tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33546777388765763702012-02-11T03:00:26.012ZMusings on history, life, literature, movies, art and merriment by Gareth Russell, author of "Popular"Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.comBlogger3691100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-56542757071688356912012-02-06T15:08:00.001Z2012-02-06T15:18:15.625Z

Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty The Queen to the thrones of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. The nation is currently preparing for a fantastic summer of celebrations to mark the first royal Diamond Jubilee since that of Queen Victoria in 1897. Along with this year's London Olympic Games, the Jubilee will certainly make 2012 a summer to remember.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-29124319391496275322012-02-03T14:12:00.000Z2012-02-03T14:12:56.504Z

Via Tea at Trianon comes an article about an early clash between the 14 year-old Marie-Antoinette and the Versailles court aristocracy over an issue of precedence at the young princess's wedding ball.  Due to the intrigues of the Austrian ambassador and France's foreign minister, the Duc de Choiseul, a fifteen year-old aristocrat, Anne-Charlotte, Princesse de Lorraine, had been given the right

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-49889022594570322652012-02-02T15:09:00.000Z2012-02-02T15:09:29.231Z

Despite being the worst maritime disaster in Canadian history, the 1914 sinking of the Empress of Ireland in the icy Saint Lawrence River has attracted relatively little subsequent historical attention, particularly in comparison to the interest still shown in the Titanic and Lusitania disasters. A 14,000-ton liner for the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, the vessel operated the transatlantic

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-90188311158076149352012-01-30T18:41:00.000Z2012-01-30T18:41:16.020Z

With the centenary approaching, the Titanic is once again big news, particularly in Belfast, where a host of festivities are being designed to mark the opening of the world's largest (and long-overdue) Titanic visitors' attraction. Built in Harland & Wolff as the second of three sister ships for the White Star Line, the Titanic is today probably the most famous ship in history - eclipsing Noah's

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-11345157789610099552012-01-25T21:47:00.004Z2012-01-25T23:14:27.217Z

Anne Boleyn is Henry VIII's most famous wife and she was crowned queen in a magnificent ceremony that fused medieval pageantry with political propaganda, spectacle and royal extravagance. However, the details of Henry and Anne's actual marriage are less well-known and considerable confusion surrounds when, where and by whom they were joined together as man and wife. The traditional version of

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com9Belfast, UK54.59744329999999 -5.93406830000003554.53311329999999 -6.052695800000035 54.661773299999986 -5.815440800000036tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-9447092964152191502012-01-24T17:17:00.001Z2012-01-30T18:37:14.230Z

This month, there was the tragic news of the sinking of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, after it ran aground off the Isola del Giglio. Costa Concordia was, to date, the largest ship built on Italian soil and, at the time of writing, the sinking has claimed sixteen confirmed lives, so far. The Costa Concordia's sinking is one of the first maritime losses of a luxury liner in the

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-28725569976116025822012-01-09T23:50:00.000Z2012-01-09T23:50:33.586Z

Author Elena Maria Vidal takes a brief look at the fascinating life of Zoe du Cayla, a French aristocrat and socialite who became the last favourite of King Louis XVIII of France. Like Gabrielle de Polignac at the court of Louis XVI, Madame du Cayla eventually used her friendship with the royal family to promote a conservative political agenda - in this case, furthering the cause of the Ultras,

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-92039765078074226442012-01-05T02:44:00.000Z2012-01-05T02:44:28.752Z

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge has officially unveiled which four charities she will become patron of, in her new life as a member of the British Royal Family, all of whom have a traditionally heavy schedule of involvements with national charities. The Duchess is to become patron of Action on Addiction, the National Portrait Gallery, the East Anglia's Children's Hospices, and The

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-61247048079659552132012-01-04T18:51:00.000Z2012-01-04T18:51:34.445Z

His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, one of the highest-ranking members of the Church of Ireland (Anglican/Episcopalian) hierarchy, has publicly encouraged private schools under the Church of Ireland's management to co-operate with the Irish Ministry of Education as it seeks to conduct an audit of educational expenditure in the Irish Republic. The Irish Department of Education

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-17039069247863992322011-12-24T21:31:00.000Z2011-12-24T21:31:43.906Z

Whilst it's famously called "the most wonderful time of the year," Christmas can also be a difficult time for people. It can bring up painful memories of those no longer with us. Unfortunately, it can also add a great burden to those struggling either emotionally or financially. More often, though, Christmas is a combination of both sad and happy feelings, particularly as we get older, which

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com7Belfast, UK54.59744329999999 -5.93406830000003554.53311329999999 -6.052695800000035 54.661773299999986 -5.815440800000036tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-62400643819151178022011-12-21T14:21:00.001Z2011-12-21T14:21:31.114Z

I recently attended my great-uncle's funeral in the town of Lurgan (above) in Northern Ireland and it brought back a lot of memories, which I blogged about on my other blog.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-29617009720659973002011-12-20T22:24:00.000Z2011-12-20T22:24:12.859Z

After years of using the vice-regal throne (left) that once sat in Saint Patrick's Hall of Dublin Castle, Ireland's presidency has elected to commission a new chair (right) for the presidential swearing-in, claiming that the old chair, which was used by the Viceroy of Ireland during the days before Partition, is in a state of disrepair. As Andrew Cusack muses on his blog, it seems a shame to let

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-7398069198671649222011-12-19T23:34:00.000Z2011-12-19T23:34:50.505Z

