REIGN: "For King and Country" & "Sacrifice" SPOILER ALERT

You guys, this show is twisting itself in knots to try and figure out ways to keep Mary and Francis from getting married.  As you probably recall, Nostradamus predicted that marriage to Mary will be the death of Francis. And Henry, for some reason, decided that it's vitally important that Mary stake her claim to the throne of England. Diane de Poitier's plot to have Bash legitimized was discovered, so she convinced Bash to leave the court.

I can't even begin to recap these episodes.  Both of them hit new heights of ridiculousness.  "In For King and Country," Mary decides that there is only one way for her to keep Francis safe.  She tells King Henry that she will stake her claim to the English throne but there is a catch.  Henry has disinherit Francis and legitimize Bash, who she'll marry him instead. Henry hesitates for only a minute before agreeing.  Seriously? This plot is so ridiculous, I can only imagine the writers were smoking something when they came up with it.  Henry immediately decides to head to Rome to have a confab with the Pope about divorcing Catherine and legitimizing Bash.  First of all, the idea that the King had to go to Rome himself is absurd. That's what you have emissaries for! Did Henry VIII go to Rome for his divorce from Catherine of Aragon? Nope!

Of course, Francis ends up learning about the prediction. And of course he pleads with Mary not to throw away what they have on silly superstition.  Clearly he hasn't seen this show. Finally Francis just washes his hands of the whole thing, and decides to hightail it out of Dodge to go have a life now that he's not the heir to the throne anymore.  Catherine ends up being held prisoner in the dungeon.

Meanwhile, the man of the hour, Nostradamus is stabbed in the neck by Clarissa, the girl in the burlap sack. And we don't even find out what happens to him in the next episode! Is he lying dead in the basement? I guess everyone is so busy with the whole "Bash will be the next king," idea that Nostradamus has completely been forgotten.

The next episode, 'Sacrifice,' was all about whether or not Bash really has it in him to be the next King of France.  The episode opens with him having to listen to people's grievances.  A young woman is brought before him who is accused of being a traitor.  She's also heavily pregnant.  It's clear that Bash knows her, and Mary immediately jumps to the conclusion that he's knocked her up.  It turns out that she's his sort of cousin, her father was executed as a traitor but it turns out that he was really one of the heretics.  Oh, and another woman tries to kill Bash but only ends up nicking his new bodyguard/fencing instructor.

Of course this is all part of one of Catherine's plans to ruin Bash.  She's like the Wiley E. Coyote of the French court. Apparently if anyone finds out that Bash is related to this traitor, he will never be able to be King. Mary, who is nothing if not helpful, decides to help Bash escort Isabella somewhere safe before she gives birth. After taking away all of Catherine's luxuries, Mary leaves the Three Stooges aka Lola, Greer and Kenna to watch Catherine to keep her from pulling any funny business.

Bash, Mary, and Isabelle ending up getting stuck in The Dark Forest where evil lurks aka heretics. They set up a tent for the night and Bash puts up protective symbols to keep them safe which Mary tears down thinking they were put there by the heretics.  She then realizes that Bash's family are also heretics.  She and Bash argue about the whole thing which was pretty boring, and Mary was incredibly judgmental (wait until she gets back to Scotland and has to deal with Presbyterians!). Frankly by this point, I was bored with the entire episode.  I didn't care about Isabelle and her baby, or the pagans in the woods.

The only interesting bit in the whole episode was Catherine de Medici taunting Kenna. The best line of the night, of course, belonged to Catherine. "Where are you going? I'm not done abusing you yet. You're taking away all my amusement." And then Lola, who is the only one of three to really have any brains, tells Catherine that they have forged letters from her plotting against the King which she threatens to make public if any harm comes to Bash or Mary.

The sad thing about this show is that if the real Mary, Queen of Scots had been this strong, decisive, and level-headed she might have kept her throne and not ended up on the chopping block. She even offers Bash a way out, telling him that he doesn't have to marry her and become King, that she would understand if it was all too much for him. Bash, to his credit, tells her no that he's willing to go through with it if only so that he has a storyline on this show.

Nothing of real historical significance happened in either of these two episodes.

Reign Recap: "Left Behind" and "Fated" - SPOILERT ALERT

I'm so sorry for getting behind with my REIGN recaps.  I went to England for a week, and I forgot to set my DVR to tape "Left Behind" and then I was so jet-lagged when I got back that I totally forgot that there was a new episode before the holidays.  In the meantime REIGN inexplicably won 'Best New Show' at the People's Choice Awards, which means that this show will probably be getting a second season.  Truthfully, it was really hard to watch these two episodes. I get so frustrated with this show! It has moments where it's decent, but for the most part these episodes are execrable for different reasons.

