For his obdurate and reckless governance Charles I (1625-49) faced an equally obdurate and formidable parliament and he lost. The monarchy too lost, yet Charles grasped a martyr’s crown becoming the first saint of the Church of England. His reign may have contributed hugely to the destruction of the monarchy but his conduct during the trial and the dignity he displayed afterwards also helped maintain the prestige of monarchy and contributed to its ultimate restoration.

CHARACTERS

Charles I – King of England, Scotland and Ireland

George Villiers – duke of Buckingham

Parliamentarians

Infanta Maria Anna – suitor for Charles I, daughter of Philip III of Spain

Peter Paul Rubens – Flemish poet and diplomat

Henry VII – King of England (1485-1509)

CREDITS

Juan Baptiste Lully – Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

James I's (1603-25) ultimate aim was to unite the kingdoms of England and Scotland under one banner. However, his belief in the divine right of kings meant his relationship with parliament would be bitter, sour and destructive, with consequences long outlasting the reign of the first King of Great Britain.

CHARACTERS

James I & VI – King of England and Scotland

James Stewart, earl of Moray – uncle and 1stregent of James

Esme Stewart, earl of Lennox – cousin and favourite of James

Henry VII – King of England (1485-1509), great-grandfather of James

Robert Cecil – Secretary of State under Elizabeth I and James

Frances Howard – wife of Thomas Overbury and Robert Carr

Robert Catesby – chief architect of the Gunpowder Plot

Frederick II – King of Denmark and Norway (1559-88), father of Anne and Christian IV

William Tyndale – early Protestant reformer

William Shakespeare – contemporary playwright

Charles Dickens – 19th century writer

Music

According to contemporary John Hayward, ‘no one knew better than Elizabeth I (1558-1603) the art of commanding men.’

Even at 17 her tutor said the constitution of her mind is exempt from female weakness and she is endued with a masculine power of application. No apprehension quicker, no memory more retentive.

With the nation perhaps more divided by religion than at any point in English history, the young Queen would require every ounce of skill, of nous, of guile afforded to her. 

CHARACTERS

Elizabeth I – Queen of England

Thomas Seymour – 2nd husband of Catherine Parr

William Shakespeare – playwright

Thomas Cranmer – Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and Edward VI

Mary I (1553-58) led the only successful revolt in 16th century England becoming the first anointed Queen regnant. She had witnessed the decimation of the Roman Catholic church in England for her father's ultimate goal of siring a son. According to G.R. Elton, the vicious attack on her mother and her own bastardisation and the treatment of her religion ought to have turned Mary into a fierce instrument of hatred and vengeance upon ascending the throne but how merciful would be?

Henry VIII – King of England (1509-47)

At the beginning of 1553, Henry VIII’s only son King Edward VI was dying. For the first time in English history all potential claimants were women. Henry’s daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and their cousins Jane Grey (1553) and Mary, Queen of Scots. For the first time in history, England would have a Queen regnant. Partisan councillors would jockey for position in order to secure their own futures and the religious destiny of the nation.

CHARACTERS

Lady Jane Grey – Queen of England (disputed)

Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset – Lord Protector under Edward VI

Catherine of Aragon – 1st wife of Henry VIII, mother of Mary

Alison Plowden – Historian

Richard II – King of England (1377-99)

CREDITS

Alfonso Ferabosco – Amor Mia Sprona

In 1547, the last minority in English history was formed for 9 year old Edward VI (1547-53). After the titanic reign of his father Henry VIII, a contemporary may have wondered if the country may be engulfed in civil war once more.Had the rampant religious and administrative upheaval been possible due to the colossus at the helm? Would the country accept such terms under a new king? Or would the country yield to the familiar squabbles of grasping councillors?If there were nerves, they were hidden on the 20th February 1547 when the 9-year-old walked through the nave of Westminster Abbey. The nation stood on a precipice and history was not on their side.

CHARACTERS

Edward VI – King of England

Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset – Lord Protector, uncle of Edward VI

Lady Jane Grey – cousin of Edward VI

Anne Boleyn – Queen of England, 2nd wife of Henry VIII

CREDITS

Charpentier – Prelude aue dem Te Deum 2019

Does Juana Loca (Joanna the Mad) Queen of Castile (1504-55) and Aragon (1516-55) deserve her title? Was she really unfit for rule or was she merely a victim of her father's, her husband's and her son's political machinations? Find out with Cristina Sanchez Gomez.

Henry VIII (1509-47) was described by historian Simon Jenkins as the ‘Hercules of English history – part tyrant, part polymath, part renaissance prince, who tore up the Plantagenet rulebook’. He was a prolific builder of English monarchy giving the nation a new identity, free from the shackles of Rome. His impact on religion, on government and on society was unprecedented, leaving a significant imprint on 21st century Britain. His countless iniquitous deeds, his disastrous marriages and the gratuitous purges of his foes and friends alike have done more to amalgamate his greatness than to tarnish is colossal legacy.

CHARACTERS

Thomas Wolsey – Lord Chancellor

Martin Luther – leading figure of the Protestant Reformation

Elizabeth Blount – mistress of Henry VIII

Simon Jenkins – Historian

Characters referenced from the past

Edward III, King of England (1327-77)

CREDITS

John Dowland - The King of Denmark’s galliard

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was the longest serving consort in British history. His commitment was remarkable with over 22,000 royal engagements. If Queen Elizabeth II is remembered as the greatest monarch in British history, it will be largely due to the support of her husband Prince Philip. On their golden wedding anniversary in 1997 she said, ‘Philip is a man who doesn’t take too easily to compliments, he has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years and I and his family owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim or he shall ever know.’

CHARACTERS

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh – consort of the United Kingdom, husband of Queen Elizabeth II

According to the chronicler Vergil, ‘Henry VII's (1485-1509) spirit was distinguished, wise and prudent; his mind was brave and resolute and it never, even at moments of great danger, deserted him’.

He was the last king to win the crown on the battlefield in one of the most significant moments in English history. But history does not remember him as a warrior but as a rather grey miser, as Vergil added, ‘all his virtues were obscured by avarice’.

He was the only Tudor to be omitted from Shakespeare’s plays yet by combining the white and red roses of York and Lancaster he brought an end to over 30 years of brutal civil war, to create a new flourishing hybrid, the Tudor rose, consolidating perhaps the most famous dynasty in English history.

Henry VII – King of England

John Fisher – bishop of Rochester

Francis II, duke of Brittany

Erasmus – Dutch philosopher and scholar of the Renaissance

Vergil - Chronicler

CREDITS

John Dowland – Mistress Nichols Alman Lachrimae