nuneaton, CV13 0AD, tel. 01455 290429 (Ticket Office open from 10.00am to 5.00pm), or email bosworth@leics.gov.uk.
4th April
7pm
The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth
Alison will speak about her new novel, A Dangerous Inheritance
7pm: Reception, book sales and signing
7.30pm: Talk in the Theatre
8.30-9pm: Book sales and signing, and a chance to look around the Mary Rose Museum
The Tower of London, 1562. Queen Elizabeth I sits insecurely on the English throne. A young woman of twenty-two, Lady Katherine Grey, has just been arrested. She is the Queen`s cousin, and she has dared to marry her lover secretly and produce a child who might live to challenge Elizabeth`s title. Will the Queen demand the full penalty for treason, a penalty once suffered by Katherine’s sister Jane, the nine-days Queen?
Eighty years earlier, Kate Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of King Richard III, hears terrible rumours that her father has had his nephews, the two Princes in the Tower murdered. She cannot believe it, and desperately tries to find out the truth. But it is left to Katherine Grey to discover what happened to the Princes, and to lay three unquiet souls to rest, before she must endure her own tragic fate.
For tickets, please contact Sue Judge at s.judge@maryrose.org
21st April
(Time tbc)
Brympton d'Evercy House, Yeovil, Somerset
Joint event with Siobhan Clarke for the Brympton Festival: Magnificence: Dress, Display and Debauchery at the Court of Henry VIII
Alison Weir presents a lively and glittering evocation of the Tudor Court, its splendour as well as its vulgarity, using colourful, fresh material from archives and letters to recreate early sixteenth-century European life and culture, within which she sets the larger-than-life figure of a king who put England firmly on the map of power politics. In the course of this presentation, Siobhan Clarke, Tudor historian and costumed guide lecturer at Hampton Court, will give a fascinating demonstration of the structure of authentic Tudor costume, and speak about dress at the court of Henry VIII.
22nd April
(time tbc)
Event for the Brympton Festival: Writing Historical Fiction
In the wake of the boom in historical novels, the relationship between academic history and historical fiction has become a subject of great interest to historians. As a historian who also writes historical novels, Alison Weir discusses her own move into fiction and voices her own views and concerns, and poses the questions: why have historical novels become 'respectable', and why anecdotally are historians being encouraged to write them? What is the difference between historical fiction and academic history, and how rigid are the boundaries between the two these days? How good are readers at differentiating between 'fact' and 'fiction' and how much does it matter if they don't? Does the success of historical fiction benefit or threaten academic history, and what can literary authors and historians learn from each other?
Tickets for the Brympton Festival events will be available at www.visitsouthsomerset.com from 1st February. For further details, please visit www.friends-of-brympton.com.
25th April
7pm (tbc)
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
Event for the Hexham Book Festival: Mary Boleyn: "The Great and Infamous Whore"
Mary Boleyn is remembered by posterity as a ‘great and infamous whore’. She was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. She may secretly have borne Henry a child and it was because of his adultery with Mary that his marriage to Anne was annulled. It is not hard to see how this tangled web of relationships has given rise to rumours and misconceptions that have been embroidered over the centuries. In her new book, the first full-scale biography of Mary Boleyn, Alison Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds her subject and uncovers the facts about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. Her extensive, forensic research has facilitated a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore or the ‘hackney’ whom the King of France famously boasted of riding.
Alison Weir also presents compelling new evidence that almost conclusively determines the paternity of Mary’s two oldest children. This astonishing and riveting book shows that Mary’s story had a happy ending and that she was by far the luckiest of the Boleyns.
For tickets, please go to www.queenshall.co.uk.
10th May
7pm
The Banqueting Hall, Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, former home of Queen Katherine Parr.
Images of Tudor Queens: Alison Weir will give an illustrated presentation on the portraits of the six wives of Henry VIII, revealing the results of research undertaken over more than four decades, and discussing the nature of Tudor portraiture, the evidence for identifying some of the portraits, and the controversies surrounding them.
17th to 20th May
(Times tba)
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
Alison will be doing a series of events for the Boleyn Festival, a four day feast of all things Anne Boleyn. Historians, novelists, costumiers and musicians will gather in the glorious surroundings of Blickling Hall, Anne's probable birthplace, to remember the Norfolk-born woman whose marriage to Henry VIII caused an uproar throughout Christendom.
Confirmed speakers include Alison Weir, Eric Ives, Suzannah Dunn, Sarah Gristwood, David Loades, George Bernard, Neil Storey, Susannah Lipscomb and Harriet Castor.
The programme will be finalised in early 2012, when tickets will go on sale. In the meantime, keep an eye on the Boleyn Festival website at www.boleynfestival.co.uk as we work towards creating the best Boleyn Festival there has ever been.
