Help If You Can

Part of the reason I’ve been slow in posting updates this week was that I’ve been trying to keep up with the unfolding tragedy going on in my neighboring states in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I know a lot of my readers are overseas, and I don’t know how much coverage this is getting in the rest of the world. It’s bad… there is no other way of putting it. If you can help with a donation, please do so.

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Upcoming Elizabeth I programs

After finally sorting out which was which, I’ve got informaiton on the two upcoming television programs on Elizabeth.

One is starring Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I and Jeremy Irons as the Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Interestingly, Irons is also playing Leicester in the upcoming film with Cate Blanchett. Typecasting as Robert Dudley?

Here is a link with more information about the Helen Mirren program, including a small photo: http://www.companypictures.co.uk/elizabeth.asp (original links have expired and have been removed). Funny enough, Helen Mirren is getting a little bit of typcasting too… she’ll be playing the second Queen Elizabeth (the current monarch, of course) in another upcoming program. Some of you have probably also seen her as Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George.

The second will be later this year on BBC One and will be starring Anne Marie Duff as Elizabeth. Here is a BBC blurb about it:

Anne-Marie Duff stars as The Virgin Queen in a new drama for BBC ONE about the life of one of Britain’s greatest monarchs, Elizabeth I.

Paula Milne’s powerfully authored drama about the long and eventful life of England’s iconic Queen is currently filming against a backdrop of some of Britain’s most beautiful houses and landscapes.

The Virgin Queen explores the full sweep of Elizabeth’s life: from her days of fear as a potential victim of her sister’s terror; through her great love affair with Robert Dudley; into her years of triumph over the Armada; and finally her old age and her last, enigmatic relationship with her young protégé, the Earl of Essex.

The cast also includes: Joanne Whalley as Queen Mary; Dexter Fletcher as the Earl of Sussex; Tara Fitzgerald as Kat Ashley; Sienna Guillory as Lettice Knowles; Tom Hardy as Robert Dudley; Ian Hart as William Cecil; Robert Pugh as Lord Chancellor Gardiner; Kevin McKidd as the Duke of Norfolk; Hans Matheson as the Earl of Essex; Emilia Fox as Amy Dudley; Ben Daniels as Francis Walsingham; Ewen Bremner as Sir James Melville; and Bryan Dick as Thomas Wyatt.

Also, I’ve added the older “Gunpowder, Treason and Plot” to the Tudor movies list, since it started out before the death of Elizabeth I. I still haven’t seen this program, so I didn’t release that it did include stuff from Tudor times.

New scan of Margaret Tudor portrait up

I know I haven’t done a whole lot with new images or scans lately on the site, but I’m just so happy to finally have a color version of that portrait up (the Daniel Mytens one), that I had to post something about it. Kind of sad, I know, but that’s what happens when you’re a Tudor nut. 🙂

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Henry VIII Hunting Whistle Unearthed

Discovered during the meeting of a metal detecting club on the Isle of Wight. Neat!

Thanks to Linda for passing this along!

(original links have expired and have been removed)

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Blue Plaque for the Rose Theatre

The Rose Theatre

If you’ve ever gone to look at historical sites in London, you are probably familiar with the Blue Plaques. The remains of the Rose Theatre from Elizabethan times is on this year’s short-list. If you want to vote for it, click on the link above!

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Back from vacation!

We had a great time in Maine, relaxing, shopping and various other activities. One place we went was to Big Chicken Barn Books and Antiques , where I found some Tudor related books at some great prices. I’ve been looking for a color version of the full-length portrait of Margaret Tudor (the one at Holyrood) for years, and who knew I’d finally find it in a $3 book in a chicken barn in Maine.

I’ve updated the pen pal messages and query submissions that came in while I was out, and hopefully I’ve now responded to all the emails that I needed to. If I’ve missed one, my apologies!

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On vacation Aug 2-16

I’m trying to cover all the bases with my vacation notice, so I thought I would add one here too. I’ll be on a small island off the coast of Maine (northeastern-most part of the US, for those in other countries who aren’t familiar with our states) for two whole weeks! (Can you tell I’m really in need of a vacation??) I’ll probably only check email once or twice during that time, and I probably won’t be answering any email at all. I’ll update things as soon as I can when I get back, but it will probably take a few days to catch up on everything.