A very dear friend of mine, Charles C.W. Cooke, who I first met in our American History class at Oxford, is now working and writing in New York for the National Review. Charles has written a very interesting reflection on the recent sacking of the British Embassy in Tehran and the policy of "gunboat diplomacy" espoused by Lord Palmerston in the days of the British Empire. I really, really

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-84560612996296125422011-12-11T15:28:00.003Z2011-12-11T23:04:15.050Z

Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna entered the world in the 1,500-room Winter Palace on 24th June 1825, the third daughter of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia and his German wife, dainty Princess Charlotte of Prussia, who taken the name of Alexandra upon converting to the Russian Orthodox faith just before her marriage. It is often asserted that this

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-49856672476645722992011-12-01T06:30:00.018Z2011-12-02T09:58:34.850Z

This is part three in this blog's look at the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, which is part of the ongoing "Queens of England" series. Part one, "The Daughter of Riches" and part two, "A woman out of legend" are available by clicking on the linked titles."Why have I, the Lady of two kingdoms, reached the disgrace of this abominable old age?" - Eleanor of Aquitaine (1192)The Middle Ages is one of

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-82070466483120522772011-11-26T22:50:00.000Z2011-11-26T22:50:56.209Z

"Therefore I say unto you: Every sin and every blasphemy shall be forgiven men, except the blasphemy of the Spirit, which shall not be forgiven. For whomsoever shall speak against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come." - The Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Chapter

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-88528706305654102322011-11-25T21:48:00.002Z2011-11-25T21:49:35.862Z

The National Post has a very interesting article upon the Monarchy and attitudes to class in Britain. Perhaps one of the things which people who aren't too well-acquainted with monarchical history will find surprising is how often various members of the British aristocracy have scorned and criticised the monarchy for being too "common". The gorgeous but fascist socialite, Lady Diana Mosley (nee

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-38272855613823363092011-11-24T19:37:00.000Z2011-11-24T19:37:53.607Z

An ancient relic, long venerated as a girdle or belt which belonged to the Virgin Mary, has completed its ten city-tour of Russia, after being loaned to the Russian Orthodox Church by the famous Mount Athos monastery in Greece, where it is usually kept and guarded.  In an extraordinary display of the strength and vitality of Christianity in Russia after the downfall of the Soviet system, nearly

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-34430119493952823142011-11-24T19:22:00.000Z2011-11-24T19:22:20.555Z

The Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference for England and Wales has officially approved the order of service and prayers for a Mass to be said on the Feast of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Sunday 3rd June) 2012 as part of the nationwide celebrations throughout June to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Her Majesty The Queen's accession to the British throne.  During this special Mass, the

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-3254749057764196072011-11-23T23:10:00.001Z2011-11-24T00:02:36.671Z

There were two new reviews out recently for my first novel, "Popular." One was published in a literary magazine published by the University of Melbourne, called Viewpoint, and the other was written by a teenage reader from County Down in Northern Ireland.  Viewpoint's review discusses how her expectations weren't meant when she began reading: "When I first picked up Popular, I expected (a) it to

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-76406448120091095372011-11-23T22:59:00.000Z2011-11-23T22:59:50.522Z

The exact date at which Scotland became unified under one monarchy is still a matter of debate amongst historians. Local leaders and kings had certainly been calling themselves kings of Scotland or Caledonia (the Latin name for Scotland) for generations, but historians would usually date the beginnings of the Scottish crown and nation either to 834, the reign of King Aodh or to 1016, when

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-21475057176434473222011-11-22T14:59:00.000Z2011-11-22T14:59:57.305Z

The site Vive la reine (via Tea at Trianon) reports on one eye-witness account of Marie-Antoinette's compassion towards the less-fortunate. Although it's a side of the Queen almost never reported in modern accounts of her, Marie-Antoinette's kindness and empathy was considered to be one of her most dominant (and endearing) features by her close friends and servants. One of Marie-Antoinette's

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-52163589340659055952011-11-07T21:57:00.000Z2011-11-07T21:57:37.037Z

I am very excited to announce that from Saturday June 9th to Friday June 15th 2012, I will be leading The Executed Queens Tour, a luxury history-themed holiday organised by the fantastic History Tours of Britain. The holiday will take a group of twenty history enthusiasts around southern England in luxury accommodation to visit sites associated with the four royal women whose lives ended

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-6291079077280943622011-11-06T22:28:00.001Z2011-11-06T22:31:21.926Z

One of the things studying history has taught me is never to believe anything until it happens and never to put faith in predictions. I don't necessarily disbelieve them, but if anyone thinks that short-term surprises can't alter long-term trends, then, frankly, they're fools. No-one watching the tercentenary celebrations in 1913 could possibly have imagined that four years later a dissolute

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-40104949138187408992011-11-06T21:25:00.000Z2011-11-06T21:25:04.990Z

Over on Tea at Trianon's new forum, created by Elena Maria Vidal, there has been an ongoing discussion about Marie-Antoinette in art. Although re-labelling and mis-labelling of portraits is a common enough occurrence in sixteenth century history, it's much rarer in the better documented 1700s. However, according to several researchers, one of the most famous portraits of Marie-Antoinette may

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com3Saintfield, County Down, UK54.4594463 -5.83764089999999754.451563300000004 -5.8504973999999965 54.4673293 -5.824784399999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-72895436995520807802011-11-04T00:52:00.003Z2011-11-04T01:03:54.254Z