The biggest problem that I have with this show is the lack of atmosphere. The French court should be teeming with people, the royals should have no privacy whatsoever. Instead, Mary and ladies wander around the halls of the palace in their nightgowns at all hours of the day and night.  Where are Catherine's ladies-in-waiting, her flying squadron of women who seduced men and delivered tidbits of intel to her? Sort of a Renaissance MI-5.  Mary and Francis, or Mary and Bash are constantly wandering off to have private conversations. Perhaps they could spend less money on costumes so that they could pay more extras.

Let's start with "Left Behind" shall we?

* Mary and Francis are still have the same old argument about their relationship. She's upset that he's sleeping with Olivia and that Catherine de Medici keeps throwing it in her face. He claims that he's only sleeping with Olivia to forget Mary. Whatever!

* Catherine congratulates Olivia on a job well done but Olivia bursts her bubble by telling her that Francis is in love with Mary.

* Diane de Poitiers tells her son Sebastian that she has been corresponding with various cardinals to see about having him legitimized. Bash is not thrilled with this development and tells her to lay off.

* The boring sub-plot continues of Greer hanging out with her kitchen boy boyfriend. Somehow Greer and kitchen boy are completely alone in the kitchen.  Where are the servants people?

* Henry has ridden off to put down a minor rebellion in Lorraine taking most of the guards and nobles with him. Okay, this is one of the things that drives me crazy about this show.  No King worth his salt would leave his wife and children with only minimal guards while he rides off to put down a rebellion.  He would know that it would leave them vulnerable.

* An Italian Count arrives and Catherine greets him in their native language. It turns out that the Count is up to no good.  See his son was taken hostage and held by the French.  The Count bargained for his son's life, but after the child was released, he died from dysentery.  The Count is distraught and out for revenge.  His wife is dead, and he has no heir. He takes the palace and all its occupants prisoner.

This was an interesting plot, I have to admit. But again, it was too easy for the Count to take the palace. There should have been a fight and some bloodshed.  Francis and Bash fighting side by side to protect the Queen and Mary. Instead Bash is hidden by guards along with his mother, while Francis is left to deal with the Count. Also, while I found it compelling that the Count would want revenge for his son's death, in reality the Count would have remarried as soon as it was feasible to sire another heir.

* Catherine offers Mary as a wife but Francis offers himself instead as a hostage.

* Mary consults Clarissa, who she thinks is a ghost, to figure out how they can sneak out of the palace using the underground tunnels.  She then tells Catherine de Medici her plan.  She and Catherine argue over who loves Francis more.

* The plan is that they will entertain the Count at dinner, and then after dinner they will all sneak out of the palace.  Mary gives Olivia the instruction to open the door when Mary knocks on the door. However, Olivia decides that "All for One" is her new motto and she hightails it out of there leaving Mary and her women stranded.

* Fortunately Catherine de Medici poisons the guards with a slow-acting poison and Mary stabs the Count with one of those new fangled forks that Catherine insisted on using.

* With the crisis behind them, Mary and Francis decide they don't want to be apart and they hop into the sack.

 

 

Historical Note:  Catherine tells Mary and her ladies how she survived the overthrow of her family, particularly how As the siege dragged on, voices called for Catherine to be killed and exposed naked and chained to the city walls. Some even suggested that she be handed over to the troops to be used for their sexual gratification.  This actually happened. Her uncle had to crown Charles V Holy Roman Emperor to get his help to lift the siege. She was 11 when her uncle, Pope Clement VII summoned her to Rome.

 

 

"Fated"

 

* Mary and Francis are basking in the after-glow after the consummation of their relationship. She worries that it's wrong that they have anticipated the marriage vows. Francis hopes that she is pregnant so that they can have a shot-gun wedding.

 

* Henry II and Kenna are having an awkward conversation. Kenna, who was roughed up by the Count's men, is not happy that Henry has been spending time with his other mistress Diane.  Henry tells her that he will never give Diane up. I'm incensed that he seems to have no reaction to the fact that his family and his palace were taken hostage.

 

* News arrives that Queen Mary of England is on her deathbed.  Henry decides that Mary will stake her claim to the English throne as soon as she's dead, and that she and Francis will marry. He makes some comment about England waging war against France for half a century.  Umm, it was longer than that which is why it was called The Hundred Years war. And the war ended long before Henry or even his father Francis was born. Part of the reason why Henry VIII's sister was married off to Louis XII.