I’m taking a few Tudor-ish books along, so I might work on the site some, especially days when the weather isn’t cooperating with boating, hiking, etc. 🙂

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Recent updates and a tidbit

Some of you may be wondering what I’ve been up to of late. I have been working on some stuff for the site, including expanding some of the guides to the nobility and church members of the Tudor period, as well as adding information to some of the royal genealogy information. I’ve also been playing around with making some of my own genealogical trees (thank goodness for “Layers” in Photoshop!), but I haven’t posted the first one yet. I’ll try to get that up shortly, so folks can look at it and point out some obvious dumb mistake I’ve made. 🙂

And now for something almost off-topic, but not quite… As some of you might know, I’m a big Harry Potter fan, so when a reader sent a link to me of the cub reporters’ interview with J. K. Rowling and mentioned that she drops Henry VIII’s name, I just had to find a way to work it into the blog somehow. So, here it is! .

I’ve got a couple more things, which I’ll update later this evening if I get a chance.

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King Henry the Ape?

Well, at least according to Bucky Katt’s (of the comic strip “Get Fuzzy”) animal-centric history of the world.

(original links have expired and have been removed)

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Got a spare £80,000 or so?

Sotheby’s London will be auctioning off a portrait of Henry VIII. For just a paltry $150,000/£80,000 (more or less, depending on the bidding) it can be yours!

(original links have expired and have been removed)

Elizabethan Garden at Kenilworth to be rebuilt

Royal romantic garden recreated

As the link above tells (do a search on news.google.com for “kenilworth” and “garden” to find more stories), excavations from last year have prompted researchers rethink the design of the current garden.

You can see my photo from the walls of the castle here: http://tudorhistory.org/places/kenilworth/gallery.html , taken in 1998. The garden will be reconstructed according to the new archaeological evidence, along with renovations of other parts of the property, including the 16th century gatehouse which has not been open to the public for quite some time.

Thanks to the several people who brought this to my attention!

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Shakespeare Portrait found to be a fake

Shakespeare portrait ‘is a fake’

The Flower Portrait of William Shakespeare (owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company) has been found to have been painted in the early 19th century and not the “1609” date inscribed on it. Through paint analysis, microphotography, ultraviolet imaging and x-rays, the portrait has been determined to have come from between 1814 and 1840.

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Henry VIII’s final illness in the April BBC History Magazine

The cover article in the latest issue of the BBC History Magazine is all about the illness of Henry VIII. The author details his theory that it was Cushing’s Syndrome which changed Henry from an athletic and vigorous man into the overweight and diseased man of his later years.

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Irony of Prince’s Wedding Delay

I noticed this when I was scanning through the news headlines this morning. I’m glad to know that I wasn’t alone in thinking of the interesting ties of the Pope’s funeral and the wedding of the heir to the British throne to Henry VIII!

(original links have expired and have been removed)

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A Pardon for Anne Boleyn?

Home Office is asked to pardon Anne Boleyn

Although this story was printed on April 1st, at least the BBC is saying that it wasn’t an April Fools prank.

The petition to have Anne declared innocent of the crimes that resulted in her execution comes from an 85-year-old survivor of the Battle of Britain who has been a life-long amateur historian. He is also requesting her reburial in Westminster Abbey, alongside her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I.

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Famous Tudor Pearl Among New Exhibit

The “La Peregrina” pearl, given from Philip II to Mary I, will be going on display at the Smithsonian in Washington DC this week. The exhibit will run for about six months, so if you’re in the area, be sure to check out this piece of Tudor history!

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Site search back up

I’ve got the search working again for the site. I ended up switching it to a Google site search, since I was having trouble with the one that came with my hosting plan. Unfortunately, that now means you’ll also get outside results from Google image search (on some searches), product results and Google’s Sponsored Links along the right side of the results page. But everything that shows up will be search hits from TudorHistory.org. Sorry for all the clutter, but for now it’s the easiest search solution.

I’ve also added links to the old “What’s New?” pages and the old News and Events pages along the left side of the blog.

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Return link and icon added

Small update so far today… I’ve added the Tudor Rose icon from the site to the sidebar and it is linked back to the main site index page.

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