So, after posting on the Kings of France and England, here's a list of the Kings and Queens of Spain which, it has to be said, is a pretty complicated and tumultuous list. THE HOUSE OF TRASTAMARA AND THE ORIGINS OF THE SPANISH KINGDOM Spain was first unified by the marriage of FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, who pursued the military unification of Spain after their marriage in 1474. However, it was

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-29369648115027542082011-11-01T13:35:00.002Z2011-11-01T13:40:31.478Z

"God, God, what a day! The Lord has called to Him our adored, our dear, our tenderly loved Papa. My head turns, it isn't possible to believe it." - Alexander III's son and successor, Tsar Nicholas II (1894) Alexander III, forty-nine year-old Emperor of All the Russias for the last thirteen years, had ignored the advice of his doctors concerning his frequent insomnia, headaches and sore legs.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-45106317869487473382011-10-31T21:38:00.000Z2011-10-31T21:38:56.161Z

Roland Hui, a reader of this blog and author of one of the finest modern assessments of Anne Boleyn's portraiture, recently sent me a link to an article on his new blog Tudor Faces, in which he discusses the identity of two sitters in portraits by the Dutch artist, Lucas von Horenbolte, which may be portraits of Anne Boleyn's sister and father. The above portrait, a miniature by Horenbolte, is

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-86591522365370564282011-10-28T00:45:00.008+01:002011-11-25T23:46:20.870Z

After a very long delay to this blog's Lives of the Queens of England series, here is part II of the three-part life of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Part I - Daughter of Riches - can be read here. "My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived. Henry Fitz-Empress, first Plantagenet, a king at twenty-one, the ablest soldier of an able time. He led men well, he cared for justice when he

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com4Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-63159421280746869872011-10-26T00:44:00.001+01:002011-10-26T19:54:04.342+01:00

Of all the many ironies of Henry VIII's reign, perhaps the most glaring is that after everything he had subjected Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn to because of their 'failure' to produce a son, his third wife Jane Seymour lived less than two weeks to enjoy his favour after achieving the great biological triumph which had eluded her two predecessors. Probably about twenty-nine years-old at

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com5Saintfield, County Down, UK54.4594463 -5.83764089999999754.451563300000004 -5.8504973999999965 54.4673293 -5.824784399999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-14057944141181581112011-10-25T23:56:00.000+01:002011-10-25T23:56:12.477+01:00

Looking remarkably good considering today was his ninetieth birthday, His Majesty King Michael I of Romania gave a strong and confident speech to the Romanian parliament in Bucharest, in which he begged the people of Romania to keep faith in the democratic institutions that had replaced the Communist dictatorship in 1989. The King spoke of the importance of remembering history and its

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-80572060514764190732011-10-16T18:37:00.001+01:002011-10-16T21:24:07.914+01:00

Today is the two hundredth and eighteenth anniversary of the terrible execution of Marie-Antoinette. The thirty-seven year-old Queen was beheaded by guillotine in what is now the Place de la Concorde just after noon on 16th October 1793.  The Death: Here is my post on her execution from last year. Marie-Antoinette the Christian: Professor de Oliveira defends Marie-Antoinette and discusses the

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-5635292257378933932011-10-09T21:56:00.001+01:002011-10-16T18:46:40.709+01:00

Regular readers of this blog may have read my reviews of Trianon and Madame Royale by American writer, Elena Maria Vidal. Now, Elena has very kindly posted her review of my novel Popular, which you can read in full by clicking HERE. "Released in July 2011, Popular by Northern Irish writer Gareth Russell, is a scathingly witty and humorous romp dealing with privileged teenagers in Belfast. Now I

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-16279197230892756112011-10-04T21:19:00.002+01:002011-10-04T21:21:45.162+01:00

 "At first only women showed themselves; the latticed windows of the palace were closed, and the Bodyguard and Flanders regiment were drawn up in the Place d'Armes... General consternation and disorder reigned throughout the interior of the palace... The insurrection was directed against the Queen in particular; I shudder even now at the memory of the fishwives, or rather Furies, who wore white

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-22609870313186269562011-10-01T09:58:00.001+01:002011-10-01T10:04:04.659+01:00

My interview with THE SUNDAY TIMES was published in July 2011. The interview is by Pavel Barter, the photograph by Kelvin Boyes. "A BOY WHO'S DOWN WITH THE MEAN GIRLS" Friends trashed his idea for a bitchy teen-fiction novel set in Belfast, but Gareth Russell's savagely witty debut wins out in the popularity stakes, says Pavel Barter. When Gareth Russell said he wanted to write a novel about

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com6Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-62059164664052047742011-09-27T19:00:00.001+01:002011-09-27T19:03:48.829+01:00

On The Anne Boleyn Files, Claire Ridgeway discusses the day the fifteen year-old Katherine of Aragon left her native Spain to marry into the English royal family. Due to adverse weather conditions, the Infanta's trip had already been forced to turn back to Spain once before, but, this time, the new captain, Stephen Butt, sent all the way from England by King Henry VII, carried the flotilla out

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-37666618974960270942011-09-26T20:45:00.001+01:002011-10-07T03:03:57.306+01:00

A full table of the Kings and Queens of England, with their consorts. I also profiled the same for the French monarchy in an earlier post. Ordinarily, the lists start in 1066 with William I's conquest of England, a move which many academics deplore, understandably. Although that is admittedly where I also usually start my list, under the influence of "1066 and all that," this list starts at a