 

* Catherine is not happy at the news what with Nostradamus' prediction that marrying Mary will be the death of him. She wants to poison Mary but Nostradamus convinces her to just tell Mary about the prediction instead. Speaking of Nostradamus, where was he in the last episode? And why didn't he have a premonition about the Count?

 

* Mary and Francis talk about the whole England situation.  Mary is one the fence about invading England.  Francis tells her that they will secretly get married and then tell his father to stuff it.

 

* Kenna is mistaken for Diane de Poitiers and learns all about her plans for Bash.  She runs to Catherine de Medici hoping for her help.  Catherine goes to Diane and tells her to leave otherwise she'll tell Henry about her little plan, but before she does, maybe she could do Catherine a favor by poisoning Kenna on her way out the door.

 

* Mary learns about the prediction but at first she doesn't believe it. Also Nostradamus tells her that one of her ladies is going to die. The girls sit around talking about Nostradamus and his predictions for all of them. Aylee mentions that she was told that she would never go home again. Mary is confused.

 

*Diane tells Bash that Catherine knows about her plot and that they both need to get the hell out of Dodge for awhile.

 

* Mary's ladies are sitting around chatting.  Aylee takes a sip of a drink meant for Kenna.  She feels ill when she's pushed down the stairs by a girl in a burlap sack. Aylee dies of her injuries, meaning that one of Nostradamus' predictions has come to fruition. Mary now decides that she cannot marry Francis.

 

* Nostradamus scolds the girl in the burlap sack.  He recognizes the poison used as one of his, not Catherine's (it turns out that Diane got rid of the poison that Catherine had wanted her to use on Kenna).  Burlap sack girl says that she just wanted to help Mary out.  Nostradamus calls her a monster and pulls the sack off. The camera cuts away before we get to see anything.

 

* Mary decides that she is going to flee the palace all by herself.  She runs into Bash in the stable and they ride off together with Francis calling out plaintively.

 

Well that's it for the last two episodes of REIGN. There is a new episode this coming Thursday. Will Francis find out why Mary fled?  Will Bash and Mary fall for each other.  Does anyone care?

 

 



Reign Recap: Supersize Edition!

So REIGN has been picked up for a full season. You know what that means, more shenanigans at the court of Henri II like these last two episodes.  Sorry I'm late with the recaps but last weekend was the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Who so Mary, Queen of Scots fell by the wayside.

 

Bash looking soulful, probably thinking about Mary!

- Mary and Francis are so cute together you guys! They spend the first part of the episode snuggling and making out. I sure hope nothing comes between these two crazy kids!

- Uh oh, some blonde chick named Olivia shows up at court after almost getting killed in the Dark Forest. It turns out that she and Francis used to play 'doctor' in the boathouse until they got caught. She was whisked away to marry to someone else but it fell through because of that whole not being a virgin thing.

- Mary decides to be nice to Olivia instead of ripping her hair out until Olivia admits that she's back to steal Francis.

- Mary decides to that Olivia needs to leave court to stay with a respectable family in Paris to help repair her reputation. WTH?

- Olivia pleads with Francis not to send her away, telling him that if she can't marry him, she'll be happy to just be his mistress.

- Machiavella de Medici blackmails Aylee into giving her a look at Mary's letters to her mother. If she doesn't, she'll tell Mary that Aylee is a klepto.

- Francis told Mary at the Harvest Festival (seriously there is a festival every week on this show!) that Olivia was not going to be going away after all. Oops! They argue and Mary does what any woman would do in this situation. She gets drunk and makes out with her fiancé's cuter half-brother.

- Catherine de Medici reveals that she wants Olivia to trap Francis into marrying her by getting pregnant.

- Mary reveals that knows that Catherine is reading her letters, in fact, she planned the whole thing with Aylee.

- Greer and Kitchen boy made out. What do you want to bet he's some prince or noble who is hiding in the royal kitchen for REASONS.

- Kenna told off Mary after Mary tried to warn her about getting involved with the King. Ooh, Kenna, you are going to be so sorry when Diane de Poitiers and the Queen join forces to get rid of you.

- The pagans in the Dark Forest are mad because Bash rescued some dude from having all his blood drained from him. He now has to pay be sacrificing some else's life. Who could it be?

This week's episode was entitled Scotland although it had nothing to do with Scotland whatsoever.

- Mary and Bash had an awkward moment recalling their make-out session from last week.

- A giant, bloody stag's head was left in Mary's room while she was sleeping as a warning from the pagans/heretics who live in the dark forest.

