Royal Witch begins in 1421 when teenager Eleanor Cobham arrives at the court of Henry V hoping to catch the eye of a nobleman and elevate her status by marriage.
England is at war with France, and Henry is a popular monarch because of his many victories. When he dies suddenly from illness, his son, who isn’t even a year old, becomes King Henry VI. The baby’s young and beautiful mother, Queen Catherine of Valois, stays close to her child, knowing that he is vulnerable to the various factions vying for power.
‘Royal Witch’ by Philippa Gregory © HarperCollins/PA
The starry-eyed Eleanor is made a lady-in-waiting to Countess Jacqueline of Hainault, who has been cheated out of her inheritance and is in England trying to raise an army to get her land back.
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the late king’s youngest brother, likes to think of himself as a Chivalric Knight and offers himself to Jacqueline as her champion. When they marry, Eleanor, who believes in love stories, is overcome by the romance of it all. She and Humphrey’s handsome Welsh groom Owen fall hard for each other, but as neither has a fortune they cannot marry.
I won’t spoil the story for people who don’t know the real history, but Gregory, as ever, brings it vibrantly alive. No doubt some people will be amused by the fact that even 600 years ago, the English royal family had a spare with big ideas married to a “commoner” known as a difficult duchess.
While many themes are covered, mostly it focusses on how powerless women were at the time and the many ways they could fall – from losing their reputations to being accused of witchcraft. The core of the plot is how a broken heart can sour a soul. This is a fantastic treat of a book.
‘Royal Witch’ by Philippa Gregory, Harper Collins, €16.99