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com3Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-65596646853279718562011-09-21T20:13:00.001+01:002011-09-21T20:14:13.214+01:00

On the twenty-first day of September 1819 in the Élysée Palace, today the official residence of the French President, the most beautiful member of the French Royal Family, Princess Caroline, Duchesse de Berry, went into labour. A southern Italian princess by birth, Caroline was the daughter of Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies, and his Austrian queen, Maria-Clementina. At the age of

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-9684135685654792432011-09-19T15:24:00.000+01:002011-09-19T15:24:59.692+01:00

Here are some stills from the new movie about the fall of the French monarchy, Les Adieux a la Reine, with Diane Kruger as Marie-Antoinette (above) and Virginie Ledoyen, as I expected, as Gabrielle, Duchesse de Polignac (below). The movie is based on the wonderful novel by Professor Chantal Thomas, the author of a non-fiction book on Marie-Antoinette's demonisation by the libellistes of the

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-49900784287984973292011-09-18T18:22:00.000+01:002011-09-18T18:22:10.723+01:00

Stephanie A. Mann, author of Supremacy and Survival: How Catholics Endured the English Reformation, marks the anniversary of James II's death in 1701. Having been overthrown in favour of his daughter and son-in-law in 1688, Britain's last Catholic monarch died in exile as a guest of his cousin, the King of France. He was survived by his second wife, Queen Maria-Beatrice, and their two children,

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-91682192703419644582011-09-16T13:54:00.000+01:002011-09-16T13:54:30.637+01:00

The superb blog Mary Tudor: Renaissance Queen reviews yet another biography of Queen Mary Tudor, by Oxford linguist and historian, John Edwards. Mary Tudor: England's Catholic Queen seeks to put Mary in her proper context as a mid-century European sovereign, rather than merely focusing on the alleged tragedies of her adolescence and private life.  For the blog's excellent and expert review of

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-59687692323626240052011-09-12T14:47:00.000+01:002011-09-12T14:47:32.130+01:00

"Popular" has been named Book of the Month in the September 2011 edition of Northern Ireland's best-selling society magazine, Ulster Tatler! Given that the magazine features in "Popular" itself, I was really pleased and a huge thanks to Kellie Chambers for her amazing review (below). Kellie and her colleague, Nuala Meenehan, also came to see the industry preview night of Popular's first ever

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com4Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-56294850756537858592011-09-04T00:13:00.001+01:002011-09-04T00:13:43.217+01:00

Anne Boleyn is known to have been one of at least five siblings and whilst her elder brother and sister, George and Mary, grew into adulthood, it has always been assumed that her two other brothers, Thomas and Henry, died as children. Now, however, the historian Alison Weir is arguing in her new biography Mary Boleyn that, in fact, Thomas lived into early adulthood and died in 1520 - by which

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-6129743803752446632011-08-25T01:42:00.001+01:002011-08-25T01:42:14.075+01:00

If you are a blogger or book reviewer and your blog has more than one hundred followers, Penguin are giving away seven copies of my novel Popular for review. Please contact the theatre version of Popular's e-mail address at popularauditions@yahoo.com to request your review copy!

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-38638817636803812132011-08-16T21:57:00.000+01:002011-08-16T21:57:03.866+01:00

"One of the best things about playing the character of Cameron is how he has many different relationships in the play. This is good from my perspective, as I enjoy acting with the different characters, in totally contrasting moods and different scenarios. For instance, I could be in a highly amusing scene with Peter or a very tense scene with Blake, and I like this as each scene is

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-82160399208643617332011-08-14T16:40:00.001+01:002011-08-14T16:41:38.672+01:00

Ever wondered what it would be like to spend a week, an evening or a weekend living like a member of the Irish Ascendancy? Well, The Irish Times has just profiled one of my favourite places in the country - the absolutely beautiful Montalto estate, a few miles from where I live, and currently administered by my childhood Sunday school teacher, David Anderson MVO MBE. The estate, which dates from

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-67657320711750107062011-08-10T15:30:00.000+01:002011-08-10T15:30:17.952+01:00

On this day in history, the Tuileries Palace in the centre of Paris was laid siege to by a mob and in a horrifying display of public violence, centuries of monarchist rule in France were effectively overthrown. The royal family, who had been living under de facto house arrest at the Tuileries for nearly three years since the fall of Versailles, were forced to flee for their lives and many of

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-4073662651687979842011-08-02T13:53:00.000+01:002011-08-02T13:53:18.607+01:00

Published in Britain as Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and his scandalous duchess and in America as Mistress of the Monarchy, American novelist Elena Maria Vidal offers a positive review of Alison Weir's biography of the beautiful Katherine Swynford, mistress and then wife of the fourteenth century English prince, John of Gaunt, who effectively ruled the realm during the

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-66730700057524294542011-08-01T11:45:00.000+01:002011-08-01T11:45:05.146+01:00

Today my first novel, Popular, became available through Penguin to buy in South Africa. Hope readers enjoy it and I'm very excited it's available there now!