- It turns out that Diane de Poitier comes from a pagan family. She warns Bash that no one can find out their terrible secret.

- Mary and Catherine de Medici play good cop/bad cop with the servants. Mary promises that no one will be punished if they give information while Catherine tells them if they don't cough up information, she will burn their villages down.

- Kenna, one of Mary's ladies, invites her friends to the King's bedroom to celebrate her becoming his mistress. She gets upset when one her friends points out the entwined initials H&D in the floor. She has a hissy fit and demands that the King remove them.

- Bash releases a prisoner and takes him into the Dark Forest of Doom to flush out of one of the pagans/heretics who he kills as a sacrifice. On the way back to the castle, Bash pushes the prisoner off a cliff when it looks like he's going to spill the beans about what happened.

- The King complains to Diane de Poitier about Kenna's demands before making love to his former mistress.

- After Bash returns to the castle, Francis announces that he and Mary should see other people, as long as one of them isn't Bash. Meanwhile Francis finds Olivia and decides to play hide the éclair with her because this show is the worst.

Reign: Episode 3 Recap

 

I finally got a chance to watch last week's episode of REIGN. OMG, you guy, so much happened to our girl Mary this week.

- England sent troops to the Scottish border which sent Mary into a tizzy when her cousin Claude de Guise showed up to tell her. (Given how long it took news to arrive, are we to assume that the English troops just camped out on the border hoping for a fight?)

- She asked King Henri for troops to help Scotland and he said 'no way.'

- She kicked a ball around with Prince Charles.

- She climbed a tree and then got stuck.

- She met Tomas, the sexy illegitimate son of the King of Portugal.

- She broke the girl code, spending time with Tomas, even though she knew Greer liked him.

- She offered to sell Tomas timber in exchange for troops. Instead he wanted to marry her. Something about her 'wildness' appealed to him.

- She did a sexy dance with Tomas at a ball, which consisted of a lot of dipping and lifting, wearing a dress that looked like a feather duster.

- She called out Francis on his commitment issues.

- She received her first kiss ever from a guy, from Francis, who then told her to marry another man.

- She wore costumes that ran the gamut from the Regency to some off the shoulder anti-bellum dress.  She even managed to wear a dress that was actually the right period.  Don't know how that slipped by.

- She drank coffee.

 Also, Nostradamus made strange predictions, while looking like the 16th century equivalent of John the Baptist (something about Greer marrying a man with white mark and the lion will fight with the dragon on a field of poppies), and Lady McSlutty did dirty deeds in dark corner with the King but refused to give up her V-card. She then had an awkward conversation with Henri's illegitimate son Bash, on how to win back the King's affection. Francis also threatened to tell Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers that the King had a new bit on the side unless he helped Mary by sending troops to Scotland. Needless to say that didn't work out so well. 

Historical Notes:  Yes, Mary, Queen of Scots did have a relative named Claude.  He was actually her uncle, the Duc of Aumale. Her cousin would have been his son who wasn't born yet.  Why he tells her about the English, and not say anyone at the French court like the King, I have no idea. Nor why there is no Scottish ambassador to the royal court.  As for Tomas, John III of Portugal did have an illegitimate son named Duarte who was the Archbishop of Braga. However, John III was succeeded by his 3 year old grandson Sebastian, so some of the details are right.

First Look: The CW's Reign

There are many great things about living in New York, and one of them is the Paley Center in midtown.  The Paley Center is a museum that is dedicated to one thing only; television.  For the past several years, they have given members as well as the public the chance to get a first look at the new fall television season.  This year, I was lucky enough to get to view the pilot for the new CW series about Mary, Queen of Scots, called appropriately enough, REIGN.

 



(Mary and Francis have a tense moment)

 



I tried desperately to check my brain at the door and throw away and preconceived notions that I might have had from watching the extended preview online.  However, that proved difficult once the show started.  Granted, I’m clearly not the intended viewing audience for this show.  The CW tends to skew hella young and most of the shows are geared towards teenagers and twenty-somethings.  REIGN is definitely skewed towards teenage girls; there is man candy, pretty dresses and lots of jeweled headbands.  I wouldn’t be surprised if FOREVER 21 and the CW hooked up to do a dress and accessory line based on the show.  The show is basically GOSSIP GIRL + 16^th century France + supernatural elements = REIGN.