24th May
1.15pm
The National Portrait Gallery, London
Alison will be giving an illustrated talk: Queens: Art and Image
This presentation will link to the Gallery's forthcoming exhibition, The Queen: Art and Image. Alison will discuss the iconography of Britain's Queens Regnant: Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary II, Anne, Victoria and Elizabeth II, with special mention of images of the Empress Matilda - who was briefly Lady of the English in 1141 - and Lady Jane Grey, who reigned for nine-days in 1553. What do these images tell us about the nature of sovereign queenship? Alison will compare portraits of Queen Elizabeth II with portraits of her predecessors, looking for similarities and disparities, and talk about the changing role of portraiture, especially in the modern world.
Admission to the Lecture Theatre is free on a first-come, first-served basis.
11th June
7pm for 7.30pm
Markenfield Hall, near Ripon, North Yorkshire
Isabella, She-Wolf of France, Queen of England
Isabella was the daughter of Philip IV of France and sister to three French kings. A pawn in the game of international politics, she was married in 1308 at the age of twelve to Edward II of England. And so began a public and private life more turbulent and eventful than any heroine - or anti-heroine - of fiction. Isabella lived through a long period of civil war. She bore Edward four children but was constantly humiliated by his relationships with male favourites. Although she is known to have lived adulterously with Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, accusations of murder and regicide remain unsubstantiated. Had it not been for her unfaithfulness, history may have immortalised her as a liberator - the saviour who unshackled England from a weak and vicious monarch. Dramatic and startling, Alison Weir's biography of Isabella changed the way we think of her and her world for ever, and she will be telling Isabella's story in this beautifully preserved old house dating from c.1310.
For tickets, please contact Sarah Robson on 01765 692303 or at markenfieldhall@btinternet.com
14th June
11am
The National Maritime Museum Lecture Theatre, Greenwich
Alison Weir will visit Greenwich, the birthplace of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, to speak about The Lady Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen's Perilous Path to the Throne (historical version).
Alison will recount the early life of Henry VIII's celebrated daughter, Elizabeth, who would grow up to become one of England’s greatest monarchs. But her path to the throne had been perilous. Before she was three, her mother, the enigmatic and seductive Anne Boleyn, was beheaded for treason, and she herself declared illegitimate, an injustice that would haunt her all her life. Then came a succession of stepmothers, bringing with them glimpses of love, fleeting security, tempestuous conflict and tragedy. The death of her father put the teenage Elizabeth in even greater peril, leaving her at the mercy of ambitious and unscrupulous men. Embroiled in a sex scandal, she emerged with her reputation barely intact; then, like her mother two decades earlier, she was imprisoned in the Tower of London – and feared she would meet a similar end. Power-driven politics, a disputed succession, and the grievous example of her sister, ‘Bloody’ Queen Mary, all cemented Elizabeth’s resolve in matters of statecraft and love, and set the stage for her transformation into the iconic Virgin Queen.
For tickets, please go to http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/
17th June
2pm
The University of York
This event is open to the public.
Event for the York Festival of Ideas: Alison will speak about her new novel, A Dangerous Inheritance
The Tower of London, 1562. Queen Elizabeth I sits insecurely on the English throne. A young woman of twenty-two, Lady Katherine Grey, has just been arrested. She is the Queen`s cousin, and she has dared to marry her lover secretly and produce a child who might live to challenge Elizabeth`s title. Will the Queen demand the full penalty for treason, a penalty once suffered by Katherine’s sister Jane, the nine-days Queen?
Eighty years earlier, Kate Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of King Richard III, hears terrible rumours that her father has had his nephews, the two Princes in the Tower murdered. She cannot believe it, and desperately tries to find out the truth. But it is left to Katherine Grey to discover what happened to the Princes, and to lay three unquiet souls to rest, before she must endure her own tragic fate.
Alison's talk will be largely factual, covering the three subjects of the book: Lady Katherine Grey, Katherine Plantagenet and the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. The over-arching theme is 'innocent blood' imperilled by being too close to the throne. Alison will also discuss the writing of historical fiction, and how historical sources can be used to create a novel like this.
For tickets, please visit www.york/ac.uk/events
20th June
8pm
Gladstone's Library, Hawarden
A Dangerous Inheritance
The Tower of London, 1562. Queen Elizabeth I sits insecurely on the English throne. A young woman of twenty-two, Lady Katherine Grey, has just been arrested. She is the Queen`s cousin, and she has dared to marry her lover secretly and produce a child who might live to challenge Elizabeth`s title. Will the Queen demand the full penalty for treason, a penalty once suffered by Katherine’s sister Jane, the nine-days Queen?