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-91357841811178594022011-07-30T17:48:00.000+01:002011-07-30T17:48:48.943+01:00

Even by the improbable standards set by Henry VIII's court, Catherine Howard's ascent to the throne had been a remarkably swift one. The pretty teenager had only been at court for seven months when she became queen, easily supplanting Anne of Cleves, the dowdy German princess whom she had first been brought to London to serve. Younger, prettier and certainly sexier than Queen Anne, according to

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2Belfast, UK54.5972686 -5.93010879999997154.5446406 -6.037811799999971 54.6498966 -5.822405799999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-44762836231554899042011-07-29T02:03:00.000+01:002011-07-29T02:03:53.319+01:00

Trond Berntsen, the stepbrother of Crown Princess Mette-Marit (above), the wife of Norway's heir to the throne, was one of those murdered by right-wing extremist, Anders Behring Breivik, in last week's terrible attack. I was linked to the story by the headline "Norway attack victim saved his own son before dying," before being surprised to read that the man in question was a relative of the

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-885580430769117512011-07-25T02:21:00.001+01:002011-07-25T03:15:28.934+01:00

Last week, I had a fantastic time doing a ten minute interview on BBC Radio Ulster's show "ArtsExtra," hosted by Marie-Louise Muir, who was reading Popular. We talk about my school-days, my inspiration and a little bit of Marie-Antoinette.  If you go to the ArtsExtra page, you can still listen to the show before it's taken down at the end of the week. Click on the broadcast for 21/7/2011 and

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-13080747140457980662011-07-24T13:29:00.001+01:002011-07-24T13:35:45.416+01:00

His Majesty King Harald V has lead mourners at the Lutheran Mass celebrated in Oslo Cathedral to mark the tragic deaths of ninety-seven Norwegians, in twin terror attacks carried out yesterday by a Christian fundamentalist, Anders Behring Breivik (32). The service was also attended by the Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, whose political party was allegedly one of the main targets of the attacks

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-71395681035194788232011-07-19T16:50:00.000+01:002011-07-19T16:50:43.579+01:00

The Pope has written to Archduke Karl, head of the House of Hapsburg, to commiserate with members of the royal family on the recent death of the Archduke's father, Crown Prince Otto, whose sad death on July 4th of this year I commented upon here. To His Royal Highness, Archduke Karl of Austria: With deepest sympathy have I learned about the passing of your father, His Royal Highness Archduke

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-29419498185564876562011-07-17T11:01:00.001+01:002011-07-17T11:02:19.328+01:00

The Irish Times has offered a generally positive review of Finola Kennedy's new biography of her late godfather, Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion of Mary. Duff founded the society in 1921, with its primary aim being to encourage devotion to the Virgin Mary and to provide practical charitable solutions to the problems of Ireland's many disadvantaged. Based heavily on the teachings of Saint

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-25176982876505397282011-07-11T23:42:00.000+01:002011-07-11T23:42:51.641+01:00

Author Stephanie A. Mann takes a look at the notorious assassination of Prince William "the Silent" of Orange in 1584, by Balthasar Gerard, and the reaction in Protestant England where it fuelled Queen Elizabeth's fears that she was next. The fate of the prince's murderer is not for the faint-hearted!

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-78797845892539273762011-07-09T13:40:00.000+01:002011-07-09T13:40:14.118+01:00

Yesterday, I was very fortunate to be interviewed by Connor Bradford, one of the co-hosts of BBC Radio Ulster's flagship morning radio programme, Good Morning, Ulster. You can access the interview by listening to it on BBC i-player on the link below. I speak at the 2:20 point. Unless, you have a hankering for Northern Irish news, in which feel free to listen away! The interview, broadcast on

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-74910087937331275872011-07-06T10:41:00.002+01:002011-07-06T10:44:55.274+01:00

Edward VI's untimely death at the age of fifteen has given rise to the rumour that he was always a sickly child. This image of the frail boy-king, whose life was snuffed out by faulty Tudor and Seymour genetics, is not borne out by the accounts of Edward which pre-date the last eighteen months of his life. It may be that, like his late uncle Arthur, we have exaggerated his physical weakness and

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-48131202964780068842011-07-06T09:39:00.002+01:002011-07-06T09:40:26.080+01:00

GLOUCESTER: Say that I slew them not? LADY ANNE: Why, then they are not dead,But dead they are, and devilish slave, by thee. "If you were to say of these men that they are not guilty, it would be as true to say there ... are no slain, there has been no crime." - Robert H. Jackson, 1946

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-32168149265250520972011-07-05T01:21:00.000+01:002011-07-05T01:21:48.031+01:00

On his website, C.W. Gortner, author of The Tudor Secret (reviewed here), posts a guest post from the acclaimed historical novelist Colin Falconer, whose debut novel When We Were Gods, a dramatisation of the life of Cleopatra, has recently been made available on Kindle. Falconer reflects on the difficulties of being a historical novelist and the ways in which fact is stranger than fiction: -"In

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-10024395464653189942011-07-04T18:44:00.004+01:002011-07-05T17:25:25.267+01:00

I was saddened to hear today of the death of His Imperial and Royal Highness Crown Prince Otto of Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. His Imperial Highness was the eldest son of the last Emperor of Austria, to date, Karl I, who ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire during its final traumatic years from 1916 to 1918. Despite Karl's heroic attempts to end the carnage of the First World War, the

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-17290127464496370772011-07-04T17:57:00.000+01:002011-07-04T17:57:35.074+01:00

Claire Ridgway, creator of the hugely successful The Anne Boleyn Files, has very kindly reviewed my novel Popular, which will be released in the UK and Ireland this Thursday. I'm so glad Claire liked it and here's an excerpt from her review: - "The novel follows the group through the events of their school year – the return to school in September, Kerry’s 16th birthday party, nights out,

