Little Talks

Philippa Gregory has a way of making the women in history relatable and real, and in The Red Queen she manages to make Margaret Beaufort (mother of King Henry VII) into a woman characterised by her ambition and care for her son. The thing that is so unique about Gregory's female leads is that they are likeable, but they still have flaws. Margaret is consumed by the idea of fulfilling God's calling for her son's life, to the point that she continually sends him away from her to keep him safe. She thinks she is doing the right thing, and maybe she is, but she finds it hard to be a mother to the boy who barely knows her. Instead he is loyal to his uncle, the one man she has ever loved but can never be with. But, as with all of Gregory's books in this series, there are questions and doubts about what it means to be a powerful woman in a time and place dominated by rich and powerful men. The main question of this text is this: is Margaret trying to follow God's desire