Eighty years earlier, Kate Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of King Richard III, hears terrible rumours that her father has had his nephews, the two Princes in the Tower murdered. She cannot believe it, and desperately tries to find out the truth. But it is left to Katherine Grey to discover what happened to the Princes, and to lay three unquiet souls to rest, before she must endure her own tragic fate.
For tickets, please call 01244 532350 or email enquiries@gladlib.org.
27th June (postponed from 17th April)
7pm
Sutton Library, Surrey
The Tower of London, 1562. Queen Elizabeth I sits insecurely on the English throne. A young woman of twenty-two, Lady Katherine Grey, has just been arrested. She is the Queen`s cousin, and she has dared to marry her lover secretly and produce a child who might live to challenge Elizabeth`s title. Will the Queen demand the full penalty for treason, a penalty once suffered by Katherine’s sister Jane, the nine-days Queen?
Eighty years earlier, Kate Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of King Richard III, hears terrible rumours that her father has had his nephews, the two Princes in the Tower murdered. She cannot believe it, and desperately tries to find out the truth. But it is left to Katherine Grey to discover what happened to the Princes, and to lay three unquiet souls to rest, before she must endure her own tragic fate.
For tickets, please contact Patricia Macleod of the Friends of Sutton Library at macleod.patricia@googlemail.com.
28th June
8.30pm
Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire (venue tbc)
Event for the Chalke Valley History Festival: Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen
The Virgin Queen of popular mythology led an often controversial private life. She was one of the most famous flirts in history; men were attracted to her not only because of who she was, but also because of her potent personal charisma. Yet Elizabeth I, Queen of England from 1558 to 1603, was celebrated in her own time, and is remembered today, as the Virgin Queen, an image she consciously promoted. She was one of the greatest rulers England has ever had, and one of the best loved. She set out to court the goodwill of her subjects, asserting that she was the careful mother of her people. Despite all the vicissitudes of fortune, she retained their love, and at the end of her reign was able to say to Parliament: 'Though God hath raised me high, yet this I account the glory of my crown, that I have reigned with your loves.'
Alison Weir has spent decades researching Elizabeth I and trying to discover the woman beneath the public image. Yet Elizabeth remains an enigma. Although the historical evidence overwhelmingly suggests that she was indeed the Virgin Queen she claimed to be, the subject can still provoke furious debate. Alison will discuss this and other intriguing aspects of Elizabeth's life in a talk richly illumined with lively anecdotes.
For tickets, please visit www.cvhf.org.uk
4th October
7.30pm
Northguild Lecture Theatre (next to the Central Library), Civic Centre, Southampton
Mary Boleyn: "The Great and Infamous Whore"
Mary Boleyn is remembered by posterity as a ‘great and infamous whore’. She was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. She may secretly have borne Henry a child and it was because of his adultery with Mary that his marriage to Anne was annulled. It is not hard to see how this tangled web of relationships has given rise to rumours and misconceptions that have been embroidered over the centuries. In her new book, the first full-scale biography of Mary Boleyn, Alison Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds her subject and uncovers the facts about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. Her extensive, forensic research has facilitated a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore or the ‘hackney’ whom the King of France famously boasted of riding. Alison Weir also presents compelling new evidence that almost conclusively determines the paternity of Mary’s two oldest children. This astonishing and riveting book shows that Mary’s story had a happy ending and that she was by far the luckiest of the Boleyns.
Tickets are available from the Visitor Information Centre (in the Central Library), or by telephoning 023 8083 3333
2013
22nd March
7.30pm
King George Memorial Hall, Manor Rise, Bearsted, Maidstone, Kent
Event for members of the Bearsted and District Local History Society: The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
The imprisonment and execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII`s second wife, in 1536 was unprecedented in the annals of English history. It was sensational in its day, and has exerted endless fascination over the minds of historians, novelists, dramatists, poets, artists and film-makers ever since. It is also the stuff of which myths and legends were made – indeed, a spin was being put on the tale within a fortnight of Anne`s death. Anne was imprisoned in the Tower on 2nd May 1536, and tried and found guilty of high treason on 15th May. Her supposed crimes included adultery with five men, one her own brother, and plotting the King`s death. She was executed on 19th May. Mystery surrounds the circumstances leading up to her arrest. Alison Weir tells the story of one of the most tragic, cataclysmic and romantic episodes in history, and examines the circumstances of Anne's fall. Hers is a thoroughly gripping story, and at its centre is one of the most charismatic, controversial, courageous and tragic heroines in history.
For tickets, please contact Mrs K. Kersey, Programme Secretary, Bearsted and District L.H.S., on 01622 730444.
COMING SOON!
An events is being planned for the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Sussex.
