The Tudor Chest - The Podcast

Who was the most successful wife of King Henry VIII?

Life as Henry VIII with David Smith, aka, Sir Loyal Heart

David Smith is King Henry VIII reborn! He is now a full time impersonator of a young King Henry VIII. With a perfect replica of one of King Henry VIII’s most iconic outfits from hat to codpiece, David certainly looks the part, but goes a level deeper and looks to recreate how the king himself would have behaved. David is committed to educating people on the young king henry, before the bloated tyrant of memory, a young king famed for his affable nature and good looks, David, as Sir Loyal Heart, seeks to bring this part of Henry’s story back to life, and remind us all that at one time, Henry VIII was every bit the king the 16th century looked for.

Gertrude Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter with Sylvia Barbara Soberton.

One of the most powerful and influential women at the court of Henry VIII is someone you’ve probably never heard of, or perhaps only heard of fleetingly - Gertrude Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter. As the wife of Henry VIII’s cousin, Henry Courtenay, Gertrude was a central figure at King Henry’s court, and would find herself on the wrong side of the law a couple of times, but most prominently when she became embroiled in a period known as the Exeter conspiracy, which would eventually lead to her husband's execution and her and her sons imprisonment. To discuss this fascinating figure with me today, I am pleased to welcome historian and author Sylvia Barbara Soberton onto the podcast. Sylvia Barbara’s book “The forgotten Tudor women - Gertrude Courtenay, wife and mother of the last Plantagenets” is the basis for our discussion today.

Cecily, Anne and Catherine - The Lost Princesses of York

Elizabeth Woodville and her second husband, King Edward IV were incredibly fortunate when it came to the production of healthy heirs. Elizabeth would give her husband a total of ten children - three boys and seven girls, with the most well known being Elizabeth of York, the wife of King Henry VII and mother to king Henry VIII. However, three of these seven daughters, Cecily, Anne and Catherine would lead lives just as fascinating and dramatic as their eldest sister, and would eventually discover life under the rule of the Tudor’s had its challenges, so who were these forgotten York princesses? What were their lives like and why are they all but forgotten by history?

The Missing Tudor Palaces

In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn with Dr Sarah Morris

Sarah Morris is a historian, author and also my colleague as co-director of our historic tour company, Simply Tudor Tours. She joins me today for a fascinating discussion based around the book she wrote alongside Natalie Grueninger, In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn. This book charts the many locations both in England but across Europe which are closely associated with Anne Boleyn, and thanks to Sarah’s encyclopaedic knowledge of what happened and where, she is able to recreate and reimagine spaces that no longer exist or look very different and place us in the 16th century. Whether it’s the room at Windsor Castle in which Anne Boleyn was made Marquess of Pembroke to the sadly lost parts of the Tower of London that Anne Boleyn knew well, Sarah knows it all, and can help us all imagine what is now lost.

The House of Dudley with Dr Joanne Paul

Dr Joanne Paul is a historian, author, broadcaster and former lecturer at Sussex University. She joins me today for a fascinating and at times amusing discussion all about the house of Dudley, the famous family for whom the tower of London and execution would loom large, from the hated Edmund Dudley, to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, to the charismatic great love of Queen Elizabeth I’s life, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. This was a family who came from very humble stock, but who would rise to the very top of the Tudor nobility, witnessing up close all of the drama associated to this most infamous of royal dynasties.

A Gentleman from Japan with Tom Lockley

In September 1588 Sir Thomas Cavendish, an English explorer and pirate arrived back into London following a lengthy trip around the world, but Thomas did not arrive back in England alone, for within his party were two men, Christopher and Cosmos, from Japan. To tell this amazing story, I am pleased to welcome Tom Lockley onto the podcast. Tom is based in Japan and has spent the past eight years researching the story of Christopher, with his book, A Gentleman from Japan, the Untold Story of an Incredible Journey from Asia to Queen Elizabeth’s Court, acting as the basis for our discussion. Join me as we uncover the fascinating and surprising story of the moment when the last Tudor monarch was introduced to the very first person from Japan to ever set foot on British soil.

Who were the Tudors?

They are Britain's most famous royal dynasty, and yet the House of Tudor was one which should never have sat on the throne of England in the first place. Their lineage was noble, but by no means as grand as many other families in England, and yet they managed to eventually succeed in displacing the house of Plantagenet, who had ruled England for over 300 years. So what actually was their lineage? How did they descend from King Edward III, did this give them the right to wear the crown? How did the name of "Tudor" actually make it's way into English history?

Margaret of Anjou - The "She Wolf" of France

Margaret of Anjou was queen of England via her marriage to perhaps England's most inept king, Henry VI. She has become famous as the "she wolf" of France, a spiteful aggressive woman who cut down her enemies and revelled in causing pain, but how accurate is this assessment? Has Shakespeare done the dirty on this fascinating medieval queen, or was she truly the evil shrew we've all been taught?