On 7 September last year on the Sky History channel was the first series of Royal Autopsy. It dealt with Charles II and Elizabeth I, and was excellent, if a little gory. I reviewed it on the following link: https://murreyandblue.org/2023/09/07/royal-autopsy-a-documentary-series-dealing-with-the-recreated-post-mortems-of-charles-ii-and-elizabeth-i/ Now the second series is soon to commence, and there are four monarchs having the… Continue reading Royal Autopsy returns for Series II….
Tag: Elizabeth I
Uncrowned: Royal heirs who didn’t take the throne
We all know the well-trodden vistas of the kings and queens of England but what about those of the kings and queens we nearly had? In my new book, Uncrowned: Royal Heirs Who Didn’t Take The Throne, I charter the lives of twenty-five heirs apparent and presumptive who nature had destined to one day wear… Continue reading Uncrowned: Royal heirs who didn’t take the throne
“Becoming Elizabeth”
This drama series, from Starz but now broadcast on Channel Four, follows the momentous but unheralded reign of Edward VI through the eyes of the future Elizabeth I. It features the literally fratricidal feud between the Seymour brothers as the elder, the Duke of Somerset, becomes Lord Protector but also the King’s governor, powers that… Continue reading “Becoming Elizabeth”
Tyrants – Part 1
I am heartily sick of certain historians – or ‘historians’ in some cases – who use the ‘tyrant’ word as a badge to stick on the rulers they dislike as a sort of badge of disgrace. These people invariably gloss over the similar – no, let’s be plain, worse, far worse! – deeds of the… Continue reading Tyrants – Part 1
More totally unnecessary digs at Richard III….
This article is courtesy of one Sean Cunningham, historian. 😠 The article is informative about various National Archive documents that concern past coronations. They are very interesting. For instance, they reveal the preservation of “….bills submitted to the exchequer for the robes worn by past monarchs such as Elizabeth I when she was crowned in… Continue reading More totally unnecessary digs at Richard III….
An Elizabethan house that looks Victorian….?
Is it just me? Or does this house in Pirton, Worcestershire, which dates back to the Domesday Book and is described as Elizabethan, actually look merely Victorian/Edwardian? Ignore the black-and-white exterior, because even with the original more natural colours the house just does not look 16th/17th century, even though it is. To me it appears… Continue reading An Elizabethan house that looks Victorian….?
Royal Autopsy, a documentary series dealing with the recreated post-mortems of Charles II and Elizabeth I….
I confess to having doubts about watching this two-part series on the Sky History channel because I envisaged CGI overkill with odious (but hopefully by then dead) parasites etc., and so I started viewing with the firm intention of stopping the moment it became too horribly wriggly and gory. No wriggles, but the gory… Continue reading Royal Autopsy, a documentary series dealing with the recreated post-mortems of Charles II and Elizabeth I….
What is the truth behind Shakespeare’s Richard II and Richard III….?
Here’s an interesting take on Shakespeare‘s Richard II. Please note, NOT Richard III. There is a myth that this play was written to flatter the Tudor queen Elizabeth, and yet one scene came so close to the bone, so to speak, that she had it excised from every performance! Amused she was not. The scene… Continue reading What is the truth behind Shakespeare’s Richard II and Richard III….?
London created champagne before the French….!
Yes indeed, it seems that Londoners invented champagne. It’s a claim that won’t go down well across La Manche, and I found it at this site, which is also where I found the illustration from Rocque’s Map below. “…If you could time travel back to medieval London you would [find it] awash with vineyards at… Continue reading London created champagne before the French….!
This seems to be a vintage year …
… for encrypted documents to be found in the French archives, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. This time, the computerised decoding process revealed the missives to the French Ambassador to contain nouns and verbs in the feminine form, mentions of captivity and of Sir Francis Walsingham, leading the experts to deduce the sender to be… Continue reading This seems to be a vintage year …
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