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I guess it was inevitable that Reign was going to try to turn itself into Game of Thrones Lite. Whether or not that's better than Teen Queen is yet to be seen.
Some facts: The time line is rapidly becoming squirrelly. Who knows if King Henry's spies are any more accurate this time than last. So it's difficult to judge whether Mary Queen of England is actually dead yet. If she is, it's mid November 1558. Since the siege of Calais ended successfully in the middle of the January before, TV Francis must have taken his own sweet time getting home. Of course, we know he got married in the April in between, so perhaps he just took his own sweet time to dress up, trot outside and march triumphantly back into the castle. Just when we were hoping winter would be over it seems we've skipped the summer of 1558 altogether. Lola would be already 10 months pregnant. Of course it may all be a false alarm and Mary of England may possibly be inaccurately reported dead umtpy more times over the next five seasons of the show.
Henry's plan to marry Mary Queen of Scots might seem crazy. (If it doesn't see your mental health care provider.) Besides the small problem of getting rid of his son and his current wife, there is the ick factor of marrying your son's widow. That would never happen... Well actually Henry VII of England seriously thought about marrying his oldest son, Arthur's widow. Arthur did die of natural causes and Henry didn't want to waste the chance of padding the family out with a few more spare sons or throw away closer ties with Spain. When he relayed the idea to Spain, Queen Isabella was not a tiny bit agreeable and said so in some what less than diplomatic language. So Henry VII gave up that disgusting idea, and young Catherine of Aragon would go on to marry... cough... Arthur's brother, the future Henry VIII. Though Catherine repeatedly swore she never slept with Arthur, the whole mess would, as we know, come back to haunt her.
Henry held hostage? Yes, Henry II of France was held with his older brother hostage in Spain as a child as a part of a deal to get his father Francis I out of captivity. I don't know if Francis actually did do the callous dash past his sons on his way to freedom, but he was, in fact, a piece of work. Having also promised to give up much loot and land as part of his release, Francis reneged on the deal. His excuse was that he was forced to accept under duress. (Imagine that!) He said his sons were only part of the deal because his captors didn't think he'd keep his word. (Imagine that!) Since they had impugned his honor, Francis didn't feel honor bound to keep his word. With such a loving dad, Henry and his brother were lucky to have survived their three years as hostages. Additionally Francis I once had a mistress named Mary Boleyn who moved on to be the mistress of Henry VIII. I think you may have heard of her little sister Anne.
In case you are wondering, most countries had little problem quietly locking away their crazy monarchs. Juana la Loca had passed away in Spain in 1555 about a half century after she went insane after the death of her husband.
Some facts: The time line is rapidly becoming squirrelly. Who knows if King Henry's spies are any more accurate this time than last. So it's difficult to judge whether Mary Queen of England is actually dead yet. If she is, it's mid November 1558. Since the siege of Calais ended successfully in the middle of the January before, TV Francis must have taken his own sweet time getting home. Of course, we know he got married in the April in between, so perhaps he just took his own sweet time to dress up, trot outside and march triumphantly back into the castle. Just when we were hoping winter would be over it seems we've skipped the summer of 1558 altogether. Lola would be already 10 months pregnant. Of course it may all be a false alarm and Mary of England may possibly be inaccurately reported dead umtpy more times over the next five seasons of the show.
Henry's plan to marry Mary Queen of Scots might seem crazy. (If it doesn't see your mental health care provider.) Besides the small problem of getting rid of his son and his current wife, there is the ick factor of marrying your son's widow. That would never happen... Well actually Henry VII of England seriously thought about marrying his oldest son, Arthur's widow. Arthur did die of natural causes and Henry didn't want to waste the chance of padding the family out with a few more spare sons or throw away closer ties with Spain. When he relayed the idea to Spain, Queen Isabella was not a tiny bit agreeable and said so in some what less than diplomatic language. So Henry VII gave up that disgusting idea, and young Catherine of Aragon would go on to marry... cough... Arthur's brother, the future Henry VIII. Though Catherine repeatedly swore she never slept with Arthur, the whole mess would, as we know, come back to haunt her.
Henry held hostage? Yes, Henry II of France was held with his older brother hostage in Spain as a child as a part of a deal to get his father Francis I out of captivity. I don't know if Francis actually did do the callous dash past his sons on his way to freedom, but he was, in fact, a piece of work. Having also promised to give up much loot and land as part of his release, Francis reneged on the deal. His excuse was that he was forced to accept under duress. (Imagine that!) He said his sons were only part of the deal because his captors didn't think he'd keep his word. (Imagine that!) Since they had impugned his honor, Francis didn't feel honor bound to keep his word. With such a loving dad, Henry and his brother were lucky to have survived their three years as hostages. Additionally Francis I once had a mistress named Mary Boleyn who moved on to be the mistress of Henry VIII. I think you may have heard of her little sister Anne.
In case you are wondering, most countries had little problem quietly locking away their crazy monarchs. Juana la Loca had passed away in Spain in 1555 about a half century after she went insane after the death of her husband.
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If they were female... Unstable male monarchs tended to get murderated in nasty fashion.