Royal Marriage Secrets

November 11, 2013
Historian Ashdown-Hill traces the supposed affairs, secret and/or bigamous marriages, and many illegitimate children through nearly 700 years of British royalty. Most famously, Henry VIII, still married to Catherine of Aragon, wed Anne Boleyn, yet it was Boleyn who was executed for adultery. Other notable affairs include Henry II's with his son Richard's fiancee, and Edward III's with Alice Salisbury, his wife's lady-in-waiting and one of the first mistresses accused of using witchcraft to seduce the king. Ashdown-Hill looks into the evidence of the paternity and consequent legitimacy of Edmund and Jasper Tudor as well as the conjecture that Elizabeth I's illegitimate son was "the real author of the âShakespeare' literature." He explores the evidence for Edward IV's rumored secret marriage to Eleanor Talbot and the ramifications when he later married Elizabeth Woodville. The possible secret marriage between Charles II and Lucy Walter would have made their son, the Duke of Monmouth, heir to the throne but his detractors had him executed and his mother vilified as a "concubine." Ashdown-Hill touches on Queen Victoria's relationship with servant John Brown and allegations linking the Jack the Ripper murders with George V's brother. This is a fascinating and thorough study, though some may find the language overly academic.