Adelaide Kane (who looks a heck of lot like actress Michelle Trachtenberg) plays Mary, Queen of Scots.  And if you have seen the preview commercial, you know that she does not have red hair, it’s more dark brown with red highlights.  She’s also not particularly tall or Francis is particularly short, I can’t really tell.  (According to IMBD, she’s only 5’4”, the real Mary was 5’11”).  She plays Mary as rather tentative at first but then she finds her inner feistiness.  When we first meet Mary, she’s been living in a convent in France away from the court as a way of keeping her safe.  After a rousing game of football, an incident occurs that makes the Reverend Mother realize that it is time that Mary leave the convent and head for court.

 

(The royal court waits to greet Mary)

 

Once she gets there, Mary soon realizes that her betrothed is not that happy to see her.  See Francis (Toby Regbo) is on the fence about whether an alliance with Scotland is really what France needs to protect her from her enemies.  In his spare time, he’s been forging swords and armor for the French army.  Catherine de Medici is played by Megan Follows who played Anne of Green Gables years ago.  She’s also not happy to see Mary, since her good buddy Nostradamus gave her some bad news about Mary and Francis’ future.  While Francis blows hot and cold towards Mary, his bastard half-brother Sebastian (played by Torrance Combs) catches Mary’s eye.  Sebastian is the son of Henri II and his mistress Diane de Poitiers.  I smell potential love triangle, don’t you?

(Mary and Sebastian get acquainted)

 

Mary has a small group of maids who followed her from the convent.  Historically, these girls were also named Mary, and were known as the ‘Four Marys’.  Since that would be way too confusing for a teenage viewing audience, they’ve all been given new names, Lola (I kid you not), Greer, Aylee and Kenna.  The scenes with all five girls are some of the best in the show.  You get a real sense that Mary is a teenage girl with none of the responsibilities yet of ruling.  There is a very telling scene late in the episode, when Mary tells the girls that they are her friends and she will protect them, and Lola reminds her that they are her subjects not her friends.

Besides Mary’s arrival at court which seems to be somewhere on the Normandy coast (there are many lovely shots of what is actually the Irish sea since the pilot was shot in Ireland), the first episode deals with the marriage of Princess Elisabeth, eldest daughter of Henri II and Catherine de Medici, to Philip II of Spain who is depicted in the series as a young hot guy close to Elisabeth’s age instead of a widower in his thirties.  The episode turns into soft porn when the girls decide to watch the wedding night behind a screen.  Although they don’t stay for the consummation, all of them are incredibly turned on.  They start running around the palace rubbing themselves against the furniture like they’re in heat.  Seriously, one of the girls starts to pleasure herself in the hallway.

So far Megan Follows as Catherine de Medici is the best thing about the show.  You get the sense that she is the real power behind the throne, not her husband.  Henri, so far, has been depicted as nothing more than a horn dog.  It will be interesting to see if they develop the relationship between Henri and Diane and the animosity that Catherine felt towards her rival.  In the pilot, I don’t think Diane had more than one line. Nostradamus pops up in the pilot and like everyone else; the actor playing him is about twenty years too young for the role. I mentioned earlier that there was a supernatural element to the series. Nostradamus is part of that element, but there is also apparently a ghost that haunts the royal palace who warns Mary of dire plots against her.  Oh and there is also a dark forest which Sebastian warns Mary away from after her dog Stirling runs away.

Everyone in show speaks with a sort of English accent which is interesting since Mary and her maids were Scottish, and the court French.  Catherine and Henri had ten children; it will be interesting if any of them show up in the series.  The costumes, at least for the woman, look as if the costume designer raided FOREVER 21 during prom season. There are lots of sparkly headbands and sleeveless dresses. At one point, during the feast after the wedding, the girls kick off their high-heeled pumps and dance the night away.

Although I found many moments in the show hilarious, I’m willing to give this show a shot.  Although if you disliked The Tudors because you thought it was historically inaccurate, you will really hate this show.  Since the show is called REIGN, if it gets picked up beyond the first season, at some point Mary will have to go back to Scotland to reign.  The show is up against some heavy competition on Thursday, but it might just keep the VAMPIRE DIARIES audience and pick-up those viewers who were devoted to GOSSIP GIRL. I will certainly keep blogging each episode as long as the show is on.

Fact vs. Fiction:  Well, the big one is that Diane de Poitiers and Henri II never had any children.  Diane was 19 years older than the King.  Although their affair started when he was 16, and she was 35, it seems that either Diane was no longer as fertile or she took measures to prevent a pregnancy.  The King did however have an illegitimate child by Janet Fleming, the governess of Mary Queen of Scots. Her daughter Mary was one of the young queen’s “Four Marys.”  Princess Elisabeth did marry Philip II of Spain, but she was married to him by proxy in France.   They didn’t marry in person until Nostradamus did spent time at the French court; Catherine de Medici was one of his admirers.  It is also a fact that Catherine de Medici was never that fond of Mary.  However, Mary was raised at the French court with Francis and his siblings.  Princess Elisabeth was one of her closest friends (Elisabeth is only scene in the wedding night scene). The real Francis stuttered and was abnormally short.  He certainly wasn’t a strapping hot blond. 

