As a young man he was a loving – if not very potent - husband to his loyal wife, Margaret of Anjou, and a kindly half-brother to the recent, and very embarrassing, Tudor additions to the royal family. Her descent from an illegitimate line of the House of Lancaster, would give her son, Henry Tudor, his only – and corrupted - claim to English royal blood. If you're running a script or application, please register or sign in with your developer credentials here.

On an early spring day in 1592, The Rose – a theatre in the London suburb of Southwark – filled with one of the largest crowds seen that year. The baby king was watched over by two charismatic and extremely ‘royal’ uncles, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.With the House of Lancaster wiped out in the legitimate male line, only the fourteen-year old Henry Tudor is left to represent the Lancastrian cause, and he is driven into exile in Brittany. Red and white to symbolize the union of both houses of Lancaster and York and the end of the bloodshed but the bloodshed was far from over. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

The crown of England changed hands violently five times as the great families of England fought to the death for the right to rule. The king’s second son, Prince Henry, was created Duke of York in 1494 to try to shut down all other claims to that family’s legacy. By beginning the narrative here rather than an earlier point in history, Jones is implicitly nailing his colours to the mast.

Characters like Margaret of Anjou, Richard of York and a succession of Somerset Dukes become real to us. Cecily survives Margaret of Anjou’s wrath, only to see her husband killed after a later battle, and his head stuck on the gates of York, a paper crown fluttering on his bloodied hair in mockery of his former ambitions.