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-52574369856550723932011-07-04T17:52:00.002+01:002011-07-05T17:29:09.166+01:00

In the wake of revelations this week which show that the overall cost of the monarchy has actually decreased in 2010-2011 by 5.3%, that it's often cheaper to run than the American presidency and that the Prince of Wales is now living almost entirely independently from government funds (H.R.H draws his sizable income from the lands, farms and luxury food industries he has developed in his duchy

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-40788495073990135442011-06-23T17:00:00.001+01:002011-06-23T17:02:16.602+01:00

On this day in 1703, one of the most powerful aristocrats in the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanislas Leszczynski, marked the birth of his second daughter, Maria (above). Christened in honour of the Virgin Mary, baby Maria's full name was Maria Carolina Sophia Felicity Leszczynska. Both the baby and her mother, Katarzyna, were in fine health and a year later they both acquired a royal title

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-2351111428275973522011-06-19T17:09:00.001+01:002011-06-19T17:09:48.294+01:00

My novel Popular has been reviewed by British novelist Katy Moran, the author of Dangerous to Know and the medieval thriller series Bloodline, Bloodline Rising and Spirit Hunter. The full review is on my Popular blog, but here are some highlights: - "Meredith Harper rules Mount Olivet Grammar School in Belfast with beauty, charm and despotic power, aided by a small tribe of It-girls all equally

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-34015282891930958202011-06-11T23:54:00.000+01:002011-06-11T23:54:05.583+01:00

Glorious. Evita will be revived on Broadway this Spring, with Argentine actress Elena Roger (above) reprising the role of Argentina's glamorous First Lady which she won critical acclaim for in 2006. Pop star Ricky Martin is playing the show's narrator Che and I'm really glad I'll be in New York in the spring time to see it. Below is a trailer of the London production with Elena in the leading

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-22333514578511627472011-06-11T23:14:00.006+01:002011-06-11T23:43:33.413+01:00

“In a strange twist of fate – in what could be viewed as a true Old Testament display of God’s wrath upon those who break his commandments – three weeks after Katharine died – Anne Boleyn delivered a stillborn son. Some believe Katharine was slowly poisoned at the distant instructions of Anne – some believe it was cancer – perhaps it was both.”- From the position paper (written in 2009) arguing

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-33925367410314046802011-06-11T19:09:00.000+01:002011-06-11T19:09:19.329+01:00

Via Tea at Trianon comes an article about this magnificent gown by Norman Hartnell, which was worn by the current Queen on a State visit to Paris in 1957.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-86644853574505049152011-06-09T22:05:00.006+01:002011-06-10T17:35:33.330+01:00

I thought I would post a genealogical table (of sorts) of various monarchies over the next few weeks. Traditionally, the French monarchy was seen by most people in Europe as the premier throne in Christendom. A view, understandably, rejected by the Hapsburgs at every available opportunity for eight consecutive centuries. In any case, because of her early conversion to Christianity, the French

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-26533594388270171782011-06-09T12:31:00.001+01:002011-06-09T12:31:35.333+01:00

Over on my other blog, actress Emerald Fennell (seen above in her role as 1930s aristocrat Lottie Mountstuart in the recent British television drama Any Human Heart), writes a very kind and very funny article about my novel Popular, which will be published in the UK and Ireland on July 7th this year, then in South Africa (August 1st), Canada (August 23rd) and Australia and New Zealand (August

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-24398793073480198752011-06-06T09:11:00.000+01:002011-06-06T09:11:21.221+01:00

"Anyone who reads about the personalities of his era cannot but be intrigued by him. Vilified and caricatured as he was - and his speeches and distinctive appearance were a gift to opponants - it is clear with hindsight that he was a much more complex and interesting figure than he once appeared. At times bombastic and vainglorious, at others insightful and far-sighted, a man who could be both

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-23621107727945350142011-06-04T12:25:00.002+01:002011-06-04T12:26:54.332+01:00

Above: Actress Sheila Burrell as Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford in the 1970 BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Along with Thomas Cromwell and the 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Jane Boleyn has one of the most unremittingly dire reputations from her time at Henry VIII's Court. Born Jane Parker in about 1505, she was the daughter of a well-educated and well-respected minor aristocrat, Henry, baron Morley,

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-48244837233204208372011-06-04T12:07:00.001+01:002011-06-04T12:35:03.588+01:00

After travelling on her for a five day European cruise, the blog Tips for travellers reviews the new 92,000-tonne Cunard vessel Queen Elizabeth (above.) For ocean liner enthusiasts, the ship is the successor to the famous Queen Elizabeth 2, which was retired in 2008 and which was herself the successor to the original Queen Elizabeth, which was launched in 1938. With the maiden voyage of the new

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-36294895072639802972011-06-03T16:17:00.000+01:002011-06-03T16:17:07.396+01:00

Ironically, after posting Courtney Pannell's fantastic article on the stagnation of conservative womanhood (below), I came across this still on-line, showing Oscar-winner Meryl Streep as the longest-serving Conservative Prime Minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher. Seen here with Jim Broadbent as her on-screen husband, Dennis, the pair are recreating the famous 1980 Conservative Party conference

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-14710822039472808272011-06-03T16:08:00.001+01:002011-06-03T16:08:29.603+01:00

Writing in The Yale Herald, my friend Courtney Pannell, a young conservative woman herself, reflects in an absolutely brilliant article on the problems that many women are experiencing with American conservatism and the Republican Party today: - "The GOP doesn’t plan on win­ning the female vote in 2012 — or ever, at this rate. Demo­c­ra­tic oppo­nents are call­ing the recent House move to slash