You can watch the full trailer for Reign below:

 

Eating Scandalously in New York

In New York, you have to take your history where you can find it.  The city has changed so much over it's 400 years of existence and much has been lost, particularly when it comes to Scandalous Women.  The building where Evelyn Nesbit spent on Stanford White's red velvet swing collapsed a few years ago, the original Madison Square Garden no longer exists, and the Vanderbilt and Astor mansions have long since been torn down for high rise buildings. However, one thing you can do is eat scandalously. The following eateries pay homage to some of the Scandalous Women that I have written about in the past.

The photo above is the Lillie Langtry room at Keen's Steakhouse which is located a stone's throw away from Macy's Department store.  Keen's has been around since 1885, which makes it one of the oldest restaurants in NYC and one of the few that still exist from the 19th century.  Lillie Langtry was the first woman customer at Keen's and in honor of her, they named this absolutely lovely room after her.  I don't eat meat but I still love to go to Keen's to soak in the historic atmosphere.  If you have dinner there, take a note of the pipes on the ceiling.

Another restaurant also pays home to Lillie Langtry, appropriately enough named Lillie's near Union Square.  I just happened to stumble upon this place one day, and now it's one of my favorite place's in the city.  It has a distinctly Victorian feeling and I love that they have a copy of Millais' famous painting of Lillie. The food is Irish-American which is funny considering that Lillie was from the island of Jersey and her heritage was more English and French than Irish, although her husband Edward Langtry was Irish.  Truthfully the food is not amazing, but the appetizers are great, and the restaurant serves wine from the winery that Lillie used to own in California.

Of course, one cannot write a post about eating scandalously in New York without mentioning Chez Josephine. This restaurant opened 25 years ago on 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues, began when it was no man's land. People thought Jean-Claude Baker was crazy but its exactly the type of thing that Josephine Baker would have done.  The restaurant is an homage not just to Josephine Baker but also to the club that she opened in Paris in the 1930's.  I have yet to go there but I plan on having dinner there sometime in the future, bearing a copy of my book!

The newest eatery on the block is Mary Queen of Scots.   The restaurant is not only named after the Queen of that name but also after one of the owners whose name is Mary (of course) and she's from Scotland.  The restaurant, located on the lower East Side, has only been open a few months but it's already creating buzz.  I had dinner there last Wednesday and the food was sublime, particularly the fried Brussell Sprouts.  The food, befitting Mary Queen of Scots is French/Scottish and the decor is simply beautiful.  Take particular notice of the drinks menu which has drinks named after Darnley, Walsingham and the Auld Alliance.

There's Something About Mary

Recently I wrote a post about the plethora of books on Henry VIII since The Tudors and the 500th anniversary of his coronation. I've also begun to notice that there have been a spate of books about Mary, Queen of Scots lately, both fiction and non-fiction. What is about the reign of Mary that keeps writers and readers so interested? Is it the murder of Darnley and her subsequent hasty marriage to Bothwell? Her years in imprisonment in England and eventual beheading? Her life is tragic but also kind of sexy compared to Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. Mary was Queen of two countries, married three times, the last marriage possibly forced. She was tall, with red hair, and Catholic living in a country where danger lurked behind every corner, not knowing who to trust, living amongst squabbling nobles who refused to bow to a woman as sovereign.

Not only have there been a lot of books, but there was a revival of Schiller's Mary Stuart on Broadway recently with Janet McTeer (magnificent) as Mary and Harriet Walter as Elizabeth. I picked up a book called A Question of Guilt by Julianne Lee at the RWA conference in July in DC. This book is very reminiscent of the great Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time in which a detective, while convalescing examines the evidence against Richard III.

In a Question of Guilt, it is three days after the execution of Mary Stuart and the streets of London are buzing with the news. But not everyone is convinced that the scandalized Queen of Scots was guilty of plotting against her cousin, Elizabeth I - or that she was involved in the murder of her husband, Henry Darnley. Scottish-born Lady Janet de Ros, wife of a wealthy English merchant, thinks the ravishingly beautiful Mary was merely an innocent bystander, betrayed by the machinations of a disloyal court. Determined to uncover the truth, Janet travels from Fotheringhay Castle to Edinburgh to pursue an investigation that could endanger her life - and bring disgrace to her own family.

