Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Red Queen and self-belief

Margaret Beaufort, the heroine of Philippa Gregory's The Red Queen is a hard woman to like. But one thing she is not lacking in is self-belief. She truly seems to have believed that her son was destined for the throne and God had ordained it and so it would happen.
It is doubtful that Henry Tudor would have become if not for Margaret Beaufort.
She did go through some pretty dark times but her belief sustained her.
I thought about this, this morning. Sometimes I need to have more faith in myself and my dreams. It is to manufacture hurdles rather than looking at them as stepping stones.

The tv series -- The White Queen is brilliant btw. Good escapist Sunday night viewing. It is the only way to treat the Wars of the Roses -- to look at it from the women's POV. Ther are just too many male protagonists (none of them v nice).

But my God, sometimes I do wish I had Margret Beaufort's self belief.

3 comments:

Carol Warham said...

If you ever you need an example of a determined, assertive and challenging lady, she is certainly the one. A lady to admire especially after what she went through as only a child really. She is very well played in the series. I would enjoy seeing her as the 'Mother of the King'.

Donna Alward said...

I keep seeing her in her role in Persuasion, where she was very unstable, and she's a little unhinged here too. You're right - hard to like but definitely single-minded. I am enjoying the series - I think we got it later than you and I've been watching it on demand. :)

Michelle Styles said...

Yes you must have. It is a good series -- very good eye candy.

The books are excellent as well. I don't think Gregory had much sympathy with Lady Margaret.

I do hope they do the sequel --the White Princess as I suspect she would make an excellent MIL from hell!