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-88199772080428895062011-06-03T03:15:00.001+01:002011-06-03T03:18:01.959+01:00

Novelist Susan Higginbotham, whose most recent book The Queen of Last Hopes was inspired by the life of Henry VI's controversial queen, Marguerite of Anjou, takes a look at the mysterious death of Marguerite's husband, Henry VI, when the Yorkist family deposed him for a second time in May 1471. "Even if the evidence from the exhumation does not conclusively prove that Henry VI died a violent

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-11441055076727105562011-06-03T03:10:00.001+01:002011-06-03T03:21:22.185+01:00

Today marks the fifty-eighth anniversary of the Coronation of the Queen in Westminster Abbey, the great church where more recently her grandson married Catherine Middleton.  Pretty magnificent footage from the BBC via YouTube of the day itself and the intricacies of the ceremony is shown below. The latter half is in colour. For those interested, in Britain, Her Majesty's full official title is 

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-53221384590275001412011-06-01T00:59:00.000+01:002011-06-01T00:59:36.461+01:00

Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know that my first novel Popular is now available for pre-ordering on Amazon.co.uk, in preparation for its British and Irish release on July 7th. It's really exciting to see Popular up on the Internet at last. For our international readers, Popular will be available in South Africa on August 1st, Canada on August 23rd and Australia and New Zealand on August 29th.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-90393969003582043812011-05-29T00:32:00.002+01:002011-07-30T17:55:02.352+01:00

Today marks the anniversary of the tragic and hideous execution of Margaret de la Pole, Countess of Salisbury, a sixty-seven year-old aristocrat born into the royal House of York and thus Henry VIII's relative on his mother's side, but who he sent to her execution in 1541. Born in 1473, Margaret was the daughter of Edward IV’s younger brother, George, Duke of Clarence and his wife, Lady Isabella

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-57381692589415344312011-05-26T23:24:00.006+01:002011-07-30T17:55:34.715+01:00

After yesterday's post on Britain's longest-serving royal consorts, it seemed only fair to include the top ten shortest serving. Unsurprisingly, five of Henry VIII's six unlucky wives made the list. 1. Lord Guildford Dudley (13 days) The controversial husband of Jane Grey, Dudley was married off to her as a teenager as part of his father's attempts to retain power if the young King Edward VI

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-16531214614563691352011-05-25T20:19:00.002+01:002011-05-26T01:27:26.939+01:00

Last night, ITV broadcast a very interesting interview with His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, who turns ninety this year and who is now also the longest serving consort in the British monarchy's history. Born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in 1921, Prince Philip married Princess Elizabeth after serving in the British Navy during the Second World War. When she succeeded her father as

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-31713537155115532752011-05-24T19:29:00.001+01:002011-05-24T19:30:42.454+01:00

Thanks to Lord Belmont for posting photographs on his blog about the meeting between Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who recently returned from their honeymoon, and the President and First Lady of the United States, who are visiting the United Kingdom. The meeting took place at Buckingham Palace, earlier today.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-31496983095333619702011-05-23T19:32:00.009+01:002011-05-23T21:39:58.069+01:00

There are moments when you are aware that we are all living through History and that it can happen very quickly. At an almost bewildering rate, something which once seemed impossible and best left to the imagination of fiction writers suddenly becomes hard fact. One such moment was the speech given by Her Majesty The Queen at the official state dinner in Dublin to mark Her Majesty's visit, along

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-64932149359253602192011-05-20T20:10:00.000+01:002011-05-20T20:10:15.078+01:00

I'm really excited to announce that my first novel Popular will be published in the United Kingdom and Ireland on July 7th 2011 and then in Australia and New Zealand on August 29th! Popular is profiled on Puffin Australia's blog Between the Lines, HERE.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-26691733359176640122011-05-19T14:41:00.000+01:002011-05-19T14:41:57.918+01:00

Above: A later woodcut showing Anne Boleyn's execution in the French style. In the corner, the artist depicts the betrothal of Henry VIII to Jane Seymour within the next twenty-four hours."So here he was – the last man in her life. In her time, she had known men of great faith, men of towering intellect, of compassion, purpose, charm, chivalry and sangfroid; she had also known men of cruelty, of

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-69215167444336796122011-05-18T21:45:00.000+01:002011-05-18T21:45:15.831+01:00

Above: British actress Merle Oberon in the role of Anne Boleyn in the Oscar winning The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933.) "... As London slumbered and the summer stars twinkled over the head of the vast metropolis where so many of her family's triumphs had once been celebrated, the remarkable life of Anne Boleyn was drawing quietly to its close. All that was left were the events of the morrow,

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-77261871264595296512011-05-17T20:49:00.001+01:002011-05-17T20:50:11.105+01:00

Today in history the five men accused of being Queen Anne Boleyn's adulterous lovers were publicly executed on Tower Hill in London. For a full account of the executions, click HERE."As Wyatt wrote and the Queen wept, the city buzzed with the news of what had just happened. In Vienna, the Empress Isabella heard later that the bodies of Mark Smeaton and William Brereton were quartered and

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-88175648490781954932011-05-16T18:13:00.001+01:002011-05-16T18:14:52.733+01:00