As Janet investigates, the story is told from the point of view of the people that she is interviewing. Part historical fiction and part mystery, the story is also a portrait of an Elizabethan marriage. Janet risks not just her life but her marriage to her husband Henry to find out the truth.

Philippa Gregory's novel wrote a novel of Mary Queen of Scots called The Other Queen. In September, noted historian Carolly Erickson's book the Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots will be released. Here's a description of the book:


Born Queen of Scotland, married as a girl to the invalid young King of France, Mary took the reins of the unruly king dom of Scotland as a young widow and fought to keep her throne. A second marriage to her handsome but dissolute cousin Lord Darnley ended in murder and scandal, while a third to the dash - ing Lord Bothwell, the love of her life, gave her joy but widened the scandal and surrounded her with enduring ill repute. Unable to rise above the violence and disorder that swirled around her, Mary escaped to England—only to find herself a prisoner of her ruthless, merciless cousin Queen Elizabeth. Here, in her own riveting account, is the enchanting woman whose name still evokes excitement and compassion—and whose death under the headsman’s axe still draws forth our sorrow.

I haven't read Carolly Erickson's historical fiction but I have read many of her biographies over the years, and I'm eager to see what she does with Mary.

A new biography of Mary was also released just this month. I was intrigued by the title 'An Accidental Tragedy.' I haven't read this one yet but the author, Roderick Graham is not only Scottish, educated at Edinburgh University but he was also the producer of Elizabeth R with Glenda Jackson, a BBC series that was shown on Masterpiece Theater in the 1970's and is now available on DVD.

There is still supposed to be a major film about Mary starring Scarlett Johansen. I'm hoping that it only concerns itself with Mary's early years up to her imprisonment in England but Scarlett is way too young to be playing the middle-aged Mary, nor does she have the acting chops for the part.

Scandalous Movie Review: Mary, Queen of Scots

(1971) Starring Vanessa Redgrave (Mary, Queen of Scots), Glenda Jackson (Elizabeth I), Nigel Davenport (Bothwell), Timothy Dalton (Henry, Lord Darnley), Ian Holm (David Riccio), Patrick McGoohan (James Stewart, Earl of Moray) and Daniel Massey (Robert Dudley), directed by Hal Wallis, Universal Pictures

The film opens with the death of Mary’s first husband Francois II after he goes out riding. Mary is distraught and Catherine de Medici blames her for her son’s death. Instead, Mary decides to go back to Scotland to take up the throne. She is refused safe passage through English waters but determines to go anyway. Upon arriving in Scotland, she is met by her half-brother James Stewart, the Earl of Moray who has determined that Mary will be Queen in name only. Mary is perturbed to discover that there is no grand welcoming for her arrival but she takes in stride, and even manages to joust verbally with John Knox who shows up at the dock to harangue her for being a Catholic. In the meantime, Bothwell who had gone to Scotland to see Mary ends up in an English prison after his ship is taken by Elizabeth.

Mary and her brother struggle over who will be the real ruler of Scotland. Elizabeth in the meantime determines that since Mary must marry, it would be to her advantage to have her marry Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester who is rumored to be her lover. However, Elizabeth also sends Henry, Lord Darnley, Mary’s cousin who has grown up in England as well. It is revealed that her real plan is for Mary to marry Darnley, not Dudley.

Mary and Darnley marry but almost immediately he reveals his true colors, that he is petulant and weak with a fondness for drink and other women. Mary’s love for him quickly turns to disgust. His jealousy of Mary’s secretary David Riccio leads to him becoming involved in a plot to kill the Italian. One night in the Queen’s private chambers, several Scottish nobles led by Lord Ruthven, and including Darnley, burst in and drag off Riccio, stabbing him 56 times. Mary manages to convince Darnley to help her escape. She rides off to Bothwell’s home (Bothwell finally having been freed from captivity in England), Hermitage Castle where she gives birth to the future James VI of Scotland.

Mary proves merciful to the conspirators, although she continues to deny Darnley her bed. The conspirators turn on Darnley, for having double-crossed them, and arrange to have him killed. There is a huge explosion at the house where he is living, and Darnley is later found strangled in the garden. Mary turns to Bothwell for comfort and several months after Darnley’s death, they are married. But the nobles, led by her half-brother, turn against Mary and demand her abdication. When Mary refuses, Morny tells her that he has proof in the “casket letters” that Mary was involved in the murder of Darnley. Mary is forced to sign over her rights and is escorted to the border into England. Bothwell tells Mary that he will go to Denmark to raise funds and troops to help her regain her throne.

