Discovering the life of Frances – Tudor Countess

New from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Frances Walsingham is the only surviving child of Queen Elizabeth’s ‘spymaster’ Sir Francis Walsingham. Better educated than most men, her father arranges her marriage to warrior poet Sir Philip Sidney. After Philip Sidney is killed in battle, Frances becomes Countess of Essex, and is banished from court after her husband Sir Robert Devereaux’s rebellion against the queen. Can she marry for love, if it means turning her back on her faith and all she knows?

Over the past ten years I’ve built an extensive reference collection of books on everything Tudor and Elizabethan, from medicine to recipes, childbirth to government, as well as numerous biographies of key players in the story of the Tudors. All this research provides the backdrop within which the real lives and relationships of my chosen subjects develop and evolve.

I decided to explore the enigmatic Queen Elizabeth through three of her favourite men, Drake, Essex and Raleigh. Each saw her very differently, as Drake was in awe of her, Essex was like the son she never had, and Raleigh became captain of her guard. I also realised I would need to make the Elizabethan books a series of six, rather than a trilogy, and explore the complexity of Queen Elizabeth through the eyes of three of her ladies. 

 

I had plenty to choose from, but found the most interesting were Penelope, eldest daughter of the queen’s nemesis, Lady Lettice Knollys, Frances, the only surviving child of the queen’s spymaster, Walsingham, and one of her ‘Gentlewomen’, Bess Raleigh.

I had the advantage of already having written about Frances as the Countess of Essex, and her ill-fated marriage to Earl Robert Devereux. I also knew plenty about her father, as he has appeared in several of my books, yet the real character of Frances remained elusive. Sadly few of her letters survive, and even the date of her birth is not recorded, (although historians agree it must have been in 1567).

The only solution was diligent historical ‘detective work’, tracing where Frances lived, who she would have been with, and picking up tiny clues from biographies of her contemporaries.  Of the many biographies I’ve studied, an unexpected source I found useful was Daphne du Maurier’s work on Francis and Anthony Bacon, who became important advisors to Frances in her struggle to understand and influence events at the Elizabethan court.

When I set out on this ‘journey’ to tell the story of the Tudors I had no idea how much I would learn about fascinating women such as Frances Walsingham, who witnessed the key events of the Elizabethan era first-hand, yet is so little known – until now.

Frances – Tudor Countess is new from Amazon in eBook and Paperback, and an audiobook edition will be produced this year:

Tony Riches