"On the morning of May 16th 1536, Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London, arrived at the Palace of Whitehall for an audience with the King. Being one of the few people allowed into the King's presence during the period of his wife's imprisonment, the Constable made his way through the opulent and recently re-furbished corridors of the palace which had once belonged to

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-53243511113498811532011-05-15T21:24:00.000+01:002011-05-15T21:24:34.569+01:00

"On May 15th 1536, twenty-six peers of the realm congregated in the King’s Hall of the Tower of London to serve as judges in the trial of Anne Boleyn, Queen of England... In the centre of the Hall, a chair had been placed on a raised platform before a bar. Nearby, glistening in the light was the Queen’s crown – probably the one made of gold and decorated with sapphires, rubies and pearls with

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-57358141090763195112011-05-15T20:07:00.000+01:002011-05-15T20:07:45.054+01:00

Above: Emilia Fox as Jane Seymour in the two part British television drama, Henry VIII (2003). "... in all fairness, it seems as unnecessary to blame Jane for Anne's unhappiness as it is to blame Anne for Katherine of Aragon's. The unifying factor, after all, is not Katherine, Anne or Jane, but Henry, whose persecution of his eldest daughter, Mary, actually got worse after Anne died and he

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-66740299941145241402011-05-15T00:18:00.001+01:002011-05-15T20:15:15.756+01:00

"She had surrounded herself with socialites and priests, poets and philosophers, rogues and prudes. Evangelicals had knelt as she passed and wept, proclaiming her to be the new Deborah, the new Esther, God's Nymph; ambassadors had leaned in to present her with gifts and assure her that their masters sent nothing but the very best of wishes; petitioners and peasants had kissed the hem of her

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-84096797308407106942011-05-13T23:25:00.000+01:002011-05-13T23:25:40.108+01:00

Above: A portrait that may be a representation of Sir Francis Weston, a twenty-five year-old knight accused of being one of Queen Anne Boleyn's lovers in 1536. "Built during the reign of King William Rufus, who had ruled England from 1087 until 1100, the Hall would now play witness to one of the most extraordinary and shameful trials in British history. Thomas Howard, 63 year-old Duke of Norfolk

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-66293236187666976642011-05-11T16:12:00.000+01:002011-05-11T16:12:49.255+01:00

May 11th marks the day, I think, when Henry ordered the Privy Council to visit Anne in prison to try and intimidate her."Escorted into the imprisoned Queen's rooms by Sir William Kingston, the councillors perhaps expected to see her dishevelled, miserable or contrite after nine days of captivity. Instead, they were confronted by the sight of a waif-like brunette with cold, glittering eyes,

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-2555892265595717672011-05-10T19:51:00.000+01:002011-05-10T19:51:11.884+01:00

"32 year-old George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, currently being held in the Martin Tower of His Majesty’s Tower of London, on a charge of incest with his younger sister, Queen Anne Boleyn, had been – until his arrest eight days earlier - a generally well-liked figure at the royal Court. Tall, muscular, wealthy, powerful, funny, confident, intelligent and impossibly handsome (the comparison to

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-10206925684203842342011-05-09T16:11:00.000+01:002011-05-09T16:11:17.776+01:00

Via Tea at Trianon comes an article about the few surviving fragments of Marie-Antoinette's legendary jewel collection. For this blog's post on the fashion preferences of the Queen, click HERE.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-81492573782312623822011-05-09T13:47:00.000+01:002011-05-09T13:47:03.361+01:00

Historians still continue to debate about how far Henry VIII was involved in his second wife's murder. It may surprise many who are not well-acquainted with the academic debates surrounding Henry's personality to learn that in many modern histories he is presented as an essentially weak sovereign, who was easily manipulated by those around him. In this scenario, the chief culprit for

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-15564208007806168372011-05-08T15:53:00.000+01:002011-05-08T15:53:37.560+01:00

"In his study at Westminster, Thomas Cromwell was beginning to feel the pressure of the case against the Boleyns. His visit to the Tower two days earlier, coupled with the daily reports coming in from Sir William Kingston, must have shown him that whilst the Queen had wobbled, she had not cracked like they might have hoped. The tactics of surrounding her with unfriendly faces, withholding

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-43127691207533141002011-05-07T17:01:00.000+01:002011-05-07T17:01:53.122+01:00

The fifth day of Anne Boleyn's imprisonment was the first Sunday she spent in the Tower and the Queen's demand that she be allowed access to her priests and the Sacrament provoked yet another spat between the imprisoned royal, her gaolers and the government. "... the Queen’s repeated insistence that the Sacrament be brought to her rooms ... posed a plethora of problems for the government.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-7352120358959422082011-05-06T17:40:00.002+01:002011-05-06T17:41:22.784+01:00

Reading back over my post from last year, when I analysed the debate over whether or not the letter (above) allegedly written by Anne Boleyn to the King on the fourth day of her imprisonment, I think perhaps that I should have been slightly harder on it. I still agree fundamentally with my conclusion that there probably was a letter, but that it's since been lost or accidentally destroyed.

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-39898552391079237572011-05-05T01:02:00.000+01:002011-05-05T01:02:13.570+01:00

Above: An incomplete sketch by Hans Holbein the Younger (d. 1543) believed to show Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (1503 - 1542), a Tudor courtier, diplomat, politician and adventurer, who is perhaps best known nowadays for being one of sixteenth century England's most influential poets. He was arrested on May 5th, 1536 under apparent suspicion of being Queen Anne Boleyn's sixth lover. He was a close

Gareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.com0