In England, Elizabeth and Mary secretly meet. Elizabeth refuses to help Mary regain her throne and imprisons her. Years go by, and Mary has finally worn out her welcome. Elizabeth is reluctant to execute her unless there is hard evidence that is not faked that Mary has been involved in a conspiracy against her. When proof is found, Mary is put on trial and found guilty. Elizabeth visits her once again just before her execution. Mary goes to the scaffold with dignity and is beheaded.

The “Casket Letters”: These were 8 letters that Mary allegedly wrote to Bothwell. The Earl of Morton claimed to have found them in a silver box marked with the letter “F” (for Francois II)along with a bunch of other documents including Mary and Bothwell's marriage lines. These letters purportedly implicated Mary in Darnley’s murder, but Mary insisted that they were forgeries, that her handwriting was easy to imitate. The letters were also never brought forth while Mary was held captive in Scotland for almost a year. They only came to light when Mary was charged with Darnley's murder while in English custody. Historians have argued about the authenticity of these letters for centuries. Mary's current biographers, including Lady Antonia Fraser, believe that they are forgeries.

I found this movie to be incredibly disappointing. While it follows the basic outline of Mary’s story, it is riddled with historical inaccuracies, missing scenes and bland performances. While Vanessa Redgrave is an amazing actress and physically looks a great deal like Mary, the script requires her to play the role as a hysterical dimwit. The fact that Mary ruled Scotland for almost five years with little incident is completely glossed over in favor of the drama of her marriage to Lord Darnley which is poorly developed. The film also skips over Mary’s trial for Darnley’s murder when she arrived in England as well as her love for animals. Redgrave comes into her own in the final scenes as Mary is preparing for her death and the scene where she learns that her son has been corresponding with Elizabeth while he has never answered any of her letters.

The audience never sees the progression of her romance with Darnley. There is only one scene of the two of them together, riding on the beach, when Darnley falls off his horse, and Mary is distraught. We never see him or Robert Dudley arrive at the Scottish court, so we have no idea why she would prefer Darnley over Dudley. We are told it is because Dudley is one of Elizabeth’s cast-offs, and there is the suspicion that he murdered his first wife, in order to be free to marry Elizabeth. Darnley and Mary are quickly married and then Darnley reveals his true colors like on the wedding night. The film also implies that Darnley and David Riccio were lovers, which as far as I know, is a complete invention of the screenwriters. Darnley was jealous of Riccio because of his closeness to the Queen, and Riccio believed that Darnley was not fit to be King. There is evidence that they were initially friendly, but I don’t know how you make the leap from friendly to sex buddies.

Timothy Dalton portrayal of Darnley conforms to the historical record, but he is never given a chance to show the audience why Mary fell in love with him in the first place. The film spends more time setting up the Bothwell/Mary relationship. Also, Mary was six months pregnant when Riccio was murdered, she didn’t give birth at Bothwell’s castle, but at Edinburgh Castle.

The relationship with Bothwell is portrayed as a true love match. When Bothwell tells Mary he’s going to Denmark, Mary cries that she can’t live without him. The historical Bothwell was apparently not that noble, he was ambitious and wily. He’d been divorced by his wife for sleeping with her servant, and he’d toyed with the affections of a Norwegian noblewoman, Anna Tronds, who he’d been engaged to.

The film’s dominating performance is Glenda Jackson, reprising her role as Elizabeth I, that she so ably portrayed in the television miniseries Elizabeth R. Whenever she’s on screen, the film comes alive, which not a good thing when the movie is called Mary,Queen of Scots. While there is no evidence that Mary and Elizabeth actually met, I had no problem with the screenwriters concocting a secret meeting between the two. However, having two secret meetings diluted the drama. Also Mary was not escorted into England; she fled into England after having been defeated in the Battle of Langside.

While the movie was disappointing, it’s so far the only recent version of the life of Mary Queen of Scots, apart from a British miniseries called Gunpowder, Treason and Plot which focuses on Mary and her son James VI (Part One is about Mary and Part Two deals with the Gunpowder Plot), which is not available in US format on DVD. Despite the many movies and miniseries that have depicted the life of Elizabeth I in the past 30 years, poor Mary gets short shrift as a subplot. Recently it was announced that Scarlett Johansen was going to portray Mary in a new film which as yet doesn’t have a start date.

What Mary, Queen of Scots, deserves is a major miniseries even if it requires two actresses to play the role, one to portray the young Queen from 18-25 during her years as Queen, and then an older actress to portray Mary during her years of imprisonment.