The Thistle and the Rose: The extraordinary life of Margaret Tudor Linda Porter
Event details
Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of Henry VIII, has consistently been overlooked by historians. Married at 13 to the charismatic James IV of Scotland, a man more than twice her age, she learned the skills of statecraft that enabled her to survive his early death. Constructing a powerful position in her adopted country of Scotland, she had to deal with domestic issues as well as navigating international relations with England and France.
Writer Linda Porter, author of The Thistle and the Rose, reveals the story of this complex (and not always likeable) woman who had the true Tudor attributes of self-expression and a flair for the dramatic.
Drawing on Margaret's extensive correspondence (more of her letters survive than of all the other Tudor queens put together), and contemporary poems and literature, Linda presents a compelling story of a misunderstood and underestimated Tudor monarch, whose determination to fight for the rights of her son, James V, is at the core of her dramatic life and indeed laid the groundwork for a future British state.
Book sales
You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too.
You may also be interested in Thomas Cromwell: Understanding his rise and fall on Saturday 31 May.
About the speaker
Linda Porter has a BA and a DPhil from the University of York, UK. She is the author of Mary Tudor: The First Queen; Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr; Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots; Royal Renegades: The Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars; Mistresses, sex and scandal at the court of Charles II, and The Thistle and the Rose: The extraordinary life of Margaret Tudor. As well as her historical writing, Linda reviews for the BBC History Magazine, The Literary Review and History Today.
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